Let Me Princess Print This
Back from London, a wonderful city I think I'll need to revisit a few times before I can know it in even the slightest way. My flatmate and I favored Soho's lively streets, lined with record shops big and small, for obvious reasons. Now, the city's expensive, so I exercised self-control and picked up only what I wanted most: Soul Jazz Records' Tropicália: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound and the latest (last?) issue of Comes With A Smile.
Tropicália is everything I hoped it would be, and more, as I am the compilation's target audience: equally interested and uninformed. The songs are revelations, imminently listenable and fresh to these ears, as fascinating as they are fun. I'm still learning, thanks to the 50-page booklet that comes with Tropicália, outlining the year-long movement's history within the context of a tumultuous Brazil. Some choice cuts:
Visit Soul Jazz Records / Buy Tropicália: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound
I was delighted to have finally come across an issue of Comes With A Smile, an attractive magazine with an even more attractive CD. The print portion comprises interviews with the New Pornographers, Death Cab for Cutie, Spoon, the Constantines, the Silver Jews and the Drive-By Truckers. Pretty not bad! Ben Gibbard and the bassist with the stupid hair rubbed me the wrong way in their interview, but I can't say just why. They seemed much too eager to explain their genius, maybe that's it. And a guy called BC Camplight threw out this (incredibly pretentious) gem in his interview: "To tell you the truth, I don't particularly like music." I'm sure he's in it for... the money? Shut up, BC Camplight.
What the people want:
This song is classic New Pornographers, superfluous evidence that A.C. Newman is a genius. Let me Princess print this!
Visit the New Pornographers online.
This is, in fact, nothing more than a new recording of The Beast And Dragon, Adored. With minimal variation, but appreciated nevertheless.
Visit Spoon online.
Funny, Said the Gramophone posted on this band just now, saying they didn't like Scotsman Adrian Moffat's voice. I wanted to share this track because I like the way he speaks here, and not just because he's got an accent. It's somewhere between Maximo Park's "Acrobat," which I wanted to like but couldn't, and the Clientele's "Losing Haringey," which is brilliant. Which, I guess, is a way of saying it's completely British.
Visit Arab Strap online.
Buy the current issue of Comes With A Smile!
***
So I leave for three days and this is what happens? Damnit, Kansas. I've only got one left in my Final Four (Duke).
I'm off to pick up Josh Ritter's The Animal Years, and the almost-last day of class.
Enjoy!
by brian at 3/20/2006 04:50:00 AM
3 Comments:
Glad to hear you had a nice time in London.
Thought you might like to know...
The Walkmen 2nd may @ ABC2
Okkervil River 5th may @ King Tuts
Josh Ritter 15th May @ Oran Mor
Spoon & The New Pornographers 18th May @ABC2
All in Glasgow...but if you fancy a travelling companion I might be up for a few of these.
ps...You can buy CWAS in HMV on Prince's St.
It was just amusing to me (and my co-workers) that someone claiming to be such on top of the music scene would call BC Camplight pretentious. Everyone knows that he is the last person to be pretentious as his whole career is based on tearing up indie scenesters. Do your homework. Good blog though.
Hey hey hey - let's not get assumptive! I don't claim to be on top of the music scene. And I don't think everyone knows that BC Camplight is the last person to be pretentious. In fact, I'd wager that very few people are aware of BC Camplight, so when they come across a statement like the one he offered it's reasonable to see it as inappropriate and pretentious. The context the statement was made in made it pretty clear how it was intended - it definitely didn't warrant "doing my homework," as if that would turn it into some inside joke. To each their own, though, and I really appreciate your feedback.
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