Archives : all posts by Dan

Yo La Tengo - "Sometimes I Don't Get You"

This is the first leaf to fall. The start to a season. But the kind of start where you're waving goodbye to the person you left as you enter the room.

I think Charlie Brown is going to rummage sales, looking for something he thought he gave to someone a long time ago. Something no one would want, so if they did have it, they'd surely be trying to get rid of it. He has 10 bucks in his big black shoes, and he notices that one, two, three buses have gone by since he's been walking on this street.

[the pre-order benefits package]

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So, I ended up at Osheaga this weekend (thanks Steph and Meg!), and though I missed a bunch (Sonic Youth, I'm sorry! I was too tired!) I did want to share the highlights for me:

Herman Düne - with Julie Doiron on bass, this show was such a lovely kiss on the cheek. David's "plain-as-should-be" lyrics felt like the most honest thing anyone at the festival had to say, and the closed-eye smiling of the whole set was just the most excited I've ever been while completely relaxed.

Born Ruffians - poor kids got out-drawn by CYHSY (there were 40 people tops), but they still put on a good show. Not as breathless as on the ep, but they have tons of potential. Be warned.

Wolf Parade - never gets old. I've never seen a bad show.

Final Fantasy - ditto.

Born Ruffians - "This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life"

Guys, I'm gonna sing this one while I'm on the exercise bike. I'm gonna bounce on top of the music like a balloon on spikes. I hate the summer, don't you guys? Don't you find you sweat so much you're always slipping on it? I'm gonna go outside and bark louder than that dog. I'm gonna challenge Isaac Brock and Frank Black to a game of jai-alai. You guys are cool here?

Born Ruffians - "Merry Little Fancy Things"

Guys my guts are spilling out, are you seeing this? Is this supposed to happen? I can see what I ate. Oh, still in the package! I feel like sleeping. Well, either that or screaming in your face. You decide. Oh, good, I wasn't tired anyway. Fuck, now I'm tired.

[MySpace]

Born Ruffians, you have my full attention tomorrow.

Paul Brill - "Summer Cold"

This is an umbrella'd Manhattan floating down the Da Nang. A slow-dance on top of an organ floor that's drunker than the singer is. The piano, of course, the American Tourist, just barely standing up. The drums, the sunset. The strings, the flute, the grass, the water. [old stuff til November]

P:ano - "Covered Wagons"

If you saw this song coming at you on the street, it's probably dawn, and no matter how much stuff you have to do today, you're starting to forget most of it. The way it breaks and lifts, it's like opening what you think are probably doors to small rooms, and finding out they are doors to big rooms. Sorry it's a peak-y vinyl rip. [Support little 7" releases! they're cheap!]

So, the Chad VanGaalen contest is over, like one swing of the kitchen door and it's closed. And, of course, the entries were amazing. So amazing, in fact, the winners had such evocative analogies, that they immediately made me think of songs. Not these songs, no, I had to find these songs to fit the analogies, but they're so poetic, so musical, that I knew they would be perfect song descriptions. Their respective explanations are quite necessary if you're not getting it right away, but their power, their presence, is truly there. Kudos to them. And I've included some other favourites after the jump. Thanks for playing, you're such good sports.

Women & Children - "My Bad"

me: my father :: gloria estefan : tour bus

- Allison Shoemaker
[explanation] [band site]

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Squarepusher - "The Modern Bass Guitar"

me : my father :: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons : coal

- Red Ruin
[explanation] [both further tie-in and artist info]

Giselle Numba One - "Crazeee Bitch"

Giselle raps like it's a secret, like it's a sample sentence, an acting exercise, like free-form dirty talk. Her broken-voiced enunciation, the way she squishes her t's between her teeth and how she side-steps through words as if bypassing slow-walkers on the street, it's the perfect complement to swampy bass, the clicky climbing bloops, the hunched-over drums. Then in walks a goofy, lanky, Beck-type character who, at first objectionable, wins our hearts with his rhymes, and his smile. And at the end it sounds like the whole thing was a joke. I like it. [MySpace]

Panda & Angel - "Mexico"

The voice is doubled here to give itself company. I feel like this song is about twins that move away from each other to try to make their lives better. The sentiment of "if I had known how much I'd have missed you, I would have stayed" is so empty, so...chosen, to make somebody feel better. But do you feel better when you listen to this song? Does the military-tapping of sticks, solo in a dark room, do the sad coughs of trumpets, standing leaned on the kitchen counter, staring at the floor, happen in songs of hope an promise? These questions have assumed answers. [Buy]

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Also: CONTEST!!

yes, with the end of Sean's Knife contest still smarting in our brains (great entries, as always!) here I come with one of my own: THE CHAD VANGAALEN DAN-ALOGY CONTEST.

Subpop has graciously offered 2 copies of the new Skelliconnection by Mr. VanG, and I'm in charge of finding those deserving 2 who will receive these discs (complete with stickers and stuff).

so here's how it works:

--complete the following analogy--
me : my father :: ______ : _______

as an example, me : my father :: Paris Hilton : Neutral Milk Hotel (yes)

okay, this is a quick contest for quick winners, entry window closes at midnight on wednesday August 23rd, 'cause that's when I'll start posting next. send your entries to dan@saidthegramophone.com. I look forward to reading.

Roy Orbison - "Crying"

Andrew,

sincerely,
Jessica G.

[Buy]

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Horse Feathers - "Blood on the Snow"

Andrew,

- J

[Pre-Order Words Are Dead]

Sunparlour Players - "Pacifist's Anthem"

(before was a sample from their live ep, this is now a sample from their full-length, to convince you it's worth it)

All of Sunparlour Players' songs are set in the same place, at the same time. Specifically, no time and no place. Descriptively, a place made out of pink sunsets, pale blue dawns, waist-high whispy fields, light breezes. Houses in which only old people live, but families come to sleep. In the days they are working, helping to raise the sun, stir the lakes, guard the trees, turn the ground into food. In this song, we're near a ditch near a field, now we're in a ditch, and I hear a voice, yes, it's leaning back. [Buy Hymns for the Happy]

***

Smog - "I Feel Like the Mother of the World"

(we've explored this album before, but with the release of a new ep, on which this song is included, I'm reminded of (no, introduced to) how perfect it is)

This song is set inside of a tire. Rolling down a hill. With the 800 guitars (yes, eight hundred) swirling around you, top, bottom, top, bottom, there is the constant, your lap, your knees beside your eyes, which is his voice.

I want to die to this song.

[Buy Rock Bottom Riser EP] [Watch the amazing video on Popsheep]