Fiona Apple @ Nokia Theatre, 12/11/2005
Get Him Back / Better Version Of Me / Shadowboxer / To Your Love / I Know / Sleep To Dream / Limp / Paper Bag / Tymps / Oh Well / On The Bound / Red, Red, Red / Not About Love / O’ Sailor / Get Gone / Fast As You Can // Extraordinary Machine / Criminal / Parting Gift

Fiona Apple “Not About Love” – Fiona Apple didn’t speak very much during this show, but when she did, she mostly talked about being nervous and worried. If you know a thing or two about Apple from over the years, this shouldn’t be so surprising, but in the context of a performance so incredibly assured and compelling, it’s a very curious thing. If she never said a word, it would all seem entirely effortless. She throws herself into every moment of every song, investing every lyric with the fullest of emotion, be it nuanced as in “I Know” (a song which ranks in the highest percentile of my favorite songs ever; I was feeling chills the entire time), or ferocious and raw as with the “Sleep To Dream”/”Limp” bitterness twofer. “Not About Love” was a particular highlight, with its heavy vamp feeling like fists to the gut, and a manic outro that barely felt tame in spite of the band’s obvious control. It blows my mind that a person could be among the best vocalists and songwriters of their generation and on top of that be drop dead gorgeous and still deal with crippling pangs of doubt, but I suppose we’re all better off with some humility.

(For other very OTM reviews of this show, please visit Tom Breihan’s Status Ain’t Hood and SF/J.)

It’s so unfortunate that the critical reaction to Extraordinary Machine ended up getting so badly muddled by a debate over the relative merits of the Jon Brion and Mike Elizondo versions. I maintain that the final product is better by far, but in any case, the basic quality of these songs remains the same, and the best record of 2005 ends up getting screwed over by vote-splitting. I’m sure that in the future, this album will earn the reputation that it deserves, but it absolutely vexes me to see it get passed over by many of my peers in favor of flimsy hackwork in the meantime. I suspect part of it is due to Apple’s subject matter. Writing brilliantly on the topic of love is hardly a fashionable thing – lord knows Stephin Merritt has to wrap up his projects in novelty just to get any serious attention at all. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Destroyer “Sick Priest Learns To Last Forever” – A majority of the Destroyer catalog sounds best at night, but this track has the power to turn any moment of the day into the wee hours of the morning. It’s the perfect music for stumbling home in the cold, ready to fall over but still too far from your front door. It’s the sound of your stray thoughts echoing off the walls as you wait forever on the subway platform, barely keeping your eyes open, and the obscure lyrics start to make perfect sense if just because Dan Bejar is delivering them with such convinction. The sick priest learns to last forevah! Yeah, of course he does. Me too. (Click here for Merge’s Destroyer site.)

Some Other Circus Girl Is Dressing Up Tonight

Gene Serene & John Downfall “The Hours” – Previous songs by Gene Serene have seemed almost freakishly self-assured and confident, but this track is nothing but raw vulnerability, as she laments “the hours I put in / to be the other girl.” It’s the flipside of “I Can Do Anything” and “You Want Me,” the sort of nagging insecurity that motivates one to create a seductive persona in the first place. Something has to be driving your competitive impulses, you know? The music itself is gorgeous, built on the foundation of a slowed down version of the Cure riddim, distant guitar sounds, and warm, delicate bass notes. (Click here to visit the official Gene Serene site.)

Los Super Elegantes “Dance” – This is technically an ESG cover, but there’s got to be a better word for what Los Super Elegantes do with this song. The basic elements that make “Dance” one of the best dance songs ever written remain intact, but the band adds new verses and hooks that actually build on the greatness of the original. It’s rather like buying a buying a beautiful old house and renovating it so that everything you add to the structure only enhances the aesthetic charm of the design. (Click here for the official Los Super Elegantes site.)

Please note that both acts today are currently unsigned. This is sort of mindboggling given all the mediocre or outright awful acts who actually do have labels.

Making Me Feel Like I’ve Never Been Born

New York City radio, 12/8/1980
Los Angeles radio, 12/8/1980

Courtesy of WFMU’s Professor, these recordings scanning the airwaves of NYC and LA on the night John Lennon was murdered twenty-five years ago today capture some small amount of the initial grief and confusion that immediately swept the nation as news of his demise travelled from coast to coast. (Click here to buy it from WFMU.)

Matthew Sweet “She Said, She Said (Live)” – Of course, Lennon’s death in 1980 came when I was only a year and a half old. Like most everyone else, I learned most of the Beatles catalog through radio osmosis as a kid, in some cases not realizing that some popular songs were by The Beatles until much later. (This is definitely the case for a lot of the hits from from the The White Album onward – all of my exposure was heavily skewed towards the early singles from before 1966.)

My first exposure to “She Said, She Said” came via this cover by Matthew Sweet Born To Choose compilation that I bought in early 1994 for its R.E.M. and Pavement content. Aside from The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” it’s probably the most famous song that I first knew as an obscure remake. When I noticed that the song was a Beatles original in the liner notes, I realized for the first time that the band had great songs that were not hits, triggering my purchase of every major Beatles record in rapid succession over the course of 1994. I started with Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour, which remain my two favorites, and kept buying them out of order until I got around to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which I had perversely put off for some reason in spite of its reputation. (Click here to buy it from Amazon for a penny.)

My Name Alone Can’t Be Denied

Mike Jones “Cuttin’ (Remix)” – Is there another artist in contemporary pop music who is as consistently on-message as Mike Jones? Virtually every lyric on Who Is Mike Jones reiterates one of maybe ten key talking points:

1) His name is Mike Jones. (MIKE JONES!!!)
2) The name of his album is Who Is Mike Jones?
3) His cell phone number is/was 281-330-8004, you can feel free to call him.
4) Thanks to his skills as a hustler, he is about to become a superstar.
5) Formerly disinterested women want to get with him now that he is famous.
6) As a result, he does not trust scandalous hoes.
However, he does enjoy the following:
7) Swanging.
8) Woodgrain steering wheels.
9) Purple drank.
10) Princess cut diamonds.

Where others might see a lack of versatility and lyrical creativity, I see an artist who has intentionally or not created a hip hop equivalent of De Stijl, yielding compelling results from a highly stylized set of essential elements and limitations. And if you cannot appreciate that, I don’t know how you’re going to argue with that ska backing track and the yodelling sample. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

August Darnell “Christmas On Riverside Drive” – Sleigh rides, roasting chesnuts, drinking cider from a wooden cane, hanging out with his girlfriend in uptown Manhattan – it’s not hard to understand why Mr. Darnell opted for Christmas in NYC rather than San Bernardino. This is a perfect song for Christmas parties, which is why I’m getting this out of the way early in the month in case any of you will be hosting or DJing one. (Click here to buy it from Ze Records.)

I Like Dahncing At The Disco

Goldfrapp @ Nokia Theatre 12/5/2005
Train / Tip Toe / Koko / Slide In / Number 1 / U Never Know / Lovely Head / Fly Me Away / Satin Chic / Beautiful / Ride A White Horse / Ooh La La // Strict Machine / Black Cherry

Goldfrapp “Ride A White Horse” – It’s so rare that I get to see a proper keyboard driven pop band perform live, much less one that completely delivers the goods from start to finish. Goldfrapp play like strict machines, nailing every part of their songs with scary precision and visceral urgency. The band were accompanied on five songs in the set by a pair of dancers who performed choreographed moves in different fetish suits for each tune. (Wolf masks and bikinis for “Train,” silver latex robot suits for “Slide In,” disco-ball horse heads and tutus with horsey tails for “Ride A White Horse,” etc.) It’s a brilliantly designed spectacle for sure, but the songs are still the most impressive thing about the show. Some of the selections came alive in the performance -“Fly Me Away” and “U Never Know” were more effervescent compared to their flatter studio counterparts, and “Lovely Head” was dynamic rather than just haunting and ethereal – whereas “Ride A White Horse,” “Train,” “Koko,” and especially “Ooh La La” built on their foundation of inherant excellence with an extra jolt of energy and sexuality. Goldfrapp will be touring North America in the early spring of next year, so if you have any love for the band, I strongly encourage you to see them if they come to your area. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK (American version will be in stores on March 7, 2006.)

I Need A Rest From Our Petty Little Dramas

ABBA “You Owe Me One” – This was one of the final songs ever recorded by ABBA, intended for a ninth album that would never be completed. The track was eventually tossed off as the b-side of “Under Attack,” but has recently been reissued as a bonus track on The Visitors album in the new ABBA The Complete Studio Recordings box set. This is somewhat tragic, as it’s clearly one of the best songs the group had ever produced (so brilliant that it even has its own fanclub!) and would have certainly been a fine single and quite possibly a very big hit. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

You Want To Hear Echoes

Delta 5 “Try” – This song is the friend everyone has who is stuck in some horrible relationship, hating everything about it, yet desperately attempting to improve it, despite near-total communication breakdown. Trying, trying, trying. But why? And you just want to take them and shake them by the shoulders and tell them to give up, but nothing you can say is ever enough to snuff out that lingering bit of optimistic delusion. (Click here to buy it from Kill Rock Stars.)

Ken Boothe & Joe Higgs “Message of Old” – Ahhhh, the fade-out is too abrupt! The scat singing on the outro is fantastic, it’s such a shame that it’s cut off maybe thirty or forty seconds too soon. Other than that, there’s very little to complain about with this vintage rocksteady cut from Soul Jazz’s consistently wonderful Studio One series. (Also, if you were wondering, the Christian themes running through the lyrics of the songs posted this week are just a coincidence.) (Click here to buy it from Soul Jazz.)

Glory Shone Around

Alabama Sacred Harp Singers “Sherburne” – I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that this is the oldest song to ever appear on this blog, though it is not the oldest recording to be featured here. “Sherburne” dates back to 1783, though it is essentially a rewritten version of the English Christmas carol “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night” adapted for the sacred harp choral tradition of the rural American south. This is a selection from Dust To Digital’s brilliant Where Will You Be Christmas Day?, a compilation of traditional Christmas music that has fallen into near-total obscurity over the past several decades. (Click here to buy it from Dust To Digital.)

No Need For Acting Clever

Belle & Sebastian “Song For Sunshine” – Belle & Sebastian have built their career on an uncanny knack for pastiche, slowly working through the 60s folk-rock canon and on through other familiar sounds of the 60s and 70s. Each new album from the band seems to be a small step forward along the pop timeline, and it’s beginning to seem likely that the band might record a few grunge numbers around 2018, at which point the sound will be suitably old-timey enough for the group’s sensibility. (There will also be a few baggy numbers on that album.) A majority of the forthcoming The Life Pursuit is spent in a nebulous late 70s mode, mainly fixating on the sort of light Thin Lizzy-ish glam that they started on with “I’m A Cuckoo” from the previous LP. “Song For Sunshine” is the most audacious track from the album, as it blatantly apes Parliament/Funkadelic and Stevie Wonder with very polarizing results. I think it’s the best song on the record, and among the most enjoyable selections in their discography. But other people are already blasting it with their Hatorade hoses, and the thing only leaked this week. So approach with caution, and keep in mind that it’s not exactly a proper representation of the album as a whole. (Click here for the official Belle & Sebastian website.)

Gus Gus “Bambi” – Poor “Bambi,” marooned on an album full of so-so late 90s trip hop, cut off from the rest of the world for being the one song that feels timeless on a record that already feels dated despite only being six years old. This is Gus Gus’ end-of-the-movie moment; a gorgeous vaseline-lensed love song complete with sci-fi romanticism and swelling strings. I reckon that it’s at least equal in quality to some similar songs recorded by Bjork around the same time. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Sometimes The Dam Just Breaks

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins “Born Secular” – In a recent interview, Bono claimed that his favorite music was about people either running to or away from God. This song seems frozen in place between the two, like a deer in His divine headlights. This is amazing stuff – I’d say that it’s the best song Lewis has ever done, but I’m still pretty stuck on “I Never” from More Adventurous. The forthcoming LP is very good too, even the Travelling Wilburys song with Conor Oberst on guest vocals! I know that seems totally impossible, but it’s true. (Click here for Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins’ MySpace page.)

The Howling Hex “No Numbers” – The latest album from Neil Michael Hagerty floats by in a strange haze, like a half-forgotten dream buoyed to the memory by a handful of vivid details. This track in particular benefits from a liberal usage of reverb and trumpet, making the song sound like a field recording of Hagerty jamming on a subway platform. Sorry to bring Bono into this post a second time, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t seem as though Hagerty is just about to start singing “One Tree Hill” every time he gets on the mic. (Click here to buy it from Drag City.)

Darling, We’re A Fashion, Don’t You Know?

Girls Aloud “Models” – Girls Aloud – British talent show pop girl group, yeah? Well, sure, but don’t get it twisted. They are, in fact, one of the best rock acts in the world right now. I can understand why so many people would make the mistake of believing otherwise – in 2005, rock more often than not denotes a slavish devotion to guitars and the tedium of tradition, with most good acts working within the genre getting by on charm and chops rather than a mad rush of pop energy and invention. Basically, Girls Aloud are a pop rock act that have made the decision NOT to be mind-numbingly boring. They have some obvious peers in contemporary pop – Sugababes, Rachel Stevens, Annie, Kelly Clarkson – but I tend to believe that they are actually most similar to The New Pornographers, at least in terms of the effect that I get from listening to their albums. As with the New Pornographers’ three LPs, Girls Aloud’s Chemistry is on full blast from start to finish, even when they make time for the ballads. The craft is seamless; every track is nearly overflowing with hooks, and every moment is executed with scary precision without ever losing the spark of humanity. The songs give me exactly what I need, but keep me on my toes, often veering from conventional song structures ever so slightly without calling unnecessary attention to craft. As with any great pop art, it has a way of scrambling critical faculties with a manic surge of thrill power, and that’s the kind of high that I wish I could have all of the time. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon UK.)

The Sounds “24 Hours” – There’s a similar sort of energy in this track, though it could stand to up its dosage of adrenaline and sugar. It took me four times to hear this song and realize that she wasn’t actually singing “you fall in love, and then you lose your hair,” which is disappointing, but probably better for the song’s chances in terms of becoming an actual pop hit. Actually, can we find a way to get Kelly Clarkson to record this number for her next album? That would be so ideal. (Click here for the official Sounds website.)

Limited Only By Your Limited Imagination

Ed Shepp “Event To Remember” – Ah yes! It is now open season for holiday-themed recordings. Though the lyrics are focused on a “holiday in December,” I’m sure that many of you will find several of Ed Shepp’s suggestions on how to create a memorable turkey dinner to be very helpful if you’re hosting a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. (Click here to buy it from CD Baby, here for Ed Shepp’s blog, and here for the archives of The Ed Shepp Radio Experiment.)

Comet Gain “The Punk Got Fucked” – As an alternative to holiday cheer, you can instead listen to this bile-fueled spoken word punk midlife crisis. Set to music that sounds vaguely like Can making fun of The Doors, David Feck rants bitterly about crushed expectations and lingering disappointments in a thick British accent until he collapses into a state of indecision and confusion. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

My Feet Are Dancing So Much

Broadcast “Michael Agrammar” – My name is not Michael, but it’s very common for people to think that it is. It’s not far off from Matthew, I suppose, and it’s a nice enough name, so I’m never very offended. (I mean, if people were accidentally calling me Mike or Mikey or Mickey, I might take some issue.) The only time I ever wish that my name was actually Michael is when I hear this song. Trish Keenan sings the name with a quiet grace and gentle authority – Michael could just as well be her child as it as a lover, a brother, or a best friend. Lyrically as well as musically, the track is intimate and woozy, like a disjointed half-asleep late night conversation set to song. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Judy Henske & Jerry Yester “Farewell Aldebaran” – How square are people now that any busker with a stupid beard gets to be called “freak folk” without having to actually sound as bizarre as this late 60s head-scratcher? The song begins as an urgent, theatrical lo-fi prog-folk thing (you could probably trick someone into believing that it’s Guided By Voices at first), but halfway through, the vocals are put through some kind of extreme processing that makes it sound like the mic has been passed to an opera-loving Dalek. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

She’s Out Of This Time

My Project: Blue “Messed Up in the Heart” – Is this just how Canadians sing now? Was it like this all along, and no one ever really noticed? Or is it just the Canadians who write their own David Bowie songs? There’s some lovely lead guitar in this track – it reminds of something rather specific, but I can’t seem to place it. Any guesses? (Click here to buy it from My Project: Blue’s official site.)

Busta Rhymes “Touch It” – Though this is hardly Busta Rhyme’s finest hour as a lyricist (one “Wait” is enough for this year, thanks), this brilliant track from Swizz Beatz emphasizes his strengths as a vocalist, alternating between a slooooooooowed down Daft Punk sample and minimal, primal percussion. Excellent stuff, though I wish the lyrics were as good as everything else in the track. (Click here to buy it from DJ City.)

The Current Takes You For A Ride

Nobody & Mystic Chords of Memory “Decisions, Decisions” – I always feel a little bit strange for enjoying so much music that is obviously designed to accompany drug usage when I myself do not take any drugs at all, unless you count over the counter headache and stomach medication. This song practically smells like marijuana smoke with its wispy flutes and mellow psychedelia, but thankfully music does not in fact have an odor, because I would have to crack open the windows or just turn it off. (I cannot find any site for this album, or a site selling it. The Rough Trade site for Mystic Chords of Memory is not particularly helpful, nor is the MySpace site for the frustratingly Google-proof Nobody.)

Times New Viking “Not High” – Midheaven says: TNV successfully skirt the current homogenization of the rock press pigeonhole. Neither are they new-weird-america, nor are they new-noise-underground. I suspect Times New Viking are at the forefront of a new, yet-to-be defined movement. It’s only a matter of time though. And when that time comes I want to be there. My shrine needs a motherfuckin’ name! I say: Isn’t it clear what this is? It’s nü-fi! It’s so obvious to anyone who enjoys fuzzy, quasi-primitive, incoherent pop rock recorded on terrible, terrible equipment. (Click here to buy it from Midheaven.)

Please Go Under With A Smile

Jamie Lidell “Multiply (Gonzales Mix)” – Not a remix in the regular sense, but rather a new arrangement for a song which appears to be one of the most popular songs to be posted here in the past year judging by the comments box, emails, and conversations with people that I meet out and about. I definitely prefer this stripped-down version of the song, performed only with piano and vocals, accompanied by some light piano bar ambience. The faux-Otis Redding style of the original version was fine enough, but that’s such a common affectation that it was easy for some people to mistake this tune for just another bland Joss Stone-ish coffee shop pop song. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

I’ve Got No Patience For The End

Hand Fed Babies “The Fisherman Feels It” – Paraphrasing: Worrying about the End Times is for the lazy and idle! I’m not inclined to disagree. Gorgeous bass on this track, by the way. The whole thing sounds a bit like someone trying to make a screwed version of the Silver Apples with agitated vocals thrown in for a purposely jarring effect. (Click here to buy it from Hand Fed Babies’ MySpace page.)

Sir Alice “L’Amour Made In Taiwan” – Over the weekend, my roommate and I watched Noah Baumbach‘s debut feature Kicking and Screaming (not the Will Ferrell soccer movie, btw), in part because of the fact that we both enjoyed his current movie, The Squid and the Whale. Despite what you may have heard, Kicking and Screaming is a pretty awful film, especially in terms of the 90s Indie Flick About Hyper-articulate Angsty Upper Class White 20somethings subgenre. As with many films of that type, a certain level of narcissistic identification is necessary for a person to develop any kind of sympathy for its relentlessly unlikeable characters, and though this is not always a sign of bad art, I think that one would have to be a wanker of epic proportions to relate to the toxic levels of clueless douchebaggery found in all of the film’s protagonists. I actually feel quite relieved that this was clearly not a movie for me. Anyway, I mention this movie because, if nothing, it is a funny cultural artifact of the mid-90s, and as such, features some amusing cliches of the time. One of them being Friedrich, a black-clad, trenchcoat-wearing guy who just came back from a semester in Germany and has suddenly become an intense pseudo-Eurotrash hipster with a silly affected accent who has his eye on seducing Parker Posey. I imagine that Friedrich would really like this song, and I’m not sure if that’s a positive or negative comment on its quality. (Click here to buy it from Soul Seduction.)

You Don’t Have To Scream Because Your Ears Are Bleeding

This post is dedicated to the 13 year old version of me. He would’ve been thrilled to have both of these tracks.

Wayne Campbell & Garth Algar “Pain Cave” – There’s a reason why I’ve never purchased Wayne’s World on dvd – I’m holding out for a box set that would include both movies, all of the SNL skits, and both MTV specials. It’s sort of shocking that this hypothetical set does not yet exist, but I hold out hope. To my knowledge, those MTV specials have not been aired in over a decade, but most anyone with any fondness for Wayne’s World tends to have a vivid memory of this song. I hadn’t heard this song for all of that time before yesterday, and I was vaguely surprised to realize how much of it was an obvious goof on Nirvana – back then, I think it only registered as a metal thing, even in spite of Garth shouting “eat your heart out, Nirvana!” over the bridge. (Click here for the website of a pair of Wayne and Garth lookalikes who are keeping the dream alive well over a decade after the heyday of Wayne’s World.)

Pearl Jam “Hard To Imagine” – When I was a teen, I was very obsessed with Pearl Jam, a condition that was exacerbated by the intense fandom of many of my friends at school, some of whom had been buying cd bootlegs featuring unreleased songs that the band had been playing live. At that point, half of the fun of being a Pearl Jam fan was being amazed by how much excellent material the band was willing to relegate to b-sides and soundtracks, or just not release at all. I had a live version of “Hard To Imagine” dubbed to a cassette from my friend Steve’s cd, and I would listen to it over and over again, totally baffled as to why the band would just abandon what was clearly one of their very best songs. I’d dub copies for friends, and talk it up with any Pearl Jam fan who would listen, totally confident that the band would put it out on their next record. Vitalogy came and went, and I rationalized – it just wasn’t right for that record, it would obviously pop up later on. When the tracklisting for No Code was announced in Ice, I convinced myself and others that the song “Present Tense” HAD to be a retitled version of the song. I mean, isn’t it obvious? The chorus is “things were different then, all is different now” – like, it’s the present tense!!! But no. Though I liked No Code and still do, my interest in Pearl Jam fell off sharply around 1997, and has only dimmed with time.

A studio version of the song was finally released in 1998, tossed off to the soundtrack of an obscure movie called Chicago Cab. At that point, it was hard for me to muster much enthusiasm. I never bought the soundtrack, and eventually just downloaded it from Audiogalaxy. It’s a lovely version of the song, though not quite everything it could have been. It still sounds lonely, nostalgic, and majestic, and the guitar at the beginning still evokes wet snow on the ground and the scent of smoke from wood burning stoves mixing with crisp air (probably just my sense memory from when I first heard the song, but whatever). I maintain after all of this time that it is certainly one of the best songs the band has ever written, and when I was looking at the band’s recent setlists a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but to feel extremely jealous of the audiences who’ve seen them play it, as it has become a semi-regular song in their rotation following the release of their b-sides collection, Lost Dogs. I’m pretty sure that there was one show in Canada where they played this, “Breath,” “I Got Shit,” “Not For You,” and “Release” all in the same set, something that would’ve totally blown my mind when I was sixteen. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I’m Supposed To Be Perpetuous

RZA (featuring Method Man) “NYC Everything” – This p2p/iTunes a la carte era would seem like an ideal time for a widespread critical reevaluation of the Wu-Tang Clan’s post-1995 output – after all, perhaps no other group aside from Guided By Voices rewards the patience of fans who cherry pick the best cuts from a sprawling, intimidating back catalog. It’s understandable that most people would grow bitter and resent throwing down $15+ for cds that rarely feature more than three keepers, but on the other hand, the Wu have a way of stranding some of their most best material on overlong albums packed with filler. Though I would say that RZA’s Bobby Digital album is among the top percentile of Wu solo/affiliate albums, it’s definitely not the best place for “NYC Everything,” a track so relentlessly brilliant that it outshines the entire discographies of many talented artists. The keyboard textures are fabulously bouyant, making RZA and Meth’s verses seem as though they are gliding on neon clouds a thousand miles above the city. This could just as well be a part of my occasional “mix tape” classics series – this tune was one of my mix staples for a solid two years after its release. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Method Man (featuring Ghostface) “Afterparty” – It’s difficult to imagine this light-hearted track ever fitting in on a proper Wu-Tang Clan LP, but it’s a shame that this gem is doomed to relative obscurity on Method Man’s duddish third solo album. The lyrics come off like a cross between Wu-Tang fan fic and an episode of The Real World: Shaolin in which Meth and Ghostface deal with the aftermath of a Wu-Tang house party and bitch out freeloading friends. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I Take It Pretty Deep From The Lord

Giant Drag @ Bowery Ballroom 11/10/2005
YFLMD / This Isn’t It / Wicked Game (“I wrote it, it was stolen, I WANT IT BACK.”) / unknown new song / Smashing / My Dick Sux / Kevin Is Gay

Giant Drag “This Isn’t It” – Giant Drag either came ten years too late, or (optimistically) ten years too early. With few exceptions, it seems like a very lousy time to be in a female fronted rock band. Unless you’re a lucky pop star like Kelly Clarkson, Ashlee Simpson, or Amy Lee, there seems to be an ever-dwindling market for this music, and with the exception of Sleater-Kinney (who barely count since they were established as indie stars in the ’90s), critics seem to be largely indifferent to upbeat rock made by women, instead favoring more stereotypically delicate female performers such as Joanna Newsom. Not to get off on a tangent that I’m not fully prepared to detail, but it’s not exactly shocking to me that aggressive, critical female voices would be so far from the mainstream of white American culture in the decade of self-defeating, anti-feminist, hyper materialist Female Chauvinist Pigs. (Read the book, it’s great.)

Giant Drag’s Annie Hardy is very clearly a product of the ’90s. It’s all over her music – references to Loveless, To Bring You My Love, Exile In Guyville, Last Splash, American Thighs, Live Through This, and plenty of other records that I’m sure we both owned as teenagers. She’s an impressive guitarist with a gift for instrumental hooks, though it seems clear that she’s still in the process of finding her own style. In person, she’s tiny and girlish, and delivers witty banter between songs in a nasal deadpan similar to that of Sarah Vowell, but with the comedic sensibility of Amy Sedaris. Many of her jokes on stage were at the expense of her drummer Micah, who often plays one-handed keyboard parts while playing the drums with his remaining limbs. I’m certain the band would sound better with a larger line-up, but the two have a strong chemistry that they are probably wise not to dilute. Unfortunately, the band did not have nearly enough time to play all of the songs I would have liked to have seen them play (my first choice for a song to post was not performed!), so hopefully they’ll be back around here again sometime soon. I strongly recommend that you join me, even if it’s just for her jokes. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Marit Bergman (featuring Cecilia Norlund) “Adios Amigos” – Some of you may remember this track from when I originally posted it last year. For the benefit of newer readers: Marit Bergman is like the clever, selfaware Swedish version of Avril Lavigne, mixing up strong pop balladry with rockers that appropriate from the likes of The Strokes and feature funny, self-deprecating lyrics that address the difficulties of fitting into the pop marketplace. “Adios Amigos” remains one of my favorite songs to ever be posted on this site, and I defy you to not feel giddy when its chorus zooms into overdrive. NYC readers take note: Marit will be performing two solo shows in the area over this weekend – Friday 11/11: Pianos, 8 pm (LES) and Sunday 13/11: Barbés, 8 pm (Park Slope). (Click here for the official Marit Bergman website.)