Play On Daily

I’ve been brushing up on a few bands that will be at the Sasquatch Festival at The Gorge this summer. This album definitely has some nice tunes. Today’s post was between this song and “Aluminum Park.” Hmmm, sounds like somebody spent a bit of time at the library for all of the right, I mean, some of the right reasons.

- DAVE

They still need to clear up their message a bunch but it was nice to hear Simon say on Idol last week that they (the judges) realize that they give contradictory advice and coaching at times.

“Change it up a little.” “That’s not you; you’re not that kind of artist.”
“Your style is (fill in the blank).” “This is strictly a singing contest.”
“Step out of your comfort zone.” “Stick to who you are.”

Come on people! You’re music professionals and the contestants for the most part are untested, under exposed amateurs. Either give all of the contestants an equal amount of unbiased, constructive criticism, or just come out and admit that you have an agenda and will do everything in your power to further it.

Being connected to the song is one piece of advice that seems hard to quibble with. Either you are or you aren’t and if it’s the latter, you’ll eventually be doomed to the same fate as the Dodo/Milli Vanilli. It would be pretty hard to make the case that Glen Hansard and The Frames aren’t connected to their music.

And in the end, were both the same
You played your part, so your part to blame

Finally..

- DAVE

Does anyone else think that Citizen Cope is who Everlast wanted to be when he transformed himself from his House of Pain days? I said a couple of weeks ago that I could post a Citizen Cope song per week and go a long ways before it ever played out or felt diluted.

Mr.Dali Lamas
Another sister’s shootin’ heroin tomorrow
Amputees in Freetown
Sierra Leone’s
The church wasn’t honest
The state put the youth in a harness
Creatin’ hostility among us
Teacher said no college
Still the kid’s gotta get a check with a couple commas
People wanna bomb us
More people gotta scatter and run from us
You can blame it on Zeus and Apollo and Adonis

But what you’ve done here
Is put yourself between a bullet and a target
And it won’t be long before
You’re pulling yourself away

- DAVE

I remember hearing Phil Collins saying in an interview sometime in the late ‘80’s that he was even getting sick of hearing his own voice. There was, for sure, a pretty heavy amount of Phil saturation around about that time. Between the solo albums, soundtrack music from “White Nights” and “Against All Odds”, the Phillip Bailey duet, there was a lot of Phil gracing the airwaves. Before all of that though, of course, there was Genesis.

This is one of those songs, like a lot of great songs and even some that aren’t so great, that sounds so much better live.

You’re just another face that I know from the TV show
I have known you for so very long I feel you like a friend
Can’t you do anything for me, can I touch you for a while
Can I meet you on another day and we will fly away

[I just got done watching the girls’ night on American Idol via DVR, as well as the elimination hour. I’ve got a few thoughts about this season’s contestants, and judges which I will share over the weekend.]

- DAVE

This one is from way back when, and was part of the group’s debut album. The female vocals back then were done by Kim Hill who left when the the Peas decided to go in a more Fergilicious direction, or the more official version, when they decided to go more mainstream. I liked the Peas back then, and after, as I listened to 2003’s “Elephunk” so many times that I might choose to never listen to it again, unless I get hit with the sensory overload, Geneva Convention busting, Guantanamo full body massage, and get it forced on me in blast mode. But, since I wouldn’t choose that either, I might never listen to “Elephunk” again.

Pow Pow Boom:

- DAVE

Happy Birthday Lou.

Sugar Plum Fairy came and hit the streets
Lookin’ for soul food and a place to eat
Went to the Apollo
You should’ve seen em go go go
They said, Hey shuga Take a walk on the wild side
I Said, Hey babe
Take a walk on the wild side
All right, huh

- DAVE

If you haven’t already, check out the second studio album by Yeasayer which was just released last month. Yeasayer is a synth based trio out of Brooklyn, New York that has got a little Animal Collective in their sound, and maybe a smidge of OMD. They’re on tour now, so check them out if you get the chance.

At the ends of the phrases in each verse, there’s a lick that sounds like some of the keys from The Who song “You Better You Bet.” Hear it?

I remember making love on a Sunday
bright golden hearts in a fresh cut grass in May
woah
I remember making out on an airplane
Still afraid of flying, but with you I’d die today
woah
I remember the smell of your skin forever
Love us being stupid together
woah

You’re stuck in my mind
all the time

- DAVE

If diving into the deep emotional waters of “Hospice” is like watching “Boys Don’t Cry” after a long, hard day, then listening to the irreverent babblings of The Presidents is like watching “Wayne’s World” after a long day of Disneyland, Slurpees, and Krispie Kremes.

i took a little nap where the roots all twist
squished a rotten peach in my fist
and dreamed about you woman
i poked my finger down inside make a little room for a ant to hide
nature’s candy in my hand or can or pie

- DAVE

I’ve had this song queued up and ready to post for about six months. I think about posting it about once a week but always file it away for future use because it seems like the mood has to be just right. This is an intense song, off of a very serious, tightly structured album.

“Hospice” is a narrative in full color 3-D. It’s so vivid that I swear while listening to the album, you can smell that dank, disinfectant, sickly, musty, uncirculated air that is common to hospitals. I have a like/don’t like relationship with this album and band. The whole of this album is catharsis through musical artistry. The amount of sorrow in tone and lyrical content is epic. It’s what makes the album good, even great according to many-a musical critic and fan. To me, the level of grief is what also makes it hard to listen to. The world, and my musical tastes are not and don’t have to be all rainbows and butterfly kisses but this album is so into morbid, self loathing that I have to psyche myself up to listen to it.

Everyone should grieve and treat the death of a loved one as the horrific moment in life that it is, but for me, The Antlers are wallowing in death and misery to the point where I think that they embrace it as a thing to be cherished. There’s no redemption, or moving forward in this album. Bitterness, anger, and regret are present in heaping quantities. Lead singer Peter Silberman often lends his voice to his dying partner and speaks for her but there are never any comforting words from her to him.

If you’re in a relationship that is difficult, even without factoring the massive circumstance of the other person being terminally ill, you are obviously a commendable person if you see it through to the end. I guess that’s where Silberman’s haunted misery is coming from. To me, this relationship doesn’t sound like it ever had any potential to be a joyous, long lasting, loving union, even if the illness were not present. But, Silberman committed to it, saw it through, and the world got “Hospice” as its result.

- DAVE

The Canadians are gaining steam down the home stretch in their quest to “own the podium” at the Winter Olympics. We got to see Nelly Furtado, K.D. Lang (awesome performance) and Sarah McLachlan at the opening ceremonies. How’s about an appearance by the all time great, gold medal power trio to wrap up the game?

All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted.
Not so coldly charted
It’s really just a question of your honesty, yeah,
Your honesty.

One likes to believe in the freedom of music,
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity.

- DAVE