Stina Nordenstam//Winterkilling

It just keeps snowing. Is it ever going to end? I am kind of freaking out about it. When I was a kid, it used to snow like this, but we haven't had this kind of winter in quite some time and I am not used to it anymore. If I was in Michigan, I would expect it. I would feel prepared for and even welcome the nights spent in, drinking whiskey and playing board games. But this is New York. It's so out of context. I can't wrap my head around it.

There's something else I've been trying to wrap my head around this week. It seems possible that A. might be going to school in California next fall, which means that I may be living in California in a year. If a constantly snow-filled season is unexpected, the prospect of me living in Southern California is downright foreign. Still, at least right now, I am feeling like the former may justify the latter. 70 and sunny's sounding better and better!

This song, by reclusive Swedish artist Stina Nordenstam, is about hating winter and moving somewhere for someone (although in the narrator of this song's case, maybe not for the right reasons). Although the actual situation described in this song has little to do with my own, I feel you, Stina. Winter is killing me.



Winterkilling.mp3

You say winter's killing you
And you can't stand the season.
It has no smell or flavor.
I left the city for you.
There was no other reason.

Mohammed Rafi//Jaan Pehechaan Ho

Lately, I've been going back to some of my old staples. Life's been a little tumultuous and when that happens, I find that listening to favorites from my youth is kind of a soothing thing. Also, I had lunch at an Indian restaurant in midtown with my mom today. Music from my teenage years and Indian food with my mom are the true definition of comfort to me.

This all brings me to this song. When I was a kid, my favorite songwriter was Aimee Mann, and, though I sometimes find her new stuff to be cheesy, I still think she may be one of my favorite songwriters. Few can pen melodies and lyrics as solid as hers.

Of course, Aimee Mann reminds me of Ghost World (she has a song inspired by the incredible Dan Clowes comic, just like I have a tattoo inspired by it (yes, it was that much of a life changer))...and thinking of Ghost World, the book, brings me to Ghost World, the movie, which, in turns, brings me to this song.

In the film version, Enid watches this video, from a Bollywood film Gumnaam, and dances, as the opening credits roll.

Although his name is relatively unknown here in the states, Mohammed Rafi is an incredibly famous Indian singer, whose built a career which spanned five decades on creating successful Bollywood soundtracks. Rafi was so beloved that his funeral in Mumbai (Bombay) was one of the largest ever, with over 10,000 people in attendance.



Jaan Pehechaan Ho.mp3

Jaan Pehechaan Ho!

Tracy + The Plastics//(We Meet the) Queerion

Oh, happy day. Oh, day I have been waiting for. Today is the day we are going to listen to one of my favorite live acts ever, Tracy + The Plastics.

I first saw Tracy (aka feminist video-artist Wynne Greenwood) and her Plastics (also aka Wynne Greenwood) at a very hilarious electroclash tour at The Majestic Theater in Detroit on October 17th, 2002. I had heard how amazing T+TPs were from friends who had seen them (her) the year before opening for Le Tigre. They could not stop talking about how hilarious she was.

As it turns out, I wrote a VERY SNARKY (in keeping with the paper's style) review of this show for The Michigan Daily the next day. Let's just go to a relevant segment of that now:

Tracy + the Plastics were the first official performers. They were absolutely wonderful and also incredibly bizarre. Tracy, whose real name is Wynne Greenwood, makes her prerecorded “music” on a drum machine and midi keyboard then sings along onstage. What really made Tracy spectacular was her witty between-song banter with two alter-egos (the Plastics), Nikki and Cola. These characters were really just pre-recorded camcorder footage of Tracy playing the parts of the Plastics projected onto a screen. By the way, they all talked like that popular Asian girl on MTV’s Daria. Although she is most likely on some very heavy drugs, Tracey’s act was highly amusing.*

And since I really, really want you guys to understand this, here's a video:



This one is also really good.

Sadly, Wynne ended T+TP ended in 2006. Hard to say what Wynne is up to these days. The last thing Wikipedia has her doing is teaching art to kids convicted of crime in Seattle. Still, it's never too late to buy Musclers Guide to Videotronics (hurry! right now there's only one left on Amazon).

(We Meet the) Queerion.mp3

You have my suit.
I want it back.

*I have a feeling some of my good friends might want to re-read this review in full. If you're one of them, let me know and I'll direct you to it.

Boyskout//Back to Bed

Just when you thought the cold gray hell that is winter might be finished, you wake up to a day like today and a promise of a few more like it…and maybe even some more snow a few days after that. I hate winter. I hate it. Well, that’s not completely true. I like the first week of it and the very first snow of the season. Beyond that, I am so over it.

A. got home yesterday from a weekend audition jaunt to California. I was extra happy to see her and wake up next to her this morning. What I wasn’t extra happy about was dragging myself out of bed at an obscenely early hour, all while dark rainy vibes greeted me through the window. YUCK.

This song, by the band Boyskout, describes a situation I’m sure we’re all familiar with. You have to get up. The warm body in your bed begs you not to and you don’t want to anyway. Fun. Back to bed: it's everywhere you want to be. Also, what is it that they say in NPR? "Although there's nothing overtly graphic in this story, it's kinda sexy, so kids, cover your ears." No, that's not quite right.

Anyway, in addition to making some super fun songs, the girls in this band are pretty damn cute. Even though it looks like it’s been a while since they were an active band, they’re currently based in Brooklyn. I hope I’ll run into them on the G train someday.



Back to Bed.mp3

Baby, come back to bed.
You know you want to.

Man/Miracle//Up

Monday: it's spazzy. Monday Mail!
What is Monday Mail?

Continuing on a theme (you may remember Friday’s post and also this one), Joe Keyes, from eMusic, wrote to promote the newest eMusic selects band.

Joe says:

Oakland's Man/Miracle specialize in spazzy unhinged indie pop that manages to somehow channel Talking Heads, The Cure and King Sunny Ade all at once. I have been playing this record NON STOP for the last week. After a mood-settling opener, "Hot Sprawl" gets the party started and, from that moment on, it is a nonstop energetic floor-filler. This album is a striking, thrilling rave-up that demands repeated listens – crazy, interlocking guitar, weird polyrythms, ecstatic yelps and shouts – all of this adds up to a bracing and astonishing debut.

It’s true. “Spazzy unhinged indie pop” is the best way to describe Man/Miracle. It’s fun. It’s fast. It’s awkward, but in a good way. They sound like a mildly less obnoxious version of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or a way less overdramatic (and less gay) version of Wild Beasts, with a slightly jammier guitar sensibility.

Get the whole damn album on eMusic.



Up.mp3

He’s nervously pacing.

Breathe Owl Breathe//Kids + Cats

Local Music Local Friday
Tell me...what is this Local Music Fridays?

On Saturday November 19, 2005, Michael and I were releasing The Dumb and Ugly Club's second album, Mars 1967, at Arbor Vitae in Ann Arbor. There was a band called Breathe Owl Breathe and Michael was friends with them, so they opened up for us. They were great.

At they time they were comprised of Micah Middaugh and Andrea Moreno (they have since added Trevor Hobbes). Since then, the band has skyrocketed, getting lots of well-deserved love from places like eMusic and Pitchfork.

Just because they may now be selling doesn't mean they've sold out. In fact, it's the exact opposite. Listening to Breathe Owl Breathe, I feel transported to back to so many memorable magical Michigan music moments (sorry for the Ms)--acoustic guitars and banjos and xylophones on the porch of a house by a lake. Ahhhhh.



Kids + Cats.mp3

We met up in a net
Outside the city limits.
For hours, we talked and slept.

Yaz//Situation

This was a hit when I was a kid. That said, I don't think I was really aware of who Yaz was until college when some friends became obsessed with one of their songs ("In My Room") included on the soundtrack for the movie The Chocolate War (what, what Robert Cormier!).

Yaz (or Yazoo in the UK) is a duo of pure synth delight. Synther-songwriter Vince Clarke, of Depeche Mode (and later Erasure), teamed up with singer Alison Moyet to create the magic that you hear below. Moyet's voice is exquisite (and another example of early vocal gender confusion for me). Clarke's sounds are iconic and quintessentially early 80s.

The band broke up in the early 90s, but got back together again about a year ago. Anyone catch them on that reunion tour? I'm thinking it was probably one of the rare actually awesome reunions.



Situation.mp3

Do I dress for every situation,
Moving through the doorway of a nation?

The Fabulettes//Try the Worrying Way

Anyone with even a mild interest in pop music should probably consider investing in the excellent One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found compilation released by Rhino. These beautiful four discs of rare and not-as-rare girl group tracks are actually packaged in a hat box. I shit you not.

From the Amazon’s description:

Girl groups have enchanted humankind since the era of the ancient Greeks, when legend has it the Sirens attempted to lure wayfarers Odysseus and Jason to their fates; Persephone's chanteuses would eventually even lose a battle of the bands to the Muses. A couple millennia later, female singers would become a dominant force in the pop and rock of the ‘60s, the era anthologized on this four-disc, 120-track collection from Rhino.

This song is about worrying. In this case, the worry is focused around a bad boyfriend. But, let me confess that I’ve been worrying about a lot of stuff lately. Maybe it’s winter madness (thanks, 30 Rock) or maybe it’s just mid-twenties anxiety, but I can’t stop worrying. I’m not going to list all the things I worry about. It would be too long and too sad, but suffice to say, you are not alone if you feel this way too. We are all worrying.

Speaking of sad, general anxiety doesn’t even come close to being as sad as this song’s pre-feminist context. Girl loves boy. Boy cheats on girl. Well, that sucks, but at least girl is losing weight (without taking Metrecal!) fretting over it. Lame.

Too bad about the offensiveness of the situation, because a. ladies, I know you’ve been there (whether you are freaking out over a boy or a girl) and b. this song is so rad. I can’t find anything at all about these Fabulettes (instead I keep getting some kind of 90s girl group parody—-gross). Regardless, they are quite fabulous!



Try the Worrying Way.mp3

I don’t count calories.
I don’t exercise.
I just wonder what woman my man’s been with
When he tells me he’s been out with the guys.

Marvin Gaye//Can I Get a Witness?

I am currently blogging live from Jury Duty, at a courthouse on the corner of Fulton and Adams in Brooklyn, NY. Or at least, I am live at the time of me typing this. I can't actually post it live, because Blogger is blocked on this network. How they decided to block Blogger, but leave Facebook, Twitter, and a host of other questionable sites open, well, I have no idea. But, as a result, you are getting this post on a delay.

Jury Duty is not my favorite thing. You mostly just wait around in a gray institutional room with a bunch of other unhappy citizens. A few highlights so far:

-A video about Jury Duty (they had one of these in NJ too--equally hilarious and dated) which appears to have been put together by a low budget just-out-of-film-school kid. My favorite part was the "Trial by Ordeal" section (it was meta, since the video itself was a trial by ordeal). Some dudes in beards and rags threw a bound and gagged man into the water to see if he would float or sink. Judges of the olden times or angry Williamsburg hipsters?

-The guy running the orientation invited everyone up who couldn't speak English and then berated them, saying "if you can't speak English, how did you understand what I just said to you? You're not getting out of this!"

-The crappy one-step-below-gas-station-mart instant coffee machine.

Anyway, I thought I would bring you a song that is somewhat pertinent to the judicial system today. Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get a Witness?" is actually about wanting someone to witness a bad relationship and stand up for you, but hey, there are lots of trials that require witnesses, including criminal ones. Also, my friend Angelina used to yell this question a lot when she was drunk in the college era of our lives, so I feel good about it.



Can I Get a Witness?.mp3

So I'm gonna stick by her till the very end,
But she causes so much misery I forget how
Love is supposed to be.
Somebody, somewhere, tell her it ain't fair.
Can I get a witness?
I want a witness!

OK Go//This Too Shall Pass (Live)

Marching Monday Mail!
What is Monday Mail?

Hello and happy Valentine’s Day hangover/President’s Day. Yet again, here I am at the office when it seems like everyone else in the world is off. On top of that, I think I also may have had my all time worst MTA experience this morning getting to work. It took me seven trains/buses and an hour and fifteen minutes to get from my apartment in Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan. It usually takes me one train and 20 minutes. In fact all three recent “holidays” (MLK, SnOMG and today) have been transit nightmares. What gives!?

Moving on, do you guys know about VSL aka The Very Short List? It’s a daily email about one cool thing, whether it’s a blog, album, video, book, etc. Last week, they sent an email about this new video (below) from Chicago (now LA) band OK Go. It said:

It may come as a surprise that the dancing treadmill guys from YouTube are actually a legitimate band. But we suggest checking out OK Go’s latest and most inventive music video, featuring “This Too Shall Pass,” from their new album, Of the Color of the Blue Sky.

Dressed in deep purple marching band suits and equipped with accordion, xylophone, bass drum and snare (and eventually the entire Notre Dame marching band), OK Go perform in a swampy field on an overcast day. And they really are performing. Unlike with their previous videos, in which band members lip-sync to a prerecorded track, this song was recorded during the shoot—an impressive feat that lends the video the sort of perfect imperfection that makes OK Go endearing, funny and fun to watch. Not to mention the song itself, which is a catchy tune worthy of both your computer and your stereo.

You may remember OK Go (as I do) from their early 2000s hit, “Get Over It.” While I thought that track walked the line of delightfully poppy/annoyingly grating, erring more toward the obnoxious, this song is less prone to being potentially irritating. Chalk it up to the tubas or something. I can get down.

“This too shall pass” probably would have been a good attitude to adopt this morning while stuck in the bowels of subway hell. Of course, easier said than done. Have you ever been in the Canal Street JMZ station? That place is not pretty.

This Too Shall Pass.mp3

You know you can't keep letting it get you down
And you can't keep dragging that dead weight around.

In Tall Buildings//Walking Man

Before we start, three quick pieces of news:

1. I got the fun opportunity to contribute to a story about staying in on Valentine's day on Brokelyn by friend Beth Hoyt. As usual, I am loudly praising Daptone, who should probably consider making me some kind of brand ambassador at this point.

2. Palmyra plays tonight at Matchless in Greenpoint, which is a really fun bar to hang at, so come say hi! We are going to play a lot of "high energy rock songs."

3. I just went to the dentist and was told I have to buy an electronic toothbrush. Is this news? I don't know. But does anyone out there own an electronic toothbrush/have advice on the purchase of this peculiar device?

Now that that's done, let's Local Music Friday.
Tell me...what is this Local Music Fridays?

You may remember Erik Hall from previous LMF/afrobeat sensation Nomo. When he isn't touring and recording with that group, Erik is working on a solo project called In Tall Buildings, whose solo debut is set to release on April 6, 2010 on Whistler Records.

Getting a preview listen of this album has been quite a pleasure. Erik's voice, not just as a vocalist, but as a songwriter, is so clear and the aesthetic of the recorded sound is so well developed. It's easy to hear that he's put a lot of thought, time and energy into crafting this record.

If you're in Chicago, catch In Tall Buildings at The Whistler on 2/25.

I like this song because it's simple and poignant, which are two very important qualities for songs to possess, if you ask me. Also, I'm not going to lie. I really love that keyboard part that comes in at 1:45.



Walking Man.mp3

The walking man knows no other way to go.

Sleigh Bells//Ring Ring

Stereogum says they're a band to watch. Pitchfork says they're "rising." All this attention is making their first album one of the most anticipated of the year.

If you read this blog with any regularity, you may be well-aquatinted with my feelings on the concept of "hype." Much of the time, I think it's just that--hype. Some of the best music I've ever heard has been completely without buzz and some of the worst music I've ever heard has been completely over-praised by "prominent critics." Once in a while, a band is getting hype because it actually deserves it or because it's special in some way. I kind of feel that way about Sleigh Bells.

It's not that Sleigh Bells are good songwriters or masterful artists. At best, they sound like passable musicians with a creative sound. What I'm sure makes them stand out is their live energy...and this is something I can tell even having never seen them live. You better believe though that I'm going to try to see them live as soon as possible. Their songs sound like the best party you've never been too--the kind you know will be fun and bad and debaucherous; the kind you wouldn't tell your parents about, the kind you want to get yourself to ASAP.

I put this song on my Christmas mix because I thought it was witty and appropriate. And since we're wading through a foot of snow, it still seems so. Get it? Sleigh Bells?



Ring Ring.mp3

You're just a weatherman,
We make the wind blow.

Elliott Smith//Angel in the Snow

I woke up today and looked out the window. A.’s back garden was white and sparkly. I’m not sure that this is the snowmageddon that everyone thought it would be, but it’s still pretty. On my way to the office (yeah, no snow day for me), even the decimated industrial swamp section of Jersey looked pretty. Now that takes a lot.

I hope that you’re at home and not at work. I hope you are putting on your boots, your long underwear and your snow pants to go sled or build snowmen or maybe make snow angels. I hope someone you love is going with you. I hope you are going to have hot chocolate with plenty of marshmallows after that. And I hope that you’ll snuggle into blankets with the heat as high as you want and watch your favorite movie again.

This is a song by late great Elliott Smith about love and snow angels. It’s a song about being in awe of someone or something. You must know what I’m talking about.



Angel in the Snow.mp3

I’m crushed out on the way you are.

RJD2//2 More Dead

You may know RJD2, electronic music and hip hop producer, from his numerous commercial placements with song "Ghostwriter". And if you don't know him from that, I have a feeling I know where you do know him from. "Ghostwriter" is a great song. In fact the entire album, Deadringer, is great. That said, I'm definitely partial to this track.

I believe I first heard this stuff mid-college time. I'm sure it was Ali who introduced me. She may have even put this track on a mix. There's something so perfect and expert about the way RJD2 (aka Ramble John--note to self: name children "Ramble") mixes and mashes his beats and sounds: A dash of old funk, a pinch of a soul vocal and a base of the new. Not surprising that this delicate balance between retro and modern is a perfect fit for the Mad Men theme.

Apparently, a few years ago, RJ moved in a new musical direction--toward playing instruments and singing. It's definitely different, but not nessicarily bad. It seems as though he has returned slightly to his older style on his newer record, The Colossus.



2 More Dead.mp3

Live in NYC? RJD2 plays The Highline on March 7. Live elsewhere? He's on a major tour now.

Bluebird Handwriting//Io

Slightly Mysterious Monday Mail.
What's Monday Mail?

I like when songs feel like they’re taking you on a journey and “Io” by electronic group Bluebird Handwriting seems to be puling us along on a trippy safari. The song is at times digitally futuristic, at times a bit tribal and still at others manically analog. 8 bit-inspired sections are flanked by overdriven distortion. The juxtaposition is highly enjoyable.

I also like thinking specifically about instrumental tracks in terms of what kind of documentary they might be used to back. Listening now to this track, I immediately hear a particularly hopeful episode of This American Life. Ira, are you getting this?

I don’t know what I can really tell you about Bluebird Handwriting, as they seem to be intentionally a bit mysterious. They even wrote in with painfully minimal information:

Dear Internet/Intranet,
We've got a new release on our hands and we'd love for you to put it up on your site.

Ok, there was a little more than that—but not much. Here's what I have been able to find out:
They’re from Connecticut.
Their new EP, IOEP is out on Wednesday. On a Wednesday?
It appears as though they may be comprised of three dudes, but this is also hard to be sure of.



Io.mp3

Find out (a little, but not much) more about Bluebird Handwriting.

Television//Venus De Milo, Friction

Homeboys and homeboyettas, I have a confession to make. My confession is that I am going to abandon you. It won't be forever. I would never do that to you. But it will be until Monday. See, way back in December, I got a present from my girlfriend for our anniversary. The present was spending a night out of the city in a quaint bed and breakfast in the country with fireplaces. And at last, that day has come.

I know it's not cool to walk away from my one-a-day promise, so now I'm giving you two extra good songs by an extra good band to make up for it. That band is Television and they are amazing.

Of course, I think Ali introduced the band to me. From the almighty:

Television is an American post punk band, formed in New York City in 1973. Although Television have never had more than a cult audience in their American homeland, they have achieved significant commercial success in Europe. Today, they are widely regarded as one of the key founders of new wave music and seminal influences on punk rock.

Television was a part of the early New York underground rock scene, contemporary with bands like the Patti Smith Group and the Ramones. In contrast to the Ramones' focus on rock 'n' roll minimalism, Television's music was much more technically proficient, defined by the dueling guitars of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd.

Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd actually ran away from school in the 70s and "moved to New York to be poets." If that isn't a solid foundation on which to form a band, I don't know what is.

Although it is my understanding that they have some less-than-stellar albums, in my opinion, Marquee Moon is an all-time classic. Not a bad track on it. It's tough like punk but the musicianship is extra proficient. Tom Verlaine's voice comes across with the perfect mix of sensitive-guy contemplation and I-don't-give-a-fuck rock and roll sex appeal. The guitars are extra jamming, leading some critics to call them The Grateful Dead of punk. They used the comparison positively and negatively, but the title track is almost 11 minutes long. That's kinda jammy, guys.

The band got back together for a show in Central Park in 2007 on my birthday. I was there! It was awesome. DUH.

Have a wonderful weekend. Fall into the arms of Venus De Milo. See youse on Monday.



Venus De Milo.mp3

Friction.mp3

Richie said,
"Hey man let's dress up like cops, look at what we can do!"
Something, something said
You better not.

Pinback//Subbing for Eden

I think the San Diego-based band Pinback is highly under buzzed and underrated. Their compositions are brimming with pleasantly tangled melodies and well-written lyrics.

The core of the band are singer-songwriters Armistead Burwell Smith IV and Rob Crow. Smith once described his music as “…pretty with an edge? I don't necessarily know how to explain it. I like dark and brooding tones. I don't ever want my music to get too pretty. I like it to have an underlying rawness. Sugar coating on the top, evil underneath.” The music definitely has an edge, but it’s never overbearing, as if they adapted their sound from a subdued but anxious unease juxtaposed with their sunny, calm locale.

This song is from their most recent album, Autumn of the Seraphs, which I really love through and through. The band’s been around since 1998 and has released five full albums and eight EPs since then. They are supposed to be out with a new one this year. I bet it's going to be good.



Subbing for Eden.mp3

Petals falling from the engine.
Can you see the number?
Can you trace the name?
Sifting through you trash.
A piece of ancient history.
A ballad of an old one.

The Very Best//The Warm Heart of Africa

Let me start by saying that even though I like The Very Best, I kind of hate Vampire Weekend. This is why I was surprised when, after a friend posted this song up on a social networking site, I loved it. First I listened to it and thought, “that sounds like the guy from Vampire Weekend.” Then I confirmed: “That IS the guy from Vampire Weekend.” Then, I pondered: “Do I like it even though it features that guy from Vampire Weekend?” The answer: a resounding, “fuck yeah!”. Now, I’m waking up in the morning with this jam in my head. It really is just that catchy.

The “guy” in question is Ezra Koenig, who grew up just one town over from me in NJ exactly when I was growing up there. Look at us now.

More importantly, the band in question is The Very Best, which is comprised of African-born/UK-residing Esau Mwamwaya and the boys from UK-based electronic outfit (either unfortunately or awesomely named) Radioclit. As the makeup of collaborators would suggest, the group produces tunes that blend African rhythms with electronic sensibilities.

It’s cold in New York right now…and it’s going to be cold for a while. Blast your heat, close your eyes, put this song on and imagine yourself dancing in the deliciously warm heart of Africa.



Warm Heart of Africa.mp3

When the boys move fast, you should take it slow.

The Car Is on Fire//Ombarrops!

Air Mail, Monday Mail!
Now that we’ve returned to the present, let’s catch up on Monday Mail.

In what is undoubtably one of the weirdest solicitations I have ever received, Mariusz writes:

In the 1960s, the government of Poland attempted to secretly join the so-called “Star Wars” programme. Alone in this endeavor, however and with confidence in short supply, it failed to live up to the standards set by the superpowers of the time. Though it did manage to send three astronauts into space. “The Car Is on Fire” team was to fulfill a project known by the code-name “Ombarrops!”. Their research was assigned to Soma station, headed by John McEntire, well-known for his participation in such expeditions as “Tortoise”, “The Sea and Cake” or “Stereolab”.

Unfortunately, on the way back home, their capsule ran out of fuel, leaving them all alone in the abyss of endless space until this day. Their country abandoned them a long time ago, so they’ve decided to send this message into the ether, hoping to be saved someday. But the most important are the results of their scientific research, which can be found below.

The so-called “scientific research” includes this song, a jumpy, jittery, poppy anthem from their latest effort of the same name.

Apparently, this band is really big in their native Poland and even won a Fryderyk (the Polish equivalent of a Grammy). They also have songs called “Parker Posey” and “Ex Sex is (not) the Best.” Ain’t that the truth. I mean…



Ombarrops!.mp3

In this life, in this life full of boundaries,
We should appreciate all the victories.