Heartache With Hard Work

Short one today.

Golden Smog, the alt-country supergroup, composed of (in this incarnation) Gary Louris (The Jayhawks), Marc Perlman (The Jayhawks), Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run), Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum) and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), are releasing their new new album Another Fine Day on Tuesday. The first single is out now:

5-22-02

It’s a great little slice of what makes Americana great, sounding like anything from a lost Flying Burrito Brothers track to a new Jayhawks song. I don’t know what happened on 5-22-02 for them (it sounds like a tale of troubled love), but for me it was the day before I left to go backpacking around Europe, and thus one that I remember pretty fondly.

You can listen to portions of the rest of the disc at Lost Highway Records and it’ll be out in a couple days.

A little bit short on time today, so I’ll make this quick.

I talked about Brendan Kelly, one of the guys from The Lawerence Arms yesterday. However, my first encounter with his music was through the band Slapstick who had a song on the Misfits of Ska CD (which I wrote about back in April). I included that song (still my favorite of his song to this day) then, but here it is again in case you’re too lazy to click on two links:

Nate B

I never got ahold of other Slapstick stuff until after they had already broken up, but fortunately pretty much everything they did is compiled on a self-titled CD. A couple more from there that I really enjoy

There’s A Metal Head In The Parking Lot

A great song about getting old that really shows off the horns. Oh how I sometimes wish I could just be a ska-kid again!

Almost Punk Enough

This one isn’t really one of my favorites by them, but I thought I’d include it because it’s fairly representative of a lot of their other songs, and also because it gives me another chance to remember how funny it was to listen to kids in my high school snottily say things like “I’m so much more punk than you are!” Completely ridiculous…

After Slapstick broke up, the intermediate space between them and The Lawrence Arms was filled by my least favorite incarnation of the Brendan Kelly Experience, but still a band with a few fine moments: The Broadways. Its members include not only Brendan Kelly, but also the trumpet player from Slapstick, Dan Hanaway. However, they also paved the way for the future by uniting Kelly and future Lawrence Arms-mate Chris McCaughan.

On the whole, I think the decision to break up and form the Lawrence Arms was probably a wise one. The newer incarnation retains much of what made The Broadways good, but feels a lot stronger musically and a little less heavy-handed in its politics. If you really like their other bands, you’ll probably like the Broadways, too, but if you’re not a huge fan, you can probably skip them. Here’s one track I quite like, though.

Red Line

One other thing: my iPod is kind of freaking out. It got plugged into a Windows computer for a few seconds and now is having some kind of midlife existential crisis or something as it struggles to remember that it’s actually formatted for a Mac. I keep trying to install the newest iPod update and it keeps refusing to do so. I think I may need to reformat it, which is a pain since I’m using it to store a bunch of files that won’t fit on my computer. Very annoying…

I finally (about 5 months late) bought my copy of the new Lawrence Arms album Oh! Calcutta! (released by Fat Wreck Chords) and I’m wondering why I waited so long. It’s their best record yet and one of the best of 2006.

While on past records, the two singers, Brendan Kelly and Chris McCaughan, have mostly traded off taking the lead for songs, on Oh! Calcutta! there are a lot more dual efforts (I hesitate to call it “harmonizing” since that sounds a little too pure for the down-and-dirty feel of the album). The result is a record that feels more complete and solid than their previous works. Instead of reeling from the all-out onslaught of a Kelly-song to the introspective, almost mopey McCaughan tunes, most of the songs integrate the two components and produce an end-result that smooths Kelly’s edges and adds some steel to McCaughan’s tunes.

It’s a little too in-tune to really qualify as punk, but neither is this is not a band following in the footsteps of Fall Out Boy. The Lawrence Arms retain their authentic feel, and if they sound more anthemic than usual, it’s only a positive.

Are You There Margaret? It’s Me God

This is my favorite track from the album, one of my favorite song titles of all-time (who didn’t read that book as a kid after all?), and probably the most high-energy chorus of the year.

Beyond The Embarassing Style

One of the grittiest songs on the record, and a great example of the two of them singing together.

The Rabbit and the Rooster

A little more exuberant than their other songs. This one is only available as an extra if you download from iTunes, and it’s definitely worth it.

As for their older stuff, a bunch of other Lawrence Arms songs are available on their website (click on the different albums to get an MP3 or two from each). And, here’s one of my favorites of their older songs, courtesy of Fat Wreck Chords:

Navigating the Windward Passage

Whew, all talking about Brendan Kelly has made me want to post about some of his earlier bands, so you’ll probably be getting some Slapstick and Broadways tomorrow.

In other news, for all those who enjoyed me Beatles from worst to first project, head over to Contrast Podcast this week and listen to a bunch of great Beatles covers. My personal favorites are Low’s “Nowhere Man,” Nina Simone’s “Here Comes the Sun,” Chris Eckman’s “Yellow Submarine,” Michèle Arnaud’s “Je Croyais,” and The Chameleons’ “Tomorrow Never Knows.” I highly recommend the Contrast Podcast in general, and this one in particular.

And, Good Hodgkins has compiled a list of bloggers who have posted on the “Best of 2006 (so far),” including yours truly, and put together a composite ranking. Many of my top 10 fare pretty well, but I’m shocked to discover that I was the only one of 22 to rank The Submarines. Where’s the love for the best album of the year?

Illinois part II, otherwise known as The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album is finally out. As much as I have been annoyed, or occasionally bored, with Pitchfork recently, I thought their review of it was pretty accurate. A 7.2 is pretty much what I would give it, too. It’s defininitely a good album, and will probably make my year-end list, but you can also tell why these songs got cut.

The very best ones certainly wouldn’t have felt out of place on the first albums, but neither would any of them stood out. My favorite is still “The Henney Buggy Band” which I talked about a few months ago, but there are a number of others that I’ve been enjoying a lot:

The Mistress Witch From McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself)
No Man’s Land
The Perpetual Self, or “What Would Saul Alinsky Do?”

These three appeal to me partly because they’re more bouncy, more playful than most of Illinois was. The last album had it’s faster moments, it’s anthemic moments, and it’s rocking moments, but these songs go a slightly different direction. Sufjan’s voice remains stunning–hushed and then soaring–and the arrangements are as beautiful as ever, but each of these songs has a feel that wasn’t quite there the last time around. The closest I can come to describing it is that it’s a little bit more like running home on a beautiful summer night when you’re 10 years old.

Plus, I love Saul Alinsky.

Anyway, listen for yourself, and then buy a copy.

Today is for a couple “growers” – songs that took me awhile to really start enjoying, but which really started to love once I gave them time.

I’m Going to Kill Myself – The You

I listened to this song once or twice a few weeks ago, thought it was pleasant but it didn’t blow me away. Then it popped up on shuffle a few days later and I decided it was really pretty good. A few more listens and I was hooked. The You are produced by Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Josh Ritter, Iron and Wine), and you can certainly sense the similarities, though this is certainly no Modest Mouse clone. This song is catchy, but in the delightfully loose, open-sounding sort of way that keeps it from getting old. Their album For The Masses will be out soon, and once I get a copy of it, I’ll probably post about them again. For now, there are some other songs on myspace or their page on Pure Tone Music.

I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys

“Oh, that’s not obvious enough Rob. How about the Beatles? Or fucking… fucking Beethoven? Side one, Track one of the Fifth Symphony… How can someone with no interest in music own a record store?”

Yes, yes, I know that everyone in the entire world has now heard the frozen primates, and blogging about them is approximately as cool as wearing Hammer-pants, but it fits the theme. Along with the rest of you, I first heard this song a long LONG time ago, but it was only in the past month or two that I really gave their album the listen that it deserves. And while it’s clearly not one of the 10 best albums of all-time, and probably not even one of the 10 best albums of 2006, it is a rollicking good time.

So, for those of you who still haven’t heard them, or those of you who wrote them off quickly because of the hype, I’d recommend giving this song another listen and then picking up a copy of Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not for yourself.

In other news, if you haven’t gone to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, you are a luckier person than me. I saw it last night and it made my soul hurt. Two and a half hours of nothing interesting happening, cliche after cliche, ridiculous “action” scenes that seem to go on forever without anything actually happening, cardboard characters, plot holes you could drive the Spruce Goose through, and a series of “plot twists” that made me wish ANY of them would simply result in the movie ending. And don’t even get me started about the crew of the Flying Dutchmen.

It wasn’t the worst movie ever, and did have some of the fun (and Johnny Depp, of course) that made the first one so good. If it had just been shorter, or if it felt like the plot twists existed for a purpose, instead of just to prolong the movie, I probably would have even enjoyed it. But sadly, it was not to be.

Finally, now that I’ve got a solid internet connection, here are a few pictures from my Mexico trip last month. I’ve got a ton more, but these are a few of my favorites.

The beach in the late evening in Puerto Escondido.

Me, on the beach in Puerto Escondido.

Me, with the Oaxaca in the background, from the hill that stands in the middle of the city.

Me, with the mangroves of the Ventanilla Lagoon.

The teacher’s strike in downtown Oaxaca, that was broken up by the police the day after I left.

A turtle from the turtle sanctuary in Mazunte. Isn’t it the cutest?

And, while I’m on the subject of pictures, I’ve also got a few from the Laura Veirs concert I went to back in May.

Good concert, though it was directly over another show that had quite a loud bass beat, which interfered with her quieter songs. The highlight from the show was “Secret Someones,” which isn’t my favorite of her songs, but which definitely sounded the best that night. Unfortunately, my attempts to record audio on my camera failed completely, but here’s the studio version of the song:

Secret Someones

That’s all for today. Things should be back to a somewhat regular schedule for awhile, now that I’m settled in and have steady internet access again.

Starting with the World Cup: two fantastic semifinal games pave the way for an Italy v. France final game. It’s not exactly what I hoped for going in, but it promises to be a pretty good game nonetheless.

In the first semifinal game, Italy and Germany both played very . The final score of 2-0 is not at all representative of the game, which held at 0-0 for 119 minutes with both sides going at it all-out. If there was a low point, it was that both sides seemed a little weak on offense, but I really more about incredibly strong defense, which squelched virtually every opportunity before it even got started. Italy looked like the stronger team, with the two goals, and a number of near-misses, including a couple off the bars, but Germany, for almost two hours, simply refused to give in.

In the other game, the only goal was scored on a penalty kick by Zidane, who (unlike some of the other huge names in the tournament) has converted opportunities into goals in stressful moments and generally played very well. Portugal’s goalie, Ricardo, made a number of unbelievable stops in the shootout against England, and he was right on the money this time, as well. He guessed right, and would have blocked anything but a perfect shot. Unfortunately for Portugal, that’s exactly what Zidane did. Two steps, head down, smashed into the corner, and France moves on.

It’s unfortunate that it ended up deciding the game since it was a somewhat questionable call. I’m not saying the ref blew it. It was a penalty, most likely, and technically was in the penalty box. It’s just a shame, because it clearly wasn’t intentional, it’s not like the French player would have been able to recover the ball absent the penalty, and it was only a couple feet from being outside the box. Like I said, not “wrong” necessarily, but dubious.

Anyway, Italy definitely looks to be the favorite in the finals. They have still yet to let an opposing team score a goal (the only goal conceded was the own-goal from their game against the US), and France has not looked all that strong on offense at any point during the tournament. Moreover, Italy has been very solid offensively, making great moves and great passes. If they have a weakness, it has been in converting opportunities into goals (if they could have just scored on one of their approximately 173,000 corner kicks, it never would have gone to overtime at all). But if Italy does get a goal, I have a hard time imagining France will be able to break through and tie it up.

So, look for a goal about 35 minutes in, and a tight game from then out. Italy wins: 1-0.

Sadly, I have a meeting during the finals, so I won’t be able to watch it live. Stupid country, not closing everything down during the World Cup finals…

Okay, a quick musical detour: My two most-obsessed about artists of the past six months are The Submarines and Brandi Carlile. No new news on the former, but Heather at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has some Brandi Carlile live stuff that’s worth checking out. And, while I’m on the subject, here’s another one of my favorite tracks (mellow but beautiful) from her album:

Happy

And, a final note on sci-fi TV: if you’re into the genre and haven’t watched Battlestar Galactica, you’re seriously missing out. I’m not ready to say it’s the best of its kind, but it’s certainly in the running. Darker, more naturalistic, great characters, great acting, and some interesting thoughts on the subject of robot ethics (something I think about a lot, and will probably write about more sometime). I’m currently attempting to download season 2 on iTunes, but it’s going at the pace of approximately one episode every couple hours.

World Cup stuff: We’re looking at a very disappointing (for me, at least) set of semifinal matches in the World Cup. I like Italy in principle, but watching the Italian team play isn’t much fun with them attacking the opposing team, delivering vicious elbows and tackles, and then flopping around anytime an opposing player is within 10 feet. Still, I have no interest in Germany winning, so I’ll cheer for Italy. I was really hoping Argentina would win this side of the bracket, but no luck there.

On the other side, I was really looking forward to an England v. Brazil matchup, but then both went and lost. Brazil never looked strong this year, but I didn’t really think anyone else did and was prepared for them to end up winning almost by default. I certainly didn’t think France (who looked pretty lost in their opening round matches) to be the one to knock them off. I’ll cheer for Portugal but don’t really have a strong interest here.

Music stuff: First off, everyone has an opinion about the Pitchfork trashing of the Sound Team. Put me with the group who thinks the album isn’t all that amazing (though I do like Movie Monster quite a lot), but a 3.7 is a slap in the face.

Also, tomorrow is the 4th of July, but I won’t have internet access, so here’s a few of my favorite songs about the holiday, and America in general. The first three are from two of my favorite artists, who do as good as job as anyone of giving voice to what is great (and not so great) about our country. These aren’t my favorite songs by them, but are still great tunes.

American Tune – Paul Simon
Independence Day – Bruce Springsteen
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) – Bruce Springsteen

The last two songs are a little more diverse. The first is a soft and pure little acoustic number by Aimee Mann that (like all her songs) has some great lyrics (“when they light up our time I just think ‘what a waste of gunpowder and sky'”). The second is from Team America: World Police and…well…you already know it, most likely.

4th of July – Aimee Mann
America, Fuck Yeah! – Team America: World Police

Alright, hopefully all these songs will make up for my sporadic posting lately. I’ve got another few days of traveling, but should be settled in East Lansing by this weekend and can hopefully post a little more regularly starting then.

I want to do a longer post on Rosanne Cash (daughter of Johnny Cash) sometime soon, since she’s got a new album out (Black Cadillac), but I’m short on time so today it’s just a quick mention of a fabulous track from her previous album Rules of Travel.

September When It Comes

This is a beautiful, haunting song, which she sings as a duet with her dad, one of the very last recordings he ever made. It really shows the strengths of both artists, and when their voices join in the second half, the combination of the gravel and dust of his voice with the smooth sheen of hers is fantastic. It’s song about growing old and mortality, and given how near it came to the end of her father’s life, it can give you chills.

World Cup news:
I’ve been traveling the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for most of this week so haven’t had much of a chance to watch, but I got to see England v. Portugal fail utterly in their attempts to score a goal for 120 minutes and then saw a series of absurdly good saves in the penalty kick shootout. Portugal, who I thought would lose to the Netherlands in their last game, is now in the semifinals.

Assuming all goes as expected later today, that sets the stage for a colonial battle between Portugal and Brazil, which could be pretty interesting.

Also, in my travels around Michigan, I made it to a few more of the locations from Sufjan’s album: The Upper Peninsula, Paradise, Tahquamenon Falls, Sault Ste. Marie, etc. It’s a beautiful state.