From the monthly archives: April 2011
Sugar – A Good Idea: A pilfered Pixies bass riff makes for one very poppy song.
Philip Glass – Musicl Box: Daniel’s Flashback: From the Candyman soundtrack, Glass at his haunting best.
Subtle – Call to Dive: Rough tune with lots of stray beats and piercing vocals; another one of my more favorite current bands.
Rollerskate Skinny – Angela Starling: Back a few years by a band brought on from my interest in Kid Silver.
Sword – Freya: Black Sabbath Jr.
Tom Waits – What Keeps Mankind Alive: Another haunting Tom song.
The Kinks – Hay Fever: From the band’s relatively silly period, this goofy one is from Misfits which I think was the first album I ever bought from them.
Dreadnots – Decade of Delinquency: From a very recently released new album from the band, this is one of many psychedelic / trippy tunes from the downloadable album.
Spotted hiding at Meadowlark Gardens last weekend.
Sonic Youth – Skink: Dark, creepy tune from the ever fun band.
Dalek – Classical Homicide: Trip hop at its best.
Rush – Red Barchetta: A bit of a different feel than the last two tunes.
Kid Koala – Space Cadet 2: Fun DJ with a more minor-tune sounding track than I’m used to.
The Fiery Furnaces – Police Sweater Blood Vow: A very peculiar band that keeps cranking out interesting albums.
Minutemen – Cohesion: Quiet, acoustic tune from the punkers.
Yoshinori Sunahara – Harusaki-Kobeni (Marin Mix): Kinda bouncy, but nothing unusual.
The Replacements – Kids Don’t Follow: Greatest band ever.
A few years ago, one of our favorite trails was closed for a “gravity redistribution” project. In short, the entire trail was tore up to create new lanes for streams and standing water.
All annoyances aside from losing access to a very accessible, friendly trail for when I wasn’t feeling terribly adventurous, I was most concerned about the Blue Bells that line the trail for over a mile, thick as blanket on the ground.
Fortunately, investigating the newly-opened trail today revealed the Blue Bells full and happy, causing the ground to glow for as far as I could see.
Few things are prettier this time of year.
Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey – Bird on the Wing: Very poppy, and a bit old, but I can’t really turn away from Stamey’s vocals.
Cut Copy – Bang Bang: Much bouncier and faster.
Liars – Flow My Tears The Spider Said: Slow haunting track from the peculiar band.
The Velvet Underground – Sweet Bonnie Brown (It’s Just Too Much): Fun tune from the second volume of the fantastic 1969 Live collection.
Spiritualized – All Of My Thoughts: Always enjoy the spacey band.
Motorhead – Dancing On Your Grave: Kinda hard to imagine Lemmy dancing anywhere.
Afghan Whigs – If I Were Going: Opening, moody tune to the stunning Gentlemen album.
Grant Hart – Narcissus, Narcissus: Wonder if the duplicate words set off any spell checkers before publishing the album.
The Replacements – We’ll Inherit The Earth: Don’t Tell A Soul always takes a bit of guff for being a safe, poppy transition from the previously punkish band, but I have few complaints from it or this song.
Deerhoof – Lightning Rod, Run: Another offbeat tune by one of my favorite current bands.
Carnival Art – Drop Dead: Early band of Michael Petak, a little juvenile but fairly fun.
Tom Waits – Day After Tomorrow: Quiet Tom song.
Boredoms – 2: From Super Roots 6, one of their more accessible songs.
The Velvet Underground – Sweet Jane: Ever heard this one?
Sonic Youth – 100%: Interesting Random Eight covering a lot of my very favorite artists.
Tom Waits – Rain Dogs: Matching a recent interest in what was my first, and probably still favorite, Tom Waits album.
Tuesday was our Cherry Blossom Day, the annual pilgrimage downtown early in the morning to see the buds, hopefully before the crowds.
With the peak bloom week usually around the end of March, the weather conditions are always unpredictable. Every year we seem to experience a different situation from bitter cold to roasting heat to pouring rain.
This year, a definite chill was in the air, but I couldn’t have asked for a better blue sky.
For years, I never saw the point of battling the traffic and crowds of people to see, what I dubbed, a bunch of flowers on trees. But for years I was wrong; the blossoms are very nifty and worth the bother, whatever bother it may be.
Contemplating Silent Wishes
Contemplating Silent Wishes, the second release from Fertanish, presents minimalist, experimental rhythms and sounds that patiently travel through a complicated and mesmerizing composition.
Zero Zero Three
Stray
