Archives : all posts by Sean

According to Ain't It Cool News, My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields is doing the soundtrack for Sophia Coppola's upcoming film, Lost in Translation. The Virgin Suicides was one of those films whose aesthetic really resonated with me - I really liked how it felt - so her new one would have been appealing anyway. Though the soundtrack wasn't great when heard on its own, Air and Sloan's contributions were superb in the film proper, so it's exciting to hear Shields' name attached. I'm not a massive MBV-fan, but I imagine this as something closer to Neil Young's disjointed guitar-work on Dead Man, with shoegaze thrown in. What's more - bonus! - Bill Murray stars! Murray's quietly become one of my favourite dramatic/tragicomic actors over the past five years. I had never paid him any notice in those old, stupid comedies, but his turns as Polonius in the Ethan Hawke Hamlet, and (of course) Blume in Rushmore, struck me with a powerful honesty and skill. Lost in Translation is now officially in my "can't wait to see it" list with. (The other films on said list are The Return of the King and the Charlie Kaufman-penned, Drew Barrymore/Jim Carrey sf lovestory, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).

Oof. It's been a while!

Spent a busy couple of weeks - A came down to Ottawa on the 17th, and I visited her in Montreal last weekend. I listened to lots of music, but not very much made an enormous impression. Here's the stuff that did:

Radiohead's "There There" - this wasn't a standout when I was listening to the muddy unmastered version, but in high-fidelity, hoo boy! A perfect mix of rock and melancholia - I love those drums in the background - there's something absolutely wonderful about the way Thom sadly sings the first repetition of "Just cause you feel it / doesn't mean it's love." I've only seen the video in crabby Real format, but Ro assures me it's unsettling Wind-in-the-Willows wonderful when viewed on a teevee.

My Velvet Underground box-set came in the mail! Only $25 USD for five CDs - all of the velvets' LPs, and bonus material. Hooray! I am so glad Dan managed to get me to give these boys (and girls) another listen.

Broken Social Scene - You forgot it in People. This one just doesn't get old - varied, lush, intelligent... even just the sound of a few of the tracks (the vocals on "Stars and Sons", the guitar on "Late nineties bedroom rock for the missionaries") is enough to get me excited. Rumour has it BSS just scored a (big) label deal, they're at work on their follow-up, and a b-side record is on its way... I can't wait.

Nina Nastasia - "Superstar" (mp3). At first I didn't get it, but after successive listens, the slow-blossoming of this song has me head-over-heels. The Blackened Air was a beautiful, dark, imperfect album. I am so psyched for her new one - and what's more, she's coming to Ottawa for bluesfest (Yay!).

Beyonce Knowles ft. Jay-Z - "Crazy in Love". What The Flirtations' "Nothing but a Heartache" was supposed to be: horns stompmarch forward, affirm affirm affirm. Stripped of Destiny's Child's unnecessary melisma, this track is direct, confident, kick-ass. I dig it.

I bought the new Arab Strap, Monday at the Hug & Pint. First impressions are that it's beautiful - finally, a genuinely amazing album from a band that's long been genuinely amazing. Aidan Moffatt's mopey drinking-and-lusting monologues have been joined by some of the loveliest string arrangements this side of Damien Rice. Finally Arab Strap sounds beautiful - it's the breathing soul that lives in the drunken Scots.

Nick Drake - "Know". I've long known this song, but I had never really - really - listened to it, till it came on towards the end of a boring Nick Drake documentary. The film was mostly pretty shots of Tamworth-on-Arden, with Drake songs in the background: this sounds fine at first, but not after thirty-five minutes. Anyway, I shouldn't complain: I heard the genius of this song for the first time, as the camera rested interminably on a windblown tree. Everyone thinks of Nick Drake as a sad musician, but listening to "Know," the ache is almost painful. The uncaring, incessant pulse of the guitar, Nick's broken-and-bitter weariness, the almost angry way he sings the first line. Jeepers.

So who wants to join me to see the strange and wondrous Microphones at Ottawa's Saw Gallery, June 1st?

So it seems I didn't win an iPod in the Stephen Malkmus trivia contest. I knew only one of the answers, going in (RUSH), but used 2 hours and google-fu to score the rest.

So why am I not even on the list of runners-up?

Because for some reason "Kim's Bedroom" doesn't count as a real band. I'm not really sure who Kim's Bedroom is, or why it doesn't, but Google told me it was one of his earlier bands, and who was I to disagree?

Next time, I guess!

It looks like Gomez isn't actually opening for Ben Lee, contrary to what the Ben Lee website says. (sigh) Bollocks.

Thanks to the magic of eBay, the VU Box-Set, Peel Slowly (or something like that), is on its way to me, for a slim $25 USD. Five CDs, including each of the Velvets' long-players and a motley crew of demos, out-takes, etc. Hooray.

Clinic's Walking With Thee was a massive disappointment. After the revelation Internal Wrangler was, Walking With Thee remains just as uninteresting as before. It lacks the variety of texture I.T. possesses, relying too much on garagey noise and sneers. Sad day.

The [Banquet of] Bees version of "A Minha Menina" is superior to the Os Mutantes original. But the thing that's killer on the Os Mutantes track is that bumblebee bass sound. Hoo boy. It makes me want to be a beetle, doing a scampery little dance on my bed.

Spent a weekend in Montreal. Finally burned my copy of the Broken Social Scene record so that I can listen to it (stripped of asinine copy protection) in my walkman, and listened to that for most of the trip up. On the way back, The Dears were my soundtrack. Both felt too noisy on the bus - the crowdedness and white noise and bad head-rests had already put me in a bad mood, and the records felt almost oppressive. I tried putting on some quieter stuff, though (Will Oldham, Julie Doiron,) but simply felt bored. Boo.

On the plus side, this evening I downloaded an mp3 rip of an Iron & Wine radio performance on KCRW's "Sounds Eclectic". KCRW is like the most amazing radio station in the world, it seems, playing deliriously good music - including stuff from NPR and CBC. The rotten part is that it's based out of California.

On the bright side, thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can listen to KCRW - and the station's archives - from as far away as snowy Canada. It's in RealAudio, but the quality is pretty good, and the stream is nice and secure. The Sounds Eclectic Archives are amazing: cool tracks, and in-studio performances by acts such as Bright Eyes, the Flaming Lips, Beck, the Flaming Lips with Beck, Damien Rice, and more. You must must must listen to the best bit of the Iron & Wine set: "Upward over the Mountain." It was the finest track off his (excellent) record to begin with, but this version has even more of the slow-growing urgency... If you like sad and quiet acoustic stuff - Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, Bonnie Prince Billy, etc. - you'll love it.

On Friday, I was checking to see which shows were listed in Montreal over the weekend. Browsing Montrealshows' May listings, I was gobsmacked to see that Gomez was playing (!!!!). It had somehow slipped under my radar... Of course, by 'somehow,' I mean that they're opening (inexplicably) for Ben "Gwyneth Paltrow's Ex-Boyfriend" Lee, and I hadn't exactly researched that show in depth.

Regardless, this is Gomez (!!!). The Beatles aside, Gomez was my first favourite band, and though In Our Gun was a muddle, their first two records are thick, bluesy masterpieces. Julian - who is still climbing ropes and washing bathrooms with toothbrushes at boot-camp - is going to be so disappointed when he finds out he's missed them - they've been on our "Will Travel To See" list for years, now (along with Songs:Ohia, Radiohead and Sigur Ros).

Anyway, tix are at the Cabaret (good), only $16 or so (good), but the show is this Wednesday night (bad). I have work till 4, and work the next day. I could still make it (and come home in the earlyearly morning), but things are further mitigated by my sister's return to Canada after three months in Europe, that same night. She'd probably understand if I was absent, however - it is Gomez, after all.

Just when I thought this album couldn't get any better, "Nobody's Fool" came on. Avril faux-raps! It's like The Streets, only vomituous! And from Napanee.