THE SOUND OF WINGS
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.


 

Photo by Katja Mater photo by katja mater

Mount Eerie - "In Moonlight". A hundred black cats cross your path. A hundred black birds cross your sky. A hundred black thoughts cross your mind. & in moonlight you go walking, not even knowing what i'm looking for / my life is just saying one thing / "i will find you". And there where you expect stillness: noise. The same black shapes, thousands of them, shrieking, and as the moonlight meets their fur & feathers you see your own face reflected there, the colour of never. [buy]

Rajaton - "Mita kaikatat, kivonen?". This is a song whose English translation is "Wherefore Grumblest Thou, O Grindstone?", performed by a Finnish folk-choral acapella group. It's also wonderful. The reason the grindstone is grumbling is that life seems hard, but the song Rajaton are singing says: uh, dude, no it's not; check out all the good stuff that happens. And then they sing it in sweet-tea, cardinals, bluejays, kites. [buy]

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Elsewhere: A thoughtful introduction to Jim Woodring's wise, broken, baffling, genius Frank comic. Love Michael's comment -- I always saw Frank as equal parts smelling salts and embalming fluid.

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Visiting the site today you might be lucky enough to have landed on our new header graphic by Kit Malo. If not, you can hit reload a bunch of times til you see it. Kit's a dear gramo-friend and long ago did a guestpost for us, with Alden Penner. Thanks so & so & so much, K Quebec.

Posted by Sean at May 26, 2008 12:13 AM
Comments

the mount eerie song begins with a promise and ends in despair. strange how this song was aptly chosen for these days.
thank you.

Posted by k at May 27, 2008 4:00 PM

It's always so spot on over here--I am like, "hey, I am interested in [band]," and then a few days later, there's a StG post about it.

Thanks for the Mount Eerie introduction. Amazing description, too, as always. Thank you for constantly living up to what music writing should stick to in the first place: the concept of criticism-as-describing.

Posted by Jim Withington at May 28, 2008 2:54 PM

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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.

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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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