It is a tired cliche to claim this song and not that one is real, as if any of us were capable of passing judgment on a work’s emotional authenticity. l imagine the urge to do so originates in our own emotionally charged experience with the song, an experience we hope to validate by claiming the emotion lies in or is intrinsically connected to the song itself.

When it was released critical reception of Disintegration was somewhat mixed, although it has retrospectively been more universally acclaimed.  What critics did seem to sort of agree on at the time was that the record more or less synthesized the various musical tendencies the Cure had evidenced up to that point; if Smith thought he was returning to the heavy gloom of Pornography with the record, Disintegration’s darkness was more nuanced, even at times mixed with gushing emotion (think “Lovesong” or “Plainsong").  The songs are generally more lush, pop-leaning, even if they are overlaid with sinister synthesizers, brooding guitars, and Smith’s sensual moan and violent, horror-infused lyrics ("Fascination street” and “Lullaby," eg.)  The Disintegration songs are hummable, like pop songs; if they are often as dark and melancholy as Pornography, they’re also characterized by a more ambiguous take on that gloom and encompass a generally more representative spectrum of feeling.

If you are a certain type of music fan you’re well versed in the line drawn between Pornography Cure and really almost everything that came afterwards. I have no idea if Smith fell in love or out of love, outlived his life expectancy or what. I imagine there are any number of essays and blog posts about the subject and how it is evinced in the Cure’s discography.  But no Cure song feels as authentic and powerful to me as “Plainsong."  

Smith’s aching voice helps. The shimmering and soaring synthesizers help.  Maybe so does the song’s elusive title, referencing as it does a style of religious chanting, one which would have been used to repeat biblical passages such as those found in Psalms, passages my cursory knowledge seems to think of as sweet and soothing, maybe even therapeutic for believers. The lyrics most of all, perhaps, may be responsible for the song’s emotional heft, capturing as they seem to do the angst-riddled, but too, too real passion which can accompany love at a certain point in life, a sensation or feeling which only surfaces, after that pivotal period, in certain transcendent moments whose onset we can’t predict; the feeling of sitting on the precipice of something, the world maybe, as Smith describes it in the song, feeling as though you could die you feel so much, unsure whether you’re experiencing what it is to be happy in the most metaphysical sense, or about to explode into a thousand pieces.

I don’t know what the general consensus on “Plainsong’s" lyrics might be, or if there is one.  Another interpretation, I suppose, might place these lovers in a more appropriately Cure-esque scenario, in which a smile might be interpreted more readily as the portent of doom, not a portal to ecstasy and transcendence but rather just a portal to the less ecstatic although presumably still pleasurable wallowing in gloom that accompanies the cultural myth of the Goth.

In my own interpretation’s defense however, the lyrics would match the soaring melody and lush texture of the song itself, one that doesn’t ever seem to intimate at doom, even if the lyrics remain ambiguous, but instead, well, soars.  My vision of the song however is indelibly marked by the tears that accompanied my own history with it, tears that of course would have inaugurated my own more romantic interpretation.  It’s also marked by the thrill which accompanied the entry of those shimmering synthesizers at a much belated experience of the song’s performance. I will still try to claim the song’s emotional authenticity, but I’m willing to acknowledge, as with everything but perhaps most viscerally with sound and music, subsequent experiences of a song are always already marked by an original encounter.

3.13.17

Atmosphere Joy Division

Walk in silence Don't walk away, in silence See the danger Always danger

Endless talking Life rebuilding Don't walk away

3.11.17

elegant. gritty. heartbreaking. with just enough of a beat to dance to.

what are we fighting for?

10-28-16

Don’t Be Afraid of Love by Happy Diving

There’s another way to deal with stress and emotions - say FUCK IT, throw your hair forward and ROCK ABOUT IT.  Oh yeah and FEEDBACK.

10-28-16

Anywhere by Doe

There are many ways to deal with stress and emotions.  One way is to yell about it - yell in harmony, tell the world you won’t ever analyze the things you could have done, the things you should have done.  Plus big ass crunchy guitar.  Screw you, work week, go die now.

10-28-16

My Instincts Are the Enemy by American Football

American Football.  They back.  My first thought when I heard about it was we were just gonna get more Owen music.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I love Owen, but with a band as iconic as this you find yourself wanting more of the same.  And we kindof got both here - it’s like American Football plus Owen’s plain and bare self-deprecation, or Owen plus OG American Football’s jazz influenced polyrhythms and plinky geometric guitar doodles over and through it --- and you know, it works.

This is the most American-Football-y track to me because the guitars are at their plinkyest - you can just see them in a room riffing meditatively over each other, piecing these Tetris arrangements together, which according to a great Song Exploder ep is their actual process - and also some of the best aging sad-sack lyricism on the record.  And about the lyrics - throughout the album you’re unlikely to think the lyrics are deep or cool or whatever.  But if you listen to them, and if you’re being honest with yourself, the honestly of them, the straight-faced introspection, are things you feel that you wish you could express.  It’s easy to be emo when you’re a kid, when you’re 20 and jamming in the basement, a raw nerve.  It’s harder, and braver, to do it when you’re old and are supposed to be all bottled up.

“This is me, reaching out to you publicly” is a lyric on I’ve Been So Lost For So Long, also on this LP.  That’s what all of this is, and it’s almost too rich a meal to digest, to much a luxury to wallow like this.  The perspective of an adult delivered with the honestly of a kid.

9-20-16

Judey On A Street by Okkervil River

I am digging the folky direction Okkervil River have gone on the new album - it’s not as stripped down as reviews have led me to believe, but it’s definitely not rock.  Here, an acoustic drone sets the stage for layers and layers of instrumentation, all under plaintive, truly vulnerable vocals.  Constantly building anticipation and tension, it never seems like the song peaks or ‘arrives’ - thus feeling much shorter than its 7+ min run time.  Beautiful stuff.

9-10-16

Murmur by Tashi Dorji

The acoustic guitar.  So boring.  C-G-D repeat.  Right?

Wrong.  There are no rules.  Except: Be Interesting.

6.28.16

All Nite Clams Casino Ft. Vince Staples

Because Clams’ dark, haunting beats are the perfect backdrop to Vince’s flawless lines. 

 6.24.2016

Without You Badfinger

I’m picking the Badfinger version only because I don’t think anyone remembers it anymore. But yes, Without You was written and originally recorded by Badfinger who would go on to actually do justice to beautiful heart-wrenching songs (see Day after Day). For some reason they did not to this one, at least not when listened to alongside Harry Nilsson’s version which would come out two years later and far surpass this one in terms of the public consciousness. 

It’s still a beautiful, aching song no matter who is performing it, provided you can rid yourself of its rock ‘n roll history and truly sing the words, making me wonder if people recognized it for what it was when they heard this version in 1970. Harry Nilsson certainly did.  

Well, I can't forget this evening And your face when you were leaving But I guess that's just the way the story goes You always smile, but in your eyes your sorrow shows Yes, it showsWell, I can't forget tomorrow When I think of all my sorrow I had you there, but then I let you go And now it's only fair that I should let you know What you should knowI can't live, if living is without you I can't live, I can't give anymore I can't live, if living is without you I can't live, I can't give anymore

4.1.16

Midnight on Rainbow Road. Leon Vynehall

2.8.16

Heart-Shaped Box Nirvana

Steve Albini produced and recorded In Utero by Nirvana, but most of you haven’t heard Albini’s mix of “Heart Shaped Box”, the album’s first single. Nirvana’s resolve to make a “real indie record” in the wake of Nevermind’s unexpected success faltered during the mixing stage of In Utero, as the band, their management, and their label bemoaned Albini’s low-fi mix. Nirvana brought in REM producer Scott Lit to remix all of their singles, including “Heart Shaped Box” for a more commercial sound.  This is the definitive version played on MTV and the radio, not the version Nirvana set out to make.

Steve Albini, the iconoclastic sound engineer, infamous for his hatred of all things corporate, wasn’t interested in working with Nirvana until after hearing their raw, noisy In Utero demos following the pristinely overproduced Nevermind.  His mix of “Heart Shaped Box” achieves a raw sound and reflects the tone of In Utero’s graphic lyrics.  Masterful harmonies disappear from the verses as do a huge amount of Novoselic’s bass presence.  They are lost in the massive wail of Grohl’s drums and Kurt’s shrieking guitar. Every bend, harmonic, and flubbed mute all careen through the mix, with no attempts to hide imperfection.  A piercing tremolo shimmer effect haunts the guitar solo, aggressively invading the groove which Lit’s more melodic, subdued cut hid before.

Personally I prefer the harmonies and solo from the Lit cut, but the Albini version is more cohesive with the rest of In Utero.  It was an album recklessly bent on fidelity to the band’s sound, and their intention to defy expectation.  It sounded like the live performance of a man: prostituted by his success, plagued by notoriety, haunted by addiction, and disillusioned by his marriage.  All of that anger can be heard in the lyrics of “Heart Shaped Box” and Albini’s approach underscores Cobain’s sardonically vile lyrics.

- BILLY MAGIC

11-12-16

Hearts in Motion by Yuck

Yayyyy new Yuck!  Makes me happy.  More slacker grunge for me.  This is off their new album dropping in February - sounds more like their s/t than Glow and Behold, which I can definitely handle.

1.11.16

Where Are We Now? David Bowie

When this album dropped in 2013 I listened to this song on repeat for weeks, sobbing. 

The faceless album cover and melancholy, questioning nature of Where Are We Now? seemed to stand in direct contrast to the fact that Bowie had, for all intents and purposes, made a graceful exit from the world of celebrity over the last decade; maybe his seemingly intentional exit was not as purposeful as it seemed? This is, after all, a song about memory, its joys and its sorrows. A song which screams out, despite all of its gentle longing, that no matter how contented one may be with life, nostalgia and the past has a powerful, irrevocable pull. Bowie, in this song, begs for peace in spite of it all, the repetition of the song’s ending functioning as a sort of an aggressive attempt to forge that peace for oneself through great effort.

Where are we now, where are we now? The moment you know, you know, you know As long as there's sun As long as there's sun As long as there's rain As long as there's rain As long as there's fire As long as there's fire As long as there's me As long as there's you

Bowie was happy, I believe that, but he wasn’t immune to the passing of time and the effects it inevitably wreaks on its victims. Illness will do that to you.

Seems a prescient paradox in light of this weekend when we were forced to say a brutally untimely goodbye; a resigned paean to change, and, more importantly, growing older; to the past which cannot be relived and the future which is full of uncertainty. A swan song for a career which he may not have desired to repeat, but which he could not help but look back upon with great fondness and inevitably, a melancholy which although not sad, was not without sorrow.  

RIP David Bowie. You will be greatly, greatly missed.

1-8-16

A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State; Or, Letters from Me to Charlotte by Los Campesinos!

One of my favorites from the unapologetic Welsh crew.  Gareth - LC!’s indefatigable lyricist - presents a vignette of close coed friends who cross a line and struggle with the consequencies as the boundaries of their friendship blur.

..and how the frequent public displays of sisterly affection that left her feeling safe left him with an erection

Classic LC!.  It’s emotional, honest, hooky and energizing.

1.7.16

Lazarus - David Bowie

Because it’s finally time for the new album. 

Because sexy sax.

Because Bowie is one of the few musicians who over the decades has managed to simultaneously evolve and remain true to his origins and his bizarro fusion of the music of the past (blues, soul, rock n’roll) and the music that could be, both lyrically and musically.

Oh, and because he’s still a total weirdo.

1.6.15

Tom’s Diner, Suzanne Vega

Doo doo doo-doo, doo doo doo-doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo-doo.

If I ever want to scrub a catchy song from my head, I start humming the melody of Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega. It is infectious, addictive, and hypnotic.  It is the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser of pop music.  Written in 1981 inside Tom’s Restaurant (the same one used as Monk’s Café in Seinfeld), Vega wrote about alienation and insecurity through a series of spontaneous vignettes.  Maybe this feeling of isolation led Vega to record Tom’s Diner a cappella, a choice that perfectly parallels the stream of consciousness nature of her lyrics.  This initial version of Tom’s Diner wasn’t released until 1984, in a magazine compilation and finally by Vega as the opener to the 1987 album Solitude Standing.

Three years after the release of Solitude Standing, electronic music producers DNA took the outro to Tom’s Diner, which is the aforementioned vocal hook and only 10 seconds of the original song, and remixed it to a dance track creating the definitive version.  A&M executives wanted to sue DNA for copyright infringement, but Vega loved the new version and decided to make a deal to formally release it.  This decision proved lucrative as the remix peaked at #5 on the Hot 100 charts in 1990 and sold 3 million copies worldwide. The song lives on today, and is still regularly sampled.  It has been used by Billy Bragg, REM, Public Enemy, Lil’ Kim, Fall Out Boy, Snoop Dog, Drake, and most recently by Britney Spears and Giorgio Moroder. So, if you often find yourself alone with a cup of coffee and a crowd of strangers, I suggest you start carrying a pen and paper.

- BILLY MAGIC