Red River - "Something Good". Our mysterious friends in Red River have released another album, something partly handpainted and called Grassblades. Bill Roberts stands on a small stage, wearing a sheet like a cape. He stands with friends in t-shirts and jeans and baseball-caps and skirts, friends whose violin cases have stickers for Chiquita Banana and Page France. They play. "Something Good" is a song whose creation can be easily understood; whose singing can be easily imagined. The lyrics are plain, loving, pious. But the "love" Roberts sings of, the "good" - these are not the stuff of chapels and rosaries. They are the stuff of tides, night rides, bare feet, grassblades, Chiquita Banana. This is a song to keep in a flask in your pocket, something to sip on the bridge.
Red River play Clancy's, in Long Beach, tonight. And Hollywood's Knitting Factory on March 30. Buy their albums, which are cheap as sand. And Mike Turner's short tour film, Riverbeds, is as modest as a memory passed.
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - "Natural Light". In this song of just 2min24, Casiotone doesn't give us enough time to fall in love with the keyboard riff. Wait, wait, wait - yes he does. Yes, I'm already in love with it. Just because he doesn't give me enough time to realise I'm in love, not 'til after the song's over, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Because that's the way with so many of the best things. You don't realise until after how good they were; or how deserved. [buy]
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No, none of us are at SXSW. But I've been updating the Said the Gramophone twitter account with a little more oomph than before.
(painting by Andrew Wyeth, via Everyday Marvels)
Posted by Sean at March 19, 2009 11:41 AMThis song is very satisfying to sing along to.
Posted by Ben at March 19, 2009 3:09 PMWell every other music blogger is at SXSW, so at the very least you're original or perhaps you're way ahead of the curve while everyone is distracted. :)
Posted by Michael Chagnon at March 19, 2009 10:09 PMI'm not at SXSW either - but I'm finding comfort in the fact that I am one of the glorious many - http://www.notatsxsw.com/
Posted by Dean @ Souls on Tape at March 20, 2009 6:35 AMgod, this red river song is so softly changing my life. Why do I let myself spend so much time away from here, your songs are as necessary for me as blood and breath.
Posted by c.h. at April 1, 2009 3:56 PMthe first song is amazing.. the beat caught me instantly
Posted by annie at June 4, 2009 1:03 AM
and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
