Weekly Soundtrack

Just some random stuff today. Truth be told, I’m watching the Celtics game while writing this, so my concentration leaves a little to be desired. You’re lucky I’m not drunk too.

“Hey Joni” by Sonic Youth

I’m on a little Sonic Youth kicks these days. They are featured in Our Band Could Be Your Life, and I’m also reading a book by Matthew Stearns about Daydream Nation, the majestic double-album that this song comes from. The elliptical lyrics were written by guitarist Lee Ranaldo, who described them as, “tiny little vignettes…like a bunch of little story visions.” (From the Stearns book.) That kind of stuff can be hit-or-miss, but I like the feel of it here. (Celtics interpolation: that was a goddamn goal-tend by Prince at the end of the first quarter! Fuck these refs!)

The real story with SY is in the music, or should I say, the guitars. They pull out the stops here: alternate-tuned riffs, piano-like textures, spiky, harp-like harmonics, blurry fuzzed-out leads, and what sounds like behind-the-bridge strums. It’s a whirlwind of noise, and it rocks like a hurricane, but it bears almost no resemblance (beyond structural) to “typical” rock. Rolling Stone once said that in the future every band would sound like Sonic Youth, but twenty years after this song came out, it still sounds like no one else. [Note: you may have to click on the link in order to listen to this song. I have no idea why.]

“Time To Pretend” by MGMT

I know nothing about this band, and if they removed the vocals from this song I wouldn’t care, because it’s all about that fucking monster hook. Shit, I can’t get it out of my head. (Celtics interpolation: massive three right there by Ray Allen, and Kendrick Perkins has morphed into a fucking beast. He’s a man among boys right now.)

“He’s A Whore” by Big Black

A Cheap Trick cover from the delicately titled Songs About Fucking. Geez, I think everyone who went to MassArt in the late 80’s had a copy of this album. Boring music-geek note: Big Black mastermind Steve Albini later produced a Cheap Trick album. You’re welcome.

“Emily Hoedown” by me

Yeah, me. I made up this song for a soundtrack to one of the many baby movies I made. I did the whole thing on GarageBand, which is a music studio program on Macs, by editing and tweaking the sound samples that came with the program. A very time-consuming process, but worth it. I think this song is hilarious.

Random Thoughts

I’ve spent a large chunk of this weekend reading Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad, a glorious chronicle of the indie bands I grew up with, and I’m struck by two things:

1. It’s a fucking great book that makes me want to stop writing about music.

2. It’s a fucking great book that makes me want to get better at writing.

The internet dating thing isn’t panning out like I had hoped. It seems like you have to work just as hard in the online realm as you do in real life. That’s not good for me. Every once in a while someone views my profile, but that’s about it. I guess the market for divorced 40-year old men isn’t what I’d hoped. As for me contacting someone…forget it. Just like in real life, it’s too stressful a thought to entertain. And so, here I am listening alone to the Smiths late on a Sunday night.

That last bit seems pretty depressing, but it’s not all despair around here. My daughter is fucking awesome, a great dancer, and the life of the party. We went out to lunch today and she wore bunny ears the whole time. No particular reason, she just wanted to. Never did it occur to her to feel self-conscious, and I hope that never leaves her.

The Celtics closed out Cleveland this afternoon due to a superhuman effort by Paul Pierce. The Celts are the reason I haven’t really gotten into the Red Sox yet this season. I watched the Celtics a lot during the winter of ‘07 because I had just moved into my own place and I didn’t have anything else to do. They were totally terrible (only 24 wins that year), but for some reason I kept watching. During the off-season they traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, and suddenly they transformed into the most formidable unit in the NBA. I watched almost every Celtics game this season even though I’m not really a basketball fan. I even went so far as to buy a ticket for Game Seven against Atlanta. I just had a weird feeling that I had to be there. I’m starting to feel like Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters. If you see me drawing shamrocks in my mashed potatoes you’ll know why.

Random song (because everyone loves a random song):

“Academy Fight Song” by Mission Of Burma

Perhaps the saddest story in Our Band Could Be Your Life, they were a challenging and serious band that never broke through, in part, simply because they pre-dated the underground support network that kept a lot of bands alive during the ’80’s. I took some lessons from their guitar player, Roger Miller, and I never could muster up the courage to ask him how to play this song.

Weekly Soundtrack

Hüsker Dü Edition

Well it took a bit longer than I expected, and I’ve probably violated a boatload of international laws to get these songs, but here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The loudest, hardest, fastest and most prolific band of the 80’s, during their heyday (84-87) the Hüskers released a double-album (Zen Arcade), three single albums (New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig, Candy Apple Gray), and another double-album (Warehouse: Songs And Stories). That’s seven records of material in four years. Even for a band with two songwriters that’s a goddamn lot of songs.

Rising out of the morass of American Hardcore, they were the first band to fuse devastatingly emotional songs to the overloaded, amphetamine rush of hardcore punk.  My world would be a poorer place had they never existed.

Due to my undying love, I’m gonna break my ‘three song’ rule here, because three songs could never do them justice. And besides, it’s my site. I can do whatever I fucking want.

“Chartered Trips” from Zen Arcade

This line from a review of Flip Your Wig has stuck in my head since 1985: “If most pop songs consist of passion recollected in the tranquility of a studio, this trio from Minneapolis offers passion re-created in the studio.” That perfectly describes why I consider this their best song. More emotional maelstrom than music, by the last verse Bob Mould is totally spent, gasping for breath, lyrics slurring into unintelligibility. That sort of immersion in a song is often implied in rock, but rarely is it made so real.

“Turn On The News” from Zen Arcade

Maybe the most potent song they ever recorded, and I think they knew this song was special.  The production, with shouted backing vocals and awesome guitar overdubs, clearly overshadows everything else on the record.

“Makes No Sense At All” from Flip Your Wig

Swift, catchy, and loud. Their first major step toward mainstream recognition.

“Love Is All Around”

Yes, the theme from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” This was the B-side of “Makes No Sense At All,” and it garnered almost as much attention as the A-side. Some thought it was a lark (the show was set in Minneapolis, the same city the band hailed from), but I don’t think so. There’s something desperate in the howling backing vocals that makes it more than a joke. Back in the old days this became the theme song for one of my housemates.  I still think of her every time I hear it.

“Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely” from Candy Apple Gray

Grant Hart’s finest three and-a-half minutes. This song is from their major-label debut, and while their sound had cleaned up a bit since Zen Arcade, there was still quite a distance between them and, say, Power Station.

“You Can Live At Home” from Warehouse: Songs And Stories

The last song on their last album, it’s hard now not to interpret it as a commentary on their impending breakup.  The way the guitar rises in the mix during the fade-out blew my 19 year-old mind. Still does.

Mini Soundtrack

I’m pissed the Celtics didn’t close out the Hawks last night. It’s raining. I haven’t taken a shower in three days and I’m running out of Mason jars to save my pee in. Plus, my upstairs neighbor plays Magic 106.7 really loudly. I was trying to watch the game last night and all I could hear was the bassline for “Brown-Eyed Girl” coming through my ceiling. Fucking annoying.

“Calm Of The Cast-Light Cloud” by Eluvium

If you thought I was gonna post some aggro-noise, you’re wrong. I can’t explain why I love this formless mass of sound, but I do. Good music to put four year-old girls to sleep to.

The Best News Of All Time

I just found out that Hüsker Dü’s catalog will finally, finally, finally be available for download on Amazon starting next Tuesday. Which means you can count on week-upon-endless-week of Soundtracks filled to the brim with all the howling non-hits that helped provide the soundtrack to my formative years.

Oddly enough, I was fantasizing about a Hüsker Dü Soundtrack just this afternoon. I used to own a bunch of their records, but they all got lost or sold in desperate attempts to pay the rent, and I never upgraded to the CD versions. And because they weren’t available to (legally) download I haven’t included one of my favorite bands on this little jerk-off site.

But that will end on Tuesday. I’m already trying to decide which songs I want to use. Better tune up your Flying-V guitar and put on your best wrinkled T-shirt…