Today it’s raining and gray, so I decided to create a little Last.FM station for the rag “rain”. It’s perfect for today.
Now I’m listening to songs in my iTunes with the word “rain”. It’s cool to match the music to the day. It makes the rain seem romantic rather than just straight-up icky! Here’s one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums. It’s “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” by Ella Fitzgerald from Live in Budapest:
Cat Power, Cold War Kids, The Mountain Goats, Kristin Hersh, Arctic Monkeys, Ella Fitzgerald, The Magnetic Fields, Andrew Bird, Joni Mitchell, The Kills, Billy Bragg, Regina Spektor, David Gray, The Kinks, Heartless Bastards, Okkervil River, Elliott Smith, The Saw Doctors, New Model Army, Robyn Hitchcock, The Arcade Fire, Miracle Legion, Gomez, James, Echo & the Bunnymen, Shearwater, Billie Holiday, Glen Hansard, Radiohead, Wolfmother, Throwing Muses, The Flaming Lips, R.E.M., Keren Ann, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Stéphane Grappelli, The White Stripes, The Smashing Pumpkins, of Montreal, Arcade Fire, The Beautiful South, The Velvet Underground, Édith Piaf, The Raconteurs, The Old Ceremony
That sounds about right - at least for recent years. Although there are some things that are misleading. Cold War Kids shouldn’t be as high as they are. Don’t get me wrong. I love them, but most of the listens are in a one week period. Also, the only reason Flaming Lips are there is repeated listens to “Fight Test”. Similar issue with Édith Piaf. I listen to “Non, je ne regrette rien”.
lI love Last.FM. If you like what I like, listen to this to hear more.
John Darnielle (of The Mountain Goats) has written a novel about a kid in an inpatient treatment facility who is denied his tapes, most particularly Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality. This novel is part of the 33 1/3 series. John read excerpts from the novel at Regulator Books in Durham. I bought a copy, and I definitely recommend you do that same. His ability as a songwriter definitely translates to prose, and his experience in a past life as a psychiatric nurse certainly adds to the realism of the piece.
Listen to a little bit:
John also played an AIDS Walk Benefit in NYC this past weekend. In his introduction, he said, “Thank you for coming out to support AIDS Walk. When I was a young nurse, I worked with people with AIDS in Los Angeles, and I’m not going to get all maudlin about it, but I really appreciate your support of this wonderful organization. In that spirit, I’m going to play a bunch of songs that I hardly ever play.”
NYC Taper has MP3’s of the entire set. It’s so worth a listen. I finally got around to it yesterday. Pop Tarts Suck Toasted has several videos of the gig posted.
The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton (chosen because it’s Brooklyn John’s favorite!)
John Darnielle keeps on keeping on. The proliferation of songs and writing from this man is endless. A hundred years after his death, rabid fans will still be trying to collect everything he ever did. Yeah, he could sit on his laurels for a long while, and his fans could try and catch up, but that’s what I like about him. He’s always one step ahead.
As you know, I’m not very political, but I have to admit that the promise of a new administration has gotten me more engaged than usual. Here’s a Super Tuesday song from The Mountain Goats.
Chan Marshall of Cat Power two nights ago at the Bataclan in Paris
Creative Commons image by DJ Arbobo
Pay money for this one. I keep thinking of more and more people who will love Cat Power’s Jukebox (just released yesterday). This album is somehow both intimate and spacious. Intimate like the show I saw a few months ago, in that you sometimes feel like she’s singing right to you and revealing herself, making herself vulnerable. But it also has moments where it’s sounds like it’s being recorded in a big abandoned echoey church. Like you are a voyeur who came across something big, and you’re not sure you want to share. There is an importance in these songs… as if you’ve heard them for years. I think it’s going to be in medium-heavy rotation in my life for a long, long time. Very accessible AND very brilliant, a rare co-occurrence. Chan Marshall may be a bit nutty, but man, this woman can interpret the shit out of a song and make it utterly, totally her own.
Download the MP3 album from Amazon (free of all DRM bullshit!)
Here’s a sample. It’s a redo of a song she has recorded previously: Metal Heart. I loved the original version, but this take is equally satisfying and brilliant in its own right:
(Crap. Wanted to stream and not share. Need to do some research on that!)
