9/17/12

You know that feeling you get when you think you have a great idea, only to find it's been done? Not only that, but been done well? It's that mix of feeling disappointed and unoriginal, embarrassed by your own foolishness in thinking maybe you got something cool going on after all. But, after, there's also a wave of self-satisfaction, a bit of a kudos to the instinct.

That's how I felt after I heard this...:



...at the store the other day, and thought "Man, it would so rad to to make this into a sad acoustic cover!" only to hear this...:



...on a Pandora station today. Fun little arpeggio motif, West-Coast-cool vocals, and an unidentifiable instrument and/or pedal holding down a simple and effective rhythmic line. It thoroughly modernizes a classic, a little more depth and a little less pep, though it doesn't completely sacrifice the innocent charm of the original.

Secretly wish I was around for the Ed Sullivan days. Back when even the bad-side-of-tracks-greaser-rock-n-roll boys wore suits and ties and had clean hair, it seems. I have to believe everyone used to have better manners than they do today, where most people treat everyone else like yesterday's trash and think nothing of it. Still, I bet some people were still jerks. Jerks are as timeless as a crush-inspired love song.

Whatever. I still could figure out my own (sadder) version of this tune, maybe. But now I'm just YouTubing a bunch of Buddy Holly videos and making my cat hang out with me. What kind of life am I trying to lead, anyway? Really thought I'd have that worked out by now.

"Everyday it's a-gettin' closer
Goin' faster than a rollercoaster
Love like yours will surely come my way
Hey, hey-hey"

~Everyday 

Buddy Holly and the Crickets, B-Side on "Peggy Sue"

9/13/12

Pretty obsessed with this one off "Handwritten." Nice contrast in the early guitar parts, then some really resounding but subtle delay, just the way it should be used. There's something circular, almost merry-go-round about it, maybe it's in the way he manipulates the vocal line on the chorus.  There's only so much build until the end, it is steady.

Don't call it a sleeper track -- I think it's one of the most mature perspectives we've heard from Gaslight yet. It's completely and utterly patient, but none the less heartfelt for it. This is a song that recognizes the sweeter side to the gravity, if not the tragedy, of waiting for someone to come around, waiting for life's tides to turn. At such times, usually, there is nothing to do but wait.

I listened to this song at least two dozen times this week, spurred by a flood of memories and kisses that made me beg for a rewind button to appear, because so much can change so fast. Some moments, some people, can rewrite the soul in an instant without any sound intention. Just like that, the world is different, even though everything around you is the same.

It's kind of like taking a walk down the streets you drive by all the time. The vantage point is different, off-kilter, and you wonder how you've missed so much all this time. Like ornate window trimmings on an otherwise ordinary house, or a flowering tree littering petals along the sidewalk, or a brass nameplate on a mailbox, or a sad, yellowed front yard that must've been abandoned for years. You know you've seen these things before, in passing, but from this point of view, you use a whole other set of eyes. And then, in a way, it  makes you appreciate the whole scene that much more. 

"Stay the same, don’t ever change,
Cause I’d miss your ways.
With your Bette Davis eyes,
And your mama's party dress.

While this city pumps its aching heart
For one more drop of blood,
We work our fingers down to dust
And we wait for kingdom come
With the radio on.

I wanna see you tonight
Would you come for a drive?
You can lean into me
If you ain't been in love for a while.

I was born beside a river
That flows to a raging sea
That will one day serve to quell,
Or one day be the death of me.

In my faded jeans and far away eyes,
And salty carnival kiss,
That all my former lovers say
Was once magnificent.

I wanna see you tonight,
Would you come for a drive?
You can lean into me
And if you ain't, oh if you ain't...
I wanna see you tonight,
Would you come for a drive?
You can lean into me
If you ain't been in love for a while

And still this city pumps its aching heart
For one more drop of blood.
We work our fingers down to dust
While we wait for kingdom come
With the radio on...

It's been so long Mae, so long
It's been so long Mae, so long
But since the radio's on..."

~Mae 

The Gaslight Anthem, Handwritten

9/9/12

Tiny Desk Concerts are a good way to kick off bound-to-be-adventurous Sundays.

9/4/12

Nick Torres, please teach me your ways. Master of assonance and parallelism, he is. But you might not know without a real close ear. It was something potentially lost on the pop-punk scene of the early 2000s. Maybe why Northstar didn't blow up like the rest of them? But then we got Cassino, so I have no complaints.

I do, however, love this album, and it's occupying my mind well tonight. Could probably play this song seven more times tonight and still feel like it's not enough.

"Let's sober up, it's time to find that galaxy
that was created and named after me.
But these rocket hips blew apart the entire ship.
So if you find some pieces,
just name them after me.
It's on fire, it's my empire.

It went up so fast I couldn't grab it
along with medicine and magic
that keeps me breathing right on key,
Broken straps strap in the captain

that's praying just for me.

And this is so typical, erased by the author of me.
So dance to some broken chords,
with broken knees, through open doors.
And save me with a microphone,
Give me something so I can go home.

Give me something so I can go home. 
Don't you have a lesson for me?

I raced concrete to the front row seats,
Threw her bows and whiskey kisses and left
her on the street with her hands out
and her head down.
She's nothing more than a movie that never panned out.
Hey Mr. Destiny, you forgot about me,
You forgot to leave a number.
You forgot to name the street.
This is American living with my American dream,
It thunders like a river, but it's cold just like a stream.
And this is so typical, erased by the author of me.
So dance to some broken chords,
with broken knees through open doors.
And save me with a microphone
Give me something so I can go home
Give me something so I can go home
Don't you have a lesson for me?

And I know now,
Things don't get much better than this,
Life doesn't get much bigger than this.

So dance to some broken chords
with broken knees
through open doors
and save me with a microphone
Give me something so I can go home
Give me something so I can go home

Don't you have a lesson for me?
So teach me something so I can go."

~American Living 

Northstar, Pollyanna

9/3/12

Can't not love this video/song.

Love the instrumentation, the space between the harmonies and the simple, simple parts....hard to beat a stand-up, too. Also, I think I am predisposed to love any song named after my beloved home state or its pinnacle city, as well as those with this certain sentimental feeling.

"I hear the train all night,

Sound of it's wind blowing through our subtle lives.
And I have a job to do walking these cars,
Walking all this sleep to get to you.

But I don't feel you stir beside me,
And you're not in my morning hours.

Some ties are made to break,
Some stalks grow high and green to rot away,
And feel the weight.

And these lines tell a truth,
These city veins answer all we do.
So could you keep me in the pulses?
Could you keep me in the sound?

I got wise and I got old
Not once, not once did I fold
So don't you now

Maybe you bet on me
While we were still young enough to know
What to believe

For every year you took,
For every soft breath or loving look,
Believe me,

And don't keep me like you have me
And don't kiss me like you don't

I got wise and I got old,
Not once, not once did I fold,
So don't you now.

Some land holds a home,
Some of my years only hold me to roam.
But I tell myself it's true
You see a home, you see a man
You see it too.

And I say "Don't you know you have her,
Go on kiss her now you boy."
I got wise and I got old,
Not once, not once did I fall,
So don't you now.

I got wise and I got old,
Not once, not once did I fall,
So don't you now."
~New York
Blind Pilot, We Are the Tide