• Best Week Ever question's Morrissey's habit of releasing a "Best of" album every two years.
• The Onion's Noel Murray continues his record collection examination in his Popless column. I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy his writing. Also, he's dead on about the press kit thing. I don't even read them any more.
• Oh no! Kim Deal and Stephen Malkmus, two of my musical heroes, are in a feud, kinda.
I've been taking bass lessons for a minute (I'm getting really good, if you need a bassist!), and one of the things I talked about with my teacher last week is singing while playing -- a skill I lack and would like to improve upon. He basically said, "practice more," which is his answer to everything; and also pointed out that it's harder to sing while playing bass than while playing guitar because you're doing something completely different rhythmically. I'll buy that, but I still don't think it's impossible. So here's a list of noted singer/bassists.
• Kim Deal, Pixies (also The Breeders, but she's not their bassist) ("Gigantic" is one of the first songs I figured out how to play)
• Kim Gordon, Sonic Youth
• Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy (He sings back-up, but still)
Can you think of any other singer/bassists? Can you think of any other bassists period? I can: Carlos D, Interpol; Noel Redding, Jimi Hendrix Experience (among others, but not as a bassist, I don't think); Mark Ibold, Pavement and Sonic Youth ...
Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, "Real Emotional Trash"
Above: Part one of an eight part interview with SM about the making of his latest album. Prior to this I may have said that Stephen Malkmus can do no wrong, but in the face of that mustache, I stand corrected.
Also, before I get into the meat of this review, I should put out there the fact that I've been listening to "Slanted and Enchanted" on repeat for almost two weeks now. So, that's just where I'm coming from.
The opener "Dragonfly Pie" grabbed me from the get-go. With abrupt and unexpected shifts in rhythm and tone, it knocks you off balance, but hooks you for a fun ride.
He's using, again, that wangity synthy sound that employed on his last solo album, "Face the Truth" (hear it on "Pencil Rot" here). As with "Truth," you can hear a lot of his Pavement-y origins, but he's not stuck in the past. The deadpan nonsense lyrics are still there, but also too are flourishes of country, pop and piano balladry.
The album's tent peg, the titular "Real Emotional Trash," is a ten-minute emotional opus with two movements, the first a vaguely bluesy lament which gives way, in an extended instrumental break, to an upbeat "doin' it for themselves" second half. The effect is kind of theatrical. Although given my relationship to lyrics in general (I generally don't have time for them) and SM's specific brand of loose gibberish (which is, admittedly tighter here; we'll get to that later), I have no idea what this play would really be about. Upon repeated listens, the structure reminds me a lot of "Proud Mary." So this is Malkmus' Tina Turner moment?
OK, so I just said I don't really pay attention to lyrics. That's probably better phrased as lyrics are tertiary or maybe ever quarternary (I think I made that word up) to me when considering and processing a song, behind melody, rhythm and, I don't know, something else. So like, I can kind of tell that there is a story to "Real Emotional Trash," even if I'm not really interested in what it is. And there are a lot of these tracks that seem to be about something, with fully drawn characters. If this seems unremarkable, consider the following from "Fillmore Jive" (listen here):
I need to sleep it off
I need to sleep why don't you let me
I need to sleep why don't you
I need to sleep
I need to sleep
I need to sleep
I need to sleep, why won't you let me
I need to sleep
I need to sleep
I need to sleep
Why won't you, why won't you let me sleep?
(Sometimes when I'm suffering through a particularly pernicious bout of insomnia I sing this song to myself. And then I cry.)
Here's a baker's dozen of my favorite posts from the last year. They were either fun to write or fun to read, or I just think that they represent the blog pretty well.
4. I can't include this on my "Great Albums of 2007" list, because it came out in 2006, but The Cardigans' "Super Extra Gravity" is a great one.
5. I saw Calexico! I didn't tag it "live review" for some reason, so I missed it for the Best Shows of 2007 post. It should be on there.
6. I do love Muppets and Kanye, so when I can talk about them both in the same breath, I'm a happy girl. Also, I love imparting random, tangential trivia.
9. An internet-wide discussion of the worst song ever. I still say not in a million years would it ever be "Ebony & Ivory."
10. Cool music makes the TV shows that play it cool, right? I don't know if I'm noticing it less, or what, but the hipetude of "Gossip Girl"'s soundtrack is less glaringly obvious these days. And, yes, I watch it every week.
11. I liveblogged the VMAs. It's taken me a while to recover, but I think I'll be ready for the Grammys by the time February rolls around.
12. We covered all aspects of CMJ (for which we won an award from Newsday!), including what was in the gift bags.
I was talking to my sister the other day, and she mentioned that she had an idea for a blog post: "What about songs that sing about other songs. Like in Regina Spektor's 'On the Radio.', she sings about listening to 'November Rain.' It always seems a little jarring to hear her talk about another song."
I agreed and brought up Pavement. In "Range Life," they name check Stone Temple Pilots and the Smashing Pumpkins — which lyric, if you'll recall, allegedly upset Billy Corgan so much that he refused to take the stage at Lollapalooza if Pavement was allowed to perform.
What we're talking about, by the way, is not songs which quote or refer obliquely to music which has come before — that's how art is made. This is a straight up reference to the act of listening to another band. Maybe a subtle distinction, but a distinction nonetheless.
Why Regina talking about GNR is weird, we theorized together, is because a pop song is like it's own little world; the experience of listening to music is very in-the-moment, and to break that little bubble and refer to other moments in pop culture is unexpected. Or, like — and this may be more for storytelling reasons than anything else — people on TV don't often watch TV (or talk about other shows, unless its some kind of winking cross promotion), and people in books don't often read books (or watch TV ... although they do listen to music, especially if the book you're reading is by Nick Hornby). Each cultural construction is self-contained.
So, for the blog entry, my sister suggested a list of songs that name check other songs/bands. Turns out, sorry L, that this is notanoriginalidea. Though the criteria is a little different for each list, it's the same basic idea.
But if you can think of any others, give a shout in the comments.
Some of these CDs are gonna be new, and some of them are gonna be old...
The Young Knives "Voices of Animals and Men"
My immediate impression is their explosive sound is derivative but good. As the disc plays, however, I am less impressed. The lead singer's yelping just isn't doing it for me, and the whole thing sounds done-before.
Meat Puppets "Rise to Your Knees"
I really like the cover art.
And, whoa! This takes me back. "The Brothers Meat" have still got it. After an 11-year estrangement, Curt and Cris Kirkwood are back together, making beautiful, slacker music.
Dr. Dog "We All Belong"
I think I've heard this album before, which is a little bit cheating. But, whatever, I like it. These guys sound like they'd be fun to party with, OR they'd be fun to have play at your party. Either one.
