Said the Gramophone

if you've got nothing to put on...

Deedee Pitt - "Laars Er Op". This song is taken from a comp of 60s Dutch girl-groups. And so we must deduce that the Dutch pop scene in the 1960s consisted of women in tall brown leather boots backed by troops of short Flemish kazoo-players. As Babelfish is unable to translate the title, I must assume that they were also known for singing exuberant and gibberish choruses. It's interesting how the brain plays with foreign words: I don't pay much attention to song titles and for a long time I thought this track's refrain was a castigatory "That's enough! That's enough! That's enough! That's enough!" But, of course, it's "Laars Er Op". Which is fine. But if it were "That's enough," this tune would be oh-so-ripe for remakes. It'd have that Nancy Sinatra mix of steeliness and pout - the sort of pop artifact that todays' popstars are so keen to recreate.

Jacob Borshard - "Grass Stains". I heard this as part of Ryan's Catbirdseat June Mix. It blew breezily past, the first time - but returning to the playlist this was such a stand-out; a beautiful little find. Borshard plays his ukelele in familiar ways, cute sing-song of bikes and mermaids - a sound squeezed in somewhere between Page France and Jens Lekman (& do I hear a touch of The Weakerthans' John K Samson?). But even forgetting the sub-Archies breakdown at the end, eventually the song's aesthetic tweaks a bit: there's something awesome and loose in how Borshard's indieboy romance takes a turn toward the sexy, the way he slips into talk of "birthday suits", the way he casts aside "your bra". Ultimately the artist "Grass Stains" most recalls is (early) Mirah: her casual, shrugging mixture of twee naivete and smouldering, savvy bedroom strum.

The whole record can be downloaded at Jacob Borshard's site. He's also a sculptor (and painter?), whose set of bronze dinosaur sculptures are steadying, tender and very, very nice.

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Elsewhere:

My new favourite blog is 1.618. Every day they post a song they love and, without any further commentary, an image to accompany it. The arrogant part of me would describe it as "Said the Gramophone... in photographs". But their imagery is far more successful than our fumbling phrases: like monks' illuminations of your favourite pop passages. My favourites (already, so many!): Royksopp, Belly and Sebastian, Ellen Allien, The Beatles, Junior Boys, Daft Punk.

I do not live in North America nor own a television but man I hope you caught Stephen Colbert's interview with Congressman Lynn Westmoreland. Hys-ter-i-c-a-l. Don't read the expurgated transcript - skip to the video. (Quicktime/YouTube).

PS: In less than a week I'm going away on a three week holiday. If you need to hear from me about something before then, please get in touch soon.