I Worry About You All The Time

A lovely gem made by Mr. Johan Angergård and the lovely folks that always make it happen. The title of this post comes from this song.

The Moon Is A Place

It bums me out that this video is missing the last 2 minutes of the studio version, a beautifully mournful instrumental dénouement. So if you're unfamiliar, education is divine. At the 4 minute mark the mood morphs into a swirling oceanic eddy and is my favorite bit of music on the entire album, so much so I wish it were an entire epic song in its own right.

Fowl Fangs

This is what happens when you go to bed with the chickens, the 3 am witchy hour calls and won't leave a voicemail.  Here's to all you night-owl vampires, sink your teeth into this.

This Scarlet Train is a 3 piece hailing from the misty land of Falkirk, Scotland.  Only together for a year between 1986-1987, Fimbria was their only release.  Which really is a shame, it's dreamy soft stuffs perfect for late night come downs. This kid in the photo is so cool with his two pet owls and hat.  Oh that hat.

This Scarlet Train - Kistvaen

This Scarlet Train - Picture Frame

 

Another great scarlet band is this gem by Scarlet Architect but I can't listen to it too much right now because then I'll never get back into my coffin so I can wake up with the chickens. When did chickens start ruling my life??

Those Wings Of Yours

I harbor a deep rooted desire to play the cello harking all the way back to the heady days of R.E.M, Bjork and a slew of others when the orchestra director said, "We are full.  There's no room at the Inn."  Left to birth my musical Jesus elsewhere I settled disinterested and desultory into the life of a band nerd.  Obviously, I never really felt much for my band instrument, it was more of a cheap lay of convenience [introducing me to parties and my first drug/sexual experiences... groans, this is starting to sound uncomfortably cliché like that movie.  Don't make me say it, you know the one].   What is true in adolescent school music programs must also be true in life, we always remember the ones we could never have.

So when fellow blogger friend Lazer Guided Melody posted Matson Jones' A Little Arson Never Hurt Anyone and those first cello chords hit my ears, I bobbed my head, mmmed along and hit repeat about a dozen times.   I'm amazed at how they turn something so simple into a seriously raucous guitarless cacophonous eargasm.  Turns out the original quartet Anna Mascorella, Martina Grbac, bassist Matt Regan and drummer Russ Harada aren't playing together anymore though apparently the Lady Cellists and Harada have concocted something new.  Information on this is a little sketchy but being so obsessed with their self-titled LP I haven't really fallen too deep down the rabbit hole.  I only have ears for you.....

Picking one was impossible so please enjoy my thus-far favorites.

Matson Jones - A Little Arson Never Hurt Anyone

Matson Jones - .............Sympathy

Matson Jones - He Means Nothing, Dear

Matson Jones - ///Spring Fever

Paul Cava [NSFW]

Enthralling aren't they?  So many complex themes like Eros, loss, psychological disarticulation and the yearning we all have to know our shadow selves.  All of the above come from his works executed between 1991-2004 which are my personal favorites.

No Fist Is Needed

I have more than a crush on Lykke Li - she's a kindred spirit.   Damn, I mean Dah-Amn [as in a double-syllable damn] because her lyrics slay.  It's a strange thing when you find an artist who writes lyrics that so closely match your own paltry journal entries.

Lykke Li - Silent My Song

She's already on my regular rotation but it's likely she'll be mentioned a lot lately in the next few months because I'll be seeing her in person very shortly. Did I just hear you shriek?  Must just be my own echo... daily my heart thump thump thumps.

Seduce His Hands

Tonight I stumbled onto a wonderfully creepy black and white German silent film called The Hands Of Orlac [1924] which tells the story of pianist, Paul Orlac. He loses his hands in a freak accident and has them replaced with recently executed killer Vasseur's criminally-minded mitts. What follows is madness, despair, a killer score [get it?] by Paul Mercer and gorgeous Expressionist/Noir film shots. I don't want to give the ending away to this brooding spooky mystery which is much more fun to say in a wacky accent.

You try it. Eeets Ah Misssthereee. Fun, right?

To Our Need

This might just be one of my favorite songs ever.  I mean it this time, I swear.

The Words That Maketh Murder

Suburbs, bridal shower, kids, older ladies who want us to have kids.   This is how I spent my day, which for me is a recipe for Cranky Central.



But PJ Harvey's latest Let England Shake makes me feel a little better.  On Battleship Hill is also so epic and awesome.  Thanks Polly Jean I can always count on you. 

Yeah yeah yeah... Hating on the kids, suburbs and weddings I guess makes me a terrible person but c'mon!   How much oohing and aaahing do you have in your system?

[Disclaimer: I love my friends and for them I would move mountains.  In this case I am the mountain so for her...]

Deuces Wild

So my grand plan last night to get my Rain Drink on instead of a Rain Dance sort of failed.  No rain today.  Let's be honest kids, you weren't drinking enough were you?   This weekend your mission, should you choose to except it, is to sacrifice some brain and liver cells to those picky Rain Gods.  Make me proud.

Go forth and make some bad decisions. And listen to this.
[It only took 3 hours to upload 8 songs, my internet connection is awesome like that.  You hearing this Rain Gods?]

This message will self-destruct in 30 seconds.

Rainin Cold Hard Facts

Day 1,472 without rain in our barren post-apocalyptic landscape.  The trees are dying, the food is gone and the zombies lurk around every corner.  Survival is quickly becoming the rarity, not the norm.  Okay, okay so that's an exaggeration but I miss the rain!  Cuddling up when it's raining is probably the most delicious thing, ever.  Don't make me bust out a rendition of Eddie Rabbitt's I Love A Rainy Night because I will did.  [One very funny youtuber wrote: I used to listen to this song while running over prostitutes, drug dealers, gangsters and cops. Shit was awesome.]  Didn't we all buddy?

Time to get our rain dance on... on second thought it's too hot to dance.  How about we get our Rain Drink on instead?  Peazy - done.



The Sea of Memories out on September 27th.  Remind me to share a really funny story about an email exchange between me and Johan with you one of these days.

Running Up That Hill

I've seen this tote from Fieldguided pop up around the interwebs several times over the last year or so but still can't decide which of the colors I like better.  Dark?  Light? Also, I just love that there's an homage to Fleetwood Mac in the second photo.

[Update 8.25.11 Per the very sweet and nice seller Anabela, Fieldguided is getting away from the dip-dyed bags though there may still be some here.  I bought one of each because Anabela said they might be the last two.  One for me and one for my friend who is getting married.  I'm going to make her a mix cd to go with it appropriately called There Is Thunder In Our Hearts and filled with my favorite songs about loooove.]

If you didn't know [Tsk tsk, shame on you] the line is a lyric from this song by the always lovely, Kate Bush.  Placebo did an okay cover made popular by one of those annoying teeny bopper shows.  This site has a lot of interesting quotes/interviews with Ms. Bush about the song's title and meaning.

I Hope The Moon Is Listening

For to forget a love is to regret

Future Islands - Before The Bridge

My heart could be open to you since I feel the darkness and I hold it close but if you want something different than you have to show me something.  Something real.  I write and I write but you evil villain, go away, I want nothing to do with you if you're hateful.  Unless you want to crawl inside.   Unless you want to open up and recognize that this heart and that heart are the same.  Propinquity, a nearness in place.  Than, I will hold you deeply where no one can find you, harm you.  But, that will never happen, will it?  You show me nothing.   So you see?  I hold a candle in a place so quiet & lovely, a place of solitude and peace.  Covenant.  Something that I can never put into words but which sparkles in the right light.

- Excerpt from a script [doohickey?] I'm working on.  Script, book whatever, not sure exactly how it will end, but it's a thingy called 'Love Letters'.  Are you laughing hysterically?

In other news, Future Islands is so amazing.  The kind of amazing that once you tune in, you will want to call into work, plug in the headphones, ignore all calls and write a poem or two about those 80's bands that you love most.  Their most recent 7" Before The Bridge/Find Love is this one's repeat, repeat, repeat.

Misha Gordin

Misha Gordin's work is undeniably Russian, stunningly cerebral and beautifully unrelenting.  That's a lot of adverbs.  See the series in their entirety and read some gorgeous passages at his website. 

from the series: Shadows of the Dream 1972 - 1983

 

 

from the series:  Doubt 1994 -1995

from series: Crowds [multiple]

Glass Organs

Fragile.   Gary Numan gets it.  And Natasha Khan.  So does Kiva Ford.  He makes some amazing miniature glass pieces but I especially like the vases and organs in jars.

You know who else gets it? Ralphie's dad. Blondie too, duh.  And Stephin Merritt. 



Fuck it, clearly I need to make a Glass mix since I'm already halfway there. Get it? Clearly? Halfway there, glass half full? Ok, I'm done.

Restless

The quote went something like, If this were played in elevators there would be a lot more babies in the world.



I'm dealing with a summertime cold - stuffy nose, scratchy throat, fever and aches.  The works.  Why my city doesn't have a Medicine Delivery Truck a la Chinese Food is a mystery to me, I bet New York does.  Stupid New York. It never fails though, whenever I get sick I also get... you know, restless. 

Astrud Gilberto and Teddy Presberg run the gamut of baby-making sounds, from the above to the below which to me sounds like the song you listen to as you strut down the street, post coitus.  Appropriate since it's called 82nd Ave Strut.  So throw on some reeboks and jive.  

[Don't mind me kids, it's the fever talking.]

Rice Boy Sleeps

 

Riceboy Sleeps [Jónsi & Alex] - Happiness

How They Get There

Tonight, we watched Scenes From The Suburbs directed by the ineffable Spike Jonze.  Absolutely not what I was expecting but in a weird way completely perfect.  At only 28 minutes, it packs a serious punch and will likely stay with me for days.

Definitely worth it, but make sure to laugh about silly things afterwards like disposable scratchy pairs of Japanese undies and impossibly small tubes of toothpaste.

Here's another good one by SJ.

The Destruction of Myth

I would love to spend just one hour walking around in the worlds P-Jay Fidler creates.  Running from and fornicating with the many unbelievable creatures.  So amazing!  Run, don't walk to his archives and feast!

His work reflects a mixture of adolescent archetypes with dark psychological aspects of the human condition...With animal imagery, landscapes, religious iconography, combined with his love of Flemish paintings, vintage children’s books and contemporary graphic design, he creates a non-linear storyline of Life, Love, Sex and Death that is disturbing yet beautiful.  -365 Days of Print

Shit Heat

It's so stupid hot, I feel like I sound like a broken record this summer.  Hot hot hot hot!!! It's bringing out the crazy in people.  Don't hold back baby.  By all means say what's on your mind.

Broken Water has been on constant rotation for the last few months.  Hailing from Olympia, Washington I was recently told this is a city I should consider moving to.  If Broken Water's wicked riffs are anything to go on, it may not be such a bad idea.

Fook Et

Is Phuket the destination of choice when all you want to say is Fuck It?  Wah Wah.

I wonder what it would be like to ride an elephant on a beach like this lil Memsahib.  Also doesn't that photo sort of remind of you a Thai version of a Fabio romance book cover?