Herculodge

"Desert Raven" by Jonathan Wilson and Andy Cabic Best Pop Song I've Heard This Year of 2008

If you can get a password (I didn't bother; will wait for iTunes), check out Jonathan Wilson's Desert Raven,  a romantic, epic, psychedelic pop song that reminds me of Pink Floyd, the Decemberists, Jefferson Starship, and The Clientele all rolled into one. As of today, the song is not on iTunes or available on Amazon. Perhaps it's on his MySpace account if he has one.

I've heard the song only twice, but on Jonsey's Jukebox, 103.1 Indie Rock. I first heard the song around 12:20 P.M. on May 19, 2008.  The song sounded great on my kitchen radio, my Boston Acoustic Horizon Solo. When I went to my office to hear the rest of the music set on 103.1, I realized how mediocre my Eton Sound 100 is. I need to sell that radio and get something with a remote and great speaker.

The second time I heard "Desert Raven" was September 18, 2008, in my work office on a red Eton S350DL. I loved the song just as much on a repeated listening. The sad news: Four months after the first listening, the song is not available on iTunes. Nor does it appear to be on any upcoming album. Jonesy Boy seems to have exclusive ownership of this ecstatic song. Sheesh. 

If you can get a password (I didn't bother; will wait for iTunes), check out Jonathan Wilson's Desert Raven,  a romantic, epic, psychedelic pop song that reminds me of Pink Floyd, the Decemberists, Jefferson Starship, and The Clientele all rolled into one. As of today, the song is not on iTunes or available on Amazon. Perhaps it's on his MySpace account if he has one.

I've heard the song only twice, but on Jonsey's Jukebox, 103.1 Indie Rock. I first heard the song around 12:20 P.M. on May 19, 2008.  The song sounded great on my kitchen radio, my Boston Acoustic Horizon Solo. When I went to my office to hear the rest of the music set on 103.1, I realized how mediocre my Eton Sound 100 is. I need to sell that radio and get something with a remote and great speaker.

The second time I heard "Desert Raven" was September 18, 2008, in my work office on a red Eton S350DL. I loved the song just as much on a repeated listening. The sad news: Four months after the first listening, the song is not available on iTunes. Nor does it appear to be on any upcoming album. Jonesy Boy seems to have exclusive ownership of this ecstatic song. Sheesh. 

Dan Patrick Says Radiohead Is a Combination of Van Gough and Clayton Aiken

Coldplay has said that Radiohead is largely responsible for their success. I suppose Radiohead paved the way for Coldplay's brand of angst-ridden pop, and make a brand of music that must appeal to Dan Patrick. On his radio show today, Patrick, who said he is going to a Radiohead concert tonight, said that Radiohead is a fusion between Van Gough and American Idol's Clayton Aiken. 

Of course, he was joking, but I think the comparison is more apt for Coldplay whose music on their last two albums has become both obnoxious and insipid. Coldplay's deterioration is well analyzed by Sasha Frere-Jones in the current issue of the New Yorker. 

"Desert Raven" by Jonathan Wilson and Andy Cabic Best Pop Song I've Heard This Year of 2008

If you can get a password (I didn't bother; will wait for iTunes), check out Jonathan Wilson's Desert Raven,  a romantic, epic, psychedelic pop song that reminds me of Pink Floyd, the Decemberists, Jefferson Starship, and The Clientele all rolled into one. As of today, the song is not on iTunes or available on Amazon. Perhaps it's on his MySpace account if he has one.

I heard the song around 12:20 P.M. today on 103.1 FM. The song sounded great on my kitchen radio, my Boston Acoustic Horizon Solo. When I went to my office to hear the rest of the music set on 103.1, I realized how mediocre my Eton Sound 100 is. I need to sell that radio and get something with a remote and great speaker.

Maybe I Don't Need to Speak Brazilian to Know What Heaven Feels Like

Yeah, it's pretty heavenly, listening to Luiza and Zizi Possi sing "Haja O Que Houver." If I ever reach a point in my life where this song leaves me unmoved, I'll have to conclude that my flirtation with cynicism got the best of me.

For the song's translation, CLICK HERE.

Lush Romantic Dream Pop for Unapologetic Naval-Gazers

This is not a complete list of indie pastoral dream pop, the kind of music that makes you feel like you're picking daisies in the fields or recalling with nostalgia how you and your first girlfriend ran through a glade during a hazy rainfall, but it makes a good introduction:

1. Slowdive: Just for a Day, check out "Catch the Breeze."
2. The Clientele: Suburban Light, check out "Reflections After Jane."
3. The Clientele: A Fading Summer (EP), a must-have because of the single "Bicycles" (sorry no link).
4. Blueboy: Maro Polo, a must-have for "Love Yourself" (sorry no link)
5. Ronderlin: Wave Another Day Goodbye and The Great Investigation, check out "Three Times."
6. Lovejoy: Songs in the Key of Lovejoy. A must-have for "A Taste of the High Life" (sorry, no link).
7. The Innocence Mission: Glow, check out "Bright as Yellow."
8. The Innocence Mission: We Walked in Sky, check out "The Brotherhood of Man."

The 4 Major Ways the iPod Has Changed Our Relationship with Music

In an NPR Talk of the Nation  interview a couple of years ago Thomas De Zengotita, author of Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It, was explaining (and I paraphrase) that the marriage of high-tech media and celebrity culture have made us "mediated," which is to say, we're all self-conscious and incurably vain in a way that we see our lives as protracted motion pictures with--who else?--but as us as the stars of our own feature film. This "Common Person as Marquee" mentality is reinforced by the iPod, which has seriously changed our relationship with music. Here are four of the changes that I see as I contrast iPod listening with my days in the 1970s when I would listen to Rare Earth or The Beatles or Caroline King on the turntable over and over again:

1. Because we're constantly making, and re-making, playlists, we delude ourselves with the idea that we are the musicians and the creators, while the real musicians take a back seat. In other words, we begin to believe that the music is "ours."
2. No longer do we focus on a singular album and immerse ourselves in it with the kind of obsession that allows us to really get to know its details. Instead, we listen to ten-hour playlists, which are more like wallpaper ambiance that we keep as we engage in all sorts of multi-tasking.
3. We're more vulnerable to listening to music that will be judged by others so that we often sacrifice our real musical tastes in order to have playlists that others will perceive has cool or hip. I've even heard people talk about "playlist anxieties" in which they fear their playlists may be judged as being dorky by the musical cognoscenti. To underscore this absurd state of affairs, there are actually  Playlist Parties in which the attendees put their iPods in a big salad bowl and guests randomly  pick up someone else's iPod and listen to their playslists. This type of music sharing then determines how attractive, or not, one is. 
4. Not only have playlists become in a way our calling card, a salient feature for which we are judged, but the type of MP3 player we have determines our status. I've talked to people who won't "date down" to someone who has anything "less" than an iPod and I assume it must be a relatively current iPod at that.

3 Beautiful, Haunting Pop Songs About Addiction

Number One: "Pills" by The Perishers

Number Two: "Lover's Spit" by Broken Social Scene

Number Three: "Bridge" by Page France (sorry, couldn't find "Bridge" link)

24 Underappreciated Indie Pop Albums

1.    Suburban Light by The Clientele
2.    Blue Bell Knoll by The Cocteau Twins
3.    Victorialand by The Cocteau Twins
4.    Castaways and Cutouts by The Decemberists
5.    Fisherman’s Woman by Emiliana Torrini
6.    Glow by The Innocence Mission
7.    We Walked in Song by The Innocence Mission
8.    Songs in the Key of Lovejoy by Lovejoy
9.    The Tourniquet by Magnet
10.    Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic by The Sundays
11.    Blind by The Sundays
12.    Cake by The Trashcan Sinatras
13.    I’ve Seen Everything by The Trashcan Sinatras
14.    Happy Pockets by The Trashcan Sinatras
15.    Page France and the Family Telephone by Page France
16.    Hello, Dear Wind by Page France
17.    Come, I’m a Lion by Page France
18.    Don’t Get Weird on Me, Babe, Lloyd Cole
19.    Lloyd Cole (1990) by Lloyd Cole
20.    Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole
21.    Honey Bee by Moose
22.    . . . XYZ by Moose
23. Marco Polo by Blue Boy
24. Songs in the Key of Lovejoy by Lovejoy

Obscurity Knocks: Perhaps My Favorite Song of All Time

The Trashcan Sinatras, hitting the American music scene in 1990 with their hit song "Obscurity Knocks," perhaps have written the most beautiful pop song of all time, at least my favorite. Full of romantic longing and the dread of mortality, the song is bitter-sweet, addictive, ecstatic. The TCS almost quit, languishing without an American recording contract in the mid 1990s, but world-wide Internet support persuaded them to keep going and now they remain a classic band, up there with The Smiths.

Another band that should survive, The Clientele, has written one of my top ten favorite songs, "Reflections After Jane."

Coolest Song Ever?

What's the coolest song ever? Is there a list? A top 10? A top 100? Allow me to elect a song by Zero Seven called "Destiny" (video link to YouTube). While I'm not wild about the video, I can't help but go back to that song. Is there a song that's cooler? I can't find one.