Archives : all posts by Dan

Kristoffer Ragnstam - "Beauty"

This song, like its brother below, has two separate halves. The first is sliced from the stalk of the Hidden Cameras-style run-on-the-spot upward spiral that goes and goes and crests and crests. It's like a baby grand with a ragtop. The second half is the daytime motel room, scotch from an old cooler that's long lost its cool, lifestyle, or fake lifestyle, of a Van Morrison song. I'm suddenly in a dirty old suit, ragged from partying, and giving the finger to some kids waiting for the school bus.

[Site]

Snowjackets - "The Holy Flower (The Baroque Seasons remix)"

I got this song like an hour ago in my inbox. I know, eh? As I was saying before, but this time, three halves: first half, like reading Boy's diary. Being led briskly down a richly decorated hall, chandeliers pass steadily overhead. The second half, the percussion and tensity of a Broken Social Scene song. Out of the hallway and onto the horses. The third half, swirls and wisps with the chorus and throb of The Flaming Lips. The horses suddenly lift off into space. Their legs not fake-running, though, just hanging loose, swelling slightly from the lack of pressure.

[MySpace]

Pulp - "Pink Glove (Peel Session)"

[Buy]

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Of Montreal - "Requiem for O.M.M.2. (Daytrotter Session)"

NOTE: sample triangle will not work for this song. please visit the link to hear it.

This reminds me of hearing Fiery Furnaces acoustic stuff, where the simplicity and strength of the melodies come up to the surface like pulling a house out of a lake. Woah, that was down there? Of course! What did you think the fish were living in?

[the last time I wrote about this song]

Matt & Kim - "Yea Yeah"

I've brought the cast of Annie in today to sing you guys their "marching band" song. Daddy (Warbucks) comes in for the verses, but the chorus is all urchin, gamin, and trash. [Buy]

Cadence Weapon - "Lisa's Spider"

I saw Cadence Weapon at Pop Montreal with Matty P. and KK, and it was a rumbling, throttling show, that pulled my lapels (and I was in a t-shirt) and bounced me up and down on the linoleum of the second-floor club. I got pretty scared halfway through when I literally felt the floor start to sag beneath my feet. That feeling of giving way is in this song; it's constantly about the burst open, like waking up 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes before your alarm. But it counts down and says "wait.." for the entire 2:31, and then lifts its hand and says "see, there you go" with the best metaphor about art I've heard in a long time. [Buy Breaking Kayfabe]

The Tragically Hip - "In View"

I've only heard this song twice. First time in winter, in a wet minivan, getting carpooled home from a ski trip, and we were all listening to the radio softly. Havre's mom's hair was hanging unnaturally over the back of the driver's seat, and I looked at it the whole time. Plus, Havre had just said "shit" accidentally a few minutes before, so things were a bit settled into silence. The next time I heard it was that summer, at the concert, when everybody started jumping when they played it. I didn't jump, but I did turn around and look out at the dark distance. I saw a plume of smoke, the concession tents, and the path to the parking lot with trees like curtains. Two older kids were making out, and an older couple standing so far back, just smiled and kind of swayed. When it was over, we went home, and on the way we heard Queen on the radio. [Buy]

Crayon Resist - "James"

The next day, I went even further backward in time. [Buy]

The Winks - "Nolan Ryan"

a certain fruit fly is not slave, for whatever, while possibly interesting, unfortunately not necessary to know, reason, needs not abide by the rule of inertia. Or rather, abides only by it. This fruit fly, understand, is unstoppable. Every path it flies, it disrupts the matter in its way, nothing in the universe can resist its movement. Of course it would wreak havoc on the fruit on your counter, hold out no hope of having that clementine, that plum. But furthermore, think of park benches and church pews, you would look at the old wood and see the paths the worms took; those squiggly, turny roads. This fly's whole life would be this, through cars, and purses, and unlucky children's dirty hair. Buses speed through it, and the fly wipes out 30 people at once. A sleeping supply teacher, twitching her nose, loses it clean off her face. Some would say, "But how then, without resistance, could this fly even fly?" To which I can only say, "You want to find out? It'll be the last thing you see." [Buy]

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I'm in a new weekly comedy show at Theatre Ste. Catherine. 264 ste. catherine east, Fridays at 11PM, 5$. Anyone who says "Dan Beirne is a tasty dish" at the door this week gets a 2-for-1.

I got this marvelous collection of Coyle and Sharpe pranks for my birthday from a dear friend. Having never heard of them before, they combine so many of the things I like so much about old comedy, that I'm quite amazed something so completely representative of my taste in this genre remained so unknown to me for so long. They are great, and we will start with an appropriate introduction; the first track on the first disc (of 4):

Coyle and Sharpe - "Grevenz"

These radio pranks shine and twinkle with an innocence and a simplicity that feels like the invention of a martial art. At first, at base, only the most slight and deliberate movements are necessary. And this would not work anywhere else. With only audio as a tool, this is the perfect prank. Plus, the guy's name is Stephen King.

This is also unlike a lot of their others, because in "Grevenz" they are two different men: one host and one hypnotist. For the majority of their pieces, they are just two men, essentially the same, barraging the individual with one constant and persistent idea. Take this one, for example:

Coyle and Sharpe - "Human Sugar Bowl"

Many of their pieces are based on Coyle and Sharpe being obscure scientists, with advancements in science that they feel compelled to share with a certain selection of the population. The second most amazing thing about these tracks (second to their positivity and benign approach) is how eloquent their victims are. Listen how quickly this man gets them to admit that this experiment would probably kill him, and how successful that is for the bit, how it challenges them in their focus. This is the sign of pranking in its purest form, where the interaction between fake and real makes the humour, when the audience (and the comedian) can say "yes, look at them fight!"

Coyle and Sharpe - "Crawfish Boat Shirt"

And here this idea flip-flops where Coyle and Sharpe almost let their victim confuse them. They let him do all the work, let him keep talking until he says something they like, and then they just say "fine, yeah, we're asking you to give us your shirt". And then the last most delightful thing about some of these pieces: their break-down and confession to the victim. Something understandably absent from more recent artists' work in the form, but an interesting relic, kind of silly, kind of nice. They really don't want to hurt anybody.

[Buy the marvelous set]

And hurting people has been the way pranking has been going, with some still delightful exceptions. Tom Green had a lot of innocent bits, which were by far his best (lying in one place so long people called an ambulance comes to mind), and though they employ almost strictly bewilderment, Tim and Eric are great, and while I feel it may not all be this way, I'm confident that Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat will have plenty of this; letting the weirdness come from without rather than within. But I'll let you know if I'm way wrong after seeing it.

Neko Case - "Favorite"

Doesn't this sound like she's stopping the clock? Right from the beginning, it's as if she's singing to a room full of people who just stopped doing whatever they were doing (my guess is drinking and socializing just a little too much after a funeral) to listen to her. With a swipe of her arms, she's silenced the crowd, a banjo has started from the top of the stairs, and the tambourine's just shakin' in its boots. But she just wants you to know her pain, she sings from behind a long black veil, and paces up and down the bar, putting people's drinks down with her foot as they try to take a sip. We're not done yet.

This is the first track off the new otherwise-not-worth-it compilation from Mint Records of some CBC Radio 3 sessions. Largely, the sound is so good, that this sounds more like a collection of album versions rather than live, which is in part an unfortunate contradiction, and part just coincidence that these bands didn't have live "versions" of these songs (for instance, Radiohead's live album was composed, I think, entirely of slightly different version of songs, ones that played well live). [I can't find a place to buy this]

Katie Moore - "Getting Older"

Jordan, when posting Katie Moore before, spoke of how her voice sounded. I will instead speak of her delivery: this sounds like a lie to me. Such sad words, about walls closing in, strangers instead of friends, changes all around. But I don't believe a word of it. The drums are grinning with their eyes shut, the guitar is soloing across the floor like someone who feels they should dance a little bit while crossing the dancefloor. And her, she's leaning up against the wall, her hair falling in her face, singing this song. But her hair's not there to hide the tears, it's there to hide the smile, she loves that she can sing this song, she loves how much it sucks. You're not fooling anyone, Katie Moore. Let's dance. [site]

Hot Springs - "Gotta D.J."

Woah, Giselle Numba One has been singing a rock band this whole time, and I never knew. She's my new Doseone. Selfish girls do get everything done. Her magnet voice, the way it quivers when it gets close, repels from your ear, slides down your cheek (you catch it with your lip) fits so well with the guitars like big canvasses, rigid flags, big planks that fall, flap, and wave by. [site]