The Gloria Record: “Tired & Uninspired”
i should wait to post this tomorrow, so it can be melodrama monday instead of melodrama sunday.
The Gloria Record: “Tired & Uninspired”
I shouldn’t be hard to find…
I’ll be the one with my big mouth moving;
my big words, saying nothing.
I hope you know
it’s not my father’s fault I’m such a bore,
and so afraid of everything.
I’m keeping inside; living in my mind;
hoping that the telephone don’t ring
with, “It’s all right… pain is universal, baby”
and worrying about what I’m going to sing.
I’m staying in, and saving up my energy.
I know my day is coming.
And when I find it, I will rewind it
(and play it over again a hundred times).
And when I hear it, I will not fear it
I will say it back again, and say, “I’m fine.”
(“Relief!…” “Relief!…”)
“I’m fine.”
Maya Shore
Maya Shore: Farewell To Introductions
Two never released, very excellent Low covers. Definitely worthy of a second and third John Stamos video.
Maya Shore: “The Plan” (Low cover)
Maya Shore: “Words” (Low cover)
(Full disclosure: I’m married to the guitar/vocals.)
Cut Copy: “This Is All We’ve Got”
i’m ready to share thoughts on cut copy’s zonoscope.
when bright like neon love came along in 2004, it was absolutely fresh to ears ready for an 80s electronic resurgence. this band knew what to do with sounds and synth and flange and effects over vocals and production in a way that few other electropop, 80s influenced bands have been able to grasp since. it was like stepping into the past and the future at the same glorious moment.
i think the magnificence of that debut is maybe what made their follow up, in ghost colours, such a jaw dropper. it was like every brilliant thing they’d put into BLNL got stuck under an intense magnifying glass. but not as some fluke, or ploy. it was the resulting effect of intelligent, intentional influencing that was nurtured into a new composition full of real growth.
so here in 2011, we’ve been poised for another cut copy release since 2008. recognizing that the discography only lengthens every 3 or 4 years, i’d be lying if i said i didn’t feel some nerves over what zonoscope would add. the result is –in line with what happened between BLNL and IGC– a huge leap forward. i think we find in zonoscope a cohesive story-like flow from start to finish that we didn’t have in the previous 2 albums. it is an album to savor while simultaneously gulping it down. there is adult wisdom here where in ghost colours gave us puberty. depth of thought, where bright like neon love gave grade school experiment.
Cut Copy: “This Is All We’ve Got”
(the last 2 minutes!)
Slowdive
Slowdive
If you’re already a Slowdive fan, then you know about the Blue Skied An’ Clear tribute album. These are 2 of my favorites, and what became my introduction to the magnificent Lali Puna. Now it’s hard for me to listen to the originals without needing a follow-up of these covers.
Brittle Stars: “Souvenir” (OMD cover)
OMD: Architecture & Morality
When I was a little girl, my dad shopped for music at a store called Licorice Pizza. I remember as a grade schooler thinking it was a strange name for a record store. Before too long, it became a Sam Goody which offered a new service: VHS rentals. My family would take trips there to rent movies on the weekend.
The rental section was separated from the music sections by walk-through theft detectors. Each time we were there, I’d sneak out, away from my family, and into the rest of the store to look at music. I asked dad to buy me a new cassette pretty much every time we were there, but he never did.
One day it was just me and mom. She had already checked out our movies and was ready to leave. Mom found me in the O section, holding the newly released OMD: Sugar Tax. Maybe because I was the only kid with her that day, or maybe because she was just feeling extra generous, mom took it out of my hands and walked to the counter. She didn’t say a word, just bought it for me.
For the drive home, I insisted on sitting in the back of our Toyota Previa minivan –the one specially equipped with I think 11 speakers. I wanted to be right in the center, and able to experience “Sailing on the Seven Seas” in full surround sound. So my mom chauffeured me home, letting that song blast out the whole way. The well worn cassette is one of the few I’ve kept over the years, packed in a box of keepsakes. I felt really loved that day.
Souvenir, which released ten years prior to Sugar Tax, was one of the first OMD songs that made me fall for them. This Brittle Stars cover always makes me think of mom.
