Heartache With Hard Work

It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about any Swedish indie-pop, but the long wait was not in vain, since today I can bring you music from Bedroom Eyes, who have quickly taken over the #3 spot on my list of favorite Swedish exports (behind Ikea and Greta). Their debut EP Embrace in Stereo is available for free download either at their website, or right here if you keep reading.

Blueprint for Departure is a twee-pop masterpiece, mixing jangly guitars, horns, and fey vocals in equal parts, with an assist from Julia Hanberg of another great Scandinavian band Penny Century.

Dancing Under the Influence makes me wonder why in the world I wasted the description “twee pop masterpiece” on the last song. Driven by a delightfully weightless acoustic guitars, a harmonica to-die-for, and shared male/female vocals, this is everything a twee song could hope to be. It deserves to be played while indie kids frolic through an endless summer evening. Fast-paced and loose, it is perpetually on the verge of overstepping the bounds but never quite falls into recklessness. Instead resides in that narrow band where spontaneity and structure merge seamlessly.

The Skywriter is soft and gentle with a minute-long dabble into waves of arena rock/shoegaze. However, the wall of sound does nothing to disrupt the song’s tranquility, and when tune re-emerges, it feels entirely appropriate.

Motorcycle Daydream is my least-favorite song on the EP, but still manages to be one of the best new songs I’ve heard this month.

These four songs are not nearly enough to satisfy my appetite for unpretentious yet captivating Swedish pop, but that’s all there is for now. I’ll be waiting anxiously for a full-length.

I’ve been writing about a lot of topical stuff recently, partly because the recent campaign season really got my political blood boiling, but also because in a broader sense, my politics are a big part of who I am. It affects the kind of music I listen to, the way I interpret it, and how I choose to write about it. I don’t usually make a particular effort to bring up this stuff, but it does tend to infuse things. I realize that for folks just looking to download some songs it’s probably annoying, but I make no apologies.

Music blogging is not just about downloading. At least, it shouldn’t be. Part of what makes this form of media so much different than more traditional methods is that I can be up front about who I am and where I’m coming from without having to hide behind the curtain of objectivity. Beyond that, this is a democratic space. Unlike P2P networks, blogs contain space for dialogue, an opportunity to learn from each other and move forward.

Don’t get me wrong. Music ought to be enjoyable for its own sake, and no one should feel obligated to have a deeper purpose in their enjoyment. When I say music blogging isn’t just about downloading, I do not mean to suggest that if you just listen to music you enjoy, you have a less authentic relationship to the songs. I only mean to say that we would be doing both music and politics a disservice if we pretend that the intersection of the two is insignificant. For many listeners and performers, they are inextricably connected, and that reality deserves attention.

This is particularly true in an era where political discourse has so much to do with how the message is presented. After all, who can better tap into shared emotions than musicians? I firmly believe there ought to be a public dialogue about the grand narratives of our nation and what they mean for our daily lives, and a significant part of that should include assessing the themes in our music.

Beyond that, for progressives, music should be a part of our political identity and message. It ought to include exhorting artists who think similarly to find ways to express the ideals we all share, to give voice to dreams, and to make clear the trials and tribulations we face along the way. And, it ought to include making these messages clear to the rest of the world. People often complain about Reagan’s appropriation of “Born in the USA.” And that is fair, but the problem is not that Reagan used the song, the problem is that we let him get away with it.

With all that in mind, today is the inaugural edition of Politics Tuesday here on Heartache With Hard Work. The rest of the week will be business as usual, but one day a week, I’ll wear my political heart on my sleeve, talk about topical issues (music-related or not), and focus on artists and songs that are not only good music but also good politics.

Hopefully this will be an opportunity for people to explore some of these issues, share ideas and good tunes, and learn from each other.

For those who couldn’t care less about this stuff, don’t worry. The rest of the week will continue to feature twee-pop, songs about hopeless romantics and broken hearts, and all the usual stuff. In fact, part of the impulse for Politics Tuesday is to give me an outlet for topical matters and prevent them from clogging up the tubes for the rest of the week.

Without any further ado:

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John Kerry says he’s still a presidential candidate:

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry insisted on Sunday his “botched joke” about President Bush’s Iraq policy would not undermine a possible White House campaign in 2008. “Not in the least,” Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in said when asked if the furor over his comment had caused him to reconsider a 2008 race. “The parlor game of who’s up, who’s down, today or tomorrow, if I listened to that stuff, I would never have won the nomination.”

No, it wasn’t the “botched joke” that will undermine your campaign – it’s the fact that you’re a terrible candidate who couldn’t win when handed the opportunity on a silver platter in 2004, and now the Democrats know better than to entrust you with anything close to that kind of opportunity again.

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How many people have died in the Iraq war? A Lancet study conducted by Gilbert Burnham and Les Roberts suggests the number might be much, much higher than the official guesses. Their estimate is 650,000, with a 95% confidence interval that it’s well over 300,000. Obviously, these findings are controversial, but really, even if it is “only” 60,000, shouldn’t that still be deeply troubling? And if they are right, shouldn’t that be a huge story?

I Hate the War – The Ballet

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From Think Progress, more proof that America has no idea what it might be getting into with “straight-shooter” and “moderate” John McCain: McCain Flip-Flops, Supports Immediate Reversal of Roe v. Wade. I’ll admit, I bought into the myth a little bit and told myself “it wouldn’t be that bad” if McCain were president. I’ve come around.

Scott Lemieux weighs in as well, with perhaps my favorite quote about this issue I’ve read so far:

And in case inexplicable McCain apologist Jon Chait once again mentions that McCain “said that if his daughter wanted an abortion, he would leave the decision up to her,” I note that the fact that McCain wouldn’t dream of applying general bans on abortion to people in his social circles doesn’t make him a pro-choicer; it makes him a Republican. John McCain’s daughter won’t have a problem getting an abortion whether Roe is good law or not, but a lot of other women won’t be so lucky.

Hello Birmingham – Ani DiFranco

As a sidenote, there are shockingly few songs about reproductive rights. This heartrending take on violence against abortion clinics (one of my favorite Ani songs) came to mind immediately, but I could only think of a few more. Are there some great ones I there I just don’t know about?

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On a happier note, how about this story? Well, the story itself isn’t too interesting until you hear the conclusion (thanks to NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me). The more I learn about Obama, the more I like him. His book is on top of my “to read” stack, so I’ll see how I feel after that.

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And, in the spirit of affirming life, let’s all note that today is the 34th annual World Hello Day. Join 31 Nobel Prize winners and me, and tell 10 people “hello” today. What an awesome holiday…

Hello Goodbye – The Beatles

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Finally, here are some links to a couple of my favorite past posts on political matters:

Here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart of

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: democracy just doesn’t work!

There’s a whole lot of walking to do

Thanks for stopping by. I’d love to hear feedback about whether this is interesting or useful, or if I should just stick to talking about music and let everyone continue to get their news from reputable sources like the Daily Show.

Your Racist Friend – They Might Be Giants

I finally got around to seeing Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan this weekend. Let me begin by saying that it’s hilarious. All the other discussions of its political and cultural effects matter, but we should not let ourselves get so caught up in them that we forget that the first and most important question about irony in this context has to be: “is it funny?” Much can be forgiven if it makes you laugh, and if it doesn’t, there really isn’t much point in getting worked up about it in the first place.

That said, I obviously want to talk about the other stuff, too.

I’ve seen a lot of people argue that this movie is important because it reveals “the truth” about this country, exposing the bigotry hidden just below the surface of America. But I really think that gets it wrong. Or, at least, is a very incomplete explanation of what’s going on. Three reasons…

First, it is edited. They filmed for months and produced a movie an hour and a half long. That doesn’t mean what they filmed didn’t occur, but so did countless interactions far more mundane. Second, people turn into idiots in front of a camera. Countless reality shows should prove that. Third, and compounding on the previous point, these were not scenes of “real” life. In order to be filmed, people had to sign forms, and many of the scenes were staged. They certainly knew this wasn’t just normal, everyday life, which implies that there was a strong element of “playing along.” It’s particularly true in a situation like this, where Cohen goes out of his way to use Borat’s inherent absurdity to infuse the situation with insanity. It was probably a lot of fun for people to go along with Borat’s racism in a context that seemed harmless.

To put it another way, most of the people that Borat interacts with in the movie clearly understand that something is amiss. They get carried along by the the situation and begin to play roles (“racist frat-boy,” “snooty WASPs,” etc.) because that is what the situation demands of them. The suspension of disbelief required to interact with Borat in the first place gives people the chance to play a role they would normally avoid, because the altered social conventions let them feel no fear of offending.

This is not fundamentally different than what we the audience do. Think about the “running of the Jew.” Why is such a scene funny? Well, because it’s so absurd, of course. But in addition (and this is very important), it’s because this is something that would be extraordinarily tragic if it were real. It would not be nearly so funny if it didn’t mix absurdity and an uncomfortable element of truth. And, it wouldn’t be so funny if it were in ANY other context. But since it is in this particular space, we know it isn’t real and can laugh. We perceive a change of social context and so find racism funny.

I really think that’s what a lot of the people in the movie are doing, too. Borat’s intrusion into their lives is so bizarre that it breaks the normal social conditions and they find themselves saying things they would never believe themselves capable of getting away with otherwise.

Of course, some might think it damning to say that a huge number of people in this country only hide their bigotry because of social convention. Me, I don’t find it particularly surprising. That’s what society is here for, after all. Manners, desire to not embarrass ourselves, and covert normalization is an essential part of any civilization worth speaking of. And one thing to be learned from social politics like the Civil Rights Movement to Gandhi’s resistance is that changing people’s minds is much harder than shaming them into the background.

These movements didn’t win battles by eradicating bigotry entirely – they appealed to the ideals shared by most to make EXPRESSION of bigotry socially unacceptable. The former would, of course, be better but the latter is a far more realistic goal. The continuing project is to cement the new social norms so that when the next generation grows up, it never knows anything different. It is a slow and painful process, but to expect it to be anything else would be to misunderstand the whole battle itself.

That’s not to say that it shouldn’t trouble us that people would say and do some of the things they did under any circumstance. It should. But I think far too many people see “those people” in the film as beyond the pale, examples of the racist past we enlightened folks have left behind. Which I think is dangerous because it implies that racism is something done only by the ignorant, which we, the civilized elites, can simply laugh at without having to examine our own relationship to these issues.

In short, it’s important not to think that this is how most Americans truly wish they could behave. The potential to do and say these things certainly existed in them, but it took a farcical figure like Borat to unearth it. While this is of course troubling, it’s also a sign of the tolerance in our society, which lets Borat (for the most part) get away with being insane and disruptive, which plays along with him. And, most importantly, Borat demonstrates the startling demarcation between the bigotry revealed in this film and the day-to-day experience of most of us.

We shouldn’t assume racism goes away once it is bottled up (and this film hopefully will keep that realization alive for those who see it) but neither should we consider it entirely a negative that our society does a good job of forcing people to suppress these feelings. It’s not enough, but it is an important step.

And as long as we maintain the capacity to see a movie like this and laugh not only at the ignorance of others but also at our society at a whole, and a little bit at ourselves in particular, we’re doing something right.

Given my deep and abiding love for all things Beatles, a number of folks have asked me in the last week or two about my thoughts on the “new” Beatles stuff, the Cirque du Soleil show and accompanying album Love. To be honest, it really doesn’t interest me much. None of the songs improve on the original (with one possible exception). But beyond that, even the more modest goal of providing some illumination of the songs we know so well is rarely achieved.

Don’t get me wrong. This is not a complaint about market saturation. I would pay insane amounts of money just to get access to all the tapes in the vaults. Seriously, I’d pay 15 bucks for a CD with a couple songs and a bunch of time spent recording while George tunes his guitar. And once I finished with that, I’d pay 15 bucks for the next hour. And would keep going until I ran out of cash.

But that’s not what Love is. Instead, it is a completely different approach of layering the songs we know so well on top of each other to create countless mini-medleys, making them bigger, more bombastic. It’s not a bad project, but nor is it one I can get particularly excited about.

Part of the problem is that I’ve never been very into the increasingly ubiquitous phenomenon of remixes and mashups. Very occasionally, such efforts produce something better than the original but in almost every instance, they result in something I have very little interest in. Sure, studio trickery and experimentation with sound is part of what made The Beatles so amazing, but it was all done for a purpose–to create something imbued with meaning. These new songs fail to do anything but skim off the best soundbites, creating a nice fireworks show, but not providing much opportunity to delve in deeply.

And while that makes perfect sense for a Cirque du Soleil show (which I’m sure is glorious and entertaining as can be), it doesn’t really produce a record that is particularly interesting on its own.

The one song that is a clear exception to all of this is Strawberry Fields Forever, which does a marvelous job of producing something new and unique. Unlike most of the rest of the songs on Love, it is not simply the track we’ve always known with some additional bells and whistles. It is a true reimagination of the song. The possibility of this was hinted at on the Anthology, but it is only fully realized here. Moreover, because it has its own internal unity, the fragments of other songs layered on top of it feel organic. The elephant in the room of the original does not haunt this track. It explores its own territory and reminds us once again of what a pretty song “Strawberry Fields” really is.

That one re-imagination alone made this project worthwhile to me, and it’s not like I didn’t enjoy the rest. I’m glad that The Beatles are still being experienced and I’m glad new ways of making that happen are being found. It’s just that, for me, it would be even more exciting to simply get to here some of the unedited stuff deep in the vaults. For those who are slightly less obsessive fans, this might be a far better way for you to experience them. And if so, more power to you. Part of the magic of The Beatles is that they can be experienced in so many different ways by different people, and none of them would be wrong…just different.

And if you love The Beatles and haven’t checked it out, why not take a little while to read my list of Beatles songs from Worst to First to remind yourself of all those less famous ones that are just as good as the big hits?

I’ll close with a final question for Beatles fans. One way or another (in Heaven, with a time machine, perfect cloning, whatever) you have a chance to see The Beatles in their mid-twenties play live. You only get to hear one song. What would it be? It’s tough for me to say. The raw urgency of “Twist and Shout” or “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the simple beauty of “In My Life,” the glorious extended coda of “Hey Jude?” For all that, I think I’d have to go with “All You Need is Love.” It just so perfectly encapsulates an entire era, the joyfulness of their music, and the hope was a constant undercurrent. You can hear all the songs on a record – “All You Need is Love” feels the most to me like a shared moment. Thoughts?

Debate Exposes Doubt – Death Cab for Cutie

A little bit of self-referentiality today, but I think it’s moderately justified.

I ran into a new report yesterday afternoon that John McCain has hired Brett O’Donnell, the debate coach at Liberty University (Jerry Falwell’s school) as a “communications strategist.” Of course, the article repeats the meme that Liberty achieved a “consensus No. 1 national ranking” last year, which has the small problem of being completely false.

If you want to see a not-particularly-illuminating but still moderately entertaining take on this, check out this video from CSTV. They’re not much better with the facts, but at least they get the team that won right.

The section on Ace starts at about 21:40. It’s definitely the best part. And the 3 seconds or so of me (out of about 96 sleepless hours that I spent there) they got on film are just before 38:00.

But seriously, with presidential hopefuls now tapping the debate community, I’m expecting a call from Obama any day now…

Iris DeMent is unabashedly personal, with a voice that could wring tears from a stone. There is no way to categorize her except “country” but it’s the country of John Denver, Emmylou Harris, and Joni Mitchell. In short: gentle, truer than life, and absolutely heart-breaking.

Our Town

No song better exemplifies what I mean than this one. A lament for a life gone by, it begins with a chorus that could hardly be more evocative:

And you know the sun’s setting fast
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts
Well go on now, and kiss it goodbye
But hold on to your lover, cause your heart’s bound to die
Go on now, and say goodbye to our town, to our town
Can’t you see the sun setting down on our town, on our town, goodnight

She continues, cataloging loves found and lost, lives led and discarded, children, first kisses that lead into the endless horizon, and the tears that spend years welling up. In the vein of some of the best Springsteen songs (“The River,” and “Racing in the Streets” to name a couple), this is a story of the lives we lead, the terror we all share about discovering one day that all of our opportunities have passed us by. Her town is a place full of sadness, pain, and loss, but it is also where all of those trials are marked into her identity. As such, she cannot help but end with the plaintively sung line: “I love you, my town, you’ll always live in my soul.”

Apparently, this song was featured in the final episode of Northern Exposure. I’m still several seasons away from getting to that episode, but I can very well imagine it. The earnestness of the song seems a perfect counterpoint to the show’s delicate balance between the surreal and the genuine.

Mama’s Opry

Many of same themes show up in this song, but here the tone is far more optimistic. A song about her mother’s hidden desire to sing at the Grand Old Opry, it reveals the power of the shared song between mother and daughter and the importance of holding onto dreams, not just for yourself, but also for those whose lives you touch.

Both of these songs are from her debut Infamous Angel, which is unfortunately her best work by far. The later ones are worth checking out if you like the genre but if you only own one Iris DeMent album, this should be the one.

I wrote a couple posts about Kurt Cobain a while back. In one, I said that Dan Bern’s Kurt was the best song written about Cobain. While I’m not going to back away from that statement entirely, ever since I wrote it, I have been meaning to bring up another fantastic song that certainly challenges for the title:

Mighty KC

This song, from the record Example by the criminally underrecognized For Squirrels, is one of the most touching and magical songs ever written about loss and death. It starts out dark and stormy, and about a one minute the morass solidifies into a desperate sense of anger and loss (“send me off the morgue I’m ready to be buried away in my bed…and I’m alone without the sun”).

But then, just when the crackling of his voice is almost unbearable, the loss is reappropriated into a sense of transcendent wonder (“by the grace of god go I into the great unknown”).The rest of the song teeters back and forth between these perspectives without any clear resolution yet still leaving you with a sense of fulfillment.

It got a mention from Stylus a little bit back in their Top 10 Songs By Artists About Other Artists, which is pretty cool, though I strongly disagree with their characterization of them as a “third-rate grunge band.”

I first found out about For Squirrels in 1996 from my best friend who was moderately obsessed with Nirvana and Cobain. On the first listen to this song, I was hooked, and my love for the band has only grown over the last decade. I really don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that Example is one of the best, if not the very best, of the mid-90s post-grunge albums.

The tragedy is that, just as this band was coming into their own, their van crashed, killing singer Jack Vigliatura and bassist Bill White, ending the band forever. That means we’ll never get to find out what else they were capable of, and Example, which could have been their staging ground, ended up as their swansong.

To give a little more perspective, two of my other favorites:

8:02 PM
Disenchanted

The former is fast-paced rocker strongly reminiscent of the best of REM from the 80s. The latter is more slow-paced, taking its time to build to a momomentous peak. It’s the southern-tinged version of the song Snow Patrol has been trying to write for years. In particular, check out the area around 4:00 (“I will never bow to the ages…”) which fades into an extended coda that would make the Beatles proud.

Speaking of the Beatles, “Under Smithville” captures everything great about the jangly, melodious pop song. “Orangeworker” is another strong cocontributor along those lines. And tracks like “Superstar” and “Long Live the King” show they were capable of tapping into the more intense side of rock and roll, too.

If you’re interested in hearing more, I strongly recommend tracking down a copy for yourself. You can also hear a bunch of live stuff and earlier songs at ForSquirrels.net.

What band has a more appropriate name than The Weepies? I can’t think of one. Quiet, introspective, sad…this is music to have a good cry to. Or maybe to just sit and feel contemplative while you watch the rain roll down the window.

The World Spins Madly On

As such, it’s feeling pretty appropriate today. This weekend I was in North Carolina where I, once again, saw my ex-girlfriend which was too weird for words, uncomfortable, and sad. But talked and it was good in a lot of ways. At the very least it helped to clarify that as bad as things can seem, life goes on and there is not a whole lot to be done about it.

Everything that I’d said I’d do
Like make the world brand new
And take the time for you
Just got lost
And stepped right through the dawn
And the world spins madly on

Gotta Have You

Lovesick and forlorn, warm vocals, a softly beating heart. You get the idea.

The record is Say I Am You, and while these songs stand above the rest, it’s still a dark horse candidate to make my year-end list

In Winston-Salem, NC. The hotel we’re at has neither hot water nor working internets. I feel like I’m in the Dark Ages. Anyway, lots going on, but here’s a great song from Brian Webb:

Martha

Full of warmth, compassion, sadness, and everything else that goes along with heartbreak. It’s also got some of my favorite lines about love. For example:

I said, “Martha its not some kind of contest
that says in the end, if you love someone the most
you will get to keep them”
She says, “maybe it should be.”

He’s currently located in Warwick, RI and in past days has frequented many of my favorite
Cambridge locations: Club Passim and the Davis Square T stop, for example.

Rainer Maria are no more, according to Pitchfork:

The end of 2006 will also bring the end of Rainer Maria, as the long-running band announced today that they will call it quits after two final shows, taking place December 15 and December 16 at Philadelphia’s First Unitarian Church and New York City’s Bowery Ballroom.

It’s a really a shame, since I was just starting to get back into the band. I was a big fan in college, but had really lost track of them until I heard this year’s Catastrophe Keeps Us Together. I wrote about it back in April, and it made my Top 10 Albums of 2006 (so far) list in May.

Since I talked about them there, I won’t go into a lot of detail today, except to say that I’ll miss them and hope they continue to pursue music in solo projects. And if you haven’t heard any of their stuff, check out a couple of these:

from Catastrophe Keeps Us Together
Catastrophe
Clear and True

from A Better Version of Me
Spit and Fire

from the Atlantic EP
Atlantic

And just listen to Caithlin go totally nuts. Who else could make a line like “everything expires, tonight there’s no denying, even you and I will die, so why are we hesitating?” sound so great?