Ah, ah ah ah, Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm*… “warm hand”…hmmm hmm… “into mine”… hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm….
Over and over and over in my head this morning. Could not remember a) more lyrics, b) song name, c) artist (so I could have just pulled the damn thing up on the Pod) for the life of me. Grrrrr.
Sea Wolf “Neutral Ground”: Ah ah ah ah, But here in the sky, lights flash before our eyes, and I feel your warm hand slipping into mine.
Good grief.
*hmmm = (humming the melody)
“Coast of Carolina” – Telekinesis
Favorite Song of the Waiting ‘Round the Apartment for the Nipper to Arrive:
“U and Me” – Trina
Raise your hand if your lipstick doesn’t make you a dumbshit
Raise your hand if the shape of your hips don’t [sic] compare to the shape of your mind
You don’t even stand a chance
I’m not taking off my pants
I’m not a barbie doll, shopping mall, silicone substitution
I’m not a perfect ten, paper thin, Hollywood illusion
-Saving Jane “One Girl Revolution”
Eating: My weight in brownies from Jamie. Yum.
Making: Secret.Family.Craft.Project.
Reading: Still reading the same two books as last week: 1) at home: Dad’s and my challenge book for the month, “The New Granta Book of the American Short Story” edited by Richard Ford, and 2) in transit: “Absurdistan” by Gary Shteyngart . Close to finishing #2, which has been a hilarious ride so far, and definitely spending some time gazing at the bookshelves, pondering what’s on deck.
Watching: Summer TV kickoffs of Burn Notice, The Cleaner, The Closer, Saving Grace and the wonderful, truly awesome, so enjoyable Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. (I had more to say ova heah.) Also rewatching lots of old favorites. As well as (re)watching BSG season 4 so far. Wanting to see Wanted again…Sooooo good. (So good that I haven’t written it up? Slacker!)
Listening: Mostly to SModcasts. About five in the past four days or so? As my Dad says, “those two make great traveling companions.” Also (re)listening to the latest albums from Madonna, Gnarls Barkley, Coldplay, Meg Hutchinson and Missy Higgins. All as accompaniment to Secret.Family.Crafting. I have a bunch of new stuff I haven’t listened to yet. And there’s Pitchfork (with the Nipper! YAY! NIPPER VISIT!) over the weekend. So we’ll see.
For those three of you who are always asking me for new singles to check out…HERE YA GO.
Paste 39:
Paste 40:
Paste 41:
Paste 42:
Paste 43:
And if you need reference points*, we’ve got:
“Right Hand on My Heart” The Whigs …sounds like… Springsteen! “Ghosts of Goodbye”
Ford Turrell …sounds like… Ryan Adams!
“Bye Bye Bye” Plants and Animals …sounds like… Arcade Fire! Or Ravens & Chimes!
“I Got a Thing for You” Jim Bianco …sounds like… Joe Cocker! Or Tom Waits!
“Old Song” AM …sounds like… Josh Rouse!
“Nobody Knows” Keaton Simons …sounds SASSY like… Jason Mraz!
“Open Fire” Sara Mac Band …sounds like… The Dixie Chicks!
“Standing Bird” Love Psychedelico …sounds A BIT like… The Dixie Chicks as well!
“Jessie Jane” The Whipsaws …sounds like… Lynyrd Skynrd!
* Note that …sounds like… is a very loose term that may mean actually SOUNDS LIKE or may mean rather mean “reminds me (and no one else) of”.
Eating: Better than last week. So far. Lots of bananas. Monkey-loving girls can never have too many bananas.
Making: This week? Absofuckinglutely nothing. Maybe over the weekend.
Reading: Dad’s and my challenge book for the month, “The New Granta Book of the American Short Story” edited by Richard Ford, a behemoth of a collection, way too heavy to read in transit. I didn’t think the first three or so were very good choices, but after that it really picked up and now I can’t put it down. I mean when I’m at home, sitting down, with the book resting on a pillow or table, THEN I can’t put it down. So since I’m not carrying that fucker around, on the El I’m reading “Absurdistan” by Gary Shteyngart which is really hilarious. Solidly in the “Confederacy of Dunces” tradition. I am picturing the main character as a (much) fatter Kevin Smith. If you listen to SModcasts and then read this book, I think you’ll see why.
Watching: Almost nothing. (I mean BSG every night but at this point, does that even count?) I’m supposedly going to start watching Band of Brothers (CCB, can you guess why????). But I’ve been carrying around disc one for a couple days now and haven’t managed to pop it in yet.
Listening: The new Beck “Modern Guilt” (good!), the awesome mix I just made per Juno’s request, another new Joseph Arthur EP “Vagabond Skies” (Love.It.), the most talked about rap album of the year Lil Wayne “Tha Carter III” (fun!), and still listening to Fleet Foxes , Sea Wolf and Matt Costa a lot as well. Plus today I am listening to “Nightswimming” from an old, old beloved album (R.E.M. “Automatic for the People”) after a eulogy in the April issue of Paste brought it to mind.
Upbeat music that is making me happy:
The Kills “Midnight Boom” – I don’t know if you can call this punk (in this day and age) but it certainly has punk sensibilities to my mind. Digital and dirty and demanding. Lots of beats. While there is humor in some of the lyrics, this isn’t a fun and games album, they’re kickin’ it. I love the male/female back and forth vocals (as you should know I do already, from say this or this or this). I want you to be crazy because you’re boring baby when you’re straight.
The Fratellis “Here We Stand” – Yay! These guys are so much fun! I loved their last album and loved their crazy high-energy but super (ridiculously) early in the day set at Lollapalooza (they so brought it ) and this album is a solid continuation of them doing their thing. Woot! Dear world’s biggest Beatles fan Ms. Shrinking Smartgrrrl, I think you would like this.
Low-key music that was making me too sad to listen to it:
Shearwater “Rook” – Along the lines of Fleet Foxes or Sea Wolf, musically, (or a combination of them with Band of Horses), but somehow the mood and the tones were just so, so, so sad, I actually had to fast forward past it…Only to arrive at:
Jakob Dylan “Seeing Things” – I tend to like The Wallflowers more than most critics, maybe because they’re just sort of “straight up” rock with no pop or alternative pretensions and also because I do not spend all my time comparing children to their parents (Boh-Ring!), but this album was just bringing me down, man. Sad and slow, with very melancholy lyrics. Not the sensibility of The Wallflowers at all, which is fine, it is a solo album afterall; but it felt almost dirge-like. I had to say goodbye for the day and fast forward past it as well! Maybe when I am in a different mood, I will try again.
So when I wrote my April album reviews (in June, of course,when everyone was writing reviews of albums they bought in April, ha ha ha ha), I had only listened to this album once, maybe not even all the way through.
Um, hello, what was I thinking? It’s upbeat and lots of fun and some of it’s really pretty and it turns out for a slow-ass not really running when she’s “running” runner like me, it’s the perfect running music! Not so insistently rhythmic that you find yourself running to its beat, but peppy enough to keep you going.
I *love* especially “Heers” which reminds me of what Josh Rouse sounds like live (but not what he sounds like on his albums, which are much, let’s say, calmer).
I’m 90% sure I bought this based on a review on Andrew Taylor Recommends although I am far too lazy to go looking for it right now. I don’t know the dude but I am totally into his “random posts about everything” type of site and I will mention that he recently reviewed some Cinnamon Buns icecream that I am dying to try, and he has also done some Mt. Dew taste tests and you know how I feel about the Dew. Don’t you? Do you know how JenG. feels about the Dew? Or AmandaJean? Oh, the Dew.
Eating: All I want to eat is crap. Particularly the Special Dark Hershey’s Chocolate Kisses that I bought to send to Max (and Alison) and then never put in the mail…Whoops. Their loss, my ass’s gain.
Making: Almost done with the second thick woolly sleeveless vest (WHATEVER!). Hoping to finish the top of Kysa’s Friendship Star quilt (a.k.a. Friendship Star #2) and then sandwich/baste/and quilt BOTH that AND the quick baby quilt top I whipped up over the weekend and get them in the mail to her by the 9th, which is supposedly the date on which the baby boy is going to pop out. I’m hoping he’s late (although I’m sure she’s not!!).
Reading: Was supposed to start July’s challenge book yesterday (!), but picked it up and almost had my arm drop off due to the weight. Guess I won’t be reading that one in transit!! So instead I’ve started “Trespass” by Valerie Martin which is prickly and dark and promises to get moreso.
Watching: Since my dad started watching BSG, I started watching it ALL OVER AGAIN (I know!) so that when he calls me and says OH MY GOD I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS JUST HAPPENED, I know specifically what episode he’s talking about (and in what order) and I don’t accidentally give away a spoiler like I almost did the other night… Of course I have way more time in my day than he has in his, so I’ve already gotten past where he is. Maybe I’ll wait for him to catch up. I mean, I so would, except for there being fucking nothing else for me to watch right now. And I saw “Wanted” which I loved as much as I thought I would and maybe I’ll write a post on that for ya say over the long-ass holiday weekend during which I HAVE TO WORK ON SUNDAY and will not be in Southern Illinois with all my Blonde K-Cousins as I like to call ’em. Waah.
Listening: I listened to Matt Costa (which I mentioned here and here among other places) all weekend long, over and over, after introducing someone to him on Thursday night when we were at my house “playing DJ” since we thought we were going to see Meg Hutchinson at Uncommon Ground but she wasn’t there (???) and instead there were these really pretty mediocre singers basically doing karaoke and I’m sorry but Alanis Morrisette “You Oughta Know” done on acoustic guitar with a husky Melissa Etheridge wannabe voice and admonitions to the audience to please “Join in!” ??? I don’t think so.
But now I’m listening almost exclusively to the NEW! Earlimart “Hymn and Her” out yesterday that is AWESOME. Oh I love me some Earlimart (for example, this is how much I loved their previous album and here is where they were in my favorite albums of 2007) and Hello! Score! coming to Chicago on the 26th at the teeny tiny Hideout. Woot. Yes, I bought tickets. Yay! (Or, as a former coworker would say “I’m stoked!”)
Oh and while the whole “Meg Hutchinson not being playing although that’s the only reason we went” issue sucked, I did have some incredible pistachio-encrusted tilapia that pretty much blew my mind and this wacky french Apple-flavored beer that was DELISH. So there’s that.
you’ve certainly heard about the 15 yr anniversary of Exile in Guyville and everyone using this opportunity to slam Liz Phair for her (since) sellout attempts at trying to actually make money off her records (oh! the scandal!).
This is one of the more coherent and reasoned analysis I’ve read.
I saw Liz Phair in concert in NYC once, years ago (after the second or third album, I can’t remember which, the second I think), and she was (oddly) much less shy on stage than she usually is, commented on that phenomenon herself and then said [something like] “I’ve never been comfortable enough to sing this live but I’m feeling oddly outgoing tonight so here goes” and launched into Flower. The crowd went completely fucking nuts, as you can imagine.
And when we saw her at Field Day Fest (in 2003) while I don’t even remember how she sounded, I do remember my friend Dan being totally into her elbow-length armwarmers and mentioning them to his girlfriend so many times that a fight almost broke out. I wasn’t paying that much attention since I had just realized I had a river* of Jack Daniels running down my stomach from having snuck a fifth in tucked upside down in my bra but not noticing the lid was cracked*… Sweet.
For the record, there are some songs on her later albums I love as well (“Uncle Alvarez” for one), but it’s true that Exile in Guyville has *something* the other albums really don’t. (But perhaps they don’t aspire to either.)
*and by “river” I mean tiny trickle and by “cracked” I mean just enough to be letting out a tiny trickle. A trickle like “hmmm, why does my tummy feel damp?” trickle. Thankfully discovered quickly enough to put a speedy end to it.