Welcome to the third installment of the first CD with the seventh through ninth tracks! Feel free to do the math on that. I think the answer is 20, or possibly Egypt.
Two things before we talk about songs. One, did you know you need a permit to put up a sign in the city of Ithaca? Indeed. So today is official declared Apply for a Sign Permit Day! I hope you will all celebrate by applying for a sign permit in your district or municipality, or by placing flowers (or a sound image of a flower) on the grave of Ferdinand de Saussure.
Two, the person purporting to be my mother on the comments is, in fact, my mother. The crazy spammy nonsense person on the comments is, I suspect, your mother.
Songs!
Big Bang Jump!- Office
A couple tracks off this Chicago band's self-released debut "Q&A" showed up on a blog called Good Hodgkins a few weeks ago and I was well and mightily impressed. Things to like about this band: they dress up like people in an office, they like dancing, they sing la-la-la's, which is always a good idea. Also, one of their songs gets introduced with a "check, check" as if they were mc's or sound guys instead of a pop band temping at an ad agency.
Since they are impossible to google, you can find Office here:
Reach Office
Honey Child, What Can I Do?- Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
I want to say that Isobel and Mark are channeling Lee and Nancy, but as far as I can tell neither Lee nor Nancy is dead (allmusic.com, by the way, refers to Lee Hazlewood as "an irascible genius", which is my new goal in life). Whoever came up with the idea for stealing Isobel Campbell from Belle and Sebastian, removing Mark Lanegan from the cigarette smoke-filled chamber he's been trapped in since the Singles soundtrack and having them record an album of duets together should be given an award for "Greatest Completely Bizarre Idea of the Year". The person who came up with the Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs duets album should have to present the award, thinking to himself, "Maybe next year" and dreaming of Greg Dulli and Joanna Newsome performing cabaret songs together.
Willie- Cat Power
Two separate statements: 1. Chan Marshall is dreamy. 2. Cat Power is dreamy. The first one has really nothing to do with anything, it's just a fact, like "Clouds are puffy-shaped". The second one explains why I can listen to this song over and over, just going all smiley and sleepyheaded. For a long time, I dismissed the bulk of Cat Power songs as sad heroin music, but on "The Greatest" Cat Power's brought things up to a state of lucid dreaming. It doesn't rock, by no means does it rock. It moves along like a hot air balloon, mostly drifting but carefully steered by muted horns and vocal harmonies when needed.
Seven through nine, ladies and gents. You'll start to notice certain themes emerging. Canadians. Pretty girls singing pretty songs. Handclaps. Dancing about scientific and social concepts. Tomorrow, more Canadians, siblings and Bible jokes. See you there!
ps. The Blogger Spellcheck program does not recognize the words "blog" or "google". Way to go, guys!
1 comment:
re: Cat Power - yes, yes, and yes. I agree with all of the above. Or, as Pitchfork says, "...Chan Marshall is 12-stepping to greatness, it seems." [That comment slightly annoys me for some reason yet is also accurate...]
Aside from the odd, somewhat awkward cry of "sober!" and spasms of chicken dancing, she seems in top form....
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