Archives : all posts by Dan

It's July 1st this weekend, and all three of us are moving. Forgive us, but it's elsewhere today.

In case you haven't seen already, Daytrotter has a new section of "Bookery Readings". It's eccentric voices reading eclectic pieces. And it's wonderful. So far, there are only 2; Essie Jain reading Herman Hesse and Jarvis Cocker reading an Icelandic Folk Tale. It's not so much the pieces themselves that I love but the possibilities this form presents. Just think of it:

Bill Callahan reading Simone de Beauvoir
David Berman reading the business cards in his father's wallet, with history of each person
Eleanor Friedberger reading Spinoza's Ethics
Dan Bejar reading his favourite parts of Lord of the Rings
...literally endless. I can't wait for more.

Tune-Yards - "When You Tell the Lions That You Love Them So"

In the last few episodes of Sopranos, there was a bunch of appearances of Yeats' "The Second Coming" mostly from the state-of-the-world-obsessed AJ, who suddenly became an amazing character at the last minute, btw. This song reminds me of the feeling I get when I read that poem. Probably started by the lion imagery, it keeps on by the "slow thighs" the "gaze blank and pitiless as the sun", and, of course, the slouching. The beat is so dangerous, so black-eyed, and the vocals do not shy away. They start lilting, feathery, but quickly turns steely, armoured, awesomely powerful. Eventually they sweep right up into the sky like a great wind or something, and you're reminded of the constant presence of the possibility that you could, given the right circumstances, go completely mad. [MySpace]

Wet Nose Hero - "Roberto the Animator"

Here's where the title of today's post is more literally relevant. On any day, these two songs would be stars in their own right, but today they're put together, so one has to come first and one has to come second. But Wet Nose Hero can stand the test, she stands singing and strumming on cracked and cracking ice, warm toque and wool mitts in early March, the music being the only thing the air can carry, weak from a long winter. Here too, her vocals are brilliant, and they draw an ornate frame around the song, with grace, telling you where to look. When you go away, will you come back? [MySpace]

Death Vessel - "Mandan Dink"

I'm asleep at the keyboard, and only my 6-year-old brain (born on a leap year) is left ticking out a tape that it takes an expert, clad in vest and gingham cap, to read. In this, the season of sunshine, giving up is a meal I'm suddenly considering on the menu, despite it's many usually unfavourable ingredients. Running away is a cool beverage that sits waiting for me in my fridge at home as I walk my bike all over a hilly busy town. And this song plays in all the passing windows, shops, and fanny-pack radios, and it sounds like the kind of song I would play for myself if I'd actually go through with it. On the way out of town, in the cab that takes me to any place worse than here, this lovely peach-eyed meadowlark of a man haws so clearly in my ears, you'd swear this is commitment to the right idea.
[Buy] [Sean on Death Vessel]

BOAT - "I Really, Really Think You Should Rethink Your Life"

"On 4 Feb 1831, Daniel Beirne was convicted with his master, Hugh Mulvey, and sentenced to 7 years in Carrick on Shannon for the crime of taking possession of a house. Beirne states his widowed mother and six children are dependent on his support. petition: Co Leitrum" [source]

It's true, I can't and I won't hide from it any longer. I met ol' Hugh Mulvey ('The Minge' we used to call him) at St. Davitt's where I took a reading class and mostly oggled girlies. We would sneak pints out the back door of Brady's Pub during the rush, and stumble down to Gravelside and throw rocks at each other. Eventually we got to talking, and The Minge could talk a pitter into a storm, believe you me, and by the end of it, I was the willing employee of Lord Mulvey, heir to the famous Mulvey fortune, and great landowner. He said that by just claiming to own land, we would own it. I'm reading it myself now, and I'm shaking my head at my own dear daft brain, but I believed it; I believed him. Ol' Carson Garvins, the rattiest ol' sod in all of county Leitrum, had just died in his sad little farm on Shieldstone Hill, so The Minge and I just moved right in. Took nothing but my leathers and a drawing my little sister had done of a crab that was too big for the sea, and sat our stupid little fannies down to rest. Well, I don't need to tell you we got nipped, and I spent 7 goddamned years in Carrick. But that's over now, and I'm picking myself up now. I'm learning something new once a week, just little things: for instance, I learned to tell a joke the other day. What's a nobleman and a stableboy have in common? They both shovel shite for a living. It cracked the whole gang up at Brady's. Mum and the kids didn't laugh so much.

[Buy]
[Boat previously on StG: Me, Jordan]

Misha - "Shake a Little Looser" [mp3 removed by label request]

This is the only "strummy" song on Misha's Teardrop Sweetheart, but it's definitely the best. It's handmade quality is what sets it apart from the other blippy, disco-y songs (which are often good too, but not like this). He's got that George Harrison echo, and simple simple structure, but it's those little flicks, those little melodic winks, like the way your favourite person says your name, it's such a comfortable sound, so comfortable it makes you shiver. And the way this song ends, though understated, is what makes it great; it knows to give up right when the last word is said. It's so nice it's almost enviable. [Buy]

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Liars - "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack (Single Version)"

My ears can't really hear anything except this today. If you tried to call me, I'd answer (I have it on vibrate) but I wouldn't know when you were talking. If I saw you on the street, I'd think you were rude, like you were flapping your mouth in some sort of gesture of ridicule. I shouldn't try to cross the street or ride my bike, I certainly couldn't go to a movie or a guest lecture, or join in on the "Simon Says" tournament in the park. No, today I can only listen to this song, with its beat like giant swaying redwoods, its treble-y, almost hissy vocals like a coarse whisper. And I love the ambiguity of the lyrics, it sounds less like an offer of support, If you need me, I can always be found, and more like an admission of weakness, like he's disappointed in himself, that he'll always be there. [Buy]

Turbo Fruits - "Know Too Much"

I feel like my mouth is full of drum fills, my mind racing towards a drink, the smell of smoke. A song for, perhaps, near misses and old mistakes. [Site]

Virgin of the Birds - "You Haven't Talked to Tara"

Sounds like Destroyer at age 17. More nerves than flourish, more trepidation than flashing teeth. But the kind of potential in a mysterious polaroid, or a cool person's younger sibling. [Site]

Bodies Of Water - "Our Friends Appear Like the Dawn"

What waves, what splashing, what gowns that fall and flow, what wine-coloured majesty, what grace. Such intensity in your silent weeping, such blazing open-eyed crying, shouting, upheaval. Bodies Of Water have cultivated (as in, grown from mere seeds) an album of almost unbearable beauty. Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink is a fantasy painting of a landscape lush, wide and foreign, an epic journey, a heroic undertaking, an accomplishment. I've posted them before, but this is their time. They have truly arrived, and I'm so glad I was here when they did.

Bodies Of Water - "We Are Co-Existors"
(song removed at request of artist. too early yet!!)

See how they charge, choirs blazing, through walls and roadblocks and anything set up to slow them down. Over mountain ridges and down the steep side to the valley. Across the valley to the forest, and through the forest like drums. Past the forest and to the field, and through the field and out to sea. "We Are Co-Existors" seems to be about the cost of loving someone, but sung by an army, a mob. As if you could enlist, if you fit the prototype, if you've been hurt, or if you've hurt in turn.

[Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink comes out on July 24th (I'll remind you). buy what you can for now.]

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If interested in a discussion of a less mature and interesting approach to marriage, check out my review of Hostel: Part II on the The Movie Binge!