Archives : all posts by Jordan

My intro was going to be:

How are things? Cosmically speaking, things are not so good. Chinua Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart, and it’s true, they do. Speaking of sub-Saharan Africa, I was cheering for the Nigerian Pope hopeful. I was also an Expos fan. My support is a curse.

But then I read about Cardinal Francis Arinze’s politics and it all fell apart.

***

Archer Prewitt - "I'll Be Waiting"

Here Archer Prewitt attempts to bludgeon us into a state of inane, giddy nostalgia. He forsakes subtlety in exchange for sappiness and sweetness. Dangerous, sure. But neither is maple syrup subtle, and so too is it sappy and sweet. And we like it anyway. Consider me bludgeoned. [Buy]

***

Wooden Stars - "Uncivilized"

(From the Exclaim! 13th Anniversary Cross-Canada Concert Series mix CD)

The Wooden Stars drop lead guitar notes as if dropping paint onto a stenciled canvas. In the chorus their voices are like balloons inflating and deflating side by side, always maintaining harmonious ratios: a third, a fifth, a perfect octave. [Info]

Frankie Sparo - "Send For Me"

Frankie Sparo is like Jethro Tull. Each is a man comprised of a band comprised of men.

Frankie Sparo is unlike Jethro Tull. Whereas the Tull is mostly about fantastical literary conceits and ferocious flute solos, Frankie Sparo is about the slow chug of steam engines, the crash of rusty anchors into water, the echo of long gone factories, playing slow waltzes. [Buy]

***

Mecca Normal - "Ice Floes Aweigh"

“What I really wanna know is, 'Why did you throw that huge glass of chocolate milk at me when I said I was moving out at 17?.'”

That she chooses to mention the hugeness of the glass of chocolate milk is like a huge glass of chocolate milk (i.e. good).

(This song comes courtesy of my editor, Max Maki.) [Buy]

[Sorry for my absence. I hope that Dan and Sean took good care of you while I was away. I hope you didn't feel abandoned. I'm still your dad. You're still my kids. I'll still pay for college. You'll still drink and philander, though it shames me.

The author of today's blog is half of Damon and Naomi, he runs Exact Change Press (a small publishing house devoted to 20th century experimental literature), and was Galaxie 500's drummer. He is Damon Krukowski, and not only did he come through by submitting to the site as he said he would, but he worked to make a deadline. That was very kind of him.
- Ed. Himelfarb ]

Mr Krukowski wrote:

I've never contributed to a blog before, but from reading a few, it seems like an opportunity to express your innermost crankiness. (Isn't that a good cranky start? I've already insulted blogs, now I'm going to insult the independent music business.) I'm just back from SXSW, 1300 bands crammed into a few square blocks of Austin Texas, and the overwhelming cranky feeling I had there was: there's too much music in the world. No, wait, I'm someone who enjoys subway musicians, AM radio in Newark NJ, cantors, even people singing to themselves in the car in front of me in traffic. There can't be enough music in the world. But there are too many bands! In Austin, I heard bands that made me never want to hear clever postpunk again; bands that made me hate sensitive singer-songwriters; bands that made me regret I ever played a slow backbeat on a drumkit; bands that made me crave silence. But amid the cacophony, I did hear two things that made me happy: happy for music, happy to be making music, happy for the world of sound.

A Hawk and A Hacksaw - "Portlandtown"

A Hawk and A Hacksaw perform as a duo; she (Heather Trest) plays violin, and he (Jeremy Barnes) . . . he plays accordion with his hands, and percussion with his feet, knees, and head (by means of a hat, with bells and a stick strapped to it). He also sings, on occasion, in a vibrato-less baritone that recalls Clive Palmer. The rhythms feel like Eastern European folk dances. The melodies sound like Child ballads. The attitude is subway musician meets Newark AM radio meets cantor meets someone singing to themselves in a car in front of you. [Info]

Gram Parsons - "Hearts on Fire"

The other joyful noise I heard was on the radio -- 2 a.m., driving away from the live music capital of the world, Emmylou and Gram Parsons singing Hearts on Fire in the black Texas night. I want to sing, right here in the car, and I don't care if anyone sees me, much less hears me! [Buy]

Willie Nelson - "Always on My Mind"

The studio version of this song, a saccharine piano ballad, is unlistenable in the extreme.

Willie (wearing white tux and sitting at piano in middle of emptied out ballroom, sings with reverb drenched voice): If I made you feel second best...

Female Backup vocalist 1 (in black sequinned gown, lying on top of piano): You did, you did.

Willie: Girl, I?m sorry, I was blind.

---

This live version, however, from a concert with Johnny Cash, is an entirely different ballgame (let?s say the studio version is game three of the 1919 World Series, whereas this version is game six of the 1993 World Series (apologies to those readers in Philly)).

Willie sings sensitive material in ?Always on My Mind?. The idea is that though he wasn?t always the best partner, though he didn?t love her ?quite as often as [he] should have,? maybe he didn?t treat her ?quite as good as [he] could have,? though he committed a series of other (quite serious) offenses, she was still ?always on [his] mind.?

That she was always on his mind seems to me dubious grounds for forgiveness, and any woman worth Willie?s attention would assuredly be astute enough to realize that. It?s an implausible make up song.

But here, in this live version, he?s not trying to make up, he?s accepted his defeat, he?s admonishing himself. When he sings ?I guess I never told you, that I?m so happy that you?re mine,? he means I?ve been so unhappy since you?ve no longer been mine.

This version, the chords played in aimless, ambling arpeggios, works as a lonely, introspective lament.

At the end, as the crowd cheers, hear Johnny Cash?s rumbling laugh of approval.

***

Jennifer O'Connor - "Saved"

This is a clean and damp (rained on and quiet) guitar/cello ballad. Jennifer O?Connor sings a little bit like Edie Brickell (as does Mirah on her latest album). I think, therefore, that we?d be crazy not to conclude that Edie Brickell not only saw it all coming, but aside from being clairvoyant and omniscient, she?s probably a fast runner and extremely generous with charities. [Buy]

Wooden Stars - "Outlaws"

Last night, the Wooden Stars:

1. Made me want to go home and play guitar. It had been a very long time since I?d seen a show as inspiring. It was also a guitar lesson.

2. Confirmed how entirely original the band was; complex (guitars running circles around eachother, wildly free and severely precise) and beautiful (voices pained and clear), with rare instrumental and songwriting virtuosity. The fact that they are criminally underappreciated might have been avoided had they not - as Wooden Stars lore goes - refused a Sub Pop contract in order to pursue their education.

3. Wore dorky white suits and looked middle-aged. Still sexy, though.

***

Sean will be writing StG for this week. I?m excited to see what he has planned for us. In three weeks, the new line-up (The Righteous Triumvirate (Dan, Sean and I)) will start and then never stop.

Okay - "Compass"

From the tentative clack, crackle and occasional tremolo guitar intro comes a song like a moebius strip, flowing and bending and twisting back onto itself. Okay sings in a sharp confident voice, cutting through the underlying bed of quiet, softly distorted hiss.

If you ever wondered what a collaboration between David Bowie and Brian Eno might sound like, look no further than Okay. Unless, of course, you want to look all the way to the Bowie/Eno collaborations Heroes and Low. [Buy]

***

Pokett - "Sand"

Pokett sings along with his guitar?s jaunty travelling bass notes, distracting somewhat from the vaguely creepy repetitive insistence of the treble line. At 2:05, the vocals cut out and free the guitar to explore new impressionistic paths, both beautiful and not entirely uncreepy, seemingly leading into a quiet but ever more unstable storm of rapidly panning electronic noise. [Info]

Said the Gramophone news:

In the next few weeks, Sean will probably be returning to the blog and we will be sharing its authorship. This is very exciting and I think it will have a thoroughly rejuvenating effect on me and StG.

We will also be adding another occasional author: Dan ?Pantywaist? Beirne. Dan is a member of the awkward and sad (hilarious!) comedy troupe, Better Than Shakespeare, and is an excellent filmmaker whose documentary subjects have included such literary luminaries as myself.

As a sort of installation/celebration, Dan will be writing the blog for all of this week. He is certain to entertain you and to ask you for money (don?t give it to him, he?s a total mooch).

Be excited; I am.