This
week: Holy shit. Times seem like I haven’t had
a single moment to rest (no, I don’t count watching
The Wire as rest). Rather than my usual
computer-side hibernation with the company of 50 new
CD’s, I’ve been buying books for school, starting
new jobs, cleaning my home, listening to new music
and driving back up to Dallas in a car with no air
to get some old pine bookshelves and another load of
leftover books (most notably my now archaic but
thoroughly extensive Calvin and Hobbes
collection). Pine is hip right?
Amazingly, I did during all this insanity manage to
pick up a few new books of things I’ve been wanting
to read. I even managed a few pages into
Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,
which has so far (28 pages) been deeply enjoyable.
I read a few of his essays on music in last month’s
music issue of The Believer, which I’d highly
recommend checking out. The whole issue is
fantastic: aside from Murakami’s there is an
lengthy, morally aware discussion of Death Metal, a
journal kept by a fiction writer and folk singer
invited to an experimental Jazz convention, and most
importantly, a free album of music by bands you
probably know (Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors,
etc.) and then bands that inspired them (mostly by
bands I don’t know). It’s nice to know that no
matter how busy I get, I carve out a little time to
read a book or magazine as if it were part of my
minimal requirements for life.
Speaking of minimal requirements, this may well be
the minimal requirements for a post today. A few
words, a few songs. I’m leaving for Austin again,
and am either on my way or stuck in traffic as
you're reading this, so here are a couple for the
road.
:The
Donkeys - Dolphin Center:
Kudos to Noah yesterday for mentioning
Jagjaguwar as a label to trust. Along with Dead Oceans
and Secretly Canadian, this triumvirate of seriously good
music is practically a one stop shop for most of the new
bands I enjoy. While I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the
name, The Donkeys are more or less curing the sadness I felt
having finally heard all things Neil Young. If in the
pinnacle of his success, Neil Young had made enough albums
to last me from here to eternity, I’d be fine with listening
to them until the end of time. He didn’t. But The
Donkey’s are working on it. Listen to this song, the
best on the album. It hits all the big bullet points:
great lyrics, great guitar solo, great recording. Just
listen, it’ll blow you away.
:Southpaw
Jones - The Cruelty Of Teenage Girls:
This song is about Freon. As I said, my
car’s AC is dead, so this one hit a little close to home.
Southpaw Jones is an Austin folk/comedy musician whose song
I’ll let speak for itself. Have a listen and remember,
it’s okay to laugh a little bit.
:School
Of Seven Bells - Conjure:
I saw School of Seven Bells open for The
National and Blonde Redhead at an ACL 2007 after show.
I’ll admit, I was only there to see The National, and they
were awesome (I actually caught the bulk of Wilco hanging
back by the bar enjoying it as well). Still, I tagged
School of Seven Bells (who were great openers) as a band to
remember, and here they go releasing their debut album
Alpinisms soon. This song comes from that album,
which you should totally pick up.
:Broadfield
Marchers - Watchful Hill People:
I’ve been reading the new issue of the
Oxford American lately, and as per usual when I pick up
the (southern literature) magazine, I start enjoying things
from the South a little more than usual. Broadfield
Marchers, it should be noted, are from Louisville, Kentucky.
There’s not much to this semi-psychedelic pop song, but the
song really works in a minimal way. It’s short but
concise, and the few instruments are very effective at
creating a brief snapshot and then quickly fading out of it.
Of course, it’s not like I could hear any subtleties going
85 with the windows down anyway.
:Damien
Jurado - Jillian Was A Horse:
Speaking of artists on Jagjaguwar and
friends, this new album from Damien Jurado came in the mail
the other day. It’s called Caught In The Trees
and it’s good. This song is a lot more upbeat than
most of the album, but the longing sadness and hopeless
reality that haunts the lyrics continues throughout the
album, at least to some extent (admittedly, I’ve only
listened to it two or three times). I will say it’s a
huge change for Jurado, although I’m not sure I can put my
finger on what exactly that change is, or means, yet.
John
and the site are going on vacation at the end of
next week, so until it all returns, thanks for
reading, and have a safe time, especially if like
me, you are starting back to school.
John Michael Cassetta keeps his own blog, Big
Diction, and writes for the local website Austin
Sound. Comments, complaints, and solicitations
may be directed
here.
- John Michael
Cassetta -
Unless
otherwise expressly stated, all text in this blog and any
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