On this site I will rant incoherently about songs that have utterly consumed me for extended periods of time. There will be an embedded Youtube video at the bottom of each post where you can easily check out the song. This is not a review site, and I am not a musician, so let's set the bar really low, shall we? If you would like to weather the extended rationale for this wholly irrational site, it’s in the first post.
Why am I writing about Washed Out? They're really not that great. They're pretty good, but in the high stakes world of hopelessly nerdy music dorkdom, their derivative second tier chillwave just doesn't really cut it. But here I am, posting their song for the world (or my five to seven readers) to see. Why do this? Because they served a very specific function for me this summer. When I was walking around New York City during an especially brutal heat wave, I went out of my way to listen to music that made me feel a bit cooler. Not hipster cooler, but turn the thermostat from 104 to 93 cooler. Listening to hard rock or hardcore rap probably was not going to achieve that. I needed something dreamy, effervescent, fluffy, and generally light on the ears. It didn't really matter that the song was so light on the ears that it would more than likely eventually completely disappear from my reality, it was the fact that it was there for me in my time of need that mattered.
One group that has been at least some sort of inspiration for Washed Out are The Magnetic Fields. Their album Holiday will, and has stood the test of time. "The Trouble I've Been Looking For" is posted below. If certain new bands wear their influences on their sleeves, you can at least check the sleeve and find out some other good bands to listen to!
Rock the Bells was yesterday. It's the third time I've gone, and there were a few new treats this year. They started doing some full albums last year, and continuing that trend this year with more legendary albums was exciting. Here's a chronological run-down of the performances I watched:
Souls of Mischief performing '93 Till Infinity: We got to the show about halfway through the album, but fortunately the last three songs, '93 Till Infinity, Limitations, and Anything Can Happen are my three favorite songs on the album. Good stuff.
Common performing Be: Ok. I like Common. I recognize that he's talented. There are even songs of his that I love. But watching him for over an hour, especially when there are other acts I'm more excited to see, can be rough. His lyrics sometimes make me feel like I'm watching a Dr. Phil episode with beats. I'm not saying that I'm against rap with positive lyrics, but the production often mirrors the lyrics, and sometimes there's just not a lot of bite to it. I'm posting an old song of his I do love. Sadly he didn't play it.
Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) performing Black Star: Well this proves that I'm not biased against "positive rap," cause Black Star discuss similar themes, but the lyrics are better, the production is better, and Mos Def in particular just has a very distinctive voice and flow. "Respiration" is one of my favorite songs (I actually use it to open poetry units sometimes, cause the lyrics are so good), and it sounded great.
Cypress Hill performing Black Sunday: At first I was really bummed to hear that they weren't performing their first album, because that's a better album. Black Sunday is good, but their self-titled is great. Thankfully they opened with my three favorite songs from their first album! B-Real is another MC with a very distinctive voice (DJ Muggs does too, actually), and Cypress Hill's songs came off really good live. After two consecutive hours of positivity, it was good to get grimy again. I'm posting "Real Estate," a great song with a filthy sample from their first album.
Mobb Deep performing The Infamous: Speaking of grime, this might be the ultimate grime album. Prodigy and Havoc have always been two of the best MCs, and they haven't lost it. "Survival of the Fittest" and Shook Ones, Part II" sounded especially great.
Genius/Gza performing "Liquid Swords": I've been waiting to see this album performed live for a long time, and it was great. It's not the kind of album that is gonna get people jumping around; the beats are great, but they're slightly more down-tempo than the ones on 36 Chambers and Cuban Linx. They're more of a showcase for Gza's ridiculous lyrics and flow. The stage got really packed as people started filtering over from Nas (who we skipped cause we'd seen before), and everyone was loving it.
Lauryn Hill: Meh. Forty-five minutes late at the end of a long day. We'd seen her before, so we listened to a couple of songs then beat the crowd out. She was the queen of the world for a while, but unfortunately (mostly due to her own choices, it seems) she's not anymore. Please tone down the diva. Thanks!
Summer's over, and it was back to school this past week. As a high school English teacher, the year has a necessary rhythm and cycle of regeneration. By the time the end of May comes, my brain (and body, it seems) is beat up and in need of some rest (at least from teaching). Then, towards the end of summer, after the time off and ability to consume some of the things I've been putting off ten months, I'm recharged, excited and hungry to go back to school. This past summer was especially fruitful in terms of feeding myself the things that make me excited about language, art, and life in general. For the interest of time, I'm simply gonna list some of these things:
1) The play Jerusalem
I'm quite sure people are tired of hearing me talking about this, but it was seriously one of the most amazing nights of my life watching this play. We somehow lucked into third row seats, and it was mind-blowing. I had never seen Mark Rylance act before, but from this point on I'll watch anything he's in, even if it's the Broadway version of Police Academy Five. The play was hilarious, sad, twisted, and had an ending scene that could make a person or two in the audience pass out.
2) The book A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley: Granted, Exley does not seem like a nice guy, but can he ever write! Hysterical and beautifully written.
3) The book Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides: One of those long, epic books that covers a century and multiple countries, but is so engaging and well-written that it never for a minute gets boring. Then I get sad at the end cause I can't read any more about the characters.
4) Outside Lands Music Festival: Friday night was a bit frustrating because we missed Big Boi and Erykah Badu, because Big Boi never came on and Badu's set had to be pushed back. Other than that, however, it was great fun and beautiful weather. Here's my ranking of favorite sets from the weekend. A list within a list!
1. Tune-Yards: I loved watching her sample and loop her vocals and drums at the beginning of songs to construct the foundation, and her voice and the beats sounded great as she sang over them. Also, she just looked like she was having so much fun, and was genuinely appreciative of the large crowd that gathered for her early set.
2. Toro Y Moi: He gets pigeonholed by that corny genre term "chillwave," but his songs are also influenced by funk and R & B. He was really fun live, and I can't wait to hear his next record.
3. The Arcade Fire: They're always great live, but even though their new record is pretty good, seeing them perform again just reinforces that they've never been able to replicate the greatness of their first album. That's no crime: Funeral is so good, it's practically impossible to follow. They'll always be a solid live band, though.
4. The Fresh and Onlys: This a local San Francisco band that has been blowing up a bit along with some other San Francisco bands. They had really solid, hooky rock songs, and I'm glad they played on a smaller stage. I'm definitely gonna check out their stuff.
5. The Black Keys: They are definitely a great band, but for me they are not built to play on a huge main stage at a festival. I saw them at The Warfield and they kicked ass. The Arcade Fire and U2 play songs that are made for large venues-The Black Keys need to pummel you in a small club.
6. Tamaryn: I wasn't sure if her shoegazey rock would work well in an outdoor venue, but I enjoyed her set. The vocals weren't drowned in the mix, and the hooks came through.
7. Ty Seagall: Another local San Francisco rock band, but heavier than The Fresh and Onlys. Solid set.
One of the best things about the festival is always just being in Golden Gate Park for the weekend, and being reminded of what a beautiful city we all live in. A perfect send off for the summer.
5) I bought my first piece of art!: My friend Max is an amazing artist ( http://maxehrman.carbonmade.com/ ), and I bought something from him for my apartment. Nothing huge or overly expensive, but I miss living with art, so a little piece here and there makes my apartment feel like home.
6) The book Just Kids by Patti Smith: I've loved her music for a long time now, but it was really inspiring to hear how completely dedicated she and Mapplethorpe were to art and each other. All the crazy stories about artists, musicians, and writers at The Chelsea Hotel ( :( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028125/Hotel-Chelsea-New-York-closes-Where-Dylan-Thomas-drank-death.html ) and CBGB were also fascinating to read about. I almost lost it when I read about her hearing "Marquee Moon" by Television for the first time at CBGB.
Listen to her vocals! She is THE BEST. "AND THE NIGHTMARES! G-L-O-R-AYE-AYE-AYE-AYE-AYE-GLORIA! GLOOOOOOOOOOORIA!"
7) The Gertrude Stein Collection at SFMOMA, Kandinsky at the Bauhaus at The Guggenheim, and Lyonel Feininger at The Whitney. Had a Bauhaus day in New York City, then went and saw some amazing paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne, etc. here in SF. It was also interesting to hear about the Steins' lives as collectors and patrons.
8) Writing: I got to do more of my own writing this summer, which always gets me more excited to teach once the year comes back around. It's hard to sustain a lengthy project, but the more determined i am in keeping at it, the more I find out about myself as a writer.
9) The Who's Harry Nilsson? And Why is Everybody Talkin' About Him? documentary: Harry Nilsson rules, and this documentary was a great window into his creative process, his sometimes self-destructive behavior, and just how much the greatest musicians on the planet love his music. One of the best parts is when he describes writing the song "One." He was listening to a phone's busy signal when he came up with the repeated piano note (and probably the theme of the song itself).
I have to add one of his songs that's sung by Shelley Duvall. He wrote it for Popeye, but Paul Thomas Anderson also used it to great effect in Punch Drunk Love. I love it so much.
The section at 1:25 is just so perfect.
No one ever asked before, before, because they never needed me
"But I do"
But he does!
Maybe it's because he's so alone
Maybe it's because he's never had a home
He needs me
NOTE: If you wanna get into Nilsson, you should probably start with the album Nilsson Schmillson. It's amazing.
I could go on, but this post is already way too long. All of the above things make me feel giddy and happy to be alive. And now that I'm rested and renewed, it's great to be back at school! So it goes...
Why am I writing about Washed Out? They're really not that great. They're pretty good, but in the high stakes world of hopelessly nerdy music dorkdom, their derivative second tier chillwave just doesn't really cut it. But here I am, posting their song for the world (or my five to seven readers) to see. Why do this? Because they served a very specific function for me this summer. When I was walking around New York City during an especially brutal heat wave, I went out of my way to listen to music that made me feel a bit cooler. Not hipster cooler, but turn the thermostat from 104 to 93 cooler. Listening to hard rock or hardcore rap probably was not going to achieve that. I needed something dreamy, effervescent, fluffy, and generally light on the ears. It didn't really matter that the song was so light on the ears that it would more than likely eventually completely disappear from my reality, it was the fact that it was there for me in my time of need that mattered.
