You Give Pause, I Take It

I'm working on a Top Such-and-Such of 2007, and I do aim to finish it. It just mightn't arrive until January. End o' December is such a superbusy time: social engagements, holiday doings, retail hell, etc. My silly little countdown can wait.

Given a free weekend I can type scads.


Daniel says, "Say, whatever happened to Anah Aevia?"
I says, "ionno".
But here's one of their songs I sure like.
Anah Aevia, one of the severest purveyors of "pterodactyl vocals" ever.

Anah Aevia - Closed Arms and Clenched Fists

Christmas Time is Here

Christmas songs are dumb. I'm sure at one point in history Christmas songs were fun and enjoyable, but even though they're only played one month (sometimes two) out of the year, the same songs are repeated over and over EVERYWHERE.
You know all this already. You've suffered from lame Christmas songs enough this year. But I'll offer a few that are at least tolerable. I do find that I'm more inclined to appreciate the hymny Jesus songs. Tunes about jingling bells and frosty snowmen don't stack up so well against songs about the savior of the world, if you know what I mean.

Anathallo - O Holy Night
Pedro the Lion - O Come O Come Emmanuel
Viva Voce - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The Wheeler Sisters - Don Oiche Ud I mBeithil

Merry Christmas, y'all.

The art of trickery

- Awww Snaps! You got RickRolled!

Rick-rolling or RickRolling or being Rick Rolled all refer to the subtle art of misdirection. You look left while I lead you right.

HOLY CRAP a V1DE0 of a dude lifting a bus off of a K1D. Amazing…

Bam you just got rickrolled. You weren’t expecting it, they never are. This little act of shenaniganary is merely a testament to the fact that anyone will think of anything to use YouTube for. Whether it be Mastering the Quadruple Kickflip or Taking the Kitty to the Spa. This can only be categorized into the lowest form of entertainment right next to old clips of “Kimmy” Gibbler or Joy Junction.

I pain to have to link that.

On a side note…Who is Rick?

Rick is Richard Paul Astley. Rick was a Dance-Pop singer in the early to mid 80s with a few top hits, mostly in the UK. He was nominated for a Grammy award for best new artist of the year but lost to Tracy Chapman.

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On a more metal note. I would like to plug my latest metal fancy. A small band by the name of The Devil Wears Prada.

Yes. yes. you’re thinking, why the hell am I being fed this, my girlfriend already made me watch the movie with her, which wasn’t all that bad, but was all about fashion and girl-crap like that.

I swear to you this is no hoax. The Devil Wears Prada is a metal band. Damn good one at that. I mean look at these ablum coverz.

Nought but metal found within.

Pretty good metal at that.

Okay so what I think about said band is as follows. They mix very fluent and fluctuating sound into a diverse harvest of musical talent and lyrical mastery. That was almost poetic...

Anyhow I think theys good. I likes good. They make muh eers giggle. I like to tickle puppies.

The albums images above are actually in reverse order. The bottom one “dear love: a beautiful discord” came out last year (2006) while “Plagues” was released August 21 of this year. The prior is much more youthy with a very distinguishable basement or Generator stage quality while the latter is more polished and sophomoric, flaunting a bit more experimentalism and edge. Both albums are choice and can be purchased using the wizardry of iTunes or from the artists’ label site Here.

No seriously, Here.

Rofl.

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okies. I’m done, but before I go I’ll leave you with something seriously and truly disturbing…you will never want to read Mark Twain again.

Children’s Show?

The Letter O

In this series I spotlight five bands and/or artists whose names begin with the same letter. I try to feature active (or recently active... it's hard to keep current with all the break-ups) performers so as to reflect who I'm listening to and enjoying at the moment.

Again, with the tracks from Insound.com, if you've saving them to your harddrive you may actually have to physically type ".mp3" at the end of the file name. Don't let typing four extra buttons prevent you from enjoying these songs.

O

of Montreal
Not actually of Montreal. Of Athens, Georgia. Like REM. But despite being from Georgah, of Montreal's music is otherwordly. I don't know specifically what world, but it's fancifal and bouncy and probably looks a lot like Pepperland. The music, then, is in that same sort of sub-psychadelic vein, though the band is not opposed to dishing out some thick trance beats or, at the other end of the musical spectrum, unplugging entirely to coo something nice and folky.
If it looks like I'm dumping a ton of tracks on you it's because they're so dang prolific. There's so much of Montreal to hear.
"She's My Best Friend" (Velvet Underground cover) .mp3 from The Elephant Six Recording Company. There's also a bunch of live tracks and a demo I haven't listened to yet.
"Heimdalsgate Like a Promethian Curse" .mp3 via Insound.com.
"So Begins Our Alabee" .mp3 via Insound.com. Good song.
"Disconnect the Dots" .mp3 via Insound.com. This song has been played everywhere.
"Doing Nothing" .mp3 via Insound.com. Also a good song.
"Spoonful of Sugar" .mp3 via Insound.com. Some of that folksy stuff I mentioned. A VERY good song.
"The Past is a Grotesque Animal" .mp3 from Under The Rotunda blog. Twelve minutes of sweet awesome goodness.
Also, for fun, check out the track list for The Early Four Track Recordings.


Okkervil River
Okkervil River is a bit hard to define, but I could get away with calling it rootsy indie rock. They utilize non-conventional rock 'n' roll instruments like accordians and mandolins and whatnot, but still lean more towards rock than folk. Their lyrical imagery is often pretty dark and usually tells some sort of coherant story. It's those big musical hooks that'll nab you, though. Just good songwriting all around.
I don't know. LISTEN.
"Westfall" .mp3 via Insound.com. Probably the best song ever. Evil don't look like anything.
"Red" .mp3 via Insound.com.
"The War Criminal Rises and Speaks" .mp3 via Insound.com.
"For Real" .mp3 from the Jagjaguwar Records site. This song is super good. For real.
"Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" .mp3 from the Jagjaguwar Records site.
"The President's Dead" .mp3 from the Jagjaguwar Records site. Not morbid, but no less real.
"No Key, No Plan" .mp3 from the Jagjaguwar Records site.


Oneida
Oneida might be a bit of an acquired taste, but once you figure out how to appreciate them then you'll find their awesomeness knows no bounds. The band's songs are all at once hazey, hypnotizing, weird (like a nebula causing a traffic accident is weird), dense and heavy. Fundamentally, though, it comes down to the rock, and your face will eventually come off due to the rock.
Like Okkervil River, they've also released a bunch of albums through Jagjaguwar.
"Run Through My Hair" .mp3 via the Jagjaguwar Records site. Very cool.
"Up With People" .mp3 via the Jagjaguwar Records site.
"Wild Horses" .mp3 via Jagjaguwar. Not a Stones cover, but still a great song.
"Each One Teach One" .mp3 via Insound.com.
"To Seed and Flower" .mp3.
"Turn it Up Loud" .mp3. Bizarre, but in a good way.
Also, www.myspace/oneidarocks.com.


The Out_Circuit
Several bands rose up from the ashes of Frodus. One of them, founded by Frodus' last bassist Nathan Burke, is called The Out_Circuit (with or without the underscore). The Out_Circuit continues in that same bass-heavy paranoia-ishness that made And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea so good. In fact, I highly recommend checking out that album (the fourth track, non-coincidently, is called "Out-Circuit the Ending") very soon after checking out these Out_Circuit songs.
There are currently four downloadables on the Lujo website. They are:
"Glasgow" -- Cold and atmospheric, listening to this song is like losing a fight to an arctic ghosttown.
"We Will End" -- The music is so rich, the mental imagery it provokes is outstanding.
"Across the Light" -- New song from the new album, Pierce the Empire With a Sound. I spy guest vocals.
"Come Out Shooting" -- Watch out for those unexpectedly abrasive vocals. Be lured back by the beauty of the music. Fantastic song.
A couple other listen-worthy streamies on the band's Virb.com website.
And appearing on a Lujo Christmas compilation, this is the best version of O Come Emmanuel (.mp3) you've ever heard.


Ozma
Ozma is awesome, but you already knew that. They broke up in 2004 but came back together earlier this year and released an album. Unfortunately, probably because I'm stupid, I haven't listened to that album yet. I bet it rocks. I bet you can't tell me otherwise.
Now I'm listening to some of those new songs on Myspace.
Now I'm done. They're a little world-weary, but still quite excellent. "Eponine" is great.
Other songs of excellence --
From the Kung Fu Records site: "Apple Trees", "No One Needs to Know", "Flight of the Bootymaster", "Bad Dogs", "Gameover".
And personal favorites of mine: "Natalie Portman", "Battlescars", "Korobeiniki".

1979

Shakedown, 1979.
Disco was in full disgusting glory, as was glamrock, David Bowie, and various other facets of music that celebrated dazzling cocaine-feuled androgynous misbehavior. There were others, though, not terribly interested in the excesses of rock 'n' roll. Others whose music was likened to poetry rather than hoppin' soundtracks to coke-lining. I like these guys 'cause they kept it real. I like these guys because they preferred subtlety to outRAGEouness.


Neil Young - My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)
Though it might be better to burn out than to fade away, Young's burn out example, Johnny Rotton, still periodically plays reunion shows with the Sex Pistols. Way to screw up the impact of this song, Lydon. Anyway, this track opens up Young's Rust Never Sleeps album, while the song's plugged-in counterpart, "Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)", closes it. I prefer this sad and lonesome version, as I would to any song that had a sad and lonesome version.

Bob Dylan - Gotta Serve Somebody
This is probably Dylan's best-known song from his "Christian Phase". It's just a soulful little tune about, no matter who you are or what you're doing, you're either servin' the Devil or you're servin' the Lord. Despite the frustratingly vague lyrics he was known for earlier in his musical career, Dylan at this point in his life is a straight shooter, making very clear his message and motivation and not worrying about whom he might offend.

Patti Smith Group - Dancing Barefoot
This is probably one of the best and more accessible of Patti Smith's songs (though I'm also a fan of her cover of "When Doves Cry" found on her 2002 Land retrospect/compilation, of which "Dancing Barefoot is the lead track). This is a love song to be sure, but not in the conventional poppybopp way. Both lyrically and musically she paints a picture of love that comes from mysterious origins and ends up in unknown places. And while I think that spoken words in music should be limited to 1960s girl groups, this is still a great and nearly magical song.

Joy Division - She's Lost Control
Is it ironic that a song about epilepsy is also kind of danceable? Instrumentally (and even lyrically, I suppose) this is a very unique and ahead-of-its-time song. Despite being very stripped down (you can easily identify each instrument at any given time), heavy studio effects amp up the hazardous atmosphere of the song. Everything sounds as though it's being played through a mattress with the exception of Ian Curtis' voice, which is coming from some barren region of paranoid outerspace. And though the tune is outright weird, it's still dang catchy. Like pop music turned inside-out.

Commodores - Sail On
Okay, maybe the Commodores didn't prefer subtlety at all, what with those huge afros and all that funk they brought. But for every "Brick House" in this world there exists a mellow ballad about moving on. There's a few things I really like about this song. First, I like how well Lionel Richie harmonizes when he sings through his nose. Second, "Would you please just go away" is like asking somebody (oximoronically) to kindly eff off. Third, despite being a very sad song, it gets all optimistic in the end. Good times never felt so good.