this hole that we fixed

Not too much to report the past few weeks. I was in Japan - of which there is much to talk about, but it's mostly outside the purview of this little blog - so the few weeks before I left I was mostly listening to language CDs. Hardly song-of-the-day worthy. While I was there I wasn't really concentrating on music, but here's what I remember... For reasons I can't entirely remember, I had "We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)" stuck in my head for days. Axoltol provided a good sound track for walking around the central Kyoto districts at night. As far as Japanese sounds go, hands down the highlight was the Buddhist chanting I overheard while visiting one of the subtemples of Kyoto's Nazenji.

Back to regularly scheduled programming.

Song: Camel Toe
Artist: Fanny Pack
Day: 11/26/06
I live in a pop culture void and just crossed paths with this recently, years after the fact. Judgments like "Good" and "Bad" seem beside the point, the song is more a force, a bulldozer/trainwreck (bullwreck?). Getting in its way is an event. 'nuff said

Song: In This Hole
Artist: Cat Power
Source: What Would The Community Think
Day: 11/27/06
In the abstract I am a Cat Power fan. In practice I would say I am more of a "Nude As the News" fan. NatN is the reason I own What would the Community Think. When I listen to the album, I usually get impatient sometime during "Good Clean Fun", skip to NatN and then turn the CD off. (Digression: this habit is really a shame, since for sheer gut-punch harrowingness Chan's phrasing of "nobody does it better, baby you're the best" at the end of "Good Clean Fun" is unmatched. It is the shrouded picture to Carly Simon's Dorian Gray reading of the same lyric. Who knows what else awaits me if I would ever listen to the whole thing. /Digression)

Today when I reach the end of "In This Hole," I'm skipping back and listening to it again. Its low lament fits a dreary Monday on the first full week of work following a long weekend, which in turn follows a long vacation. Add to this the knowledge that winter will most likely be settling in this week. Really it’s not as bad as it sounds, either the day or the song. Again we're talking low lament here, too much more would be too much more for a sleepy first day back.


11/28/06 (tie so far)
Song: Love For Sale/Helen Fordsdale
Artist: Miles Davis/Mars
Source: '58 Sessions/New York Noise Comp (or No New York)
Today's weather is no less gloomy, but today it seems almost cozy. For some reason this always reminds me of 50s era Miles Davis at least in my more relaxed moments.

The flip side to Mile's cool is the No Wave freak out of Mars' Helen Fordsdale. The guitars scratch and scrape like a swarm of insects with Tourette's and are regularly interrupted by a slide/phased sound like an airplane flying quickly overhead. The vocals are high pitched and rhythmic. The whole thing hangs together thanks to the bass, which plays an amost melodic riff adding just enough order to keep the chaos thrilling instead of tiring.