The Girl From Eponyma's Name Is Eponyma
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.


 

Boys Noize - "My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix Feist)"

Although in some ways the combination of heavy dance beats and ethereal soft female vocals was a standard played out long ago, I can't stop listening to this. Perhaps it's that same realization we all come to that in the realm of exciting work, old standards and new grounds have almost equal merit, depending on their execution. Though I can't claim to understand him as much as I'd like to, because my self-esteem makes me think he'd say "you're WAY off", but it's similar to Dave Hickey's idea of "the quality of the work" as opposed to "the quality of the job". This is great work. Beats that feel like robo-jaws chomping down on the empty hot dancefloor space, and Feist swaying by with a wrist-swinging hair-flipping walk that makes wind as it goes on by. Dreamy, dancey, black. [Buy from Amazon UK]

Unknown Artist - "Song From Bin Lu"

The room goes quiet and her voice rises like a single candle, flickering. Her whole family is there, and some other people from the town, and this was unexpected. She hadn't mentioned wanting to sing a song, she had been quiet all day, preparing the meal with a downturned focus. But now she is singing, and has everyone's attention, but is herself shy of it. It's as if the song has taken over, that the song has the attention, and she too is watching it, eyes open and welling, as it comes out of her. The day's work, the whole year's, has been hard, not as green as other years, and this is some sort of mourning. Like the suffering of the whole town, of her parents' strife, elegized. She glances at her brothers, then down at the floor to avoid crying, then up at the roof as the last bits of sky fall through the grass, and by now it's clear to everyone watching why she is singing. She will leave this family, this town, and never come back. [Buy from Sublime Frequencies]

Posted by Dan at November 19, 2007 3:01 AM
Comments

"SH: Quality of the job?

DH: I mean, are you doing something worth doing? That’s a reasonable question. When you really respect somebody who does something different from you, your respect is for the quality of the job."

It's not similar, it's opposite! Am I off?

Posted by Tyler at November 19, 2007 11:09 AM

well, as I understand it, the "job" is similar to the "idea" of the work, like for instance, releasing a record entirely made of field recordings of underrepresented North Vietnamese, as in the second song today, is a very respectable "job", whereas the "job" of making a song of phat beats under pretty vocals is, while totally respectable in its own way, not a new one, so my respect is aimed instead at the "work". this is my understanding of the distinction, but I'm open to being convinced otherwise.

Posted by dan at November 19, 2007 11:35 AM

Dan, your writing has been just spot-on of late.

Spot-on-er than usual, that is.

What I mean to say is, YES.

Posted by Mark at November 19, 2007 8:43 PM

I think you've got the distinction, but to me it seemed Hickey was saying that if the job wasn't good, the quality of the work couldn't really make up for it alone. So, if you're bringing up his distinction between a "great job" and "great work", and then calling the song just the former, for me - maybe I'm nuts - it implies that it's not also the latter; otherwise you'd have said so. Saying it's great work, in light of the Hickey take on it, seemed either a misunderstanding of what he's talking about or dismissive. (In other words, it's like a backhanded compliment which reveals that you don't "really respect" the work.) You know what I mean?

Posted by Tyler at November 22, 2007 11:29 AM

well, yes it's a backhanded compliment, I don't think the song is breaking ground, it's a remix for land's sake. but i still listen to it and love it. hickey makes the distinction by quoting his artist friend, who says he CAN'T respect something that he doesn't like the quality of the job, but why does that keep me from doing that?

Posted by dan at November 22, 2007 5:12 PM

It doesn't, I just wasn't sure if you did. You were using someone else's idea, and using it differently, so I wanted clarification. And I got it. Yay!

Posted by Tyler at November 26, 2007 3:55 PM

Post a comment







(Please be patient, it can be slow.)
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.

To hear a song in your browser, click the and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'

All songs are removed within a few weeks of posting.

Said the Gramophone launched in March 2003, and added songs in November of that year. It was one of the world's first mp3blogs.

If you would like to say hello, find out our mailing addresses or invite us to shows, please get in touch:
Montreal, Canada: Sean
Toronto, Canada: Emma
Montreal, Canada: Jeff
Montreal, Canada: Mitz

Please don't send us emails with tons of huge attachments; if emailing a bunch of mp3s etc, send us a link to download them. We are not interested in streaming widgets like soundcloud: Said the Gramophone posts are always accompanied by MP3s.

If you are the copyright holder of any song posted here, please contact us if you would like the song taken down early. Please do not direct link to any of these tracks. Please love and wonder.

"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.
our patrons
Said the Gramophone does not take advertising. We are supported by the incredible generosity of our readers. These were our donors in 2013.
watch StG's wonderful video contest winners
search


Archives
elsewhere
our favourite blogs
(◊ means they write about music)

Back to the World
La Blogothèque
Weird Canada
Destination: Out
Endless Banquet
A Grammar (Nitsuh Abebe)
Ill Doctrine
A London Salmagundi
Dau.pe
Words and Music
Petites planétes
Gorilla vs Bear
Herohill
Silent Shout
Clouds of Evil
The Dolby Apposition
Awesome Tapes from Africa
Molars
Daytrotter
Matana Roberts
Pitchfork Reviews Reviews
i like you [podcast]
Musicophilia
Anagramatron
Nicola Meighan
Fluxblog
radiolab [podcast]
CKUT Music
plethoric pundrigrions
Wattled Smoky Honeyeater
The Clear-Minded Creative
Torture Garden
LPWTF?
Passion of the Weiss
Juan and Only
Horses Think
White Hotel
Then Play Long (Marcello Carlin)
Uno Moralez
Coming Up For Air (Matt Forsythe)
ftrain
my love for you is a stampede of horses
It's Nice That
Marathonpacks
Song, by Toad
In Focus
AMASS BLOG
Inventory
Waxy
WTF [podcast]
Masalacism
The Rest is Noise (Alex Ross)
Goldkicks
My Daguerreotype Boyfriend
The Hood Internet

things we like in Montreal
eat:
st-viateur bagel
café olimpico
Euro-Deli Batory
le pick up
lawrence
kem coba
le couteau
au pied de cochon
mamie clafoutis
tourtière australienne
chez boris
ripples
alati caserta
vices & versa
+ paltoquet, cocoa locale, idée fixe, patati patata, the sparrow, pho tay ho, qin hua dumplings, caffé italia, hung phat banh mi, caffé san simeon, meu-meu, pho lien, romodos, patisserie guillaume, patisserie rhubarbe, kazu, lallouz, maison du nord, cuisine szechuan &c

shop:
phonopolis
drawn + quarterly
+ bottines &c

shows:
casa + sala + the hotel
blue skies turn black
montreal improv theatre
passovah productions
le cagibi
cinema du parc
pop pmontreal
yoga teacher Thea Metcalfe


(maga)zines
Cult Montreal
The Believer
The Morning News
McSweeney's
State
The Skinny

community
ILX