Call it a genetic defect, but I will always be a sucker for a woman who seduces not with sex appeal but with intellect. Shelley Short’s beautifully facile voice sounds like a lullaby, but the kind that you might hear Patsy Cline or Loretta Lynn sing: resolute heartbreakers about women who are clearly smarter than the men in their lives and need to share their blues. Short isn’t all the way that old-fashioned, but her resignation and independence come through thanks to her distinct sense of herself and a recording style that favors echoey live instrumentation to a canned studio sound. It’s precious, yes, but for all the right reasons.
Leave Ya Nines at Home and Bring Ya Powerbook to the Battle
Ghostly Digital EP Series
Girls Against Boys
Clay’s Moose post got me thinking, Am I even capable of narrowing down my personal all-time Top 5 songs? I could probably do artists or even albums, but songs for me are more specific to certain people, places, and time. When I stumbled across this stash of genius charmers Girls Against Boys, a flood of memories returned from a hazy, crazy summer when I took a few classes, worked at a CD store, and lived in an extremely well air-conditioned condo with my pals Kent, Matt, and Danger. As I try to recreate the house rotation I specifically recall a conversation Danger and I had about “In Like Flynn” (both the expression and the song from Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby). My fave GVSB tracks would actually come out a year later on Cruise Yourself (see “Kill the Sexplayer”), but I didn’t know that at the time. For the curious, here are my Top 5 Non-GVSB Songs of the Summer of 1994:
Soul Coughing “Down to This,”
Jawbox “Savory,”
Fluf “Sticky Bun,”
Beastie Boys “Sure Shot,”
Ride “Let’s Get Lost.”
Moose
I thought of this the other night while watching this new show about an A&R guy who leaves his major label and goes indie. No comments about the show itself, but in one scene, his love interest rattles off her Top 5 songs. Dylan, Beatles, Starship, I can’t remember the whole list, but it inspired me to compose my own Top 5 list. One of my Top 5 is Moose’s “I Wanted To See You To See If I Wanted You,” the version on their Liquid Make Up single. I remember everything about the first time I heard Moose. I was in Sean and Jan’s living room in Dublin, Ireland, in March of 1991, throwing things at (and having them thrown back at me by) her daughters Aisling and Niamh. The television was showing some program about up and coming bands and Moose was one of them. I was in love. Somewhat bizarrely, I recall scenes of Moose walking through a park. Although grouped with the shoegazers, Moose really had their own version of pop, combining delicate melodies crafted in some complicated noise.
The rest of my Top 5? Lilys’ “Any Place I’ve Lived”, Acetone’s “Come On”, Spiritualized’s “Run”, and The Stone Roses’ “I Wanna Be Adored.” Anyone wanna share their Top 5?
The Not So Weekly Podcast #17
XTC
Full-circle moment happening for me here. I believe I’ve mentioned before that XTC’s 7″ of “Ten Feet Tall” was the first record I ever bought. I remember hearing the B-side, “Helicopter” on this old AM San Diego station called Mighty 690. I wore the grooves out on that thing listening to it non-stop on my parent’s stereo console that looked a lot like this. Needless to say, XTC played a huge part in my musical coming of age. And this new track, “Spiral,” (a bonus download to accompany the band’s Apple Box Set, released last year) is an unabashed homage to the narcotic effect of listening to one’s favorite songs — pure, pardon the pun, ecstacy. All this is a clumsy way to say that my love affair with music blossomed with XTC and this song is a fitting soundtrack to where that relationship has lead to. Right here. 3hive.
New MP3 and Album from The Loved Ones
DeVotchKa
Theatrical like Rufus Wainwright, musically nimble like Calexico, Eastern European like my grandparents — that’s what we’re talking about with DeVotchKa. (And again with the name confusion… is it Devotchka or DeVotchKa? Filter says one, the SF Bay Guardian says the other, I say whatever.) Aram and Megan both suggested this band of Denver Gypsies (are they really Romani?) with crazy instrumentation and rollicking melodies, and I say wspanialy! Imagine the theme music for a Belgrade barfight in a Bond movie directed by people with too many consonants in their names, and the band on the stage, the one hiding behind the ripped and stained maroon curtains, is DeVotchKa.
Destroyer
Destroyer is Vancouver’s own Dan Bejar. “European Oils” is taken from the seventh Destroyer album. If you’ve yet to hear of Destroyer and you’re thinking SEVEN ALBUMS ALREADY?? where have I been?, fret not. Bejar keeps a low profile. He even downplays his involvement with another Canadian band, The New Pornographers. I love the opening jam of this track. Feels like you’re comfortable and couched and about to spend the next half hour with a witty gang of characters on a ’70’s sitcom. Then Bejar comes in with that voice of his–a mix of Bowie and Dylan maybe. Quirky, odd, and completely satisfying.