Archives : all posts by Dan

Destroyer - "Jackie, Dressed In Cobras"
Black Mountain - "Bicycle Man"

Destroyer gets posted a lot here, I know. And he either probably loves it or hates it (most likely too busy being bohemian to even notice). But I listen to music every day, and new stuff from him is just better than new stuff from other people. This isn't exactly new, it's from a thing done last year, the two of them, on Spirit of Orr.
Black Mountain, where did you come from? Beatles-y Girl-You-Really-Got-Me-Goin-y great time. I'm now really excited about your new album. A huge surprise after being left nothinged by both Jerk With A Bomb and Pink Mountaintops. Maybe I'll go back..

Other possible titles for this post:
New York Sick, You've Had Your Chance
What I Really Need Now Is Ideas
On A Train Devouring the Land

[You can get this and 3 other 7"s from Spirit of Orr for 15$US. Deal!]

The Barmitzvah Brothers - "Agatha Read"

I have never seen these girls and boys live, but now I want to. This song puts me into the same great bassy placey that Magnetic Fields' "Love is Like A Bottle of Gin" does. I never want to leave, it's such a warm, sad hug.* [Buy]

Midlake - "Kingfish Pies"

I think this band might suck. But I think this song might rule. A sentence of advice to Midlake: "Don't force it, fellas, despite what you may think/have been told, it's really not a cool competition". I sit on such a high horse, it's disgusting.** [Buy]

Elsewhere: if it's still up, and you haven't been, go check Keith's post on F. Apple. It is totally fantassss.

*they might having an alternate assemblage of members called The Guitarmitzvah Brothers, which I would also like to hear.

**guy's voice reminds me of Thom Yorke's voice in Kid A (the song).

supply teachers do not supply teaching. I'm Dan, and this is my girlfriend Monday.

Aphex Twin - "To Cure A Weakling Child"

I just read a letter I wrote to myself when I was in 8th grade. I thought it was pertinent:

"Dear Future Self,

ps. go to locker 3434, there's a false bottom; enjoy."

I don't know why I thought I'd be anywhere near my Junior High by this time, but if anyone lives near St. Kneedlies in Carson City, you should go check it out. Also, my prediction was way off. But surprisingly, my taste was not, this song is still great. [Buy]

Silver Jews - "How To Rent A Room"

It's very easy to think about your life when you listen to this band. In fact, it's all I do. That and grin. Imagine there was always this yard stick that followed you around, everywhere you went. Putting on your coat, eating a sandwich, trying for a window seat, that sort of thing. And it never actually came out and said what exactly it measured, but you always had to look up to see the top. That's the feeling I get when I listen to this song. [Buy]

Well, you did it. Spring Break.

Of Montreal - "Requiem for O.M.M.2"

You can lift the sun up with your hands. It's not even warm. [Buy]

The Books - "An Animated Description of Mr. Maps."

Dark and epic. Sean used the word 'sucks' to describe this. I will use the word 'human'. I know it's variations on a theme, but syllables and cymbals were never such a dangerous pair as in this song. Turn it up loud so "Stealer! Liar! Thief! Gambler! Fornicator!" will hit you as hard as it hits me. [Buy]

okay, that's my week. bye for now. God bless Mom, Dad, Meaghan, Stephanie, and Danny.

La Bande à Benny - "Samedi Soir"

My friend David gave me this cd yesterday and this song's been on repeat. Seriously, I think my computer's broken. No, actually seriously, this song's great. It's a song about what to do, and what other people are doing, on a Saturday night. I believe they suggest reading comic books and listening to the "boys who make all the noise". They're clearly French, but their voices and tempo choices, for whatever reason, make me think they sound Japanese. That might be because there are other songs on the album like "Sexy Baby" and "Super Lady", which feel like oddly translated ideas, but I think are genuine. Daft Punk owes so much to these guys. [I'm not sure this record actually exists outside of David's house, but when he gets famous, he'll reissue it]

Calvin Johnson - "Angel Gone [Live]"

Let's take it down, and over, a few notches. Let me first say that this song is really important to me. I've had it for so long, but it's still great. It starts with 50 seconds of banter, in which he denies a few requests, saying "just listen to the record", but then gets into the broken, misstrummed, stuttering, version of a gorgeous tune that, combined with the noise of the traffic out some window or door, turns into this hypnotic elegy that just doesn't let go. This is an unmistakable voice. yeah. [His record label]

Fiery Furnaces - "Smelling Cigarettes"

Yes, cliche, I know. Let's get past that. And enjoy the constant marvel that is this band's lyrical and musical stylings. They can turn the embarrasingly ordinary (a billboard truck) into a smirking tool of cadence, and so effing cool. I get chills every time at "Is this your cat?" "Yeah, but sometimes it forgets." [Buy]

***

Elsewhere: GOLDKIXX is awesome. wow, it's good.

Need New Body - "Show Me Your Heart"

It's very early in the morning. And Need New Body is not the way to get your day started. Unless you prefer driving electropulses and a freaking catchy percussion section this early in the morning. I prefer to start the day with a whimper, but to each, you know? I love the first 1:30 of this song, it's so promissory, but then the vocals kind of hurt the momentum ('cause we want your heart' said by monster = not cool). But then they stop speak-singing and let the song carry on its merry way. Through computer circuitry, or one of those tubes for sending messages around a big factory, full of turns. [Buy]

The Pauls - Cantankerous Brute

In the same way the last song throws you into motion, so do The Pauls. Best 2 lines: "I don't want to be with you all of the time, but I'd just feel a whole lot better if I was always on your mind". It's too bad they sound so much like Lou Reed singing for the Unicorns. Actually, it's not too bad, I like those bands. Thanks to Tim for this. [I don't think you can buy this, and they don't have a website that I could find]

Frog Eyes - "New Tappy is Heard and Beheld"

I like, no love, Carey Mercer, but I don't understand him. His solo project, Blackout Beach, features mostly Frog Eyes-sounding stuff, but with less identifiable melodies. Which says to me if he had it his way, all his music would have less identifiable melodies. Which is unfortunately wrong. I chose this song specifically because it had one of the most attractive and climactic melodies on The Folded Palm. In the last thirty he becomes this great bird who is both mourning and heralding a beginning and a loss respectively (and respectfully). These songs create a whole world, and each album is a journey through that same world, over and over (every song is connected, and sounds similar). It took me a while to like what Frog Eyes does, but now I'm there, and it's a scary place, but it's so...cloudy..and marvelous. [Buy] [Buy Blackout Beach]

Dresden Dolls - "Bad Habit"

Valentinitis? No, that is dumb. This song, however, is a sprint through traffic, pushing mere peons out of the way, ripping through paper doors, all to get to a drawing (or a sculpture?) of whatever is holding you back, and just beating the snot out of it. With occasional throws to the camera to show how bad-ass you are. This album is old now, but I think didn't get enough credit*. Self-classifying one's music as 'Brechtian Punk Cabaret' is, I think, a mistake, when really all you're doing (in the same sense that 'all' they built was the Empire State Building) is getting teen angsty music absolutely spot on. [Buy]

the 'unrefined search' method of making playlists:
looking for this song, I searched 'bad ha', and came up with this delightful 19:42

Bad Habit - Dresden Dolls
Bad As They Seem - Hayden
The Bad Arts - Destroyer (from the album Streethawk: A Seduction)
Red Right Hand - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

*speaking of credit, thanks to Roger for this