Said the Gramophone: THE OLD HAUNT

THE OLD HAUNT

by Sean

Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.

The Red River - "Apple Valley".
The Red River show us the neighbourhood. It is stupid and fraught. All of our adolescences were stupid and fraught.

"Here is the corner where my dad had his accident."
"This is the Del Taco where my brother cut his finger."
"This is where my friends and I hung after school."

But I remember the last time I took a friend past my old haunts, haunts now hours away. I tapped the window of the car. "High school," I said. An adjective and a noun. All that nonsense, all those aches and joys, just two words and a tap on the window. A grey building and a stretch of grass. Can all our stories be summed up, eventually, into just two words? Into just two chords? For Red River, I think, the answer is Yes; but it is no unhappiness.

The Red River - "Tomahawk".
The Red River play a slow song about long ago, about singing Boys II Men songs on the swing-set. It is immature, but longing always is. And then Bill Roberts sings about throwing my heart out, like a spinning / sharp / tomahawk. I think this: Maybe Bill had to learn not to throw his heart out. But others of us had to learn the opposite, had to learn to throw, how to leave it in the earth.

[Jordan first discovered the Red River in 2006. We have written about them two times since. / buy Tomahawk / Red River on tour]

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Said the Gramophone is looking for a coder to help us write an HTML5 audio-player script. Can you help us? Do you know someone who can? We can't pay, but we'd be so grateful. Get in touch.

(image source)

Posted by Sean at January 17, 2011 12:02 AM

Comments

Which audio-player are you currently using?

Posted by J at January 17, 2011 11:33 AM

We're using something in Flash (a tweaked version of del.icio.us's "playtagger" script), which means it's broken on iPhones etc. Hoping to get something elegant and platform-neutral.

Posted by Sean at January 17, 2011 12:04 PM

HTML5 is in the same standards limbo for audio as for video. A plurality of browsers can't agree on which formats to play natively. Sidestepping Flash will take a patchwork solution such as uploading both ogg and mp3 files every time, using one as a fallback for the other.

If you're willing to do that – upside: StG becomes first 'oggblog'? – take a look at jPlayer.

Posted by Jason Treit at January 17, 2011 9:13 PM

Look Its The Fantastic Mr Fox at it again. Sweet, soft Lo-fi invention, kind of reminds me of The Books and Album Leaf. All before the vocals come in to open something familiar but honest. Will be keeping an eye on red river. Thanks

Posted by Kyle Ross at January 18, 2011 12:57 AM

Great tracks thanks for the listen

Posted by DJ Preston at January 18, 2011 7:59 AM

missed them, maybe next time :)

Posted by Steve at October 20, 2011 3:58 PM