Gulf Shores (Day 135)

Dexter Gordon - "Modal Mood"
The Rolling Stones - "Sway"
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "Gulf Shores"
Today's super-sized list is due to a detour for a haircut before work. And today's SWTMTPP was a highlight. I'm a huge fan of Will Oldham in all his incarnations and Greatest Palace Music is by far his most accessible record. Love the idea that he basically made a covers album with Nashville session musicians - - of his own songs! The songs are definitely given a shine, and since this came out pre-music blog mania (2004) - - or at least before I was reading music blogs - - I kinda wondered what the blogosphere thought about a record that I can see getting its share of criticism. Where should I start? How about the arbiters of cool themselves, PItchfork? Yup just as I suspected:

It's perhaps the most entertaining and thought-provoking album released so far this year. And one of the worst.

There's more:

The enjoyment it doles out is entirely extramusical, deriving from its packaging, its contributors, Nashville history, Oldham's interviews pertaining to it, its place in his discography, and his intent, whatever that may have been. Greatest Palace Music is almost uniformly tedious, uneventful, dispassionate, and overambitious when it comes to multi-tracking, and underambitious when it comes to arrangements and instrumentation.

But, that's not even the worst part:

By making this album, it feels as if Oldham is scorning me, a longtime fan, personally. It's ceaselessly mediocre, and it actually physically hurts me to know that Oldham has backpedaled, knowingly and irrationally, against his own genius.

Don't flatter yourself, buddy. I press on for a more sober, less holier-than-thou review. Here's something from a blog called False 45th:

This album is a wonderful combination of Bonnie "Prince" Billy's best songs and that beautiful sweeping studio sound that made Nashville famous. I hate the crap that gets passed for pop country these days but I have a soft spot for that older Nashville sound which BPB wrapped his catalog in for this album.

Okay, so it's not as eloquent but I concur with the sentiment. And for the record, this didn't start out to be a bash Pitchfork post, but, hey, if the shoe fits...
Wilco - "A Shot In The Arm"
Liz Phair - "Shatter"
The Delgados - "Now And Forever"
Emmylou Harris - "Plastir d'Amour"
The Flatlanders - "Now It's Now Again"
M Ward - "Chinese Translation"
Grandaddy - "Campershell Dreams"
Miles Davis - "Freedom Jazz Dance"
Johnny Cash - "Flesh & Blood"
My Mourning Jacket - "O Is The One That's Real" (live)
Outkast - "Xplosion"
The Beatles - "All You Need Is Love"
Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Travelin' Band"
The Delgados - "Girls Of Valour"
So, that makes two tracks today by this heretofore barely played group The Delgados. Scottish pop band, fairly enjoyable...whatever. This is mean. The iPod is being mean. It clearly knows that the Mets first baseman is one Carlos DELGADO. I'm not ready!

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 18
Total minutes of music (approx.): 64
Song with the most previous plays: "Gulf Shores" - 8
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: The refreshing menthol-y smelling hot towel at the end of the haircut...man, that's nice.

The Bagman's Gambit (Day 134)

The Decembrists - "The Bagman's Gambit"
Thelonious Monk - "Ruby, My Dear (take 2)"
Reigning Sound - "Wait And See"
Calexico / Iron & Wine - "Burn That Broken Bed"
Prince - "I Would Die 4 U" (live)
Bruce Springsteen - "Born To Run" (live)
Echo And The Bunnymen - "An Eternity Turns"
Neil Young - "Comes A Time"
I tried to will a Built to Spill song today, but my iPod-ESP was not working. (Must be the cold I'm suffering from.) In any event, the BTS song would have given me a chance to talk about the highlight of my weekend (non-family related, naturally). Since BTS didn't come around, I'll use Neil as a proxy -- because Doug Martsch and Co. do a rip-roaring "Cortez The Killer." So, yes, it's hard to believe this weekend had a highlight given that-thing-which-I-can-not-even-mention, but it did. I saw Built to Spill on Friday night. Photographic proof:















You want a review? Okay, here's a quickie: Holy fucking shit. Now, I have always been a huge fan of the 1996 album Perfect From Now On, but to see it performed in its entirety, in all its sonic brilliance and in all the intensity that Martsch delivers live - - I was downright moved. I think the album may have just cracked the all-time Top 10. Okay that's a nearly impossible list to make, but I will say Top 25 - - confidently. And to top it off, Dinosaur Jr. opened - - the reunited Dinosaur Jr. I'm not sure I've seen a band rock harder in the past few years. Amazing.
Ween - "A Tear For Eddie"
Bright Eyes - "Stray Dog Freedom"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 10
Total minutes of music (approx.): 44
Song with the most previous plays: "The Bagman's Gambit" - 8
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: No sports section today - - baseball is dead to me.

Creature Fear (Day 133)

Bob Mould - "Dreaming, I Am"
Albert Hammond, Jr. - "Bright Young Thing"
I'll say it: Albert Hammond Jr.'s solo music...way better than The Strokes. I, for one, hated The Strokes when they first broke. All that hype and I would listen to their music and think, That's It? The music sounded like garage rock-lite, to me, and Julian Casablancas voice sounded as if he was trying oh-so-hard to sound bored, disaffected, drunk and ultimately cool. But, on their later albums I started to come around a bit and found myself actually listening to 2006's First Impressions of Earth quite a bit. I think once the hype faded, I could enjoy them just for their music and I really like FOE's "Razorblade" quite a bit. (Incidentally, does anyone else hear the melody of Barry Manilow's "Mandy" when they listen to that song??) But none of it prepared me for AH Jr's debut, which is a great pop record - - all sunny hooks and golden grooves. I hear his second solo album, Como Te Llama, is a bit more Strokes-ian. Too bad.
Pavement - "Recorder Grot"
The Rolling Stones - "Stray Cat Blues"
Oakley Hall - "Free Radicals Lament"
Bon Iver - "Creature Fear"
X - "Present"
Outkast - "Flip Flop Rock"
Sloan - "Never Seeing The Ground For The Sky"
Sonny Rollins - "There Will Never Be Another You"
Cansei de Ser Sexy - "Meeting Paris Hilton"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 11
Total minutes of music (approx.): 45
Song with the most previous plays: "Creature Fear" - 9
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 7
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Sorry, still obsessing about the baseball. After a huge win last night, the Mets remain tied with Milwaukee for the Wild Card and ONE game behind the Phillies for the division. Three more games over the weekend should determine the outcome (weather permitting) of this most-tumultuous season. Some choice images from yesterday:

Prickly Thron, But Sweetly Worn (Day 132)

Tindersticks - "Piano Song"
Brightblack Morning Light - "Fry Bread"
David Bowie - "Ziggy Stardust"
Margot & The Nuclear So and So's - "Vampires In A Blue Dress"
I was digging this song this AM. But I don't know the band too well, except that they're one of those 8-or-so-piece pop collectives led by one musical protege. In this case his name is Richard Edwards - - and he's kinda like what I would imagine would result if Conor Oberst and Sufjan Stevens had a lovechild. Weird. And the band name? Fantastic. Made even better after I just read this moment that it comes from the Gwyneth Paltrow character, Margot, in Wes Anderson's Royal Tennebaums. Time for a gratuitous clip!



Eleventh Dream Day - "The Blindside"
The Kinks - "You Make It All Worthwhile --> Ordinary People --> Everybody's A Star" (live)
The White Stripes - "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn"
Serge Gainsbourg - "Ballade de Melody Nelson"
More fun with names! This song comes from the Serge Gainsbourg album actually called Histoire de Melody Nelson. So, I don't speak French, or have a masterly knowledge of the career of Gainsbourg, so the identity of Melody has alluded me. A famous French debutante? Poet? Laundress? Take it away, Monsieur Wikipedia:

Melody Nelson is the fictional subject of a concept album, Histoire de Melody Nelson, by French musician Serge Gainsbourg.

Similar in concept to, if not based on, the infamous Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita, the plot of the album concerns the protagonist's brief relationship with a teenage English girl named Melody Nelson, who he meets when his Rolls-Royce collides with her bicycle. They begin a passionate but short love affair, which ends when Melody dies in a plane crash.

She may have also been a topless ventriloquist. See album cover, below.



















The Beastie Boys - "The Biz Vs. The Nuge"
The Walkmen - "Mucho Mungo/Mt. Elga"
Son Volt - "Medicine Hat" (live)
The Beatles - "Good Day Sunshine"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 12
Total minutes of music (approx.): 41
Song with the most previous plays: "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn," "Fry Bread" - 6
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 7
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: What a difference a day makes: I. Hate. Baseball.

Ostriches & Chirping (Day 131)

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Walking Stick (Day 130)

Wilco - "My Darling"
What a difference a day makes. Maybe it was just my mood, but today's playlist was so solid it felt like there was no way it could truly be random. The songs were all great and they flowed seamlessly. Kicking it off was this very Beatle-esque Wilco tune from Summer Teeth.
Deadboy And Elephant - "Walking Stick"
Who knew this band, which normally hits you over the head like any good garage band, actually has a more mellow moment? This is it...and another nice song to start my morning.
Belle & Sebastian - "To Be Myself Completely"
While it's Stuart Murdoch's band, this is a nice vocal turn by Stevie Jackson that revs things up a little bit in that swinging B&S way.
Low - "Walk Into The Sea"
Can a song be mellow and rock at the same time? Yes, says Low - - again and again.
Dirty Three - "Hope"
The highlight of today's set by far. It could be that I haven't really listened to this Australian trio in a while, but it really was great to hear this AM. If you don't know Dirty Three, they're pretty unique. A guitarist, drummer and violinist create these really cool, and mostly mournful-sounding instrumentals, which, although downbeat, seem to pick me up. Horse Stories from 1996 is a great album to start with... if you're interested.
Sufjan Stevens - "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!"
Great song from Come On Feel The Illionoise, it has a kind of disco feel. Seriously. Anybody else hear the similarities with Go To Heaven era Grateful Dead? Oh wait, did I just write that?
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - "If You Want Me"
Yes, I liked the movie. Yes, I like the songs. How can you not?
Devendra Banhart - "Heard Somebody Say"
Say what you will about Devendra (and I too have described him as annoying), but this is a pretty beautiful song. And that line "I heard somebody say // that the war ended today // but everybody knows it's going still," is a ripped-from-the-headlines heartbreaker.
Pavement - "Frontwards" (live)
This is the one song that didn't seem to fit in stylistically with the rest of today's set, but you know what? It doesn't matter, because it's "Frontwards"! By Pavement. One. Of. The. Best. Songs. Ever.

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 9
Total minutes of music (approx.): 33
Song with the most previous plays: "Waling Stick" - 8
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 8
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Okay, if you love baseball (like me!) and arcane baseball stories (me too!), do yourself a favor and read this article from today's NY Times. Need some incentive to click that link. Okay, here's one graph:

On the afternoon of Oct. 8, an enormous crowd engulfed the Polo Grounds, willing to do anything to see a game that would decide the pennant. They teetered along Coogan’s Bluff above the ballpark; climbed up on the grandstand roof; perched on the elevated train viaduct out past left field. One man fell to his death from the el; another fell from a telegraph pole and broke his neck. A wedge of fans broke through a wooden fence into the outfield and had to be pushed back by mounted police. Later, they tried setting the fence on fire.

Notion (Day 129)

Lou Reed - "Good Evening , Mr. Waldheim"
Belle & Sebastian - "The Wrong Girl"
Coleman Hawkins - "Spotlite"
Beirut - "Interlude" (live)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "Hold On To Yourself"
Karl Blau - "Notion"
Sleater- Kinney - "Entertain"
Jack Johnson - "Jungle Gym"
M Ward - "So Much Water"
Not a lot to share today. Another big meh from me for today's playlist. Are these shorter playlists ruining the flow? We'll see. Maybe I need some fresh blood. A few artists that have piqued my interest after surfing the music blog circuit of late: The New Year, Horse Feathers, new Jenny Lewis, new Okervill River. Anything else I should be checking out?

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 9
Total minutes of music (approx.): 35
Song with the most previous plays: "Notion" - 8
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 5
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I feel compelled to reveal the truth about the coffee cake muffin my daughter gets every day on the way to the bus for school: She takes a few minuscule bites, I eat it on the subway. This, combined with a total of exactly 0 hours in the gym per week, is not going to be good...