Talking Like a Jerk

OK, so because of a sweet hook-up from a friend of a friend, I got to go to Virgin Mobile Free Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, where a whole bunch of bands played outdoors on three different stages. The one I was most excited about (beating out even Yeasayer and Thievery Corporation) was LCD Soundsystem!


I was not disappointed. They played a FANTASTIC set. You can't listen to them and not move. There was one guy in front of me who looked like he had pogo sticks for legs. For a solid hour, which is impressive.


I am aware that LCD Soundsystem (aka James Murphy) is relatively well-known, so this post is not going to be about introducing you to a good song, per say, but rather more of a reminder that the song is good. 

The GOOD SONG for today is Dance Yourself Clean. This song is long, just a warning. But it rewards patient listeners. Halfway through, it REALLY ramps it up.

I suppose one could, potentially, "dance yourself clean"
in a bathtub. Good thinking, James.

What I found interesting was that in between sets concert-goers could text messages to be displayed on huge mega-screens by the stages. Most of the messages were silly or stupid, some were vulgar, some were nonsensical in-jokes, but a few were thought-provoking.  TWO of them touted LCD Soundsystem as the "voice of this generation." I honestly don't know how I feel about that. Or rather, I think I might believe it, but I'm not sure whether I like what our generation is saying. His lyrics are actually very interesting for an "electronica/dance" group, but there's also a real sense of jaded-ness (is that a word?) and disillusionment. Maybe that's a good thing. I don't know. 
But I have to admit I like the lyrics to Dance Yourself Clean, which includes this verse:


"Talking like a jerk,
Except that you're an actual jerk,
and living proof,
that sometimes friends are mean."


And also these words:


"Every night's a different story
It's a thirty-car pile-up with you
Everybody's getting younger
It's the end of an era, it's true."


Although perhaps his song Losing My Edge is the one that most speaks ABOUT this generation (although perhaps not from within said generation), which is particularly funny for those into music. The whole song is about how he is losing his edge, his "cool," his "hipsterness" to those in the younger generation, who idealize and idolize music from the years that they never even witnessed.
The whole lyrics are here, but these are a few choice lines that I like:


"I'm losing my edge. 
To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin. 
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties. 
But I'm losing my edge. 
I'm losing my edge, but I was there."

and

"I used to work in the record store. 

I had everything before anyone. 
I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan. 
I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes. 
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988. 
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent. 
And they're actually really, really nice. "

Well anyway, I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Murphy feels that he is losing his edge, but he still makes darn good dance music.


But tell me, dear readers, who do *you* think is the voice of our generation?

BUY HIS MUSIC HERE: LCD Soundsystem

If you like this song, you might also like:

Daft Punk

Hot Chip

!!!

Lonely Dear

Broken Social Scene

Caribou (formerly Manitoba)

Over and out,

Anna

Bluegrass and Tea Leaves

Bluegrass music has been around long enough now for musicians to mess around with it. Play with it. Have some fun. Combine it with rock n' roll. Hip-hop. Gospel. Country. Folk. Classical.

But bluegrass combined with traditional Chinese music? I believe Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet are the first ones to brave that attempt.

And WOW! Does it work!

Abigail understands that liking strange toys is a
 prerequisite for appreciating Asian cultures.

A little explanation: Abigail Washburn is a banjo player and singer from Illinois. Straight-up American. Her bluegrass group called Uncle Earl was a big hit on the scene. However, she spent enough time in living in China after college to learn Mandarin and begin recording in it post-Uncle Earl. In 2004 she went on tour in Tibet with the uber-accomplished members of her quartet, which includes Béla Fleck on banjo, Casey Driessen on violin, and Ben Sollee on cello.

The GOOD SONG for today is Kangding Quingge (Old Timey Dance Party), which is such a fun song. The cello is fantastic. And then she starts singing in Chinese, accompanied by a banjo! It starts to get funkier as you go on. I wish I had something to say about the lyrics... but I have absolutely no idea what she's saying. She's got a nice voice though. 


BUY HER MUSIC HERE: Abigail Washburn!

If you like this song, you might also like:

Joanna Newsom

Chatham County Line

Béla Fleck

Uncle Earl

Chinese music???

Over and out,

Anna

Explorers, Lovers, and Poets

So Josh Ritter is amazing, basically.

I first heard him on his second album entitled the Golden Age of Radio, which was fantastic. He just released his sixth studio album, entitled So Runs the World Away (catch that quote? Hamlet Act II, Scene III, line 208). The album is darker and moodier than his previous work, with real glimpses of beauty. 

Not a morning person, Josh?

So, the GOOD SONG for today is my favorite off the album (which is saying a lot), a song called Another New World.  

Give it a listen-- it's long, but incredibly moving. It's a love song. It's an elegy. It's a ballad. It's a cautionary tale. It's a... a.... amazing.

It's about an explorer who goes off the try to discover another new world at the North Pole in his beloved ship the Annabel Lee. Unfortunately, things go a bit awry for the poor old explorer. 

Here are the lyrics, in case you're interested...  Another New World Lyrics

I think my favorite line is:

"So I said, "All I've got are my guts and my God,"

 then I paused, "and the Annabel Lee.' "


In case you haven't guessed by now, the song is loosely inspired by the poem "Annabel Lee" by Poe. They are very different story lines, but both are about losing what you love the most. 

A mourning person.

Apparently, Ritter has said in an interview that, "The Edgar Allan Poe poem wasn't in my head initially, but I must've had an experience with it a long time ago, because it emerged from the bottom of my brain." Yeah, Poe's works tend to lurk in our brains for a long time. Well, they do for me at least.


BUY HIS MUSIC HERE: Josh Ritter!

If you like this song, you might also check out:

The Decemberists

The Frames

Langhorne Slim

Bob Dylan

Jakob Dylan

Leonard Cohen

Over and out,
Anna


P.S. A quote of Josh's from a recent interview struck me as funny and relating to an earlier post of mine. He is talking about religion here, and how people interpret the Gospels, FYI.
"But maybe it’s really holding a mirror up to yourself, and how you interpret something tells you a lot about yourself. If you think A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O’Connor is funny, are you being honest with yourself, or are you just a mean person?" 

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Honestly?     No."

That's the opening line to The Whitest Boy Alive's newest album (2009) entitled "Rules." The song is "Keep a Secret."
It's the GOOD SONG for today, so check it out yourself: Keep A Secret (by the way, ignore the two minutes of silence at the end of the song... don't know why they're there)


I've loved The Whitest Boy Alive (let's just call them TWBA from now on, OK?) since their first album came out in 2006. I became somewhat obsessed with their song Burning, and couldn't stop playing it for a long, long time. The band is made up of Erlend Øye, Marcin Öz, Sebastian Maschat, and Daniel Nentwig. 
Side Note 1: Erlend Øye (from Norway) is also in the great band Kings of Convenience, who made one of the BEST VIDEOS EVER: 
I'd Rather Dance With You!!
Side Note 2: it is MANDATORY that you watch this video. 


TWBA is one of the many great bands to come out of the icy cold yet strangely catchy-song-filled countries of Norway & Sweden these days (OK, so TWBA is technically based out of Berlin, but whatever, most of the band members are Norwegian), like Sondre Lerche, The Tallest Man on Earth, and Jens Lekman. 


Their sound is a bit spare, but surprisingly catchy. Maybe it's their strong bass and drums, but it's really hard to keep your feet still while listening to TWBA. Erlend Øye's voice is rather unemotional, but his lyrics are great, often with a interesting humorous note to them. 


OK, I also like them because Erlend Øye is so adorably dorky-looking. 

Yeah, pretty white. 

DOWNLOAD THEIR MUSIC HERE: TWBA


If you like this song, you might also check out:


Sondre Lerche
Kings of Convenience
Ratatat
Joy Division
(all very different from each other, but TWBA pulls from all of them)


Over and out,
Anna

Where there's a will, there's a way... and probably also the Cangelosi Cards.

Let's get one thing straight: I know nothing about jazz.
Most jazz I don't really like. I find it boring.


BUT, old-school, New Orleans style, big band jazz I most certainly DO like. And that's where the Cangelosi Cards come in.

Twinkle lights + Cangelosi Cards = Retro Romance

I heard them play live at the Telephone Bar in NYC years ago and was BLOWN AWAY. They are so much fun, and their singer Tamar Korn has the most amazing voice: high-pitched, girly, yet growly when it needs to be. They sound like they came straight outta the 1920's or '30's.
Super old-school, they are a jazz band with lindy, swing, folk, and blues influences.


So, today's GOOD SONG is "Get Some Cash For Your Trash," which you can listen to on the Down Home Radio Show website. Listen to it here: Cash For Your Trash


I also want to post some videos of theirs:
This song, Dinah, is great. And listen to that harmonica! IT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A HARMONICA! It sounds like the lovechild of a harmonica and a trumpet... or something like that.


And THIS VIDEO (it's "Millenburg Joys" ) is also GREAT. Look at those dancers! What a fun time everyone is having. Both of these videos were filmed at the fabulous Glen Echo Park (in their Bumper Car Pavilion) right near me outside DC. I've been there a bunch of times, and it's a whole lotta fun. What's amazing to me is how much people LOVE to dance to them-- not just at Glen Echo, which is the whole point of going to Glen Echo, but also at places like the Telephone Bar. When I saw them there (they used to have weekly gigs there before the place closed) they played in a TINY room with no dance floor, and yet people still got up and danced up a storm. Where there's a will, there's a way...


If you want to buy their album, go here: Los Musicos Viajeros. It's fantastic!


If you like the Cangelosi Cards, you might also like some of these guys (some old, some new):


Dean Mora
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Whispering Jack Smith
Billie Holiday
Glenn Miller
Benny Goodman
Boilermaker Jazz Band




Over and out,
Anna