Where are we now?
The thin, white duke is back. I’ve never been a huge Bowie fan; his stuff always seems somewhat cold and elusive, which I understand is the appeal for many, but the tinge of melancholy really gets me here.
The thin, white duke is back. I’ve never been a huge Bowie fan; his stuff always seems somewhat cold and elusive, which I understand is the appeal for many, but the tinge of melancholy really gets me here.
The album’s weighty title song ‘Gangnam Style’ is composed solely by PSY himself from lyrics to choreography. The song is characterized by its strongly addictive beats and lyrics, and is thus certain to penetrate the foundations of modern philosophy.
…okay!
UPDATE: An interesting read about both artist and video in The Atlantic. Turns out there’s a lot more going on than you’d think.
I love me a savory slice of bubblegum pop, though it admittedy makes me feel old sometimes. Pop music is the domain of the young, after all: a soundtrack for the time in your life when you both have the energy to care about the minutiae of band packaging, while also lacking real concerns like paying rent or keeping your job. On the upside, changing some concerns for others behind means you can enjoy the bubblegum without worrying too much about what it says about your credibility. (For the record, I speak as a man who owns four Belinda Carlisle CD’s)
Call Me Maybe is your typically catchy number; snappy, tuneful without being too saccharine, and short enough not to wear out its welcome. The video is similarly entertaining, and while I’m sure it was focused-grouped into oblivion, Carly Rae Jepsen, a product of the Canadian Idol (according to Google), comes over as a good sport willing to poke fun at herself.
Incidentally, Ms. Jepsen is signed to Interscope, erstwhile home of other bubblegum luminaries like Helmet and Nine Inch Nails.
Got monsters, by Keith Mina Caputo
Metal, while still being known as the province of tight jeans, wispy facial hair and ripped denim vests, will often surprise you. I was pretty flabbergasted to read that Kaith Caputo, the Life of Agony vocalist, has (or is about to, I’m not sure) undergone gender reassignment surgery, and now goes by Mina Caputo.
I listened to LOA in my teens, but haven’t really gone back to it, and it was really only due to random chance (and Spotify) that I came across Caputo’s solo album, Died Laughing, aka Roadrunner record’s Heaven’s Gate. The leap from Life of Agony’s River Runs Red to the glorious, life-affirming pop of Just be on Died Laughing could hardly be greater.
Interestingly, the metal community, usually (and not entirely without reason) accused of chauvinism, seems overwhelmingly supportive of Caputo, one fan noting that “sex change is a pretty weak excuse to break up the band”. Anyway, this is the video for Got Monsters from Caputo’s fourth (I think?) solo effort, A fondness for hometown scars, and it’s both beautiful and heartbreaking.
Ashes of laughter. The ghost is clear. Why do the best things always disappear? (Ophelia)
On a sad note, The Band’s Levon Helm is supposedly in the last throes of his battle with cancer. Here is a barnburner version of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down from the Scorsese-directed The Last Waltz. (UPDATE: Helm has passed away.)
Stuck in the Middle With You was written as a parody of Dylan’s more paranoid, drug-induced ramblings, which is another way of saying it’s a parody of every single Bob Dylan song ever recorded. The line “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right” is a dig at how Dylan would often generalize a group of people by cleverly referring them to as clowns or jokers. Rafferty also borrowed Dylan’s distinctive singing style, which sort of sounds like Neil Diamond trying to eat oatmeal while having a stroke.
I bought Teitur’s debut, Poetry & Airplanes in Berkeley, back in 2003. I was leaving the US for good, and had decided to take the long way home, criss-crossing the country before heading to the airport and that final flight to the motherland. Poetry & Airplanes stayed on my discman on a near-constant basis, and largely comprises the soundtrack of that trip. (The other was Welcome, Interstate Managers by Fountains of Wayne.)
Eight years later, it’s still one of my favorite albums. The songs move from lush to intimate, tastefully scored and impeccably produced. Poetry & Airplanes feels pretty timeless and is a textbook example of solid, no-frills songwriting adhering to no particular trends. It’s understated, but never becomes overly twee, which also means it’s his best album so far. (His latest effort, Let The Dog Drive Home was very nearly very good, though, so I think he’ll surprise us yet.)
I Was Just Thinking is a song either about missing someone far away, or someone who is no longer in your life. To me, it’s been both.
Copyright © Christian von Schack | 2002-2013