Wilco - "Kingpin"
The Wrens - "Hats Off To Marriage, Baby"
I have to be honest, today's music was mostly filtering in one ear and out the other. It may have been that this set of songs didn't exactly set my pants on fire (or any other part of my wardrobe). Or it may be I'm so utterly exhausted it takes all the energy I can muster to walk up the street let alone listen to music. It's all good though. My wife and I recently expanded the brood and we have a 3-and-a-half-week-old boy to go with our attention-loving 2-and-a-half-year-old girl. It means waking up frequently in the middle of the night to tend to the little one, August. (By the way, we're calling him Auggie but I'm still undecided about how to spell it - - 2 Gs or 1? What do you think?) And then waking up at the crack ass of dawn with the older one, Georgia. (By "crack ass" I mean anywhere from 5:45-6:45am.) So it's really hard, but it's also fun - - sometimes. (And everybody does it, so don't be scared if you're expecting or expecting to expect some day.) I don't want this to be a cute recounting of the ups and downs of having kids type blog (although I do enjoy reading those), all this is really just to say once again that today's listening experience was a bit hazy. However, this song by The Wrens shook me out of my walking coma. And not because I thought, Hey, this is a great song by The Wrens! But rather because I couldn't even place the band and I had to sneak a peek at the iPod to see who it was. Why is this shocking? Because The Wrens album Meadowlands is one of my favorite records of the past five years. So how did I not recognize this song off Secaucus (which before a recent re-release was a lost "classic" that I once considered spending upwards of a $100 bucks to buy on eBay)? Well, they really sound different. On Meadowlands, The Wrens channeled their garage rock and shoegazing roots into a modern classic that shifts from roots rock to shimmery atmospheric pop and back to rock. It's a much more mature sound, which makes a lot of sense since it came out seven years after its predecessor, Secaucus. According to band lore it wasn't by choice. The Wrens were critically acclaimed but got lost in a black hole created by a sold record label and their own indecision about where to sign. In any case Meadowlands is worth the wait and Secaucus is best viewed (in my opinion) as a portrait of a band in transition. What will they do next? I hope I don't have to wait seven more years to find out.
The New Pornographers - "Miss Teen Wordpower"
The Flying Burrito Brothers - "Older Guys"
Ray Davies - "Thanksgiving Day"
Ben Folds - "Bruised"
Frank Black - "The Real El Rey"
Magnetic Fields - "Till The Bitter End"
Devendra Banhart - "Tit Smoking In The Temple of Artesan Mimicry"
This is weird, right?
The National - "Racing Like A Pro"
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down"
Animal Collective - "Winter Wonder Land"
Jeff Tweedy - "Walk Where He Walked" (live)
And then I got to work.
Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 14
Total minutes of music (approx.): 47
Song with the most previous plays: "Older Guys" - 7
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: The following is an excerpt from an awesome live music review I read in the New York Times: "Half the time you can hardly understand him. [He] doesn't articulate words any better today than he did in the old days. Even when he talks, he mumbles. It all makes for pleasant, mildly romantic background music of meager substance." So funny...especially the romantic part. It's a bit of insight into the personal life of Times critic Stephen Holden, don't you think? So who is he writing about? Any guesses?
6 comments:
What's so weird about rock stars and actresses dating?
I first guessed that the quote was about the Pope before I remembered that it was a music review. Then I thought maybe Springsteen or Dylan, but I knew that was too obvious. Finally, I cheated and looked at the Times. I won't give it away. I thought he was dead.
1. 2 g's, definitely. 1 g would make me wonder whether the g was soft.
2. i thought michael stipe - but then doubted that my fellow como resident would think stipe is dead. so ... don't know.
Not weird in itself. Actually this is probably best part of being a rock star (along with the free booze). Just think this couple in particular seems odd. He's kind of a freakish neo-folky and she gives off a more serious intellectual vibe. Okay, maybe it's just the matching pea coats...
Hint on the review: He's 56 years old an won 5 Grammys for his debut record. If you cheat, don't give it away...
OMG, Bob Dylan is not dead!!!!!
Hi there...
You're always with new and different kind of play list..
If you really wanna have some information about Brazilian music, just keep in touch!
CYA
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