7/26/12

"Paper thin conviction
Turning another page
Plotting how to build myself to be
Everything that I am not at all

Sometimes I get tired of pins and needles
Facades are a fire on the skin
And I'm growing fond of broken people
As I see that I am one of them

I'm one of them
I'm one of them

Oh, why must I work so hard
Just so I can feel like the nobles ones?
Obligations to my heart are gone
Superficial lines explain it all

Sometimes I get tired of pins and needles
Facades are a fire on the skin
And I'm growing fond of broken people
As I see that I am one of them

Sometimes I get tired of pins and needles
Facades are a fire on the skin
Oh, and I'm growing fond of broken people
As I see that I am one of them

I'm one of them"
~Pins and Needles
MuteMath, Armistice

7/24/11

"Do you ever stop to think 
Who built those walls around you?
Do you ever wonder 
Who all those people were?
Because the hands that give you shelter 
Are the very ones that you refuse 
And the proof of what they're worth 
Will live long after you're gone 

Ne'er do wells and woebegones
Show your face, for we were wrong 
Ne'er do wells and woebegones
Feel no shame, it won't be long" 
~Ne'er Do Wells
Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound, Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound

I could probably write for awhile about Audra Mae, about the complete richness of her voice, incredible range, and that the dead-on dark and soulful blues sound suitable for day and night. About her so not "the look" look that looks so perfect for what she's all about.

Homegirl can write a hell of a blues rock tune. You can hear these songs in a dirty bar stage somewhere, somewhere with dirty dancing in the front row and foot-stomping in the crowd and beers spilled on tables going unnoticed in the fray. You can hear her belt the long high notes with pride and passion and fury, imaging a hollering crowd cheering her on and raising their hands in soulful solidarity.

Her band, dubbed Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound, is pretty kick-ass, too. I've had a lot of fun listening to this record, as a sassy pick-me-up, or a way to liven up a dull morning or afternoon. From what I've learned of Audra Mae (since stumbling upon her on AltPress of all places) she is indeed the real thing, as a track on "Almighty Sound" proclaims --



-- music is in her lineage, and she laces in references to her clearly beloved home state of Oklahoma and her probably pretty rad Dodge Dart classic. No shame or shyness, which is so refreshing from a female singer in the age of arguably untalented scenesters who look good in front of a microphone, where laying down sexy whispers crooned over laptops counts as being a singer and all that god-awful pitch correction.

This whole album is a fun, in-your-face, modern Dust Bowl spectacular; but moreso it is the mainstream LP arrival that gets the blog mentions and magazine reviews marking and proving that yes, true talent will still find a way to surface. It's fun to sit around and complain that real talent gets buried in the masses, but those who are willing to pick up their life, pack it in a car and drive to the destination, play for free and fall on their face til they get it right...they tend to get their moment. They tend to make an impression, and that, to an artist,  is the utmost validation.

7/24/12

Someone I love told me something really freakishly beautiful once. Something about how souls are like glasses of water, and once you combine them, you'll never be able to separate them again, because if you pour them back into glasses, it's not the same glass of water you had before.

It is a different temperature. Maybe a different color. Different elements than before, added or diluted or filtered. 

"The Atlantic was born today and I'll tell you how...The clouds above opened up and let it out.

I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole.
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean,
Making islands where no island should go, oh no.

Those people were overjoyed, they took to their boats.
I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat.
The rhythm of my footsteps 

Crossing flatlands to your door have been silenced forever more.
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
It seems farther than ever before

I need you so much closer."

~Transatlanticism 

Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism

For awhile I trusted in love, in fate, to tell me the difference between what is real, what is in my sad, scared head and what is worth my time....more I see, it is about choices than anything else. What you choose to love. What you choose as your fate. What you choose is right, or wrong. Even still, it's not all up to you. Something's got to choose you back.

7/22/12

Newly added to the repertoire.

"Go 'way from my window
Leave at your own chosen speed
I'm not the one you want, babe
I'm not the one you need
You say you're lookin' for someone
Who's never weak but always strong
To protect you and defend you
Whether you are right or wrong
Someone to open each and every door
But it ain't me, babe
No, no, no, it ain't me babe
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

Go lightly from the ledge, babe
Go lightly on the ground
I'm not the one you want, babe
I will only let your down
You say you're lookin' for someone
Who will promise never to part
Someone to close his eyes for you
Someone to close his heart
Someone who will die for you and more
But it ain't me, babe
No, no, no, it ain't me babe
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

Go melt back into the night
Everything inside is made of stone
There's nothing in here moving
And anyway I'm not alone
You say you're looking for someone
Who'll pick you up each time you fall
To gather flowers constantly
And to come each time you call
A lover for you life and nothing more
But it ain't me, babe
No, no, no, it ain't me, babe
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe."
~It Ain't Me, Babe
Bob Dylan, as heard by Fleet Foxes on YouTube

7/22/12

Nothing makes a summer night feel sexier than Minus the Bear.

Well, almost nothing, anyway.

"Coins I could drop shake in my pocket,
They shake like you do
Steps that you take bend and they break,
They break like I do

Running out of excuses
When we know what the truth is
I'm into you
When you hear this song,
You'll say you knew all along,
You're into me too" 
~Excuses
Minus the Bear,  Omni

This record ceases to be irrelevant, it may be my favorite of theirs, despite the fact "Highly Refined Pirates" won me over first. Of course, their next tour is stopping at Water Street in Rochester, and nowhere less than 90 minutes from Harrisburg. 

Too bad. They put on a suitably sexy show.