Monday, July 03, 2006

Songs 161 to 170

Wow, long time no post. First, I had to put the wraps on a book chapter so that I could quickly fall behind on the next one. Then, I had to squirrel away in my garret to work on my first two dissertation chapters. And, somewhere in between, I had a vacation ruined by a tropical storm, had my refrigerator die and then be resurrected, planted an entire garden of hostas, started a morning walking ritual, kept the house clean, read Jancee Dunn's book (very, very satisfying!), read some article in the local paper about some odious new parent classification called grups (guess what guys, your kids are supposed to be cooler than you, don't try so hard), drove all over the state for various meetings, and continued to avoid my blood work. I'm certain there's more in there somewhere. Oh, yeah, I ordered a bundt pan in the shape of a sandcastle that I saw in Cookie magazine, and amazingly, the cake does come out exactly like a sandcastle. A huge hit around la casa! As is Supergroup. God luv ya, Bas! Also, I apparently owe the orange from television an apology. I am absolutely certain his friend's band is the perfect fit for some, just not me. (Gosh, now I sound like that Brit-guy from "So You Think You Can Dance" apologizing to that dishrag girl for saying she was like the Corpse Bride.) And, anyway, I've come to the sad realization that about 75 percent of all alterna-bands sound exactly alike, making it difficult to download anything without thinking, "Have I heard this already?"

If I have any dear readers and they have any dear suggestions for bands of note, I'll take them!

Song 161: New Edition, "Can You Stand the Rain." No, I'm not that desperate for songs; I was just hit with a major nostalgia for the NE boyz because this album was super big when I wrote my Master's Thesis--as were fades, which I see KW is attempting to bring back. It is a completely fantastic song, though, and one can actually buy the entire NE Heartbreak CD on iTunes for less than $7. From such great heights.

Song 162: Headlights Headlights, "Everyone Needs a Fence to Lean On." Slo-mo, emo initially, then it perks up a bit. Nice driving beat. It is true that "everybody's got their enemies," as I can testify! It ends downbeat again. Okay.

Song 163: Badly Drawn Boy, "Once Around the Block." Okay, I've heard about BDB (not BBD, fade out) for a while and avoided them for the too-cool factor. That name, so precious. But, this is a kick booty song. It's swirling and fun, life affirming! Good vocals, fore and aft, riding the wave. Nice scratchiness. Well done, BDB, I stand corrected. You are just cool enough.

Song 164: Broken Social Scene, "7/4 (Shoreline)." This is a bit too samey. I've heard these drums, this hum before. It has an interesting mix to the vocals and roughs up a little as it goes along. But, still, I feel I've heard this before. The loud to soft; the overall distortion. I have the sense it would be better to see this band live; it's probably some collective experience.

Song 165: Islands, "Rough Gem." Wow, the opening of this song sounds like a Prince song (If I Was Your Girlfriend, specifically) through a kiddie organ and drum kit. This is a peppy little number though I'm not sure the energy is served by the song itself, which is kinda all over the place (maybe this is intentional given the title--but it's a fine line between bathos and pathos). Much as with Prince these days, an editor would help.

Song 166: Busta Rhymes, "Touch It." As were all over-forty mothers of two who should be working on their dissertations, I was watching the BET awards last weekend and caught the one-off awesome performance of this song by Busta and his dozen friends (including Em, himself!) . This is an interesting piece; sometimes it sounds like old school Busta and then at times Panther-era LL. The chorus is definitely hypnotic. The song has about six remixes already. I went for the original version.

Song 167: Lil' Jon, "Snap Yo Fingers." I love Lil' Jon! He is so perfect a creation; plus, my son does a dead on LJ, sans dreads. This song absolutely fascinates me. It seems to reveal the minimalism of its composition so intentionally. As if Lil' Jon were daring himself to make a hit out of the lamest few notes possible and get all of us to krunk along. And, of course, he does. I lift my full-on white suburban mom goblet (that would be the Starbucks latte cup) to salute you, Lil Jon! (Fun fact--liljon.com takes one to a site of a port-a-potty manufacturer.)

Song 168: Kate Havnevik, "Sleepless." This is a beautiful song. She sounds a bit like an accessible Bjork, but this seems more a function of the song's arrangement than her voice. (Though the geography has a some kind of spooky influence, to be sure, on all those Iceland/Norway triangle folks.) The lyrics are more straightforward (no volchainos), and her voice is more upper register, no growling. But, it's clearly the voice of an adult--a break from all the little girl losts out there. Nice.

Song 169: Rachel Yamagata, "Be Be Your Love." Another grown-up woman song. Nice sense of longing, anger, and loss. The song almost leans forward into itself trying to reach something. It has a post-chanteuse feel.

Song 170: Asobi Seksu, "Thursday." Supposedly the next big thing, what with the coming of the Asian cultural revolution. (Hey, if that means I can look like Maggie and be lovingly photographed by Yimou Zhang, I'm all for it; if instead it means some Blade Runner-y thing, I'll pass). This is more like vintage shoe gaze with an upbeat march feel that's quite conducive to a number of 80s dances. Odd combo.

195 to go.

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