It's Valentine's Day today and so I hope you're all making love right now. If you're not, I warmly (and somewhat off-puttingly) suggest that you do.
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Nugrape Twins - "I Got Your Ice Cold Nugrape"
Here's a love song about a drink. When you write a love song about a drink (c.f. my "My Beautiful Diet Pepsi") you do so from the purest regions of what is probably an otherwise rather blackened heart. I say "purest" because you can't expect anything in return for your effort. You will not endear yourself to the drink, and the drink will not weep with gratitude and then write you a love song, quid pro quo. A drink just never would. I say "blackened heart" because if you're going to have a heart, you might as well have it as the Cajuns would. Or perhaps because I am an adherent of the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. I can't remember now why I said it.
The love the Nugrape Twins have for nugrape is an ideal love, and their song makes me want to drink a tall glass of ice cold nugrape - whatever that is.
Musically speaking: nobody exploits cadence like the Nugrape Twins. The descending resolution of each phrase is so satisfying that I actually sigh after every fourth bar. [Buy]
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13Ghosts - "Three Little Birds (After Bob.Marley)", followed by 13Ghosts - "Nobody's Hero"
These songs were meant to be heard one after the other. I mean both that they were intended to be heard that way by the band and meant to be heard that way in the teleological sense. Please, for your sake, use your computer to make it happen. 13Ghosts achieves delicate and beautiful (difficult) and then rowdy and drunken (surprisingly difficult). Like that time I saw Bob Marley open for the Band. Or was that just a dream? It was? OK, then: like that time I saw fine china open for Errol Flynn on a bender. [Info]
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Also: A big welcome to all new readers coming to us from StG friend Kelly Nestruck's nice little piece in the National Post about Sean's nice big My Funny Valentine contest/post.
Posted by Jordan at February 14, 2006 2:57 PMI just wanted to say that a few of the things you wrote to describe the performance of "My Funny Valentine" (the way the man played so privately and so painfully, in a strange sense) reminded me of the way I felt after seeing Sigur Ros live just last week....it was an experience.
Have a happy Valentine's Day Sean, much love to you.
jordan, come on, man... it's bad enough to spend "valentine's day" alone now i have to imagine your readership collectively getting it on? shudder. thankfully, we have these wonderful songs you've shared to snap us out of it, as refreshing as nugrape, gently and resolutely (like love making?) assuring me every little thing'll be alright. thank you.
Posted by Anonymous at February 14, 2006 8:32 PMsorry, forgot to name myself. also, forgot to say just how special this post is. extraordinary on a blog which makes that a daily occurance. if this blog continues to top itself where are we going to end up?
Posted by cody at February 14, 2006 8:34 PMThank you so much for posting the Nu Grape song. I was dying of curiosity to hear it. You've heard the His Name Is Alive song "Library Girl" haven't you? The chorus is based very heavily on this.
Lovely post. Thanks!
Posted by Andrea at February 14, 2006 10:54 PMI'm pretty sure that an ice cold Nugrape is a nice tall glass of Gettin'. It. On. Why aren't more songs these days built around clever metaphors for sex?? That song is so hypnotic and catchy you'd think it was written for Rick Astley in 1985.
Posted by quinn at February 15, 2006 10:44 AM
and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
