(no subject)
Last summer when I was in Michigan, my friend Claire and I drove La Piovra to their show in Milwaukee and back, and we bonded a bit and talked about every subject imaginable. We got back to Grand Rapids at like 5AM, where she gave me a copy of her zine with a mixtape "soundtrack."
A few days later, I was on a Greyhound heading back to DC and popped the tape into my walkman at some point during the night. I heard a bunch of different stuff: Joan Jett, Magazine, Angst, the Descendants, even Carole King for fuck's sake, but there were two songs in particular that I found completely mesmerizing. These songs were on different parts of the tape, and I spent hours on the overnight ride going back and forth on the tape listening to them, but there was no track listing and so I had no idea who did them. After the latter was done, I'd usually listen to the German language version of "Just A Dream" by Nena (who did the original "99 Red Balloons") before rewinding.
I was completely infatuated with these songs and needed to know more about them. When I got home, I looked up various song lyrics but couldn't find anything out about them.
A couple of months later, I fully unpacked my backpack from my trips and found my copy of her zine, which gave me more to work with but only lists the bands out of order. Upon doing some research, I found out that the two songs were actually by the same band: female duo Mr Airplane Man's "Don't Know Why" and "Sun's Going Down," which is their take on a song written in the sixties by The Outsiders from Germany, and both of which are on a CD called "C'mon DJ." I cringed at the CD title and cover art, and doesn't appear to have been released on vinyl, but I ordered it regardless.
I got the CD in the mail today. The other songs aren't bad for the most part, but don't even compare to the two on the tape, and much to my dismay, there is a fucking music video of a song from an earlier record. I still love the songs from the tape, but I feel a bit let down knowing the full story of this band and the record and kind of wish they'd stayed mystery mixtape songs.
Funny how things work out.
In other news, I am going to see The Avengers in Philly tomorrow night and Baltimore on Wednesday, and am unbelievably excited. They were a life-changing band for me that I still love just as much, and I have high expectations given that Penelope Houston never stopped making music.
A few days later, I was on a Greyhound heading back to DC and popped the tape into my walkman at some point during the night. I heard a bunch of different stuff: Joan Jett, Magazine, Angst, the Descendants, even Carole King for fuck's sake, but there were two songs in particular that I found completely mesmerizing. These songs were on different parts of the tape, and I spent hours on the overnight ride going back and forth on the tape listening to them, but there was no track listing and so I had no idea who did them. After the latter was done, I'd usually listen to the German language version of "Just A Dream" by Nena (who did the original "99 Red Balloons") before rewinding.
I was completely infatuated with these songs and needed to know more about them. When I got home, I looked up various song lyrics but couldn't find anything out about them.
A couple of months later, I fully unpacked my backpack from my trips and found my copy of her zine, which gave me more to work with but only lists the bands out of order. Upon doing some research, I found out that the two songs were actually by the same band: female duo Mr Airplane Man's "Don't Know Why" and "Sun's Going Down," which is their take on a song written in the sixties by The Outsiders from Germany, and both of which are on a CD called "C'mon DJ." I cringed at the CD title and cover art, and doesn't appear to have been released on vinyl, but I ordered it regardless.
I got the CD in the mail today. The other songs aren't bad for the most part, but don't even compare to the two on the tape, and much to my dismay, there is a fucking music video of a song from an earlier record. I still love the songs from the tape, but I feel a bit let down knowing the full story of this band and the record and kind of wish they'd stayed mystery mixtape songs.
Funny how things work out.
In other news, I am going to see The Avengers in Philly tomorrow night and Baltimore on Wednesday, and am unbelievably excited. They were a life-changing band for me that I still love just as much, and I have high expectations given that Penelope Houston never stopped making music.