listen.

Arms with Hospitality: this saturday in alphabet city

Though this may sound like an etiquette course on appropriate arm gestures to use while greeting guests into your home, it's ACTUALLY going to be a really good show on Avenue B this weekend.

Todd Goldstein, self-described "Brooklyn-based mid-20s-type" (we already like where this is going) better known as Arms, plays the ukulele, guitar and various other instruments, and sings in a quirky, beautiful voice that at first reminds me a tad of Michael Stipe, then gets progressively more unique and unplaceable.  I stumbled upon this video of him playing the brilliant song "Kids Aflame" live in Prospect Park:

To hear what he does with this song in the studio rather than a tunnel in the park:

Arms - Kids Aflame

It will be the title track from Todd's forthcoming album, due on June 8.

This Saturday, he's playing at Midway (now called rehab apparently): 25 ave B @ 2nd St, NYC, 9pm.

Hospitality will be playing as well -- also Brooklyn-based, they're a quartet operating in a quaint chamber-folk realm reminiscent of early Belle & Sebastian and the like, with lyrics that wouldn't be out of place on Tigermilk or If You're Feeling Sinister: "You're the only girl on the team, you don't golf, you don't smoke, you don't understand the jokes" from Betty Wang, below.  It appears as though they're doing a little residency at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg right now, playing every Thursday night.

Hospitality - Betty Wang

and now for some links:
Arms website / Arms on myspace / Hospitality on myspace

see you saturday?
xoBen

listen gets bicoastal.

the reason you didn't hear much from us last week is that listen went on the road to beautiful PORTLAND, OREGON.

it was a pretty awesome trip, with all the trappings of your typical trip to the PacNW: crazy-beautiful nature, yummy seafood, cool laidback people, and some fun nights out on the town (nightlife points of interest include the talented performers at silverado, and the murinal at the eagle).  I also whipped up a little mix CD of some of my favorite portland-based bands to provide the soundtrack in our hot-hot-hot rented chevy impala (not even kidding), so I thought I'd share some highlights from that mix.

Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
this is the title track from what i think may have been the first truly indie CD that I ever owned.  I bought it sound-unheard based on a friend's recommendation, and as a shy kid almost exclusively immersed in the indigo girls and tori amos at that point, i didn't really know what to think of it at first, but it didn't take long for me to get into it. these girls taught me what it meant to rock out. once when i was in college i cut all my hair off to this song and felt REALLY cool and misunderstood.
{{Sleater-Kinney}}

Quasi - I Never Want To See You Again
Another track from the early-ish part of my love for indie music, Quasi is a divorced couple, Sam Coomes (keyboards) and Janet Weiss (drummer; incidentally, also drummer for S-K).  the spare keyboard-drums combo makes for a pretty unique sound, and sam has a really sweet tenor voice that he uses to sing with a clever yet poignant dare-I-say Chekhovian perspective about the plight of the modern working class and the rat race in which we - i mean they - i mean we - are mired.
{{Quasi}}

 

Horse Feathers - Walking and Running
I've blogged about these guys quite a bit, and not just because frontman Justin Ringle is a friend from high school. Words Are Dead was one of my favorite albums of '06 - it's gorgeous.  They recently got signed to Olympia, Washington's Kill Rock Stars which is exciting. This track is from their daytrotter session last year. (photo by Jason Quigley, from HF's myspace page)
{{Horse Feathers}}

Loch Lomond - Bird and a Bear (I Am The Bird)
Loch Lomond - A Field Report
I just ran across these folks a couple months ago and have really been digging them.  I believe there is some crossover in the lineup between them and Horse Feathers.  "A Field Report" contains the awesome line "The sound of children laughing makes my eyes bleed."
{{Loch Lomond}}

Menomena - Wet and Rusting
Menomena - Gay A
Another recent Portland discovery, Menomena sort of calls to mind Animal Collective, but they strike me as being both more experimental and more pop-oriented, if that's possible. Wet and Rusting would have easily made it onto my top tracks of 2007 if I hadn't somehow missed it until a month ago. A bizarre and complex pop song with some erratic rhythmic stop-and-go to it, along with some killer piano hooks, it's all built around the simple (yet undeniable) refrain "it's hard to take risks with a pessimist."

Gay A is a track from the Wet and Rusting ep, cleverly taking issue with those Christian camps where self-loathing homosexuals go to either "cure" themselves of their "condition", or learn ways to ignore and stifle their sexuality. With the ironic opening line "All my pathetic and small life, I made big steps with small strides to fight what just feels right" the song illuminates the wrongheadedness of such an approach.  So I was kind of troubled to find a recent interview on the (awesome) blog You Ain't No Picasso with bassist Justin Harris, containing the following passage:

JH: A friend of mine went to one of those… like, places where they didn’t want to be gay any more.

YANP: Like a religious camp?

JH: Yeah. Like one of those where they didn’t want to be a part of the gay lifestyle any more. It’s based on my misconception about what that was. I was under the assumption that you go to these places to not be gay any more, but that’s totally not what it is. It’s just for people who don’t want to be in the gay lifestyle. You can’t really can’t stop being gay. But the point isn’t to rid you of your gayness, but just to help you if you don’t want to be a part of that lifestyle.

So, I just want to point out that the ex-gay movement is a complex and splintered social phenomenon, and yes, many groups or organizations do describe what they do as curing or treating homosexuality as a condition or disease.  I question what exactly JH means here when he uses the phrase "gay lifestyle".  If he means a healthy, non-repressive relationship with one's homosexuality, then it's unhealthy and irresponsible to be fostering people's avoidance or fear of that.  If he means, as many misguided people do, some sort of self-destructively promiscuous or otherwise unhealthy sexuality, then that's not a "gay lifestyle", that's an unhealthy relationship with one's own sexuality. I firmly deny the legitimacy of ANY formalized attempt to treat, cure, ignore, stifle, or "overcome" one's homosexuality. And I'll leave it at that.
{{Menomena}}

Sorry to end with the rant, but Gay A is a great song, so... give it a listen.

xoBen

Sigur Rós - Hvarf/Heim

talk about a post i have been meaning to do for a couple of months!
the new sigur ros came out around NOV 6, 2007 (or maybe ON that date? i'm not sure, nor do you care)

so here's the deal - stop me if you've heard this (and by stop me i mean skim this paragraph) it's a two disc album (and in case you fancy buying from a record store: it's got very aesthetically pleasing packaging.)   Hvarf, the first disc consists of sigur ros revisiting songs from their "cannon." the second disc, heim, is live recordings from their free icelandic tour -- it had stops like this:

where you saw them do this:

and this:

these images are from Heima, their new film (and companion to this album), which is out now.  for a while you could write to their myspace page and set up a screening of the film.  wouldn't that be awesome?
anyway - this album is AMAZING. i must admit that Heim is definitely my favorite (but PLEASE don't tell Hvarf.)

so, i am going to share a few tracks. and then you should go buy the album.  you won't regret it.

from heim:

Samskeyti

it's like an amazing wave. i want a symphony to explode with music at the end -- like in the end of rhapsody in blue.

Agaetis Byrjun

so acoustic - so beautiful.

from hvarf:

von

it's an opera.

so now that you've sampled the music, you may be thinking: "okay, i want to buy this - but how shall i best enjoy this music?" well, look no further! here are several ways i think you can best enjoy said music:

• in a beautiful, damp-green icelandic field wearing a really pretty wool sweater with ruddy cheeks.
• riding your bicycle on the west side highway bike path  (wearing a helmet and not playing it too loud, of course)
• stoned in a dance/movement studio
• walking to work in the morning
• underscoring in a movie that has a scene were the fabric of the universe rips open leading to a parallel world.

enjoy.

back in the habit and on repeat

hey kiddos. my apologies, most especially to my blogmate, for being a tad MIA -- and i don't mean the groundbreaking genre-defying English-born Sri Lankan musician -- over the past week (or so).  life just keeps on HAPPENING, you know?

anyway. i went over to Danny's the other night, and while he worked some tailoring magic on a few of my garments, we watched My So-Called Life and listened to Chris Garneau, among other things, and ever since, I've basically had this song on 24-7 repeat.

Chris Garneau - Black & Blue

it takes him about 1:45 to kick into full voice, but man, that moment kills me, each time he sings "oh, oh, i want to catch my death of cold, oh, oh, cause i'm scared i'm growing old."  be careful listening to this song on headphones late at night while it's raining and you're walking home alone to an empty bed. i'm just saying.

interesting interview with mr. garneau here, and here's a terrific video from the blogotheque takeaway show series:

#42.4 - Chris Garneau - We don't try
Uploaded by lablogotheque

on a totally unrelated note, did anyone else see the disaster otherwise known as Amy Winehouse in this clip from the Euro MTV music awards? [ADDENDUM: The clip i posted first ceased to work, so here's another with a corny intro. but it's the same performance.]

i don't know whether to cry, or laugh, or throw my computer against the wall in a fit of rage.  i mean, she's just so talented, and i'm afraid she's going to waste it all away.  look at her.  AMY: Get. Your. Shi*. TOGETHER.  Please.  if not for your sake, then for the sake of all the classic soul-revivalist lovers out there.  Please?

also, i don't remember quite how, but yesterday i ran across the myspace profile for this Brooklyn band called the Homophones.  And I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to think that a bandname like that or lyrics like "I wanna lick your popsicle" necessarily confirm that they play for my team, but... let me just say that i had a hard time finding many details about them, but they are officially on my radar.  expect more info to be relayed to you as it lands on my desk.  i like this song.

the Homophones - Everyone's Dead

on a non-musical note, here are some beautiful photos (i did not take them) from the amazing secret underground dinner party my dance group performed at over the weekend.  and more photos here.

that adorable boy-girl banjo-accordion duo were a real highlight, and apparently they perform under the name Fall Harbor, but i haven't been able to find any info about them so far.

that's all for now. bye.

>ben

melancholia

so.
the fall is good for so many things:
pumpkin ravioli, squash soup, wondrous bicycle weather, all hallow's eve, trips upstate, fun clothes, reading poetry in prospect park - among other things.
it's also a good times for those that enjoy being melancholy.

you know - take a long bike ride listening to joni mitchell, then stop down by the grand st. water front and read an ee cummings poem -- then maybe watch annie hall.... which i may or may not LOVE doing.

even when it's 70º and i have to pretend is it brisk and autumnal outside.
(on a side note: this weather?)

anyway - i have found some new fall tunes i am SUPER into. i'm talkin: play-on-repeat-for-an-hour into.

the first came to me via another paste magazine sampler.
fionn regan - an acoustic folk singer.

according to his myspace music page he is from wicklow, ireland.

the song i found:
put a penny in the slot

is a truly beautiful song about a relationship ending.  on his myspace you can sample some more before you log on to the itunes store and buy the album. 
this song, obviously, got me thinking about all the random things you wind up with in your apt during/after a relationship - suspenders, books, cds you don't like, the list goes on.  i remember once - i sent this guy i was dating a postcard that i found at an art gallery that i thought was really funny - it was three naked woman wearing skeletor masks- all of whom were ENORMOUSLY pregnant with giant breasts and they were wading in the ocean. ANYWAY, i wrote: "dear _____,  vacation is wonderful - wish you were here! xo geo" (or something to that affect.) they next day - homeboy dumped me. the point? well a day or two later he received the post card. ha. i found that knowledge funny.  so - he wound up with a naked skeletor woman postcard (and my yoga mat.)
_______________
The Limes
this cool mp3 blog said the gramophone tipped me off to this cool band/music project happening called The Limes.
what are the limes you ask?
well, according to myspace they are:
"..an inter-continental band consisting of Toy Fight, Orouni, Mina Tindle, John Hale and Henry Sparrow. Started with the simple idea of sharing musical ideas between the Atlantic, members submit material to each other to interpret and record. A large amount of "musical trust" (we like it that way) is placed in each other, as well as the hope that fresh and interesting music can emerge from the crossing of borders."

Beyond Blue

"when we were young we wore rose colored glasses."
sing it sister.
what a rad song - i've listened to it about 30 times today. i get obsessed, what can i say?
i LOVE the percussion.

attractive little group, no?

anyway - go to their page -- you can listen to other songs.  and then you can go the members own pages and enjoy their music.  and then sit and marvel about how much new, good music just came into your life.

anyway: i hope this project yields many, many more songs.

------------

i also came upon this ABBA track (now this song is sad too, but it's abba sad - meaning up beat.)
but it is sooooo dramatic. i love it. really fun to dance to in your apt.

ring ring
lady - get some self worth. you just sit by the phone waiting for it to ring?
at least go for a walk. i love it!
my friend jordan drunkenly described it as "bye bye birdie meets nothing" when i played it for him on the L train the other night coming home from a bar. i think that fits very well.

and since we're talkin melancholy love - here's a little walt whitman and an indigo girls song.
(side note - the other day ben mentioned that people hate on the indigo girls. call me a lesbian trapped in a gay man's body - (actually my old boss, chezza, said i was a straight man trapped in a lesbian's body, trapped in a gay man's body....) i digress - THERE IS NO NEED to hate on these wonderful women and the music they brought us.

the wood song

  As I Lay With My Head In Your Lap Camerado

  As I lay with my head in your lap camerado,
  The confession I made I resume, what I said to you and the open air
     I resume,
  I know I am restless and make others so,
  I know my words are weapons full of danger, full of death,
  For I confront peace, security, and all the settled laws, to
     unsettle them,
  I am more resolute because all have denied me than I could ever have
     been had all accepted me,
  I heed not and have never heeded either experience, cautions,
     majorities, nor ridicule,
  And the threat of what is call'd hell is little or nothing to me,
  And the lure of what is call'd heaven is little or nothing to me;
  Dear camerado! I confess I have urged you onward with me, and still
     urge you, without the least idea what is our destination,
  Or whether we shall be victorious, or utterly quell'd and defeated.

oh. walt. sigh.

okay. wow. i guess this is what happens when you spend all night and day listening to the above three songs - you wind up reading whitman to the soundtrack of the indigo girls. not a bad place..

peace
geo

if you want to take me on a date

let me direct your attention here.

i'm not sure when, or why, Joe's Pub in the Park started doing programming designed to empty my bank account, but all of a sudden there are at least four performances I want to see in the span of a single week.

1. Lesley Gore.  Honestly, I didn't even know she was still alive. But she knows a thing or two about a brink of disaster I think we're all familiar with.  I have that same conversation with my conscience (and Amanda) more often than I'd like to say. "My heart keeps saying yes, but you said to say no to him."  I should know what is right for me.

Lesley Gore - The Brink of Disaster

2. Patty Griffin.  Kami and I used to play this song summers during college, when I was learning guitar.  She sang lead, I think I did some rather facile  harmonies.

Patty Griffin - Sweet Lorraine

3. Hair 40th Anniversary Concert!!  I don't think they've announced the cast yet, but it's bound to be totally awesome.  A song about pollution, from the movie version:

Hair - Air

4. Beirut.  I'm totally excited about the forthcoming album. why? two reasons: a) they collaborated with Owen Pallett (final fantasy), and b) Zach Condon has said in interviews that it's all french orchestral pop inspired by Jacques Brel.  Par exemplar (par excellence!):

Beirut - Forks and Knives (La Fete)

I'll keep these dates free.  You know where to find me.

>ben

in a state of hope

so, funny story. a week or so ago i was at soundfix and bought this new cd of a band i'd never heard of, on a whim, basically just because of the band's name: Lonely, Dear. This may or may not have been related to my emotional state that day. it just peered out at me, wrapped its arms around me, and whispered in my ear "buy me, take me home with you, i'll be the one to keep you warm in the night."  which ultimately didn't turn out to be entirely true, but it IS a really good album.

so i started trying to do some internet research about the band and couldn't find much, and then I looked more closely at the CD and realized they're called LONEY, dear. No L. Not loneLy. Loney. which i found moderately disappointing. But it's still a really awesome album (called Loney, Noir).  And it's actually just one dude, a Swede named Emil Svanangen.  (Did anyone else get the memo that solo musicians aren't allowed to perform under their own names anymore? Because I didn't.)

And even if I had the bandname wrong, the first song in particular still delivered on the kind of melancholy-yet-not-completely-dreary chamber-pop I wanted.  And the lyrics kind of slay me. I've actually needed to avoid listening to this song in public lately.  Because it takes me to a place.

some fragments for you:

sinister, in a state of hope
summer night, bring me cold
someway I let it happen
in a flash
the night brought no cold
when all i want is a state of hope
summer night i did not hope
for something i couldn't have
you turn me down
let it happen with your hands
someway i let it happen
in a flash
when all i want is a state of hope

and when that orchestration kicks up at 1:20?  Mmm.  Delicious.

Loney, Dear - Sinister in a State of Hope

And to liven things up a bit, here's a more upbeat one from the album. He's really a pro with the double-tracked vocals! 

Loney, Dear - I am John

>ben