Your favorite music writer has recently graced the music section of SF Station (www.sfstation.com) in the photograph album devoted to the April 29th Wye Oak concert at The Rickshaw Stop.
Dream big, work your ass off, be creative.
Mission accomplished.
My candle burns at both ends
it will not last the night.
But o my foes
and o my friends
it gives a lovely light.
Totally burnt. Today we somehow ended up talking about torture. By way of “values” you understand. Most of the kids think I’m some kinda freak anyhow, so not much of a loss. Next friday we euthanize our guinea pig, Ollie. He has a tumor the size of a navel orange growing on his back.
You’ll like this:
“Drunkenness, like addiction to study, makes a fat man fatter and a thin man thinner.”
– Lost Illusions, Honore de Balzac
You’re no freak show. You’re a foghorn in an otherwise deathly black silence, and those who matter will weather the storm with your guidance. Those who don’t pull through were lost before you found them.
As Kerouac said, “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”
R.I.P, Ollie.
Plus, read this:
http://www.lacan.com/symptom2/?page_id=88
What do you think about Nouvelle Vague? I’m very ambivalent. I mean, I like sexy little girl vocals and long, messy hair, flaccid Bossa Nova beats with that thing– what’s it called?– that goes “skritch skritch”, but FFS their cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart.
original by Joy Division:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yTIpcwBTTs
Nouvelle Vague cover:
Overall, I appreciate their french sense of irony; their name suits their music perfectly: classically french yet universally significant. At times I feel their lounge act commitment is too literal, but it works during songs like “Too Drunk to Fuck.” I think it’s hard whenever a band covers a track written by one of their biggest influences, but they did a good job; they made it their own and took it far enough away from the original. This clearly isn’t music that incites a riot in your heart and head, but they’re technically one of the best in their genre. For instance, these lounge bands have a habit of being repetitious, but each of their songs are relatively distinct and meritorious on its own accord.
That said, I’m pissed that they butchered one of my favorite Violent Femmes songs, “Blister in the Sun”; not okay. Part of the appeal of that song is the sense of urgency and immediacy that is screaming through the vocals and the heightened hyper riffs which is completely sucked out with NV’s “flaccid Bossa Nova beats.”
I guess, in the end, flaccid isn’t a musical aura this girl fully appreciates. “The Filth and the Fury” is more my area of interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_T7c2HryDg. You should watch it if you haven’t already.
Love the Filth and the Fury. Checked out Westway to the World?