Chicago – Sufjan Stevens

Off to Chicago for the weekend. It’s the windy city, but I can’t imagine how it could be any windier or colder than Hanover this morning. I’m still not entirely sure my face has unfrozen from walking in this morning.

ROSS D. FRANKLIN / Associated Press

Heroes – David Bowie

Cleaning up house on the things I posted about the last couple days. First, the US won 2-0 last night, which was pretty fantastic. To be honest, Mexico was probably the better team in most respects. In the first half especially, the US looked lackluster, was making terrible passes, and generated almost zero offensive opportunities. However, in the second half, Donovan had an uncharacteristically great corner kick to find the head of the flat-footed Jimmy Conrad who poked it in perfectly for his first ever goal for the national team.

Then, in stoppage time, Mexico made a pass which richoceted off the referee. Clark snapped it up and made a quick pass to Donovan, who was off to the races. He quickly beat several defenders and then turned on the afterburners, burst past the goalkeeper and put it in the net.

It was great to see Donovan playing more aggressively, and Jimmy Conrad had a fantastic game. Apart from the goal, he also made a number of key stops, including saving a goal late in the second half. Dempsey played well, though not spectacularly, and he definitely was exhausted by the time he was lifted midway through the second half. Bornstein was shaky at first, but kept at it and was really great as the game went on. He’s got a real future on this team, I think.

All in all, the US was still in serious trouble on offense, without a real forward and no real ability to get anything going. And their first-half performance was pretty terrible. But if they can play like they did in the second half against a strong Mexican team, I think they’ve got a good chance to really make something happen over the next few years.

Going back two days, here’s a quick addendum to my discussion about Al Gore on Tuesday. While I’m pretty sure he has no interest in running, it doesn’t hurt to make it clear to him how much this country could benefit from it. While I like a number of the already-declared candidates, there’s no one I would like to see running than the 2008 version of Al Gore.

The “draft Gore” movement isn’t particularly strong right now, but I could see it growing. However, the only way that will happen is if people make an effort. If you’re interested, at the very least stop by Draft Gore and add your name to the petition. If you want to do more, you can contribute there or, perhaps more importantly, just use the forums available to you (blogs, friends and family, whatever) to make your desires known.

This is more or less a democracy, after all. Wouldn’t it be swell if that could really mean something this time?

Update: More Gore news. It looks like he is going to set up a series of concerts “bigger than Live Aid” in July to raise awareness and get action going on global warming. More news as it comes out, but this could be pretty awesome. The intersection of music and politics always fascinates me, and especially so when it’s on an issue this important and with a name this big.

I had almost let myself get past what he did in 2000, but all of the seething anger came back in full force when I saw the first line of this post: “Consumer advocate and political activist Ralph Nader was Al Gore’s nightmare during the 2000 election, and he could come back to haunt Democrats in 2008.”

As if the premise that Bush and Gore were the same wasn’t insane enough back then, what kind of lunatic would still operate under the premise that siphoning off votes from the Democratic candidate contributes anything positive to the political climate of this country. If we have to sit through 4 more years of the Double Talk Express, the McCain Doctrine of irrational military escalation, conservative court appointments, and everything else that goes along with a Republican presidency, I may very well go off the deep end.

I used to at least respect Nader for everything that he did before his egomania became pathological. And I even sympathized with the complaint that Democrats were too willing to go Right on issues instead of taking a principled stand to defend core values. I thought the strategy of attacking Gore (and Kerry in 2004) and campaigning AGAINST the Democrats in crucial swing states was horrifically misguided, but I could at least accept that there was some genuine element underneath it.

If Nader runs again, it will only be because he is a hateful, vindictive man far more interested in preserving his time in the limelight than in helping actual people who have to live in the world.

Ugh. The only possible good side to this which someone suggested to me today is that if Nader does run, it might be the one thing that would incite Gore to step in, too. How much would you love to see Gore the crusader with all his progressive and transformative ideals in full view throw down the gauntlet to this jackass?

It would be glorious.

And here, from the master of great putdowns, is a great track from Bob Dylan, featuring an appropriate line: “You say you lost your faith, but that’s not where it’s at / You had no faith to lose and you know it.”

Positively 4th Street

* * *

Speaking of Gore, in that same conversation, I was reminded of one of my favorite bits from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

The major problem – one of the major problems, for there are several – one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarize: it is a well known fact, that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.

MP3 of this from the BBC Radio Series

I think this describes Gore perfectly. In 2000, he wanted to be President so badly that he betrayed some of his basic impulses, trying to play the part of the perfect candidate. And while I think he would have made a good president, I don’t think he would have undergone nearly the personal transformation and become the major force for significant and progressive change that he is now.

His discovery that he could be something other than President, still contribute to the world, and (most importantly) be happy doing it was enormously significant. It is the horrible paradox that what makes him the candidate I would most love to support is, almost by definition, the thing which makes him least likely to have any interest in running.

Can you even imagine what it would be like to have a president who didn’t really want to be president? Whose primary interest was to actually get things done and make the world a better place, rather than be re-elected?

* * *

Since all that Nader talked has got me riled up, here’s another subject that infuriates me: farm subsidies…

With all the faux-bipartisanship going on these days in Washington, it’s worth calling attention to one issue that truly deserves (and requires) bipartisan support: passing a new Farm Bill which rolls back the insane subsidies of the 2002 bill.

The Bush administration’s proposal for the new bill was released this week, and it includes cuts (albeit relatively weak ones). Fiscal conservatives will support it, pro-trade folks on both sides of the aisle will support it, environmentalists will support it (especially if part of the deal for cutting direct subsidies is boosting things like the Conservation Security Program), and those who purport to care about the plight of billions of people in the global South who are forced to compete with US farm exports dumped onto their markets ought to support it.

This is a time for all the Democratic candidates in the Senate to demonstrate that they know how to separate their populist rhetoric from knee-jerk protectionism and corporate handouts which disguise themselves as assistance to the poor. It’s also time for them to show that their internationalist rhetoric is backed by a willingness to compromise on this issue, which is one of the primary sticking points blocking the Doha trade round.

I am by no means a single-issue voter, but the devastation which has been done by our excessive commodity subsidies is severe, and I would strongly consider making decisions about which candidate I will support based on their stance on this issue. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, none of them seem to be talking about it much, making me wonder if there is any real political will on the Democratic side to get this done. Does the Iowa Caucus make this politically impossible?

If that’s the case, it would be a tremendous tragedy, both for our Party and for the world. As bad for the world as the Iraq war has been, I would guess that farm subsidies and the resulting dumping of underpriced commodities on the global South have done even more damage. And I say that as someone who believes the human cost of the war has been enormous.

I haven’t really watched The O.C. since season one – as much as I loved that season, the soap opera aspects of it just got to be too much – but I still try to keep track of bands that turn up on the show. It’s the strange reality of this era that I haven’t listened to the radio in years because everything I used to get from that is now far more available from blogs, TV shows like The O.C. and Grey’s Anatomy, and (bizarrely) commercials.

It’s a little weird, but the good stuff does seem to find a way to the top. To wit: The Youth Group, who received a lot of hype for their cover of schmaltz-favorite “Forever Young.” It was apparently used for some Ryan and Marissa dancing scene, which sounds almost too precious for words, but the song turns out to be shockingly good. It shot up the charts, and deservedly so, but it is by no means their best work.

These guys are all about hooks, and you wouldn’t go wrong with any of their songs, but probably my favorite is the sarcastic, faux-apology song “Sorry.”

Forever Young
Sorry

These two tracks, and 10 other slices of pure indie-pop out of Australia can be found on their new record Casino Twilight Dogs.

Huzzah! An official release date is out for the new record from Modest Mouse. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is due out on March 20. You can pre-order your copy through iTunes and get an immediate download of “Dashboard” – the first single. It’s good, and certain to whet your appetite for the whole thing.

Combine this with Neon Bible from Arcade Fire coming out on March 6, and it’ll be one of the biggest months for new records in a long time.

Still, as excited as I am about a new record from Modest Mouse, I am tempering my hopes a bit. I’ve loved their newer stuff, and have every confidence this one will be good, too, but I’m not holding my breath for something that matches the raucous, loose, sprawling opuses of their early days. Specifically, as great as Johnny Marr is, I’m not sure the guitar sound he’s going to bring will be the same as the one that just tore me to pieces back on Lonesome Crowded West.

In part it’s just because that sound was so unique – incredibly simple yet completely ineffable. If you haven’t got that one out in a while, or have never heard it, let me strongly recommend a return to their back catalog. From the gloriously despondent yet explosive “Trailer Trash” to the lurching almost-pop mess of “Polar Opposites” to the hurricane of “Doin’ the Cockroach” to “Bankrupt on Selling,” which makes you wonder how something so lo-fi can sound so ethereal, to that drum kick at 2:40 on “Styrofoam Boots/It’s All Nice on Ice, Alright” which initiates the final descent into chaos – this is a truly astonishing record.

Trailer Trash

Beyond the sound, it also has some of the best lyrics of the modern rock era. For example: “The match of the century, absence vs. thin air” or “I didn’t move to the city, the city moved to me, and I want out desperately” or “I’m trying to drink away the part of the day that I cannot sleep away.” And I’m obviously partial to “Taking heartache with hard work / Goddamn, I am such a jerk / I can’t do anything.”

And as if that all weren’t enough, the opening song alone covers most of this territory – with blistering guitars, brilliantly surrealist imagery, and some of the best loud/soft dynamics in rock history. It’s not (quite) my favorite song, but I would be hard-pressed to think of many that are better:

Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine

This is what I mean about Johnny Marr. I’m definitely curious to see what his style will bring to the mix, and I’m sure it will be good, but I’m not sure how anything could be as transcendent as the guitar on this song. Which isn’t really a criticism so much as it’s a statement of how absurdly good Lonesome Crowded West really was. And who knows, maybe they’ll raise the bar yet again.

I’ve talked about Audrey Hepburn briefly before, but today she gets the center stage, as I talk about a few songs on the theme of the most beautiful woman in recorded history.

We’ll start by noting that not only was she an extremely talented actress and beautiful beyond words, the woman could also sing.

Moon River – Audrey Hepburn

I talked about this song almost a year ago. My comments from back then: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a great film on its own merits, but I would happily watch the whole thing even if it was terrible, just to get the two minutes of her strumming the guitar, singing “Moon River.” She’s so beautiful and sad and distant and fragile. Henri Mancini won an Academy Award for the song, and rightly so, but it’s her delivery that turns it from a great song into a magical one.”

Audrey Hepburn – ist (website)

One of the crazy things about love is the way it changes everything we see. This is a love song for a woman that he thinks is “Audrey Hepburn come back from the dead,” which reminds us that the one you love is always the most beautiful in the world regardless of what anyone else might think.

But it’s also a cautionary tale, as the love fails to clarify the rest of a complicated life. And the distortions are not limited to seeing beauty through rose-colored glasses – it leads us to make bad decisions, fall into ruin in pursuit of that perfect ideal.

There is no easy answer, except to embrace the complications and hope you come out alright on the other side. And to remember that as much as Audrey Hepburn (or whoever) becomes the standard or the ideal, that’s only an image, a projection. Real life is never so perfect, and we wouldn’t really want it to be.

I Have No Sister – Oh No! Oh My! (website)

If you read any other blogs, you’ve probably already run into this one, so I won’t talk about it much, except to say that this is one of the best of the recent batch of bedroom pop songs, partly because the reference to Audrey (“you look like Audrey Hepburn when you get all dressed up / I have seen all your movies ’cause Audrey’s a stone fox “) gives it the perfect dose of post-teenage angst.

Finally, did you know that most of the songs on My Fair Lady actually do not have Audrey singing? The producers decided that her voice wasn’t strong enough so they had a professional “singing double” Marni Nixon overdub her voice. Which is ridiculous because Audrey’s voice is wonderful, in part because it’s not perfect in a technical sense. After all, Eliza isn’t supposed to sing each note precisely – it’s supposed to sound real, which Audrey definitely does. Fortunately, the original versions of most of the songs are floating around on the internets. Check out my favorite song from the film:

Final question: what’s everyone’s favorite Audrey Hepburn movie? Mine is the relatively little-known Love in the Afternoon, with My Fair Lady a close second. And Breakfast at Tiffany’s…and Roman Holiday…and Charade…and all of them.

The year is 1999. Blondie has reunited and released an album with 14 songs that make you say “yeah, that’s nice but did I really need to wait 15 years for this?” and one song that makes you answer “yes, absolutely.”

Maria

As much as I love their original stuff, this song is hands-down the best Blondie song. For me, it is tied inextricably to its time of release. It was my senior year of high school and I was still living in Washington at the time. And, while I love the Northwest, there are definitely times when the constant gray gets to you a little bit. That year in particular was a neverending string of cold and cloudy days.

So it was very nice that I took a week-long trip at the end of January to Georgia, where it was unseasonably warm (even for the South). I got to spend most of the time basking underneath 75-degree cloudless skies. And it was right when this song really took off so it was on the radio approximately once every 14 minutes – and it was the perfect soundtrack.

Even on this day, almost exactly eight years later, I still can’t listen to it without finding myself back in that place – happy, comfortable, relaxed, and excited about everything around me. I can even feel the sun on my face…

As I’ve said in the past, hip-hop is not really my thing, so when I recommend something along those lines, it should be a sign that this is something really special. With that in mind, let me say without equivocation: I love the Blue Scholars, and you should, too.

They have great beats, an impressive array of jazzy and bluesy backing tracks, and some of the most impressive politically-minded lyrics this side of Woody Guthrie.

What makes the whole package great is the way these elements fuse together to make an organic whole. This is not hip-hop which happens to be political, nor can the message be divorced from the presentation. Form and content merge to produce a compelling and unique voice.

Their subjects range far and wide from Iraq to the inner cities, touching on broad struggles for equality, the trials of day-to-day life, and the interrelationships of class politics and consumerism. Such a broad focus risks dilution of the message – one begins to wonder if these problems simply weigh too heavily on our shoulders for any hope – but they reign in such feelings of nihilism by emphasizing, above all, the role of community.

And that is what makes them so special. It’s not uncommon for artists to rail against the negative, violent themes that run so deeply in contemporary hip-hop, but this is usually done with bold platitudes that don’t seem to offer much in concrete terms.

Southside Revival

Not the Blue Scholars. They want to revitalize hip-hop but, more important, they want to revitalize the communities from which hip-hop springs. Nowhere is this more apparent than this song, which walks the fine line between recognizing the broad social and political influences which devastate local communities and externalizing all responsibility onto those influences. This is made clear on this refreshing and powerful refrain:

“It’s a southside revival, put your hands high
Let your arms be the pillars that be holding up the sky
I’ve heard a few heads say that hip-hop is dead
No it’s not, it’s just malnourished and underfed”

This is a call to community organization, political action which recognizes that politics in any meaningful sense HAS to be local before it can be anything else. It is hope unvarnished, well-directed anger at economic policies that devastate inner cities and foreign policies that start unwinnable wars in the Middle East. But it is a critique that retains a firm hold on their social location. Iraq is a terrible mistake, but that reality is given true substance, a heart and soul when Geologic says “peace to my big brother, leaving in a week, stay safe in the Middle East brother, get home safely.”

The important battles of the 21st century cannot be fought purely by individuals. Structural racism, global warming, class divisions, inequality…none of these derive solely from a single source. The government, white people, rich people, men – none of these are the enemy. Instead it is governmentality, whiteness, privilege, masculinity, all elements which create unquestioned privilege, a sense of normalcy. But along with all of these, the enemy is also negativity, apathy, a refusal to hope, and an unwillingness to strive for something better.

The Blue Scholars want you to be angry, but they do not want an unfocused anger. Anyone can feel rage, the hard part is directing that emotion to a positive purpose.

Commencement Day

It’s not the best song in history about graduation (I’m not sure anything can challenge “Thunder Road”), but it might very well be the second-best.

It is a devastating critique of modern education, listing off the host of failures (countless dropouts, budget cutbacks, inculcation of conformity, teachers who don’t care), but it is not anti-school or anti-education. Underneath all these criticisms is a demand that schools live up to the ideal. That those teachers who do care, who do try be given the tools they need. That young people who want to learn have that desire cultivated instead of beaten down.

As such, it is a true commencement. It’s for those who treat graduation as a beginning instead of an end, for those who do make it through 12 grades of school without dropping out or being beaten into submission.

And it’s all done over a smooth beat and insidiously beautiful backing track that worms its way deeply inside you.

Both of these tracks are from the superb Long March EP, which I highly recommend. According to their Wikipedia page, they have a new album scheduled for a May release called Bayani. When I hear more about that, I will certainly post again.

In the meantime, head over to Mass Line Media, the indie label they helped to start, and check out this remix, with a sample beat that should be very familiar to anyone who reads here regularly:

Inkwell (Crashed Cop Car Remix 2006)

I heard a few songs by Darla Rose the other day (via Eric at Can you see the sunset from the south side?) and was immediately hooked. These remain the only two songs I’ve heard from her, but I’ve been enjoying them so much I thought it was worth bringing them to your attention.

Number One
I Tried

Eric suggests that she sounds like an early Juliana Hatfield, which is exactly right. Except even Juliana might have had a hard time putting together something as sweet as “Number One.” It’s the kind of song that sounds so winsome that you don’t realize until you’ve heard it many times that the lyrics are more than a little dark (“I’m gonna find a way back to before you tore apart my heart”). It doesn’t make it any less pretty, but it helps you realize there is substance beneath the pretty surface.

Another point in her favor is the prominence of the autoharp, which I think we all can agree is dreadfully underutilized in contemporary indie music.

I don’t know a whole lot more than that, but if I do hear some more and it’s as good as these, I will certainly be posting again. And it looks like she’s playing a show tomorrow night in NYC, so if you’re there, you might should check it out.