A Whisper in the Noise - "Silence". This is a dark one. Not sure why I picked it... Perhaps it's all the rain. Or maybe Napoleon Dynamite turned me goth. Regardless, let's look at the components: 1) radio static; 2) hauntedhouse pizzicatto strings; 3) affable horns; 4) a ghostly latin choir; 5) parched alt-rock vocals. Oh yes, and then heavy piano footsteps, branch-cracking drums. This wouldn't be out of place on Clint Mansell's Requiem for a Dream soundtrack, nor would I have been surprised to hear a Trent Reznor connection. But there isn't one. A Whisper in the Noise is from Minneapolis and Steve Albini is manning the boards. It's a song that dredges things up from the well and then holds them into the light. Dogs barking in a rainsoaked park, glowing eyes in the ruins of churches. Fear without claustrophobia. (From 2002's Through the Ides of March.) [buy]

Thalia Zedek - "Evil Hand". With October will come the release of Thalia Zedek's new record, Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch of Madness. It was recorded in Montreal (on entirely analog equipment), and I can't help but feel it carries some of that city with it. There's a thickness to "Evil Hand," a depth to the smoke. Perhaps it's the way the drums smash - loud - over the weave of violin. Or the way Zedek never really stops singing. But I remember cool, wet nights in Montreal, walking down St-Laurent at 3am, streetlight glare and the rattlespray of an occasional car. Abandoned, and yet with all that wide city on either side: east and west and north, houses for as far as you could walk. Homes. Zedek's been recording for twenty years - with Live Skull, Come, and on her own. Her delivery carries the weight of years and pushes past it. She glances at the night and then strides boldly into it. She snuffs out candles and lights whole torches. It's the widowed Courtney Love, singing at a gypsy dive. [buy later]

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As part of a project asking various (mostly Italian) people about their "5 easy pieces," 5 pezzi facili has my "five most relevant songs." Although the bands are all acts I've written about before, - The Beatles, Julie Doiron, Wilco, The Arcade Fire, Gillian Welch, - I'm more happy with the comments I made there than with most of my recent writing. So please do read, and let me know what you think. (Also, there is a beardless photo of me, which was supposed to be in Saturday Night, but wasn't.)

Preview my interview for Tofu-Hut-John's betterpropaganda mp3blog series.

Add another one to the list of alternate URLs for Said the Gramophone: joining elvithprethley.com, shakeitlikeapolaroidpicture.com and, um, tangmonkey.com/blogs/music, is saidthegramophone.info. If you're bookmarking a URL, I prefer you use the unwieldly tangmonkey one (it's better for tracking web-referrers), but for catchy-easy-to-remember, the alternatives are probably superior.

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Andrea pointed me to the work of Mindy Smith. You can stream/download a song, there, called "Come to Jesus," which is a wonderful cup of country pop. In the earnest harmonizing chorus, I get all goosebumpy and full. I'm not so sure about the guitar solo, but the rest is great; sweet and grim at the same time.

The Swish is a new english mp3blog with its ear to the ground on a bunch of dance and indie stuff. club-flavoured and very peppery. (also, it doesn't work on Camino/Mac.)