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.

Tags:   cd reviews film reviews now playing album reviews Mystery Train Fragile I Thought I Was Over That Goodbye Woke on a Whaleheart 33 Ans de Travail Abbatoir Blues The Royal Tenenbaums

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Well who doesn't love Suede's Dog Man Star?These songs really permeate you. I get the sense that these weren't necessarily big radio hits but perhaps it is better that way.

Julie Doiron is actually coming to Chicago on Friday!!! It will be my first time seeing her at S. Union Arts and I am really excited about it. Woke Myself Up is her most recent record and I find that atleast musically the songs have more of a kick to them overall and are more catchy, though I much more so prefer it when she sings in French.

Super Furry Animala: Love Kraft. I love all SFA records...I am absolutely completely enthralled with this band. This album....I put it on and listen to it over and over again. "Ohio Heat" is one that I can't get enough of but the album starts out quite phenomenally with the track "Zoom" which causes the lyrics "I can't get enough of it. Kiss me with Apocalypse" to get lodged in my brain. It may be missing some of the real driving catchy songs like "Golden Retriever" but it's really an album to immerse yourself into. Also....great live band!!

Françoise Hardy's Vogue Years is a great collection imo. It's so full of melody and fantastic 60s French pop. It also helps put me in a good mood.

Eels Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, on the other hand, is great for sulking and I should emphasize that although this is the one for the picture, I listened to all my Eels records for the entire day Monday and then Live at Town Hall with strings repeatedly throughout the week. If you aren't into the Eels but like Tom Waits, I would recommend them.

Leonard Cohen is really like my comfort food when it comes to music. He always settles my stomach when I'm feeling nauseous and he's perfect to listen to on the train. Though I think some of those early albums are just fantastic (Songs From a Room, Songs of Love and Hate), this is also a perfect collection so much so that I could listen to just about every single song on repeat for hours at different points of my life.

What's always irked me about Leonard Cohen though is how crappy synthy his music got in the later stages even when his lyrics remained fantastic. Why abandon that beautiful acoustic stye? Is this what monks do to you?

Ah yes...I've been listening to my fair shair of "Speedy Marie." Seriously though, even the songs that rubbed me the wrong way off of this at first I've grown to love. Though this is perhaps his most commercially successful solo album, I enjoy many of his others-Black Letter Days is another definite favorite.

I have the summers off from work so I also watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I think it's a brilliant film about the way us humans cope with our depression and pain. After watching it, the first thing I did was to wonder if a place like this clinic really existed...I think perhaps it does and maybe it just isn't well publicised. Though I have had a couple of failed relationships, I doubt I would actually use this strategy to completely erase a person from my mind. Because it's coping with our losses and failed relationships that helps us learn and hopefully become more insightful and able to cope with other things. I think if there was a clinic like this in reality, though, I would probably be in the minority. My guess is it would be like the lines at the free Ben and Jerry's ice cream day.

Magnolia ia my favorite film...I mean, I am just downright obsessed even though I detest Tom Cruise (so scientology...so creepy!) I love this film so much that I refuse to live on any other street besides Magnolia Ave. I am very very passionate about it.

Tags:   The Vogue Years Blinking Lights and Other Reservations now playing cd reviews cds reviews Magnolia Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Teenager of the Year Love Kraft Woke Myself Up Dog Man Star

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I'm going to try to start doing this on a weekly basis-here are the cds I've been playing alot lately in the past week. Grant Lee Phillips's new one was played to prepare me for his show Thursday. Papercuts "Can't Go Back" is one I have been playing constantly for about the last three or four weeks. It's catchy but also some of it is 60s folk influenced reminding me of Dylan a bit. The Good, The Bad & The Queen because I tell you I can never get enough Damon Albarn (When Blur broke up it was a sad day in my life, I tell you.) Robert Gomez is from the same area as Midlake and has some really catchy and melodic songs that I find undeniably addicting. The Innocence Mission is of course, as always, soft and wonderful and I do hope they tour again. Last, Cat Power...despite Chan's insanity, I always find her more recent material undeniably wholesome. It's like the cinnamon raisin oatmeal of breakfast.

Tags:   cds albums short cd reviews now playing

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model: Buckley

Ok ok...I finally forgave Blonde Redhead. It took a very long time considering the emotional stress they put me through when they decided to play in darkness awhile back: www.flickr.com/photos/kirstiecat/sets/72157600080013759/ But I've been a fan of their cruel and miserable emotional songs for so long I can't bear a life without them. This week, I finally re-submitted to their keen sense of arranging songs that makes me imagine the possibilities of the world and feel wholly more creative. 23 is a great album. My favorites include the opening track "Dr. Strangeluv," "Spring and By Summer Fall" and "Silently." I could listen to Blonde Redhead for days on end...I'm not sure why I need it so much but I do. Such an emotional connection to these perfect songs! I listened to 23 at least 3 times on Sat. I'm listening to it right now. It's in my blood stream, maybe even in my DNA and I can't get it out of my head. That said, Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons and In an Expression of the Inexpressible are old favorites for me. I've done so much painting and writing to these albums they are truly a part of who I am.

Low's Drums and Guns has completely grown on me to the point where it's almost at the same level of cherish that I have for Things We Lost in the Fire. On Thursday of last week, I listened to Low's "Hatchet" for three hours straight. I really think this is such a flawless song. "Let's bury the hatchet like the Beatles and the Stones..." perfect!


I've been listening to Julie Doiron's Woke Myself Up to prepare for seeing her last Fri. with Calvin Johnson and I think it's a great one, though not my favorite of hers. It has alot of variety though from the quite poppy title track to the very melancholy "No More" to the downright edgy "Don't Wanna Be Liked by You." Seeing her play was very special to me.


Mirah's Cold Cold Water has a bunch of remixes of perhaps her most dramatic and well loved songs from The Advisory Committee. I'm getting ready to hopefully see her again when she comes to Chicago and have gotten very excited about hearing these songs live for the first time. I felt this album was a really great step up from her previous album You Think it's Like This But it's Really Like This and proved to be a much more mature and intense effort that I could embrace completely.

The Black Angels: Passover....not a great band to see live as far as lighting goes but the sound is right. I had this playing when I had people over (as well as some other albums I've previously talked about-Entrance and Leonard Cohen for winding down at 5am.) The Black Angels have that whole black psych rock thing down and sort of pound you over the head with their sound. You can't help get into the rhythms and overall sense of it.

The Gun Club: Fire of Love is an album I found out about through a music list I belong to called The Big Takeover (named for and in connection with The Big Takeover magazine based out of NYC website: www.bigtakeover.com/ The Gun Club's heyday was the 1980s as they emerged from Los Angeles and theirs is an underrated dark and edgy indie rock sound. These songs still hold up and don't sound campy or dated. If anyone has any recommendations of personal favorite Gun Club albums, feel free to chime in.

Last, I also put on Cut Chemist's The Audience's Listening when friends were over Sat. It's a real fun album because it's a dj sample based one where you really sense a wide array of influences and it's so upbeat that you never feel bogged down by it. My favorite of the album is "My 1st Big Break" or as I like to call it, "People get ready, the robots are coming!!!!" or the "In case of a nuclear attack, protection of records is essential" song.

Tags:   Now playing album reviews Buckley cat feline Blonde Redhead 23 Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons In an Expression of the Inexpressible 'Drums Guns Woke Myself Up Cold Cold Water Passover Fire Love The Audience's Listening

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This doesn't include a mixed tape of Radiohead songs I made for myself about ten years ago including some of The Bends, Pablo Honey, and assorted B-sides ("Killer Cars" is my favorite) of which I have also been listening to.


I bought Total Freakout Volume 3 in Austin at End of an Ear. It's a great collection of Quebec-France-Belgique Psyche Jello from 1968-1973 and it's perfect in every way especially if you like psychedelic music with French lyrics like I do. I have never come across the other volumes but if anyone knows of them or has them, definitely let me know how they are! I'm assuming as fantastic as this one...


Howe Gelb's 'Sno Angel Like You was my first real introduction to his work as I was not real familiar with Giant Sand for example. What I love about this album (and what I really enjoyed about the tour) is how adeptly Howe mixed his country folk rhythms with gospel (on tour he had a choir from Ottawa Canada who had the best voices in the whole world!). I was inspired to listen to this one after viewing a contact (Kathalijne's photo of Howe here: www.flickr.com/photos/kathalijne/110408171/ )


Of course I was listening to The Pipette's alot last week to get ready for their show Thurs. at the Empty Bottle. What a great modern British take on a girl group with just a bit more cockney of an attitude. This is great for me because I always love the singing in the early 60s girlgroups popular with Americans but hated the guy dependent lyrics. This is a nice compromise and with great dance moves and an animated performance, it was a great show.

Well, who doesn't love Keren Ann? Both Nolita and her newest self titled are perfect, lovely, beautiful singing (though I wish all lyrics were in French as I feel that enhances the sound overall and I like her singing better when it isn't in English) I think Keren is part divine with such a velvety way about her.

The Maccabees album Colour It In is as catchy as many of the British bands that have been gaining widespread appeal such as Maximo Park and Bloc Party with great rhythms to it. I've enjoyed listening to it a few times right before and then after Sat's show at Schubas. Would highly recommend it if you are into Brit rock.

Gene is an old favorite of mine and I only got a chance to see them once without a camera (I believe it was with Cinerama) Martin Rossiter's vocals are perfectly melodramatic, his vibratoish voice swoons passionately all over the place amidst the darkness and light of the lyrics and sounds. His voice held up perfectly live and I'll never forget the almost desperation at times. I wish there was some way to see them again. I don't know if anyone will understand this but hearing Martin sing live was perhaps the one thing that consoles me that I never was able to see Jeff Buckley live to witness such a heavenly vocal range. Flawless. Us humans can sometimes redeem our species after all.

Tags:   Now playing record reviews albums cds Nolita Olympian Total Freak out Colour It In Sno Angel Like You

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