transitively behind the meme curve

[dwenius]

fredfred tagged me (indirectly) with the 7 songs you are into right now, so

"I'll Follow You Into the Dark", Death Cab for Cutie, from Plans - A sparse little ditty about love, death, and how they interrelate, with various and sundry commentary thereupon, over a simple acoustic guitar line. Easily the high point of the album, which is saying something, and simultaneously takes a slot in my "best of" lists for both love songs and funeral/wake music.

"Skanky Panky", Kid Koala, from Some of my Best Friends are DJs - Sick danceable turntablism; it takes three people with 10 decks to reproduce this track in a live context.

"Ghost", Phish, unknown 1997 live show - This is shortly after the great-band-awakening, wherein they learned how to simultaneously play deep in the funky groove and also string together multiple improvised sections with discrete themes. There is a LOT going on in this particular version (and on several others from the same year), and unlike many other Phish songs, the lyrics don't make embarrassed for my species.

"Apple Tree in my Backyard", The Orb, from Youth's Dub compilation, Secret Language Of Ordinary Objects - the good doctor Patterson steals from himself, creating a clear homage/re-imagining/knock-off (your choice) of "Little Fluffy Clouds". Same huge loping beat, same deep dub line, same spoken word interludes. No stealing from Steve Reich this time, though.

"Pride and Joy", Stevie Ray Vaughn, from the Live at Montreaux, 1982/1985 DVD. This is Calvin's absolute favorite song right now. He asks to watch the DVD first thing in the morning, every morning, and first thing after his nap, every day, asks me to play it on guitar (ha ha ha ha) so he can sing it when we are down in the studio, and asks me to sing it to him at bedtime. Luckily, it's an ok tune, and the playing on either the '82 or '85 sets of this DVD is superb. I don't know what rock I was living under, but I seriously underestimated SRV for many years. I'm cured now.

"Extraordinary Machine", Fiona Apple, from the leaked and unreleased Jon Brion studio sessions - Another of Calvin's current favorites, and a tune that is wonderful in so many ways. It's all warped-Kurt-Weill-Calliope music in the background, fronted by a lyric and style that makes one wonder what Billie Holiday could have done with it. More unique in its own way than any of the other songs listed here.

"Clint Eastwood", Gorillaz, from their debut album, Gorillaz. This hip-hop thing may work out yet, you watch and see.

Comments

argh

[fredfred.livejournal.com]

Yah, that was me, not logged in.

Re: argh

[dwenius.livejournal.com]

Both recent Orb albums have had good tracks, but LFC is a high bar to cross, it is true. As for F.Apple, I have to admit that I'm less annoyed by the studio album that I was at first, but you really should go to any length to track down the Jon Brion version of "Not About Love" in addition to the official release.