listen.

swimming with laura

Great Lake Swimmers have sort of barely been on my radar for a while now, basically just to the extent that I knew I'd heard a few songs that I'd really liked.  Well I finally got around to picking up (or "picking up", as in downloading from emusic) their most recent album, last year's Ongiara. And it's really super good.

They are a trio of handsome Toronto-based gents, with that guy in the front there Tony Dekker doing the songwriting, singing and guitar.

Amanda saw a picture of them and told me I'd like them even if they played cowbells and tinkertoys, which frankly is off the mark because I think a band based primarily on cowbells and tinkertoys would be totally awesome no matter how cute they were, but I get her point. Still, though. They're really hitting the spot for me right now. Kind of a hazy, countryish folky blend of banjo, guitars, some other random instruments, string arrangements from Canada's awesome one-man-band du jour Owen Pallett (another fave of mine), and then there's Dekker's vocals, which make me sad in that good-sad-but-still-sad way. Kind of a perfect soundtrack for yesterday's cozy afternoon at home, avoiding the rain outside by making quiche and drinking too much coffee.

Here are a couple of my faves:

Great Lake Swimmers - Your Rocky Spine

Great Lake Swimmers - Where in the World Are You
(you know those double-tracked vocals get me every time. also love the strings on this one.)

And an older one, from their 2005 album, Bodies and Minds:

Great Lake Swimmers - Various Stages

Just for fun, here's the video for Your Rocky Spine, which I think is completely adorable:

And as I was listening to Great Lake Swimmers yesterday, I threw some Laura Gibson into the mix, which was totally perfect.

The young and mesmerizing Laura, on Portland's genius Hush Records (see also big faves of mine Loch Lomond, not to mention hush alums The Decemberists of course), has a voice that breaks your heart and a simple, pared down approach to a classic introspective country folky sound. So good.

From her 2006 album, If You Come To Greet Me:

Laura Gibson - This is not the end

Laura Gibson - Country, Country
("Everybody in the country knows I always sing them country songs, and always fall for country boys."  Ditto that, Laura.)

And she just released this awesome limited edition EP (available for purchase and download here!) called Six White Horses, which is all reinterpretations of traditional songs, including this one I remember singing as a kid (but I don't think the lyrics we sang were this creepy):

Laura Gibson - All the Pretty Horses

Enjoy.

>ben

rainy days and mondays always get me down...

oh KAREN! so true....

Rainy Days and Mondays, The Carpenters

Well, rainy days don’t always get me down, I rather love them, BUT a rainy Monday can sometimes get one down.... rather a good song for a day like today.

Let’s indulge in some rainy day music, shall we?

It’s Raining, Irma Thomas
Drip drop....a great soul tune. 

I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today, Nina Simone
Yes Nina, I do too.

Early Mornin' Rain, Peter Paul and Mary
Sigh.

You’re Gonna Need Me, Dionne Warwick
my friend just shared this tune with me.... perfect for a monday, no?

That’s all. Just some good tunes for gray day.

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

on how strange it is to be anything at all

Don't worry: I won't be making a habit of celebrating the 10- (or 5- or 7- or 25-) year anniversary of any good album ever released.  But Feb. 10th marked the 10th anniversary (golden birthday!) of Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, arguably one of the most important albums of the 90s, and unequivocally my own personal favorite album of all time. so please indulge me while I dive back into NMH's world for just a bit.

I highly recommend checking out Pitchfork's double-header of 1997 interviews with Jeff here. He talks about a lot of things, including the "I love you Jesus Christ" song which no one ever seems to get -- it invariably weirds someone out.  Here's part of what Jeff has to say about it:

The thing about me singing about Christ; I'm not saying "I love you Christianity." I'm not saying "I love all the fucked-up terrible shit that people have done in the name of God." And I'm not preaching belief in Christ. It's just expression. I'm just expressing something I might not even understand. It's a song of confusion, it's a song of hope, it's a song that says this whole world is a big dream-- and who knows what's gonna happen.

I also love this part of the interview:

Pitchfork: [After moving to the kitchen for some reason] Wow, you have a lot of melodicas lying around!
Jeff Mangum: Yeah.

Since a good many of you have heard the album (if you haven't, please go buy it now), I thought I could post a few "deep cuts", as iTunes grossly calls them -- some obscure-ish live tracks (is anything really obscure anymore with youtube and 18million musicblogs wherever you turn?) from Jeff Mangum and Neutral Milk Hotel.

Neutral Milk Hotel - Ferris Wheel on Fire
something about this song gets under my skin.  i don't know if it's the terrifying imagery of a ferris wheel falling apart while the crowd below cheers, or the way the catastrophe described is matched by an escalating chaos in the music, or that last line "now finally fading from view is everything we ever knew". a song about the ephemerality of our material surroundings.

Neutral Milk Hotel - Oh Sister
if you're familiar with the album, some of this song will seem familiar -- lyrically it overlaps particularly with Oh Comely and Holland 1945. not sure why it didn't end up on the album... i like it as much as a lot that did. some great lines, and a simple but terrific melody, all matched with Jeff's otherwordly caterwaul (which truly becomes a caterwaul at the end).

Neutral Milk Hotel - Engine
as he says, "a children's song". this was the b-side to Holland 1945.

Jeff Mangum - Little Birds
the only recording (as far as I know) of any song Jeff wrote after Aeroplane. an intensely haunting and creepy song about a little boy whose body becomes inhabited by little birds. it gives a glimpse of what NMH's next album might have been like, had they ever made one. i also feel compelled (as I would) to point out the unsettling gay subplot, sung from the boy's father's perspective:

did you know the burning hell it took your baby brother?
did you see how far he fell and how he made us suffer?
another boy in town at night he took him for his lover,
and deep in sin, they held each other.
so i took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in,
knowing god in heaven would have never could forgive him.

I was actually going to stop there, but that's a pretty depressing note to end on, so here are a few more treats:

Jeff Mangum - I Love How You Love Me
An adorable Phil Spector cover from Jeff's solo Live at Jittery Joe's album (pardon the extended spoken intro for Engine, tacked at the end of this track)

And two touching video recordings of Jeff solo and with band performing the album's gorgeous title track, one of the most beautiful songs ever written about life, love and death.  The second video is from Dec. 31, 1998, one of the last shows they ever played.

xoB

covers for the weekend!

so i've really been digging this handful of covers lately.  they're somewhat all over the map musically, but i guess they're sort of all about longing.  in very different ways.  i always get obsessed with revisiting the originals when i get really into a good cover version, so i've included those as well.

HEAD OVER HEELS
what a f-ing good song. you know a good cover when it makes you hear a song in a completely different way, and this Samamidon version really cracked the Tears For Fears song open for me.  And now the T4F version is killing me too.  Some really hard-hitting lines throughout, but this section leading into the chorus really drives it home for me:

You keep your distance with a system of touch
And gentle persuasion
I'm lost in admiration could I need you this much
Oh, you're wasting my time
You're just wasting time
Something happens and I'm head over heels
I never find out till I'm head over heels

I never find out till I'm head over heels.  Seriously.

Samamidon - Head Over Heels
This fella has a new album "All is Well" coming out... omg MONDAY.  So... more on him soon.

Tears For Fears - Head Over Heels
hearing this song and revisiting whatever my emotional landscape was in the late 80s gives me a very bizarre feeling.

and here's the buh-zarre video from T4F, just for good measure.

IRREPLACEABLE
Beyoncé's version is, of course, pretty awesome.  But I rather like D's take... he seems to be playing against a surface reading of the lyrics which I think is a more compelling interpretation: whereas Beyoncé is empowered and on top of her shi*, i think D sounds a little more precarious, like deep down he fears his lady actually might NOT be so irreplaceable...

D - Irreplaceable

Beyoncé - Irreplaceable

SEXUAL HEALING
It's just such a good song, with one of the best opening lines ever: "Baby, I'm hot just like an oven, I need some lovin'."  And these three versions are so awesomely different; so differently awesome.  I couldn't possibly pick a favorite. Though I might say I'd have to choose Hot Chip's version as the soundtrack for the healing it describes. Possibly with the fellow on the right there. If that's an option. Thanks.

Hot Chip - Sexual Healing

Hot 8 Brass Band - Sexual Healing

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing

alright kiddos. enjoy and have a beautiful saturdaysunday.

xoBen

oh patsy!

every now and then i go through a phase where i want to listen to is patsy cline.

and for some reason i am in that phase right now.

there are many reasons to appreciate this woman.

for one, you can't really beat her in terms of songs about heartbreak.

and let's face it - whatever your feelings about contemporary country music are - old country is great.

and patsy cline is pretty amazing. her voice is unreal.  it's kind of a surreal sound -very theatrical -- as if it isn't from the late 1950's but rather something david lynch created for a movie.  and, like i said, if you're looking for songs about heart break and not being able to get over your man who left you - well, you have come to the right post!

get ready for it.

CLEARLY we must start with one of her iconic songs:

walkin after midnight, patsy cline
i can, and plan on, posting all the other covers of this song - because they're all great.  is it because we all know what a lonely walk at night looking for our lover is like? probably.
it's kind of a bizarre story either about a woman so lovesick and forlorn she has to walk at night due to her solitary insomnia or it's a song about a prostitute? either way it has universal appeal.

i fall to pieces, patsy cline
one of her biggest hits that features some of the dramatic heart ache i was talking about earlier: "i fall to pieces each time some one speaks your name." damn. that's intense. and i can judge because i've never been unable to see or be near someone because they couldn't return my love.

back in baby's arms, patsy cline
there is hope! i'm back where i belong! back in baby's arms!  i need a relationship in order to feel complete!

okay no let's take it up a notch, patsy:

these songs all get a little rockabilly twangy, and it's awesome - there's even a hint of yodeling.

they are currently the most played on my itunes.  (with the staples singer's i'll take you there coming in 4th)

seven lonely days, patsy clines

blue moon of kentucky, patsy cline
i love this song.

lovesick blues, patsy cline

here's a rather fascinating tidbit* i found whilst researching patsy cline:  both dottie west and june carter cash recall cline telling them about feeling a sense of impending doom in the months leading up to her death.  she began giving away personal possessions, writing out a will and arranging for care of her children.  she then died in a plane crash on march 3, 1963.  (march 3 is my birthday, so there's also that.)
isn't that interesting?  kind of creepy, kind of sad, sort of makes me want to write a play about it.

okay. before we go here's one more classic patsy tune that i love:

crazy, patsy cline.

have a good day!

*take that with a grain of salt: i found that on wikipedia. so it might not be true at all. (i kind of don't trust that website.)

My wild sweet love

So lately I've been really into the Jimmy Webb song "Do What You Gotta Do".  I've known the Nina Simone version for a long time, and was vaguely aware of Roberta Flack's.  But then I ran across two more recent versions, along with a Linda Ronstadt take from the early '90s! 

It's just such a heartbreaking song.  Sort of a more complex take on that old "If you love something, set it free" cliché, it's all about letting someone go do their thing and figure their shi* out, even though you still really love them.  And you know you might "never kiss those sweet lips again."  Sigh.

Nina's is by far the most robust of these takes.  I like how she doesn't bother herself with protocol, and just kicks off the song by jumping straight into the chorus.  Her delivery strikes me as pretty self-assured - not quite as vulnerable as one might expect from the lyrics.
Nina Simone - Do What You Gotta Do

As much as I love Nina's, I feel like Roberta's version comes a little closer to capturing the essence of the song.  Her confidence seems like it's on the verge of cracking, while assuring her man that he's doing what's right.  It's mostly quiet and pretty understated, but when she decides to wail she'll break your heart.  I love her slight variation of the melody on "come on back and see me when you can" near the end of the song.
Roberta Flack - Do What You Gotta Do

Linda's definitely sounds like the year in which it was released (1993), but despite our collective distaste for early 90s adult contemporary (i know i don't speak for everyone!), she's got some good things going here.  I like the contrast between the delicate breathlessness on the verses and the force on the choruses.  And when she holds out - for 10 full seconds - the "can" on "see me when you can" at the end, that's pretty awesome.  I'm not crazy about the backup vocals or the instrumental arrangement, but you can't really blame her.  It was '93!
Linda Ronstadt - Do What You Gotta Do

Running across this Meg Baird version is what kicked off my whole obsession with this song.  Meg Baird is in the (awesome) band Espers, but she released a solo album last year called Dear Companion with this track.  Totally different from the versions above, she makes it a lilting acoustic folk ballad. Gorgeous.
Meg Baird - Do What You Gotta Do

And finally, a man!  Okkervil River does a bang-up job on this song.  I particularly love that frontman Will Sheff doesn't change the gender in the "girl like me" line at the beginning.  I think this might be the most emotionally vulnerable vocal performance of all these. I love it.
Okkervil River - Do What You Gotta Do

xoben

ps - Geo and Amanda and Ricky and I are seeing Mavis Staples tonight at BAM!  In her honor, I'll leave one more track from her.  I don't think she ever recorded DWYGD, so... here's my favorite track of hers.
Mavis Staples - How Many Times

Country Romance

hey listeners.

if there is one thing we get here at listen it's A LOT of reader mail - mail that asks a lot of questions and demands that we give you what you want.  and one of the things you've all been demanding is a return of the Barbrablogger.  SO WAIT NO MORE you desperate, DESPERATE, lonely people.

The Babrablogger -aka- Mateo is back with a country romance post.
drum roll please...............................

COUNTRY ROMANCE!


1.  Reba McIntire, "You Lied"

I listened to this song CONTINUOUSLY when I was 16.  I wanted so much to be living the tortured, angsty life that Reba gets to sing about in this song.  She's trapped in a loveless marriage with a man who can't even look her in the eye and tell her the truth.  Just wait for the first time she sings that beautiful chorus at 1:04.

2.  Garth Brooks, "Shameless"

One of the best songs he ever recorded.  The backup singers are classic mid-90's country.  This song probably should be sung at some point by a really amazing soul singer.  Geo?

3. Dolly Parton, "Love is Like a Butterfly"

Such a pretty, disarming song.  When I listen to it, it feels like Dolly is right behind me, softly singing into my ear.

4. Joni Mitchell, "Help Me"

Well, there's no way she's country.  But this was recorded right in the best part of the 70's, when everything kinda sounded country.  This is one of the best songs recorded in that decade.  And I thank my Joni-friend Jes for sending it my way.

enjoy!

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.