Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
It's the song of the day!
I was going to find something a bit less obvious but this track is just too nice to deny, setting your Saturday afternoon vibe bar somewhere just outside the stratosphere. Plus the quality of this classic video is pristine.
Hey film lovers...
A hidden gem and a wonderful piece of classic film noir, Allen Baron's Blast of Silence is a brutal unflinching story of a hitman in New York City. It's worth watching for the opening sequence alone.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
A belated compilation...
A couple of months ago I wrote a bunch of nonsense about outlaw music. Around the same time I was listening to all the music I wrote about I put together a big compilation of music...of all the music I was listening to...that I wrote about. Here it is for anyone interested. There's a bunch of related stuff on the compilation I didn't write about, too. Plus two mystery songs! That didn't fit on the screenprint I did.
You could cut the tension with a knife. (I was going to put a crazy picture on above the playlist for effect but then I wrote all this stuff and spoiled it, so I added one on the end.)
The Fresh Cup of Coffee Early Morning Mix! (Click on the title to hear the tunes)
Okay, so the photo isn't that crazy but it is pretty fantastic.
I found it here on this interesting website, Lundahl's Coffee Shop.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Channel Surfing...
I often enjoy watching the Russian news channel Russia Today. The network has a surprisingly refreshing slant on world events, particularly those involving America. When big news stories occur, like the current financial crisis afflicting America, you get a fairly honest view of things. Free of the usual spin you get on other channels. Sometimes you just get weirdly aggressive newscasters saying weirdly aggressive things in strange exaggerated American accents. Plus the set designs and graphics make the channel look like a news station from some alternate universe. Some future that was never realized. Either way it makes for oddly enthralling viewing.
That got weirder.
A debate show called the Keiser Report started on Russia Today soon after. The host is a very intense guy who reminds me vaguely of Oliver Stone. His guest tonight was an American girl who still oddly put on a weirdly exaggerated American accent. She seemed very excited to be on the show. The overall feel of the show is a little bit community television. They started discussing the financial crisis in America and showed a clip of a journalist for the New York Times saying basically that if an alien invasion were imminent that the financial crisis would be solved in a few days. Which, yeah, is a weird argument to hear from a New York Times journalist. The host of the Keiser Report and the American girl then began discussing alien invasions and the financial crisis, and the fact that apparently all it will take to stimulate the American economy is an invasion of beings from outer space.
For roughly twenty minutes it was like watching television in the twilight zone.
So I'm reading The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett and it's blowing my mind. It was written in 1932 and reads like it was written with a sharp knife. Hammett is recognized as one of the masters of hard-boiled detective fiction, and when I started reading The Thin Man I half expected it to be a bit heavy handed and cliched. But the writing is so precise. The story so well realized. It's set in New York City. I've been obsessed with old film noir movies set in New York for ages. Pictures like The Naked City and Blast of Silence. The cinematography is beautiful and fascinating. Hammett's book reads like those films, New York is a vital character, and you can almost smell the city. Taste the air. Feel the sidewalk under your feet. But the book, being a book and as such superior to films, offers you so much more. The interaction between the male and female characters is fascinating. I don't know, maybe I have just been incredibly naive to the hard-boiled detective novels of that era but The Thin Man is a very satisfying reading experience.
I also just watched Super. The second film by James Gunn, the man responsible for the comic horror gem Slither. It's the latest in the relatively new genre of realistic superhero films. It has had many comparisons to Kick Ass, but I don't think the comparisons do either film much justice. They are very different viewing experiences. I don't want to say too much, I think Super should be seen fresh. It stars Rain Wilson from the American version of the Office and Ellen Page. And Ellen Page is a revelation. A awesomely mental revelation. It also stars Kevin Bacon, Liv Tyler and Nathan Fillion. If your into horror films I highly recommend Slither too. I watched it sort of by accident on tv, expecting nothing if I'm being honest, and I loved it. It is strange, funny, and wonderfully crazy.
Oh and I was checking out a link a friend forwarded to me the other day. It was to a pretty amazing website called How to be a retronaut. The link was to graduation pictures of famous people. It was really funny. But this one of the great George Clooney still weirds me out.
I was flicking through channels a minute ago and pressed to read the information on a show called Hitler's Children on Discovery History. The synopsis read like this:
Seduction: Hitler moulded German children into an army which would fight in his name to conquer the world. Former participants tell of the unscrupulous methods of indoctrination.Not being in the mood for such light hearted viewing I flicked on and put on Russia Today, the Russian news channel. They were listing off the days top news stories when a headline popped up quickly. I looked at it and read Russia declares war on Jews. My eyes widened, then I saw that the words were superimposed over a photo of a great white shark and I realized it actually said Russia declares war on Jaws. I breathed an audible sigh of relief. For a very brief second I was pretty freaked out. You know, especially so soon after I read that Hitler's Children thing. It was a weird few minutes of television.
That got weirder.
A debate show called the Keiser Report started on Russia Today soon after. The host is a very intense guy who reminds me vaguely of Oliver Stone. His guest tonight was an American girl who still oddly put on a weirdly exaggerated American accent. She seemed very excited to be on the show. The overall feel of the show is a little bit community television. They started discussing the financial crisis in America and showed a clip of a journalist for the New York Times saying basically that if an alien invasion were imminent that the financial crisis would be solved in a few days. Which, yeah, is a weird argument to hear from a New York Times journalist. The host of the Keiser Report and the American girl then began discussing alien invasions and the financial crisis, and the fact that apparently all it will take to stimulate the American economy is an invasion of beings from outer space.
For roughly twenty minutes it was like watching television in the twilight zone.
So I'm reading The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett and it's blowing my mind. It was written in 1932 and reads like it was written with a sharp knife. Hammett is recognized as one of the masters of hard-boiled detective fiction, and when I started reading The Thin Man I half expected it to be a bit heavy handed and cliched. But the writing is so precise. The story so well realized. It's set in New York City. I've been obsessed with old film noir movies set in New York for ages. Pictures like The Naked City and Blast of Silence. The cinematography is beautiful and fascinating. Hammett's book reads like those films, New York is a vital character, and you can almost smell the city. Taste the air. Feel the sidewalk under your feet. But the book, being a book and as such superior to films, offers you so much more. The interaction between the male and female characters is fascinating. I don't know, maybe I have just been incredibly naive to the hard-boiled detective novels of that era but The Thin Man is a very satisfying reading experience.
I also just watched Super. The second film by James Gunn, the man responsible for the comic horror gem Slither. It's the latest in the relatively new genre of realistic superhero films. It has had many comparisons to Kick Ass, but I don't think the comparisons do either film much justice. They are very different viewing experiences. I don't want to say too much, I think Super should be seen fresh. It stars Rain Wilson from the American version of the Office and Ellen Page. And Ellen Page is a revelation. A awesomely mental revelation. It also stars Kevin Bacon, Liv Tyler and Nathan Fillion. If your into horror films I highly recommend Slither too. I watched it sort of by accident on tv, expecting nothing if I'm being honest, and I loved it. It is strange, funny, and wonderfully crazy.
Oh and I was checking out a link a friend forwarded to me the other day. It was to a pretty amazing website called How to be a retronaut. The link was to graduation pictures of famous people. It was really funny. But this one of the great George Clooney still weirds me out.
A video message from Mr Tom Waits...
For a while now Tom Waits has been hinting at some new developments. He told those who care about such things to check in at his website today at a specific time. This is what he had to say, in typical fantastic Tom Waits fashion...
(if the rest of popular culture is a small man throwing a bucket of waste over you, Tom Waits is a large guy with a sledge hammer and a smile)
(if the rest of popular culture is a small man throwing a bucket of waste over you, Tom Waits is a large guy with a sledge hammer and a smile)
Friday, August 19, 2011
It's the song of the day! (maybe the best ever)
Some mornings you wake up uninspired and weary. Exhausted by the world and the dirge that is popular culture and world politics. You realize your out of peanut butter. Then you check your emails and stumble upon this and spend the rest of the day smiling...
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
It's the song(s) of the day!
Cloudy day. Another runny nose, more plugged sinuses. Reading Zeitoun, a beautiful and frustrating book of non-fiction written by Dave Eggers. Heavy. Things pile on top of you every now and then. Laughter and self deprecation are valuable tools. Optimism over fatalism, so...just in case the first song is too grey for you, I've followed it up with another...
Kenny's Theme by Buck 65
and/or
The Model by Buck 65
Kenny's Theme by Buck 65
and/or
The Model by Buck 65
Monday, August 15, 2011
Use your imagination/It's the song of the day!
It's a sunny day out in the real world, and now it's a sunny day here on the interweb because the first single off of Feist's forthcoming album Metals has been released. You can listen to it below. It's lovely. I also have a weird twitch just above the right side of my mouth that feels like a small weak child is pinching my face every three or four minutes. And David Lynch has an album of electronic pop songs coming out in November. I caught the final episode of Twin Peaks on TV the other night. It is delightful and genuinely devastating every time.
Picture a clown smiling awkwardly. Picture the clown stroking a big black dog on it's head. Picture the dog biting the clown on his hand. Picture the clown punching the dog in the ear. Picture your world in flames and a smug sweating man in a suit laughing. Picture a bowl of cereal. Picture a charcoal pencil and sheath of blank paper.Picture Niagara Falls. Picture a brand new single from Leslie Feist and what it might sound like.
How Come You Never Go There by Feist
Picture a clown smiling awkwardly. Picture the clown stroking a big black dog on it's head. Picture the dog biting the clown on his hand. Picture the clown punching the dog in the ear. Picture your world in flames and a smug sweating man in a suit laughing. Picture a bowl of cereal. Picture a charcoal pencil and sheath of blank paper.Picture Niagara Falls. Picture a brand new single from Leslie Feist and what it might sound like.
How Come You Never Go There by Feist
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Rage...
This is a link to some hypnotic crazy Australian shit. A late night Australian music show of incredible consistency and otherworldly quality. My memories of this show, watching the music videos it featured, in Pott's Point, Sydney,on our tiny television, in our little studio apartment, make me have to stop and catch my breath.
Rage
Remember late night music shows? That featured good music videos? Including songs that weren't singles? Late night music shows like 120 Minutes?
Rage
Remember late night music shows? That featured good music videos? Including songs that weren't singles? Late night music shows like 120 Minutes?
Friday, August 12, 2011
It's the song of the day!
A brutally honest piece of hip hop gold. The low budget D.I.Y video by the legendary Spike Jonze is perfection. So clever it makes me giddy. Spikes ability to match the aesthetic of the video with the aesthetic of the song is unparalleled. This is one of my very favourite pieces of music art. Beautiful.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Fake anarchists and TV sitcoms...
It's been another heavy week as our dying planet hurtles towards apocalypse at a nauseating velocity.
Children rioting in the streets of our cities, stealing and destroying under the false pretense of social injustice. If the looters bullshit were to be believed it would surely mark the first time anarchists paused in the middle of their revolution to steal flat screen plasma televisions and sneakers.
People sat in front of their televisions at home got to watch, over and over and over again, incredibly sad and infuriating video footage of a group of people pretending to help an injured boy up off the ground before robbing him and leaving him confused and scared. We saw images of a woman having to jump for her life from the second story of a burning building. Incredibly enlightening footage of a Sky News reporter asking a boy in a balaclava why he and his friends were taking part in these riots. The boy responding with "It's fun,innit? We get drunk and do what we want."
On a slightly less important but no less distressing note, the illustrious music publication NME had a photo of British band the Horrors on it's cover along with the highly contentious statement that they were, apparently, Britain's best band. Is it a coincidence this particular issue of the magazine coincided with these terrible riots? I don't know. XL Recordings weren't one of the independent record labels affected by the terrible fire at the Sony distribution center in Enfield, so probably not.
Incidently here's a link to a list of all the independent record labels badly affected by the burning down of the Sony Distribution in Enfield Monday night. Go out and buy some music from any of these labels and help support a vital industry, and good record labels now seriously under threat.
I watched a news update the other night that discussed the courts in London and how they were staying open all night to process all those charged with crimes perpetrated during the riots. They displayed photos of individual looters caught on CCTV camera's. One of the people charged with stealing was a male teaching assistant at an elementary school. The man even had his photo on the schools website homepage where he was listed as a mentor for the children. I tell you, you can't write this stuff.
I have to say though, by this point I was exhausted with the rolling news stories, emphasising what a terrible society we have nurtured, and at the mention of the courts being open all night all I could think of was the television show Night Court and how much I loved it. A perfect example of a great American situational comedy. I've never seen it available on DVD, and I'm not sure if anybody is even familiar with it here in the UK. But all I could think of was how great it would be to watch it all over again. John Larroquette was my favourite character on the show. Dan Fielding. A legend amongst smarmy, hilarious, over confident, asshole television characters.
I tend to return to situational television comedy when I'm feeling fed up or particularly stressed. I find reassurance in fun, well constructed, cleverly written television shows. It's a hard art to perfect, and once in awhile you stumble on a show that makes it look effortless. I got a bit obsessed a few months ago with re-runs of Martin. I discovered the whole series on YouTube and had forgotten how great it was. Martin Lawrence was an inspired comedic actor back then. And I've been obsessed with The IT Crowd recently.
For some reason it went entirely unknown inside my brain mind that the Graham Linehan who wrote The IT Crowd was the very same Graham Linehan who co-wrote Father Ted. I was a little ashamed of myself when I made that, what in hindsight was painfully obvious, realization. I was obsessed with Father Ted when it first aired in Canada. It is one of the great television shows of our time. I kept watching episodes of The IT Crowd and seven or eight times an episode I'd think jesus this is well written. It's so subtle and smart and well constructed yet so simply funny. So funny it almost seems obvious. I get jealous watching it. I wish I could write something that well.
Then the other day I was in the middle of telling my wife all of this, about how great the IT Crowd was and she went yeah, it's the same guy who wrote Father Ted. I looked at her dumbly. Inside my head I was viciously kicking my brain. I went on the computer and googled Graham Linehan and discovered he also co-wrote series one of Black Books, another of my favourite TV shows. My respect for Graham Linehan kept growing. Father Ted, The IT Crowd, Black Books.
Oh and I also just put together a compilation of music songs, a playlist if you will. I've attached it below. I have to send out my apologies to Mr Linehan for stealing the idea directly from his delightful blog. It's such a simple way of posting a music compilation, and I'm such a hopeless pathetic idiot when it comes to that kind of stuff. You know, stuff involving thinking.
You should check out Graham Linehan's blog. It's very clever and funny. Not like the one your currently reading.
So yeah, here's some music...I've cleverly titled the list: "Thematically inconsistent, maybe." (Obviously, any time anybody ever openly refers to something they just did as clever, it almost always isn't.) Enjoy!
Children rioting in the streets of our cities, stealing and destroying under the false pretense of social injustice. If the looters bullshit were to be believed it would surely mark the first time anarchists paused in the middle of their revolution to steal flat screen plasma televisions and sneakers.
People sat in front of their televisions at home got to watch, over and over and over again, incredibly sad and infuriating video footage of a group of people pretending to help an injured boy up off the ground before robbing him and leaving him confused and scared. We saw images of a woman having to jump for her life from the second story of a burning building. Incredibly enlightening footage of a Sky News reporter asking a boy in a balaclava why he and his friends were taking part in these riots. The boy responding with "It's fun,innit? We get drunk and do what we want."
On a slightly less important but no less distressing note, the illustrious music publication NME had a photo of British band the Horrors on it's cover along with the highly contentious statement that they were, apparently, Britain's best band. Is it a coincidence this particular issue of the magazine coincided with these terrible riots? I don't know. XL Recordings weren't one of the independent record labels affected by the terrible fire at the Sony distribution center in Enfield, so probably not.
Incidently here's a link to a list of all the independent record labels badly affected by the burning down of the Sony Distribution in Enfield Monday night. Go out and buy some music from any of these labels and help support a vital industry, and good record labels now seriously under threat.
I watched a news update the other night that discussed the courts in London and how they were staying open all night to process all those charged with crimes perpetrated during the riots. They displayed photos of individual looters caught on CCTV camera's. One of the people charged with stealing was a male teaching assistant at an elementary school. The man even had his photo on the schools website homepage where he was listed as a mentor for the children. I tell you, you can't write this stuff.
I have to say though, by this point I was exhausted with the rolling news stories, emphasising what a terrible society we have nurtured, and at the mention of the courts being open all night all I could think of was the television show Night Court and how much I loved it. A perfect example of a great American situational comedy. I've never seen it available on DVD, and I'm not sure if anybody is even familiar with it here in the UK. But all I could think of was how great it would be to watch it all over again. John Larroquette was my favourite character on the show. Dan Fielding. A legend amongst smarmy, hilarious, over confident, asshole television characters.
I tend to return to situational television comedy when I'm feeling fed up or particularly stressed. I find reassurance in fun, well constructed, cleverly written television shows. It's a hard art to perfect, and once in awhile you stumble on a show that makes it look effortless. I got a bit obsessed a few months ago with re-runs of Martin. I discovered the whole series on YouTube and had forgotten how great it was. Martin Lawrence was an inspired comedic actor back then. And I've been obsessed with The IT Crowd recently.
For some reason it went entirely unknown inside my brain mind that the Graham Linehan who wrote The IT Crowd was the very same Graham Linehan who co-wrote Father Ted. I was a little ashamed of myself when I made that, what in hindsight was painfully obvious, realization. I was obsessed with Father Ted when it first aired in Canada. It is one of the great television shows of our time. I kept watching episodes of The IT Crowd and seven or eight times an episode I'd think jesus this is well written. It's so subtle and smart and well constructed yet so simply funny. So funny it almost seems obvious. I get jealous watching it. I wish I could write something that well.
Then the other day I was in the middle of telling my wife all of this, about how great the IT Crowd was and she went yeah, it's the same guy who wrote Father Ted. I looked at her dumbly. Inside my head I was viciously kicking my brain. I went on the computer and googled Graham Linehan and discovered he also co-wrote series one of Black Books, another of my favourite TV shows. My respect for Graham Linehan kept growing. Father Ted, The IT Crowd, Black Books.
Oh and I also just put together a compilation of music songs, a playlist if you will. I've attached it below. I have to send out my apologies to Mr Linehan for stealing the idea directly from his delightful blog. It's such a simple way of posting a music compilation, and I'm such a hopeless pathetic idiot when it comes to that kind of stuff. You know, stuff involving thinking.
You should check out Graham Linehan's blog. It's very clever and funny. Not like the one your currently reading.
So yeah, here's some music...I've cleverly titled the list: "Thematically inconsistent, maybe." (Obviously, any time anybody ever openly refers to something they just did as clever, it almost always isn't.) Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Important Albums: #1 - Pixies "Surfer Rosa/Come On Pilgrim
Yeah, so I discovered the music of the Pixies watching a film. At the end of Fight Club as Ed Norton and Helena Bonham Carter watched their city burn all I could think was Jesus what is this song? I was in Victoria, British Columbia living with two of my best friends. I checked the end of the credits for the name of the band. I immediately went on the computer and downloaded a couple of songs on Limewire or some equivalent. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
The next day I went into town, to Lyle's Music. I searched the P's, found Pixies and picked up a copy of Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim. Even the album sleeve was exotic. Compelling. I looked at the back of the album. Read the song listing. Broken Face. Break My Body. Gigantic. Vamos. Brick Is Red. I didn't know what to think. I went up to the counter and paid for it. Excited. Remember back when when you got genuinely excited about records? I headed for the bus stop and popped the cd in my discman. I caught the number 14 bus back to the house in View Royal. The album started as the bus pulled out and I didn't know what to do. I remember smiling a lot. I must have looked like some kind of fool. When the drums began at the start of Bone Machine, then the guitar kicked in I was confused and unprepared. Frank Black started talk/yelling, then Kim Deal's angelic vocals came in and Frank Black started screaming like a banshee and I fell head over heals in love. It was sort of like taking a walk along a cliff and realising a second too late that you'd stepped off the edge. "I was talking to Peachy Peach about kissy kiss." The lyrics were obscure and perfect.
The first song ended quickly and Break My Body started. Black Francis' jaded primitive vocals mixed with strange effortlessness, with Kim's soft feminine voice. I couldn't make sense of it, and the songs kept ending and starting so quickly. Where had this music come from? And how had I missed it? I didn't know music could be like this. I'd enjoyed plenty of albums before Surfer Rosa/Come On Pilgrim, loved plenty of albums before it. But not like this. When Something Against You kicked in my love was sealed. Black Francis' screaming was so angry. So desperate. So defiant. And at the end when he yelled "Oh yeah, I'm one happy prick." that was it. This guy, this girl, this band were making music specifically for me. For that moment. For my life. I had never heard such a mix of anger and beauty and intelligence and fun.
And each song got better, and better. Every moment. The record was perfect. Frank's squeaking vocals at the start of Broken Face. The crushing grinding guitar. Who produced these songs? I quickly discovered it was the legendary Steve Albini, who if he never did anything else in his entire life would have his reputation cemented in rock and roll history for his work producing the two perfect e.p's, stuck together on this one monumental album. Fortunately he has been responsible for so many other albums and bands in independent alternative music that I needn't have worried.
I couldn't believe how complete the Pixies's sound was. How each song began so flawlessly and maintained that level and built upon it song after song. It was like the band had access to my brain and heart. And had modelled this album and their sound and all their idea's specifically on my personal tastes and desires. Tastes and desires I wasn't even properly aware I'd had until that moment when this album began. That mix of purpose, of specific structure mixed with raw impulse. The way the album felt almost loosely performed and recorded yet still sounded so important, and vital.
I spent that entire bus ride from downtown Victoria to our house in the suburb of View Royal in complete awe. And then River Euphrates began and I was euphoric. Kim Deal's vocals fade in in a series of ra ra ra's, Frank starts singing and then counts down to the chorus and Kim Deals vocals come back in as she ra ra ra's over Frank's voice so you can't understand what he's singing. That moment was everything for me. It summed up everything I loved about this band. I realized I was literally at that very moment listening to my very favourite music I'd ever listened to. The idea that the music, the melody, the pure emotion of the sounds being sung were more vital and important than the actual literal lyrics blew my head open. Opened my whole view on music, widened the avenues of my musical appreciation. It single-handedly did more for my enjoyment of music than any other album, any other band I had heard. And I don't say that loosely. The song that had made me look into this band, that had led me to this album hadn't even come on yet. That was next. Where is My Mind.
That song profoundly affected me for a long time. Normally, when I hear a song that good I struggle to pay attention to the rest of the album. I press repeat a lot. But the very song after Where Is My Mind is Cactus. Probably the song that did grab me the most lyrically. The lyrics are so dark and personal and raw. Gritty and grimy and sexy much like I imagine the dress he's singing about.
Then the album changes direction again as Tony's Theme kicks in, at supersonic speed. The velocity of that song, the change in tone took my breath away. The simplicity of the songs, of the album kept overwhelming me. This was the Pixies debut album, the first songs they had recorded. They hit the ground running at this speed. With a sound that was this complete, with idea's that were this original and so perfectly realized. The Pixies were and still are the band that best represent how I felt, how I feel. If I ended up in heaven this was the music that would be playing. If I ended up on a dessert island this was the specific album I would want with me.
To me, in my personal view the most beautiful sound in music is Kim Deal and Black Francis singing together on Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. I had never heard such a ferocious mixture of beauty and rage. Riding on that bus it was the most exciting and lovely sound I had ever heard. That hasn't changed.
I almost forgot to mention the studio banter. The legendary studio banter. Frank Black telling Kim to fucking die was a revelation. It somehow added both to the intimacy of the album and to the looseness of the sound. I appreciated that window into the band's lives, that glimpse into their personal relationships. And they were funny as hell. At the start of I'm Amazed when Kim talks about the rumours in high school, it still makes me laugh.
If I had to be extra specific I would have to say Surfer Rosa was actually my favourite Pixies recording. But my introduction to the band was through the version featuring Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim on one disc. So even though they were initially two separate e.p's I always see them as one complete album. And while I do think Come On Pilgrim is the looser of the two recordings, Pilgrim is just as vital and responsible for pushing me over the edge, body and soul into a lifelong love affair with the band as Surfer.
Caribou, is one of their best loved hits and also showcases Kim Deal's wonderful vocals. the two song combo of The Holiday Song and Nimrod's Son were shocking to me, both in the unashamedly catchy melodies and in the serious subject matter. The anger and frustration in the Pixies songs always impacted me greatly.
Come On Pilgrim also contains my all time favourite Pixies song. I've Been Tired. This song encapsulates everything I love about the band and their music in three wonderful minutes. Lyrically it is one of my the best songs ever written from any genre or era. It is amazingly, endlessly clever and inventive. It's happy and heartbreaking and desperate. Musically it's the same. It's catchy and heartbreakingly beautiful, and ferocious. It's unashamedly raw and personal. It's impact was especially heavy me. The mixture of description, and emotion was unlike anything I had ever heard. When Frank Black says Don't give me no shit because... and Kim and him start yelling I been tired. Well, that was me. I'd never heard music that affected me so personally, so specifically. Music that was also so much fucking fun.
The Pixies became a large part of the soundtrack to my time in Victoria. Walking downtown, around the inner harbour. Strolling through Beacon Hill Park. Along Dallas Road. They became a large part of the soundtrack of my time in Toronto, and Australia and everywhere else, too.
I've always been in awe of the rage in Pixies music. I used to listen to a lot of Pantera, Sepultura, Slayer, Helmet, Rage. I still do. But for the most part the anger and rage in that music was always sort of comic book type stuff. Sometimes ironic and whatnot. Black Francis though, his rage was real. I related to his anger. And the weird effortlessness of his vocals really added to it. On Pixies albums his scream is gargantuan. Primal. So I was pretty shocked when I finally got to see the Pixies live in 2004 during their first reunion tour, at Arrow Hall in Mississauga. I went alone. Made my way out to the awkwardly located venue out around Pearson International Airport, walked into the big cavernous building and made my way excitedly up to the front of the stage. I think the Datsuns opened for them, and a local Toronto band called the Marble Index. An unfortunate task for both bands. No one was interested. Everyone just wanted the Pixies. When they finally took to the stage I was left in awe. Or even further in awe, I guess. Frank Black just stood calmly in front of the microphone, playing his guitar. He leaned casually up to the mic, opened his mouth and that hellish scream fell out seemingly without any effort whatsoever. That really blew my mind. And for me that's how it's always been. Frank Black's rage always beat out the cartoon anger of other heavier bands. The Pixies will always be the prettiest and most ferocious band I know, and Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim is the album I love the most.
The next day I went into town, to Lyle's Music. I searched the P's, found Pixies and picked up a copy of Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim. Even the album sleeve was exotic. Compelling. I looked at the back of the album. Read the song listing. Broken Face. Break My Body. Gigantic. Vamos. Brick Is Red. I didn't know what to think. I went up to the counter and paid for it. Excited. Remember back when when you got genuinely excited about records? I headed for the bus stop and popped the cd in my discman. I caught the number 14 bus back to the house in View Royal. The album started as the bus pulled out and I didn't know what to do. I remember smiling a lot. I must have looked like some kind of fool. When the drums began at the start of Bone Machine, then the guitar kicked in I was confused and unprepared. Frank Black started talk/yelling, then Kim Deal's angelic vocals came in and Frank Black started screaming like a banshee and I fell head over heals in love. It was sort of like taking a walk along a cliff and realising a second too late that you'd stepped off the edge. "I was talking to Peachy Peach about kissy kiss." The lyrics were obscure and perfect.
The first song ended quickly and Break My Body started. Black Francis' jaded primitive vocals mixed with strange effortlessness, with Kim's soft feminine voice. I couldn't make sense of it, and the songs kept ending and starting so quickly. Where had this music come from? And how had I missed it? I didn't know music could be like this. I'd enjoyed plenty of albums before Surfer Rosa/Come On Pilgrim, loved plenty of albums before it. But not like this. When Something Against You kicked in my love was sealed. Black Francis' screaming was so angry. So desperate. So defiant. And at the end when he yelled "Oh yeah, I'm one happy prick." that was it. This guy, this girl, this band were making music specifically for me. For that moment. For my life. I had never heard such a mix of anger and beauty and intelligence and fun.
And each song got better, and better. Every moment. The record was perfect. Frank's squeaking vocals at the start of Broken Face. The crushing grinding guitar. Who produced these songs? I quickly discovered it was the legendary Steve Albini, who if he never did anything else in his entire life would have his reputation cemented in rock and roll history for his work producing the two perfect e.p's, stuck together on this one monumental album. Fortunately he has been responsible for so many other albums and bands in independent alternative music that I needn't have worried.
I couldn't believe how complete the Pixies's sound was. How each song began so flawlessly and maintained that level and built upon it song after song. It was like the band had access to my brain and heart. And had modelled this album and their sound and all their idea's specifically on my personal tastes and desires. Tastes and desires I wasn't even properly aware I'd had until that moment when this album began. That mix of purpose, of specific structure mixed with raw impulse. The way the album felt almost loosely performed and recorded yet still sounded so important, and vital.
I spent that entire bus ride from downtown Victoria to our house in the suburb of View Royal in complete awe. And then River Euphrates began and I was euphoric. Kim Deal's vocals fade in in a series of ra ra ra's, Frank starts singing and then counts down to the chorus and Kim Deals vocals come back in as she ra ra ra's over Frank's voice so you can't understand what he's singing. That moment was everything for me. It summed up everything I loved about this band. I realized I was literally at that very moment listening to my very favourite music I'd ever listened to. The idea that the music, the melody, the pure emotion of the sounds being sung were more vital and important than the actual literal lyrics blew my head open. Opened my whole view on music, widened the avenues of my musical appreciation. It single-handedly did more for my enjoyment of music than any other album, any other band I had heard. And I don't say that loosely. The song that had made me look into this band, that had led me to this album hadn't even come on yet. That was next. Where is My Mind.
That song profoundly affected me for a long time. Normally, when I hear a song that good I struggle to pay attention to the rest of the album. I press repeat a lot. But the very song after Where Is My Mind is Cactus. Probably the song that did grab me the most lyrically. The lyrics are so dark and personal and raw. Gritty and grimy and sexy much like I imagine the dress he's singing about.
Then the album changes direction again as Tony's Theme kicks in, at supersonic speed. The velocity of that song, the change in tone took my breath away. The simplicity of the songs, of the album kept overwhelming me. This was the Pixies debut album, the first songs they had recorded. They hit the ground running at this speed. With a sound that was this complete, with idea's that were this original and so perfectly realized. The Pixies were and still are the band that best represent how I felt, how I feel. If I ended up in heaven this was the music that would be playing. If I ended up on a dessert island this was the specific album I would want with me.
To me, in my personal view the most beautiful sound in music is Kim Deal and Black Francis singing together on Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. I had never heard such a ferocious mixture of beauty and rage. Riding on that bus it was the most exciting and lovely sound I had ever heard. That hasn't changed.
I almost forgot to mention the studio banter. The legendary studio banter. Frank Black telling Kim to fucking die was a revelation. It somehow added both to the intimacy of the album and to the looseness of the sound. I appreciated that window into the band's lives, that glimpse into their personal relationships. And they were funny as hell. At the start of I'm Amazed when Kim talks about the rumours in high school, it still makes me laugh.
If I had to be extra specific I would have to say Surfer Rosa was actually my favourite Pixies recording. But my introduction to the band was through the version featuring Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim on one disc. So even though they were initially two separate e.p's I always see them as one complete album. And while I do think Come On Pilgrim is the looser of the two recordings, Pilgrim is just as vital and responsible for pushing me over the edge, body and soul into a lifelong love affair with the band as Surfer.
Caribou, is one of their best loved hits and also showcases Kim Deal's wonderful vocals. the two song combo of The Holiday Song and Nimrod's Son were shocking to me, both in the unashamedly catchy melodies and in the serious subject matter. The anger and frustration in the Pixies songs always impacted me greatly.
Come On Pilgrim also contains my all time favourite Pixies song. I've Been Tired. This song encapsulates everything I love about the band and their music in three wonderful minutes. Lyrically it is one of my the best songs ever written from any genre or era. It is amazingly, endlessly clever and inventive. It's happy and heartbreaking and desperate. Musically it's the same. It's catchy and heartbreakingly beautiful, and ferocious. It's unashamedly raw and personal. It's impact was especially heavy me. The mixture of description, and emotion was unlike anything I had ever heard. When Frank Black says Don't give me no shit because... and Kim and him start yelling I been tired. Well, that was me. I'd never heard music that affected me so personally, so specifically. Music that was also so much fucking fun.
The Pixies became a large part of the soundtrack to my time in Victoria. Walking downtown, around the inner harbour. Strolling through Beacon Hill Park. Along Dallas Road. They became a large part of the soundtrack of my time in Toronto, and Australia and everywhere else, too.
I've always been in awe of the rage in Pixies music. I used to listen to a lot of Pantera, Sepultura, Slayer, Helmet, Rage. I still do. But for the most part the anger and rage in that music was always sort of comic book type stuff. Sometimes ironic and whatnot. Black Francis though, his rage was real. I related to his anger. And the weird effortlessness of his vocals really added to it. On Pixies albums his scream is gargantuan. Primal. So I was pretty shocked when I finally got to see the Pixies live in 2004 during their first reunion tour, at Arrow Hall in Mississauga. I went alone. Made my way out to the awkwardly located venue out around Pearson International Airport, walked into the big cavernous building and made my way excitedly up to the front of the stage. I think the Datsuns opened for them, and a local Toronto band called the Marble Index. An unfortunate task for both bands. No one was interested. Everyone just wanted the Pixies. When they finally took to the stage I was left in awe. Or even further in awe, I guess. Frank Black just stood calmly in front of the microphone, playing his guitar. He leaned casually up to the mic, opened his mouth and that hellish scream fell out seemingly without any effort whatsoever. That really blew my mind. And for me that's how it's always been. Frank Black's rage always beat out the cartoon anger of other heavier bands. The Pixies will always be the prettiest and most ferocious band I know, and Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim is the album I love the most.
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