Archives : all posts by Dan

dan, your descriptions let me know nothing about what the music "really" sounds like, but the way you put it makes me want to download and listen every time. thank you.

re. your interview:

dan, if you like fassbinder, you should check out "katzellmacher". (that might be spelled incorrectly; my german is shabby.) it's a really beautiful film. you might also like "satan's brew" (the cover of which will really impress that video store girl).

hey sarah, happy new year. yeah, i saw parts of katzelmacher and that's what made me want to check out more. i'll get satan's brew as soon as i can.

cool! let me know what you think.

One of my favourite Modest Mouse songs. More melodic than the rest of "This is a Long Drive..." but still retains the aesthetic of the album.

When is that Arcade Fire recording from? Dane's drums are so immediately recognisable... Win's voice sounds so sweet and so sad.

Still loving the Blog, the best of the year was particularly good. If anyone else reading the blog is, like Sean, from Edinburgh, or if they just like good new tunes then give my blog a go at http://tommyshots.blogspot.com. sorry to advertise, just trying to get some readers

Among my claims to what-should-have-been-fame is laboring over a punk/power-chords version of A Man Needs a Maid, in a band which included a bass player who couldn't really play. It never really worked except on its only live outing...
The MP3s are locked in a safe vault.

You can tell, just by the tension and the peace in his voice, that he is in love and full of tenderness ...

These songs are beautiful. Thank you.

My guess is that the painter in question is Joni Mitchell.

'tossing out a picture' is the best description of neil young's music that i've ever encountered. coming and going, the loss inherent in moving forward. sums it all up.

Do you guys honestly like A Man Needs A Maid? That's got to be up there among songs that ruin otherwise perfect records, no?

This version is okay, but still...

Neil Young's new album is absolutely amazing... for anyone who loved Harvest, check it out. 'The Painter' is only the tip of the iceberg.

When I expressed my love for 'A Man Needs A Maid', a friend told me that people who like that cut don't really like Neil Young.

I don't know about that. I know it's out of place within his overall catalogue, but there's something really appealing about the out-of-placeness of Neil's twangy little voice among the sweeping string arrangements. It's like sticking a Borduas in a hulking baroque frame.

I'm listening for the first time to "Smile." My initial reaction is positive. I'll have to listen for the lyrics next.

Anyway, are their two Stone Jack Jones here? Are they the same person with fictional life accounts?

Stone Jack also owned a strip club and shared a girlfriend with Michael Stipe. For real.

Great stuff, Danny.

Stipe likes girls?

(Feedback on the new format: I miss the "posted by NAME" at the bottom. I keep having to scroll back up to see who posted, and it's annoying. I would suggest either making the "posted by Dan" line non-teeny or just going back to the previous style of having the permalink and the author link in the same place.)

(Haven't listened to the songs yet, but thanks, Dan.)

(why was that whole thing bracketed?)

Site's looking hot.

i haven't stopped listening to 'evermore' the entire weekend. it's the perfect snowy boston sunday song. thanks.

(Casey: Because it was kind of off-topic.)

I really hate this journalistic format, the one where you present fiction as an absolute.
It seems some sort of cop-out..'here, let me tell you a story instead of presenting any sort of truth or intricate.' I don't find anything amusing about such a mask. It feels almost sarcastic. I've read several blurbs describing tracks it this manner, and I hate it.
I'm sorry, I just needed to let you know.

Yeah Dan, you should have presented intricate instead.

I presented intricate one time and got arrested.

Once I presented intricate to my drug dealer and he pulled out his machine gun. Now I don't have arms.

thanks stereogum for taking my color scheme for my up comming blog.. (seriously) but i love the site still my fav music blog

hahahahaaha i put stereogum!!!! hahahh man i feel like a douche....

as for the wolf paarde WTF? (meaning best video ever)

"noel" by the diskettes is on the album "cwistmas twee," which is available from total gaylord records. http://www.totalgaylordrecords.com/

I did a lengthy review of that Alden 7" back in April; that's some beautiful stuff.

I had heard Wolf Parade was working on a different video (featuring barbarians?) for Fancy Claps. This one seems somehow appropriate, however.

John - thanks, fixed.

Andrew - I'm always 6 months behind you. also, that sounds like a good video. what weird song choices, though.

Okay I think that video is fucking amazing.

Thanks for that Diskettes tune, dan. I love Christmas carols. And the Alden tune is exceedingly great. Did I tell you about our secret project yet?

diskettes and alden. two of my favorite stgrammy artists in one post. thank you.

Congratulations on the NPR segment. I just heard it. Nationwide props... good job!

Dudes, the colour scheme is brilliant-ish, the header/illustration is absolutely brilliant, but you have GOT to justify the text. Tell me it's just my browser. As one who was inspired (view-source my page, it's right there) by the tightly-controlled text on your previous site design, I'm a litle disappointed in the meandering effect of the words. Oh, well. Thank God the music is still excellent as ev.

And let me second that new colour-scheme/design compliment. Looks great folks.

Beautiful.

cool stuff, im glad that i managed to pick up a signed copy of that 7 inch before they ran out..

does anyone have any sunset rubdown ? they are whole band now?

Im in love with Frida!

Wow!

dan: your summaries suck. you pick the best songs, but you do the worst job of describing them because you use saidthegramophone as a venue to practice your skills as a crappy prose-poet rather than to tell your readers what the songs you choose actually sound like. i appreciate the effort but am turned off by the results.

okay jeremy, not only are you fucking wrong (want to hear what the song sounds like? LISTEN TO IT. mp3blogs do not need to write like the fucking NME. also: what does it sound like? it sounds like a goldfish putting on a show) but i wonder if you realise how mean what you wrote was?

Sean - I can't believe you beat me to this. You're a prolific man.
Also, re: the Daily Show discussion - I couldn't agree with you more.

Jeremy - Why make a comment like that? We three have each had our writing meanly and unconstructively criticized, and frankly, we don't enjoy it or learn from it. So, why do it? Dan writes about music in a completely original way, and I can assure you that you are among a small minority of detractors. To wish him to stop is to be a selfish man.

You are also wrong to say that Dan posts the best songs. I post the best songs.

Harsh. As far as I'm concerned, Dan IS telling us how things actually sound to him. It is much braver of him to try to articulate how the songs personally make an impression on him than to become mired in music critic cliches. You seem to like Dan's selections; thus, it would seem to be great shame to pass up the opportunity to get some insight into the mind that is selecting the songs that you like.

It's sad that it took this comment for me to actually write on STG. Keep up the good work, Dan.

jeremy: you are an ungrateful little shit. I wish I could kick you in the balls. Then again, if you had any you would start your own music blog instead of trash talking this one.

Jeremy, go home!

You said it D.B.F.C.T.- there's no room for that kind of negativity here.

blegh, i'm the real jerimee. that other is an imposter. plus, he's a real meanie. i love dan's descriptions!

Jebus; I like the way Dan writes (and Sean, and Jordan). It's all better than "here's a trumpet, here's a backbeat, here's a guitar going chicka-chicka," which is the kind of writing I tend to fall into.

But--even if I didn't like their writing--this is their space and not mine (I'm a guest here) and, anyway, if I were to complain about it I'd want to do it in some way that's polite and, I don't know, constructive.

i loved that spenking track so much, i've tried to buy the cd - however you can't from that "buy" link. you are forwarded onto marriage records. who i've found don't respond to emails about buying anything... oh, how frustrating.

fair enough. while you do have to be prepared for criticsm when you publish anything publically, "suck" is not a word that any writer should have to hear. in terms of making my criticism more constructive, i guess i'd say that the real problem i have with dan's writing is that he uses an allusive, poetic style for almost every song. of course, there are some songs that almost require such an approach, and no great song can be summarized in simple prose. nevertheless, a more elaborate style loses it's power when relied on too often. sorry for not putting it this way the first time.

jordan: your songs are good too, just not the best.