Sorry to distract from the very important work of writing and vexing about the campaign, but I'd like to share a tradition.
More Below:
In my youth I was a kitchen drone; hacking away in a festering sauna, blissfully ignorant of the rest of the world. The soundtrack of my days was a fine blend of mexican hip-hop and old school punk rock with the occasional dash of neo-punk or power metal. It was a pretty unenlightened musical existence. No surprises, no limits pushed; certainly no quality instrumentation or lyrical mazes. Then, quite out of the blue, shit changed. One morning upon our arrival we found a cardboard box sitting on the prep-table, above it a sign reading: "NEW MUSIC WEDNESDAYS. PLACE CD'S BELOW. ALL WILL BE PLAYED. (no Enya or fucking Celine Dion)".
And we were off. It took no convincing. People brought in 'the music that they were sure everyone would love if they just had the chance to listen to it'; big scary guys bringing in Mariah Carey albums, our head runner brought in a few disks loaded with traditional Peruvian music, our dishwasher dropping Pucini on us and I brought in my Levellers. It was brilliant. All week long we would discuss and debate the merits of last Wednesday's musical menagerie and look with jealousy upon those who had scored regular rotation for their hidden gems. Each Wednesday was a break from it all; a chance to have your mind lifted from the monotony of the kitchen life and thrust into critical action. I only spent a few months in that kitchen, but something about it stuck. I fell in love with music. Because of that love I eventually found a job at independent record label for a while, scouting new bands. It, sadly, went under and my foray into professional music ended. But that hobby never did.
Given the over-saturation of the campaign and politics as a whole, I hope that maybe for a while here a break can be found. There really aren't any rules, maybe we develop some as it goes. Read, if you want to, my screeds or just post links to your favorite bands, videos, etc. Try to give other folk's music a listen as you would have them do yours. If its successful maybe we try to make it a semi-tradition. If not, fuck it, it was worth a shot.
Hopla! Such is life!
WEEKLY BAND THAT YOU PROBABLY HAVEN'T HEARD OF BUT REALLY, REALLY SHOULD
Crescent and Frost
This is, in my humble opinion, one of the best folk bands (any genre band) out there right now, and certainly deserves an eventual historical context. Maybe someday a person or two at a label will disconnect their noses from the ass-end of Arcade Fire and give this band a listen. Okay, probably not, but you really, really should.
Maryann Fennimore's voice is crystal and Dan Marcus, Rich Hinman and Jason Mercer's instrumentation is gorgeous. The band as a whole plays with such restraint, not over-reaching or over-playing, but just consistently proving that simple music of the heart, played with talent and passion, is forever worthy and essential.
For a free primer, go to the myspace page here
For those of you in the NYC area the live shows are often free ($5 suggested tip for the band) and always, always worth your time. You will walk away charmed. Best bet is to follow the Myspace page, it is updated with the most frequency.
Available for download at band's site also CD's at live shows.
JUST DROPPED
Counting Crows new album "Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings".
I first have to admit that I was hugely suspect of this band for years and years. I was very hesitant to give the first album a proper listen and once I did I was absolutely positive that there was no way they could repeat that. Their following albums had, in my opinion, their individual moments ("Butterfly In Reverse" and "Colorblind" both slay me), but in fits and starts. Nothing reaching the full album of quality that was "August and Everything After". I have quite happily discovered that "Saturday/Sunday" is an outstandingly complete album. Adam Duritz is still lyrically playful (I choose the term 'playful', others say something all-together different, but I loved the Primitive Radio God's lyric "you swim like lions through the crest/ and bathe yourself on Zebra flesh" so...there's your grain of salt) and the band is as always solid. There is a journey here. Some honest and contemplative ballads and also quite a few 'drop-the-windows-and-haul-ass-down-Highway1' tracks. All in all, in my opinion their best effort in years and well worth the investment.
Available at Itunes, Amazon and every major music store.
THIS WEEK'S SOUNDTRACK
- Thrice All American- Neko Case and Her Boyfriends (something about all this financial mess makes me think of home. I didn't grow up in Tacoma but this makes sense to me)
- My Way- Sid Vicious (not sure why, it's just been in there)
- The Story of Ruben Clamzo and His Strange Daughter In The Key of A- Arlo Guthrie (I had a 15 minute break and needed to smile during it, this was right there for me)
- Can't Get Enough of Your Love Baby- Barry White (because Spring is coming)
- Next To You- Bebel Gilberto (thinking about the old days in the restaurant. this was the first song on the morning cd)
- This Guitar Says Sorry- Billy Bragg (all this democratic in-fighting drove me Braggish)
- Changes- 2Pac (I needed poetry)
- Corona- The Minutemen (Hump Day! grab a beer and push through till Friday)
- Katie- Crescent and Frost (so beautiful)
- Penguins- Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (cuz 'Penguins are so sensitive to my needs' is one of the best lyrics ever)
Thoughts? Your weekly Soundtrack?