Heartache With Hard Work

It’s a day late, but this may be the single best thing I’ve ever seen:

“You gotta love bar mitzvah even if you’re not an a-roooooohh!”

Pure genius.

There’s something incredibly comforting about a good lo-fi song. It feels organic and close in a way that even the very best studio-produced music never can. It’s hard to do well, which is why final versions usually sound better than demos and why words like “rough” or “distant” don’t usually inspire people to listen.

But that’s part of the charm – that the line between some folks in a bedroom with a laptop and that transcendental moment of unshorn perfection.

Night Lights – Mighty Narwhale

To get an idea of what I mean, check out this track. It starts with a buildup that makes my heart soar. And while the rest of it is nice enough, it always feels just a little a bit disappointing because it can’t quite live up to the potential of that first glorious minute. If I ever needed a soundtrack to my life, it could very well be the first 55 seconds of this song.

The Mighty Narwhale are from Michigan and make pop music with horns, windchimes, and handclaps.

These Are the Eyes – Bodies of Water

Far more exuberant, but no less soul-touching. This evokes a room full of friends smiling, crying, shouting, laughing…all of it in the throes of a passion too beautiful to be subject to clean lines or delineations. It’s not as polished as an I’m From Barcelona or Polyphonic Spree, but it rocks in a way those (good as they are) never really could. This is the sound of people who really mean it, who are singing with all the strength and conviction they can muster, staring into the blinding light and refusing to blink. There’s the escalating call-and-response, and when it ignites at the 3:43 mark, you almost think you can touch heaven.

Bodies of Water are based in LA and are probably the best indie-gospel band in existence.

And release…

Long, very busy weekend with a not completely satisfying conclusion but on the whole it was nice to get back to Cambridge for a little while and it was great to see a bunch of old friends. And, amidst all the other madness, the Red Sox won the World Series!!!!11 I didn’t even get to see most of game 4, and it was a little anti-climactic but it was still awesome.

We’ll be returning to your regularly scheduling programming tomorrow, but for tonight (in honor of the first real frost of the year) a song I’ve posted before, but which can never get enough love:

Antarctica – Antarctica Takes It!

It was my #1 song of 2006, and there’s a full write-up on the band here.

Is that not the scariest thing you’ve ever seen in your life? I’ve never been a huge fan of mascots, but I’ve also never feared that one was going to eat my soul…until now. (h/t Who Ate All the Pies)

Evil – Interpol
Lions and Tigers – Asobi Seksu

On a baseball note, does anyone else know of another time in baseball history when a pitcher has walked a guy with the bases loaded in three consecutive at-bats? It’s probably happened before, but surely never in the World Series. The question is: will Ryan Speier ever be able to pitch again without thinking about it? Yikes.

(h/t Neatorama)

I almost think I have to subscribe to this, just to have as a conversation piece laying around the house.

SOS – Abba

I talk about a lot of Swedish music here, so it only seems appropriate to go back to one of the classics. I still remember the first time I heard this song – listening to one of my parents’ old records. I though it was absolutely brilliant. And over the years, my appreciation for the pop artistry has only increased. Especially the little guitar flourishes during the choruses, which just slay me.

From Lawyers, Guns, and Money – one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time.

The problem:

The deputy mayor of the Indian capital Delhi has died a day after being attacked by a horde of wild monkeys. SS Bajwa suffered serious head injuries when he fell from the first-floor terrace of his home on Saturday morning trying to fight off the monkeys.

The city has long struggled to counter its plague of monkeys, which invade government complexes and temples, snatch food and scare passers-by.

And the solution:

One approach has been to train bands of larger, more ferocious langur monkeys to go after the smaller groups of Rhesus macaques.

I can’t see any problems at all with that plan.

Never Trust a Monkey – Brak (from Space Ghost Coast to Coast)
Bullmonkey – Black Happy

For more on Black Happy, see my previous post on the subject.

(h/t to Boing Boing)

I’m instituting a new policy for the next few days. I’m busy again so there’s no time for the posts-that-never-end I usually write. Instead, it will be some random song I like combined with a link to something on the internets I think is funny (see above).

Can’t Believe a Single Word – VHS or Beta

Dance-rock with an emphasis on the “dance.” Okay, and with an emphasis on the “rock,” too. Enjoy.

Palomar are not interested in genre-bending. Indeed, their focus is exactly the opposite – an attempt to dig deeply into basic themes and reveal them in all their glory. It’s surprisingly refreshing, actually.

Their new record All Things, Forests (eMusic) is a triumph of tension and release, a battle between effortless pop and thunderous guitars, between verses that hold onto a minor key with all their strength against choruses and guitar lines just aching to be set free, between madness and genius.

In that respect, it reminds me a great deal of Boxer from The National. However, while that record rode the tension from start to finish without resolution or release, Palomar are more than happy to blow up the dam and let it all run free. And in that instant when it all breaks free, it’s all the more satisfying because of the wait, like the moment when you finally give in and scratch a mosquito bite.

It all kicks off with the pleasantly charming twee of “Bury Me Closer.” But then, in a sign of many sequencing decisions to come, they follow this effervescent, quirky track with the dark, sullen, barely contained darkness of “Our Haunt.” It’s full of distortion and a brooding guitar line and absolutely demolishes every other 90s throwback band on the scene right now.

The next three tracks navigate the space in between these tracks, with songs that brightly shine and melodies that grow from shy little things into choruses that simply cannot be contained.

But all this is merely set-up for another change of pace, provided by the magnificent “Beats Beat Nothing.” At its heart is Warren’s voice, balancing effortlessly between the opposing forces of atmospheric percussion and guitars that weigh heavily like an anchor. It’s the eye of a hurricane, and even though you know the explosion is coming, you still aren’t prepared for the onslaught.

Perhaps the only misstep on the record is “He Came to Stay,” which indulges itself a bit too much with the loud/soft dynamic at the expense of ever developing an underlying melody, thus leaving it bereft of the seething tension that makes the other songs so powerful.

All is forgiven though, by the next track “Bridge of Sighs,” possibly the best guitar-pop song of the entire year. The interplay between drums, guitars, and vocals are never better than on this track. And you can’t help but revel in the smiling-to-take-away-the-pain wryness of lines like “Launched too late to aim for the stars, I know we don’t feel bad, cause we’re never going to have to fall very far.” Frankly, I can’t really understand why this song isn’t already a huge hit.

The list of great songs doesn’t end there. “Woah” is far too deadly to be so beautiful. Or maybe it’s the other way around. “Surprise Us” is a classic slow-builder – never changing pace, but adding layer after layer until an acoustic lament grows into an epic finale that shakes the walls down around you.

After a couple months with this record, I’m still astonished to find how new these songs still feel. More than almost any other record this year, this record has a sharpness, a intricateness of composition that makes you come back for more. That makes All Things, Forests is one of those rare beasts – an album I loved from the first listen, but which still sounds better each time I hear it. I really can’t recommend it highly enough.

MP3s:
Bridge of Sighs
Our Haunt

I don’t have time for a long post today, so here’s the quick hits from the day.

1. JD Drew, despite the evidence of the past 6 months, is actually a very good baseball player. He demonstrated this fact tonight. It’s all down to game 7 and Dice-K. Exciting times tomorrow.

2. OMG, how did I not find out about Kate Nash until this weekend?! Made of Bricks is not (quite) my favorite record of the year, but it includes three or four of the most charming songs I’ve heard in years. I have basically not stopped listening to it for the last 24 hours. Serious review forthcoming, but take my word now and go find yourself a copy.

3. Reading got shellacked again, but at least Kevin Doyle has rediscovered his scoring touch and picked up a couple goals.

4. I could really do without Homecoming weekends. College campuses already contain way too many people, but when you add a couple thousand more into a tiny town like Hanover, I start to get seriously claustrophobic. It also doesn’t help that it’s the time of year when the peepers show up.

I’ve Always Loved the Fall – Lost in the Trees

5. Finally, how about an old Malkmus tune for a Saturday night?

Vague Space – Stephen Malkmus

Despite some miserable luck and lackluster performances, the Red Sox have survived long enough to bring the series back to Boston. I don’t like their odds, but they’ve still got a fighting chance. The big stuff so far: Josh Beckett continues to impress, Manny is absolutely destroying the ball, and I’m pretty sure I could hit better than Coco Crisp right now.

Also, everyone’s all up in arms about Manny showboating, failing to run out a popup-cum-homerun-cum-single, and have the temerity of giving an honest quote (“We’re not going to give up. We’re just going to go and play the game, like I’ve said, and move on. If it doesn’t happen, so who cares? There’s always next year. It’s not like the end of the world or something”). People are tripping over themselves to condemn him for not playing the game right and not doing enough to help the Sox win. Which is all interesting because he, Beckett, and Ortiz are the only reasons why this team is even still playing baseball.

Sure, it would be nice if he hustled and didn’t do his space-cadet act sometimes, but I have a really hard time getting worked up about it. I know it’s been said before, but…it’s Manny being Manny. If you can’t come to accept stuff like this sometimes, you’ll drive yourself bonkers over something that will never change.

And it’s just me, but I’d far rather have a goofball on my team to cheer for than a team full of cookie-cutter Johnny Ballplayers ready with every lame cliche (“I just want to help the team,” “gotta play ’em one day at a time,” “give it 110 percent,” etc.) and no personality.

Anyways, here’s some music:

Iron and Rust – Pinto

It’s from Sweden. It’s sweet indie-pop with some dark undertones once you pay attention to what they’re actually saying. What’s not to love? Pinto is basically one guy, and he’s got the formula down perfect. “Iron and Rust” is funny, sad, and far more touching than you’d ever expect.