GWENDA BOND

Playlist You Can Read To

Today I'm over at largehearted boy (one of my favorite, favorite blogs) contributing to the long-running and venerable Book Notes feature, wherein authors provide a playlist that relates to their latest work. I tried to pick some less obvious things to highlight, and you can even listen to the ten-song playlist on spotify.

Go forth, read and hear.

(And, yes, I've added this to the master list.)

Soundtracks Are Important

"Tuck the Darkness In" by Bowerbirds from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

 
Phillips* in Blackwood LOVES this band. So do I.

Thanks to Richard for the pointer to this new video. Also, thanks to the band for releasing a new album just when I'm in need of things for a shiny new playlist. (And for generally being AMAZING.)

Their last album, Upper Air, was perfect background for my gothic Roanoke Island story, and lots of its songs were on my writing playlist.** Plus, Phillips was really into music, enough so that I really had to think about what he'd listen to given his eclectic taste. And the band fit there too.

Aside: I may be absentee for a couple of days working on copy edits and the various other things of life (including taxes! they can be put off no longer). But back soon.

*I can't wait for you guys to meet these characters. I hope you like them. I should say, you might not know he LOVES them without this secret information, just that they're on one of his playlists. This is Imaginary Inside Dirt right here.

**Doubly perfect because they are a North Carolina band. Perfect squared.

Crush Your Enemies

Pure brilliance.

Via Karen Meisner.

Girl With Yellow Hair

That iTunes meme via Holly. I always use shuffle, because I'm lazy about such things--I also hit skip frequently, though not now because the rules are:

My Life in Itunes

RULES

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

4&5. Deleted the part about tagging people, so just do it if you like.

6. Have Fun!

Catchy Tune

I hadn't heard anything from M. Ward's new album, Hold Time, until this morning, but the situation has now been remedied. I found "Never Had Nobody Like You" totally poppy and charming, equal parts nodding at The Beatles, Nick Drake, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I hope the whole record's this good.

Here's the song, via Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good. Enjoy: "Never Had Nobody Like You."

Now that the MFA is over, I can start following a few of the music blogs again. Happy days.

p.s. Unrelatedly, I did a little interview over at Micol's Bradford Blog Bash about blogging and such as guest blogger of the day. Please excuse my typos (mostly missing ats for some reason); I plead a cold while answering. Also, do not mock my woodenness in the graduation photo--relaxed scholarly owl stance was not taught in advance!

And I Said Amen

The NYT Magazine has a lengthy feature on Neko Case by Daniel Menaker this weekend, complete with a nifty interactive map where you can follow the history of her singing travails thus far.

Bet you can guess who I'll be listening to the rest of the afternoon...

Fail

No video on Youtube* of the Judybats doing "Convalescing in Spain"--proof that, in fact, footage of anything you want at any moment is not yet on the tubes!

*There are a few Judybats videos, but that's Not What I'm Looking For.

Autumn

Time to pull out the Gillian Welch and Uncle Tupelo.

Monday Antidote

Dolly Parton doing "Dumb Blonde" in 1968.

If that doesn't make you happy, you're a zombie. (Via.)

Throw Your Muse

Kristin Hersh's Learn to Sing Like a Star is her best album in ages (and I've liked the recent albums a great deal). Think Limbo-era Throwing Muses crossed with Strange Angels; great arrangements, great gravel-voiced sing-alongs, great contrasts of loud and quiet. I am a total sucker for the marriage of quiet and loud--see my Catherine Wheel fixation (particularly the B sides and the early stuff).

Adrian Pannett nails something in this review that I've always said about Hersh's work (usually to people who I've recommended her to that have hated whatever album they tried):

As with any Kristin Hersh long-player, Learn To Sing Like A Star will of course take a dozen or so spins to reveal its true merits to listeners. Whilst such a heavy investment may seem like a stiff proposition at first – especially in these MP3 shuffle-play days - it will pay back more dividends than most albums released in 2007 will ever manage.

This is one of the things I love best about Hersh. Even though I'm loving this album already, I don't know it yet. I won't know it for weeks of repeats, but I know it has layers upon layers, waiting for familiarity to bring them forth.

I can think of very few musicians whose work always gives up something new when I go back to it, but I spent last week revisiting Hips and Makers and fell in love with it all over again, for completely different reasons than back in 1998. (I bought it in 1994 when it first came out, and was guilty of the same thing I'm talking about here -- it took four years of chances to get it.)

This latest is as good a Hersh record to start with as any, though, if she isn't one of your favorite favorites. If she is, well, you've probably already bought it.

Try out some tracks at Elbo.ws or the Hype Machine.

Always Causing Trouble

Mr. Matos, that is. From the NYT:

This week Idolator, a newish music blog owned by Gawker Media, seized on the outrage and disappointment felt by critics around the country who saw Mr. Christgau — and Chuck Eddy, the Voice music editor, who was dismissed in April — as a force of credibility and journalistic continuity, by announcing its own poll, Jackin’ Pop.

...

The new survey will be organized by Michaelangelo Matos, a well regarded freelance writer who has served as music editor at the Voice-owned Seattle Weekly. (When New Times Media acquired Village Voice Media, it also took its name.) Jackin’ Pop will have some new technological bells and whistles, like demographic breakdowns of ballots, but will largely be modeled after Pazz & Jop. Mr. Matos, 31, said it was as much a homage to that model as a protest against the new Voice.

“Pazz & Jop has always been about intellectual music coverage,” he said. “There are people at The Voice doing good, smart work, but the overall culture does not smile upon it being particularly thoughtful.”

Go team good, smart, and intellectual!

One Song: "In Our Talons"

"In Our Talons," Bowerbirds - This is an amazing, small epic of a song that puts together a chirping, first-contact-gone-wrong narrative for me, but might do something completely different for you. It's breathtakingly lovely at times. And there's accordion. "Oh my cousins, you're not alone..." It makes things feel bright and vital and precarious. (Via the ever-brilliant Said the Gramophone, where Sean as usual writes oh so well about it.) This may just be my new favorite North Carolina band (okay, at least among my favorite N.C. bands).

Download Bowerbirds_In_Our_Talons.mp3

One Song: "Volcanoes"

"Volcanoes," Islands - An epic ditty about a climatic apocalypse and featuring a demon. Enjoy.

Download 08_volcanoes.mp3

One Song: "Hotaru"

"Hotaru" by Kama Aina - The most beautiful track I've had stuck on repeat this year. Club Kama Aina comes out soonish, I believe, and I can hardly wait. Kama Aina is a project from Japanese musician Takuji Aoyagi, who has said of this music: ‘Kama Aina represents me as a fan of music which comes from islands, as well as referring to myself living in an island country. I sometimes think that my music reminds me of a remote island somewhere. On the other hand it also sounds like a champroo music of an island, which is a melting pot of everything from the outside world. Again I thought the word would suit my position well.’

Download 01_track_01.mp3

One Song: "Human Behavior"

"Human Behavior," The Decemberists - So, yeah, I'm basically trying to annoy you with this one. This bangy little track combines two things which drive some people beyond the crazy and which are like champagne and dark chocolate for the rest of us: Bjork + The Decemberists. Enjoy. Or feel angry. Your choice.

Download thedecemberistshumanbehavior.mp3

p.s. Louis-villains, don't forget the reading. Come out, come out, come out! Happy Friday the 13th, everybody. Good weekend.

One Song: "Put a Penny in the Slot"

"Put a Penny in the Slot," Fionn Regan - Whatever I could say about this number, Sean at Said the Gramophone already said better. (He's probably my favorite music writer at the moment, except maybe this guy.) Anyway, Paul Auster's Timbuktu, Bellow's Augie March, stealing strange things from your ex-lover -- all woven into the intricate, beautiful, melodic lyrics here. I've been burned by folk and folkish music so many times that it takes quite a bit to wake me up when I hear that sound. I think it took one listen of this song, when it came up on random play in the car. About two-thirds of the way through there's this lovely break and the line "She will not let you be her lover," drawn out slow and I realized this is an amazing song. An amazing singer.

Download Fionn_Regan-Put_A_Penny_In_The_Slot.mp3

A Little Something Wonderful

Said the Gramophone has a new Beirut song, "Elephant Gun":

"Elephant Gun" is totally terrific, and at a time where Beirut hype is already cliche, when backlash is heatin' up the manifestos, it's a reminder of just why Zach was exciting us in the first place. This isn't so much gypsy music so much as music to make us sedentary indie rock kids feel like tumbleweeds; to make us feel like we're shaking dust off our jackets, and into our shoes; to make us feel like yeah we're on our way somewhere, you and i; just take my hand.

Boy, do I want that EP.

One Song: "Crowd Surf Off a Cliff"

"Crowd Surf Off a Cliff," Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - I've chattered about this one before, I know. My favorite song off Knives Don't Have Your Back, which was officially released this week, changes daily. I love them all. But this is the one that iTunes says I play the most, so this is today's song. It's a moody, dreamy piece with a bite to it. Long enough to sink into and really enjoy on that third repeat listen in a row. And the kind of oblique, imprintable lyrics I cotton to. Turn it up loud in the car at night.

Download crowd_surf_off_a_cliff.mp3

In her bio, she says of this record:

Haines’ decision to release a solo album was long in the making. She says, “When I was a little kid…I would creep downstairs to the piano and write rudimentary songs about imaginary places. I’m told the first song I ever wrote was a love song to a cranberry tree. I always used the mute pedal. I hated the idea of anybody hearing me. Everywhere I’ve lived while working with Metric, I’ve written songs on the piano and played them for no one. On the advice of a friend, I decided I’d better start recording them before they were forgotten. Four meandering years later I ended up with this collection of songs featuring a few of my favorite people, a group I call The Soft Skeleton.”'

Listen to some other tracks at the Hype, then buy it.

p.s. So much for all that actual content I was going to provide this week. And I'm still dreadfully, woefully behind on email. Fill in the usual promises. Good weekend, all.

One Song: "I Wanna Be Somebody"

"I Wanna Be Somebody," Hellsongs - A lovely Swedish band singing lounge-style versions of heavy metal songs, in this case one by Wasp. But this is the good kind of lounge; not overly kitschy, just nice, roomy arrangements. No time to properly describe, so just listen to it:

Download 03_hellsongs_i_wanna_be_somebody.mp3

p.s. My Old Kentucky Blog also has Cat Power doing a wonderful version of "Satisfaction" for AOL that I've been repeating and repeating again this week.

Two Songs: "Raise the Glass" and "Rumble With Gang Debs"

So, we'll see if this leads to too much bandwith suckage, but if it doesn't consider this a new Friday thing (mp3s will remain up for a week). Unlike Ed and Tito, I'm just too lazy and disorganized* to commit to full album reviews; here is my answer for the lazy and disorganized among us. Usually this will be one song that I really like that week, but this week, it's two!

"Raise the Glass," Full Moon Partisans - There's nothing exceptional about this track at first blush, but then you can't stop bobbing your head from side to side and dancing a little, you notice the imminently sing-a-longable lyrics are better than you thought. There's the quiet innocence of the beginning, the straightforwardness as it builds. It's just fucking charming, relaxed, and toastable.

Download RaisetheGlass.mp3

"Rumble With Gang Debs," Tullycraft - You want to talk about catchy? This is the catchy grail. If this song doesn't make you happy, something is wrong with you that cannot be fixed, friend. I'm pretty much a sucker for anything with bah-dum, bahda-da-da, etc. Cupcakes and teenage runaways!

Download rumbledebs.mp3 (link hopefully works now)

*Or is that overwhelmed and realistic?

Happy Friday

Still sick, but you'll feel better if you mosey over to the most excellent Noise for Toaster blog and avail yourself of Shan's commentary and three amazing tracks from Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton's Knives Don't Have Your Back (out later this month). So good. (Emily Haines = Metric lead singer.)

Also, does everybody already know about The Lipstick of Noise poetry MP3 blog? Addictive; so much better on sick-couch than The View.

Why yes, I did spend much of the morning making a new folder for music blog feeds, why do you ask?

Nice weekend, everybody.

p.s. If you follow the link to the Hype, you can also get the drop-dead gorgeous "Crowd Surf Off a Cliff" and "Reading in Bed." (And more.) What an album.

Happy Thing

Now that I have my little iPod, I can read Largehearted Boy without despairing at my inability to partake in all the choice MP3s. As they say: yay!

Plus, did y'all notice how hot it is outside? Al Gore, please fix this. I'm witch-style melting over here.

(p.s. You know it's hellfire hot pretty much everywhere, because the Interweb is exploding with the contents, the contents of the trapped inside.)