Jan 24 2010
∞
The Rural Alberta Advantage — “Sleep All Day” (Luxury Wafers Sessions)
Jan 23 2010
∞
In Leno vs. O’Brien, Fans Show Allegiance Online (NYT)
Support for Mr. Leno was evident online, as well, but in much smaller portions. Simon Dumenco, the media columnist for Advertising Age, suggested in a column on Wednesday that people have rallied around Mr. O’Brien not because they adore his “Tonight Show” but “because he’s suddenly become an unlikely (Harvard-educated, multimillionaire) Everyman: the freckled face of American job insecurity, a well-meaning hard worker who spent years paying his dues but has now been declared redundant by the halfwit overlords driving his company into the ground.”
—From New York Times
Jan 21 2010
∞
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Lifter Puller — “The Pirate And The Penpal”
It’s no secret that Craig Finn (Hold Steady, Ex-Lifter Puller) is a gifted lyricist, but he really outdoes himself with the darkly hilarious lyrics to “The Pirate And The Penpal.” Over guitar parts that recall Pavement, Finn paints a strangely vivid portrait of a teen misfit who develops a desperate crush on her penpal, an inmate.
You spent the summer at the strawberry stand
There wasn’t much that you could do about it
You’re 15 and you’re 6 feet tall
You’re flat-chested and you’re angry about it
Don’t wear those push-up pants, you’ve got enough nicknames already
I asked the postmaster, he said penpals really can’t be going steady
Told her all about the tighten up
The way they used to dance down in Houston, Texas
Her favorite song is still “Forget the Swan”
It gives her hope when those guitars kick in
All the money from the strawberry stand slips through your hands
‘Cause you buy too many stamps
Spend your days just waitin on the mailman
When he gets here you should ask him for a dance
Don’t listen to the whispers of the kitchen knife, the bathtub and the rain
Yeah so he’s a criminal
At least you know he loves you for your brain …
Jan 17 2010
∞
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Plainclothes Man” — By Heatmiser
The Portland, Ore., band Heatmiser was Elliott Smith’s band before his solo career. Heatmiser had more of a full-band rock sound than Smith’s later work, although the song “Plainclothes Man” is probably one of the closest musically and lyrically to the some of Smith’s solo work.
You’re everybody’s second home
Always trying to get me alone
An easy way to lose it all
Always there when all else fails
Over by the west side rails
But I don’t really need that now
I never really did anyhow
I only really needed alcohol
Something that’d treat me okay
And wouldn’t say the things you’d say
Please turn out the light
I get a sick confusion headache
Trying to figure out who’s right …
… There’s something that I’ll tell you now
Now that no one else is around
The sort of lesson that I learned from you
Not quite the way you planned
But I know you’ll understand
Someone takes a photograph
A picture while their sweetheart laughs
A perfect moment in a flash of light
Counting back from three till one
That’s exactly what you’ve done
And I’m so
Unsurprised
I remember, I remember why I dream in black and white …
Jan 16 2010
∞
Jan 15 2010
∞
Mason Jennings — ‘Sing Out’ (Live on 89.3 The Current)
My other favorite song from the new album.
Jan 14 2010
∞
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Taking Down The Tree” — By Low
Low keeps it short and sweet with a wonderfully sad bastard song to mark the end of the holiday season.
“Another broken reindeer, another candle … Another velvet ribbon, another nosebleed.”
Jan 12 2010
∞
Mason Jennings -- 'The Field' (Live on 89.3 The Current)
Jennings released his latest album “Blood of Man” in September, and I might have missed it entirely if I wasn’t on The Current e-mail newsletter list, which had a link to some great live performances that Jennings recorded with the MN public radio station.
Following in the footsteps of Dylan, his most obvious influence, Jennings departs a bit from his acoustic singer/songwriter sound, plugs in the electric guitar and writes at least one killer protest song in “The Field,” just one of the songs from the album that has been playing on repeat in my head.
