Grace (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} celestialblendr) wrote,@ 2008-05-31 23:42:00 |
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musical accompaniment to my last post
These music files were supposed to be included in the post from earlier today, but as mentioned, I had to hit some yard sales and scored - the fabulous Pioneer Valley Roller Derby folks were hosting a rummage sale in Northampton. I've actually had thoughts of joining up with those folks, but that's probably a topic for more thought and another day.
That's right, music.
Ukulele-related:
Beirut - The Penalty Like some sort of butterfly, "The Penalty" spends most of its life as a plaintive little ukulele ballad before metamorphosing, and spreading its brightly colored wings for only a brief moment of horny glory. But you know what? Caterpillars are totally rad, too. If it wasn't for caterpillars, we wouldn't have silk. Also, many of them are damn cute. Plaintive little ukulele ballads are much the same.
...
I once had a student on one of my camping trips that was afraid the caterpillars in the lean-to were going to eat him in the night. Plaintive little ukulele ballads are much the same.
Sondre Lerche - Modern Nature Why is Tin Pan Alley called Tin Pan Alley? Where is it? Why are there so many tin pans? Can I bang on them? Where are my pants? What's most remarkable about this song is the fact that it was written by a high school kid in Norway in the late 90s, and was not, in fact, snitched from Tin Pan Alley. But, I suppose, there are tin pans and alleys, even in Norway. This particular kid from Norway doesn't limit himself to tin pans in alleys by any means, but the interlude is quite welcome. Incidentally, this was the first song worth listening to that I learned on the ukulele, back four years ago. I still haven't figured out how to reconcile the duetted response parts on my own.
Daft Punk - Digital Love Yeah, you know you can't listen to this song without getting a little warm and fuzzy and cracking a smile. This is high on the list of cutest damn songs ever. And, if you read my post from earlier, you know why this is ukulele related despite currently containing no ukulele. I have heard both the Mobius Band and Alphabeat covers of this song, but both leave something to be desired: there is still a paradoxically gaping, ukulele-shaped hole. I realize that much of what works here is the warmly robotic clipped edges on the vocoded everything, but I can be warmly robotic. I think. Maybe.
Other songs of the week:
Bishop Allen - The News from Your Bed There's something about bleak lyrics paired sardonically with bouncy, happy melodies that compounds the sadness in them. They Might Be Giants' serious songs have done that masterfully, and Bishop Allen, another great thinking band, plays that card to trump. This almost vaudevillian ode to dubious hermithood and existential dread is a prime example. There's a great picture in the line here, "There's a mouse in the cupboard that nibbles your crumbs and you talk to him every night. You say, 'Hey, Mister Whiskers, I'm bored and I'm numb; You can stay if you just treat me right.'" I imagine Justin Rice sitting on the linoleum with a blanket over his head talking intently to the corner cabinet.
Lykke Li - Dance, Dance, Dance I love going to the Basement to dance on Tuesday nights, when I think I can get away with it. I'd go more often if it didn't mean going alone. Which really brings me to the heart of this song, other than the way it uses either a guitar or bass as a gentle scraping percussion line. It comes down to being bold with your dancing and shy with your words. None of her other stuff has hugely struck me, though her Black Cab performance of "I'm Good, I'm Gone" is delightful for its resourceful creativity, but I think that's what the other songs need. They suffer from being a bit too polished a product. "Dance, Dance, Dance" somehow escapes this though.
These music files were supposed to be included in the post from earlier today, but as mentioned, I had to hit some yard sales and scored - the fabulous Pioneer Valley Roller Derby folks were hosting a rummage sale in Northampton. I've actually had thoughts of joining up with those folks, but that's probably a topic for more thought and another day.
That's right, music.
Ukulele-related:
Beirut - The Penalty Like some sort of butterfly, "The Penalty" spends most of its life as a plaintive little ukulele ballad before metamorphosing, and spreading its brightly colored wings for only a brief moment of horny glory. But you know what? Caterpillars are totally rad, too. If it wasn't for caterpillars, we wouldn't have silk. Also, many of them are damn cute. Plaintive little ukulele ballads are much the same.
...
I once had a student on one of my camping trips that was afraid the caterpillars in the lean-to were going to eat him in the night. Plaintive little ukulele ballads are much the same.
Sondre Lerche - Modern Nature Why is Tin Pan Alley called Tin Pan Alley? Where is it? Why are there so many tin pans? Can I bang on them? Where are my pants? What's most remarkable about this song is the fact that it was written by a high school kid in Norway in the late 90s, and was not, in fact, snitched from Tin Pan Alley. But, I suppose, there are tin pans and alleys, even in Norway. This particular kid from Norway doesn't limit himself to tin pans in alleys by any means, but the interlude is quite welcome. Incidentally, this was the first song worth listening to that I learned on the ukulele, back four years ago. I still haven't figured out how to reconcile the duetted response parts on my own.
Daft Punk - Digital Love Yeah, you know you can't listen to this song without getting a little warm and fuzzy and cracking a smile. This is high on the list of cutest damn songs ever. And, if you read my post from earlier, you know why this is ukulele related despite currently containing no ukulele. I have heard both the Mobius Band and Alphabeat covers of this song, but both leave something to be desired: there is still a paradoxically gaping, ukulele-shaped hole. I realize that much of what works here is the warmly robotic clipped edges on the vocoded everything, but I can be warmly robotic. I think. Maybe.
Other songs of the week:
Bishop Allen - The News from Your Bed There's something about bleak lyrics paired sardonically with bouncy, happy melodies that compounds the sadness in them. They Might Be Giants' serious songs have done that masterfully, and Bishop Allen, another great thinking band, plays that card to trump. This almost vaudevillian ode to dubious hermithood and existential dread is a prime example. There's a great picture in the line here, "There's a mouse in the cupboard that nibbles your crumbs and you talk to him every night. You say, 'Hey, Mister Whiskers, I'm bored and I'm numb; You can stay if you just treat me right.'" I imagine Justin Rice sitting on the linoleum with a blanket over his head talking intently to the corner cabinet.
Lykke Li - Dance, Dance, Dance I love going to the Basement to dance on Tuesday nights, when I think I can get away with it. I'd go more often if it didn't mean going alone. Which really brings me to the heart of this song, other than the way it uses either a guitar or bass as a gentle scraping percussion line. It comes down to being bold with your dancing and shy with your words. None of her other stuff has hugely struck me, though her Black Cab performance of "I'm Good, I'm Gone" is delightful for its resourceful creativity, but I think that's what the other songs need. They suffer from being a bit too polished a product. "Dance, Dance, Dance" somehow escapes this though.
