I’d Walk to Hell and Back to See You Smile
In Memory of Mark Linkous
Archive for Musica
The Killer
I think we’re lost, don’t worry
I’ve been here before
I’m sure I thought I knew the way
Out of here yesterday
Dove cuesto, mi dolce?
Your driver called, it’s time to go
Your driver’s waiting for you
And I caught a fever, a holy fire
‘Til I was crawling on the ceiling
Come out of your hole
I know you know
You know I know
I wanna go
Such a pretty thing, I’ve never seen
Someone so perfectly deceive
I loved her smile
And her beguiling way with me
She smelled exciting, I wanted some
Your drivers’ gone like everybody
And that’s why I need ya
To catch on fire
I want you to burn me til I feel it
I know you know which way to go
I want you to show me
So I can steal it
Where should we go?
Where should we go?
I know you know that I’m
Gonna need it
I know you know which way to go
I know you know
I wanna go
- The Twilight Singers
A Totally New Year
You tattoo the failures on,
On to your length of arm
They may run wrist to shoulder blade
Whether my badges of
Honor you lost in love
Savin’ the tale of the child that failed for another day
This will be a totally new year
Don’t let the pouring rain
Temper your day-by-day
Don’t let the bones the closet may hold
Get in the way
After a long dark night
Bathe in the morning light
Then take your return
The lesson you learned
You’ll get it right
This is where we begin
Feels like an ending
Say it with no pretense
I’m tired of pretending
You know that life won’t wait
You’ll have to make your move
The choices you make, every awful mistake
Will try to define you
This will be a totally new year
- Matt Pryor
We’ll Miss You, Jennifer Gale
Jennifer Gale, 1960-2008
Austin City Council meetings and mayoral races will never be the same. She was a true character, one that you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else but Austin. The first time Megan and I came across Jennifer was while we were watching the Austin Music Network back in 2004. They were playing Christmas music videos and they showed a clip of Jennifer singing at a City Council meeting, much like the clip below. We were immediately confounded, amazed, and smitten. Bye, Jennifer, and thanks for making the world a more interesting place.
2008: A Great Year for Music — or The Greatest?
Every December I try and sum up all of the great albums that have been released during the previous year, but I usually lose motivation and the deed goes undone. Not this year. Here is my Best of 2008 list, filled mostly by my tried-and-true favorite bands and musicians, so it isn’t really that much of a Best of but rather a My Favorites of kind of list. There are a few up-and-comers in there, though. Also, you can count this post as a tribute to Amazon Downloads, which is superior to iTunes in pretty much every way, including better prices, no DRM anywhere, and easier preview sampling (although Amazon doesn’t have Stephen Colbert’s Holiday Special Soundtrack). Enjoy.
American Music Club: The Golden Age
The Bittersweets: Goodnight, San Francisco
The Cribs: Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever
Crooked Fingers: Forfeit / Fortune
Caithlin De Marrais: My Magic City
Kathleen Edwards: Asking for Flowers
Greg Dulli: Live at Triple Door
Headlights: Some Racing, Some Stopping
Jolie Holland: The Living and the Dead
Damien Jurado: Caught in the Trees
Longwave: Secrets are Sinister
The Raveonettes: Lust Lust Lust
Reggie & The Full Effect: Last Stop: Crappy Town
The Terrible Twos: Jerzy the Giant
Back in Blue?
When I read this article on how AC/DC is shunning online mp3 sales of their new album, I wasn’t so much surprised at that revelation as I was by the fact that they’re going solely with Wal-Mart to sell their disc. But then it occurred to me that, aside from the Best Buy, what other national music retailer is even in existence? Tower’s gone. Mall stores are likely irrelevant. K-Mart? Target? Maybe, but I guess it’s a sign of the times when you can go it solo with Wally with confidence.
With new “Black Ice,” AC/DC turns off iTunes
By Matt Daily Matt Daily
NEW YORK (Reuters) – For those about to rock, AC/DC salutes you. Unless, that is, you want to buy the Australian heavy metal group’s newest album, “Black Ice,” on iTunes, or anywhere but Wal-Mart when it drops in record stores on October 20.
“Maybe I’m just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless ‘em, it’s going to kill music if they’re not careful,” lead singer Brian Johnson, 61, told Reuters.
AC/DC, formed by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young in 1973, is among only a handful of musicians to refuse to put their music on the popular download website in a move that Johnson defended as a bid to protect the album format from the Internet’s emphasis on buying single songs.
“It’s a…monster, this thing,” he said. “It just worries me. And I’m sure they’re just doing it all in the interest of making as much…cash as possible. Let’s put it this way, it’s certainly not for the…love, let’s get that out of the way, right away,” he said.
The 15 songs on “Black Ice” stick closely to the bluesy power riffs AC/DC has laid down on their 14 earlier albums that together have sold an estimated 200 million copies worldwide.
Their album “Back in Black” — the fifth-best selling album ever in the United States, according to the Recording Industry Association of America — became a heavy metal landmark. The title track, as well as “You Shook Me All Night Long,” remain radio standards nearly 30 years after their release.
The follow-up album “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”, a play on the ancient Roman gladiators salute, rocketed to No. 1 on U.S. charts and became a rock classic.
After a break of nearly seven years following 2000’s “Stiff Upper Lip,” AC/DC reassembled to make “Black Ice,” and Johnson recalled getting goose bumps when Angus and Malcolm took their guitars to The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, Canada.
Yet, Johnson’s dislike of recording studios drove him out to the receptionist’s desk, where producer Brendan O’Brien set up a microphone and Johnson recorded his vocals — one more sign of idiosyncratic behavior in the band’s storied career.
Selling songs online is another issue, too. While music downloads from iTunes to iPods and from other music-oriented Web sites to digital players has become standard practice for music lovers, it strikes the wrong chord for AC/DC.
Under its new contract with Sony’s Columbia Music, “Black Ice” will be available only at retailer Wal-Mart and its Sam’s Club stores, as well as AC/DC’s website.
“A lot of people were saying ‘Ah man, you’re going to the big Wal-Mart, you’re selling out,’ Johnson said.
“Wal-Mart were the only big store to stock all of our albums, every single one of them, and they’ve never deviated. And they sold AC/DC shirts and pajamas for kids, which we thought was really cool,” he said.
Fans have snapped up tickets to AC/DC’s world tour that begins in the United States later this month, and Johnson said he was working out to keep pace with the frenetic Angus Young, who is famous for sporting a schoolboy outfit on stage.
Johnson, who also races cars, has hired a trainer to get into shape, and hopefully he will be able to make the leap to the rope beneath the giant bell that AC/DC traditionally lowers at the start of rock anthem “Hells Bells.”
“The bell’s going to come down again and I’m saying to myself, ‘Should I jump that 10 feet?’” said Johnson. “Can I still do it?”
Despite the band’s hiatus, fan appetite for AC/DC remains strong, with its latest single from the new album, “Rock’n Roll Train,” hitting No. 2 on Billboard’s Mainstream rock chart.
“Now we’ve got kids of eight or nine (years-old) who are fans, and their dads are fans. And it’s quite mind-blowing,” Johnson said.
Still, he was philosophical on whether the band had another album in them. “I’m going to leave it in the hands of the gods. Life is what it is, y’know. You start trying to plan too carefully, it’ll come kick you right in the a**,” he said.
Race You Home
Waaay back in the mid-’90s, one of the first 7″s that I ever bought was Portastatic’s San Andreas; my favorite song was a b-side called Race You Home. A seriously beautiful song, considering it was merely a b-side by a side project of one of my favorite bands. The record player I was borrowing got called back to its home soon after I got the record, so I was left with a wonderful piece of vinyl without anything to play it on. For years and years I looked for it to be released somewhere in a digital format, to no avail. But 14 or so years on down the road, the song’s finally been released on CD. Words cannot describe how happy this makes me.
Yoko Kanno
The other day, Yoko Kanno surpassed good ol’ Placebo as my most frequently listened-to artist of the past four years, according to my last.fm profile. Needless to say, she is probably my favorite composer (move over, Mozart). Here are a couple of songs from her anime work.
“Shiro, Long Tail’s” (from Wolf’s Rain)
“Rakuen” (from Wolf’s Rain)
“Regret” (from Escaflowne)
Because I Want You
Fall into you, is all I seem to do
When I hit the bottle, ’cause I’m afraid to be alone
Tear us in two, is all it seems to do
As the anger fades, this house is no longer a home
Don’t give up on the dream, don’t give up on the wanting, and everything that’s true
Don’t give up on the dream, don’t give up on the wanting
Because I want you, too
Because I want you
Stumble into you, is all I ever do
My memory’s hazy and I’m afraid to be alone
Tear us in two, is all it’s gonna do
As the headache fades, this house is no longer a home
Don’t give up on the dream, don’t give up on the wanting
And everything that’s true
Don’t give up on the dream, don’t give up on the wanting
Because I want you, too
Because I want you
Fall in to you, is all I ever do
When I hit the bottle, ’cause I’m afraid to be alone
Tear us in two, tear us in two
Because I want you, too
- Placebo
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III
Interviewer: Well… Where are you coming from?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: (pause) Well… I don’t like the way the country’s ran, don’t you know, and, erm… that’s pretty much what i was expressing in my poem. The government… the American government – they’re sneaky, they’re very deceitful, they’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re rip-offs. I mean, the American government is one systematic government that…that nobody can trust. I don’t trust them myself.
Interviewer: And how long have you been writing for?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Huh?
Interviewer: How long have you been writing for?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Since I was four.
Interviewer: Do you do this sort of thing a lot, like, open-mic kinda questions?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Oh, I love open-mics, I love coming here to do open-mics, absolutely.
Interviewer: What kind of reactions do you usually get?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Usually, people are… are pretty much in agreement with what I’m saying.
Interviewer: We overheard you before talking about… you went to court today for a speeding ticket?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: That’s accurate.
Interviewer: right. Do you wanna tell us that story?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Yes, absolutely, I wouldn’t mind telling you the story. Erm… I went to court today for a speeding ticket, and I told the judge, erm… “Let me tell you something, and you listen and you listen good, I’m only gonna say this one time and one time only, I don’t repeat myself for nobody,” I said. I says… “I’m here to pay a speeding ticket, not to listen to your lectures and hear you run your mouth for an hour.” I says “I’m here to pay off my speeding ticket …and I’m here to get my fines out of the way and get the fuck to work.” The judge says “You can’t talk like that in my courtroom, you’re in contempt of court.” then I said… I told the judge, “If that’s the best you can do, I feel sorry for you.” I said “Why don’t you just shut your fucking mouth for once and listen.” I said “I’m not gonna take any shit.” I said “I’m gonna pay my speeding ticket like I said.” I walked up to the god damn judge and I hand him my 25 dollars and I says “Here’s my money, now I am leaving.”
And I left it at that.
(At this point the interview fades whilst the music grows in intensity)
Then, before I left, I turned around and told the judge “I’m here to state who I am and be honest with you.” I said “If they thought I was dangerous on the road like you’re trying to accuse me of, wouldn’t they have taken my license when I first got it? Yes they would.” And the judge says “Yeah, you have a point,” He goes “You don’t need to get loud,” I said “Don’t get loud?” I says “I’ve got every right to get loud.” I says “You can’t do a god damn thing about it, because I’m expressing myself in your court, and there is nothing you can do about it. You think you’re god because you have a robe and you can put people up the goddamn river for 20 years? Well you’re not.”
And I left it at that.
Interviewer: Did you walk away?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Yes I did… I don’t like the judicial system, I don’t like the government system, I don’t like the police, I don’t like anything to do with this country’s government. I just don’t like it, because… they’re sneaky, like I said – they’re deceitful, they’re lying, they’re cheats, they rip people off. That’s the American government for you. America is a third world country, and people don’t recognise it… and I think that that’s pretty god damn sad, that they don’t recognise their own country as a third world, third rate, third class slum.
Interviewer: Well… Do you have any weapons?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Yes, I do. I own a high-powered assault rifle, I own a 12-gauge double barrel shotgun, I own a regular shotgun, I own a regular hunting rifle, I own a 9mm, a 357, a 45 handgun, a 38 special, and, erm… I own an m-16 fully automatic ground assault rifle…
Interviewer: Do you think things are gonna get better before they get worse?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: No way. Things are just gonna get worse and keep on getting worse. Like I said, America’s a third world country as it is and… and we’re just basically in a hopeless situation as it stands.
Interviewer: What do you think this country’s gonna look like in the year 2003?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Y’know, I’ll tell you the truth – nothing against you guys, but I don’t wanna answer that question because… I haven’t even got a mind that’s that…that inhumane.
Interviewer: are you ready for what’s coming?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Ready as I’ll ever be.
Interviewer: Most people aren’t.
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: There’s a little saying… Dates back for generations…
Interviewer: Go on…
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Be prepared for anything at any time from anybody, don’t take no shit, always stand your ground. People wanna come up to me and run their mouth – guess what? I’ll throw them through the fucking window… I won’t think a thing of it.
Interviewer: Would you mind reciting your poem for us?
Blaise Bailey Finnegan III: Not at all, I don’t see why… I don’t see why I couldn’t.
There’s an evil virus that’s threatening mankind
It’s not state of the art, it’s a serious state of the mind
The muggers, the backstabbers, the two faced elite
A menace to society, a social disease
To brainwash the mind is a social disorder
The cynics, the apathy one-upmanship order
Watching beginnings of social decay
Gloating and sneering at life’s disarray
Eating away at your own self esteem
Pouncing on every word that you might be saying
To attack someone’s mind is a social disorder
The constitution, the government, martial law order
Superficially smiling a shake of the hand
As soon as your back is turned treason is planned
When every good thing’s laid to rest
By the governments hate, by the constitution and their lies
And every time you think you’re safe
And when you go to turn away
You know they’re sharpening all their knives
All in your mind
All in your head
Try to relate it
All in your mind
All in your head
Try to escape it
Without a conscience they destroy
And that’s a thing that they enjoy
They’re a sickness that’s in all of our minds
They want to sink the ship and leave
The way they laugh at you and me
You know it happens all the time
But it only happens in your mind
The rats in the cellar you know who you are…
Or do you?
Watching beginnings of social decay…
Interviewer: Thank you for your time.
- Godspeed You Black Emperor
