Archives : all posts by Dan

Paul Simon - "The Boy in the Bubble"

Edmund is clean shaven, left-handed and still recovering from a childhood of ADHD and narcotics. Umbrage taken, mixed signals given, Edmund wanders from the wreckage of one life-size crater only to look for ground soft enough to grow another. "And don't come back" doesn't begin to describe, there aren't enough characters in a text message, not enough figures on the number wheel. Edmund's car talks to him, and his shoes have GPS, so if he loses one he can finally be in two places at once. Edmund has three kids with as many women, and he has a few unread e-books that he got free with membership. Edmund is lousy. Lousy with life. [Buy]

Trailer Trash Tracys - "Dies in 55"

The Necklace of Secrets. Evelyn Jasper clasps her necklace in the mirror, rough-hewn iridescent gems. There is a bruise on her elbow, and the corners of her mouth unchange, as she notices it matches the polka dots on her dress. She looks at her chest and nearly says aloud, is this a bra or just a nipple muzzle? Her phone tings a text: "Gonna be late". Twinkle. She turns to the mirror. Nothing. Upend the wine glass, stains on the ceiling through the drip. She has lost the landlord's number. Eveline, is it? Shoes. Enough shoes to impress the same ten people, once, over and over again. Coat, clutch, keys, cab. During the ride, reading the driver's printed profile, 3 stars and he looks uncomfortable with a smile, like he doesn't want to look weak. Twinkle. Definitely. Evelyn definitely saw her necklace glowing, like retro future space rocks. Glowing and getting warm. At the party, cheese and bread and more wine, and a pile of mostly terrible shoes. He never showed up, and the necklace glowed twice more. Once in the bathroom and once during a conversation about the ethics of charity. No other texts. What did the necklace know that she didn't? For whom was it glowing, burning, like ears? [Buy Ester]

Delusionists - "Underachiever"

A last-call organ and a sleepy Guaraldi line, tumbly cymballing, and a night's-over beat. Ben Black writes the drink-of-water speech, the honest tv-on-mute confession made while having the last-ditch drink of water, the one cup of hangover hope you force on your fuck-up body before bed. The stale pita and what's-on-my-sock moment, the not-again not-tonight who-have-i-become talk. And it's 4 minutes long, but it could be 4 seconds, because it all comes down to that last-moment sigh. [More]

(not a proper source, but image found here)

The Concept - "Gimme Twice"

This song ties your knees together. It was teenage in the aughts. It's light-up candy. It's forgivable, formidable. It's fun. [site]

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RENAISSANCE MAN: PART TWO

From gramo-friends Kai Nagata, Evan Crowe, and their collaborator Candice Vallantin, the film continues from Part I, where we get more history and character on Matthew, and the deftness with which this series is made continues. Care and power through restraint, part II is just as impressive.

Elsewhere: Montreal friends Ian MacMillan and Olivier Labonté-LeMoyne made a nice video for St. Ange, featuring many familiar faces and places, it warms my heart.

And Arcade Fire have made another wonderful interactive video with Vincent Morriset.

Alex Rossi - "Chair et Canon"

A random combination of numbers reaches a soulmate somewhere in the world. 23938495748. "Pas de six." "Hello?" "Allo?" "Pas de six?" "Oui, Café Pas de Six." "Ah. Okay." And they stay on the line, listening to the silence, smiling into the silence. [free]

GAHZA - "GAHZA LOVES"

In the world of old photographs, there was always something going on just out of frame. It was always animals having sex. Just outside the edge of old photos, there were two animals copulating. It was necessary for photos to stay embedded on the emulsion of the time, it was invented by Kodak and used for many years in the early days of photography. They called it the 'monkey business', because it was first discovered with monkeys, but it worked with many animals. It's interesting to think that that was going on this whole time. It kinda explains why people look the way they do in those photos. [free]

Quilt - "Gome Home"

I'm carving a weapon out of wood because I can't sleep, what for the moon and the motion. The other jumpers are asleep in the corners and all touching for warmth, but the jostling of the bumps and sways, and the glowing beams of moonlight lighting up the hay in bright blue lines, lighting the whole damn boxcar up, it's keeping me awake. And my mind is wandering to imaginings of being stopped and found, or robbed and run through, so I'm carving a weapon. It's as sharp as a blade, and it'd splinter inside a body so it's a dandy weapon. I think about my granddad, shooting his first gun just before he died, and he was a natural. We've got weapons in our blood, and defense in our very souls. My granddad died protecting his property, and my daddy the same, and I'm on my way east to tell those big banks that they can take my life but they won't take my property. Property is the only thing we have in this life, and it's given to us teeth-clenched and heavy-eyed at birth or we take it gnash-toothed and blood-eyed from our neighbour. Either way, it's the stuff we spend and earn in this life, and it's our share of the world that translates to the acreage given us in the life hereafter. I'm working on this handle, I want it shaped to my hand, a bit of spittle helps rub soft the rough edges. [Buy from Mexican Summer]

The Chap - "We'll See To Your Breakdown"

A million introductions. A hundred handshakes. Countless name tags. Lapel. Lanyard. Snip. The height of hotel elevators. Glass lift. Sky tube. Home base. Temp desk. Captioned news. Sleep niblet. Bite to eat. Cafe. Teria.

"Terry."

Airy. Air born. Hand glide.

"Shake hands?"

Fake fans. Twist knob. Air condition. On one condition.

"Terry? You in there?"

Blink. Snap. Slap. RunFREEZE.

[Buy]

Quiet Americans - "Be Alone"

This is a tie-dye barbecue, on a black sand beach. [Free]

(image by Karnevil)

The Black Opera - "Manute Bol"

Down the line, all good men. There's Theo, he's got a mouth like a loaded gun. Freddie has a handshake that'll make you fall in love. Carl carries all his possessions in the lining of his winter coat. Niles, he was raised by secret agents, but he can't find them to say thank-you. Barker's got ticker scroll teeth, he can't talk, but he still uses his mouth to speak. Charmaine can run up walls, Telly can tell if you're lying, Brandon's got the peace disease, and Arnold's face is magic. And then there's me, Neptune, I have inner tattoos, the kind you're gonna have to kill me to see. [Buy]

Capybara - "Late Night Bikes"