Every day the 14th!
Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! Sure, the day is, as the Simpsons say, a lame holiday created by department stores to tide them over between Christmas and "the mom/dad/grad corridor." Still, anything that places this much emphasis on chocolate can't be bad, right?
Wholly unrelated to Valentine's Day, I'm going to write one of those huge what-I-am-listening-to-right-now posts that seem to be all the rage these days.
First off, let me mention a couple of mixes. It's been kind of a mix-rich February. (Which is good, because Lord knows I'm not rich in any other aspect of my life.)
First up, Michelle made me a mix of all her "bandom" bands (link NSFW). While I'm not going to run out and buy any black eyeliner-although I'm a girl, so that wouldn't be too weird, I guess-it prompted a discussion with Jesse about how we're not really going to have another experience like when we were in high school/college, when we discovered veins of new music with related bands that all had interesting back catalogs. Now I feel that, when I buy music, I'm either getting the new album of a band I already know I like (and have all of their old albums), or buying a debut album of a new band. It's fine, it's just less exciting that way.
Bayard also made the mistake of telling me that he was toying with the idea of making a mix for me. I hope he follows through because, like Michelle's mix, I'm sure it won't be full of songs I could've just put on a cd for myself. I'm intrigued. (Do it, Bayard!)
Finally, Jesse and I decided to do a Valentine's Day mix exchange. (See his mix for me here.) This is the second year in a row that I made a Valentine's Day mix for him. I've said it in the past, and he said it today, that making mixes for someone you live with is really hard. He knows 90 percent of the songs I know, professes to hate 9 percent of the rest, and has access to that last 1 percent by living with me. That said, I think I did a better job this year than last year. Mostly because I hid my Vampire Weekend cd as soon as I got it.
What Happens Between the Covers
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? - The Hold Steady*
Valentine's Day Is Over - Kind of Like Spitting
California Girls - The Magnetic Fields
Accident & Emergency - Patrick Wolf**
One of My Lies - Green Day
Parentheses - The Blow
C'mon Sea Legs - Immaculate Machine***
Penny & Jack - The Essex Green
We Used To Vacation - Cold War Kids
Look at Miss Ohio - Gillian Welch
My Little Japanese Cigarette Case - Spoon
You Make Me Feel Like a Freak - Travis Morrison Hellfighters****
One Crowded Hour - Augie March
Confessions of A Futon Revolutionist - The Weakerthans
Cold White Christmas - Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
Run - Gnarls Barkley
A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
Underwater (You And Me) - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
For The Girl - The Fratellis
Goin' to Acapulco - Jim James & Calexico*
*Covers of Bob Dylan songs from the I'm Not There soundtrack. Hence the title. Get it? It's a delicious pun. Everyone loves puns, right?
**This song has a siren in it. When I listen to the cd in my car, I think I need to pull over for an ambulance. I hate that.
***This is the band of Katherine Calder, who is AC Newman's niece and fills in for Neko Case when she flake out of New Pornographers shows. More on them later.
****Look! It's not "Catch Up!" Weird, right?
Speaking of my Vampire Weekend cd, I got some new albums recently. Going back to what I was saying about new music, they're mostly either debut cds (Vampire Weekend, Immaculate Machines) or new cds from bands I already like (Magnetic Fields). In some cases, to get out of this little rut, I tried to stretch to the edge of the "music I like" umbrella and I got a couple of things I wouldn't normally listen to, but heard effusive praise for and liked the one or two songs I heard (Beirut and Patrick Wolf). You may recognize almost all of these from the above mix.
Album: Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
What I Heard Before I Bought It: Everything from "I have listened to this, straight through, four times a day for the past month" to "Ugh, I wish I didn't know who else liked this so I could like it." As far as I can tell, Vulture's backlash schedule is moving along right on time.
What I Think: I really like it! Maybe the fact that someone put "Oxford Comma" on the cd game last summer made me immune to the backlash. I find the songs really easy to enjoy-I know that pisses some people off, but I'm okay with it-and I like the light and catchy sound. Sure, it's not as good as Graceland, but-as transmit can attest-few things are, and I'd rather have a faux-neo-Graceland than another Joy Division knock-off. My only problems are that the album is ridiculously front-loaded, which is actually kind of hard to do on a 30-mintue album, and "One (Blake's Got a New Face)" is really grating.
Download: "Oxford Comma," "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa."
Album: Costello Music - The Fratellis
What I Heard Before I Bought It: The song on the iPod commercial, the song Alison put on her cd, and a whole lot of "are they named after The Goonies?" (I still don't know the answer to that one.) I didn't really read anything about them.
What I Think: When I got the cd for my birthday, Jesse told me that newish British bands always result in disappointment. He was coming off the low from buying that awesomely-titled 1990s record and having it fall flat. Well, Jesse, I win, because this cd is pretty much fun from beginning to end. You all know I like songs with lots of words, and they really deliver on that front, and all the songs make me want to dance. Sometimes they veer into wannabe-White Stripes territory, and that makes for some skippable tracks, but I am so not disappointed.
Download: Whatever you can find. The album is old, so all of the links on the Hype Machine are busted. Look for "Henrietta" and "Baby Fratelli."
Album: Distortion - The Magnetic Fields
What I Heard Before I Bought It: I can't remember where I read it, but I actually read a few reviews that said the album "really lives up to its name" and other complaints about the distortion. On an album named Distortion.
What I Think: I think it sounds exactly like a Magnetic Fields album, fuzziness or not. To me, it sounds like All the Umbrellas in London: The Album. That's fine with me. I have strange Magnetic Fields-buying habits. I have none of the 69 Love Songs because the 30-second throwaway tracks (ahem, "Underwear") really piss me off. Ethan made me a best-of, and I'd much rather have his 23 Really Good Songs than Stephen Merritt's 69 Love Songs. So, to that extent, none of Distortion feels like it's padding or just screwing around, and that makes me happy.
Download: "California Girls," "Too Drunk to Dream."
Album: The Magic Position - Patrick Wolf
What I Heard Before I Bought It: Quoth PopMatters: "'I’m singing in the major key,' Patrick Wolf repeats at the end of 'The Magic Position', apparently as surprised by that fact as we are."
What I Think: I actually know nothing about Patrick Wolf except "The Magic Position," so I had no idea that this was a departure from what he usually does. If it's true, I think it's a good thing. I like the sprawling, lots-of-stuff-going-on songs on this album better than the spare, moody ones. What is it that makes indieish people want to sing sad songs about birds? I think that's becoming a cliché.
Download: "The Magic Position," "Accident & Emergency" (watch out for the siren noises).
Album: The Flying Club Cup - Beirut
What I Heard Before I Bought It: In Magnet: "This album, like its predecessor, is stunning."
What I Think: Actually, there aren’t any songs that I can get into as much as "Elephant Gun." They're all very pretty and his voice is kind of heartbreaking, but after a while all of the songs on the album melt into each other. They all start out with the same old-timey instrumentation, which is certainly cool, but how "stunned" can you be by it after the fifth song?
Download: Take your pick, they're all pretty much the same. Fine, I might like "The Penalty" the best, but most things I read tend to single out "A Sunday Smile," which I admit is pretty good.
Album: Fables - Immaculate Machines
What I Heard Before I Bought It: Absolutely nothing. Who are these people again? Oh yeah, it's the girl from the New Pornographers.
What I Think: It's a little bit in danger of sounding like New Pornographers Lite. I mean, even the album name, "Fables," is like a second-hand version of "These Are the Fables," the New Pornos song. Still, the band is not without its charms, especially when it comes to sparkly pop music.
Download: Once again, I've stumped the Hype Machine. If you're so inclined, look for "Nothing Ever Happens" or "Jarhand."
And, unrelated to music: Since it's V-Day, what Wesleyan grad could get through the holiday without thinking of the C-word? I was asked to write about Jane Fonda's little Today Show incident where she let fly with the big see-you-next-Tuesday. (Not my idea.) I only mention it so I can relate this exchange I had with my coworker afterward:
Me: "Jane Fonda said the 'c-word.'"
Him: "You mean 'Chappaqua?'"
That's hilarious, and now "Chappaqua" is going to be my new favorite euphemism. Now, who's up for some chocolate?