Archives : all posts by Dan

Sunset Rubdown - "We Got Broken Eyes"

Way back when I started writing for this, I was in touch with Jim, a fellow Wolf Parade fan, and he gave me a version of this song that cuts out at 3:14 (try it, it's disatisfying). But I would listen to it anyway, because it has edges, corners and it pokes at you, and I love it. But now that some early Sunset Rubdown versions and conceptions (and this lost gem) have been compiled for my ease, I can love it in its entirety.
Listen as we get past the hypnotized city, and the melody gets in another car, and takes another hard corner off another cliff where it goes soaring out, and floats down like a feather. Jim said he talked to Spencer Krug at a show, and he said he didn't include it on the first album because it's too ambling and unfocused. Well, I completely disagree, so I guess since he doesn't want it, I'll take it. This is "We Have Broken Eyes" by Dan Beirne. Do you think I sing sad songs? [Buy Shut Up I Am Dreaming]

Dogg Lethur Axxe - "Beast"

I feel like this is what Blues Traveller (remember those Can-con soldiers?) could have sounded like, but never had the guts. This is the kind of song that goes by in a 30-minute Rock Ride and you forget to mention it when you're recapping the songs that played. It has no home. [the whole album is free]

And here come the Low Lows, from the bottom of the pile (on my desk) to the top. P.L. Noon, Daniel Rickard, and Jeremy Wheatley have made Fire On The Bright Sky, which will be released September 12th, and from which I would like to share two songs with you today.

The Low Lows - "Velvet"

Between you and the point you want to be are fifty staircases, each with as many stairs going up as going down. Put there for some other purpose (valid, I'm sure) your goal is at the whim of some other design. Other people and their lives inevitably make your life more difficult, so this song plays while you buckle down and start taking the long way. It plays in your head like a commercial jingle, you whistle it absently.

The Low Lows - "The Russian Ending"

I'd say this song is cinematic, but it's not, at least not in the typical way. The atmosphere is that of a movie, the lifts and pulls feel like cuts, or like sweeping pans, and my immediate thought is "oh, this could be such a gorgeous film". But upon reflection, I think it has its own quality of visuals, and wouldn't benefit, in fact would only be hindered, by a visual component. Or maybe that's just something you say when you have no ideas of what to put to it. Something about walking away, that's for sure.

[Site]

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I also wanted to share, "Lane Fire", a lovely slowdance which showcases P.L. Noon's easy, birdlike voice, and "No Such Thing As Sara Jane", an explosion of love and cymbals, but four is way too much. September is soon.

Sunparlour Players - "Talk it to Death"

It's okay if you love this song. No one's looking at you. You can bop your head, you can shake your face at the ceiling, you can kinda sing even though you don't know the words. I like how it takes 3 minutes for the tambourine to appear, as if it were hiding in the closet (when it shows up, he shouts, "hey! hey!" as if pointing at it). In the direct melody, the tight approach, even down to the singing style, as many idiots like myself will come to say in the next decade or two, "he reminds me of a young Win Butler." [Buy new LP!]

Relief Maps - "Sunrise Seaport"

This song is a diving board. No, it's flying off a diving board, it's that slow slam when you hit the water and everything changes but doesn't stop moving, it never stops moving. The little rise in Katie's voice, that little lift at the end, makes my knees go a little weak. Reminds me of something that used to break my heart a long time ago. Doesn't it remind you of that? [MySpace]

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Dusty from Relief Maps reminded me yesterday that Frog Eyes are still on this side of the country! How did I miss this? If anyone in Ottawa has an extra ticket to the show on Friday, email me.

Cake Bake Betty - "Doves"

The first 1:45 of this song is a slow walk out on to your front porch, midnight, screen door spilling light behind you. Crickets, the whole bit. But the last 0:26, is an explosion, it sounds like cannons going off, but barely anything has changed. This song has amazing power, and it might be interesting for someone to cover this song, in a version where those cannons come to life, though maybe they should always stay unfired, I don't know. [Buy]

Jeff - "I Don't Need Your Tas-T"

This is the most accessible track by Jeff on Castle Storm, having a smidgen of melody in the vocals and an understandable riff. But that's all I need from this band, because when it's clear, their talent is direct, obvious, real. This song is as clear as a peanut butter sandwich, and I've been eating peanut butter sandwiches every morning for three weeks now, so don't knock 'em. They keep me alive. [Buy]

So let's deal with what's right in front of us.

Vetiver - "I Know No Pardon"

Carrying an awkward watercolour across town, unable to choose between holding the image outward for everyone to see, or inward for everyone to guess at, his cowboy boots clack, their soles beginning to freeze in the air. He dreams he's a southern belle, having just lost her one and only man, and now wears a long black veil for reasons of her own, and reasons not hers at all. His days are numbered, he's not a permanent resident here, anyone can see that. [Buy]

Wendy Carlos - "Suicide Scherzo (Ninth Symphony, Second Movement) [Abridged]"

lysosomes, peroxisomes, eukaryotes, flagella, ribosomes, vacuoles, nucleolis, cilia, centrioles, prokaryotes, nucleus, mitochondria, stem cells, phloem, gradation, pull, drift, sway, wax, wane, weight, depth, height, volume, capacity, capability, function, drive, use, end, purpose, exchange, communicate, facilitate, accomodate, perpetrate, expediate, annihilate, aclimate, acquired taste, acquiesce, convalesce, forgiveness, seal of approval, handshake, punctuate, punctuated equilibrium, syntax, grammar, understatement, understanding, implied conclusion, insult, injury, cause, demeanor, meaner, mania, problems with homework, problems seeing, church bells church bells church bells church bells... [Buy]

The Bicycles - "B-B-Bicycles"
The Bicycles - "Gotta Get Out"

I know, I know the question you're all asking yourselves: "wha??" It's The Bicycles! They come from Toronto, and they make it sound like the easiest task (easier than drying a towel or moving a chair side to side) to write a song that fits in your pocket better than keys, your own hand. With "B-B-Bicycles", I've never had the hots for cymbals more in my life. It's the theme song to some Blue and Green Crimefighting Show, starring a nobody (for now). With "Gotta Get Out", the glossy melody reflects light, my face, across the room, out the window, into the facing apartment, where a ten-year-old androgyne dances like stink in a big baggy shirt and pyjama pants.

[Buy this!]

Bondage Fairies - "Faze"

I bet you thought I was kidding, last week, when I said go to Absolut Noise. Well now, since you laughed, it's serious time. Bondage Fairies are flying in, on pixelated clouds, with their bristol board angular wings flitting and buzzing against your eyes. They seem to be moaning like they're in prison, but they can fly the jail around with them, it's just something to bemoan. And they have a list of moves to use on you. They've conquered many levels to get to you. You are the boss to a level they've been playing for weeks now. [Buy]

Strip Squad - "Unreliable Narrator"

Nick Carraway, The Guy From Heart of Darkness, a sexed-out, yet genderless, duet of preciously accented voices. The answer to this TirBond is, of course, the same reason your cheeks are hurting just listening to this song. The naughty Belle & Sebastien, clearly, they're not fighting that, but let's move on. The opinion they hold of this character is so negative...but it's then evened out by the negative opinion they hold of themselves. Jealous of things they hate, clap clap! [Buy]