claxxon's lament

blackout beach is the solo project of frog eyes' carey mercer. carey is quite an accomplished songwriter with his main band, whose songs are heavy tapestries of keys, drums, and melody. by comparison, blackout beach's songs may seem a bit threadbare -- frog eyes without their mighty rhythm section. many blackout beach songs feel like random musical elements loosely tied together and set adrift in space, and it's a testament to mercer's talent that he makes those songs so supremely memorable.

part of that success is due to his songs' brevity. while frog eyes have the muscle to stretch their songs to epic length, blackout beach has mastered the art of making short songs into "riveting, pocket-sized epics," to quote chris berry of soft abuse. listening to their album light flows the putrid dawn takes a mere 24 minutes, yet is as richly satisfying as a regular full-length (i myself like my albums around the 30-40 minutes range).

unlike mercer's other more experimental releases (swan lake's beast moans, and the frog eyes ep the future is interdisciplinary or not at all) his voice is front and center, and the songs' subtly catchy melodies are complemented by the music without being buried in it.

ironically, blackout's most well-known composition is not on the album, or even released... yet! "claxxon's lament" is a dirt simple (and profoundly affecting for it) folk ballad that has happily been made available as a FREE DOWNLOAD at softabuse.com (and yes, such an act of generosity must be emphasized). just click on the song title after you click the link. the song was popularized by the popular wolf parade when they covered last year.

"claxxon's lament" and a b-side called "the street folds" (both from the light flows the putrid dawn sessions) will be released "soon" in a limited edition vinyl single. and as if that wasn't cool enough, word has it that carey is working on a second blackout beach album.

here's some choice cuts from the album:

MP3: Blackout Beach - The Stuttered XXX Breeze XXX
MP3: Blackout Beach - The Painted Forest Screen Hides Its Witch

Till clay-cauld death sall blin' my e'e

photo by mutewitness

Joanna Newsom has been touring with her own band recently, and I'm very sad I didn't get to catch one of her recent shows. Luckily, a guy called Shlack (shlack.googlepages.com) made a fantastic video of her Philly show on the 16th, so I got to watch, enchanted, as she and the group played her new album in its entirety, in between two little sets of solo songs. I haven't quite had the time to digest Ys yet, but it is undeniably one of the best albums to come out in a long time.

The highlight of the show, other than encore (and huge fan-favorite, judging by the cheers when she launched into it) "Sadie," was Joanna's rendition of a beautiful Scottish folk tune called "Ca' The Yowes To The Knowes." Here's the audio I ripped from Shlack's video:

MP3: Joanna Newsom - Ca' The Yowes To The Knowes

I found the lyrics to this tune online, but had to adjust them to match what she sings in her version (the one I found had more verses and was ordered differently).

Ca' The Yowes To The Knowes

Ca' the yowes to the knowes,
Ca' them where the heather grows,
Ca' them where the burnie rowes,
My bonnie dearie!

When I went down the water-side,
To see the fishes sweetly glide
Beneath the hazels spreading wide,
And the moon that shines so clearly.

When I went down the water-side,
'Twas there I met my shepherd lad
He row'd me sweetly in his plaid,
And he called me aye his dearie.

If you will but stand to what you've said,
I'll come with you my bonnie lad
And you may row me in your plaid,
And I will be your dearie.

You will get gowns and ribbons meet,
And leather shoes upon your feet,
And in my arms you'll lie and sleep,
My bonnie dearie

As waters wimple to the sea,
While day blinks in the sky so high
Till clay-cold death shall blind my eye,
I shall be thy dearie.
Till clay-cold death shall blind my eye,
I shall be thy dearie.

there'll be beauty in its sinking...

An excellent new Frog Eyes track (from their upcoming album Tears of the Valedictorian, out early 2007) has been making the rounds recently, thanks to a Force Field PR sampler. Though I love the production on their first two albums, "Idle Songs" is the best sounding Frog Eyes recording yet, and it sounds super good played super loud. It's nice to hear Carey Mercer's voice up front in the mix again, with only a little bit of the echo that liberally drenched his vocals on the Swan Lake album and Frog Eyes' The Future is Inter-disciplinary or Not at All EP. The song boasts a wonderful melody, but the real highlight is Melanie Campbell's increasingly amazing drumming.

MP3: Frog Eyes - Idle Songs

go here for more Frog Eyes stuff, plus a nice forum:
http://www.the-collective.net/~sashwap/frog_eyes/

pavement and the fall (not the band!)

it's fall!!!!!! (maybe not officially, but it seems like fall)

when fall rolls around i usually start listening to pavement more frequently. i don't know why, but i think it has to do with pavement and fall both making me feel really warm, happy and content. favorite band/favorite season. or maybe it's because of some nice pavement/fall associated memories, especially from college. good times.

anyway, now i'm going to be listening to a lot more pavement, 'cause the wowee zowee reissue was just announced. out nov. 7th, this is the third pavement reissue. the first two were pretty much the best things ever; not only did they rekindle interest and love for the original albums, they were the first release for utterly essential songs from the vaults like "all my friends," "soiled little filly," and "circa 1672." wowee zowee: sordid sentinels edition keeps that streak going with five session outtakes (one of which is a jam session! so enticing!) and a treasure trove of radio sessions, b-sides, and compilation tracks.

mp3: pavement - flaming stones (live 4-17-94)
mp3: pavement - mussel rock (is a horse in transistion)
mp3: pavement - for sale: the preston school of industry
mp3: pavement - space ghost jam

here are some goodies. the first is a live, early version of the song "fin" (aka "infinite spark" if you're from the UK) performed in 94, meaning it was possibly a contender for wowee zowee, yet skipped an album and ended up on brighten the corners three years later. it's a more energetic and ragged counterpart to the album version (which had morphed into a mournful guitar epic). i had half suspected that a studio version of this take would surface on the WZ reissue (ala the crooked rain version of "grounded"), and unless it's either "sordid" or "sentinel," then that's not the case.

next up is "mussel rock," an absolutely great spiral stairs song that was a b-side to "father to a sister of thought."

the next track, whose writing and performance was documented on a dutch television show, is one of the finest unreleased songs ever, and hopefully will appear on the brighten the corners reissue. sorry for the low-quality mp3.

lastly, another track that belongs on the inevitable brighten the corners reissue, the ever awesome "space ghost jam." addictively fun!


Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinals Edition

DISC ONE

Wowee Zowee:
01 We Dance
02 Rattled by the Rush
03 Black Out
04 Brinx Job
05 Grounded
06 Serpentine Pad
07 Motion Suggests Itself
08 Father to a Sister Of Thought
09 Extradition
10 Best Friend's Arm
11 Grave Architecture
12 AT & T
13 Flux = Rad
14 Fight This Generation
15 Kennel District
16 Pueblo
17 Half a Canyon
18 Western Homes

Wowee Zowee session outtake:
19 Sordid (previously unreleased)

"Rattled by the Rush" B-sides:
20 Brink of the Clouds
21 False Skorpion
22 Easily Fooled

"Father to a Sister of Thought" B-sides:
23 Kris Kraft
24 Mussle Rock (Is a Horse in Transition)

Pacific Trim EP:
25 Give It a Day
26 Gangsters & Pranksters
27 Saganaw
28 I Love Perth

Wowee Zowee session outtake:
29 Sentinel (previously unreleased)

DISC TWO
From the I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack:
01 Sensitive Euro Man

Wowee Zowee session outtake:
02 Stray Fire (previously unreleased)

Recorded March 3, 1994 at Hilversum, Holland (all previously unreleased):
03 Fight This Generation
04 Easily Fooled

Wowee Zowee jam session featuring Doug Easley on piano:
05 Soul Food

From the Homage to Descendents Descendents tribute album:
06 It's a Hectic World

Recorded for BBC Radio 1's Steve Lamacq Evening Session, March 15, 1995 (all previously unreleased):
07 Kris Kraft
08 Golden Boys/Serpentine Pad
09 Painted Soldiers
10 I Love Perth

Medusa Cyclone/Pavement split 7":
11 Dancing With the Elders

Live at the Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, Recorded July 7, 1994 (all previously unreleased):
12 Half a Canyon
13 Best Friend's Arm
14 Brink of the Clouds/Candylad
15 Unfair
16 Eaily Fooled
17 Heaven Is a Truck
18 Box Elder

From the Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks compilation:
19 No More Kings

From the The Kids in the Hall in Brain Candy soundtrack:
20 Painted Soldiers

Wowee Zowee session outtake:
21 We Dance - alternate mix (previously unreleased)

normal happiness (and california too)

so the "second" robert pollard solo album, normal happiness, has leaked! now, my love of pollard's work is not in question, but this album is fairly not good. it could easily have been a fading captain release under the name psycho & the birds, a pseudonym that released two fairly not good cds earlier this year.

with psycho, all the songs were improvised into a boombox, and then dressed-up by producer todd tobias, who favors the indistinct garage rock with loopy keyboards sound. normal happiness is exactly the same, except the songs mostly sound like the second takes of improvised songs -- maybe a little more refined, but still a bit undercooked. in fact, at least two of the tracks can be found of Suitcase 2 as nearly identical make-it-up-as-i-go-along demos. of course, pollard has ALWAYS written songs this way, mixing and matching the good parts from improv jams, but previous recordings captured the inherent spontaneityin his writing without sounding detached, improvised and unfocused.

"rhoda rhoda" comes closest to sounding like a bee thousand outtake (the gold standard by which everything else pollard is measured) although it somehow manages to go on for too long, despite being only 1:49. "supernatural car lover" is the big hit, featuring a classic pollardian riff and melody and cut from the same mold as the classic "wrinkled ghost" from the oft-overlooked waved out.

the rest of the album is mostly short, meandering fragments of lumbering prog rock. there's nothing as great as "u.s. mustard co." or "i'm a strong lion" from his last album. though it's good to hear pollard this loose and free (his singing style on this album is frequently quite bizarre) but his reliance on todd tobias is rapidly becoming a crutch.

if you are interested in his recent work, i highly recommend blues and boogie shoes by the keene brothers and turn to red by the takeovers, two albums released this year that showcase pollard's talents in a far more satisfying way. the keene brothers album is the opposite of tossed-off, thanks to tommy keene's jangly, 80's style instrumentals. the takeovers is the other end of the spectrum, a hodgepodge of sounds and styles that, like pollard's best work, combines to make a complete whole greater than the sum of its parts. it's more GBV than the last few GBV albums, AND it features a few vintage tracks from the vaults, including the absolutely great "be it not for the serpentine rain dodger," which don't just sound like old-school GBV, but ARE old-school GBV. rock.

MP3: robert pollard - rhoda rhoda
MP3: the takeovers - be it not for the serpentine rain dodger
MP3: the keene brothers - death of the party (from robertpollard.net)

buy pollard albums here: http://robertpollard.net/luna.html

Five Facts about Chantal Goya

(Note: Dan, the guy whose idea this site was [and its only other regular contributor] is headed for France with his girlfriend, April. That finally inspired me to finish this. Think of the appropriateness. THINK ABOUT IT.)

1. She's French. (She was born in Saigon, but at the time it was part of French Indochina.)
2. She was a yé-yé girl, which basically means French pop singer from the '60s. The only other one I'm really familiar with is Françoise Hardy, whose first American album was The Yeh-Yeh (sic) Girl from Paris.
3. She was an actress. Her first film was Jean-Luc Godard's Masculin-Féminin (available on DVD from the Criterion Collection), in which she plays the love interest of Jean-Pierre Leaud (probably best known as the kid from The 400 Blows). Oh, and her character is also a yé-yé girl.
4. She is currently neither of these. She gave up both careers in the '70s to make music for children, which she still does to this day. Sayeth Wikipedia: "Her usual character is Marie-Rose, a mix between a maid and an older sister, reminiscent of Julie Andrews in both The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins."
5. She is considered a gay icon in France. Being neither gay nor French, I am still not sure how one becomes an icon, other than a) what Wikipedia says and b) obviously Judy Garland.

And now, to bring everything together, here's an MP3:
chantal goya- tu m'as trop menti.mp3
"Tu m'as trop menti" ("You lied to me too much") is one of six Goya songs to be used in Masculin-Féminin, as well as the one used in the trailer. Like most of Godard's trailers, it consists of randomly-selected scenes from the film edited together with random words (including sections of the title). Goya's song adds a considerable energy to the trailer, and in turn, the images help make the song memorable. Oh, and it's only 1:45.

As far as Godard's leading ladies go, however, my heart still belongs to Anna Karina, particularly in Band of Outsiders.

Excuses, excuses

A few days ago, I finally felt like posting something. Blogger, however, didn't feel like loading, and I got demotivated once more. I'll post it the next time I feel like it.

While we're waiting, why not check out an mp3? (Not hosted here, of course... you'll have to find it on another website. Fortunately, the first three words of the next paragraph contain a link.)

Go Home Productions, the nom de compagnie of one Mark Vidler, has long been my favorite up-masher. Even after the whole craze (which apparently officially ended when Jay-Z and Linkin Park played together), Vidler continues to turn out top-notch work (check out "Girls Jump," credited to Xtina Van Halen... it fits perfectly!). He even apparently has a record deal with EMI (in related news, the new Blondie hits package includes his "Rapture Riders," "Rapture" with the backing of the Doors' "Riders on the Storm").

The track I am singling out is "Triple Rhythm Stick," listed as a demo for his debut album. The vocals are from "Triple Trouble" by the Beastie Boys, a song that was alright enough but unfortunately had Chic's "Good Times" as its base. No one who knows anything about rap music could hear that song without thinking of "Rapper's Delight" (though the Beasties went for the relatively untapped intro).

So along comes Vidler with an a capella track, and he makes the brilliant decision of pulling out Ian Dury's "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" for the new creation. I must admit, as many times as I've heard that song, I'd never thought of using it as a loop, but it makes perfect sense. The original track is already sort of a rap (Dury speaks all the lyrics). Maybe it's just been a while.

Anyway, Vidler is apparently waiting for a greenlight from EMI (legal, I suppose), but if he gets the chance to smooth it out, I think "Triple Rhythm Stick" could be the best Beastie single in a while. The whole idea of using a recognizable song reminds me of Paul's Boutique (which could probably never be done today, what with all the clearances and lawsuits.

If you don't agree with me, maybe you should do your own remix. Here, I'll get you started: the Beastie Boys have a capella tracks on their website.

(Damn, I want one of those Sony portable turntables.)

I'm working on a couple posts, one short, one not as such, but I wanted to stop by and say this.

If you have access to a surround sound system, especially a 5.1, you need to pick up the new DVD version of The Soft Bulletin. Your ears and head will thank you for it.*

(*Not literally. If your ears and/or head actually do thank you, please consult a doctor.)

Seriously, though. I liked it so much that I'll forgive them for packaging it with the same damn CD (complete with Mokran remixes and "Spiderbite" instead of "Slow Motion").

dragonfly wants a piece of pie

cheruzzel: i tried downloading the new built to spill...

nsa656: Oh, I think I downloaded that but never listened to it

cheruzzel: and only got one song, so i was listening to it, and it was
good but there was this crazy sample throughout it (of what sounds like a rastafarian shouting something about "my town"). and i was
thinking "wow, this is totally weird for a built to spill song, but
strangely good. i found out later that it's not actually in the song,
just some digital tag inserted into it to combat downloading, i guess.
problem is, i think it makes the song better

nsa656: Haha

nsa656: Yeah, that sort of thing usually pops up on promo copies of rap albums

cheruzzel: exactly

cheruzzel: but since i only had one track, it didn't occur to me that it
was in the others

nsa656: It's like "YO THIS IS THE NEW SHIT FROM PIMPY Q DOWNLOADING
BLOOOOOOWS"

nsa656: That's pretty funny

cheruzzel: the kicker is that the sample always occurs at the right
moments, especially the first time

nsa656: Weeeeird

cheruzzel wants to send file C:\Documents and
Settings\daj156\Desktop\DC temp\built to spill - you in reverse promo
(2006)\04 - built to spill - saturday.mp3.

nsa656: I wonder if they knew what they were doing

nsa656 received C:\Documents and Settings\daj156\Desktop\DC
temp\built to spill - you in reverse promo (2006)\04 - built to spill -
saturday.mp3.

nsa656: HAha, you're right!

nsa656: WHO IS MIKE DOWNS??!

nsa656: He seems to say

cheruzzel: i should just copy this convo and blog it

cheruzzel: ah, that didn't occur to me

cheruzzel: i kept thinking "who is my town?"

cheruzzel: but that makes no sense

nsa656: That could be it too

built to spill - saturday ('who is mike downs?' version)

Human Television is a band that came from nowhere, quite literally -- a folder of their music showed up, unbidden, on my computer last fall. Turns out a friend of mine on soulseek took it upon himself to upload a batch of the band's demos to me.

I'm glad he did! Human Television's jangly rock songs are like little bombs that explode melody shrapnel into your brain. Their music harkens back to 80's college rock in the same way that Elephant 6 stuff harkened back to the 60's. Like Guided By Voices' best work, the songs end too soon.

An interesting quality of this band is that no single element within their songs stands out over anything else. The lyrics seem unimportant taken alone, but the music and words conspire to evoke a feeling. There are no build-ups and no lulls, and the songs embrace that static quality and harness it to great effect. Case in point:

Saw You Walking By
I Forgot

These songs seem somehow related, as if they are both random 2 minute sections removed from a half hour long jam session. Both are propelled by chiming, circular guitar melodies and vocals that sound rushed to keep up with the song. Hear them once and you'll be singing them all day long.

They only have an EP and a single out so far, and a full-length album is on the way.

http://www.wearethehumantelevision.com/
http://www.myspace.com/humantelevision

i like girl music

apparently this song was a hit in the 90's. i never heard it. wish i had, though -- it's damn near perfect, in a 90's sort of way.

juliana hatfield - spin the bottle

*japanese lyrics*

was in border's the other day when i witnessed a fascinating exchange between a young boy (7-8) and his mother. basically the kid wanted some new green day live cd/dvd, and his mom didn't want to pay $20 for such a package (i don't blame her). she suggested getting a soundtrack instead, since he could be exposed to many different bands, instead of just green day (not a bad suggestion for a young lad, i think). i started thinking to myself what cd i'd suggest for a young green day fan. the weird part is, i couldn't think of anything that would be suitable. nothing i listen to kicks enough ass or is catchy enough to pry someone with a short attention span away from green day. maybe modest mouse? i thought of new pornographers, but their name alone would make me hesitant to give it to a kid. perhaps the best thing to do, if i were in such a situation, would be buy the kid crooked rain, crooked rain. that's no fuckin' around right there.

unrelatedly, here's a song i randomly download from someone on soulseek who had a HUGE directory devoted to a band called advantage lucy. it's a 5.5 minute long upbeat rock song with female vocals. catchy. there's something strangely appealing about it. the file info tells me it's from their 2005 hello again EP.

advantage lucky - «°«é«¤«À£­

music i sold, vol. 1

half.com is a blessing for getting rid of those pesky cds that have overstayed their welcome, but it's not always easy for me to eliminate cds from my life. to make it easier for me to part with them, some will be eulogized in my Music I Sold column. you see, many of the CDs i am parting with are subpar albums whose subparness is marred by a few fantastic, utterly keepable songs. only by ripping these songs can i free myself up enough to sell the CD, and it is these songs that i will be sharing with you.

miighty flashlight - ballet skool

yes, that's spelled right. miighty flashlight is mike fellows, a guy who was in a band i've never heard called rites of spring (pre-fugazi ian mackaye band, i hear), has worked with smog, and played on the last three silver jews albums (including co-writing "k-hole" on tanglewood numbers). the smog and silver jews connections are good to make, because fellows sings oddball country-ish songs in a deep voice only slightly more nuanced than david berman's.

his self-titled album consists of many layers of laconically picked acoustic and electric guitars and various computer noises such as sampled piano, drum machines, handclaps, whooshing sounds and beeping things. still, the album is as far removed from a "folktronica" album as a folk album can get, the computery effects somehow coming off as quaint and rustic, as if they were recorded in my grandma's house by the balding man on the cover (a grainy photograph that's almost certainly a jandek homage).

somehow, awesome production, cool song titles ("go on. die. it's easy," and the pollardian "vehicular dome," to name two) and excellent musicianship add up to an album that's merely pleasant and lacks any real spunk. the melodies are afterthoughts and the lyrics are weird -- and good -- but not integral parts of the songs.

"ballet skool" stands out by delivering the album's only memorable hook, a pretty guitar melody that also serves as the chorus, which is: "on top of ballet school / don't let me be misdiagnosed." play this song ten times in a row (which i've just done without getting sick of it!) and you'll get a pretty clear idea of what the whole album is like, with a slightly more enjoyable twist.

No one gets fired!

Though I severely hope Jess contributes something. She is a damn good writer. (Arthur apparently has something in the works.)

I did a year-end dealie on LiveJournal that Dan likes and I don't. That can be found at this link.

In conclusion, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath." Seriously, holy monkeys. "Supernaut," too.

when you walk into the room all the wallpaper comes into bloom

extemporaneous post

i currently don't have access to the hard drive i keep most of my music on, so some posts i had in store for myself will have to wait. so, i'm gonna shift through the scattered debris on my desktop and pull out something great. let's see what i get...

(10 minutes later...)

the childballads - white chocolate tea (aka the onion domes of tallahassee)

i think i got this song from another music blog but since that was back in a different year, i'm gonna not worry about the repost. it's been sitting on my desktop for what seems like ages, but it keeps popping up, unlike the countless one-timers that fail to grab me and proceed clutter my poor C drive. it accomapnied me during a particularly long bus ride from philadelphia to erie, and now i should repay it.

this song is good: damn good. i'm in love with the band's name, but until now i had no idea what the title of this song is. now that i do i like them even more. i know nothing about the band, so the following information is what i can glean from the song itself:

-- the band has a guy with a sloppy singing voice but a keen sense of phrasing and melody (a perfect combo).

-- the band has a girl who does sweetly melodic backing vocals. (always nice)

-- they have an awesome shuffly drum sound.

that's about it. i don't know if they have an album or what, so i'm gonna look for them after i type this up. i may even buy it. this song is an all-timer.

dan