Dancing about architechture

The nominees for the 2008 Grammys were announced yesterday. I have a few thoughts about them.

First and foremost, without a little research, the categories are a complete mystery. You hear "Record of the Year," and you think, "oh, okay, a record, like an album." But no, then there's "Album of the Year." Oh. Okay, so Record of the Year is a single song. So what's "Song of the Year?" Wikipedia says that ROY goes to the performer of the song and SOY goes to the writer/composer. How they determine which to nominate for which, beats the heck out of me. "Umbrella" and "Rehab" got nominated for both, so, yeah. I don't know.

"Hey There Delilah" was also nominated for SOY, even though it was released in 2005.

How, precisesly, does one qualify for Best New Artist? Amy Winehouse had an album out in 2003. Feist put out a much better album in 2004, and was opening for the Tragically Hip in the '90s. I'm not even going to check the other nominees. These people aren't new artists. They's simply newly popular.

My pick for Best Polka Album: Jimmy Sturr. Just you wait.

If the list was musicians, I would include Chrissie Hynde and Kim Deal but NOT Dwight Yoakam

My Top Five Favorite Bands from Ohio:

1. The Black Keys
2. The National
3. The Isley Brothers
4. Relient K
5. Devo

Somthing That's So Close

Let me check my notes for this one. Oh, yeah...


1. Boy misses Girl
2. Boy decides to surprise Girl
3. Boy flies to London
4. Boy surprises Girl by figuring out her schedule, going to the same karaoke bar, and singing her "As Time Goes By"
5. Boy and Girl live happily ever after

What? Of course this is entirely fictional and not some fantasy of mine. What? No. Don't be preposterous.


1. Nick Drake - Introduction
2. Carole King - So Far Away
3. Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
4. The Weepies - World Spins Madly On
5. Blink-182 - I Miss You (James Guthrie Mix)
6. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - American Girl
7. Tori Amos - London Girls
8. The Box Tops - The Letter
9. Alison Krauss & Gillian Welsh - I'll Fly Away
10. The Clash - London Calling
11. Rufus Wainwright - Going to a Town
12. Prozzäk - Omobolosire
13. Chris Isaak - Flying
14. Robbie Williams - Beyond the Sea
15. M. Ward - Paul's Song
16. Tegan and Sara - I Know I Know I Know
17. Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue
18. Feist - The Park
19. Dooley Wilson - As Time Goes By
20. Brandi Carlile - The Story
21. Electric Light Orchestra - Do Ya

The music really IS louder

From the AV Club

INVENTORY: 12 TRULY SAD SUMMER SONGS

Jack Sou Brasileiro

I recently made a mix for a friend of mine to put on his blog... and here it is!

*a guest mix from an avid friendlymixtape follower who we'll call "jack".

I've got a whole creative process I go through when I put a mixdisc together, but the most important rule is that it's got to make sense, there's got to be something holding it all together. In this case, there's a theme here: this is about the end of a relationship. I tried to take it from the good times (All I Want) to the break-up (Swans) to that time where there's a lot of confusion and feelings going on (You Still Believe in Me) to depression (The Medication is Wearing Off) to anger (A Little Bit More) to denial (What a Fool Believes) to acceptance (Keep Me in Your Heart).

1. Joni Mitchell – All I Want – This is one of my favorite love songs. Joni has such a talent for exaggerating the tone of the song… she makes happy songs ecstatic and sad songs heart-wrenchingly depressing. This is one of the former. And it fits me pretty well, very self-depreciating.

2. Nada Surf – Do It Again – Okay, a handful of these songs don't fit perfectly in my little theme, but I put them in anyway. Although I think "It" is sex. More than anything, it's about how difficult things are.

3. Rufus Wainwright – Instant Pleasure – A cover of Seth Swirsky, off the Big Daddy soundtrack. Pretty simple really, lets us know where his priorities are.

4. Nouvelle Vague – Teenage Kicks – The (of course) bossa nova cover of the Undertone's rather unknown single. It's incredibly infectious piece of pop, and I love it. And you will too.

5. Marisa Monte – Pale Blue Eyes – Wow, third cover in a row. Here, the original is by The Velvet Underground, and I don't have to tell you that this version by probably one of the best vocalists ever to come out of Brazil is 307 times better than Lou Reed.

6. Griffin House – The Guy That Says Goodbye to You Is Out of His Mind – The title pretty much says it all here.

7. Betty Johnson – It's Been a Long, Long Time – A short and sweet little ditty. Thematically, this song is end of the good times.

8. The Pretenders – Human – One of my favorite bands. Here we begin with the hurt feelings and broken promises, with a catchy beat.

9. Unkle Bob – Swans – Yeah yeah, I heard this on Grey's Anatomy with everyone else. It's got one of the saddest lines I've ever heard: "You tell me that you love me, but you never want to see me again."

10. Psapp – Calm Down – I don't even remember how I got into Psapp, but I now hear them on every other commercial. This one's been on ads for VW and the New York Times. And I love it.

11. Feist – 1234 – New single from Feist. It's got my two favorite instruments here: the banjo, which has a naturally happy sound, and the trumpets, which I feel can make just about any song better. I love it when anyone makes happy songs out of sad subjects, but Feist is really good at it.

12. Paul Simon – Everything About It Is a Love Song – I think this song is about getting old. But maybe everything about that is about love… or something like that.

13. M. Ward – You Still Believe in Me – Since this is an instrumental version of the Beach Boy's song, I'm using it to represent that nebulous area during the breakup where, yeah, the relationship is over, but maybe you'll get back together, nobody knows… that's a fun area. But, as always, a great performance from M. Ward.

14. Steely Dan – Black Cow – This is another song that doesn't really fit, but for the mood. And let's us know it's over now. I'm a huge Dan fan, and this song is great. The bass line really drives the song, and it's got a great hook.

15. Eels – The Medication Is Wearing Off – Really, really depressing (but that's how I roll). The depression in this guy's life is probably from a few sources, but I love how this constant reminder of him is right there on his wrist.

16. Shout Out Louds – Please Please Please – Another great pop song… this is in the denial/begging stage. The lead singer, who looks like Jason Schwartzman, is a total asshole.

17. Jamie Lidell – A Little Bit More – Yes, from the Target commercial. Here one of two is really just telling the other off. Just try not to dance to it (bouncing in your chair counts as dancing).

18. The Doobie Brothers – What a Fool Believes – This one kinda echoes the last one, in that one of them wasn't taking the relationship as serious as the other. In this one, the guy is obviously blind to her signals that it's over over. He can't help it. What a great song.

19. Neil Young – Long May You Run – Sometimes, even though it ends, we just want the best for the other person (sometimes we become a bitter, empty shallow of a person, but that's neither here nor there). The liner notes say he wrote this for "a girl and a car."

20. Johnny Cash – I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen – A real classic. I got the whole story on this from a woman at Breuger's: written by a Canadian for his homesick Irish wife. I've always wanted to sing this as a bar is closing.

21. Norah Jones – Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want to Get Over You) – A cover of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. The imagery here is great: going back to that place you used to go and play the old songs. So sad, but really, who hasn't been there?

22. Jorge Calderón & Jennifer Warnes – Keep Me in Your Heart – This is the last song Warren Zevon wrote after learning he had lung cancer. From that perspective, it's about remember the best about someone after they've died, but it works for anyone who's gone away that you care about. This version is from the tribute album "Enjoy Every Sandwich," and it's just heartbreaking.

Download: Here

Eric Clapton - Promises

(download)

Ah, one of my favorite breakup songs. It seems pretty straightforward; the fourth line seemingly says it all, “I don’t love you and you love me.” But a lot of this song is about what’s not being said… hell, you can hear it in every “La la la” chorus.

The narration of this song takes place sometime after the break, which seemed to end on amicable terms… the eponymous promise was to stay friends. But you know what? Turns out that doesn’t always work. Here he is, ripped apart, trying to convince himself with every verse that he doesn’t care what she’s doing or who’s she’s doing it with.

He doesn’t come clean with us (or himself) until the last stanza, where he fesses up, “I’d still love you if you’d just love me.” He’s not over her, and that promise they made just can’t work out. It just hurts him too much.

The song is a tribute to self-delusion. I think we can all relate.

Money can't buy you back the love that you had then.

One of my favorite artists for the past year or so has been Feist, who I'm sure needs no introduction. Her new album is coming out in two weeks, but the video for one of the advance singles, "1 2 3 4" was released recently.





Feist has knack for taking a sad subject (in this case, a failed relationship) and turning it into a ridiculously happy tune. See also "One Evening," "Lovertits," and "Mushaboom."

A list...

...of musicians whose music I don't care for, but I do enjoy their names:

Panic! At the Disco
She Wants Revenge
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
My Chemical Romance
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Iggy Pop
Dashboard Confessional
Say Anything
Save Ferris

The Pretenders - Talk of the Town

(download)

This is probably my favorite song right now, and, as with seemingly all of my favorite songs, it has a tinge of sadness to it. At its core, it is a story of unrequited adoration. The narrator sings, “It’s such a drag to want something sometimes.” This is generally true when you want something you know you just can’t have. She does her best to keep her feelings a secret, but she made a wish, she said it out loud. “Out loud in a crowd, everybody heard.” It became the talk of the town. Funny how everybody knows she likes him except the one person she wants to know.

Like a lot of songs I obsess over, I love a lot of the little nuances in the track. Like the second refrain, Chrissie kind of repeats herself (“Maybe tomorrow. Maybe someday.”) with a kind of quiet resignation. Or is it yearning? The driving guitar riff isn’t exactly a nuance, but it’s a pretty great hook.

In the end, it’s great to hear this kind of optimism. She loves this guy, and she’ll get him, eventually. She’s obviously shy, but these things have a way of working out. Especially when it’s the talk of the town.

Cat Power - Good Woman

(download)

I only first heard Cat Power a few weeks ago when I retrieved the friendlymixtape, but it immediately struck a chord with me. Probably because I didn’t really understand it at first, actually. The first couple listens were completely confusing to me, though familiar. As far as I could grasp, this was a song about a woman breaking up with a man, really, for reasons only she could understand. She claims she wants to be a good woman, but that involves destroying the man she loves? I beg your pardon? To me, it was a song that said, hey, sometimes people break up with people for no good reason.

Later on, after a few dozen more listens and meditation, I figured that it was really a song about the “bad man,” as told from the point of view of the other woman. No, she’s got a good reason for what she’s doing, and it’s probably the right thing to do. But you know, this is one of the few songs where I wish I had just let it lie and not given it too much thought… I liked my original interpretation a little better, just because, well, I like to connect on a personal level to my music.

So I like Sad Songs. So what?

Ain't there one damn song that can make me break down and cry? -Bowie

So I’m listening to Young Americans, and I hear this line, and I think, huh… yeah, probably. I actually came up with three that can get me going with some consistency:

1. Eva Cassidy – Fields of Gold
2. Cat Power – Good Woman
3. Tony Bennett – The Way You Look Tonight

People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands – literally thousands – of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don't know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they've been listening to the sad songs longer than they've been living the unhappy lives. -Rob Gordon

Guster - Diane

If you know me at all, you know I like sad songs. Often, they are my catharsis, my release. This is one of those.

In a nutshell, this is a song about a doomed relationship where the couple’s only form of honest communication is through sleep-talking. He loves her, but she’s grown tired of the whole thing, and in fact, only smiles when she’s dreaming (“who were you just thinking of, Diane?”). But he remains (perhaps naively) optimistic. I have no idea why he thinks they’ll make it out together.

Why do I like this song so much? Perhaps some of it is that the drum beat reminds me of Tom Petty’s Breakdown. Well, much of it is probably due to the fact it’s pretty much biographical. I can relate to the unjustified optimism the narrator professes. Over some girl in London.