"the visitation" The lightning pierced the skyline like a pitchfork into crisp hay. Sidney watched the storm bare its teeth at him from the front seat of his '92 sedan, the window cracked to let the wet air in and the smoke out. What is it, he wondered, that will not leave me alone? Sidney had been nagged all day by… he didn't know what. It was less a thought with body and shape than it was an itch hovering just off the surface of his skin. He clapped his hand onto the back [...]
The sun did not rise, it overflowed. Ray Bradbury Dandelion Wine The Himalayan Bear - Sounds Are Birds from the forthcoming ...attacks the brilliant air There's a quiet intensity here. And sure, some self-seriousness. It strikes me like a collaboration between Antony and the Johnsons and José Gonzalez. I do mean strikes me. song found at popsheep photo by Andrew Dunn
I really don't know what to tell you. They're just catchy, ok? Elbow - Grounds for Divorce (see: guitar riff, instrumentation) Coldplay - Violet Hill (see: melody) The Raconteurs - Many Shades of Black (see: horns, chorus) photo by (thanks) Citizen Rob
What happens is you jump, your eyes snap shut so your vision goes from a glimmering face-full of water straight to blackness. All in the same instant you're bombarded with a sound like buildings collapsing in outer-space and the feeling of electric ice molding to your skin. That's what it's like when you crash in for the first time. After that things smooth out a little. It's less like breaking and entering and more like the slurp of a tropical slushy up a clear straw making purchase into some bikini-clad sun-bather's just right red lips. [...]
It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You only had to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer. Ray Bradbury Dandelion Wine Donovan – Epistle to Dippy The Kinks – People Take Pictures [...]
He walked into the basement, brought the only sound the basement had heard in ages - the sound of polished shoes scraping on concrete, shuffling through litter, coughing up dust. The stranger surveyed the dim area and rubbed his hands together, then attached them to the wooden support beam in the basement's heart. It bit at his palms when he pulled it out from its place and then dropped it carelessly. The building moaned, sliding, unsupported, to the workman's slow retreating footsteps. He hummed and wiped the sweat from his brow, ascending the basement stairs with a glint in [...]
And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Belle & Sebastian - Stars of Track and Field Lake - Oh, the Places Donovan - Riki Tiki Tavi The colors are such that you can inhale and swallow a palatte [...]
"Even the boy showed interest, standing by the window, looking out into the dark curfew-emptied street - this was the last chapter, and in the last chapter things always happened violently. Perhaps all life was like that - dull and then a heroic flurry at the end." Graham Greene The Power and the Glory Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You Voxtrot – Brothers, Sisters, Mothers & Wives These songs are the [...]
Every so often in your sepia town, an unusual band of travelers will set up camp on just this side of the horizon. You can only guess at their kind by the size of the group, by the look of the figures you see approaching, or not. And then, in the city square the next day you no longer have to wonder. They're gathered under an overhand playing instruments you've only seen cousins of and singing in a dialect not entirely unlike yours. It's as if their words are dried by the desert, curling at the ends, but, [...]
Murmurs are growing louder about the new M. Ward project, She & Him, in which he collaborates with the lovely Zooey Deschanel. You may recognize her from her acting roles in Elf, Bridge to Terabithia, and her hilarious role on the t.v. show Weeds ("you stepped on my spirit turtle," anyone?). Well after hearing some samples from the upcoming album, Volume 1 , I am charmed. With Deschanel on writing duties and Ward on production, it's a safe bet that this record's a gem. I can't wait to hear the whole thing, but here's a tune to tide us [...]
We are strolling across leaves of grass that bend to caress our feet. They carry us to a fine place and say "We're glad you're here." They kiss us when we fall over in their bed and laugh and wave goodbye when we regain composure and leave the way we came. The moon is glossy but our eyes burn brighter and even the on-ticking clock can't hold back the life bursting out of our bodies tonight. MGMT - Kids MGMT has emerged [...]
(Why not stay elemental, for now?) It has been playing with the loose ends of our clothes and sucking at the marrow of the earth for quite a while now. In the last few days things got a little out of hand, though. We have no way to retaliate, wind. Won't you ease up if we yelp? from the wreckage of the tornadoes that hit 2/5 Page France - Dogs From their album, Hello, Dear Wind [...]
Most of all, everything smells like it took a deep breath, and released a sigh. "We are refreshed," everything says. We huddle close and put up hoods, stuff hands in pockets and step lightly, trying not to splash the legs of our jeans or our comrades'. Then someone gets a big idea and takes one massive jump up into the air, then surging down towards the pool of waiting rain water and BOOM. We all scramble around, the rain retaking flight and our smiles splashed with fresh drops. This one is winding through my head all [...]
Rather than the excuses and half-truths, the dressed-up success stories and religion-wielding rhetoric of right, I want to hear this song tonight. I would rather hear its album's title, "I Sincerely Apologize for all the Trouble I've Caused," whispered tearfully into the ears of the nation. I would rather hear some owning up. So, I think that tonight will just listen to this State of the Union address instead of the televised one, because Ford's is more truthful, and probably more legitimate. David Ford - State of the Union [...]
Five steps and you're still okay. Ten, and your outer coat has been infiltrated - the walls are overrun. Fifteen and now you're in trouble: not even gloves and a hat can save you now. Twenty and the icy fingers peel back your skin and expose your clattering skeleton to the frozen air. From thereon out, it's daggers every time the wind blows. Take solace in the company, in the first moments you step inside, in the drink and at the fireside, because aside from that, you're just gonna be one thing, and that's cold. Winston [...]
I. It's hard to know how to put ghosts to rest, in any case. What is troubling to me is: how does one put a ghost to rest when its bearer is still alive? I abstain from murder; I still have my scruples. For tonight, because I have to start somewhere, the scuffle starts here: Magnolia Electric Co. – A Little At A Time (video) (DRM inhibited my posting the mp3. Music video consolations.) II. My lungs are lined with army ants and my blood has transformed to hot [...]
How do these bands keep accruing all this hype without even releasing a full-fledged album? Voxtrot comes to mind as having begun in a similar situation, and now Vampire Weekend is the hottest band since the angelic host of Christmas Eve, and, listen, they've only released a CD-R EP. I haven't heard much from them yet, but apparently we are to expect big things...? I was sent this music video by a friend (thanks Steve), and, if nothing else, Vampire Weekend makes a pretty entertaining vid. Enjoy: [...]
I have wondered many times while listening to José González what his music would sound like backed by a full band, and I have found the answer - Junip. The group released the "Black Refuge EP" in 2005 - it is standard José fare, but with the atmosphere enhanced by drums, swelling electric organ lines and steady piano chords provided by band members Tobias Winterkorn and Elias Araya. Gonzáles' knack for transforming amazing cover songs is again made manifest in Junip's dark and driving interpretation of Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad." And as it's a beautifully gloomy day [...]
The blogosphere net catches all, for better or worse. In this case, for way better. Perusing most of the best-of lists was an immediate remedy to anything I missed in 2007 - no need to crawl through songs I may or may not have been in to. For the most part, the best-of posts were chock full of insanely likable stuff, high-quality as the titles impliy. Which brings me Tegan & Sara's 07 release, The Con . I nabbed some of the free mp3's like "Back in Your Head" and "Nineteen" and slapped in some headphones and - then [...]
Leaving can sound many different ways, sometimes all at once. I'm moving in the next 48 hours and this time, thankfully, leaving sounds a lot like this: El Perro del Mar - It's All Good Devendra Banhart - Lover Broadcast 2000 - Get Up And Go Bright Eyes - If The Brakeman Turns My Way John Vanderslice - Time to Go The Long Winters - [...]
Wolfmother – White Feather (Acid Washed remix)
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Hot Chip: One Life Stand
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