Some Songs Considered - Posts Tagged '2000s'

March 13, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Surf’s Up” – Brian Wilson
(Words/music: Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson, available on Smile, Nonesuch 2004)

Brian Wilson’s rerecorded Smile, one of popular music’s greatest “lost albums,” came out right around the same time that I started to look at the Beach Boys as more than a kitchy’60s act. I have a vivid memory driving around northern Rhode Island trying to match a washer for a drum set, listening to late period Beach Boys albums and discussing the efficiency in the arrangements with a friend of mine. I asked him about Smile and he gave me the run through of unofficial sequences and alternate recordings, rattling off a few of the songs he thought I’d know, almost stopping cold on some major road when I looked back blankly at “Surf’s Up.”

Now, I regularly listen to Wilson’s piano demo of “Surf’s Up” from the Good Vibrations box and marvel at the way he threads the song’s different sections together. I’ve never really focused on the lyrics, so I’ve let Wilson’s voice and the different, often overlapping, melodies wash over me. When I first heard Smile, I was curious to hear how “Surf’s Up” would sound decades later. Remarkably, it sounds like the original with a little more shine on it. The harmonies are flawless and perfectly balanced with each other, but it still comes down to Wilson and his piano. His voice, particularly in every television performance I’ve seen over the last six years, feels worn both by age and by decades of demons, but when paired with one of his melodies, it sounds as arresting as ever. Certainly as captivating as it sounded that one night stopped dead in traffic somewhere in Rhode Island.

More on Brian Wilson: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

March 12, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Redemption Song” – Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer
(Words/music: Bob Marley, available on Cash Unearthed, American / Universal 2003)

I spent four years in college yet never went through a Bob Marley phase. My instinct is to say that I got enough of it second hand, but after thinking about it for a minute I’d say that it was repeated plays of the same Marley tunes that burned me out on his music. I could only hear “Get Up, Stand Up” and “I Shot the Sheriff” so many times before a quick upward strum on a guitar would cause me to retreat. The positive side effect to this combination of burnout and stubbornness means that occasionally I get to make small discoveries in Marley’s cannon. The first one, the one that made me rethink my distaste, was “Redemption Song.” Sure, it partially has to do with the different instrumentation, but it was Marley’s careful weaving of his personal spirituality and politics of liberation that made the song speak to me. At other moments, Marley leans heavily on one (or both) of these polarizing ideas, but on “Redemption Song” he strikes a balance where it’s easier to see the beauty of his convictions without getting caught up in the polarizing details.

The first version of “Redemption Song” I truly loved was on Joe Strummer’s posthumous Streetcore album. In particular, I loved all of the extra touches – the guitar flourishes, the organ chords – that accompanied Strummer’s voice. Later on, I heard this duet version – the same instrumental track only with Strummer and Johnny Cash trading verses. Neither man saw the release of this track (Cash Unearthed came out shortly after his death), and I’m not even sure if Cash and Strummer recorded the song together or whether Cash added his vocals afterward (if you know, I’d love to know). All of this leads me to the most interesting bit of trivia (remember, I’m a Marley lightweight, so this didn’t seem obvious to me) that Marley wrote and recorded “Redemption Song” after his cancer diagnosis. All three of these men sang this song near the end of their lives (granted, for three different reasons – Marley’s illness, Strummer’s sudden heart attack, and Cash’s slowly declining health), and I’d like to think that this song brought them all peace as they neared the end of their time on Earth. If nothing else, all three – Marley’s original, Strummer’s version, and the version Cash augments – left beautiful interpretations for us to remember them fondly.

More on Johnny Cash: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

March 11, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Danger! High Voltage (Soulchild Radio Mix)” – Electric Six
(Words/music: Joe Frezza, Steve Nawara, Anthony Selph, and Tyler Spencer, available on Danger! High Voltage EP, XL 2003)

Right now I have a cold – thankfully one that’s not too dehabilitating, but one that’s just enough to make eating a chore and frustrate me with the periodic coughing. Most relevantly, it’s only made me more tired the last few days. Naturally, I looked to music before over-the-counter medication (or quality rest, perhaps the wisest option). The hope was that the right song would dislodge whatever ails me and put my brain back on solid footing.

So I turned to “Danger! High Voltage” in my time of need hoping that it would de-gunk my insides. Maybe it’s the Taco Bell line, but I hoped this song would have a Tabasco-like cleansing effect. Perhaps it’s over-the-top absurdity and driving beat would lift my spirits. If nothing else, that gaudy saxophone at the end would give me a laugh, and folk wisdom suggests that laughter is the best medicine, right? Or maybe listening to it would fill me with nostalgia for the first time I saw this video on the internet, probably in Real Player format before YouTube would make something like this immediately accessible. As a last resort, I could picture Jack White and Dick Valentine standing over a small fire, manically screaming back and forth at each other about their desires.

Of course, this didn’t work. I’m still hacking away, but at least I’m smiling a little more. And now I really want a quesadilla.

More on Electric Six: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

March 10, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“It’s Only Divine Right” – The New Pornographers
(Words/music: Carl Newman, available on Electric Version, Matador 2003)

In the past week, I’ve seen a few misconceptions about the New Pornographers that sparked the obsessive music geek in me. I’ve seen it intimated that Destroyer, the prolific musical output of New Pornographers contributor Dan Bejar, was Bejar’s side project. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Bejar contributes a few songs to the New Pornographers and generally doesn’t tour with them anymore. I bit my tongue, writing this off as a mistake in wording (he is better known for being in this band than for his solo output), but an even odder gaffe made me proclaim out loud at my desk. While going over guests on the forthcoming New Pornographers’ album (which supposedly has many of legitimate guests), “A.C. Newman” was listed as one of the guests. This baffled me – in certain parts of the internet, this would be like saying Paul McCartney made guest appearances on several Beatles albums! Newman is best described as the leader of the New Pornographers and, if anything, does his solo albums as side projects.

I make this assertion because (thus far), Newman saves his best songs for the New Pornographers. Not to diminish his two solo albums, both fine discs, but it takes maybe half of the New Pornographers’ Electric Version to see what Newman’s songs feel like when he’s firing on all cylinders. “It’s Only Divine Right” marries many of the best qualities of Newman’s songwriting – a driving beat, gently tangled melodic lines, and some clever wordplay. It’s equal parts bouncy and bombastic, enjoyable and edgy. Most importantly, it puts all of its parts to their best use, particularly Neko Case’s beautiful voice. Personally, I think Case sounds best when singing Newman’s songs, and it’s her harmony notes that bring “It’s Only Divine Right” toward pop godliness. Whether she’s doubling Newman’s lyrics or singing the series of rising notes right after the hook, Case’s voice adds a different texture to the song. While she sounds terrific when she takes the lead (“All For Swinging You Around,” among others), she’s equally deadly in this comparatively minor supporting role. Like a skilled director, Newman knows how to get the best performance out of his company of players by balancing egos to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

More on The New Pornographers: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

March 8, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“You Don’t Know My Name” – Alicia Keys
(Words/music: Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Harold Lilly, J. R. Bailey, Mel Kent, Ken Williams, available on The Diary of Alicia Keys, J-Records 2003)

A few weeks ago, I watched most of the Comedians of Comedy movie and their entire Live at the El-Rey special. I had never seen Maria Bamford perform standup, so I was surprised and impressed at the different voices she slipped into and out of throughout her routine. The one that stood out the most was her impression of Alicia Keys’ spoken bridge in “You Don’t Know My Name.” I hadn’t heard Keys song in a while but Bamford nailed the tone and phrasing of Keys’ phone call (which, in turn, made me think of the recent Saturday Night Live digital short where Keys makes another late night phone call with different results).

So today I went back to “You Don’t Know My Name” and remembered why I liked this song in the first place and why I never listen to it anymore. The main part of the song captures a lot of the things I enjoy about Keys, particularly her voice. I even love the production, in part because it’s an atypical style for Kanye West, especially since he stays virtually undetectable on it (I’d imagine that if this were made now, Kanye would have demanded to have Mos Def’s part in the video at least). It’s a terrific soul ballad that’s sweet without being overly sappy. Then there’s the spoken bridge. It’s a little too theatrical for my taste, but I understand its purpose (and I remember it working well within the context of the video too), and today I enjoyed it largely because I kept thinking of Bamford’s impression. Looking back at it now, it’s a little over-the-top and features a gratuitously outdated “can you hear me now” reference in it. Most importantly, the bridge plus the outro push the song over the six minute mark; I like the song, but not nearly enough to devote ten percent of an hour to it on a regular basis.

More on Alicia Keys: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

March 6, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“This is Love” – PJ Harvey
(Words/music: PJ Harvey, available on Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, Island Records 2000)

PJ Harvey never shied away from difficult subjects in her lyrics, but rarely is she as blunt as she is on “This is Love.” Where she may approach a subject obliquely, Harvey lays out her thesis within the first two lines: specifically, how can this world be so confusing when my lust is so clear? The song isn’t sensationalized – instead, it’s simplified down to its instincts. It manages to capture the way love (or lust, or something in between) causes tunnel vision without being flowery or dopey. Instead, Harvey asks the sort of questions rarely asked in these situations. The human brain can process many things, but I’m sure few, if any, might simultaneously process worldwide suffering and the taste of a lover at the same time. The song turns slightly at the end when Harvey’s narrator recognizes this tendency – when her mind is on someone else, it isn’t on the things that make her heart break, so her unasked questions become a plea for her lover to join her “to keep the walls from falling as they’re tumbling in.”

The thick guitar riff underscores the lust in Harvey’s lyrics. It’s slightly distorted sound fills out the arrangement yet while bludgeoning its audience. It is as direct as Harvey’s lyrics, and its repetition throughout most of the song coincides with the repetition within the lyrics. It also brings out the more powerful side of Harvey’s vocals, driving her voice to fill out as much space as the guitar’s dense tone. Where it might drown out another vocalist, Harvey summons enough to make her voice shine through.

More on PJ Harvey: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

March 4, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Add Your Light to Mine, Baby” – Lucky Soul
(Words/music: Lucky Soul, available on The Great Unwanted, Ruffa Lane 2007)

Two parts of “Add Your Light to Mine, Baby” stand out the most. First, Ali Howard’s voice finds a sweet spot between clean execution and soulful embellishment. She extends a few syllables and bends a note or two but never to the extent a pop diva might elaborate melodically. This generally precise execution serves the song well – over-performing the vocal, particularly with all of the motion in the arrangement, would weigh down the song. Instead, Howard goes just a step beyond a precise performance right off the sheet music, adding just a touch of personality to her performance.

“Add Your Light to Mine, Baby” needs this relatively clean lead vocal to support the horn melody. The vocals melody is catchy, but the horns provide the song’s hook. This repetitive phrase (including when the key changes near the end) overpowers Howard’s vocal, and it’s simple phrase only makes it catchier. If Howard tried to compete for space with the horns (and I have every reason to believe she’s capable vocally), the song would suffer. Instead, her vocals play a supporting role at times, particularly when she settles in on a longer note. Rather than make her light the brightest in the band, she’s willing to share space.

More on Lucky Soul: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

TAGGED UNDER: lucky soul | 2007 | 2000s | ruffa lane |

March 2, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Rock ‘n Roll Dreams’ll Come True” – Ted Leo
(Words: Tom Sharpling and Jon Wurster, Music: Ted Leo, recorded on WFMU 3/13/2007)

New Jersey free form station WFMU is in its annual fundraiser this week, and tonight is the marathon’s flagship event when Tom Sharpling’s The Best Show on WFMU takes to the airwaves to solicit funds to fuel the station. I’m out of range (by a couple states) to listen to WFMU in the car, but I’ll occasionally check out the live stream on their website to enjoy their eclectic mix of shows, but generally it’s to hear The Best Show. Sharpling, a funny man in his own right, brings in hilarious guests on a regular basis (John Hodgman and Patton Oswalt are among regulars), and when the show isn’t deep in inside jokes (or if I follow the joke, at least), it’s an entertaining bit of live radio.

Ted Leo, a friend of Sharpling (Sharpling wrote the liner notes to Leo’s new album The Brutalist Bricks), has appeared on his show several times, including playing odd requests and covers in exchange for donations to WFMU’s operating fund. His covers range from stellar (“Brass in Pocket” and a WFMU-modified “That’s Entertainment” in 2007, Blondie’s “Union City Blue” in 2008, among others) to ridiculous (Sharpling and Leo performed Streisand & Neil Diamond’s “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” as a duet, for instance), including “Rock ‘n Roll Dreams’ll Come True,” a Best Show inside joke. The song comes from a bit between Sharpling and his comedy partner (and Superchunk drummer) Jon Wurster where Wurster called in as an aged rock star with very specific requirements for casting his surefire hit band The Gas Station Dogs. During this call (which appears on the Sharpling-Wurster disc New Hope for the Ape-Eared and is worth the listen, if only for Wurster’s obsession with details), Wurster’s character Barry Dworkin performs this song, one that only has lyrics and a melody and took nearly two decades to compose. The Sharpling-Wurster bit explains why these lyrics are inane and, well, awful, but Leo manages to make it into a catchy little tune (and even turns it into a riotous stomp on a Chunklet 7” single he split with Zach Galifinakis). It’s catchy enough on its own, but even more ridiculous knowing why Leo committed all of these absurd words to memory.

The Best Show airs tonight between 8-11 PM, so if you’re hanging around with nothing to do, give a listen and see what sort of odd mayhem Sharpling, Wurster, and Ted Leo have in store to try to earn operating capitol for a terrific independent station.

More on Ted Leo: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

March 1, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Your Blood” – Destroyer
(Words/music: Dan Bejar, available on Destroyer’s Rubies, Merge Records 2006)

To those of you who don’t know Dan Bejar’s music, I’ll tell you that this song sounds a lot different than “‘Your Blood’ by Destroyer” might have sounded were I to describe the song based solely on the two names involved. Somehow, I imagine Bejar likes that sort of misdirection; his songs defy typical genre labels, calling for the even less-telling adjectives “quirky” and “eccentric.” Whether composing mini pop-suites complete with MIDI synthesizers or twisting the pure pop of the New Pornographers a couple times each album (and his contributions are always among my favorites), Bejar has a way of making these less-than-likely decisions sound catchy. Against whatever odds one might place on a pop song successfully referencing several of Camus’ works, Bejar succeeds.

“Your Blood” may as well be called “The Freewheeling Dan Bejar,” as it glides across a crisp shuffle with tinkling piano and bluesy guitar fills. I imagine Bejar, complete with his giant poof of hair, walking down the same cold Greenwich Village street captured in that Dylan album, quietly singing along to his companion in that tunefully nasally tone he uses so well on this track. The voice merits a Dylan comparison not because he specifically sounds like Dylan (he doesn’t to me at least) but because it may put some off initially. However, just like Dylan, Bejar knows how to use his vocal capacity – not to sing arias, but rather to open a valve and let his subconscious mind flow freely, tangling itself with these dense melodic threads. Usually, it’s these melodic knots that make Bejar’s songs so interesting, but here all of the threads braid together naturally. Where some of his other songs require some patience, “Your Blood” satisfies immediately. Sure, there are different sounds to appreciate each time (recently it’s the burst of guitar accompanying the “Tabitha takes another stab” line), but few of his songs are both immediately and continually gratifying.

More on Destroyer: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

February 28, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Ecstasy” – jj
(Words/music: jj, available on jj n° 2, Secretly Canadian 2009)

A few years back, rappers and DJs looked to Scandinavia for samples, with Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks” married to an assortment of freestyles on mixtapes. This time around, it’s the mysterious Swedish pop group jj lifting the track from Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop.” It’s all there – the echoing keyboard, the melody, and even the beat. Other than softening the drums slightly and trading Wayne’s auto-tuned purr for the hazy, distant sounding female vocals, “Ecstasy” and “Lollipop” sound like siblings. Both even take place in a club, although Wayne has his attention on the ladies while jj offers a paean to their club drug of choice.

Still, the first time through jj n° 2 was jarring, if only because I wasn’t expecting this turn. The first few tracks are bright and bouncy, featuring woodwinds and hand drums. I had it on in the background and enjoyed it while cooking dinner and maybe because I was preoccupied I didn’t notice the keyboard line right away. It wasn’t until the hook came in with the same melody and enough similar syllables to get me to put down the frying pan and turn quizzically toward the stereo. Even if it seemed out of place, I still found it compelling. Where the overall skeeviness of Wayne’s lyrics in “Lollipop” (where he’s nowhere near as clever as his finer moments) turned me off, “Ecstasy” sounds somewhat hypnotic and captivating. Where I’d probably feel out of place in a dance club that played “Lollipop” (which is to say that I’d feel uncomfortable in just about any dance club), there’s an inviting warmth to “Ecstasy.” Maybe it’s the song’s lower intensity, but I feel like I could survive in a place playing that song.

More on jj: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

February 27, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“The Town Halo” – A.C. Newman
(Words/music: Carl Newman, available on The Slow Wonder, Matador 2004)

Carl Newman may be better known as the de facto frontman of The New Pornographers, but his two solo albums continue the same sort of power pop as his more famous output. His first solo outing The Slow Wonder generally finds Newman in the same sort of melodic vain as the Pornographers, contorting their ebullient melodies into slightly different forms. The songs collected on this disc generally sound like they could be New Pornographers songs yet take on a different twist. It’s interesting to see how Newman chose to adapt these songs, often by emphasizing one element of the instrumentation over the others (putting the drums front and center in the albums opener “Miracle Drug,” for instance). Rather than use his solo outing for a radical departure (or worse – an acoustic album), Newman uses it as a playground to experiment with some different sounds, utilizing some on later New Pornographers’ albums.

The most jarring, at least off the top of my head, is “The Town Halo,” specifically because it takes what might be a normal New Pornographers riff and plays it with a cello. The rest of the track uses standard rock band instrumentation, but it’s this main, rhythmic phrase that stands out. It’s simultaneously characteristic of Newman’s songwriting yet distinctive (and slightly out of place) due to the instrumentation. One usually expects a cello in a rock song to take a supporting role and play beautiful legato phrases to create mood. Instead, Newman puts the rich instrument front and center. It still evokes mood – not in the same manner, of course – especially when played in conjunction with those loud piano chords. Even with a fairly typical melody for Newman (even if it’s a little more blunt and deliberate than usual), the atypical instrumentation gives it a unique twist. Even if a song like “The Town Halo” is a notch below material from his main band, it’s this adventurous spirit that makes The Slow Wonder a worthwhile listen.

More on A.C. Newman: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

February 23, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Walk Hard” – John C. Reilly
(Words/music: Judd Apatow, Marshall Crenshaw, Jake Kasdan, and John C. Reilly, available on Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Columbia 2007)

A large part of the appeal to Walk Hard, aside from goofy jokes, comes from the earnestness of the film’s music. John C. Reilly’s Dewey Cox shifts musical styles with the wind, and the film’s songs captured the different musical styles surprisingly well. Sure, the lyrics were generally dumb (this is a Judd Apatow film, for what that’s worth), but the performances could pass as artifacts from their respective eras, at least from a distance.

The title track, Dewey Cox’s signature song, best captures the film’s musical successes. Reilly turns in a solid Johnny Cash impression (even though his vocal tone is stronger than Cash’s) backed by a convincing arrangement mimicking Cash’s early output. Of course, it helps that Marshal Crenshaw wrote the music, giving the song its seamless transitions and, ultimately, making it more than a series of Cash-related puns. It’s difficult to take the song seriously while listening to the words, and even without paying attention it wouldn’t’ pass for one of Cash’s original recordings. Still, from another room, it sounds like a serious and professional recording, and it’s this earnestness that makes the film funny in the first place. If nothing else, “Walk Hard” works well as a sort of “souvenir” from the movie – a reminder of an afternoon spent giggling at a grown man wearing ridiculous outfits singing ridiculous songs.

More on John C. Reilly: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

February 21, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“History (Live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)” – Mos Def & Talib Kweli featuring the Roots and Amber & Angel from the Dirty Projectors
(Words/music: Talib Kweli Greene, Dante Smith, James Yancey, Cecil Womack, Mary Wells-Womack, originally available on Mos Def’s The Ecstatic, Downtown 2009)

In the closing of his review of The Ecstatic for Pitchfork, Nate Patrin boils “History” down to its most crucial details: “It’s a Black Star reunion over a Dilla beat.” Not that either Talib Kweli’s presence on the track or production from the late J Dilla requires instant success (nor does Mos Def necessarily need the help), but it certainly turns a few more heads that way. Sure enough, neither the former Black Star MCs nor the departed Dilla disappoint. “History” coasts on a smooth soul sample that feels more looped than chopped, with Mos Def and Talib Kweli reflecting on their personal history. While Mos Def’s first verse deals primarily with personal history, Kweli evokes Black Star’s name, contrasting with the current era of rappers who “dumb it down considerably.” Even if “History” isn’t as essential as that Black Star LP, it is, like Mos Def says in the outro, “not a comeback in particular.” Instead, it’s an enjoyable track from a duo many would love to hear record an entire album.

As for the production, this version from Jimmy Fallon’s late night performance feels like a two and a half minute homage to Dilla’s production. With The Roots and the female vocalists from the Dirty Projectors providing the music, the musical talent on stage could rival Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s lyrical capabilities. However, rather than try to embellish on Dilla’s production, the musicians carefully replicate his soulful track. ?uestlove, perhaps Dilla’s most prominent supporter in the last few years, even commented via Twitter (forgive the missing link – that man tweets a lot!) how impressed he was that Amber and Angel could pick up the subtleties in the way the intonation of “History” changes throughout the track. Appropriately, the show’s mix probably had the MCs a little lower than necessary. As a (unintended) result, I find myself focusing less on the words and instead on the rhythm of the delivery mixed with the track itself. If nothing else, it makes me want to spend all my eMusic credits this month solely on Dilla produced beats.

More on Mos Def: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

February 19, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Wolf Like Me” – TV on the Radio
(Words/music: Tunde Adebimpe, available on Return to Cookie Mountain, 4AD 2006)

Not being the biggest TV on the Radio devotee (for no specific reason, I just never fell in love with any of their records), I’ll qualify the following as an over-generalization: the band’s most successful tracks create a very specific soundscape. As much as the elastic vocals are exciting, my ears inevitably go back to listening to the instrumentation behind the singing. This probably explains why my appreciation of the band stalls at the “admiration from afar” stage, but my emotional attachment to their music begins and ends with the mood the song crafts.

Taking a step back from that statement for a minute, it’s no wonder why “Wolf Like Me” stands out the most. From the moment that first fuzzy chord joins the pounding drums, “Wolf Like Me” captures the anxiety of pursuit. Whether it’s the tension in the chords, the relentless drums, or the way the vocals overlap at times, the song’s “A” section feels unrelenting and constantly in pursuit. Even a few years later, I haven’t had figured out the slower “B” section – whether it’s a momentary relief from the predator, the part in the nature video where the prey is caught and the camera slips into slo-mo, or just a different hallucination – aside from the way it contrasts the beginning of the song in its intensity. The vocals remain the same yet the rest of the song slows down around it. When the song picks back up for the ending just as it catches its breath, the same anxiety resumes. Appropriately, the lines that stand out to me are the ones that fit in with this sense of anxiety – “my mind’s aflame,” “bloodlust tanks,” “we’re howling forever.” If music often serves to enhance the lyrics, these words feel like the natural extension of the music.

More on TV on the Radio: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

TAGGED UNDER: tv on the radio | 2006 | 2000s | 4AD |

February 18, 2010

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Little Eyes” – Yo La Tengo
(Words/music: Yo La Tengo, available on Summer Sun, Matador 2003)

“Little Eyes” always sneaks up on me. It starts with a series of innocuous beeps and long metallic tones before it locks into its groove. From there, it continues along for a little more than four minutes at the same volume. Other than the liquid-like guitar line bending throughout the song, nothing really stands out from the rest of the arrangement. The drums stay fairly low key, Georgia Hubley sings in a near-whisper for most of the song, and the bassline moves along yet does so in a subtle way. This is the kind of thing that if played in public wouldn’t turn too many heads.

Still, I have the entire melody committed to memory and could finish almost every line if you sang the first half of it for me. It’s nowhere near my favorite Yo La Tengo track, yet I know it better than the majority of their catalogue. The best guess I have is that it’s the net effect; if any part of the song were turned into the main attraction – whether it’s the vocal melody or a particular instrument turned up louder – it might be exposed in its isolation. Instead, with its unassuming presence, “Little Eyes” lets its charms work subtly. In a way, it’s an apt metaphor for Yo La Tengo as a whole, but I’ll leave that for another time. For tonight, I’m content to call “Little Eyes” a team victory despite not having a superstar performance.

More on Yo La Tengo: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

About the Blog

Search Posts

SSC on Shuffle

Follow SSC On:

Elsewhere on the web

SSC on Twitter

Meta