Dance Music (Day 45)

Beach House - "Gila"
John Vanderslice - "Promising Actress"
Akron/Family - "Gone Beyond"
Brightblack Morning Light - "A River Could Be Loved"
Okay, enough haiku and animal loving, it's time to get back to the muzak. I'm re-inspired after today's playlist. It felt a little fresher than usual and this is a good place to start with some commenting. I like Brightblack Morning Light's 2006 debut on Matador. I feel like they flew under the radar a bit for a Matador band (as much as any indie band can in these days of rabid music blogging), but they have a pretty unique sound. It's almost like a slower, bluesier My Bloody Valentine. Lots of organ and tribal drumming with atmospheric and psychedelic flourishes. Plus, the lyrics are basically unintelligible. It all adds up to a very moody, but enjoyable album. If I were still in college and still enjoying certain self-medicating techniques, I think this CD would rarely leave the player. The duo that started the band, Nathan "Nabob" Shineywater and Rachael "Rabob" Hughes, are part of that whole Devendra Benhart freak folk scene, but they take their hippiedom even a bit further. According to allmusic.com, the duo "decided to reject city life completely and settled in rural northern California, living in tents during the warmer months and a small cabin in the winter." Sounds like fun... and definitely reflected in their sound. Meanwhile, I'm a bit shocked at how bad a review the album got from allmusic. I don't feel like I come across really negative reviews too often on that site (of music that I like), but this is what they have to say about BML' eponymous album:
"Their apparent desire to break out of stereotypes is so strong that it almost seems contrived....the band realizes that the actual record just isn't quite strong enough to bring its listeners to any kind of higher plane of understanding. It's not bad, it's just not as profound as Shineywater and Hughes would like everyone to believe it is. It's slow, languid music, music that wants to be sung by the Spanish moss that hangs in the duo's home state of Alabama, but stays stuck in the swamps instead. It's all very nice; it just doesn't ever do anything, say anything, mean anything."
Harsh. Guess this reviewer is off the herb too.
Robert Earl Keen Jr. - "Goin' Nowhere Blues"
Destroyer - "Helena"
The Flatlanders - "Pay the Alligator"
Okay, this is a goofy song. But The Flatlanders are a true super-group...with an interesting story to boot. The group is made up of Texas songwriting legends Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and Joe Ely. They are all awesome and have put out great solo records, but before they were famous they played together in the early 70s. Although after getting next to no radio play with their first single, "Dallas," their label scrapped plans to release an album. Apparently an 8-track and cassette of some material actually showed up at mostly truck stops (perfect!), but the world at large did not know about them until Rounder Records released the appropriately titled More A Legend Than A Band in 1990. If you like roots music mixed with a little Texas twang and you somehow never heard of these guys, go buy it. Their reunion albums Now Again and Wheels of Fortune are pretty good (especially Now Again), but they can't compare to the 70s stuff.
Broken Social Scene - "Backyards"
The Rolling Stones - "Prodigal Son"
The Mountain Goats - "Dance Music"
Today's Song With The Most Previous Plays is a good one. The Mountain Goats (really singer-songwriter John Darnielle), are mostly all about the lyrics - - and they are pretty great. The music is a straight forward acoustic sound, but Darnielle writes some wry, funny and moving shit. It's all very autobiographical, and as this song (off The Sunset Tree) shows, it was a rough childhood for Darnielle. Just read:

"i'm in the living room
watching the watergate hearings
while my stepfather yells at my mother
launches a glass across the room
straight at her head
and i dash upstairs to take cover
lean in close to my little record player on the floor
so this is what the volume knob's for
i listen to dance music
dance music"

Can you think of a better reason to listen to turn up the volume and drown out the world with a little dance music?

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 10
Total minutes of music (approx.): 43
Song with the most previous plays: "Dance Music" - 8
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I tried a different route to work today. Took an express train that while faster leaves me a bit farther from the office. Is it better? Not sure yet.