MEDUSA
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.


 

Paul Jelinek painting


Karneef - "Got Money". Like Mozart's Sister or Pat Jordache (where he was a member), Karneef is an act from Montreal's new bedroom school: damaged, funky, full of appetite and desire. None of Grimes' childish hexes; this is more grown-up than that, nicked and mangy, wolftongue lapping. In Error is a simmering, sidling broil, with grooves that will inch over and burn. Karneef can sound like David Byrne or he can sound like Prince, he can sound like James Murphy or Jim Carrey circa The Mask. "We Found Money" is a resolute jam, skewed and self-satisfied. The singer found money. I do believe he found money. As you may imagine, he is happy about this. He celebrates like a man dancing alone on the dancefloor, like a man dancing alone in an alley, like a junkyard dog dancing alone at the top of the heap. But with the song's slow advance - woodblocks and backing sighs, a cellphone interruption, the sudden & unexpected, frisky, acoustic guitar - you can imagine everyone joining in. You can imagine the scales falling from everyone's eyes, realizing this dirtbag ain't. He found money. He's a millionaire. [buy]


Blue Hawaii - "In Two". New music from a duo that made one of my favourite songs of 2010; a band that's described as a Braids side-project but that's better than Braids, for my money; more pop, more constrained, water poured into a container. With Blue Hawaii I am always made to think of essences, concentrates. You reduce a thing to its purest part. Acid blotter, rosewater, petroleum - it shows itself in the first taste. Splendour unhidden. Either you look her in the eyes or you do not. Other bands are also messing with cut-up synths, sudden blooms, the layering of female voice - but most use these sounds as a screen, concealing that there is nothing inside, no interior. With Blue Hawaii the music is all thrown colours, inkblots, addings. At most it is a veil - something to conceal those eyes. To matter, a song does not need to be a shapeless trance. It does not need to be a room full of smoke. It can be many shivering, separate fires. [out January 22 / via Gorilla vs Bear / five gigs at CMJ]


(painting by Paul Jelinek)

Posted by Sean at October 15, 2012 11:44 AM
Comments

wow, this is no joke. best songs i've heard all week, behind lou rawls and lcmdf. keep up the good work! :p

Posted by lauren at October 16, 2012 9:27 AM

Oh my god this is the best Post ever YOLO swag swag

Posted by Ali at October 22, 2012 9:12 AM

yolo

Posted by hi at October 22, 2012 11:39 AM

Post a comment







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about said the gramophone
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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