New Music To My Ears Update: Modest Mouse - This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About

Although still far from new or relevant, I had heard the song "Ohio" on this album a couple of years ago somewhat closer to its 1996 release date. Modest mouse seemed to me at the time to capture a feeling of intense and agonizing boredom, a great quality of adolescence. Maybe its the whiny voices and discordant notes that don't really advance to anything, or lyrics that march on with lyrics like

Calmly crashing, I pace faster than anyone
Hinges rusting, they swing louder than anything
Truly lonely, this place is flatter than it seems

And I loved it, and then forgot about it, letting it slip into the back of mind until I went back on a modest mouse kick, and rediscovered this song and without listening to anything else bought the album. It brought back so many memories, and even though I never listened to any other songs at the time the whole album took me back to the first time I heard Ohio. I remembered how much I loved the name of the album when I first read it. I was always fascinated by car rides (and music associated with driving, ie. Girl Boy Tom, Tallahassee, and many others) and the name just seemed to fit me. I loved just sitting in the passenger seat, letting the car melt away, and just imagining being a ghost just traveling through strange places observing but never interacting with what he saw. I usually didn't even think about anything, I just kind of wandered around with the scenery. In "Laughter and Forgetting" Milan Kundera describes a character who can focus only on his goals, and the rest of life around him, is the "negative" of the image in life that his goals form. The negative forms that which frames but isn't focused on. I always found a simple wonder in wandering around in the "negative" space of life, not focusing on anything but just taking notice of all of the transit through it. This album really takes me back to those car rides, it's use of weird sounds, shouted and muttered lyrics, and just a generally feeling of lostness all build to that, and all make this album very special. 

It is raw, and strange, and scary, and angry, and loathing, and ultimately depressed,  but the fact that it can bring forth these emotions and memories from me makes it extremely worthwhile and moving to listen to. I hope others can enjoy it to. Here are some quick favorites.  

Dramamine

Breakthrough

Ionizes and Atomizes

Talking Shit About A Pretty Sunset

Thursday Special: Deadly Medley

Deadly Medley - Black Milk feat. Royce da 5'9'' and Elzhi - Album of the Year

Detroit goes really strong in this song as all three hail from the motor city, and all three do a fantastic job with their verses, crafting funny and memorable lines. Although I personally think Elzhi was the weakest of the bunch (and his lines were pretty good), but that Royce Da 5'9'' absolutely knocked this song out. Black milk was good, and his beat on this song is classic showing that he took a couple of notes on the late great fellow Detroit rapper/producer J-Dilla.

Enjoy the song and my favorite lyrics from the three.

"My shit is martin luther your shit is martin lawrence" ~ Black Milk

"You can't take the heat get yo ass out the kitchen

Matter fact take yo ass back in there and wash the dishes" ~ Royce da 5'9''

"I left detroit rappers in fitteds decapitated" ~ Elzhi

Double Header: The Dawes Part One

When My Time Comes - The Dawes - North Hills

Welcome to the new Double Header feature where you get two post's about two songs from one band in one day. The band for the inaugural posting is The Dawes, whose song "When My Time Comes" I was positive I had reviewed, but actually hadn't. The roots of this song is both musically and lyrically rooted in classic Americana. There is a distinct country-blues feel to the song, but with a rock feel and vocal harmonies that are reminiscent of Crosby Stills Nash and Young. Lyrically the song is just fantastic. Not only in its poetic content but also its smooth delivery. The whole song just sums up misguided youth. It talks about ignorant certainty that comes with inexperience in the world, and the consequences when you face these black and white truths you were taught.

So I pointed my fingers and shout a few quotes I knew
As if something that´s written should be taken as true
But every path I have taken and conclusion I drew
Would put truth back under the knife.

[...]

And now it seems like the unraveling has started too soon
Now I´m sleeping in hallways and I´m drinking perfume
And I´m speaking to mirrors and I´m howling at moons
While the worst and the worst that it gets.
Oh you can judge all the world on the sparkle that you think it lacks.
Yes you can stare into the abyss but it´s staring right back.

That final line of "Yes you can stare into the abyss but it's staring right back" is a classic. Overall I find the whole song just delightful. It has a lyrical structure that reminds me of Bob Dylan and a sincere playing style that makes me think of the most free spirited CSNY. Enjoy.

Song Here.

Song of the Week: Don't Let It Bring You Down

Dont Let it Bring you Down - Neil Young - After the Gold Rush

The lyrics for this are simply amazing. Neil Young's voice is not for everyone, but this was the absolute standout for me on an album of amazing songs (Southern Man, Etc...). For some reason I find the phrase "Dont let it bring you down, It's only castles burning, Just find someone who's turning, And you will come around" oddly reassuring and sad. For me it deals with loss of material items and things, and that the relationships we have with people, who have also lost like you have, is what will ultimately turn us around and make us alright. Anyway, I've included all the lyrics, they are really potent! A phrase that always gets stuck in my head is the "Blind man running through the light of the night, With an answer in his hand, Come on down to the river of sight, And you can really understand" it's just all one big contradiction but I still love it and find it very powerful.

Song Here

Lyrics Below
---------------
Old man lying by the side of the road
With the lorries rolling by,
Blue moon sinking from the weight of the load
And the building scrape the sky,
Cold wind ripping down the allay at dawn
And the morning paper flies,
Dead man lying by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Blind man running through the light of the night
With an answer in his hand,
Come on down to the river of sight
And you can really understand,
Red lights flashing through the window in the rain,
Can you hear the sirens moan?
White cane lying in a gutter in the lane,
If you're walking home alone.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Song of the Week: Almost Cut My Hair

Almost Cut My Hair - Crosby Stills Nash and Young - Deja Vu

Although its probably not the most famous track off the album, (Teach Your Children or Carry On) it's an absolute favorite of mine. What always blew me away was what this song should have been. It could have easily been an over the top rocker with it's slow tempo, three electric guitars, and soaring vocals, but it isn't. The chemistry of the three guitarists has them playing off of each other instead of soloing ontop of one another. It's fluid, but also powerful, characteristics amplified by their number and their harmony.

Song Here

Big Tuesday: 18

I'm Eighteen - Alice Cooper - Love it to Death

What a great song about being 18. The lyrics really capture the experience of the song (and of that time of life) which is why I've included them in this post. I find it somehow comforting that teenagers really haven't changed at all in the 40 years it's been since this was written.

Song: Here
Lyrics:

Lines form on my face and hands
Lines form from the ups and downs
I'm in the middle without any plans
I'm a boy and I'm a man

I'm eighteen
And I don't know what I want
I gotta get away
I gotta get out of this place
I'll go runnin in outer space

I got a
Baby's brain and an old man's heart
Took eighteen years to get this far
Don't always know what I'm talkin' about
Feels like I'm livin in the middle of doubt

I'm eighteen and I LIKE IT
Yes I like it
Oh I like it
Love it
Like it
Love it
Eighteen!
Eighteen!
Eighteen!
Eighteen and I LIKE IT

Song of the Week: Here Comes Sickness

Here Comes Sickness - Mudhoney - Mudhoney

While it's hard for me to deem this a great "grunge" song because I'm hardly familiar with the genre, its harder for me to deny that this encompasses everything I associate with grunge (right or wrong). Its tone is freewheeling, out of control, fun, and dirty. It's lyrical content is perfectly in sync with its tone, it's funny, angry and definitely a little bit angsty (Shaking her hips//Like she's some kind of treat) As far as musicianship the band has excellent drumming, but is best suited to do what they do, craft simple dirty hooks with frank lyrics. The vocals themselves are pretty rough on the edges and verging on screaming, but is nothing that annoys my ears. I think that like the lyrics and the tone it all works together and is very much aligned, nothing sticks out as different, and I love that it can be so simply "grunge" for me.

Song: Here