vitesse
what can not be, but is... (acuarela):
blurry technopop with some reverby guitars thrown on top of it so you can't
hear the lyrics which I suspect is a mercy. there's an omd cover which is my
new textbook definition of coals to newcastle. when I drove around by myself
at night in high school, hopelessly wired from café-hopping with my jaded
clique, I listened to music that sounded like this and dangled an imaginary
cigarette out my car window and occasionally cried for no very good reason.
oh, sure, now everybody wants a boy like that, but where were you then, huh?
where were you then? no, then I just had to go home and hole up and reread
rachel inghalls's novel mrs. caliban and feel like I was the aquatic monster
wandering lonely and confused around britain with no one to really love me
and understand me. don't you feel that life is damned unfair? you do? would
you like to hear some poems I wrote about that very feeling? they're here in
my black notebook in the pocket of a raggedy overcoat I bought in a
thriftstore down on haight street. here, let's sit in the owl & monkey café
and talk and then I'll drive you home and then drive around all by myself.
oh, god, when I get to college I pray it will be different... daniel handler
belle & sebastian
storytelling (jeepster/matador):
so let me first just say that I think storytelling should have been made
into two films -- if only to ensure that footage featuring genius girl comic
mary lynn rajskub and james van der beek wouldn't end up on the cutting room
floor. so sad. secondly, what a weird bleedin' idea for a new b&s record. we
knew they could do harry nilsson, and it's no surprise they can do barry and
morricone either. they feel refreshed here and able to flex their well-oiled
arranging and producing abilities. and the "songs" here are a blast, tho far
too brief. "black and white unite" is a shining moment; title track is a
delight; the spangly "wandering alone" was a live whopper; and "scooby
driver" is one minute of bursting-with-energy scotpop. would have preferred
no dialogue snippets and this could have easily been chopped to an ep while
we wait for a new lp but overall, what a surprise, I got no more issues with
it. I bet mr. solondz is truly devastated that this isn't the actual
soundtrack of his already forgotten movie; it's yours to watch your
captioned dvd with. gail o'hara
stephin merritt
soundtrack to eban & charley (merge):
I wonder how long stephin has been waiting to rhyme "psychosis" and "roses"?
this soundtrack, to a movie it will undoubtedly outsell, is a mostly sad,
furtive glimpse into christmastime, childhood, and departure. the incidental
music on this soundtrack sounds like a cross between a child's afternoon and
an adult's haunted memories (especially vexing is "cricket problems" playing
somewhere in your house before you realize it's the cd). "some summer day"
and "maria maria maria" are the best songs on this record -- sad farewells in
the classic merritt tradition. as this record is a companion to something
visual, it's somewhat lacking in dimensionality, but it should tide over
merritt enthusiasts and intrigue the hundreds of thousands of listeners who
will never be able to see this film. liz clayton
scharpling and wurster
chain fights, beer busts, and service with a grin: the best of scharpling
and wurster (stereolaffs):
from the men who brought us the colossal rock,
rot, and rule comes this 2cd collection of some of the finest moments of
their careers. host of the best show on wfmu, tom scharpling handles
an assortment of exasperating and hilarious callers, all voiced by jon
wurster. this is not just some garden variety moronic prank phone call
stuff; far from it. these bits are so elaborate and crafted with such
care -- in a way they are steeped in real comedy history, namely bob and ray,
yet they are quite modern, even forward-thinking, much like bob and ray
were. it's never mean, or arch, or post-ironic or whatever, it's just plain
funny. "the music scholar" is amazing and right-on throughout, but what an
ending! my favorite is "the gorch," where tom interviews roland "the gorch"
gorchnick, author of the real-life fonzie's guide to real life (the gorch is
a 60-something greaser). he's the one who inspired the happy days character,
but they got it all wrong ("yo! u know what stinks about that show? you
never saw fonzie steal nothin'"). hats off. james mcnew
various artists
flashbacks series 1, 3, and 4: drugs songs 1917-1944, high & low; copulation
blues 1926-1940, hot & sexy; heartbreakers 1927-1946, blue & lonely (triage intl):
run run run to your favorite record shop and snap up these little charmers
for such delights as the filthy, very funny "shave 'em dry" and the
uke-fueled "no wonder she's a blushing bride" from the sex comp; the surreal
"candy man" (not that one), the pathos-laden "gradually, by degrees," and
the busby berkeley mini-melodrama "cigars, cigarettes" from the drug comp;
and the whole of the blues comp. you've never heard most of the tracks, but
when you do you'll squirm, giggle, shake, rattle and pre-rock & roll with
delight. the sound quality is superb despite the songs' shellac
source -- they've left some tasty surface noise in for aural
realness -- as are the many archive photos. sadly the english translation of
the german liner notes seems inept (or maybe incomplete). but no matter:
each disc includes around two dozen tracks, all winners. also in the series
are discs of killer gospel tunes and american patriotic songs from world
wars ii & iii, plus a fantastic disc of novelty tunes, starring the fabled
"okey laughing record" from 1927. no home is complete without these
long-lost american treasures. ld beghtol
town and country
c'mon (thrill jockey):
four musicians with an improvisational bent sprawl over seven lengthy
tracks; the great potential to be world-excludingly frightful is there, but
they resist it, impose slowly shifting strictures on themselves, issue an
unspoken ban on overtly expressive playing and create an austere, spacious
sound-world of almost unbroken loveliness. "I'm appealing" (I prefer to
think of a sniffy rebuff to a custodial sentence) operates over the same
gridlines as steve reich, while "the garden" starts like earthy ECM but
grows in tensions unknown to scando-jazzers. "the bells" emerges from a
naggingly repetitive cornet figure into a world of dark brown flaking
varnish; the closing "bookmobile" is near-jaunty acoustics and hand-claps
until it takes a wrong turn in an awkward part of town -- the silky clarinet
points our way home. gorgeous. mike jones
the infinite Xs
s/t (chainsaw):
an exciting prospect: jody bleyle of team dresch and tamala poljak of the
mightier than mighty longstocking have more aesthetically in common than the
very-fast-pop-with-forthrightly-lesbian-lyrics parameters of their separate
work suggest. in fact, though, this is a little bland. they've both made the
mistake of trying to universalize their lyrics, but made them harder to
grasp onto in the process, and misplaced their old bands' desperate
joy along with their hooks. even so, tamala's "joanna" is giddy adrenal new
wave that's kooler than the gang and readier for the world. clarissa
