Today I woke up early and took a long walk. This is new for me, as I’m generally satisfied with remaining in one room for the duration of my waking day. Recently, however, I purchased a beautiful incentive to find excuses to move—a silver iPod Shuffle. Cheap(-ish) in cost (not quality), shining to my raven eyes, it has captivated me so thoroughly that I go out of my way to make tiny errands that require walking.
This morning I loaded Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair, Elephant Eyelash by Why?, and Earthspan by the Incredible String Band (the last of which I learned about in Piper at the Gates of Dawn by John Cavanagh, from the 33 1/3 series). The ethereal voices of the Incredible String Band weaving with the melodic boredom of Liz Phair and the no-nonsense but somehow-geeky delivery of hip-hop artist Why? made a surprisingly excellent soundtrack to my walk. Though I didn’t listen to all of them and pressed the “skip forward” button quite a few times, I found real treasures.
Treasure #1: “Speech Bubbles,” (Why?) for one thing, has an excellent backing track. However, if you’ve read my other posts, it won’t be surprising that the reason I like Why? is for the lyrics. I am a huge fan of his/their (before releasing Elephant Eyelash Why? formed a band around himself) album Alopecia (2008) and it will probably make it onto my top ten albums of the year list, if I make one. So Elephant Eyelash was part of an attempt to fill in the back catalogue. It was made worth it for this song alone: “Rain is millions of tiny speech bubbles unused.” Beautiful, and what a way to look at the world! It is a song worth merely reading.
Treasure #2: “Canary,” by Liz Phair, has a mesmerizing and slightly irritating keyboard part, but it fits with the song. As far as I can tell, it is about a repressed rage at the idea of meeting someone else’s expectations and catering to their needs rather than one’s own. “I earn my name/ I come when called/ I jump when you circle the cherry/ I sing like a good canary.” The lyrics aren’t particularly impressive, but I don’t mind a bit. It works the way it is, after all.
Treasure #3: “The Actor” by Incredible String Band. The shifts from palpable melancholy to upbeat melancholy are beautiful. What is even more beautiful is the final shift, from that deep melancholy to a truly positive resolution. “Cigarettes in the airless twenties/ an estate well filled with dust/ In the evening reading Swinburne/ eating mightily with some false lust.” The changing choruses are powerful and the contrasts help to focus the song. Excellent.
I partially like the iPod shuffle so much because it allows me to replicate the way I behave with the internet: I get to skip the things I don’t like, but I am also forced to stumble a little in my blindness. And sometimes you stumble upon brilliance.
Sincerely,
Spencer Miles Kimball
Speech Bubbles:
http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=EbpRHSh%2BRCg%3D
Canary: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Canary-lyrics-Liz-Phair/9425CDF9CDCECD44482568A200283822
The Actor:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-actor-lyrics-incredible-string-band.html
2 comments:
If you enjoy Why?, I'd suggest looking into his earlier collaboration with Odd Nosdam and Dose One called cLOUDDEAD, which produced a fantastic album named Ten. Dose One's also done some fantastic work with the band Subtle; Their album For Hero: For Fool is up there with Alopecia in terms of transcending genres and pumping out all sorts of great new sound.
Regarding Greg Brown's comment: I have not tried cLOUDDEAD sufficiently, though I have them somewhere on my external drive. Will definitely listen to sooner rather than later. As for Subtle, I'm already enthralled by "For Hero: For Fool." Have not yet listened to their new album, however.
Sincerely,
Spencer Miles Kimball
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