Lately, I've been waking up with this song in my head a lot. It's weird, because I haven't listened to this album since I was about 16 years old. And yet, there it is, each morning, almost perfectly formed in my memory. Even the words of the chorus, impeccably preserved as if in some kind of ancient teenage amber. Maybe it's because the 90s (particularly the early 90s) are back in full force, and I'm not just talking about tiny floral print, vests, jean jackets, big floppy hats and Doc Martens (not being worn by [...]
Lately, I've been waking up with this song in my head a lot lately. It's weird, because I haven't listened to this album since I was about 16 years old. And yet, there it is, each morning, almost perfectly formed in my memory. Even the words of the chorus, impeccably preserved as if in some kind of ancient teenage amber. Maybe it's because the 90s (particularly the early 90s) are back in full force, and I'm not just talking about tiny floral print, vests, jean jackets, big floppy hats and Doc Martens not being worn [...]
An album I've been really loving lately is the new one by The War on Drugs. Although it sounds more like a Kurt Vile album than any previous release from the band (despite the absence of actual Kurt Vile from the band). I've still found a different, amorous spot in my heart for it. Half Dylan, half Springsteen: the vocal sound and lyrical themes are familiar, set against music that's more modern. There are a lot of standout tracks on Slave Ambient , but the first one continues to pull [...]
Have you heard of Brit School , the Croydon arts & tech. high school that's churning out many of today's most talented musicians? I stumbled upon it last night, after a pal posted the following song on FB. I have decided to go back in time and redo high school there. Is that something we can make happen? Already having gone through two band names (he now performs as Kid Krule), Archy Marshall aka Zoo Kid was born in, get this, 1994! Can you believe that small [...]
Yo, OSSers. How's it? I've been feeling pretty conflicted lately. On one hand, in the words of the great Jackson Browne , "All good things gotta come to an end." On the other, in the words of my constantly approximating generation, "All good things kind of like might have to come to an end, sorta." The argument with myself has been mostly going like this: Me: You should stop writing OSS. You haven't even posted for over a month. Me: Shutup. No. I [...]
Yo, OSSers. How's it? I've been feeling pretty conflicted lately. On one hand, in the words of the great Jackson Browne , "All good things gotta come to an end." On the other, in the words of my constantly approximating generation, "All good things kind of like might have to come to an end, sorta." The argument with myself has been mostly going like this: Me: You should stop writing OSS. You haven't even posted for over a month. Me: Shutup. No. I [...]
I am getting married in one month minus one day. At this moment, my life roughly breaks down into these percentages: 30%: Doing Wedding Shit/Obsessing About Doing Wedding Shit/Not Sleeping While Thinking About Wedding 29%: Sleeping 26%: Day Job 6%: Eating 4%: Playing Music 3%: Obsessing in a Debilitating Way About Everything Else I Need to Get Done 2%: Exercising Not that I'm losing it or anything. Not losing it. I am not losing it. On another note, those glorious days of summer have reached their peak and are now descending, as they [...]
Have you ever noticed how many Iron & Wine songs are about death? I mean, honestly guys, it's a lot. Here are three of my favorites. The first two are from the fantastic album Our Endless Numbered Days (even the title is about death) and the last one (which is maybe only about death in the abstract) is from the new(ish) Walking Far From Home single (thanks, Tash). Some artists just write songs that are so inherently emotional. The drama of the music and the sentimental nature of the lyrics in all three [...]
Wow. Between now and last we spoke, I rode some roller coasters and turned 28. Well, that wasn't all…but those are the highlights. I've also become something of a road warrior, making the 45-mile-per-way quest from Costa Mesa to Los Angeles each day for work. Intense commute times are particularly fertile ground for album obsession and that is exactly what has happened here. I heard this song while listening to KCRW (another maintaining-sanity-whilst-driv ing mainstay). At first, I didn't think much of it. The awkward lyrics were kind of a turn off…but then, a few [...]
I can't thank my good pal Tash enough for introducing me to this amazing set of comps, LA Burnout and LA Burnout 2 . I've become completely addicted to these catchy, somewhat forgotten odes to the city of angels. These jams are teaching me that I might have gotten it wrong. When I first got here, I was convinced that LA had no soul. Now I think that LA does in fact have a soul. It's may be a sleazy, washed-out, drug-addled, sun-baked soul, but it's a [...]
A situation came up tonight that reminded me of this song. In fact, it's probably a bad sign that there are a few ongoing situations in the general vicinity of my life that correlate well to this song. Of course, it would be incriminating for me to tell you who "daddy" is (hint: not my dad) and what the " Thunderbird " is, but I will say that in at least one of the aforementioned scenarios, I may be referring to an actual car. Is it just me or does, "Your dad took [...]
OK, so I know I'm a few days late on this...ok...a week and a half. But I really wanted to post this song in honor of Easter. Because I think we all deserve a new Jesus at least once a year, regardless of our religious upbringings/beliefs. As a person of Catholic and Jewish lineage, I have the maximum amount of guilt humanly possible encoded into my DNA. This is why one year I gave up guilt for lent. This year though, much like my this Jesus post, I totally messed up my give-up-something-for-lent timing. Anika and I are [...]
This is not a Monday, it's a volcano: Monday Mail What is Monday Mail? Yesterday's news provided one of those moments. You know, the kind where you used to call up your friends, but now you just watch your FB/Twitter feeds for clever things people are posting online? There were links to Al-Jazeera live feeds, NYT articles, Family Guy clips, Star Wars references, declarations of general anxiety about killing anyone for any reason, even an Obama macro that featured the kind of [...]
Man, I am having a hard time getting going on today. Chalk it up to a too-late bedtime last night or a weird dream or this strange three-day stretch of overcast weather we're having in LA...who knows? I just can't seem to wake up or do anything truly productive. This jangley baby about doing nothing, always seems to help a little. I first got into this song, appropriately, in college where I often was doing a lot of nothing. Or at least it felt like that sometimes. I had to review this album for [...]
I really cannot tell you what made this song pop into my head recently, but once it got there it was hard to make it leave. Here, Mississippi John Hurt teaches us how to spell "Chicken" and not the state for which he is named, bane of grade school spelling tests from coast to American coast. Hurt, whose real name was John Smith Hurt and who definitely is from Mississippi (in fact, he lived and died in Mississippi), was a sharecropper by occupation, in addition to a blues singer. Despite his obvious brilliance, his [...]
Life can try but the music keeps us afloat: Monday Mail What is Monday Mail? I like a good story, which is one of the reasons I immediately clicked through after Hank from Grip Tapes sent me this description, written by one of the band's members: ABOUT GROSS GHOST: Chapter 1: EBONY & IVORY I used to have bands play at this house I lived at with some crust freaks a couple of years ago. [...]
Working So Hard: Local Music Friday What's up with Local Music Fridays? A LMF?! HOLY SHIT! DOES THIS MEAN OSS IS BACK ON TRACK?!? Well, I'm not sure about that, but I am sure this is a great remix...and that's not something I say everyday. For some reason, I couldn't quite click with Jeremy Messersmith until Michigan acquaintance Will (who you might remember from his keyboard work with Zoos of Berlin ) sent me this remix [...]
Recently, a friend posted a facebook update that read, "Enough Randy Newman. He must be stopped. Please. Year after year after year. We need a break." I can only imagine that this post was in reference to Newman dominating another awards ceremony for whatever "Original Score" or "Soundtrack" category was applicable. I like Toy Story as much as the next guy, but I see his point. That said, this song has kind of crept into the soundtrack of my life, mostly thanks to a man who comes up with some frequency on this blog: my dad. [...]
A and I took a much-needed trip to SF this weekend. Getting time to hang out with besties and walk around a city that feels real can totally put my mind at ease after a month-long sojourn in the weirdness that is Southern California. Saturday night was a bit raucous. Numerous bottles of whiskey were consumed. I would like to clear my name now by saying that I stayed soberist, of course that was after accidentally ordering 16 onces of Bushmills at a bar in The Mission. Regardless, the evening closed around 3AM with everyone [...]
Sometimes it's hard to figure out what makes you like a song. This one, for example, has tons of things that I would ordinarily find kind of obnoxious, but as a whole just really work: the vaguely pop-punk chorus; the occasionally overdramatic vocals that contribute to a proto-emo feeling. Still, it gets me. This is one of those songs that can make me cry. Maybe it's the way that Matt Caterer croons those vocals. Maybe it's that you can actually feel his sadness in there. Or maybe it's just that we can all remember being at the [...]
One Sweet Song
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