I spent yesterday afternoon marveling over the spectacular new American Art wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was surprised and delighted so many times by the thoughtfully curated collections and themes. My three favorite rooms were the “Artist’s Studio” painting depictions, the room of portraits of women (and, by extension, conceptions of femininity), and American Impressionism.
I decided early in my tour through the wing that The Weakerthans felt like a really perfect iPod soundtrack for the collection – something in their directness, and cogent beauty. As I walked into the American Impressionism room, this song shuffled on, and this picture greeted me.
Off to SXSW tomorrow for my panel Tuesday; I’m working on a shortlist of bands I am prioritizing seeing, and will post that soon, for those of you also heading into Austin’s sweaty gorgeous fray.
I board a plane early this morning to Portland, Oregon, for the first of four short-term graduate school residencies I’ll be completing in two-week chunks over the next couple of years, contributing to a shiny Master’s degree in Intercultural Relations. This new song from John K. Samson (The Weakerthans) is just about the most perfect soundtrack for the precipice I stand on that I can think of.
John’s work with The Weakerthans (especially on 2007′s Reunion Tour) pierces me through more effortlessly than most other records I can think of. There’s something in the timbre of his voice that is so completely honest, with literate lyrics that twist and roll over each other. I agree with Craig Finn (of the Hold Steady) in the video below, where he says that John’s songs are “beautiful, brutal, honest and comforting, all at the same time.” After releasing an acoustic EP this past November, Samson is bringing us his first full-length solo album Provincial (Epitaph/ANTI) on January 24.
“Letter In Icelandic From The Ninette San” is another heart-stoppingly gorgeous track from the new album, and you should listen immediately. And no, I don’t know what that title means. If I’ve lived this long with “Elegy For Gump Worsley,” I can live with this one too, when the music is this good.
JOHN K. SAMSON SPRING TOUR DATES (More US & Canadian dates TBA soon!)
3/10 – Boston, MA at Brighton Music Hall
3/11 – Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer
3/13 – Washington DC at Black Cat
3/15 – New York, NY at Bowery Ballroom
3/16 – Pittsburgh, PA at Club Cafe
3/17 – Buffalo, NY at Mohawk
4/1 – Seattle,WA at Tractor Tavern
4/2 – Portland, OR at Doug Fir
4/5 – San Diego, CA at The Casbah
4/6 – Los Angeles, CA at The Troubadour
4/7 – San Francisco, CA at Bottom of the Hill
Part of my birthday celebration of special things to do yesterday involved getting a little spur-of-the-moment fifteen minute “Traditional Chinese Massage” at the mall from a spry little Asian man for $12.
I thought he was all going to adjust my feng shui and tap my meridians, but instead he just wailed on my back (and pinched the back of my ankles – what is that?). I felt like I was going through a car wash — you know the part where the floppy brushes whap and whap and whap your car windshield and you think just for a moment that it might break? Yeah, like that. I am actually sore this morning, feeling like I got jumped into Fight Club with none of the fun.
It was a beautiful Colorado summer day yesterday, replete with a warm afternoon rain and a fiery sunset. Three things that made me happy as I celebrated: a) trying on a hot pink one-piece strapless terrycloth jumper/track-shorts thingie that made me feel like a full-fledged member of Three’s Company b) going out to a lovely birthday dinner at our local brewery with a few girlfriends I am lucky to know and c) really ridiculously enjoying some fresh cold watermelon from our local farmer’s market. Simple pleasures of an August birthday.
It’s hard to believe that I am 28 now. I moved here when I was 25, and turned 26 shortly thereafter, but somehow the leap from there (right in the middle of my twenties) to 28 seems a long one, since one year from today I will be a year shy of thirty. Sheesh. I still feel maybe 15, 16. I am officially in the twilight of my youth, I’ve been told. It’s a good life, a wonderful life, and I have no complaints, but how did 28 creep up on me?
Here’s something that makes me feel urgently 15 again:
Take Care Of Us Star Spangles This is absolutely my new favorite album of the moment. I’ve been a fan of these gritty NYC rockers for about two years now [previous post], but I’ve been out of the loop and their newest release Dirty Bomb (2007, Tic Records) slipped right past me. The Westerberg-meets-Malin-meets-Clash blend percolates to a perfect urgent richness on this newest effort and it is addictive, melodic, catchy rough-edged rock. If you buy it over on this newfangled Amie Street thingie you get 3 extra tracks and the whole thing will only set you back like $6. It’s the deal of the summer for this much goodness.
Basketball Rogue Wave I picked up this excellent charity benefit CD while I was in San Francisco this past February for the Noise Pop Festival and completely forgot to write anything about it. At The Crossroads is a benefit for homeless youth in the City by the Bay, and for a mere $12 you get a perfectly balanced blend of bands you’ve heard of and bands you haven’t, all bringing their A-game to the comp. Artists include Calexico, Creeper Lagoon, Scissors for Lefty, Elephone, Bettie Serveert, Scrabbel (who I saw open for Cake the night I got this CD) and The Faint. A few of the tunes are fun covers (Morrissey’s “Please (x3) Let Me Get What I Want” and U2′s “Seconds”). Good music for a good cause, this song is summery and shimmery — I am glad Rogue Wave offered it up for this compilation.
Night Windows Weakerthans I’ve been excited to hear the upcoming Reunion Tour album from The Weakerthansafter hearing effusive praise from a few pals who have given it a spin already — and after hearing this track I see why. I have a penchant for sharp lyrics, and this is an area where Canada’s The Weakerthans [previous post] stand out. Their incisive, introspective feel will probably remind you a little bit of Death Cab For Cutie if you haven’t listened to The Weakerthans before; they are a richly nuanced group that I really enjoy. This song could undeniably be the most perfect summer night driving song ever recorded. You can almost see the yellow lines flitting past, feel the warm summer wind rushing in the open windows. Reunion Tour is due September 25 on Anti-/Epitaph Records.
Fa-Fa-Fa Datarock A DJ friend of mine in Seattle raved about these guys, and holy cow just hearing the opening twenty seconds of this indeed makes me want to get up and dance, in his club or in my living room. We’re talking an inexorable pull, with those James Brown teasing guitar licks meets Talking Heads shouts. Apparently Datarock is a duo from Norway that have a penchant for matching track suits (hey, kind of like that time I saw Devo!) and make their own brand of urgent dance-punk-electronica. Those awesome Norwegians. This is off their 2005 album Datarock, and I just learned that this song will also make you want to drink cola beverages, or so hopes Coca-Cola in their newest commercial.
Complete Shakeup Travel By Sea My pal the Aquarium Drunkard has his own little record label dealie going on (you know those cool L.A. types) called Autumn Tone Records and is slowly building a quality catalog of mostly alt-country and folk releases. Travel By Sea is a lazy, sun-flecked, swing in a hammock on a late summer day band that hails from a California/Colorado long distance collaboration between Kyle Kersten and Brian Kraft. Their beautifully crafted-album Shadows Rise is now being re-released on Autumn Tone, with a new album expected any day now.
It’s already a new week? One thing that flew past me in the craziness of last week was a mention of the new Contrast Podcast that I contributed to, where a bunch of us bloggers get together to virtually DJ a radio show. The theme last week was Who?and I finally contributed a most excellent Pearl Jam track (“Who You Are”). I held out on the PJ for a while but hey, what do you expect?
This upcoming week Tim will be putting together Contrast Podcast #18 wherein all of us were supposed to submit an instrumental track and then SING OUR INTRO. I confess, I recorded one and then buckled. I listened to it, buckled, and didn’t send it. I can sing, but geez that felt too vulnerable. I’ll be interested to see who had the cajones to submit for this week’s podcast. In the meantime, listen to last week’s for some mind-expanding variety & good tunes.
Chains Danielia Cotton Swanky, bluesy, delicious. Danielia Cotton hit the music scene with a bang last year with her Small White Town debut album (HipShake Music). This is a raw, soulful, dust-on-the-front-porch album from Danielia, who alternately shares some of the growl of Joss Stone, the blues-rock of the Black Crowes, and the vocal chops of Janis Joplin. She combines her skills on the guitar with an appreciation of all the musical greats that came before her, and the result is fresh and highly recommended.
So Good To Me Sam Champion Now despite the name, Sam Champion is a quartet from New York, not just one guy named Sam (they apparently named their band after a weatherman from a 1974 TV show). Thanks to my pal Chad for enthusiastically recommending this Ryan Adams-fronting-Pavement sound. He said I would be humming the main riff (from this track off their 2005 album Slow Rewind, Razor & Tie) and I have been all morning. A spirited alt-country shout-out chorus with handclaps & some fierce electric guitars; I like it.
Reconstruction Site The Weakerthans I am just rediscovering The Weakerthans; an old friend slipped me their Left and Leaving disc back in 2000, and I promptly lost it in a box of stuff when I was moving. I just found it this weekend and have been listening ever since, and catching up on what they’ve done since then. This track is off their 2003 follow-up to Left and Leaving, the weathered sounds of the Reconstruction Site album. If you’ve never heard these guys, give all their work a spin. They have a quirky blend of several influences, from country to punk to indie folksy — all wrapped with bitingly intelligent lyrics. It’s those lyrics that make me want to listen again and again. On this track, there’s a simple line that nonetheless conveys perfectly a sense of unease: “I’m your dress near the back of your knees and your slip is showing.” Bucket Full Of Nails Centro-Matic I swore I wrote something about Centro-Matic a few months ago when I discovered the loose & beautiful sound of these Texas indie-alt-rock-country guys. But I guess not, so now I get to recommend that you take a listen to their newest disc Fort Recovery (Misra Records) which has a melancholy sweet air permeating the whole thing. One reviewer wrote that it captures “that time just before the sun goes down when everything looks burnished and beautiful, but also a little sad” and I completely agree. This piano track also has a lazy touch of Jagger or Wayne Coyne on the vocals.
Into The Groove Sonic Youth. Covering Madonna. Seriously. You all know that I love covers, and I will argue that the very best of the covers are the ones that take the original and turn it into something completely new — Exhibit A: Cat Power, “Satisfaction.” Exhibit B: This damn song. The torchbearers of mid-90s-fuzzy-rock, Sonic Youth, slog their way through Madonna’s slumber party favorite and, well, there’s something special about Thurston Moore’s voice cracking on the high notes. Whose idea was this? (thx Matt)
BONUS RECOMMENDED READING: I found that I could relate to about 20 things in this article by the Heather from Dooce, detailing her college years of loving ’90s music and BritPop, studying abroad in London and going on an Oasis history hunt, and reflections on how (to her Mormon ears), “the heartbreak in Kurt Cobain’s voice was to me what it would sound like to violate all the ten commandments at the same time.”
Name: Heather Browne Location: Colorado, originally by way of California Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel." —Hunter S. Thompson
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
Name: Heather Browne
