Pressed One's Best
by Dan
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.


 

Miracle Fortress - "Little Trees"

An unexpected honey sandwich from the brains (as opposed to brawn) behind Think About Life. The Miracle Fortress album is (literally) covered in bedsheets and kittens, which act perhaps as an asterisk to the style, but they need not. Graham Van Pelt's approach is straightforward, and simple, and unafraid. I like it. The songs may not all be to my taste, but neither are Think About Life's, I didn't expect anything different. But here. Here, the song seems to ask "hey, little buddy, can I get into bed and snuggle with you?" at the beginning, which is kind of annoying, but please let it in. If you let it lie there, next to you, the next thing you know, when you're turning over and out of a dream, it'll be this little electric treasure, this tapered and tapping surf tune. The vocals, timid on their own, come together and lift right up and over their own heads, something similar to the way a time-lapse sapling flips itself inside-out and, quivering, grows up.
[available at Secret City soon, or on iTunes now]

--

John Cale - "Paris 1919"
Final Fantasy - "Paris 1919 (with Cadence Weapon)"

I didn't get into this (StG) because I know a lot about music. I know less than probably most of you. So forgive me when I say I had to find out this evening that Paris 1919 was actually a John Cale cover, and not an unreleased FF song off his new album. But couldn't it be? When I heard the vast majesty of the original just hours ago, the regal seamless velvet wonder that it is, I was amazed at how easily Owen Pallett has been bringing this style into realms new and exciting, and yet so faithfully, spirit intact, for like two albums now. Of course he has his own thing, and he's great and all, but the sheer similarity of these artists has drastically increased my respect for both. It's like, and this is an incredibly esoteric simile, 'cause it's late, but I swear it's exactly what I mean, watching John Cassevetes' Faces after Andrew Bujalski's Mutual Appreciation. Yeesh. I told you music wasn't my thing.

[Buy John Cale] [buy Final Fantasy] [Buy John Cassavetes] [Buy Andrew Bujalski]

Posted by Dan at April 30, 2007 2:02 AM
Comments

Miracle Fortress have also done a John Cale cover, of "Hanky Panky Nohow," a song also originally from the Paris 1919 album. Was this pairing intentional?

Posted by Jack Fear at April 30, 2007 8:13 AM

(That is such an incredibly dweeby question. I hang my head in shame.)

Posted by Jack Fear at April 30, 2007 8:35 AM

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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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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.

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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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