1/1

Here are some thoughts on some music I like to listen to.
Mogwai

—Yes! I Am a Long Way From Home

As the title of this blog hints at, I will occasionally write about my favorite (read: best) opening tracks on a variety of albums that I like to listen to. The second track in this series belongs to “Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home” by Mogwai off of their seminal record, Young Team.


Over some quiet tones, a monologue is spoken by a woman who is reciting a piece written about a Mogwai gig in Bergen, Norway from 1997. The words are simple, but describe Mogwai’s music with absolute clarity.

The song begins with quiet cords, and builds up until it shatters, releasing a galaxy of distortion that swirls around you, soaring upwards with its battering, beautiful sounds. Mogwai’s loud-quiet-loud dynamic is here, in its purest form.

It’s always been one of my favorite Mogwai songs, and I’ve been lucky enough to have experienced it live a few times over the years. It’s also the one Mogwai song that elicits the strongest emotional response in me. Judging my Mogwai’s standard of making you feel ways about things, this is a tall order. Something about the monologue in the beginning, and the build, and the release; it all comes together to create a beautiful, moving song. If you get the chance, listen to it while you are actually a long way from home. It does something, with its strange phonomancy, that will soothe you and prepare you for adventure.

I’m a little late getting around to listening to Mastodon’s newest record, The Hunter, in earnest. I heard it when it was streaming around release time, but never went back to it. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy it, it just dropped off my radar. It’s a different beast, so to speak, than Mastodon’s other heavily concept driven work. You can argue that The Hunter is about creatures and beasts and the like, which there is some evidence to support that, but overall I think it’s just a sweet collection of excellent, heavy, progressive metal. I was a fan of their previous release, Crack the Skye (which many weren’t), but The Hunter really satisfies me.

Here’s the really quite pretty(!) track, “Creature Lives”.

In a previous post, I’d mentioned how I discovered Kurt Vile’s music this year with his release Smoke Ring For My Halo. Vile’s music is an amalgam of classic rock, bedroom centric introspection, outward weirdness and, again, rock rock rock. Smoke Ring For My Halo took me so completely by surprise, that it disarmed me for nearly the first dozen times I listened to it. I listened to it obsessively for a few weeks. Non stop. During my commute, at night falling asleep, left in on repeat at home. Just an absolute stunning record that showcases Vile’s talent for songwriting. It’s killer.


We went and saw Vile and his band, The Violators, play Webster Hall Friday night. Aside from a rather shit crowd, the show was excellent. The set was  quite good. They opened with Vile on stage, solo, playing Blackberry Song and then the Violators joined him to tear through a bunch of great songs. It got progressively noisier and dirtier as the set went on, until the Violators left the stage, and Vile played solo again to mellow the room out. Many of the songs were played differently in both structure and tempo, which made for a nice live experience. He shied away from clear vocals in favor of a much more mumbled, half in / half out of the mic style of singing, but it was no worse for wear.

The video you’re watching, or already have watched, or are watching again, is for “Jesus Fever” off Smoke Ring For My Halo. It’s just about the grooviest song I’ve had stuck in my head this year, and I bet you’ll be humming it while brushing your teeth or taking the garbage out in no time.

Dig it!

Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke of Radiohead cover Portishead’s “The Rip”. 

I just recently watched an old interview with Ed O’Brien and Thom Yorke, around the release of Radiohead’s In Rainbows, where they discussed the difficulties of feeling self confident enough to make new music. Yes, Radiohead was saying this. They’d been between records for some time (Hail to the Thief was 2003) and the recording process was difficult because of this.

Anyhow, they mention Portishead in the interview, and it’s relevant. It’s interesting because balancing family and marriage with hobbies and creative urges is tough. Even for Radiohead.

The original version of “The Rip” can be found on Portishead’s album Third.

Here’s Portishead playing it live on Jools Holland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKVBtEuPSwc

The way your sweat would pool (for a good 35 minutes)

Here’s a mix for you. It’s short, just under 35 minutes, but it’s concise.

(Kurt Vile - Downbound Train)

For a long while I confused Kurt Vile with another, late artist, who had a similarly odd last name. Apparently, Vile is legitimate in his surname and his music is quite different as well. He’s a long hair and hails from the street of Philadelphia. He played in The War on Drugs, who keep a tight sound, but made his way on his own to express his certain brand of bedroom recorded rock in a new way.

His newest release, Smoke Ring for My Halo wears its inspirations vividly, but it really hits a deeper place beyond those familiar melodies of Petty or Springsteen. I found myself relating to his lyrics, in some odd stunted, fever dream sort of way. His grooves are delicious.

This track is off his new EP, So Outta Reach. It’s a Springsteen cover.

I’ll post an original song of his soon.

(Atlas Sound - Amplifiers)

Bradford Cox of Deerhunter plays as Atlas Sound. Much like Vile, these recordings were bedroom-centric, but obviously they’re much bigger than four walls can hold. With the newest release, Parallax, Cox shows the grandeur of Deerhunter’s recent epic release, Halcyon Digest, but in a more personal, lounge singer tapping his cigarette ashes on your table sort of way.

Amplifiers, the second track of Parallax, is a good indicator of the feel of the record. It’s chill and involved.

(M83 - Reunion)

Anthony Gonzalez, mastermind behind M83 has created the perfect organism with his newest release Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Gonzalez has synthesized every good thing about M83 and crafted a masterpiece of electronic pop shimmering with retro sounds. “Reunion” is a huge sounding song, more so than “Midnight City” which is the album’s lead single. It’s epic, it’s android John Hughes, it’s Ducky lost in time, it’s Pretty in Pink re-scored, it’s The Breakfast Club of your brain. I can’t even imagine what a fucking ripper this song will be live, surely getting the crowd jumping and dancing. At least, in a perfect world.

(The National - Lit Up)

Off their just-about-to-explode album, Alligator. A true New York City song, and album, if I’ve ever heard one.

I can talk to you about The National ad infinitum, which I just might at some point. For now, just close your eyes and nod and sway along.

(Spiritualized - The X Files Theme)


Spiritualized covers The X Files theme. There couldn’t have been a better interpretation. Spook out

(Mogwai - How To Be A Werewolf)

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. That is the title of Mogwai’s newest record, and in a string of bizarre album (and song) titles, it ranks among their best. It’s one of their best albums, too. It’s clean, it’s driving, and it shimmers like all Mogwai recordings do. I’ve been known to say it’s their best since Happy Songs For Happy People, but months after its release I’m leaning towards it being, possibly, their best record after Young Team.

How To Be A Werewolf is a strikingly cinematic song, that also drives with that special brand of shred that the Scottish Guitar Army have been making for years. What makes Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will such a fine record is how they’ve managed to perfectly blend their special Mogwai only dynamics with their penchant for crafting cinematic scores (The Fountain, Zidane) creating something that sounds tremendous.

Listen to this in your car while you cruise around, or listen to it while you’re jogging in the forest, or when you’re trying to sleep. It will all work, it is an everyman’s Mogwai song.

(The Besnard Lakes - Albatross)

From Montreal STOP Create spectral radio espionage rock soundtracks STOP Band leader, Jace Lasek, science fiction Peter Frampton STOP Albatross an unstoppable rock song STOP Olga Goreas belts it out END

(Arab Strap - New Birds (live) )

The best It’s-not-worth-getting-back-with-your-ex song ever. Live version. If need be, get drunk and CRANK this song.

The way your sweat would pool (for a good 35 minutes)

http://www.mediafire.com/?5lkaviqol8a1eyz

Kurt Vile - Downbound Train (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Atlas Sound - Amplifiers
M83 - Reunion
The National - Lit Up
Spiritualized - The X Files Theme
Mogwai - How to Be a Werewolf
The Besnard Lakes - Albatross
Arab Strap - New Birds (Live)

Modest Mouse

—Doin' the Cockroach

We moved a few weeks ago and I unearthed a large number of CDs that had been in storage for months, and in some cases, years. Among them was The Lonesome Crowded West by Modest Mouse.

It’s been spinning in my car for a week or so, but the song I keep playing over and over again is “Doin’ the Cockroach”. Today alone I listened to it on the drive home from work six times, easy.

It’s one of the quintessential Modest Mouse songs.

I dunno, it just rules.

Who needs Johnny Marr?

I discovered the band Thee Oh Sees the other week. My friend Ryan told me to listen to them, and since we’re musically in tune, I figured I would.

Man, they’re pretty great.

Cursory research shows they’ve been around for a long time, they’re from the Bay Area, and they play this psychedelic tinged garage rock that is just sort of carnivalesque, tinged with evil, and, especially, is very weird.

Here’s the title track off their new record Carrion Crawler / Dream “Carrion Crawler”. This song is sick and it’s hooky as hell and slows down and picks up at all the right places.

Just what is it doing at around 3:00? Seemingly ending? Yes, but it’s just getting started.


Dig. It.

This is an older post from me from my other blog (thexeroxmissive.tumblr.com) but since it’s about Mogwai, and I tend to listen to them a lot, I’ll be writing about them a lot here.

A lot of my musical memories come from concert experiences. Mogwai is a band I’ve seen a dozen times or so since 1999. They’re one of my favorite bands and I’ve rabidly followed them over the years. My intention for 1/1 is to include all manner of my musical mind; writing about single tracks, full albums, bands, concert experiences and how all of these ingredients have affected personal experiences of mine.

Mogwai’s music has been a constant in my life for a long time now. This particular experience below was rather important for me.

Listen to this shit loud, with headphones. Not tiny computer speakers.

I needed to drown it all out, so today, during the ride into work I listened to Mogwai’s  20:12 crushing epic, “My Father, My King”. It’s a Mogwai song for special occasions. There is a time when a barrage of this caliber guitar, bass and feedback is needed to console oneself; to seek clarity amidst all that beautiful noise.

In the early days of its live incarnation, before it was recorded, the band would simply call it “Jewish song” on their set lists. It takes a central melody from a Yom Kippur prayer called “Avinu Malkeinu”. Live, the song evolves into a floating, living, breathing organism that becomes an occurence above the crowd. It lingers, layering upon itself and releasing droning feedback, dripping tendrils of squelch and fuzz onto the audience. On more than one occasion, during these early days of their playing it, it was simply reffered to as “that thing” by fans.

My first experience with it, and among the finest of any Mogwai show I’ve seen, was at their June 24th, 2001 gig at Irving Plaza in NYC. Bardo Pond supported (wherein Mogwai joined them onstage to play Bardo’s “Tommy Gun Angel” with them), the setlist was legendary. Among its selection was a deafening, frightening version of “X-mas Steps” (where Dominic turned his bass up so high before the kick in, that he scared the hell out of the band. Blessedly, there is actually footage of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdBKoiPE78Y) and an encore of “Sine Wave” that played Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech over it. And, of course, “My Father, My King”; one of the most intense transcendent musical experiences I’ve ever had.


1/1

Tumblr doesn’t allow for URL titles to include “/’, so instead of calling this blog “1/1” I’ve decided on “first track, first side” (since, I wasn’t able to use 16:30 either). “1/1” is the first song on Music for Airports. It’s the first track on side one of the vinyl, and it’s play time is 16:30. I figured I’d start this tumblr, which will primarily be about music, with what I consider the atom of my musical preferences. It’s just about the cleanest song I know. It’s minimal, it’s nearly non-existent at points, and, if you listen close and long enough, it strangely becomes a melting, slow as molasses version of “Frère Jacques” for a few notes. The history behind Eno’s ambient music is quick and interesting. He was laid up in the hospital after a car wreck, and due to a body cast, he couldn’t turn up the volume of the radio that played in his room. It was just quiet enough to hear, but would mix with other field sounds and come in and out. Just enough to amplify the sounds of what was around him, but not loud enough to fully devote attention to every note. It mixed with everything else, and he got ideas.

In turn, Music for Airports, and “1/1” in particular has given me countless instances of ideas and epiphanies, it’s helped me fall asleep, it’s helped me concentrate, it’s helped me invent an (so far, fictional) idea for time travel, etc. The power of “1/1” has allowed me to reset myself, to decompress and start fresh with the way I feel and has quieted jumbled and often chaotic thought and brought everything back to ground. The album title itself is curious because Music for Airports was played as an installation piece in New York’s LaGuardia Airport in the Marine Air Terminal to help soothe the bedlam that is often found in airports. I wish this album was played everywhere, all of the time in hopes that our world might calm down a little bit (perhaps, without even being aware of it).


“1/1”