BARR - "Half of Two Times Two (Newer Version)"
It would be nice if I agreed with anything he were saying, and it would be cool if I were as hopeful as this melody, but that's why he's playing the song, right? Instead the melody is like drinking rich chocolate liquid, or walking on light-up sidewalks, or flying. And instead I hear the lyrics like a foreign language, their cadence instead like running my finger and thumb along a paper covered in staples, all stapled in a row, as if 100 were stronger than 1. And my ears are pretending to fall down the stairs, but it's just the speed and direction; no danger. But I do agree, with the very last bite: "there is soooo much." [Buy]
Abernethy - "Everyone Who Knows You"
Abernethy sings like someone dealing a deck of cards. Everyone gets the same, and each in turn. This song is steeped in wine, it's floating and dripping at once, and in the purely purple sky, the drums don't rumble, they sparkle, by. [site] (thank you, James.)
art by someone (check the comments)
Posted by Dan at January 5, 2007 4:29 AMGood descriptions here, Dan. I like the Billie Jean light-up sidewalks and running fingers over 100 staples together (amongst others). I enjoyed a man's imagery.
Posted by Joel Taylor at January 5, 2007 1:50 PMHey! Really glad you liked the Abernethy track! It's superb!
Posted by James at January 6, 2007 7:52 AMbut see, if politics, if politics were only just who am i in relation to you and who are we and the way we see ourselves... these things are important but can trap us just like the politicians get caught in their politic.
C Mouffe (who I don't really know from the baker other than a few words here and there) moved me when she said that whereas once the struggle was to bring issues of identity politics and personal relations into the class struggle, into revolution, "in a certain sense, today what has become dominant is those struggles in the new forms of oppression." Like, we are so fixed on the interpersonal, identity level of political revolution, that we are doing just what those racist, sexist, socialist homophobes did back in the day. We prioritize our level of struggle over others. We are too certain of our level of analysis: that we just need to treat each other with love and care and opennes (which is extermely important and beautiful) and we forget the important struggles on other planes.
and yes i agree give credit in the end and in the middle (oh especially), and staples on a wonderful paper, completely. but what to do with this. revelling in the sooo much is a privilege sometimes, being happy with realizing that oh yes there is soooo much -- this is a historicized and interesting cultural relationship to the world. And wonderful for the ways it can inspire us to engage with the world around us. but reprehensible for the ways it can allow us to be passive to the world arount us. make sense?
yes that is all about that.
and abernethy, oh it rumbles down, or sparkles, if you please.. but if i tried to reply to every song i loved on this site i wouldn't have time for life.
Xo
eF.
Great comment, eff, and an interesting panther-leap on what of course seems like a politically innocuous song. I do wonder though if I agree with you: is "there is soooo much" really a politically reprehensible statement? it seems to me a call for action as much as a (passive) recognition, a call to interact with the world. the tone of the song is not one of hopeless leaning-back because there-is-too-much-to-ever-see, it is one of endless movement, of momentum. it seems as fitting for us in our ivory towers as anyone else, anywhere in the world, except perhaps in captivity.
you should comment more often.
Posted by Sean at January 7, 2007 9:22 AMhmm, politically reprehensible for the *ways it can make us passive*. (it can be wonderful for other reasons.) and yes absolutely revelling in the so-much has the potential to make us passive, that american-beauty nihilism-with-a-deep-kiss type of whatever.
I think it's very interesting you defend the song by its tone. I agree, there is a real momentum in the song, but I'm very hesitant to draw any direct causal relation between music with momentum and people who listen to that music having some real active engagement with the world around them... that would be far too simple. Anyway, though, my argument isn't that this sentiment renders its adherents utterly passive, but rather that it encourages a sort of ... limited and/or limiting type of engagement. It is an important sort of engagement for a large portion of our society, but too often it becomes self-satisfied and doesn't go beyond the goals it sets out (which are things like the improvement and ehancement of personal relationships).
hmmm, yes.
ps. we live in decadence but we need not live in ivory towers
Posted by ef at January 11, 2007 1:31 AM
and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
