Continuing Education

Here are some things I learned on the weekend:
- John C. Reilly needs to sit down and watch Hard Eight and Magnolia. After doing this, he will hopefully remember that he is a very good actor and will stop wasting his time on moderately amusing movies like Walk Hard.
- I am good at some things. De-boning a chicken thigh is not one of them.
- Certain NFL broadcasters are able to distinguish time in 'literally nanoseconds'. While impressive, this talent probably be used for something more useful. I just can't think of what that is yet.
- I had gone far too long in life without watching a Woody Allen film. It made me want to go to New York even more.
- Certain friends of mine have never heard Silent Shout (this is about to be remedied)
- The Comas, which I had thought were fairly unknown, are apparently somewhat well known because their lead singer used to date Michelle Williams, who used to be married to Heath Ledger
- Despite being a pretty cool song for the Christmas season, "Maybe this Christmas" will forever be tainted by the memory of Ryan and Marissa's trip to the mall being ruined when Marissa decided to shoplift while on her slow descent into alcoholism. Selfish, selfish Marissa.

The Knife - Silent Shout
(From: Silent Shout)

The Comas - The Last Transmission
(From: Conductor)

Ron Sexsmith - Maybe this Christmas

Its not your money that they're after boy, It's you.

Now I realize that these days (and by 'these days' I mean since 2001) its very en vogue to knock any new Belle and Sebastian record for being having too many strings, too many horns, and too much production in general (as well as not enough Isobel Campbell). Of all these criticisms, only the last holds any weight. Isobel is amazing.
But that's beside the point. You can't expect a band to write perfect bedroom pop about kissing your elbow forever.
So that brings us to today's songs. First listen to Like Dylan in the Movies. Listen to the melody closing the chorus. "Its not your money that they're after boy, its you". Ok. Got it?
Now listen to Women's Realm (from the oft-maligned/overlooked Fold your Hands Child, you Walk like a Peasant)Clap along. Now listen to the strings, right around the 2:34 mark. There it is. Same melody.
This is self-reference at its finest. Not in the hip-hop sense of listing past triple platinum albums (jay-z, I'm looking in your general direction), just a subtle wink/nod that lets listeners know that behind all the production, they're still the same Scottish kids that used to sing about lying in bed, kissing just for practice.

Belle and Sebastian - Like Dylan in the Movies
(From: If You're Feeling Sinister)

or... from the new Live @ BBC Album
Like Dylan in the Movies (Live @ BBC)

Belle and Sebastian - Women's Realm
(From: Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant)

Side note:
I was really looking forward to full-out hating 808s and Heartbreaks. It was welling up inside of me. I wasn't even going to listen to it. But... it's not as bad as I was expecting. I'll never be crazy about it, but if you go in expecting a fairly disposable pop-album with a copious amount of auto-tune, well... your hopes can't be that high, so you can't be all that disappointed.

Fluxblog captures these feelings far more eloquently than I ever could.

TV on the Radio are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. Now, this shouldn't be anything shocking, as they've put out four brilliant records in the span of five some years.
But still, there was always some reservation on my part that they may, to some extent, be a product of their producer (Dave Sitek, who made Scarlett Johansson's album good.) So when I saw them live a few months ago, I was a little worried about how things would translate - especially any material off of Return to Cookie Mountain, which seems especially reliant on studio work.
What I should have done instead is listened to Ambulance. It can be an easy track to overlook, coming right at the end of side A of Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes(And let's face it, any song would have a hard time living up to the opening trifecta of The Wrong Way, Staring at the Sun, and Dreams), but its pretty much perfect - without any weighty production, just voices. It's the song that led me to half-jokingly refer to them as "so post-barbershop" for all these years (I guess post-doowop might be more appropriate, but oh well). And even though the a capella is more of an exception than the rule, its quickly becoming the song by which I define the band. (There's a joke in here about Boyz II Men singing silent night on fresh prince of bel-air, but I'm not going to touch it, even as Christmas approaches.)

TV on the Radio - Ambulance
(From: Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes)
Photograph by: Joseph Rotindo

Sleeping

I am going to bed soon. So here's a song which makes me want to sleep. A Lullabye, if you will.
As well as a random picture I took of a pagoda.
I guess you could sleep in one of those.

Sol Seppy - Enter One

Edit: After re-looking at that picture, I almost feel like I should have posted a song by some Japanese Wilco cover band, which I don't actually know, but certainly exists....
See what I mean?

Writer's Block

As it is late Sunday night, I am tired from the weekend, am absolutely intimated by the quality of writing at Said the Gramophone lately, and yet still feel obliged to post something to this blog, here are a collection of songs that will define the past weekend for me.
None of them are for download. But I will let you try and piece together exactly what happened. And then I'll put up some songs that I've been listening to lately. Sounds good? OK.

TotalEclipseoftheHeart.BorntoRun.AlloutofLove.BarbieGirl.
StillDRE.Vindicated.Excursions.ItisWellWithMySoul.

Confused? Yeah. Me too.

School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep
(From: Alpinisms)

Chad Van Gaalen - Willow Tree
(From: Soft Airplane)

Super Negro Bantous - Professional Super Bantous
(From: Lagos All Routes)

Dangling On A String

Sometimes I think I would like to be a DJ. But not at a bar. At a pub. Or an alehouse. I would like to do this on Tuesday nights. I don't think my playlists would really work on a weekend, or on a Thursday, and Wednesdays don't seem right for some reason. Tuesday is perfect. People would reminisce about the weekend that passed. Stories would be told, and plans would be made for the coming Friday over bottles of Pilsner, or whatever the draught special is for that particular night. As the crowd thins out and handshakes are exchanged with promises to call before Saturday, I would play this song to close down the bar.

Chairmen of the Board - (You've Got Me) Dangling on a String
(From: The Very Best of Chairmen of the Board)

Beasts, Dragons, Spoons, Remixes

Not all related, however.
Sometimes, I really like Spoon. Like - go an entire week where I only listen to Spoon. This, obviously, is one of those weeks.
But, as far as anything new, there's not much I can post in terms of songs - so we'll do a rarity. That's what we do on blogs, right? New Songs and rarities? OK. Glad that's clear.

This is from a set they did at Los Angeles' famed KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic.

Spoon - The Beast and Dragon, Adored (Live @ KCRW)

Also, I have lost countless hours at french music blog La Blogotheque lately. They have a series of 'Concerts a emporter', or 'Take Away Shows', which are amazing. My favorite is this one, of Yeasayer:

#87.2 - YEASAYER - 2080
by lablogotheque

I implore you to go explore...

And, best for last... a band near and dear to my heart, Edmonton's own Faunts, are releasing a remix album this week, available exclusively on iTunes.
They've got two tracks posted on their myspace... including one by Euroblog darlings DVAS. That's right... EUROBLOG DARLINGS.

Finally, I apologize profusely for the lack of updates lately.
I will strive to do better. The one person who reads this (or none, judging by the lack of comments) deserves more.