...untitled?

Here are some links because...well, I don't really know why, but I thought that since I found them pretty rad, you might, too!

First of all, there is THIS.

Not only is the video hilarious (Where did he get that suit fitted?! Why is he moving his hands like that...invisible gloves? What's the deal!), the one English comment pretty much makes my life.

Then, THIS. Which apparently, is old news, but it shocked/amused me! The two alternate sides to the story can be found here and here, and on a site referenced by the first article, that I lost the link to.

If you don't already know and don't feel like dealing with a whole lotta reading, basically, Owen Pallett/Final Fantasy's "This Lamb Sells Condos" is actually just vicious slander against this "Brad J. Lamb" character who does, in fact, sell condos. It appears that Brad Lamb is a bit of a dick --

"You know, the thing about music and me -- and this is kind of me in general -- I like stuff and I don't like stuff. I like people and I don't like people. It's not the kind of music I like. But apparently, it's a good song, apparently it's a song people like and I think it's won some awards, it's just not my kind of music and it doesn't appeal to me, regardless of the words." (Oh, sure, Brad...SURE.)

--but, Owen Pallett is a cutie! A truth exposed by both his photograph (durr) and this quote:

"I am a very fortunate person to have been blessed with wildly vivid emotions. I feel ecstasy and despair daily, usually more than once. Yesterday I played violin all day and cried myself to sleep with the joy at my good fortune. So, yes, I think there's a romanticism in my lyrics. I get teary-eyed over a good cup of coffee."

I mean, how can you not fall in love with that? Is it even possible?

Then, totally my favourite movie ever ever ever, by my new favourite guy-who-makes-movies, can be found here (La Jetee). The above photograph, apart from being meant to mock Kit a tiny bit, is from Sans Soleil, another movie made by the same guy (Chris Marker) some years after that other one. This is actually relevant to the whole "music" thing, I promise! Basically Sans Soleil is kind of, but not quite, a mockumentary, made by a made up guy called "Sandor Krasna", whose brother, "Michael Krasna" (also made up) does the making of the music! It's all very late eighties/early nineties kind of stuff that sounds all cheapy and tape-recorder-y, to match the messed-up-VCR effects on the actual vidoe stuff but it's totally the most awesome thing ever in the context of the movie!

In other news, happy birthday to my mother, who is ABSOLUTELY THE COOLEST PERSON EVER.

And just for good measure here is another thing I quite enjoyed. (thank you, hannah)

-Clara

The Drunken Speech of the Deposed Dictator

In Tears of the Valedictorian, Frog Eyes have added Spencer Krug and made themselves listenable. Their previous efforts featured awesome song titles like "Our Lordship Has Devised a New Billing System" but, to enjoy the songs themselves you really had to immerse yourself in them, and if you did so, you risked going insane. While this danger still exists, it is, at least, no longer an arduous adventure. "Bushels" is a singularly great song; starting off with a fantastic piano line and then, as Carey and Spencer are wont to do, transitioning into an entirely different song, and then another one. There are still annoying bits and it's not going to be played at your local Shoppers' anytime soon, but this time it's worth the pain. What doesn't kill you makes you stranger. (For the opposite turn in fortunes, see the latest Modest Mouse)

Mosey's Top Ten Of 2006-FINAL INSTALLMENT!

10. Joanna Newsom-Y's
9. Emily Haines-Knives Don't Have Your Back
8. Sufjan Stevens-Avalanche and Christmas Songs
7. Jolie Holland-Springtime Can Kill You
6. Neko Case-Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
5. Kimya Dawson-Remember That I Love You
4. Band Of Horses-Everything All The Time
3. Amy Millan-Honey From The Tombs
2. Awkward Stage-Heaven Is For Easy Girls


1. Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins-Rabbit Fur Coat
....IIs it country? Is it indie-rock? Is it folk? Is it gospel?
Let's say it's an alt-country-indie-rock-folk-gospel hybrid. Great songwriting, georgous harmonies, not over-produced like the last Rilo Kiley record, guest stars Ben Gibbard (my future husband, if he wasn't such a dick), Conor Oberst(my future husband if he wasn't so moody) M. Ward (a brilliant man). A cover of a Travelling Wilbury's song that's slightly annoying after 67 listens-this album's got it all!

Julie Doiron's Woke Myself Up

I've decided to take a break from my top ten and write about something new! I'm halfway through my first listen of the new Julie Doiron record, and I'm liking it more than any of her other records. The guys from her old band, Eric's Trip appear on Woke Myself Up, and it has elements of ET, but I think I might like it better than any Eric's Trip record as well. It's sortof taking the best of her solo stuff and the Eric's Trip stuff and putting it together. I love the creepy harmonies of "swan pond" and PERFECT heart-wrenching harmonies of "no more/no more". It's a little more up tempo than her previous solo records, and I think her writing style has matured as well. Call me crazy, but most of her previous solo albums had songs about her baby crying, or about how she misses her kids...or just really obvious slightly boring lyrics-so I think this album's an improvement...slightly broader subject matter, or less obvious anyway....like instead of her saying "crying baby, crying mother, that's what I am" she'll do a more general observation like "You're feeding your kids the best you can with what you've got". I'd give it an "A".

Internet!

Internet - featuring: Dan Boeckner & Hadji Bakara of Wolf Parade, Nick Diamonds of Islands, and Syd Butler of Les Savvy Fav.

Best band ever? Certainly best band name ever!

Also, a different internet has the new Andrew Bird. Listen!

Again, How Much Is Too Much?

Handclaps in songs, baby. Handclaps in songs.

Rilo Kiley - The Frug
Viva Voce - From The Devil Himself
Lo-Fi-FNK - A. D. T.
El Perro Del Mar - I Can't Talk About It
Maps & Atlases - Every Place Is A House

Give me a moment please, to get over an almost crippling desire to make a really bad pun about my 3rd favourite STI.

Okay thanks, I'm ready.

Anyway: are there far too many songs with handclaps in them? I claim there are! I find handclaps annoying and ugly!

I sort of liken them to an old fat bald man walking into my photographs. I've got this perfect scenic framing all worked out, and the camera's settings are all just right (for once), but then I push the button and, damn, it's Horatio the Janitor all up in my memories. It's damaging, you know. And all I want to do is show my mommy the badass shot of the bean in Chicago with all the reflections lined up the way I want them to be, but this guy's mug is in the way, always in the way, with his pockmarked scalp and you can just SEE from the way he's blurred at the edges how RUDELY he must've been darting around, getting in EVERYBODY's pictures--

Besides, you see that shit in the liner notes, "thank you to so-and-so for your delightful handclaps", and it's like, wow so-and-so, you've amounted to so much, this is the life you chose?, etc.

Also I beg you to consider what exactly the handclap is: when you clap, the flesh and bone in your palms are knocking against one another. Try it! It's like if you were beating a rug with a flyswatter, but your rug and your flyswatter are MADE OF MEAT. Only nothing like that I would assume, but it's still gross.

What's more, all three bands mentioned in the first "How much is too much?", use handclaps! Coincidence...?

Still Livin' In The Past-2006, that is...

The Awkward Stage-Heaven Is For Easy Girls
So this-(drumroll, please) was my second favourite album of 2006.

Ok, The Awkward Stage (more like the AWESOME stage!)….there seems to be an abundance of adjectives beginning with “A”, that I have the audacity to use in conjunction with The Awkward Stage…astonishing, astounding, amazing, awesome…ok, well, maybe not that many. Bottom line is: I love them-and if YOU love smart, well written, catchy, pop songs without the boring lyrics you’ve heard over and over again, you may love them as I do. Let's start at the beginning-where The Moron's Are Winning (title of first song). The record starts with a chorus…I love when they do that!! Hook you in right away with “There is war on and all of the morons are winning, they are winning year to year”. Every time I hear this song I imagine an american flag swaying slowly in the breeze with George W.'s face super-imposed upon it. Another sparkling moment occurs in the song Sad Girl Radio with the lyric "sad girls hate the mirror for all it shows, and don't show/sad girls find comfort in familiar t.v. shows/sad girls got secrets that nobody else knows." It reminds me of my mother asking me just why I felt the need to watch episode after episode of the O.C. and all I could think of was that it was "comforting".
I talked to Shane Nelken after he played here in London last fall and we became myspace pen-pals, so I asked him a few questions about the album.

Mosey: I'm a little worried about the title of the album. Can I be a feminist and still like an album called Heaven Is For Easy Girls??

Shane:Well, you might say it is a celebration of sorts of female sexuality from a slightly juvenile male P.O.V. I have always hated the stigmatization of sexuality in women. We are going to reclaim the word "slut" then take back the streets. I like to think that there is a special place in heaven reserved for enthusiastic sex positive women who take pity on lonely perverted comic book geeks like me. In a nutshell, the song is a love poem to an adult film star named Janine.

Mosey: And Jeanine also happens to be the name of your keyboard player?

Shane: Coincidence...She thought it was funny that the title song of the album mentioned her name over and over...fate?

Mosey: Definately. What I loved most about the album was that these extremely poppy hooky songs pop out at you first, but after a few listens, you start to really appreciate the hidden gems like Sad Girl Radio and T-Rexia Nervosa...T-Rexia reminded me of the sonic youth song Tunic(song for Karen)which is also about Karen Carpenter. Were you familiar with the Sonic Youth homage when you wrote it?

Shane: I'm glad you liked the song. What I can tell you about it is I saw the Todd Haynes film Superstar the Karen Carpenter story and was really moved. I am a sonic youth fan and of course knew the song tunic but had not made the connection at all until you mentioned it. I guess i didn't realize it was about KC. Been a long time since i heard it.
Her story is very tragic and I'm sure there are plenty more KC inspired songs out there. what's your favourite Carpenters song?

Mosey: I'd have to say "Superstar". Does that make me lame?? I just remember being a teenager and seeing the video of the Sonic Youth cover with Thurston standing there with one of those adorable skinny mics in the video.... Tall and shaggy and dressed up in a suit and tie, I fell in love!! it was so sad and....heartbreaking....and...hot!

Shane:Mine is definitely This Masquerade. which i believe was a
cover but I love her version.

Mosey: Yeah, her voice was so haunting...it could be because we know now that she was going through so much, but it really seems like you can feel the pain in her voice.

Shane: Her story is very tragic and I'm sure there are plenty more KC inspired songs out there.

Mosey: Yours is definately one of my favourites! I loved the sixties soul-type chorus of voices!! it sounds like Karen is singing with all the angels in heaven or something!

Shane: Yeah, I originally had just one female harmony accompaniment and it was my friend Kurt (co-producer/engineer) who deserves all the credit for the choral harmonies. I loved the idea of having a chorus of angels blaspheme.

Mosey: Thanks for answering my dumb questions...by the way, I was checking out your myspace friends, and I couldn't help but steal Borat from your list...

Shane: My Borat is your Borat.

And since I'm not a real music journalist, I'll leave you with this quote from allmusic about the album(in case you weren't already convinced)

"If you can listen to the title track and not end up with the hook stuck in your head all day, you are made of strong stuff indeed. Heaven Is for Easy Girls is the kind of record that will leave you with a warm feeling inside and a goofy grin on your face; it also lends more credence to the belief that Vancouver is the center of the guitar pop universe."

Fire!

Much as I found their first album kind of annoying, their second album is quite an accomplishment. That and they're bringing back the organ! There's been a void in my life ever since I left the church choir that can only be filled by the power and majesty of that instrument. Ok, I don't know how to write. But still, the point is that organs sound cool. Anyway, (I never thought I'd say this but) big-it-up for the Arcade Fire. Also the exact same can be said for the latest Clap Your Hands... record. Sheesh, what's next? Me, liking a BSS album? Don't think so!