Wednesday May 07, 2008 at 21:31

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I Wanna Do Right But Not Right Now

kfan:

“Look at Miss Ohio” by Gillian Welch

For realz. You guys know about this song, right? It’s got seven or more lines that you’d happily kill a man just to have written yourself, all locked in the catchiest propulsive melody. I know that it’s silly to think of an alt-country song as a perfect pop song, but this is one that simply demands a rapid increase in volume and the application of the repeat function when it’s all done.

P.S. The whole album (Soul Journey) is fantastic.

This post was reblogged from In Case Of Actual Death.

Saturday May 03, 2008 at 21:48

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Halfway There

At one point this afternoon, I was putting my nearly two-year-old daughter into the car without bothering to put any shoes on her or to clean the peanut butter on her cheek. And I was putting my nearly five-year-old son into the same car without a car seat.

I had good reasons and so on but I think all I needed was a mullet and a wife-beater.

Friday May 02, 2008 at 11:41

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Office Fridge Internal Temp Is 59•F

Party in the break room at 4 PM

Salmonella provided 

Friday May 02, 2008 at 6:56

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Giuliano Ferri - Ahab and the whale Ferri’s entire illustrated version of Moby Dick is unbelievable (Starbuck as a giraffe, Queequeg as a bear, Ishmael as a rabbit). Unfortunately, I don’t think it was ever published in English. The copy I have is from Taiwan.

Giuliano Ferri - Ahab and the whale

Ferri’s entire illustrated version of Moby Dick is unbelievable (Starbuck as a giraffe, Queequeg as a bear, Ishmael as a rabbit). Unfortunately, I don’t think it was ever published in English. The copy I have is from Taiwan.

Thursday May 01, 2008 at 16:41

Audio

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

—Alison Moyet, “Find Me,” Hoodoo (1991); background vocals: George Chandler, Jimmy Chambers, and Jimmy Helms

Remember Londonbeat? Well, you can get their greatest hits as an import for less than $12, so you’re not alone if you don’t. They had a couple of good songs on their In the Blood album from 1991, but that same year they also showed up on Alison Moyet’s amazing Hoodoo record. “Find Me” is the closing track and has one of those great build-up-to-an-anthemic-“na na na”-climax structures that are perfect at the end of an album. Even if it’s not the best song on the album (it’s not), you shouldn’t really follow it with anything.

Thursday May 01, 2008 at 16:14

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“If you had 24 hours to live, a room with four walls, a chair and no door, and your choice of book with which to spend those last 24 hours, what would that book be?”

— Distorte, Is that blogging?

I’m gonna go with Moby Dick. Of my five or so favorite books, that’s the only one that’s long enough that it would take me most of the day to get through it and not so long that I wouldn’t be able to finish (I’m looking at you, Infinite Jest!—although that would at least offer some laughs for my final day). Melville offers plenty of morbidity, which might be helpful in terms of thinking about putting my life in perspective. But there’s also enough adventure to get my mind out of the predicament for a stretch of time. Really, though, what always staggers me about that book is its variety—a postmodern novel more than 100 years ahead of its time. Always something to learn when reading it.

Thursday May 01, 2008 at 13:41

Chat

Coworker Intimidation

  • R: I have noticed that she treats us like we have dengue fever. She's a skerred of us.
  • M: wouldn't you be? if i walked into a room with scorsese, spielberg, and soderbergh with a question about taking a polaroid picture, i'd be a little worried about how it would go down.

Wednesday April 30, 2008 at 12:43

Audio

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

—Don Henley, “I Will Not Go Quietly,” The End of the Innocence (1989); background vocals: Axl Rose

After Crosby and Nash, I think Axl Rose is next on everyone’s list of great vocalists, right? I would have been afraid of saying that a decade ago when I could have legitimately feared that Rose would kick my ass, but now—even as out of shape as I am—I’m pretty sure I could outrun him.

Axl does a great job with his high-register growling vocals on this Don Henley song. Gives the song the testosterone boost it probably needs to come of as powerfully indignant. Generally speaking, sarcastic Henley is much better than righteous Henley.

Tuesday April 29, 2008 at 13:45

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—The Hosts, “Wake Up”

The demo version of this song was one of my favorites of 2006, now it’s been officially released as their debut single. 

Tuesday April 29, 2008 at 9:28

Audio

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

—Marc Cohn, “She’s Becoming Gold,” The Rainy Season (1993); background vocals: Graham Nash and David Crosby

Chris Stills’ dad knows a little something about singing with great harmony vocalists. If you want to hear how a David Crosby background vocal can enrich a song, here’s exhibit A.

Marc Cohn—best known for “Walking in Memphis”—knows how to write great songs and on his second album, he used Crosby and Nash (as well as Bonnie Raitt) to make them sound even better. The lyric of “She’s Becoming Gold” describes a woman in mid-life-crisis mode, and the shimmering vocals emphasize the narrator’s admiration for the change she’s starting to undertake. Graham Nash comes in first, and then the sound becomes fully rich when Crosby joins in.

And yet: is the woman’s transformation as good as it sounds, or is she really just ossifying (albeit prettily)?

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