Monday, February 27, 2006

Well, it's almost March 1 and I only finished 2 songs of the 5 I wanted to. I think this is pretty good considering my usual pace, and the fact that at least 5 more are more majorly in the works than they would have been ordinarily. Anyways, here's to the 2 done ones, "Light Blue Love" and "Hang Out with me Tonight."

Thank you, Not Lame, for the lovely things you said re: LOMB. You are great.

So, S. has this theory, which is that you can tell if a song is really special, if you imagine Merv Griffin singing it. (I will add, on the Merv Griffin show, on that very set, in a gray suit, with the band off to the side, and a live studio audience, and Totie Fields and Anthony Newley are that night's guests, and it's 1975.) It's the rare song which will still hold up. Try it with any song you know. Bless S., he thinks "Be a Man" will hold up in this instance. We weren't so sure about S. Crow's "If It Makes You Happy," just because there's something about Sheryl's performance that really makes that song as wonderful as it is. Many Beatles songs will work (and you can bet Merv did them.) LCD Soundsystem's "Disco Infiltrator"? It's a great song, for sure, but I don't know if Merv could pull it off.

Friday, February 17, 2006

There is some music that is thrilling me. KT Tunstall's "Under the Weather" (watch the video; it has an excellent vintage trailer in it!). Ryan Adams' "29" (listen to this plus the whole album here ). DCFC's "Soul Meets Body" (listen to this, and also the great song "Crooked Teeth" at their My Space page). Just one DCFC thought: I understand I'm coming pretty late to them, and it's one of those instances where they got poppier, but that's find by me; I guess I first heard it on WNTI, soaring (borrowing a word from the song) through country roads at 7:15 a.m., and that will make you see the thoughtful side of anything. (Oh, also, if you go to the My Space page, turn off the video playing in the lower half of the page, otherwise it will play the video and the song at the same time.) It's funny, as I write this, I'm listening to the DCFC My Space page, and S. is downstairs listening to the Ryan "29" page. Oh, and a KT thought: the record has this glossy, airy English vibe where something can be very poppy but the absolute height of coolness at the same time (perhaps the Beatles invented that?). Anything to say re: Ryan? No, he just continues to amaze. I so want to see him live now.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

It's almost Grammy time, and then it will be Oscar time. I have, like many people, a crazed love of awards shows, mostly because I just love to see what people wear and say and do, and I do kind of like the pomp of it. I know, I know, say what you will. But some artists are just very rewarding on awards shows; for example, Alison Krauss will usually roll her eyes at the camera or something goofy, and then the next minute go out and sing and look totally hot in a see-through dress, and then the next minute win Female Vocalist of the Year or something. (That would be on the CMAs, which I know are not even on a lot of people's awards show radar, but loom large on mine.) If you like podcasts, there's a very funny one going now for NPR's All Songs Considered, with hilarious and blunt chatting re: the Grammys.
P.S., finished "Hang Out With Me Tonight." Yay. Now working on a song tentatively titled "Word Problem," about difficulty, well, um..."Just spit it out, Rebecca." Difficulty getting my point across sometimes. It's kind of a geeky title, but it may just be a lyric, not a title.