Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Abattoir Blues Tour):
Taken from shows shot in London in 2004, this live recording offers up many of the double album's greatest songs as well as favorites from thoughout his career- "Red Right Hand" for example. I haven't watched the dvd yet but I would recommend this as well as the God is in the House dvd.
The Czars: Goodbye
I love The Czars even though they have a slight country tone to them, they really speak to some sort of inner sense of me and I find myself drawn to their dark dreamy melodies. I've only seen them once in March of 2006 but here's what I wrote about them after their show: "The Czars are what I like to listen to when it’s raining inside me if that makes any sense. At times reminding me of Red House Painters and at other times just a tiny bit of perhaps Devotchka, The Czars are really truly one of my favorite bands. John Grant’s vocals often give the songs a moody and reflective quality that makes them not only memorable but truly haunting." I don't know if I see very much DeVotchKa in them anymore right now or atleast not so much in Goodbye except it just feels cinematic and beautiful and lush and all of those things. I love everything I've ever found to buy of theirs. For this album, my *definite* favorite songs are "Paint the Moon" and "Little Pink Houses" Flawless, both of these two.
Lali Puna: I Thought I Was Over That:
Lali Puna are this supermelodic electronic band that probably aren't going to change the world anytime soon but it's good chill out music and very relaxing to me. Never seen them live but I wonder what it would be like...
Dutronc: 33 Ans de Travail vol. 2
Oh Dutronc...you are wonderful and created such great songs early on in your career. You share the same birthday as me and I even named my camera after you but alas, I fear Volume 1 would have been a much much better selection instead. Later songs are unfortunately not for me.
Elvis Perkins: Ash Wednesday
This is a very insightful album and one that isn't necessarily catchy but still works and makes you crave it. I haven't been able to see Elvis Perkins live but I hope to in the future. I really connect to some of these songs and the album as a whole and feel like Elvis must be a very genuine human being.
Bill Callahan: Woke on a Whaleheart
On my first job interview in this city, I was taken around various cubicles and spaces in a high rise downtown and hanging from one of the small walls was a tacked up article about Smog. "Do you know Smog?" I was asked. I didn't but at the time Bill Callahan was leading the group throughout the Chicago underground and I figured I'd better look into it as soon as possible. That said, this album isn't really a huge departure from Smog's albums and is worthwhile all the way through. I was unhappy to hear Smog broke up after I had finally gotten into them and gone to see them a couple of years back at The Empty Bottle esp. after really falling in love with their last release: A River AIn't too Much to Love. I'm glad Bill Callahan is still making music, however and these songs feel incredibly familiar to me already, as if I've been listening for a few years.
Friends: Fragile
I'm not sure how well known this album is outside of America but I really just came upon it on random chance awhile back in the psychedelic section at Reckless and it has so many great sugary pop songs that seem to be very much a perfect product of its time (released in 1972 out of Hastings, East Sussex.) It reminds me of a more folky Free Design record.
dvds:
When it's hot out and I can't bear it, I end up watching movies.
Mystery Train is one a friend lent me and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It's a Jim Jarmusch film and so there's alot of subtlety and things unsaid. It takes place in Memphis and involves Japanese and and an Italian tourist (the former on an adventure, the latter killing time after a layover or plane accident involving a death-details aren't totally clear) When you think of Graceland, you tend to think of lights and glitz and Las Vegas-esque glamor...or atleast I always pictured it this way. Jarmusch shows us a pretty desolate small town ill equipped to handle hte excitement of tourists. The whole town is, in face, falling apart amidst the chipping paint of Elvis' songs. It's a must see if you like Jarmusch or Evis or are just obsessed with the American South. It's also recommended if you like The Clash as you get to see Joe Strummer in the third vignette. He isn't the best actor in the film but considering the songs he created, I think I can forgive him.
The Royal Tenenbaums
This is perhaps one of my favorite films of all time. Wes Anderson painstakingly creates something that redeems the human race with this one. This is how we feel and are. I watched this today for about the tenth time thinking how each bit of dialogue and song was chosen perfectly from Nico's "These Days" to when Margot is stepping off the Green Line bus to pick up Richie to Velvet Underground "Stephanie Says" to Elliot Smith's "Needle in the Hay." (Mark Mothesbaugh is the only one who can do a soundtrack as well as Jon Brion) Everything seems like a simultaneous tragedy and cause for joy and yet it still makes sense. I always cry when I watch this film and think about how happy I am it was created. I know that's strange but, then again, I'm a very strange person.
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