麵包超人 (アンパンマン) "ANPANMAN" the Azuki-Bean-Jam Bun Superman thanks to Spitzgogo_CHEN
Chicago's all like, "Whoaaa, happy winter, suckers!" It's -4 degrees outside with a wind chill of something negative ridiculous and I don't know why I live here. I would very much like to wear my bathing suit around (totally ignoring my chubs, duh) and lie down on beaches and climb hills and ride bikes and stuff when I get trapped like this in my apartment.
This is easily the coldest day of the year and I am glad I don't have to be outside. Happy winter, friends. I was saving this song until the first day of winter. Maybe I manifested this horrid weather. Guys, I'm sorry. Mostly, I'm sorry that I missed the Muppet Christmas Special. Bless you, internet.
Relatively last minute, I was able to score amazing seats to see Joanna Newsom perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Roommate Tim and I sat on the main floor, center, second row after biking slowly (I was in a dress and shoes that clicked--yikes!) from the near-west side to downtown. I'd never seen the CSO nor I had ever been in the space and it's safe to assume that it was beautiful. The sound, the building, the hugeness of things. Everything was crisp and clear and I quickly drank a beer and sat down and had a throughly enjoyable time. Am I supposed to do anything other than gush? Her voice has gotten stronger and fuller and uuuhhhhh what else am I supposed to say other than it was so much better than I expected even though I expected total greatness? What does that become then? GREATNESS GREATNESS? Yes, let's settle on that.
The first half consisted of songs from Ys. And duh, of course it translated beautifully from record to stage because Van Dyke Parks is a genius and all of the musicians involved are terribly talented. Although there was no "danceploration" from the Drag City folks, it was particularly adorable when conductor Ryan Francesconi picked up an instrument part way through a song and kept his head bopping. Then intermission came, a break for fresh air, and more more more. I was and am still impressed by everyone. And have you seen Joanna Newsom live before? Talent. I mean, really, truly, even if you're not fond of her voice, it's a wonder that her hands move so and that she's still singing perfectly.
There was cute banter and overwhelming beautiful arrangements of songs that played a significant role in my life as Milk-Eyed Mender was one of the three most played albums during my stay in France (you know, one of those typical "coming-of-age" experiences because if I am anything at all, I am pretty normal).
My favorite song of the night? I don't know. I can't say. My favorite song from the second half? Maybe "Peach, Plum, Pear". Maybe not. Look, I can't choose! Here's a video from Brazil of a song that she also played on Friday night that's a contender for favorite:
If it's any indication to how the new album is shaping up, then gosh. Well, gosh. My goodness. I'm going to go melt somewhere now, thanks.
if you don't see me in the next few days, I've moved to Sweden and bought a horse and a cat. Blame NPR. Seriously. You can also blame the truly wonderful Bob Boilen's/NPR's All Songs Considered for my taste in music. Sometimes Pitchfork (yeah, I said it) but mostly ASC--go to their redesigned site and, most importantly, the new blog. It's great and where I came across the video.
Seriously. Watch the video. Listen to the song. It is delicious. It's like the first time I watched Ghost World. A couple of us gals spent the night in a friend's attic bedroom in a drafty house. We curled into bed and watched the movie and I was completely floored. This is what being a girl is, neigh this is what being a teenage girl is (and even now I'd contend that this is how it is, though I'm not all that far-removed from teenage-hood). This is the isolation I feel. This is how my life and my perceptions are deflating. None of that is wrong, really, but it's just how it is. Recently, I tried to explain to someone why Ghost World is one of my favorite movies (and then one of my favorite comics) and I couldn't without resorting to, "You have to be a girl to understand. It perfectly portrays what growing up as a girl feels like." I really hated myself for saying that because it was inadequate.
But that's the way I would attempt to describe "Little Trouble Girl", too. I can't succinctly write about why this song encompasses and opens up everything ever about my gender as I've experienced it any better than how I attempted to explain why Ghost World is just so good. "Little Trouble Girl" may be a little bit more on the surface but it's the sing-songy repetition, the general malaise (fancy word alert) that really does it. Plus, Kim Deal! Kim Gordon! Perfection, those two.
I've never been to Paris in April. I've been there in October, November, December, January, June, July, and August. Once in the colder months, twice in the summer. Perhaps I should've stuck it out for April.
Parker's Paris is: catching the Metro just in time and carrying a black umbrella. Lunch dates with someone whose eyes wrinkle in the corners before he smiles. Swapping stories about "back home" with fellow ex-pats with only a glint of nostalgia and not that overwhelmingly thick coating. Dusk walks around the neighborhood in heeled shoes that click or tap or click-tap. Some other Paris that I may still find if I ever wind up back there.
I'll admit it. When I was in France, I listened to a lot of the same things. Feist and Dizzee Rascal videos aired a lot on M6 in the early morning hours and I was totally into it. It's not so much a secret, but I love marionettes and puppets. So grotesque and whimsical. "Dream" is a bit kitsch and kind of silly and a few years later, I'm not sure if I like Dizzee Rascal or if I just buy into critical hype.
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I'm computer dumb so bear with me as I try to figure out how to use, er, build? a flash player. Maybe by the New Year, yeah? I bet it's all sorts of simple. For the time being, I'm using Bleep for flash since I'm not 1337 enough to listen to horribly obscure stuff.
Kanye West, you are killing me. Serious. I am quite behind in the world of music (and blogs, too--months, maybe years) and recently heard the new Kanye West single, "Stronger". It's pretty much the Daft Punk track, "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", with West rapping over it. Well no. Borrowing heavily from. Or samples. I mean samples, right? I feel like a sample shouldn't be so blatant but what should I know (there are, of course, exceptions, i.e. Girl Talk's spastic samples are earth-shatteringly obvious yet deceptive and brilliant that it's a work to behold). Anyway, I disliked it when Busta Rhymes sampled Daft Punk's "Technologic" for his single, "Touch It", last year. Same French duo, different song, different artist, and I still dislike it. The a cappella version floating around on the internet last year is more interesting than West's take. It feels more sincere. Dudes actually try and appear to care.
I'm not quite sure how I define sincerity, but I don't hear it often. Music or anything. It's the sort of thing one recognizes when it's there, and if it's not present, everything seems shallow and pointless. "For fun" is not a good enough excuse to make crap.
With that said, I find the track with West rapping over Peter, Bjorn, and John's "Young Folks" to be lackluster. No pop for a pop song. And let's not delve into the mess that is Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell (an aside: I have a cousin who is the spitting image of this dude), and West sampling Thom Yorke's "The Eraser". Ick. Granted, I find it the best of the three latest tunes. But that's not saying much, is it?
I really want to like Kanye West. Really, I do. I liked that first album that made him ridiculously famous. I even somewhat liked the one that came after--Jon Brion did work on it and Brion is a darling in my musically-illiterate universe. Hearing these recent tracks, however, I have a feeling that the drop out from my school is going to do like most Columbia (or any college) alums--he's going to get boring and coast.
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I have a lot of posi stuff to write about. Swears! It's just taking some time to collect my thoughts. Or pretend to. I don't really collect anything.
I loved it when RJD2 decided to speak up, um, I mean sing in "Making Days Longer" off of Since We Last Spoke. Yeah, that's right. I didn't mind his sing-speak. I liked it. I loved it. If I were in a band, I would sing-speak. I also loved the idea of him departing from his norm and doing a more pop-oriented album (though, if this were a Serious blog, I would contend to say that everything he's done is Pop. Alas, I am not Serious nor is this blog and it's not like I thought that out before I started typing).
There's the problem: the idea is great. Full of promise. The actual manifestation of it is really not what I hoped he would accomplish. Accomplish is not the word. "Come up with". Listening to it straight-through the three times that I have so far in the past month or so, I feel like Rjd2 could've pushed and then pushed some more to get something not necessarily more polished, but something that's much more focused, more of what we all know he's capable of.
If the breeziness of "Making Days Longer" carried over into The Third Hand, I wouldn't've disliked the album so much. Yes, I disliked it and no one is surprised. Good job at trying, but it just didn't work out. If you're going to sing-speak, do it right. Make it the focus. Make the lyrics, the vocals punchier. Sure, stay restrained but let something peek out. Anything. I bought the album out of sheer curiosity. I listened because I wanted to hear him. But where did he go?
I wholeheartedly believe that one can be timid and present at the same time. He showed us with one breathtaking track and it's there, you know, inside of all of the crud, there's a breathtaking album. The Third Hand feels like a collection of afterthoughts or maybe a rough draft for something that Rjd2 is trying to develop. I'm not sure if the album is, in the grand scheme of his career, a step backward or forward. Maybe it's not a step at all. Maybe it's an extended jump straight up into the air but so far up that the world continued rotating and the poor guy just landed in the middle of the ocean.
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No mp3 but the randomly found YouTube video is magnificent. Beautiful and minimal. Much like the song, I thought to myself, "I can't believe I actually like this." You could also watch the related videos where Rjd2 performs the song. With a band. And an acoustic guitar. I'm sorry. Really. I apologize. I just can't seem to dig that because I'm a close-minded asshat.
麵包超人 (アンパンマン) "ANPANMAN" the Azuki-Bean-Jam Bun Superman thanks to Spitzgogo_CHEN
