Archives : all posts by Jordan

I first heard this song about four months ago on a compilation belonging to my editor, Max Maki. When I told her that I was going to post it on STG she kicked me and said that because she found it, she would post it. Frightened, I opted not to explain to her that it was my blog (for the time being, at least) and that she had no say. Might, however, makes right, so...

Finally four months later she writes the thing and it?s the biggest downer since Of Mice and Men (mostly it?s just Of Mice and Men plagiarized but whatever).

My two cents on the song:

1. The two guitars start the song off like a waterfall; a steady clear flow of descending notes.

2. The song is sung as if by a weary vaudevillian, his mouth stuck open on one side from a lifetime of sneaking out wisecracks.

Now read Max Maki?s comments and try not to kill yourself.

Pseudosix - "Run Rebel"

(By Max Maki)

Christmas is over, the new year has begun. Sure, there are new beginnings, but mainly, as I say goodbye to my family and ride the bus back to Montreal, I?m thinking about endings (despite my new glasses, i?m shortsighted that way).

Although I?m sure my general melancholy is influencing my understanding of this song, I can?t help but feel that not only is Run Rebel about the saddest song I?ve heard in a long time, it?s also a song about some of the sadder things that contribute to the world?s sadness (injustice, false hope, futility and inevitabitliy).

You aren?t real, rebel. You just keep running your crooked course because it?s inevitable, rebel. I?m next, rebel.

Everyone?s empty and you?re empty like the rest of us all.

Happy New Year!

Soft Canyon - "For You"

(By Max Maki and I, written on the bus from Ottawa to Montreal)

Don?t worry, Soft Canyon will cure you of your woes. Like a psychedelic sun-soaked Rolling Stones, they bring together the best elements of late-sixties/early-seventies rock: dense jangle, rich harmonies, catchy hooks and towering distorted leads.

The raspiness of the lead singer?s hard-edged voice connotes both anger at the unjust world, and tenderness towards these most psychedelically interpreted natural phenomena: ?magenta flames? and ?sky so tragic blue.?

Such contrasts will help you find ?that place in your mind where everything is easy.?

Sufjan Stevens - "You Are The Rake"

A guitar chord is plucked and allowed to decay almost fully before another takes its place. The simplicity of the guitar playing is matched by Stevens? direct declarative lyrical approach. At 1:12 banjo begins to emanate from the sparsely timed chords, rolling outwards, pushing Stevens to sing a denser, louder part, fleshed out by backing vocals.

Though the the song?s title would suggest a connection with autumn, ?You Are a Rake? sounds more like a clear winter?s day (guitar and vocals perspicuous like ice) with a light midday snowfall (the delicately placed banjo notes).

***

A.C. Newman - "Miracle Drug"

One of a good number of power pop gems from A.C. Newman?s solo debut, The Slow Wonder, one gets the sense from ?Miracle Drug? that Newman is a careful pop auteur with tremendous control of his craft. No synth bleep or clean guitar crunch, rousing snare/bass-drum combo or vocal flourish is out of place.

(This is my first two sentence review, I think. Three sentences now. Hmm, an infinity problem? Feels right.)

The Glass - "Tell Me It's Snowing"

The slow emotive jangle that starts ?Tell Me It?s Snowing? is, I suppose, the antecedent to my editor, Max Maki?s claim that The Glass sound like The Byrds. This is a totally bogus comparison, but she is equally dissatisfied with my assertion that they share something in mood or tone with The Tragically Hip.

The main difference between our positions: mine is valid but hers is not.

The song is structurally dubious and not entirely cohesive, but the brave tremolo vocals and sparse guitar counterpoint make it a worthwhile listen. [Buy]

(Thank you Cody for sending this track my way.)

***

Kepler - "The National Epithet"

Do you know what?s special about this evening? That?s right, it?s Christmas Eve. I bet a lot of you already knew that. Am I right in assuming that many of you will be receiving presents in the near future? Not so in my case, I?m afraid. As a non-practicing Jew, I am robbed of everything that is good and holy (gifts). If you feel bad (and I think you should), please consider sending me a cheque (multiples of $18 are marginally preferred).

This song is kind of like that about which I know least: unwrapping a present. Not wanting to be rude, you patiently pull off the tape, carefully unfold the paper (should you keep it?), but all the while you are greedily anticipating the bounty within (it?s your nature, though I personally am above it). The bounty being, in the case of this song, the choruses from 1:36 to 1:49 and 2:24 to 2:53. [Info]

Please accept this problematic analogy as my holiday gift to you. Merry Christmas!

Peggy Lee - "Is That All There Is?"

My parents tell me that after I got home from my first day at school, I cried. I don?t remember this, but they tell me that I said I had expected the school to be covered in lights, I?d expected a spectacle. Both my parents had been enthusiastic teachers and my sister a committed student who probably tried to convince me of how great it was going to be (my brother would have known better). But the cloakroom, the plasticine, my classmates, Mrs. Kestler - they had all been terrible disappointments. I am also told that I was either slow at understanding or slow to respond when it was play time and that as a result I usually ended up playing with the disfavoured toys (old baby dolls, paper, etc.). But regardless of whether or not this humiliation/emasculation contributed to my chagrin, that day marked the first in a long line of disillusionments. Was that all there was? ?Let?s break out the booze and have a ball,? I should have suggested. Alas, I was an innocent who, frankly, did not have the vocabulary or a taste for hard liquor.

Notice that dancing, drinking and general bacchanalian reveling are the only things in life (or death) that don?t disappoint poor Peggy Lee.

***

Mississippi John Hurt - "First Shot Missed Him"

1. The shooter?s first shot was way off. The last one was right on. What happened in between we do not know. The quality of the shooter?s marksmanship is still in question. The life-status of the victim is not.

2. The intricate guitar playing tells the story along with Hurt?s genial voice. Uncharacteristically soft for a blues, it?s a small song that tugs hard on a little piece of your heart.

Masha Qrella - "I Want You To Know"

A cut-up acoustic guitar strums a rhythm so disconcerting that you will be shocked (to death) when you discover that it?s in 4/4 time. Though the music has been electronically manipulated, it loses none of its natural warmth - it still sounds like fingers on strings, socks on pedals, vibrating vocal chords, and depressed ivory. And even though Qrella sings tentative afterthoughts, sings like she?s surprised by the clipped rhythm, she never seems shaken, she always seems confident and knowing (like your mom).

***

Yahowa 13 - "Making A Dollar"

A few important facts about Father Yod and The Yahowa 13:

1. Father Yod was the head of a cult.

2. The cult spawned a variety of bands, mostly fronted by Yod himself.

3. Yahowa 13 was one of these bands. (Though this song does not feature the Father, rather the precocious Aquarian Brothers (Sunflower, Djin, Rhythm and Octavious)).

4. On the back cover of Savage Sons of Yahowa (the album from which this song is taken) Father Yod appears to be sitting naked atop an upside down pyramid banging out bolts of lightning with a hammer.

5. Yod died hand gliding in Hawaii. About this incident, his friend Sky Sunlight Saxon (of The Seeds) said, ?I feel that he took a kite that wasn?t quite, you know, right for his body. He was a big man. He needed a kite much heavier than that, but we probably didn?t have one.?

6. Though the entire record is over-saturated with flange, the impassioned, yearning, voices-breaking chorus of ?Making A Dollar? more than makes up for that shortcoming.

7. If you are so inclined, the entire Father Yod discography is available in the thirteen cd box set simply entitled God and Hair, The Yahowa Collection. It is not recommended.

Songs: Ohia - "Just Be Simple"

A weeping lap steel lament, ?Just Be Simple? is what it preaches. Its simplicity is such that it strikes a resounding chord of familiarity on first listening, like you have heard it on the car radio a thousand times before.

In Songs: Ohia?s latest work, Jason Molina calls to mind a struggling but dignified idealized America (as it only exists in song). He moves away from Will Oldham, and while maintaining a similarity in feeling to some of Neil Young?s work, adds to it the working class Americana of The Band or Bob Seeger.

***

Joan Armatrading - "Love and Affection"

A folk singer from St. Kitts, Joan Armatrading was joined by members of Fairport Convention and The Faces for her self-titled third album. She abandoned the solo acoustic folk that characterized her first two records for a full band and heavily produced pop/rock.

?Love and Affection? isn?t a perfect song. Its production is dated and there?s a sax solo at 2:51 that leaves something to be desired (i.e. its absence). Yet Armatrading?s voice and songwriting shine through and it doesn?t take long to get past the shortcomings. Her voice is always precise, but varies wildly in tone, sometimes angelic and gossamer (as in the opening bars), sometimes yearning and passionate (as when she sings ?really dance/really move/really love?), and then at other times wide open and soulful (?with friends I still feel so insecure?). Sometimes she engages in a fiery gospel as when she calls for her interlocutor to ?sing it, sing it? just before the unfortunate sax solo.

Clarence Carter - "Patches"

At a certain point Clarence Carter decided that he would only sing about the extent of his skill in love making (c.f. the subtly titled ?Strokin?,? ?I Like To Screw,? ?Sixty Minute Man,? ?I?m Not Just Good, I?m The Best,? and (my favourite) ?Who?s Making Love To Your Old Lady?? (I assume the answer is you, Clarence)). Luckily, before he made that choice, he recorded his hit single, ?Patches:? a southern soul classic whose subject matter could not be further from that of his later, hornier work.

?Patches? is the story of a thirteen year old boy who is forced to take responsibility for his family when his father passes away early in the song. He manages to till the fields, tend the chickens and attend school every day. I?m not going to lie to you, readers: things were not always easy for Patches.

It seems that if this song is at all autobiographical, Carter earned the salacious lifestyle he was so fond of bragging about in his later work.

***

My Morning Jacket - "Lowdown"

If Jim James (My Morning Jacket?s singer) didn?t have such a wussy voice, I could imagine the protagonist of this song being played by Tom Berenger or Sam Elliot. A real cowboy with dirt on his face and plaid on his back, seeing a girl and awkwardly professing his feelings for her.

?Hurtin, Beatin, ain?t no need for repeatin... you never gotta bleed for me/ chance, glance, sho? nuff mood for romancin... you only gotta dance with me.?

It?s sort of not the most romantic thing I?ve ever heard. And also, it?s kind of the most romantic thing I?ve ever heard.

Between verse and chorus, James sings like the long tones of a trumpet, blending seamlessly with the tightly interwoven guitars, the dumb grin of the drums. Everything?s soaked in reverb; a half-forgotten memory made hazier by the intense heat (from the sunny melody) and dryness (from the sandy bass (like an unplugged electric)).

(Consider that metaphor mixed).