she says nothing seems the same / and i can't change a thing

future islands. holy crap. i love them so much. first, listen/watch:

long flight-- let the excellent cokemachine glow review do the talking:

The stand-out “Long Flight,” on the other hand, is a slow burn. It doesn’t bother with a chorus so much as a couple of fragmented refrains (“You can’t look me in my eyes anymore”; “Just ‘cause you needed a hand”) repeated and syntactically rearranged throughout the rest of the song like a frenzied villanelle. The repetition of the lyrics, combined with an ever-intensifying synth line, creates an almost unbearable tension—and, sure enough, Herring finally breaks half a minute before the song ends, thrashing and growling for only a few seconds and then retreating into a defeated whisper. Something about his outburst feels lonely and futile, like gnashing your teeth at a mirror. Because even though all the songs on the record are sung to a certain you, there’s an unshakable sense that the person Herring’s addressing isn’t listening.

swept inside-- new favorite. compared to the extremes he takes his voice to in some of these songs (the next one in particular), the calm delivery of this song is grounding. part of me wants everyone to listen to this one first, since it's so obviously good and because it's not as immediately challenging as the other two, but just trust me here.



an apology-- one of the best songs i've heard in so long. the video is fantastic-- his energy, at first, seems insane, until the ... tenderness ... of his delivery comes through. i think tenderness is the right word. andy first got me into this band by saying, quote,

can't explain why i love it so much
singer dude has a sort of tom waits/meatloaf/ shakespeare live theatre sort of thing going on
just give them a chance
it's like posessed meatloaf
i'm serious

note that THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO APPROACH THIS BAND. i saved this one for last so you wouldn't go, ok, music that al;ec likes plus insane meatloaf singer, great, i think i will take a huge pass on that thank you. but you know what? you'd be wrong, and i want you to have the opportunity to be right, so, please. enjoy.



is it an epic breakup album? yeah, no doubt about that, but it has beautiful keyboards, some really serious peter hook bass, an amazing strange singer, and songs that i guarantee will be in your head for days. thank god for good new music.

so i wrote this thing

and now it'll be the first thing future employers see when they google my name.

hope you enjoy it!

oh yes you can, just hold my hand, i think that that would help

i wanted to do something for valentine's day, especially given that i'm going to stay in my house with a bottle of gin and not emerge for the entire day (which has been happening a lot recently, due to snow/boringness). the thing is: valentine's day is not that good a holiday, but the nice thing is that it can only be good. if you're like me, be a hermit! let it pass! if there are people you want to spend it with, so-called 'significant' or otherwise, spend it with them! it shouldn't be that stressful.

to that end, as a way to try and prove to myself how much i've changed since i created a two-disc "valentine's day sucks" mix back in college, and to prove that i haven't changed at all... i've created a three-disc mix of love songs. there's so little sadness on these three lists that i find it hard to believe i like all the songs, but in fact i do. give them to somebody, listen to them, or just make your own-- doesn't matter. i'll post them over the next three days with a few comments, and you can get a head start here if you are impatient.

i started thinking about this in the context of listening to old songs i recorded, and in the process rediscovered the bright eyes song "bowl of oranges." it's the first song i ever recorded, in 2003; and, god, my cover sucks. REAL BAD. i had no idea how to sing. it's impossible to listen to, and i don't love or hate anyone enough to expose them to it. however, the actual song is wonderful, and it's the sort of thing you should listen to in bed on a sunny sunday morning, full or empty though your bed may be. i'm considering covering it again, just to see how far things have progressed in 7 years of pseudo-adulthood. so, happy valentine's day.

it pains me but i'm sure she's still yrs

i've been anxiously awaiting the pfork review of the new LC! album for the last week-- there were several long-awaited releases last tuesday (beach house, magnetic fields) so i didn't know exactly when it would get published. leaving aside your feelings about the site, it's pretty undeniable that if they love or hate something it tends to solidify the consensus-- and honestly, the reviews recently have tended to be thoughtful and well-written, so maybe that's deserved. anyway, since i like this band so much i feel like i have a rooting interest. i think paul thompson's review is very flattering and well reasoned, and though i'm a bit disappointed they didn't give it a Best New Music tag, it's not the end of the world.

also, one of my favorite songs on the album reminds me of something else i recently talked about here (for better or worse), in the context of an LC! song. i like this record for being more upbeat and in your face than most stuff i listen to, but also for being right up my alley: it's about death, breaking up, etc.; in specific, it's about being with the wrong person, and finally coming around to that realization, whether it's that the person is wrong for you or that you're wrong for them, or whatever. whereas "the sea is a good place to think of the future" is the emotional centerpiece of the record, this feels like the third quarter of a relationship that's ending. plus, there's this:

In a note I wrote, "I think too much about the end
But being around it made me feel like I'm coping now.
When I view the cemetery, I don't see headstones
I see rows of engraved middle teeth, hungry, waiting for me
And though I am fearful, I think I just crave the relief"

Yup!



oh, and then the coda. i know it's a long record, but come on. this song is so good. it's the fifth quarter of a relationship that's ending.



ALSO ALL THESE SONGS ARE REALLY FUCKING GOOD. please don't sleep on that.

dear blog

sometimes i almost forget about you! life gets busy, you know. here are some things i have been enjoying:


bill callahan-- jim cain

charles barkley's absolutely inexplicable transubstantiation of lack of acting, cue card-reading, or general charisma into GENIUS COMEDY


andy samberg's surprisingly spot on impression of the greatest actor of our generation


uh, conan, duh.


probably others; my dad just called and is bothering me. peace later.