Favorites

Looking for new music to love? Of course you are, and I can help: check out the Magic Numbers! They're not actually that new, but I never hear anyone talking about them and that's just not right. I got their eponymous album for Christmas four years ago, another example of cool things my parents know about before I do, and have loved it ever since. I just spent an entire five-hour car drive listening to a few of the songs on repeat. I'll let you pick your own favorites, mostly because it'd be too hard for me to select just a few. I don't know if I've ever heard any other music that I thought was so perfect--I literally wouldn't change a thing about these songs. Check it.

My Songs

Yesterday, I had my own song stuck in my head all day. Literally I would catch myself singing it sort of absentmindedly, or slowly realize that it had been cycling in my head for the past ten minutes when I was focused more on something else. And it's a song that I WROTE! That is such an awesome feeling. Which is also cool because, hello, I just validated myself. Rock and roll.

After enough other people confirm that sense of validation, maybe I'll bring myself to post some songs I wrote here.

"DIY"

I read this article on Pitchfork the other day--actually it was an interview with the band Health--and they said something about the Los Angeles "DIY music scene." I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I like the sound of it and I'm gonna find out. It seems like a very appealing idea.

UPDATE:
I saw it again! I'm making my way through The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs From Punk to the Present (a great book, I highly recommend it), and in the blurb about Buzzcock's "Ever Fallen in Love" Marc Hogan writes that the band "played a key role in launching the British do-it-yourself movement." WHAT is this all about?

Song of the Day

"Melt" by Phil Roy. I'm listening to it on XPN's Live at the World Cafe Volume 11 collection, but the song is from his album Grouchyfriendly, which I will be checking out shortly now that I've fallen in love with "Melt." It's a relatively simple-sounding piece about unreturned feelings, and what I really like are the lyrics from the chorus:

"But last night, I had a dream
I saved your life
I proved my love
I took the bullet
I killed a shark
I kissed your hand
I thawed your heart
I thawed your heart"

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

. . . played at the TD Banknorth Garden Wednesday night! Posted here because it was such a big deal for me.

Of Montreal @ the Dise

I would never have thought to go see Of Montreal this past week, though I knew they were playing two nights in a row at the Paradise. Luckily I have a friend who wanted to go and another friend who got us tickets, so I found myself in the audience Tuesday night.

I've had Of Montreal on my iPod for quite some time, recommended by various people whose taste I respected to varying degrees, but I couldn't sing along to or probably even name a song. Considering this I kind of assumed that I must have listened to the music when I first acquired it and found that I disliked it, because I always skip right over that name in my artist list. But I'm going to have to give them another shot (next time I'm bored with all the stuff I know I like--it happens more frequently than you'd think).

The show was actually pretty fantastic. The band was solid, all the musicians were good performers (by which I mean they were dancey and seemed engaged), and the singer in particular did some pretty awesome stuff with his voice that was really cool to hear live. And though I think that that should always be enough, there was plenty of other stuff going on, presumably in case the audience got bored, or forgot to take their psychedelics before leaving the house. To begin with, (some of) the band members were wearing pretty interesting attire. But their costumes were bland compared to the weirdness the many other performers were sporting while running on and off the stage and acting out strange scenes I wasn't sure I wanted to understand. Then there was the projected video on four screens behind the band. It was sometimes changing patterns, sometimes live footage. Sometimes synced with the music, sometimes not. And this was all in addition to the pretty sick lights show they had. I felt a little dizzy at times, and once or twice had to look away, but I was NOT bored. And I think that I will NOT be trying acid ever.

The Grey Area @ Bill's Bar

The Grey Area is a local (Boston) band that's gained a bigger and bigger following in recent months. They've been playing more shows, many at Harper's Ferry, and practicing a LOT. I know this because a good friend of mind is in the band, and though they make music a little different than what I usually listen to I like to go to their shows when I can. I don't want to box them in with a label, but I think if I had to I'd probably describe them as a "jam band."

I'm writing about The Grey Area because I went to their show the other night. They played on (what was supposedly) the last night of Bill's Bar, along with Otherwise. And what was so cool for me about this show was that they had improved SO much since the last time I saw them, just a few months ago. The difference was just incredible--I noticed it before I even started trying to listen critically. They were interacting with each other much better, they sounded tighter, and there was so much more in the music to grab on to, more compelling the audience to listen up. I know they've been working really hard and it was so inspiring for me to see what a huge difference that work made. I hope everyone will check them out--I'll definitely post next time they have a show!

Favorite Music for Today

My favorite music for today is Mason Jennings! I woke up with "The Light (Part II)" in my head and now I am on a Mason Jennings binge. Highly recommended to anyone with an appreciation for beautiful lyrics and lovely guitar. My favorite songs at the moment are the aforementioned "The Light (Part II)" and also "Fighter Girl and "Crown." I love those three so much that one listen usually leads to immediate repeats, but I am determined that today I am going to give the others a chance. I've also just downloaded his first album from emusic and I'm excited to check that out. I'm really interested to see how someone with such a consistent sound started out.

Song of the Day

This is actually more like a song of the past 2 days, and I expect the next several too. I've been listening to the Black Crowes' "She Talks to Angels" constantly . . . and I keep wanting to hear it again! I'm going to learn to play it on guitar so I can really feel like I own it.

Here are the lyrics:
She never mentions the word addiction
In certain company
Yes, shell tell you she's an orphan
After you meet her family

She paints her eyes as black as night now
Pulls those shades down tight
Yeah, she gives a smile when the pain comes,
The pain's gonna make everything alright

Says she talks to angels,
They call her out by her name
She talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name

She keeps a lock of hair in her pocket
She wears a cross around her neck
Yes, the hair is from a little boy
And the cross is someone she has not met, not yet

Says she talks to angels,
Says they all know her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name

She don't know no lover,
None that I ever seen
Yes, to her that ain't nothing
But to me, yeah me,
Its everything

She paints her eyes as black as night now
She pulls those shades down tight
Oh yeah, there's a smile when the pain comes,
The pain's gonna make everything alright, alright yeah

She talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name
Oh yeah, yeah, angels
Call her out by her name
Oh, angels
They call her out by her name
Oh, she talks to angels
They call her out
Yeah, they call her out
Don't you know that they call her out by her name


But you have to listen to it so you can fully appreciate how wonderful this song is.

Musician

Just wanted to add:

I know I am going to be a musician because that would make me happy, and all of my life experiences thus far have led me to believe that I am meant to be nothing if not happy.

Musician

I've got a couple song lines revolving in my head right now, which almost never happens. Usually it's just one at a time. So I'm taking them really seriously, because they're all telling me the same thing:

"Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk" --Springsteen
"Played 'til my fingers bled" --Bryan Adams

And I know what I have to do. Full steam ahead with my dream, no questions asked, and no pausing to listen to anyone else's doubts, and especially not my own. That's it, that's what I want, and I'm going for it. I'm just going to voice my concerns here as a way of shedding them once and for all, and then I'm going to leave them here and continue on lighter and faster than before.

I've been worrying a lot lately that maybe it's too late. I know that sounds really stupid because I'm SO young, but it seems like everyone I know who plays an instrument well started very young and has known that that's what they want to do for years. Plus I just read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, and while I understand that it means that ANYONE can be talented, the whole Ten Thousand Hour rule has me down. But you know, this is largely impatience on my part, and excuse-making. I'll never succeed so I won't even try kind of thinking. Which is just plain stupid. No, I won't be rockstar in a month. But in 6 months, I'll be way better than I am right now--even better if I keep in mind the quote I posted here the other day, that "talent is a species of vigor" (--Hoffer). There is no fundamental difference between me and "real" musicians except the amount of hard work they put into it, and the determination they possess.

I just have to share this too, because it was a huge help: I met Sam Powers (bassist in Superdrag) the other night and he was so encouraging about this whole thing. He took the time to ask me about what I wanted to do and what I have done so far, and then to make some funny and snide comments about his own natural abilities. Basically, he pointed out that (since I've played violin since I was 4) I have a great head start already, and that many people have been successful with little natural talent or none at all. So there we have it: If they can do it, I can do it. And here we go.

Rocco DeLuca & The Burden

I just got back from Rocco DeLuca's show at the Paradise. I'd never heard of him before, I was just in a bad mood and needed some fun so I figured I'd head to the Dise. Despite going into the show without expectations, I somehow still left with mixed feelings. He was pretty fantastic in terms of skill. I always appreciate an act that can make a complete sound with just one or a few people--in this case just a guitarist/vocalist and a drummer. I honestly don't know enough about drums to comment on that part of it. I can tell you though that (the man who I assume to be) Rocco had great voice control and did a lot of cool, interesting sounding stuff with his guitar. At certain points I was standing on tiptoe trying to see if there was anyone else on stage helping contribute to the sound, but it was just him on guitar. I guess really everything about the music was great, musically, it just wasn't that fun. I didn't feel engaged, I didn't feel compelled to stay, and the performers didn't give any indication that they really cared how I felt about it or even that I was there. I guess my point is that for a 17 dollar ticket PLUS my time, I want something I can't get just by listening to a CD.

Evil Urges

Apparently Evil Urges is My Morning Jacket's fifth studio album, but I have to admit I never listened to them before it came out this past summer (released June 10, 2008). I heard several of songs from the album many times over this summer thanks to XPN and I've recently started listening to it frequently again, but I honestly don't know if I'd recognize the band in a song I didn't actually KNOW was them. I just can't get over how completely different the tracks on Evil Urges sound--to the point where I love some of the songs ("I'm Amazed," "Thank You Too!," "Sec Walkin," "Librarian") and don't even like some of the others (all summer I changed the station whenever "Highly Suspicious" came on). "Sec Walkin," for example, reminds me a little bit of the Eagles while "Highly Suspicious" seems far more new wave and has a completely different feel. I'm going to have to check out some of their older albums (especially Z, from 2005, when the current band members were already together) and think about this some more. I'd be really interested to know if anyone else shares my opinion of Evil Urges.

KATY PERRY

Coco Chanel once said "Some girls are just born with glitter in their veins," a quote I have always loved and tried to keep in mind, thinking that I would like to be or maybe sort of hoping that I am one of those girls. Well let me tell you, Katy Perry is absolutely one of Those Girls, no doubt about it. She put on a FANTASTIC show tonight. She is just completely fabulous--audience-engaging, attention-grabbing, definitely not afraid to MAKE NOISE and TAKE UP SPACE. She takes up a LOT of space with her back-and-forth stage antics and her sequined mini bodysuit (my pics from the concert coming soon) and makes tons of awesome noise with her big, spotlight-loving voice. Definitely a girl with glitter in her veins.

House of Blues

So I'm going to the new House of Blues for the first time in about half an hour, and I have seriously mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's about time I saw it. Everyone's been talking about the thing for MONTHS, and everyone who's been there or works there raves about it, and it really is a huge thing for the Boston music scene, which I'd like to be more involved in. However, the mere fact that everyone's been raving about it makes me totally resentful--I have a natural, stubborn unwillingness to appreciate things that are shoved in my face--plus, it's been messing up my life with stupid crowds and lack of parking on Lansdowne Street since February. And now that Bill's is supposedly closing (I'm not ready to accept it) I am just SO not in the mood for any corporate Live Nation crap. I'll make an exception for the Dise because I love it there so much, but I really hate the idea that Boston seems to be creeping ever closer to the glossy, uninteresting, business-class-perfect mainstream.

Of course if it weren't for HOB (and my awesome friend Alex, who does monitors there and got me tix!) Katy Perry probably would've just skipped over Boston. And I don't care what kind of music snob you are, if you like fun you like Katy Perry.

Rock 'n' Roll Heart

"Don't need no glitter, no Hollywood
All you got to do is lay it down and you lay it down good

I get off on '57 Chevys
I get off on screaming guitar
Like the way it hits me every time it hits me
I've got a rock 'n' roll I've got a rock 'n' roll heart"

--Eric Clapton