What is spinning?

[Swish]

So you are indeed still alive Rae? Happy New Year dude.

[Rae]

Same to you, babe!

~Rae

[Hyfi]

Happy New years all!

Last week I watched the Kennedy Honers and was thoroughly blown away by Beth Hart who I knew nothing about. I am really enjoying her latest venture with Joe Bonamassa but she has a whole catalog to go thru with plenty of awesome stuff.

[bobsticks]

Late night spinning...

[noddin0ff]

The Men - New Moon


Good.

Plenty of reviews of this one out there; in aggregate they seem to characterize this as country-infused indie punk rock and cite Lynyrd Skynyrd, Crazy Horse, Wilco... All seem to be true-ish.

I'd add The Kinks to the list for the lyrical earnestness of the hard working class, balancing intimacy with hard rocking grunge. I'm very curious what their previous albums sound like.

[noddin0ff]

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away

Excellent.

I started listening to NC&tBS when 2008's Dig! Lazarus Dig !!! was released. This one's not Dig!!! Rather its a languid set of ballads, fairly minimal. But there's a lot buried in the minimal. Currents of tension and darkness and insecurity (and sex, of course). One review I read put it this way

"a thoughtful, oceanic work that sucks one in, its hidden currents exerting a subtle but strong undertow."

I'll extend that metaphor a little more in that the album comes in slow tidal washes of hope and beauty that, as they wash back out, take something from you. Even lines that start out corny and almost charmingly funny fall back into the weight of the ebb tide.

I got love in my tummy
and a tiny little pain
And a ten ton catastrophe
on a 60 pound chain

You hear the first phrase and think, "did he really just sing that?" and then word by word you feel the simplicity of love erode...then "Oh, yeah. He did."

I personally, can't stand Leonard Cohen...bores me to tears. However, I can hear the similarity, if not influence, here. If you like Cohen, you'd probably like this too. I think of Cohen as extending minimalism to a dreary depressing, predestined conclusion. By contrast, here Cave uses minimalism as framework for artistry and poetry that promises ambiguity and exploration. That sounds pretty bullsh*tty. But that's all the words I got. Cave doesn't lack for words though...



Higgs Boson Blues:
Can't remember anything at all
Flame trees line the streets
Can't remember anything at all
But I'm driving my car down to Geneva

I've been sitting in my basement patio
Aye, it was hot
Up above, girls walk past, the roses all in bloom
Have you ever heard about the Higgs Boson blues
I'm goin' down to Geneva baby, gonna teach it to you

Who cares, who cares what the future brings?
Black road long and I drove and drove
I came upon a crossroad
The night was hot and black
I see Robert Johnson,
With a ten dollar guitar strapped to his back,
Lookin' for a tune

Well here comes Lucifer,
With his canon law,
And a hundred black babies runnin' from his genocidal jaw
He got the real killer groove
Robert Johnson and the devil man
Don't know who's gonna rip off who

Driving my car, flame trees on fire
Sitting and singin' the Higgs Boson blues,
I'm tired, I'm lookin' for a spot to drop
All the clocks have stopped in Memphis now
In the Lorraine Motel, it's hot, it's hot
That's why they call it the Hot Spot
I take a room with a view
Hear a man preaching in a language that's completely new, yea
Making the hot cocks in the flophouse bleed
While the cleaning ladies sob into their mops
And a bellhop hops and bops
A shot rings out to a spiritual groove
Everybody bleeding to that Higgs Boson Blues

If I die tonight, bury me
In my favorite yellow patent leather shoes
With a mummified cat and a cone-like hat
That the caliphate forced on the Jews
Can you feel my heartbeat?
Can you feel my heartbeat?

Hannah Montana does the African Savannah
As the simulated rainy season begins
She curses the queue at the Zulus
And moves on to Amazonia
And cries with the dolphins
Mama ate the pygmy
The pygmy ate the monkey
The monkey has a gift that he is sending back to you
Look here comes the missionary
With his smallpox and flu
He's saving them savages
With his Higgs Boson Blues
I'm driving my car down to Geneva
I'm driving my car down to Geneva

Oh let the damn day break
The rainy days always make me sad
Miley Cyrus floats in a swimming pool in Toluca Lake
And you're the best girl I've ever had
Can't remember anything at all

[jonnyhambone]

yeah, that new Nick Cave is pretty excellent! I'd add that it taps into a similar vein of sparse, but very subtle-y rich and deftly played music that Neil Young hit with On The Beach and Van Morrison on (esp. the first half) Veedon Fleece.

Currently listening to both the Tame Impala albums a lot - Innerspeaker I find even stronger than Lonerism. In a totally different vein, the new one (only one maybe?) from Rhye is gorgeous. Obvious comparisons to Sade abound though its two dudes singing and making the music. The production is lush on it too.