Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A celebration of coldness!


My sweaters welcome me back into their, uh, sweaty embrace. It is Autumn! Bring on the woolly hats!

Something you should read: The tears of Burt Reynolds.

Track list:

1. Winter Mitts - the cascadia fault - din din

Comments: The guitar work is both haunting and masterful. My only complaint - less finger mobility than gloves. But the finger warmth! It is worth the sacrifice.

2. Lightning Dust - lightning dust - take me back

Comments: Charmingly dour. I feel... contemplative.

3. The Ease Down - shapeshifter - into the air

Comments: Like lounge music for the intelligent, which may sound impossible to you, but that is because you are... a lounge music bigot! Jackass! (Actually, I may have betrayed my own prejudices too, but tell noone, particularly not Mr. Wayne Newton, as I think he could have me killed.)

4. Caribou - andorra - after hours

Comments: I like it, but I suspect alot of those horrible indie snob kids do too. I will now transcribe the guitar part in this song: Wing-ing-ing-inggggggg.... Wing-ing-ing-inggggggg..... I believe I have just taken this whole 'weird for the sake of weird' thing too far. Oh well, onward and upward!

5. Torngat - you could be - mouton noir

Comments: Played for its incredibly miniscule French content, aka the title. But I stuck with it for the intermittent percussion and horns! A delight! A++++ WOULD ENJOY LISTENING TO AGAIN!!1!

6. Oakley Hall - I'll follow you - all the way down

Comments: If Lynyrd Skynyyryd were able to come up with a song like this right now, they'd be even more in love with themselves. I think you appreciate the magnitude of what I'm saying here.

7. The Ghost is Dancing - the darkest spark - wall of snow

Comments: Here comes that weather-related music again... dooo doot-doot dooooo doot doo doo. This is an extremely optimistic and danceable look at a wall of snow, I have to say. They're havin' a laser party behind the wall of snow, woooooooop!

8. Mice Parade - mice parade - snow

Comments: appropriately gloomy. Somebody got a ski-pole in the face as a child.

9. Shapes and Sizes - split lips, winning hips, a shiner - the taste in my mouth

Comments: Delicate and lovely, with voices like a horn section. Also an actual horn section. And a banjo, for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing (sickos).

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Emily and the Bad Decisions


It could be a book title, but it ain't. It's a potential band name! Want to join? Me neither. Sigh.

Track list:

1. Jon-Rae & The River - knows what you need - roll

Comments: I like the "I'm sick of you, my band is awesome, we're going on the road, BYE!" thing that is going on in this song, but I bet in real life it's quite tiresome. The song version is nothin' but great, however.

2. James McKenty and the Spades - let it grow - snub harbour falcons

Comments: Aaaaah, Canadian spelling.

3. Laura Peek and the Winning Hearts - from the photographs - where is the chorus

Comments: So lovely, with its irregular tempo and quirky feel. It makes me want to cast everyone around me in a spontaneous Miranda July film. And then eat pie! More on that later.

4. Petunia and the Loons - pentunia and the loons - hillbilly hut

Comments: Very morose - what horrible things happened to you in the hillbilly hut, dude who sounds nothing like a Petunia? Deliciously morose. Now I want to cast everyone around me in a Cohen Brothers film, and then eat corn on a stick. Oh, and it has a surprise hoedown ending! This rules.

5. Grandfather Fire and the Holy Morning - grandfather fire and the holy morning - wicked walls

Comments: Could be the title of a horror movie. "Wicked Walls: DO go outside..." I don't know, actually that sounds horribly lame. I like this song though, which has some urgency to it and yet also some lovely guitar layering.

Okay, enough with the "blank and the blanks" bands.

6. Carolyn Mark - nothing is free - pink moon and all the ladies

Comments: Need it be said? Carolyn is fundamentally awesome.

7. Stewart Coupland with Adam Ant - 'out of bounds' original motion picture soundtrack - out of bounds

Comments: Oh, I found it at random, and I find AntMicHall kind of irresistible, teenage trainwreck that he was. Also, Stewart Coupland? Think he pulls this out of his back pocket when he plays intimate club dates as a solo act? Yeah, well, it's a shame.

8. Sean Na Na - family trees or cope we must - hairspray

Comments: The musical would have been better if they had included this little number. Seriously guys, it needed an introspective moment or two. And a hefty editing job, but meh.

9. Carbon Dating Service - polyentendrii - sea moose

Comments: Ooh, I don't think I've played this song before, it's mega pretty. That is an EU-approved measurement.