dm stith - isaac's song

This is the video for the opening song on Mr. Stith's ever-nearing debut Heavy Ghost. 'Isaac's Song' is a piece of music which nicely encapsulates the feeling of belting through a thick forest, fat branches snapping and slapping at your face, all black in the night, holding out the moon above, unable to peek through. The video matches this frenzy beautifully, replacing the darkness with kaleidoscopic flashes of the kind of serene dim light that appears when you can't sleep. Gorgeously messy.

DM Stith - Pity Dance (Torture Garden Session)
DM Stith - Pity Dance (album version)


Here's a nice idea - buy (or pre-order) Heavy Ghost on vinyl, and get yourself the nice copy of the Curtain Speech EP that comes included with it. Capital!

the making of enemy mine

"One of the funny things about Enemy Mine was that, for all this talk about collaboration, there wasn’t too many times that we were all in front of a microphone or a monitor together.

Allow me to digress, and through digression I will come to a point.

Melanie and I: we live a soft, domestic life. We go to the same video store everyday. We have a relationship with the woman at the beer store. We know the cashiers at the grocery store.

The recording of Enemy Mine, due to everyone’s schedules, was kind of weird and intense and I did not get to see Melanie as much as I usually like, which is of course every waking second. In fact, I hardly saw her at all.

And I never saw Spencer for the first two weeks because he was tangled up in his life in Montreal.

So for the first stretch of Enemy Mine recording in February 2008, I spent every waking second with someone whose soul I am slightly less mystically connected to: Dan Bejar.

The clerks and cashiers who, for years, have seen Melanie and I cuddling in line to buy our carrots or arguing over Terms of Endearment (my choice) or Krull (her choice) or canoodling while we wait for our Africanos, now saw me with a new constant companion: Daniel, with his trimmed beard, and his scarf, and his tan jacket, and his city-guy loafers, and his eccentric hair and his distant, superior, European sensibility.

Every day at the video store, and the beer store (buying Strongbows no less), we would giggle over something, and he would buy his Spanish wine and me my Strongbows.

Important: all of the “Recording” money was in Dan’s account, so he was always paying for everything. This act occurred many times, and the act procured more than a six-pack: he bought Toilet-paper and coffee. The kind I always get. And a toothbrush.

I think these are things couples buy.

I started to sense this palpable anguish from the younger members of our cashier-community. This anguish was not strictly homophobic, but more a question of TRUE LOVE: where was Mel? We seemed so in love!

And who is this bearded guy who is buying everything? What are you two giggling about? What are you doing, man! You’re throwing your life away! This guy: what’s his story! And shouldn’t I have waited a respectable month before I introduced this new companion to my community?

Lines were drawn, and though Melanie and I did not know it, the community sided with Mel. It’s funny to think: she was just working away at her nursing job, totally oblivious to the immense community outpouring of sympathy that was being psychically channeled against me (and this decrepit urban usurper), and in favor of her.

We had no idea.

This went on for two weeks: by the end of our time together, I fully expected some life counseling: a cashier intervention.

And then one day Spencer showed up, and the very next day Dan left. And the whole sordid, or seemingly sordid, ritual of video-renting and Strongbow-purchasing and toothpaste/toiletries buying started up again, but now with my new friend. This ritualistic living began anew, but now with my new young-looking handsome cherubic friend. And still: no sign of Melanie.

As if I had ditched Melanie, burned through Dan, and had now settled on this latest untarnished prize.

Succubus with a blonde beard.

So now they were like “Well, we were just starting to get used to that old dude, that guy with the beard, and now you’re bringing this new little guy in? With his soft voice and his canvas shoes and his gentle mannerisms? What’s next? Who the fuck is next? Where’s Melanie? Where’s old guy? Who’s this young guy?” and so on and so on, a vicious and dizzying cycle of serial mono-ga-tude and homophobia-lite chorusing out of their judgmental gaze.

And then, as if the torrid clouds of my new “experimental lifestyle” had passed over our island and headed out to the open ocean, Melanie returned to my side.

The first part of the tracking of Enemy Mine was done!

We had our gentle life back. I made all kinds of triumphant appearances at our local haunts, my arm wrapped proudly around Mel: Even the nihilistic stock-boy who doesn’t believe in love and who makes puking sounds when we smooch by the canned peas, even he was openly sobbing tears of relief. The universe had righted itself. Old poet and young page/squire were phantoms of mist. Melanie and I laughed and joked in the aisles.

The old guy at the video store who loves his rye and cokes looked me in the eye again."

{via Carey Mercer's blog (via StG)}

if we are sleeping, we're sleeping together

Harlem Shakes - Winter Water

In the future, musical boxes will sound like this. The little enamel case on your grandmother's dresser, the one you claimed for yourself and brought to your messy home, that little box will click open to this song, and perfect little animatronic figures with little voices and little guitars will follow you about the house in a line - banging drums and singing a chorus as you get ready to join the day that waits outside the front door. They stand there, half watching you busy yourself with your spider-black mascara, half calling out from their tiny mouths for your attention. You put your hair up, and let it down again, and you almost forget they are there huddled behind you like mice, calling at you around corners, till they follow you as you open the door, and you feel the music change. You can feel them throw every bit of cheeriness into the song that they can muster, but they're not hiding their sadness at seeing you go.

This is from the Harlem Shakes' debut record (featuring our good friend Todd Goldstein of Arms) and it's an album of beautiful sounds and colours and pop songs to sing along to.

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Also, some of the best music of 2009 has leaked over the past days: Fanfarlo's debut, Bell Orchestre's new record, and Swan Lake's latest. Apparently all three are great, but unsurprisingly, Bell Orchestre's comes out on top. And speaking of the music of 2009, if you go here (about 3.00 in) you can listen to Owen Pallet's contribution to Mika's new album. It's pretty lovely, in an odd way.

S x SW =

So, it's that time of year again. Journalists are booking flights and begging for passes, bands are scrambling for funding and writing modest biographies, and thousands of people go to see some of their favourite bands, and try their hardest to find a new one. I've picked some favourites to see (apart from the obvious bands - I'm assuming nobody needs telling to get to Grizzly Bear's show), including some Irish bands making the trip, like Fight Like Apes - pictured above getting messy at a phenomenal gig from a little over a year ago.
Other bands who I can personally attest are fantastic live are Denmark's Efterklang and Dublin's One Day International. Efterklang put on one of the best, most moving performances I've ever seen. It's a mystery and a tragedy that they're not international superstars, quite frankly, and I can't wait to see them again.
Here are the rest of the bands, with an mp3 to further convince you to let me tell you what to do with your time.

Fight Bite - Swiss Ex-Lover
Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
A Classic Education - Stay, Son
Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game
Fight Like Apes - Lend Me Your Face
Alaska In Winter - Berlin
Beach House - Gila
Efterklang - Mirador
The Physics of Meaning - Song for a Wishing Well
Torngat - You Could Be
Fanfarlo - Harold T. Wilkins
Thao Nguyen - Bag of Hammers

now open

Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand In Mine (strings)

{Buy}

schönes orchester

Bell Orchestre - Dark Lights (live on CBC)

Having heard the first samples of Bell Orchestre's new record, As Seen Through Windows, I'm getting rather impatient. There's a definite change that's taken place since their last outing, a subtle difference evident on tracks like the gorgeous nine-minute epic 'Elephant', currently streaming on their MySpace. There are moments half-way through this song where it seems like they're organising some sort of terrorist attack on behalf of beauty, something you can't tear any part of yourself away from.

Bell Orchestre - Water/Light/Shifts (live on CBC)

These live tracks give an idea of the scale some of these songs occupy.They are dark, and shimmering and beautiful, and deeply nocturnal, like the hours after midnight when it could be any time, and you've no idea when the sun might eventually rise.
The above song, 'Water/Lights/Shifts' also incorporates something I've been listening to on and off for quite a while - one of many recordings that Bell Orchestre member Richard Reed Parry has shared on the Arcade Fire's website. It's very simple, but sounds rather perfect, and everytime I listen to it, it evokes the same image of coins shining at the bottom of a well.

Bell Orchestre/Richard Reed Parry - Music Boxie #6

The record will be released on March 10th. I think it will be wonderful. For more Bell Orchestre fun, you can read this interview I did with Richard over three years ago. It's nice. I should also point out, for those who don't know, that the band share member with two of my favourite groups ever: Arcade Fire and the Luyas. So please, get excited.

Frightened Rabbit in Dublin

Should you be in Dublin on this day, I recommend you go - and this fantastic song is reason enough, I'm sure you'll agree:

Frightened Rabbit - Keep Yourself Warm

And relatedly, their new live record is rather good as well.

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Elsewhere, you can now buy Pity Dance, DM Stith's lead single from his fine new album. It comes with a very pretty cover too. Sadly however, he seems to have gone insane. The last post on his blog features him declaring his love of Marmite. Yuck!

DM Stith - Pity Dance (Torture Garden Session)

Speaking of sessions, also very nice is the newest Toad Session, with Samamidon, playing songs and providing a simultaneous commentary. Crazy.

look at her

The Gorgeous Colours - Locksmith

There's something celebratory about the way this song introduces itself, all shimmering drums and guitars that trace about like fireworks against the inky night's canvas. Dreamy melodies are picked out and give shape to lyrics that somehow seem sweet and earnest instead of schmaltzy:

you’re my lovely girl / my thump-thump beats for you

This song is from one of my favourite albums of last year, the Gorgeous Colours' self-titled debut. It's beautiful, and though it never strays too far from the norms of pop music, it holds on to you from start to finish. You can read a review I wrote for State here.

The band are now looking for a drummer, and since they presumably won't get their second record finished till they find one, I encourage any reader living in Dublin to either learn drums, or should you already play, get in touch with them. They seem like a nice bunch! And indeed, they were nice enough to answer a few questions, and clear up the mystery (that is, lack of information on the Internet) about the origins and workings of the group.

How did the band get together?

Myself and Geoffrey met in 2001 in the first year of college. We were in the same class in NCAD and quickly became friends. We were both aware of each other's interest in music, but for some reason it wasn't until late 2003 that we thought about playing together. It started off just as a bit of fun with myself Geoff and Shane (another friend from college, now playing in The Kanyu Tree) jamming in Shane's apartment after college. but we felt we had potential and found Tim through another college friend. Tim had only just gotten his first bass that Christmas, but he's very musically minded and he added a lot from the beginning. We jammed as much as we could but from September 2004, the three of us in NCAD were very busy with our final year. Shane let us know that he'd be moving back to Galway after college anyway, so there was a bit of a lull for a few months. We started trying out a few other drummers that summer but it wasn't until November 2005 that we found Glenn, via an internet ad. Things came together very quickly at our first jam with him, and we played our first (terribly under-rehearsed!) gig together in January 2006. We played our first real gig as The Gorgeous Colours around April I think, and that was that.

What was the process of making the album like?

Making the album was slow because we had absolutely no money. We would pay for a weekend in a professional studio and get the guts of 3 or 4 songs recorded live. then we'd finish off the tracks in Tim's dad's home studio by doing mixing edits and overdubs. And that's basically how we made the album - stuck it all together from different recording studios and different dates. Professional studios are really expensive so we were pretty efficient when we knew time was money! But then when we got back to Jack's studio we probably drove him mad making tiny changes and over-analysing everything. We were really lucky to have his tireless help, and all the support from family and friends which saved us loads of money. There were definitely times when we wished we just had some record company paying for everything so it could happen faster and more organically. And we all had jobs we hated that felt more like working in an office than being in a band. But that's the way it is when you're independent, and in return you get to make all the decisions. It was a lot of hard work, but very rewarding - and we had a great laugh doing it.

Is songwriting a group effort, or does it work differently?

There's a few different ways the songs come together. Myself and Geoff are the main songwriters, but finishing a song is definitely a group effort. So he or I might have anything from a basic riff to a nearly finished structure and direction for a whole song, maybe even some lyrics, maybe not. We take that to the band and jam it out, with everyone making suggestions and throwing ideas around. It's usually very organic and in most songs everybody comes up with their own individual parts. So it really depends on the stem - if the beginnings of a song are very loose and open it could take on a whole different direction that never could have happened without everyone's individual contribution. And then again, some songs are born out of random improvised jams and in those cases everyone is credited as a writer. Lyrics are normally the last thing to be finalised, no matter which way the song has come about. They're usually written by whoever the song originally came from. That's a general picture of how it works, but every song is a little bit different..

You can buy the album on iTunes, or get a physical copy over at their MySpace, and you should. Without any exaggeration, it's one of my favourite Irish albums.

standing on the seaweed water

{art via}

Neutral Milk Hotel - Communist Daughter

This song is different every time I listen to it. This song is confusing, and confused, and trying to take in too much at once, even though the lyrics are perfect. It is sad and contented. It's that odd combination of both that you find waiting for you at certain places, like on the coast, on the beach, where your foot stands wet in salty Atlantic sea and sand, and at your back lies Ireland, green and overgrown, its mountaintops wet-tipped.
It's a song fascinated with humans, and in fear of them. It's silent with physical beauty, but mute with a sad horror before sex. It is afraid that we are those half-dead natural things scattering across the sea floor, pushing and cramping and fucking in an unwilling, unnatural way. But it doesn't turn away from this, it looks at it intently, till it sees beauty and intimacy there. The disasters in this song, the car crashes and the sexual selfishness, they are all relayed to us as natural and real and inevitable, and as much a part of ourselves as everything else that we've let grow in and around us. It tells us: this is our garden, and this is where we will live.



Jeff Mangum - Oh Comely (live)

This song, from the same album, takes it further. The beauty is deeper, it's hidden further from our eyes. The lyrics are unflinching. In what seems to be the second verse, it drags on a little too far, the words sung out to us have to be murmured out beneath closed eyes. It's like we're made of natural machinery, 'sugary sweet machines' and 'green fleshy flowers.' There is a mouth-wide-open horror here, and at the same time, a seductive play at the senses, a tug coming from somewhere within to come and play, to come and be wild. Not the traditional rational and irrational split in man, but more than that, more of a trying to decide which one is more honestly you, and trying to be as honest with yourself as you can be, where sex is the crossroads, and you choose repeatedly until it's not a choice at all.

If, somehow, you don't have a copy of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, you should remedy that at once. It's phenomenal musically, and lyrically, it just does things.