July the Fourth

One hell of a party.

Here are a couple songs for Independence Day, both from duos and both with instructions for enjoying them to their fullest potential:

1. Get psyched for July 4th fun, and sing along!

Sifl and Oly – United States of Whatever (Buy It)

2. Now calm down and do some reflecting, and still sing along!

Simon and Garfunkel – America (Buy It)

Happy Fourth, gang!

posted by Adam

Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Despite all the insanity of later years, let’s all remember just how freaking amazing Michael Jackson was. Really freaking amazing, that’s how amazing. Seriously, these are two of the best songs ever recorded, and it’s barely scraping the surface:

The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back (Buy It)

Michael Jackson – Billy Jean (Buy It)

We’ll miss you, you crazy space alien genius pop machine.

And a couple of covers to round it all out:

Cal Tjader – I Want You Back (Buy CT music)

KT Tunstall – I Want You Back (Buy KT music)

posted by Adam

Alls Fair

It’s about to get real emo up in here.

Sebastien Grainger – Love Can Be So Mean (buy)

When I’m upset music doesn’t usually help.  It will only intensify whatever misery I’m already working with.  But it’s very present.  I heard this song in my head almost immediately the last time I felt acute, intense pain:

Cat Stevens – Trouble (buy)

And while I’m already feeling bad, I might as well dwell for a minute:

A.C. Newman – The Heartbreak Rides (buy)

Sam Cooke  – Tennessee Waltz (buy)

The Clash – Every Little Bit Hurts (buy)

Cake – Friend Is a Four Letter Word (buy)

And now I move on, and forward, which is the silver lining in every bummer heights high experience.  Besides, it’s only feelings.

F.O.C. – Hurt Feelings (buy)

And when the breeze picks up, it’s really nice outside.

posted by Charlotte

I Know This Song

Getting In Line

A New Poem

By Bob Hicok

A man crosses a field. He’d like something
to set down so he picks up a rock
about the size of a baby.  Rock-baby
is heavier than a baby-baby would be,
the man has walked but a few steps
when he abandons the child.  Years later,
there’s a knock on his door in the field:
rock-baby has grown up and wants
to get even.  The man
doesn’t remember rock-baby,
Neko Case – Vengeance is Sleeping (buy)
so when rock-baby says, you never loved me,
the man says, sure, I can buy that,
and offers grown-up rock-baby a beer.
When they’re a little drunk, the man says,
your quarrel isn’t with me, your quarrel’s
with the poet who put us in the field,
and the poet’s quarrel
is with the God who makes poets
send people walking across fields,
and God’s quarrel is with the nothing
Neko Case – I’m an Animal
that came before God
that God is always trying to fill, even after God
has filled it.  Grown-up rock-baby
thinks the man is telling him
he doesn’t really exist, he stones the man
to death to prove that his nonexistence
is not the case. Alone
with the bloody certainty
of his tangibility, he writes out,
again and again, my thoughts
have a city in them.  And in that city,
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
at night, a little girl
wants a goldfish for the goldfish
she already has, and the goldfish
wants a little girl for the little girl
he already has, and the bowl
wants a bowl beside it
to share the orange and rippling feeling
it would call soul if the word
wasn’t already taken.
Neko Case – Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth

Call Me a Lyre, I Dare You

A New Poem

By Bob Hicok

Last or some night
light, who cares the when of this,
Andrew Bird – Masterswarm (buy)
glittered the tree up at the end
of the wash from a car as moved the planet, I’m not
in touch with personally Saturn, in branched fingers
of eerily, I’d say off-the-shelf language, isn’t it
necessary still how life lit into the moment
to say other than the facts of it, see,
whatever the bits are inside that oscillate
or pinwheel, I was moved to internal whirrings
Andrew Bird – Privateers
cicadish, even though my epiphanic dog-walkings
mean shit to you in the throes of your
epiphanic askings of the moon, for what, after all
are we in this, some random sense of, fuck
if I know, belonging
Andrew Bird – Anonanimal

Poetry by Bob Hicok.

Discovered in this.

posted by Charlotte.

Holy Internet Awesomeness!

This might come close to crashing some computers, but it’s worth it.

Sometimes the internet produces pretty wonderful stuff:

in Bb 2.0

And here’s a song for after.

White Denim – Heart from All of Us (Buy It)

posted by Adam

Charlotte and Adam Discuss: Kiefer, Models and Grocery Theft

Owww, my head!

Charlotte: Do you know why Kiefer Sutherland headbutted a fashion designer over Brooke Shields? That happened in your city . .

Adam: I know. All newspapers everywhere are going crazy about it.

 

Charlotte: Do we have any answers?

Dan Auerbach – Heartbroken, In Disrepair (Buy It)   

Adam: No, I haven’t actually read any of the articles.
I assume that the guy said something like, “Hey Brooke Shields, that sitcom you were on where you played a magazine writer was not great!”
And Kiefer heard it.
And he really liked that show. Thought it was underrated.
And wanted to hit the guy, but was carrying groceries, so didn’t have either hand free.
So he used his head to do it.
And then was like, “Hey Brooke Shields, that was the one with Judd Nelson on it right? I thought that show was good. Ignore what that guy said.
“Do you want some zucchini? I just bought a bunch and will probably have enough for two. Otherwise it’ll just be leftovers and it’ll just sit in my fridge until I have to throw it out.
“I’m always doing that, buying too much of something and then having to throw it out later. Do you do that too Brooke Shields?”
And then Brooke Shields is like, “You broke that guy’s nose.”

 

Charlotte: Haha. Question: Why did he have groceries at the Met’s Costume Gala? That’s the only hole in this otherwise completely true story . .

 

Adam: He didn’t have time to stop home.
He was just going to leave them at the coat-check.

Charlotte: Just some zuchs, some cukes, thinking about a stir fry later.
Unless he decides to break a face with his own face!

Pixies – Broken Face (Buy It)

 

Adam: He wasn’t planning on a fight, but he wasn’t about to back down from it just because of holding groceries.
Why didn’t he just put them down, you might ask?
Because models are grabby.
They will steal anything that isn’t nailed down.

Charlotte: This is fact.
Dirty, thieving fashion models.

Adam: Especially vegetables. And they’ll just throw them away. They just love the thrill of theft so much!
Kiefer knows this.

Charlotte: He’s dealt with them and their ways before.
But I’m glad he was defending “Suddenly Susan.” That was almost Judd’s comeback vehicle!

Adam: “Suddenly Susan”! That was the name of it.

Charlotte: Great name, great show.

Adam: It had Kathy Griffin and the guy from “Batman” and “Lost” who looks like he’s wearing eye shadow all the time.

Charlotte: I KNOW RIGHT!!!!
And I thought the same thing then – what’s with the liner?

Madvillain – Eye (feat. Stacy Epp) (Buy It)

Adam: I saw somewhere that it’s just his eyes for real.

Charlotte: I don’t think you can fake that. It’s like Angelina Jolie’s lips – they are the first thing anyone sees, if they’re fake you may as well fess up because you took up a career where people look at you.

Adam: You are stupid if you didn’t realize people would notice.

Charlotte: They will probably ask questions!
Or at least that one, first question.

Adam: Haha. Just like if you headbutt a dude, people might ask you why you did that.

posted by Charlotte and Adam

May Day!

Find Eric Drooker’s work here.

Happy Worker’s Holiday everyone! Here are some classic songs by our favorite punk troubadour Bill Bragg to help you enjoy your well-earned weekends.

Billy Bragg – It Says Here

Billy Bragg – Which Side Are You On? (Buy It)

posted by Adam

Can You Tell Me How to Get What You’re Puttin’ Me Through Outta Mind

For your consideration, take the above wonderful theme song to Sesame Street (Episode 573, to be exact), and compare to the following wonderful songs:

Wilco – Outta Mind (Outta Sight) (Buy It)

Diane Newby – What You’re Putting Me Through (Buy It)

And, on top of those, here’s a bonus of Gladys Knight and the Pips doing the Sesame Street theme:

posted by Adam

Another Spring

Back in Baltimore for a little bit, I re-discovered Kenneth Rexroth’s book 100 Poems from the Chinese. Here’s a few spring-themed poems from it, with some music.

ANOTHER SPRING

White birds over the grey river.
Scarlet flowers on the green hills.
I watch the Spring go by and wonder
If I shall ever return home.

– Tu Fu (translated by Kenneth Rexroth)

Band of Horses – The Funeral (Buy It)

.

GREEN JADE PLUM TREES IN SPRING

Spring comes early to the gardens
Of the South, with dancing flowers.
The gentle breeze carries the sound
Of horses whinnying. The blue
Green plums are already as large
As beans. The willow leaves are long,
And really are curved like a girl’s
Eyebrows. Butterflies whirl in the
Long sunlight. In the evening the
Mist lies heavily on the flowers.
The grass is covered with dew.
Girls in their transparent dresses,
Indolent and lascivious,
Lounge in their hammocks. Swallows, two
By two, nest under the painted eaves.

– Ou Yang Hsiu (translated by Kenneth Rexroth)

Calexico – Victor Jara’s Hands (Buy It)

.

TO A TRAVELER

Last year when I accompanied you
As far as the Yang Chou Gate,
The snow was flying, like white willow cotton.
This year, Spring has come again,
And the willow cotton is like snow.
But you have not come back.
Alone before the open window,
I raise my wine cup to the shining moon.
The wind, moist with evening dew,
Blows the guaze curtains.
Maybe Chang-O the moon goddess,
Will pity this single swallow
And join us together with the cord of light
That reaches beneath the painted eaves of your home.

– Su Tung P’o (translated by Kenneth Rexroth)

The Welcome Wagon – American Legion (Buy It)

.
posted by Adam

FOC + Gondry = Magic

Being without HBO, I haven’t been able to catch much of this season of the Flight of the Conchords tv show, with the exception of the first episode — you can watch it for free here. I was a huge fan of the first season, which, with the help of some wonderful youtube users willing to flaunt the law, I managed to see all of. Luckily, some of the songs from this season have ended up online,  including a couple from Episode 5, which was directed by Michel Gondry — one of the craziest and most inventive directors around these days. You can see the magic at work with the video above, which involves a unisex dance-party and some interesting use of disco balls.

Flight of the Conchords – Too Many Dicks

And then there’s the more whimsical side of Gondry, which shines through in the video above, for the song “Carol Brown (Choir of Ex-Girlfriends),” which I must have watched at least fifty times this past week. It helps that the song is catchy as hell and pretty funny, but the real charm is the bizarre visual stuff going on in the video. Jemaine goes through his list of how his girlfriends ditched him while controlling their images with a video editing console turned into a guitar, and Bret uses a different console/bass to change Jemaine’s appearance as his ex’s list their (legit) criticisms and sing the chorus. Like the best of collaborations, it combines the best elements of both parties, producing something fantastic.

The other songs from this season have been a little disappointing, with FOC edging towards more straight song parody than original stuff. But there have been some good moments too, like the song “Friends” with guest Jim Gaffigan (great standup comedian), which you can watch/listen to below:

Flight of the Conchords – Friends

(Buy Flight of the Conchords music and tv show)

posted by Adam