My Alphabetical iPod Diary (Day 6)
Since starting My Alphabetical iPod Diary, I’ve had one thought consistently run through my head – “Shit, Carson, if you keep going at this pace you’re going to die before you get to the “Ps.” That’s why I have decided to, only occasionally, go for a quantity over quality approach. This is the “I’m in over my high-concept concocting head” version of the diary. It’s almost like when Sufjan Stevens inevitably craps several marginal Delaware and North Dakota EPs. Enjoy the brevity.
Calexico “Across The Wire” (from Feast Of Wire)
A gentle waltz that sounds like that song where they talk about the “West Texas town of El Paso” or something like that. Calexico is good and one of those bands that both my dad and I have in common. Am I right in thinking that the lead singer of Calexico is dating Neko Case? Alt-country, mexi-indie royalty!
Belle & Sebastian “Act Of The Apostle ” and “Act Of The Apostle ii” (from The Life Pusuit)
Belle & Sebastian’s The Life Pursuit is probably my favorite album of theirs. I like that it sheds a lot of the “gets old fast” twee of some of their earlier, admittedly more celebrated, albums and ups the AM radio pop quotient. Neither of these similarly titled tracks are particular standouts, but I like the 60’s brightness of the former and especially the laid back soulful glam of the latter.
The Kinks “Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues” (from Muswell Hillbillies)
I thank my wife for showing me the greatness of the Kinks, a band whose sound, if I were to start a band today, I would want to copy. “ASPB” (brevity, I say) has kind of a barroom feel, almost like it would be a loose drunken band jam, except that there’s some fairly tight horn parts going on.
The National “Ada” (from Boxer)
I received some flack (while not necessarily “flack,” per se) for skipping The National on my year end list. I guess I figured that Paste Magazine and every other friggin’ publication had it covered. In the comments section I lumped The National in the same “I’m just not feeling it” group as Radiohead and the Arcade Fire, and while I don’t see myself ever being in love with these guys, I won’t deny that they’re an effectively dramatic band and that many of their songs are very very good. And what the hell, this one’s pretty good, too.
Kronos Quartet “Adagio For String: Samuel Barber” (from Winter Was Hard)
The neat thing about this feature is that it forces me to write about artists and songs that I don’t feel particularly adroit at writing about. Take Kronos Quartet, a group of string players that somehow were able to develop alternative music scene (for lack of a better term) cred outside of its obvious classical confines. How do I go from yacking about the likes of Weezer or Les Savy Fav or Lil’ Wayne and then follow it up with some pithy comments about these guys? I don’t. I just shut my big mouth and slowly, steadily begin to embrace some avant-classical music.
Deerhoof “Adam And Eve Connection” (from Apple O’)
I avoided Deerhoof’s earlier albums like the plague until The Runner’s Four hit me square between the eyes and wanting more. I went back and sought out Apple O’, the strongest of the early Deerhoof albums. This is a fairly schizophrenic song, jumping from haunting howls to goofy mini guitar arpeggios to flat out Boredoms-esque noise to a romantic dinner classical guitar to a haunting, tiny acoustic ballad with tender, falsetto male vocals. That kind of range is pretty par for the course for these guys (and girl), but it’s still always awesome to hear.
Beach Boys “Add Some Music To Your Day” (from Sunflower)
Obviously I’ve talked enough about these guys lately, so I don’t need to go too in depth. But as an update, right now I’m more into the strong tracks on Carl & The Passions, Holland and L.A. (Light Album) as well as Dennis Wilson’s ass-kicking solo album Pacific Ocean Blue than I am into these “early late period” (you know what I mean) tracks. Still, this one’s always pretty nice.
Kanye West “Addiction” (from Late Registration)
Late Registration was supposed to be Kanye’s grab at legitimacy – getting Jon Brion to produce, name-checking Portishead, all that bullshit – but for some reason its his one album that registers the least with me. This track is ok, I like the chorus a bit, and the production is relatively ominous, but I still prefer the tracks where kids are samples or there’s some crazy vocodered chorus. Sue me.
Future Of The Left “adeadmanalwayssmellsgood” (from Curses!
fuzzedoutbassandpisstakevocalsalwaysmakemefeelwarmandgushyinsidetherearenoboldstatementsinaparadiddleandyfalkouswilleatyourbabies
Sufjan Stevens “Adlai Stevenson” (from The Avalanche)
There’s something undeniably inviting about Sufjan Stevens’ sound. It’s a mix between is tender, soto voce, some tasteful harmonies and the always engaging and prisitine orchestration that goes into each song. They’re not all winners (I simply don’t like Greeting From Michigan), but even this, a supposed tossed off b-side, proves appealing and winsome.
Shellac “The Admiral” (from At Action Park)
Shellac’s pulsing, fuck frills, pummel rock hits me in all the right places. It’s hard for me to find faults in a band that excel so excellently at exposing and mocking their own flaws, so I’m just going to say this: while I should physically be able to beat the piss out of Steve Albini, I would still not want to meet him in a darkened alley. His skinny fisted small man complex can topple the nations.
Funkadelic “Adolescent Funk” (from HardCore Jollies)
A stone cold, sweaty, stinky, slimy sex jam. Of course this song closes out this classic album, enough foreplay already, let’s get to humpin’.
Les Savy Fav “Adopduction” (from Go Forth)
What makes this little series so good is that it isolates songs that can be forgotten when passively heard on an album. Go Forth gets a little murky and water-logged as it moves along, so a perfectly good track like this one can get lost in the mire. “Adopduction” is a far less frenetic jam than what the band are known for, but it really shows the range the band really had and wouldn’t totally explore until last years’ BEST ALBUM Let’ Stay Friends.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I am going to start with the Kinks because I love the Kinks. I find this selection from “Muswell” to be somewhere between Cabaret and the montage music for an NBC Pilot in the late 60’s. The album itself is a potluck of the bands reflections. We have Dylan (Complicated Life), the Beatles (Have a Cuppa Tea), some Graham Nash (Oklahoma USA), a Stones-Young concoction on the title track, more Beatles (Alcahol). I have heard this album referred to by Rolling Stone as the Kinks american album, and there is no denying that it is that but, I think the heavy influences that surrounded the Kinks in “Lola Versus Powerman” were still profound.
This is what makes the Kinks, the Kinks. I cannot think of another band that rolls through the years with a definitive sound but obvious influence the way the Kinks do. This is most evident in their biggest commercial hits “Lola”, “You Really Got Me” and my personal favorite “This Time Tomorrow”. If it wasn’t for Ray Davies distinctive voice it would be hard for a new listener to distinguish any song from another as specifically “the Kinks” but for those who have had a history with the band there is an unified strand to the Kinks. As much as any band of their time and usually more so, the Kinks shaped Heavy-Rock for the next generation. The muffled distortion the Kinks put together in the late 60’s would become the preferred stylings of Heavy-Rock’s biggest personalities in the late 70’s early 80’s.
I love reading the Alphabetical iPod Diary and this is the song and the artist that resonated with me the most.
“Go Forth” is a bit of a diamond mine that has been roughly given the once over. For every gem like Adopduction that is pulled out none are really dusted off and perfected. They still are gems all the same but are handed to the listener as a very raw foreshadowing of what the band is capable of.