CARVE OUT A WEEK
by Sean
Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.


 

Shelby Sifers - "Blackberry". A song with distractions: unwanted phone-calls, a glockenspiel, a joke, a clever rhyme, a chorus. Shelby doesn't need this stuff. She's trying to impress us but she doesn't need it. She wrote a perfect first verse - if one could knit words onto a wall, and I could knit, I would knit the first verse into my wall. I'd lie in my bed with the sun coming in and watch the curling wool. She sings it strangely, slowly, beautifully. Her words are deliberated, like the notes of her guitar. Her feelings are measured into syllables. We can only feel so many things in a day and this first verse gives me all I need for Monday. It meets all my dietary requirements. I'm not hungry any more.

From this
blackberry bush
we can pick flowers in June.
or harvest berries in October.
and bake cobblers for our lovers.
and spill sugar on the tables.
[buy Shelby Sifers' new album "soon", or her terrific previous one "now", or both / MySpace]

Mixylodian - "River of Milk". This song's finest moment is when the room suddenly starts to spin at 1:45ish. He sings the lines with a greedy desperation, like someone who really wanted this to happen. And then the synths and drum machine pile on and you can see all the little automaton parts of the party he's at - the taking off the shoes, the hey dude!s, the fridge opening, the hunting for the bottle-opener, the bottle-opening, the tired cheerses, the two people left alone in a room when everyone else leaves for the kitchen & who don't want to talk to each other but do so out of social obligation & pretend like it's fascinating & the guy misunderstands her enthusiasm and goes home that night wondering if maybe he should track her down on Facebook and see if she likes good movies & if so then ask her out - but when the breakdown stops, the protagonist is in the street, drunk as Stephen Dedalus, doing a Sunset Rubdown impression, waving goodbye. The next morning he wonders where the hell he left his clarinet and why he keeps doing this. Is he an alcoholic? Does he still love her? Does he hate himself? That night he buys another old keyboard and stays up till 1:30 am eating Ritz crackers, listening to each drumbeat in turn, waiting to hear the right right right one.

[Mixylodian is from Montreal - MySpace]

Posted by Sean at July 9, 2007 8:46 AM
Comments

Treat me as I use to be: a huge fan of your work !
See ya !

Posted by Ellis at July 9, 2007 9:52 AM

Your Mixylodian description was dead on.

Posted by Jad at July 9, 2007 12:19 PM

I'm a long-time reader. For some reason I feel compelled to say 'thank you' today... so:

Thank you.

Keep it up. This is easily one of my favorite corners of the whole interwebs.

Posted by dave bee at July 9, 2007 9:08 PM

I'm not sure how I found you or your worldwide webbed corner, but it's been my favorite comfy chair for awhile now. And as I find myself sitting here I wonder, which do I prefer getting lost in: your descriptions of the songs or the actual songs themselves? Hmmmm. I must admit it's a draw... every single time. thank you for that.

Posted by robin at July 9, 2007 9:44 PM

Mixylodian brought it. Great, great tune.

Posted by fred at July 10, 2007 3:29 AM

thank you, all. we are too proud and shy to say it but comments like those (to be honest, any comments!) go a v long way toward making sure we come back every day. warm regards.

Posted by sean at July 10, 2007 8:38 AM

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(Please be patient, it can be slow.)
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This is a daily sampler of really good songs. All tracks are posted out of love. Please go out and buy the records.

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"And I shall watch the ferry-boats / and they'll get high on a bluer ocean / against tomorrow's sky / and I will never grow so old again."
about the authors
Sean Michaels is the founder of Said the Gramophone. He is a writer, critic and author of the theremin novel Us Conductors. Follow him on Twitter or reach him by email here. Click here to browse his posts.

Emma Healey writes poems and essays in Toronto. She joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. This is her website and email her here.

Jeff Miller is a Montreal-based writer and zinemaker. He is the author of Ghost Pine: All Stories True and a bunch of other stories. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Say hello on Twitter or email.

Mitz Takahashi is originally from Osaka, Japan who now lives and works as a furniture designer/maker in Montreal. English is not his first language so please forgive his glamour grammar mistakes. He is trying. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Reach him by email here.

Site design and header typography by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet. The header graphic is randomized: this one is by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet.
PAST AUTHORS
Dan Beirne wrote regularly for Said the Gramophone from August 2004 to December 2014. He is an actor and writer living in Toronto. Any claim he makes about his life on here is probably untrue. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.

Jordan Himelfarb wrote for Said the Gramophone from November 2004 to March 2012. He lives in Toronto. He is an opinion editor at the Toronto Star. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.
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