February Album Reviews

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Absolutely Love & Adore:

Missy Higgins “On a Clear Night” – Such an awesome husky voice. (JenG., a huskier Meg Nathanson? I hope you are listening to this album! You would love it!) Uncomplicated arrangements, quietly emotional. Particularly lovin’ “Angela”.

Nada Surf “Lucky” – Lovelovelove “See These Bones”. And “Ice on the Wing”. And… Yeah. The whole album kicks ass.

Bon Iver “For Emma, Forever Ago” – If you aren’t already sick of hearing me talk about Bon Iver, then you must be here for the first time. This album takes my breath away, shreds my heart into tiny little pieces, and leaves me wanting more.

The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir – So Much Frakkin Fun. Various vocalists. Different styles to many of the songs. “I Never Thought I Could Feel This Way for a Boy” is their breakout but I love “Then and Not a Moment Before” and “Aspidistra” just as much.

Favorite Singles (not on any of the above albums):

  • “Forever Song” Josh Pyke
  • “Gravedigger” Willie Nelson
  • “Sing Along” Virginia Coalition
  • “Goodnight” Zox
  • “Grounds for Divorce” Elbow

Other Albums I Liked:

  • Clare Bowditch & the Feeding Set “The Moon Looked On” – Not sure why I had to email Australia to get someone to send me this album. She SHOULD be hitting it much bigger than she is.
  • The Magnetic Fields “Distortion” – Loud and buzzy and layered. Some really great lyrics on this album.
  • Mike Doughty “Golden Delicious” – Big fan of this album. (“I wrote about a song about your car”! Yay!) Subtract a few songs from it (another version of “27 Jennifers”. Really?) and add the one that’s missing and I’d be all over it. 😉 Still, do like a lot of it.
  • The Raveonettes “Lust Lust Lust” – Makes a good pair with the Magnetic Fields. Thick and dark and pulsing.
  • Coastal Chill 08 – Random (primarily Aussie) singles. Sweet.

Not really for me / but maybe for you!:
Huh. Looks like I didn’t buy any albums I didn’t like in February. Woot, score one for me!

Shamefully have either not listened to at all, or not all the way through, or so few times that I can’t legitimately offer an opinion:

  • The Mountain Goats “Heretic Pride” – Bought it toward the end of the month, just haven’t really wound up listening to it.

A lot of the songs mentioned here wound up on this mix.

Album: Jesse Malin “Glitter in the Gutter”

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I’ve mentioned this album a few times (here, here, and the single here) but in case you weren’t paying attention…

Great lyrics, insistent rhythms. Sometimes plaintive, sometimes demanding. A little Springsteen feelin’ (he even sings on a track). A little Eagles soundin’ (particularly the chorus of “Aftermath”: “Standing on the corner, watching people walk on…”) and he definitely has a little Southern Rock twinge to him (listen to his pronunciation when he sings “From the desert to this love-stained town, I still find comfort in the underground…” in “NY Nights”). He’s a bit more rockin’ than the average dude on my “melancholy boys” playlist…sometimes a bit more mad. 😉

Two to three months later (March purchase) and it’s still in pretty constant rotation. It’ll take something seriously magical to knock this out of my 2008 Top 10.

Ridiculously Long “Current” To-Do List. [Updated] [Mostly done!]

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Japan Minutiae

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just a list of things and moments I want to remember…considering I’ve already forgotten lots of them… will be adding any that pop to mind (fingers crossed).

  • Qoo (pronounced “coo” like a dove), best juice drink ever.
  • Morning set (preferably with Hotdog!)
  • Green tea “milk” (latte)!
  • incredible vending machine proliferation
  • yes that gives you change for 100,000 yen ($100)
  • Pocari Sweat!
  • Calpis (swoon)
  • “winning” the toy at the arcade (thanks to the arcade manager who apparently really really wanted me to win and moved the toy into an “impossible to lose” position)
  • random shrine in the nishki market
  • Japanese boy scouts spotting Americans: “Hi! Hi! Hello!” (my reply, of course: “Konnichiwa!!” which made them giggle like crazy)
  • unbelievable proliferation of smoking. for a country obsessed with cleanliness…
  • no glitzy postcards. plenty of other trinkets to buy, but…
  • heated toilet seats
  • noisemakers attached to toilet seats
  • blue button = “for washing of the buttocks”
  • pink button = “for Ladies only” (?!?!)
  • the morning bowers/greeters at BIC camera in Kyoto
  • cartoon characters hanging from phones, bags, jacket pockets, pants pockets…
  • ancient hunched over grandmas & grandpas totally kicking our asses on the steps (both up and down) at Fushimi Inari
  • duck ramen in Tokyo at the place Christoph found a “shortcut” to (ha ha ha)
  • the japanese restaurant meal we had in Kyoto where Jackie made our reservation and pre-ordered all our food
  • hmmm, I wonder what this is. fish? tofu? root vegetable?
  • that is one LARGE piece o’ tentacle.
  • “green pea soup”
  • the first ramen restau we went to in Higayashima.
  • teddy bears on benches
  • rachel shutting the taxi door and the uproar it caused
  • japanese set at the Hearton in the morning

In Concert: Crowded House

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Dear Neil Finn,
I honestly thought this night would never happen. I mean, first the band either broke up or just stopped playing together, whichever. Then one of the members died (committed suicide, if I recall?). And sure, I went to see you do a solo show in New York, and that was fine, I can dig your solo stuff. But honestly? Hearing “Weather With You”? Live and in person? (Preceded by “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and followed by “7 Worlds Collide”)
Seriously,
I can die happy now,
Smooches, CMS