A good, but not great indie band from the mid-90s, Versus had the ability to sound totally unique and exactly like every other indie band from this period at the same time. This song is a perfect example. My still sleepy brain (only 2 cups of coffee in) was pretty convinced this was a Sonic Youth song. As it dragged on I decided it was a pretty crappy Sonic Youth song, and eventually I'd convinced myself it was off Thurston Moore's recent solo album. Lo and behold - - it's Versus. You want to talk about context, now that I know it's just a Versus song (from their swan song album Hurrah which has one great song with a great title called "I Love The WB"), I think I like it now. More coffee, please.
Broken Social Scene - "Last Place"
Feist - "One Evening"
Sloan - "Backstabbin'"
The Decemberists - "The Crane Wife 3"
Time to sing the praises of The Decemberists. Has Colin Meloy's band ever recorded a bad song? Seriously. They have a unique look, sound, lyrical take - - all of which on paper seem perplexing, pretentious, perhaps preposterous. But when you add it up, oh my, it's-oh-so-enjoyable. This is yet another fantastic song which kicks off their recent album - - a sort-of concept record that only this band could pull off. So what's the story of The Crane Wife? Take it away, Colin:
"It's a story about a peasant in rural Japan who finds a wounded crane on an evening walk; there's an arrow in its wing. He revives the crane and the crane flies away. A couple days later, a mysterious woman shows up at his door and he takes her in. Eventually they fall in love and get married. But they're very poor, so she suggests that she start weaving this cloth which he can in turn sell at the market—the condition being that when she's weaving it, she has to do it behind closed doors and he can't look in. So this goes on for a while and they actually become kind of wealthy. But eventually, his curiosity gets the best of him and he looks in at her while she's weaving and it turns out that she's a crane and she's been pulling feathers from her wings and putting it into the cloth, which is what makes it so beautiful. But him having seen her breaks the spell, and she turns back into a crane and flies away. That's the end."Ah, yes. The stuff great rawk is made of.
Coleman Hawkins - "How Strange"
Pavement - "Old To Begin"
Steve Earle - "Jericho Road"
A.C. Newman - "35 in the Shade"
And then I got to work.
Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 9
Total minutes of music (approx.): 38
Song with the most previous plays: "The Crane Wife 3" - 17
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: You can fry an egg on the sidewalks of NYC today.
3 comments:
Posts like today's are why I read this blog religiously. You have a knack for describing bands in just the way I think of them.
For example, I have always felt that Versus sounded like all the bands I was going to see in small clubs. They just somehow figured out how to get those songs on some decent mid-nineties labels.
Second example: I too can't imagine Decemberists recording a bad song. Then you hit me with this gem:
"They have a unique look, sound, lyrical take - - all of which on paper seem perplexing, pretentious, perhaps preposterous. But when you add it up, oh my, it's-oh-so-enjoyable."
You hit it right on the head...even if you think Pavement recorded a song called "Easily Flooded." (I looked for a long time for that track.) ;)
The list has a mind of it's own again!
Broken Social Scene followed by Feist!
Thanks, comoprozac. I aim to please my most loyal reader...
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