weary as water

every time i blink i have a tiny dream

Tag Archives: music

my favourite song (right now)

this is pretty much my favorite late-night kinda-lonely song.

The Weakerthans – My Favourite Chords
They’re tearing up streets again. They’re building a new hotel. The Mayor’s out killing kids to keep taxes down, and me and my anger sit folding a paper bird, letting the curtains turn to beating wings. Wish I had a socket-set to dismantle this morning. And just one pair of clean socks. And a photo of you. When you get off work tonight, meet me at the construction site, and we’ll write some notes to tape to the heavy machines, like “We hope they treat you well. Hope you don’t work too hard. We hope you get to be happy sometimes.” Bring your swiss-army knife, and a bottle of something, and I’ll bring some spraypaint and a new deck of cards. Hey I found the safest place to keep all our tenderness. Keep all our bad ideas. Keep all our hope. It’s here in the smallest bones, the feet and the inner-ear. It’s such an enormous thing to walk and to listen. I’d like to fall asleep to the beat of you breathing in a room near a truckstop on a highway somewhere. You are a radio. You are an open door. I am a faulty string of blue christmas lights. You swim through frequencies. You let that stranger in, as I’m blinking off and on and off again. We’ve got a lot of time. Or maybe we don’t, but I’d like to think so, so let me pretend. These are my favourite chords. I know you like them too. When I get a new guitar, you can have this one and sing me a lullaby. Sing me the alphabet. Sing me a story I haven’t heard yet.

The Mountain Goats cover Jawbreaker


The Mountain Goats cover Jawbreaker “Boxcar”

You’re not punk, and I’m telling everyone.
Save your breath, I never was one.
You don’t know what I’m all about.
Like killing cops and reading Kerouac.

My enemies are all too familiar.
They’re the ones who used to call me friend.
I’m coloring outside your guidelines.
I was passing out when you were passing our your rules.
One. Two. Three. Four.
Who’s punk what’s the score?

Got a friend. Her name is Boxcar.
Cigarettes and beer in El Sob.
Her hair was blue, now it’s green.
I like her mind. She hates the scene.

My enemies are all too familiar.
They’re the ones who used to call me friend.
I’m coloring outside your guidelines.
I was passing out when you were passing our your rules.
One. Two. Three. Four.
Who’s punk what’s the score?

You’re on your own.
You’re all alone.

I got 99 problems…

It’s been really freaking cold here in the DeepSouth, and I’ve been trying to warm myself up by listening to music I like (and yeah, buying too many records. Mostly so I’ll have cardboard liners to burn for heat). Today I got my copy of Jaydiohead (JayZ “black album” rap + radiohead samples) on vinyl – didn’t realize it was a bootleg copy until I started poking around the internet. Anyway, it sounds good on vinyl. I like it better than DangerMouse’s “grey album” (jayz “black album” rap + beatles “white album” samples).

Also – I know I didn’t put up a “best of 2009″ music list – but I think The Antlers “Hospice” was a brilliant album that didn’t get the attention it deserved. It’s not an easy album to listen to. You have been warned – it is downright wrenching at times – but it is intimate and powerful and emotional and I love it.

Best Of 2008…

2008 turned out to be the year I fell in love with psychedelic indie rock*, or clapping, or both. Here’s my list of favorite albums that came out in 2008.

  • Dr. Dog – Fate*. This was by far my favorite album of the year. I laughed, I cried, I made everyone around me listen to it more times than I should have. Favorite track: The Breeze
  • Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago. A lonely album, recorded in a cabin in the northern woods of Wisconsin. I was super stressed when this album came out, and I played it over and over and over. Favorite track: Skinny Love.
  • Los Campesinos! – Hold on Now, Youngster… I could always count on this album to get me moving AND put me in a great mood. Favorite track: You! Me! Dancing!.
  • The Dodos* – Visiter. I think this album is best listened to as a whole, rather than track by track. But…here goes. Red And Purple.
  • Conor Oberst – s/t. A little more country, a little more rock and roll than his work with the Bright Eyes. There are a bunch of songs I love on this album – Danny Callahan, Sausalito, I Don’t Wanna Die in the Hospital, Cape Canaveral.
  • Fleet Foxes – s/t. This album got all sorts of critical acclaim this year – and rightfully so. Another one to listen to all the way through. Favorite track: Ragged Wood.
  • Thievery Corporation – Radio Retaliation. I downloaded this album on a whim from emusic, and it’s become one of my favorites to put on when I need to get things done…even though it makes me feel like I’m shopping at Banana Republic. I listened to a lot more electronica this year, and it’s mostly due to this album. Favorite track: Sound the Alarm.
  • Jessica Lea Mayfield – With Blasphemy, So Heartfelt. This album is a dark and gloomy night…with a roaring fireplace and a bottle of wine. Favorite track: Kiss Me Again.
  • Plants and Animals* – Parc Avenue. I like this hippie-rock-everyone-sing-along band. Favorite track: Bye Bye Bye.
  • Adele – 19. This album is chock full of soulful comfort. Favorite Track: Daydreamer.
  • B.B. King – One Kind Favor. I was a little disappointed the last time I saw ole B.B. in concert April 2008 – there was a lot more talking than singing…but the man is 82 years old, after all. So you can’t blame me for having low expectations for his new album. Boy was I ever wrong. Favorite Track: See That My Grave Is Kept Clean. (myspace player here).
  • Baby Charles – s/t. Color me funkified. I downloaded this album (from emusic, of course!), because I heard they did a mean cover of “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” (Arctic Monkeys). They did – and they put together a fun album, too. watch one or listen to samples.

Happy New Year!

how lucky we are – meiko

One day
We’ll get out of this shitty apartment
One day
Is all it takes for things to turn around now
All I know
Is I got you and you got me babe
And when that morning comes I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper
We’ll talk about our plans and I’ll keep saying how lucky we are

One day
We’ll get in the car and drive anywhere we wanna go
And then we’ll stay in a five star mini bar luxury hotel room
Cause all I know is I got you and you got me babe
And when that morning comes I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper
We’ll talk about our plans and I’ll keep saying how lucky we are

How lucky we are
Oh oh ohh
How luck we are
Oh oh ohh
How lucky we are
Oh oh ohh
How lucky we are

One day
We’ll turn on the tv and won’t see nothing ’bout war
And when that morning comes I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper
We’ll talk about our plans and I’ll keep saying how lucky we are

How lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are
Oh How lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are
Oh How lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are
Oh How lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are.

last post of the year

and I’m sure the next one will be filled with resolutions and things worth keeping. But this one is full of music..my top 12 tracks of 2007.

  • Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car by Iron & Wine – iron & wine writes poetry and this song has that driving guitar beat that i love. traveling music, this is.
  • Fiery Crash by Andrew Bird – this album is more fluffed up than his previous. by fluffed up, i mean fluffier, like my bitchy cat pele when she is super happy and wants to be petted.
  • Seeds of Night by The Cave Singers – repetitive trance like melody; who needs words that make sense?
  • In the Middle of Nowhere by Little Miss Higgins. i can’t remember where i first heard little miss higgins; but i know as soon as i heard her, i bought her album. super bluesy, and a voice that belongs in a smoky bar fifty years ago.
  • Live Off Lamb by Said the Whale – every time i hear this track, i think “wow, i love the shins!” i do, of course, but i love this unsigned band from the great north country, too.
  • I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You by the Black Kids – this is where i unashamedly jump on the bandwagon. the catchiest tunes of the year, by a (then-unsigned) band from athens that blew away cmj.
  • Can’t Tell Me Nothing by Kanye West – this song was a bit of a theme for me when it first came out. then i saw the ‘alternate video‘ and laughed my ass off. clogging and hip hop – let’s hope for more in 2008.
  • Put a Penny In the Slot by Fionn Regan – an honest to goodness singer songwriter with great lyrics and a decent voice. i bought this one right after i heard it, too.
  • Jigsaw Falling Into Place by Radiohead – it’s too bad that i can’t put the entire in rainbows album on here, because i like listening to this song in its natural environment. when it first came out, i paid my british pounds and hooked up my laptop to the stereo and listened to it with the lights out, over and over and over again.
  • Cleanse Song by the Bright Eyes – yep, understood this song this year.
  • Hard Line by Jill Barber – another brilliant Canadian songwriter i hadn’t heard of before this year.
  • Say It To Me Now by Glen Hansard (from the Once soundtrack) – i’ve never really given the frames a good listen (although wikipedia calls them ‘influential’) but this film (and its soundtrack) are absolutely brilliant.

march 7

Saw Michael Franti & Spearhead last night at Workplay. A great, great, show. (Incidentally, this is the second show in a row I’ve seen at Workplay where the lead singer is not wearing any shoes. Damn hippies!)

This is the first time I’ve seen Michael Franti & Spearhead – and I was highly impressed. The show was super-high energy, smart, political, and fun (they covered Sublime AND Sesame Street!). About halfway through the show, he played a fantastic, powerful song called “Nobody Right, Nobody Wrong”. Powerful enough to make me cry. You should go listen to it (track 11 in the player). It was at this point I stopped just listening to the music, and began to be filled up from it.

records and love

the dog days of summer are in full effect, and it seems that the world outside my window is moving extra slow from having to cut through the humidity that won’t fall from the sky, no matter how hard i try to coax it down with my mind. it’s hot outside. so hot that i think i could probably fry an egg, although i’m not going to buy a carton of eggs just to test that theory.

i’m still in love, and i still love records, although the two feelings are usually kept separate. in the instances where they are equal, well, i try to keep that to myself.

it’s during the slugishness of summer that i realize i am not the person i want to be. i need to read more, write more, meditate more. i need to study even though i am far removed from that ivory tower. i need to take less for granted.