tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-107543312024-03-24T02:19:55.290+08:00alternative sounds : an ipod music blogsongs from my ipodflatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-20651339651780449622012-12-24T08:44:00.003+08:002012-12-26T14:18:30.224+08:00this is a test1. Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses (OGG, AAC)
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<source src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/oggtest/FeelingPulledApartByHorses.ogg"></source>
<source src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/oggtest/FeelingPulledApartByHorses.aac"></source>
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2. Lights (OGG, MP3)
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<source src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/oggtest/Lights.ogg"></source>
<source src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/oggtest/Lights.mp3"></source>
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3. Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses (OGG only)
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<source src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/oggtest/FeelingPulledApartByHorses.ogg"></source>
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Dear people of the web (especially smartphone and tablet users), can you do me a favor? Can you see which of the above song uploads are playing on your device, and tell me what device you're using?<br />
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My New Year's resolution is to restart this blog, which I've neglected since 2008 and nearly removed from existence last year when Apple discontinued its .Mac file-hosting service, which put all the songs I had uploaded out of commission. I have just successfully transferred all the songs to another host, and so they're all playable again on non-iOS devices.<br />
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Now, since we are living in a post-PC era if some people are to be believed, I want this blog to be mobile-friendly unlike before. So rather than relying on Flash, I'm trying out HTML5 for my song uploads.<br />
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Please let me know by writing a comment below.<br />
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Thank you.flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-46380245101916789442009-01-06T00:19:00.008+08:002012-12-26T11:57:43.178+08:00eternalized, objectified : the best of 2008<div style="color: black;">
<img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/images/alternativesounds/thoughts.jpg" vspace="3" /> Better a tad late than never, that's my middle name, so here goes a recap. I think 2008 was a year of big decisions for me. Nothing earth-changing, really, but they could eventually be for me. I bit off more than I could chew, that's for sure, especially in the second half of the year, which explains my absence from this blog. But I haven't been completely out of touch with music; in fact, I think I bought more music in 2008 than the year before, which explains why I'm able to come up with a longer list of the best songs of the year (44) than the two lists prior. I could have rounded the list to 50, but some of the other songs just don't fit in the two mixes I've made below. Truth be told, they weren't easy to make. It was clear early on that I could split my list between electric and acoustic, fast and slow, bands and singer-songwriters, but actually grouping the songs that I liked in a way that made them gel together (an OCD behavior typical of mix-tape fanatics) meant that I had to violate some of the contrasts I just described. This is why you'll find a Portishead song in the same mix as Bon Iver, and why I included Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire instead of Manhattan, my favorite from their album.</div>
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Like I keep saying, this blog is about songs, but I won't hesitate naming the 10 albums I listened a lot to last year, which necessarily makes them my Best Albums of 2008. In no particular order:</div>
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<li><i>Dear Science: </i>TV On The Radio</li>
<li><i>Vampire Weekend: </i>Vampire Weekend</li>
<li><i>Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!: </i>Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds</li>
<li><i>God is an Astronaut: </i>God is an Astronaut<i><br />
</i> </li>
<li><i>April: </i>Sun Kil Moon</li>
<li><i>For Emma, Forever Ago: </i>Bon Iver</li>
<li><i>Sleight of Heart: </i>Malcolm Middleton</li>
<li><i>Fleet Foxes: </i>Fleet Foxes</li>
<li><i>Limbo, Panto: </i>Wild Beasts</li>
<li><i>Car Alarm: </i>The Sea and Cake</li>
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Anyway, enjoy these songs:</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008A/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008A/Mix1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Best of 2008 Mix 1</span></b></span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008A/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image above to stream the entire list in one go, or click on the titles below to listen to the songs individually</div>
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/theforgottenpeople/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">(The Forgotten People)</a> : Thievery Corporation</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/capecod/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa</a> : Vampire Weekend<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/headhoncho/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Head Honcho</a> : DeVotchKa<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/youthless/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Youthless</a> : Beck<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/diglazarusdig/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!</a> : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/thefix/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">The Fix</a> : Elbow<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/dlz/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">DLZ</a> : TV on the Radio<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/shoresoforion/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Shores Of Orion</a> : God Is An Astronaut<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/rooks/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Rooks</a> : Shearwater<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/thesehands/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">These Hands</a> : Deerhunter<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/thedevilscrayon/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">The Devil's Crayon</a> : Wild Beasts<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/saybacksomething/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Say Back Something</a> : Tapes 'n Tapes<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/sleeperhold/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Sleeper Hold</a> : No Age<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/documentedminor/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1</a> : Los Campesinos!<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/electricfeel/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Electric Feel</a> : MGMT<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/betterthanthis/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Better Than This</a> : Keane<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/graveyardgirl/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Graveyard Girl</a> : M83</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/holycow/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Holy Cow!</a> : Margot & The Nuclear So And So's</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/tobewheretheres/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">To Be Where There's Life</a> : Oasis</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/sexonfire/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Sex On Fire</a> : Kings Of Leon</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/oneforthecutters/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">One For The Cutters</a> : The Hold Steady</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/daddysgone/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Daddy's Gone</a> : Glasvegas</li>
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Some highlights:</div>
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Mix 1 of music to groove to was made with some compromises, but overall I'm very happy with it. The musical output from 2008 was weird in a good way for me in that the songs that stood out the most are very diverse. Thievery Corporation, the Washington, D.C.-based DJ duo that puts a club spin on so-called world music, released their best album since Abductions and Reconstructions from a decade ago, and I thought The Forgotten People, their own composition, made for a rousing opener.</div>
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Dig, Lazarus, Digg!!! by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is easily my most played song of 2008. What an amazing record, with an addictive hook and an interesting twist on the old narrative of the artist's struggle between purity and popularity. At least that's how I see it.</div>
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How Elbow had gone by under the radar all these years is a mystery to me. These guys have been making tremendous records since 2001. They finally won the Mercury Prize last year, but I think they're just getting started. Elbow is very versatile; their debut album, Asleep in the Back, is track-for-track half a world away from last year's The Seldom Seen Kid, but both are equally good, although the latter is obviously the more self-assured. The Fix is full of mischief.</div>
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Album buyers will find TV On The Radio's Dear Science great value for money; they'll get 11 well-crafted songs that cross genres. DLZ, whatever that means, is the most brooding song of the album, a scathing critique, the way I read it, of George W. Bush and his wars.</div>
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God is an Astronaut was a big surprise. Scottish post-rockers Mogwai released an excellent album last year in The Hawk is Howling, yet here I am posting a song by a group that obviously takes after them. God is an Astronaut's self-titled album is a revelation, every song is stirring, and Shores of Orion uncorks a pent-up indignation.</div>
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Wild Beasts was an awesome find. This new English band has its own sound. They cook up highly original guitar melodies, but their songs aren't for everyone. What could put people off is the vocals. They make liberal use of falsettos alternating with pure grit, and the combination can be grating. The best example is She Purred While I Grrd – listen to it when your tolerance hormone level is high. The Devil's Crayon is tamer, but no less ear-catching.</div>
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I don't know how many new bands released their debut and sophomore albums on the same year, but Los Campesinos did it, and they did it well. What makes this Welsh seven-piece amazing is they don't only deliver fun party songs for the artsy, but their lyrics can also be cleverly graphic and hilarious without making the songs ridiculous. Documented #1, from the second album, is such an example; the first line never fails to make me sniggle.</div>
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Did any band release a more fun record in 2008 than MGMT? These guys have had a great run, and let's hope they don't crash and burn. Oracular Spectacular is just what the album name suggests: an exciting piece of work that hints at even greater things.</div>
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Sometimes it's hard to take a band seriously because of their choice of name, but Margot and the Nuclear So & So's is a good argument for, well, not taking a band for its name. Holy Cow is seriously professional in sound and arrangement – perhaps more so than the band would have liked, since this comes from Not Animal, the version of the album their label wanted to release. (The band's preferred version, Animal, was also released, and it's equally good.)</div>
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I had stopped taking notice of Oasis since What's the Story Morning Glory?, but Dig Out Your Soul restored my faith, perhaps because the album is mature, perhaps because the Gallaghers are more mature. They've been easing their grip on the group's creative output, and To Be Where There's Life is guitarist Gem Archer's work. It could well have been George Harrison's composition sung by Lennon. It has the makings of a classic in spite of the novelty – a £12.50 toy sitar, if Noel's claim is to be believed.</div>
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Only By The Night by Kings of Leon probably gets the award for the most polarizing album of 2008. The band has grabbed the public's attention since their debut, but with each record they've veered further away from their southern roots. Some hated them for it, most loved them even more. I'm with the latter. Take the past out of the picture and you'll agree that they're making great records. Who could resist Sex on Fire?</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008B/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008B/Mix2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Best of 2008 Mix 2</span></b></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008B/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image above to stream the entire list, or click on the titles below to listen to the songs individually</div>
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/whitewinter/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">White Winter Hymnal</a> : Fleet Foxes</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/writersminor/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Writer's Minor Holiday</a> : Calexico<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/totalbelief/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Total Belief</a> : Malcolm Middleton<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/twistoftheknife/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Twist Of The Knife</a> : Andy Yorke<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/istillcare/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">I Still Care For You</a> : Ray LaMontagne<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/skinnylove/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Skinny Love</a> : Bon Iver<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/always/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Always</a> : Peter Bradley Adams<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/moorestown/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Moorestown</a> : Sun Kil Moon<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/facedown/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Face Down In The Right Town</a> : Earlimart<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/newschools/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">New Schools</a> : The Sea and Cake<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/speak/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Speak</a> : Dark Captain Light Captain<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/listen/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Listen</a> : Amos Lee<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/hardwhitewall/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Hard White Wall</a> : Joan As Police Woman<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/littleblacksandals/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Little Black Sandals</a> : Sia</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/heartsclubband/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Hearts Club Band</a> : Martha Wainwright<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/aande/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">A&E</a> : Goldfrapp<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/therip/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">The Rip</a> : Portishead</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/godandaginn/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Gódan Daginn</a> : Sigur Rós</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/capecanaveral/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Cape Canaveral</a> : Conor Oberst</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/swallowsofsanjuan/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Swallows Of San Juan</a> : Alejandro Escovedo</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/cath/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Cath...</a> : Death Cab for Cutie</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4638024510191678944#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles6/Best2008/Best2008C/weightless/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Weightless</a> : Nada Surf</li>
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This Mix 2 of rock for wimps has some of my favorite songs of the year. White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes was a shoo-in, although this isn't my favorite from the album (that would be Ragged Wood). These guys are really good and oozing with minty freshness, even though they're very 70s Americana. I thought I'd get sick of them easily, but I'm still listening to the album. They'll probably have to find a newer sound for their future albums, though, perhaps with the help of a new producer who could funk them out a little bit. It's not that their original sound is bad, it's just that even Mentos comes in different flavors.</div>
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Calexico is back. Their Garden Ruin album from 2006 didn't really pluck my strings, but Carried to Dust has quite a number of gems, including this here's Writer's Minor Holiday, plus House of Valparaiso, Two Silver Trees and Red Blooms.</div>
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I grew fond of Malcolm Middleton very easily. This former Arab Strap lays incredibly simple but engaging acoustic arrangements in his latest solo album, Sleight of Heart. The self-deprecating Total Belief is typical of his ironic humor. "I woke late today with a puzzle in mind, I found myself hoping for the destruction of mankind, Nothing bad you know and not out of spite."</div>
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You wouldn't know Andy Yorke was Thom's younger brother just by listening to him. In Simple, his debut album as a solo artist, he got the sensitive singer-songerwriter virtuosity down pat. Twist of the Knife easily holds a candle to artists of the same ilk, like Ray LaMontagne, who subdues his normally powerful caffeine-and-nicotine vocals into whispers in I Still Care for You, or Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon, who found himself being the alternative press's darling thanks to For Emma, Forever Ago. While Skinny Love is again an easy pick for last year's favorites, many other tracks from For Emma are more elegant, though a bit less radio-friendly. Re: Stacks is a painting in gentle brushstrokes of moving on from a failed relationship. "This is not the sound of a new man or a crispy realization, It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away. Your love will be safe with me." The heart aches. I'll count Peter Bradley Adams in this group. His album Leavetaking is overly sentimental, but the songs – nay, serenades – are expressions in soft sighs of an honest wanting. Sun Kil Moon didn't really impress me with April, but Mark Kozelek is enshrined in this blog (see picture above) and he can do no wrong – even with The Finally, his latest album of covers, which incudes Send in the Clowns. (Really.)</div>
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Earlimart was an accidental find. I can't remember which artist I was browsing on iTunes that showed them as related, but I clicked and liked what I heard. This male-female duo makes amiable music that refuses to fade into the background, with their little elements of earcandy such as bird chirps and vocal harmonies. The Sea and Cake and Dark Captain Light Captain use the same technique, but the former slides a bit into jazz-pop and the latter alt-folk. Amos Lee straddles these genres with relative deftness. And just to wrap this up: Martha Wainwright continues to beguile, Sigur Ros finally became accessble to me, Alejandro Escovedo has a sweet soft side you want to explore, and Nada Surf are still underrated!</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-67641897270289474922008-06-22T12:35:00.009+08:002012-12-26T11:16:28.321+08:00catching hold of the light<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/hirway/castaway/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">cast away : the one am radio</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/hirway/ourfallapart/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">our fall apart : the one am radio</a></span></span></div>
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click on the song titles to listen</div>
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<img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/hirway/castaway/theoneamradio.jpg" vspace="3" />The first thing you will notice when you listen to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/This-Too-Will-Pass-Radio/dp/B000M06KA2">This Too Will Pass</a>, an album by <a href="http://www.theoneamradio.com/">Hrishikesh Hirway</a> or The One AM Radio, is the melancholy of his sound. These are midnight songs, best heard in bed in the company of empty space, eyes open staring into darkness. The second thing you will notice is the serenity of his voice. Hirway does not sing as much as softly breathes, but his is the monotony of quietude. If he is perturbed, he has found peace with it. And if neither has yet grabbed your attention, the third thing you will notice is his visual lyricism. Hirway's songs are beautiful pieces of haiku stretched into prose, creating imagery with attendant mood: calm but intense, unadorned but symbolic, concise but redolent of a rich narrative. Consider this, the entire lyrics to Our Fall Apart, about a couple on the brink of a perhaps decisive separation:</div>
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We stood within the dappled shade of the small backyard where we had our start. You kept your eyes on your cupped hands, held as though you might catch hold of the light. Behind the curtain of your hair, you began to say, half-turned away, "How strange to find this place unchanged to our hardened hearts, and our fall apart."</blockquote>
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And then there's Cast Away, which is a haunting song about a man struggling to accept the prosaic reality of normal life after a long surrender to depression.</div>
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The first thing you saw when you washed up onto the shore were the words "I don't love you anymore" scrawled into the sand. And as the sun and the din from the street beat you sore, you had a sudden ache for the ocean floor. Every night you dream of the same underwater scene, where you nearly made your peace, but then the silence suddenly ceased. And placed by an unseen hand, you were brought back to the tumult of land. The sound of the hull against the waves is not around to lull you to sleep nowadays. You just lie awake, listening to the gulls in the bay. Breathe in salt air as you stare at the ceiling, trying to recapture the feeling of being married to the sea, but your vision gets so watery. Every night you dream of the same underwater scene, but safe beneath your sheets, you'll never find your way back to that peace.</blockquote>
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It makes you think: Is it possible for someone to be so depressed, he wants to stay depressed?</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-82253369418560141752008-06-20T09:05:00.008+08:002012-12-26T11:11:08.499+08:00three portrayals of almost love<div style="color: black;">
Or, films with characters that sing.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/moviefilms/once/gold/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">gold : interference</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/moviefilms/once/whenyourmind/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">when your mind's made up : glen hansard & marketa irglova</a></span></span></div>
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click on the song titles to listen</div>
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<img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/moviefilms/once/once.jpg" vspace="3" />An Irish indie hit from last year, Once tells the story of a relationship that develops between a Dublin busker and an immigrant flower vendor who inspires him to pursue his recording ambitions. I first saw it on a plane and fell asleep halfway through. I thought the story was more interesting than the music, but felt it was too slow to keep my attention. I gave it another chance on DVD, and loved it. It's intimate storytelling; we don't even get to know the characters' names. Theirs is a relationship of mutual respect, admiration and love of music, with physical and emotional attraction an undeniable presence, a looming uncertainty over how it might change the course of the lives they're trying to carve for themselves.</div>
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One of the film's many charms is the simplicity of its story, and watching it unfold raises only two questions: Will he make it, and will they end up together? <b>Spoiler alert.</b> We only learn about the latter, and I can't think of a better ending: They record, he decides to go to London, they spend a day together before he leaves, and they confess to a mutual attraction in a sweet, awkward goodbye, where she declines his suggestion to consummate the relationship, afraid it would only lead to pointless "hanky panky." What a girl.</div>
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So here are my two favorite songs from the film. Frankly, we've heard Hansard's style before, which many people say reminds them of Damien Rice, but to me sounds more like a stripped down, pre-White Ladder David Gray. I like the way When Your Mind's Made Up develops by gradually adding and removing various elements – guitar, piano, voice, drums, backing vocals – to complement the mood of specific parts of the song. Gold, on the other hand, is a duality, alternating string virtuosity with vocal and lyrical purity. The latter, however, stands out in its earnestness. Vocalist Fergus O'Farrell sings with the withered voice of a medieval troubadour, delivering a song that is not only traditional in sound, but also in its use of metaphor. It's amazing to me how a song like this can still come from this century.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/moviefilms/hottest/damwillbreak/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">one day the dam will break : jesse harris</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/moviefilms/hottest/neverseeyou/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">never see you : rocha</a></span></span></div>
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click on the song titles to listen</div>
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<img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/moviefilms/hottest/hotteststate.jpg" vspace="3" /> The Hottest State had its moments, but in the end I decided that it was an overdramatized piece of work that lasted far longer than its statement was worth. Written and directed by Ethan Hawke based on his own debut novel of the same title – in other words, it's self-masturbatory – The Hottest State tells the story of how a young struggling actor, William, falls in self-destructive fashion for a young struggling musician, Sarah. Their mutual attraction is obvious from the moment they meet – he is beguiled by her air of mystery, she by his mawkish verbosity – but the relationship they eventually establish remains platonic, until Sarah declares herself ready to get over a prior rejection, and by extension, to let herself fall in love again. Not long after the act, she begins to distance herself and decides that she doesn't want a relationship after all.</div>
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Unable to understand why, William tries to win her back, progressively becoming more obsessive, through midnight phone calls and recitations of Shakespeare in front of her apartment. You begin to get the idea – which, I guess, is that love can be real and passionate even at an early age – but Hawke rubs it in by sending William to a downward spiral that becomes too exasperating to watch. Perhaps it's due to a weakness in direction. Unlike other talky films that Hawke is very well familiar with – like Before Sunrise, where the conversations cleverly explore each character's lives – The Hottest State uses uncreative dialog and narration to explain. The flashbacks of William's early separation from his father are a disjointed explanation of how he developed his need for a relationship he could hold on to, and everything we get to know about Sarah's past is crammed in a dinner scene almost as an afterthought. This is, of course, a film about William as much as Ethan Hawke, who has called his novel a work of autobiographical fiction. But the film takes itself too seriously that it becomes pretentious – words that have been used to describe Hawke himself.</div>
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Thankfully, the soundtrack is enjoyable, made up mostly of songs written by the unheralded Jesse Harris, performed by some good artists and himself. One Day The Dam Will Break is an uplifting self-medication against an inevitable fall, and Never See You is a shy wish for a second chance.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/moviefilms/juno/anyoneelse/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">anyone else but you : the moldy peaches</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/moviefilms/juno/tireswing/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">tire swing : kimya dawson</a></span></span></div>
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click on the song titles to listen</div>
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<img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/moviefilms/juno/juno.jpg" vspace="3" /> I don't really have much to say about this film, which the world and half of Mars have probably seen, other than it's worthy of its acclaim. The soundtrack is an excellent alternation of mostly classic folk/rock songs and Kimya Dawson's jocular songwriting talent and tongue-in-cheek folk sensibility. Director Jason Reitman's song choices give the soundtrack a character as quirky as the film itself, and it's impossible to listen to it without thinking of the film's story and its starkly different characters. I predict Juno will be up there in the company of Singles, Garden State, and Pulp Fiction in all-time lists of Hollywood's most memorable soundtracks.</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-795835956005727022008-06-14T12:18:00.006+08:002012-12-26T10:44:14.390+08:00do you hear that, mr. anderson?<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a playlist : ringtones for people who hate ringtones<br />
</span></span>click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/ringtonehell/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/ringtonehell/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/ringtonehell/symphony.jpg" vspace="3" /></a>Bear with me for a bit and let's talk about numbers. I was happily ambling about the internet the other day when I came upon this highly disturbing bit of news: According to soothsayers, mobile phone users will spend about <a href="http://www.intomobile.com/2008/03/04/juniper-research-mobile-music-adoption-passes-tipping-point-with-revenues-set-to-reach-175bn-by-2012.html">$6.65 billion</a> in ringtone downloads by the year 2012. Assuming that by then there will be at least <a href="http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20070215/127796/">3.3 billion</a> people with cellphones, and that the price of ringtones remains about a dollar each, then that amounts to at least two ringtones for every mobile phone in existence. That means there's going to be an awfully good chance that every phone that rings in the future will do so to the sound of music. But that's just the half of it. According to misfortune tellers, ringback tones will be <a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp;jsessionid=YLY1NK4EEC40CCQJAFICFFAKBEAUMIWD?containerId=prUS21115808">more popular</a> than ringtones within just a couple of years. That means instead of hearing the familiar ring when you're calling someone's phone, you will be hearing a song that that person has chosen for you to hear. So what kind of music will you be hearing more of – against your will – in the streets, in restaurants, in public transport, and even on your own phone in the near future? Check Billboard's <a href="http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/digital_index.jsp">Hot Ringtones</a> chart for a hint.</div>
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Now I don't really care what songs they are. Putting it mildly, I'm not very fond of ringtones. All of them. I think ringtones are one of the most useless inventions ever, way up there in the ignominious company of electric candles, umbrella hats, and superhero capes (except Batman, who isn't superhuman, so he needs it). People have taken to ringtones to publicly announce what cool individuals they are or how much sense of humor they have. Well let me tell you something, Mr. Bleeding Love, your ringtone sucks, and when you pretend to be embarrassed when your phone rings and you fumble as if you can't find it just so the song plays a bit longer, what you're actually saying is, "Ooh, look at me, I'm an attention whore!" Twat. <i>Apologize</i> is for pole dancing, not moviehouses. <i>Shake It</i> and <i>Pork and Beans</i> are for frathouse pukefests, not supermarket aisles. <i>Viva la Vida</i> is for driving yourself off into a cliff, not for hospital waiting areas. And you should all be reminded that a blaring playback of <i>Beautiful Girls</i> in an ATM line is an abuse of airspace rights, tantamount to assault. One day, someone will Taser your ass in revenge and I'll be cheering them, bro.</div>
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Of course, I and the rest of us ringtone non-fans know that this rant is a futile exercise in rational bitchin', as there apparently is no shortage of people who will fork 99 cents for the cheapest badge of individuality they can buy. But if there's one lesson we, the people, should all have learned from Hillary!, it is to never give up and to keep rolling on. We have within our means a number of ways to keep the fight for a sane, noise-free environment, and as responsible urban citizens, we must assert our rights and do any of the following:</div>
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<li>Write for your congressman to legislate a total ban on ringtones. That way, we can litigate ringtone users to death and make their lives as miserable as they've made ours. Punishment for the guilty will vary. End-users will be isolated in a jail facility with a sound system playing <i>Buy U a Drank</i> on repeat 24/7, while ringtone manufacturers (including iTunes – I worship you, Steve, but please take them off the store and sack whoever told you that selling them was a good idea) will be hung, drawn, and quartered twice over.</li>
<li>Ask Dean Kamen, the inventor of Segway, to invent a ringtone-blocking device that city planners can install in public areas, defined as any amount of space with a population density of more than one person per square <s>meter</s> mile. (We don't really want to be thought of as being overly selfish, so this seems like a reasonable size to me.)</li>
<li>With the economy in a rut, the government could surely use some money. In these trying times, imposing a 1,000,000% tax on ringtone purchases is truly a win-win situation and a genius idea whose time has come. Lobby it.</li>
<li>Start a grassroots organization and initiate a "World No Ringtone Day." Spread the word through text messages simply saying, "Today is a good day to respect the rights of others to not be violated by your insensitive ringtone. Please set your mobile phone on vibrate and shove it up a nice, warm place within your body, if you know what I mean."</li>
<li>And now for the fun part: Beat ringtone users at their own game. Tell them how much their ringtones are the pig's ass by using one that will call their attention and slap their faces silly. Make it hard, make it punchy, make it as in-your-face as possible – anything with an angry riff, a cascade of drumming, or lyrics that will feed on their paranoia, because more often than not, these ringtone folks are right-wing Snapple drinkers who believe that terrorists are contaminating their bottled-water sources and so they try to seek comfort from wherever they can, including their cell phones. Therefore, I humbly propose the following songs:</li>
</ol>
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<li>Human Fly : The Cramps</li>
<li>Black Betty : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds</li>
<li>Heartbreak Hotel : John Cale</li>
<li>Shake Your Rump : Beastie Boys</li>
<li>Pay to Play : Nirvana</li>
<li>Suicide Blonde : INXS</li>
<li>It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine) : R.E.M.</li>
<li>Psycho Man : Black Sabbath</li>
<li>Man in the Box : Alice in Chains</li>
<li>Rebel Yell : Billy Idol</li>
<li>Space Oddity : David Bowie</li>
<li>Kashmir : Led Zeppelin</li>
</ul>
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Got better ideas in mind?</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-33069341743914965732008-05-16T21:49:00.011+08:002012-12-26T10:36:56.085+08:00insert big sigh here<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">shots is fired</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">hard drive</span></span></div>
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Both songs by Evan Dando. Click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/dando/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/dando/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/dando/phuket.jpg" vspace="3" /></a> Shots Is Fired is what you feel when you've scarred your feet from what you thought was a march to a hopeful end and the road all of a sudden forks and both paths look bleak and turning back is not an option and neither is a pause because you hear the ticking on your wrist that says time is running out. You wonder how in hell you even got here when just a moment ago or was it just a moment ago everything was so straight and so simple and so sure and you remember that you tried to blaze a trail because you weren't content with straight simple sure. Whatever part of you that's been calling the shots is fired. Tell him he's lost control how can it be how could he let you down how could he leave you on your own. But you gotta do it you gotta take a step left right right left it doesn't matter just take that step close your eyes it's gonna be okay it's gonna be fine maybe it's even gonna be easy but who are we kidding. Whatever. Get in motion. Hard Drive is what you feel when you know you'll get there you'll get to it it'll be over if not soon then eventually. You'll see it. A familiar street. The house of a friend. Pale paint on wooden gate. Your name carved in a tree trunk. Porch. Home. A path to the beach. A hand to hold. Palm on palm. Fingers locked. Wrinkled skin. You touch each other's aged face. And don't you know it, you're happy, just when it matters.</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-59888278838212177422008-03-16T01:51:00.013+08:002012-12-26T10:31:18.379+08:00heart on a stick, dipped in a vat of burnt sugar<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">or, a playlist : songs for the lovestruck and forlorn</span></div>
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Here's a playlist I've kept from one iPod to the next. I don't really have a name for it other than the generic Acoustic Ballads, but I've learned to live with it. Any other adjective would be inaccurate, any other noun contrived. Songs have come and gone on this list, but they all have one thing in common: they're stripped down songs about love, loss and yearning, and they're unabashedly sentimental. It doesn't necessarily mean they're gooey and clichéd. Most of them are not off-the-shelf expressions of abstract feelings, but experiences written as stories, as intentions, as streams of consciousness. </div>
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As usual, you can listen to the songs two ways: Click on the image below to hear them all in one go, or on the song titles to hear each song individually.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/iheartplaylist/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/iheartplaylist/listenballads.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<ol style="color: black;">
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/usedtoknow/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Somebody That I Used To Know </a>: Elliott Smith<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/nofearoffalling/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">No Fear Of Falling </a>: I Am Kloot<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/saturday/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Saturday </a>: Josh Rouse<br />
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/nakedaswecame/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Naked As We Came </a>: Iron & Wine<br />
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/tobealonewithyou/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">To Be Alone With You </a>: Sufjan Stevens<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/iwouldntmissit/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">I Wouldn't Miss It For The World </a>: Johnathan Rice<br />
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/poetryandaeroplanes/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Poetry & Aeroplanes </a>: Teitur<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/sleepingtodream/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Sleeping To Dream </a>: Jason Mraz<br />
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/onlyyou/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Only You </a>: Joshua Radin<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/yoursweetvoice/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Your Sweet Voice </a>: The Reindeer Section<br />
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/trouble/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Trouble </a>: Ray LaMontagne<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/mywindingwheel/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">My Winding Wheel </a>: Ryan Adams<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/kathleen/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Kathleen </a>: Josh Ritter<br />
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/dogs/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Dogs </a>: Damien Rice<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/silentsigh/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Silent Sigh </a>: Badly Drawn Boy<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/babylon/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">Babylon </a>: David Gray<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/lovesongs/onyourside/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">On Your Side </a>: Pete Yorn<br />
</li>
</ol>
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flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-42358739548128050152008-02-21T01:34:00.019+08:002012-12-26T10:28:03.461+08:00a boat ends its journey<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">playa girón : silvio rodríguez</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/playagiron/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/playagiron/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/playagiron/listenplaya.jpg" vspace="3" /></a>I believe that idealism is a mark of noble leadership, but its practice should not humble a people to poverty. I believe that every person has the right to health care and education, but not at the cost of his freedom of expression. I believe in the pursuit of national unity, but not to the point of denying individualism. I know very little about Cuba, I know very little about Castro. What I do know is just enough to make me both respect and revile the man, impressions I no doubt share with countless others who have neither set foot on the island nor met any of its people. And yet, I have a strong sense that Castro enjoys a positive popular bias. His name has become synonymous with romantic notions about revolution, that what he has come to symbolize seems to have overshadowed what he has actually achieved. Castro may be a divisive figure, but also an inspirational one. Forget his influence on the current turn to the left in Latin American politics. While on one hand he has driven away some of the best musicians the island has produced, on the other his rule has led others to sing of his ideals in ways that are poignant and sublime. In Playa Girón, Silvio Rodríguez, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nueva_trova">trovador</a> and member of the Cuban parliament, pays tribute to the fishing boat where he worked in 1969, an experience that to him represented not just man's return to primitive form, constantly in battle with the forces of nature, but also the virtue of toiling not for mere individual survival but for the shared benefit of many. The song, <a href="http://www.lacoctelera.com/silviorodriguez/post/2006/01/01/playa-giron">he says</a>, is "an intimate and human tribute to the nameless men who work in sometimes perilous circumstances for the Cuban population." But what makes the song really moving is that it is its own answer to the very question it asks: What words and rhythm do justice to a boat as vital as the Playa Girón? Here are the original lyrics below, followed by my very liberal, not literal, translation in English.</div>
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<b>Playa Girón</b></div>
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Compañeros poetas,</div>
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tomando en cuenta</div>
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los últimos sucesos</div>
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en la poesía,</div>
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quisiera preguntar</div>
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—me urge—</div>
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¿qué tipo de adjetivos</div>
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se deben usar para hacer</div>
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el poema de un barco</div>
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sin que se haga sentimental,</div>
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fuera de la vanguardia</div>
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o evidente panfleto,</div>
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si debo usar palabras</div>
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como Flota Cubana de Pesca</div>
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y «Playa Girón»?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Compañeros de música,</div>
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tomando en cuenta</div>
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esas politonales</div>
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y audaces canciones,</div>
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quisiera preguntar</div>
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—me urge—</div>
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¿qué tipo de armonía</div>
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se debe usar para hacer</div>
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la canción de este barco</div>
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con hombres de poca niñez,</div>
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hombres y solamente</div>
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hombres sobre cubierta,</div>
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hombres negros y rojos</div>
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y azules los hombres que pueblan</div>
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el «Playa Girón»?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Compañeros de historia,</div>
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tomando en cuenta</div>
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lo implacable</div>
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que debe ser la verdad,</div>
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quisiera preguntar</div>
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—me urge tanto—</div>
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¿qué debiera decir,</div>
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qué fronteras debo respetar?</div>
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Si alguien roba comida</div>
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y después da la vida,</div>
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¿qué hacer?</div>
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¿Hasta dónde debemos</div>
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practicar las verdades?</div>
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¿Hasta dónde sabemos?</div>
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Que escriban, pues, la historia,</div>
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su historia los hombres</div>
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del «Playa Girón».</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<b>Playa Girón</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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My comrades in poetry,</div>
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considering the many ways in which</div>
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poems are written these days,</div>
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I would like to ask you,</div>
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I'm very keen to know,</div>
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what words must one use</div>
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to pen a poem about a boat</div>
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without making it sound sentimental,</div>
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without making it pretentious</div>
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or an obvious propaganda,</div>
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considering that I have to call it</div>
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the Cuban Fishing Fleet</div>
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and Playa Girón?</div>
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<br /></div>
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My comrades in music,</div>
<div style="color: black;">
considering the wealth of tones</div>
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and the boldness one can employ</div>
<div style="color: black;">
in the process of writing a song,</div>
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I have to know,</div>
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what harmonies one must use</div>
<div style="color: black;">
to create a song about this boat,</div>
<div style="color: black;">
this boat of men who knew little about childhood,</div>
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men and only men on deck,</div>
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black men, red men, blue men,</div>
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yet men who spent their lives in Playa Girón?</div>
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<br /></div>
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My comrades in history,</div>
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considering that truth is never a compromise,</div>
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I would like to ask,</div>
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I'm dying to know,</div>
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what do you say,</div>
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where do you draw the line</div>
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when someone steals food</div>
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then sacrifices his life for another?</div>
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What do you do?</div>
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To what extent do you uphold the truth?</div>
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How much do you really know?</div>
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Let them write, then, their own story,</div>
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their own history,</div>
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the men of Playa Girón.</div>
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<br /></div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-4619599733071798012007-12-08T21:12:00.000+08:002012-12-26T10:19:51.524+08:00sounds of silver : the best of 2007<img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/images/alternativesounds/ohthedrama.jpg" vspace="3" /> Not to let a good year in music pass this blog by, I'm making a last ditch effort to resuscitate it after being long out of commission due to a technical glitch. Nothing serious; my iMac just decided one day to, you know, die, and this trusty PowerBook didn't have the program that lets me stream songs in Flash format, until recently. I'm still going to get a new computer; the act has just been delayed, first because of the wait for Leopard, and now for whatever upgrade comes after Macworld next month. I'm also torn between a new 24-inch iMac and a 17-inch MacBook Pro, but enough of the tedious stuff. I'm back on track, and since it's the end of the year, I thought I'd make the second of what will hopefully be my annual list of the year's best songs.<br />
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That's right, this blog is all about songs, not albums, so I won't even bother <span style="color: #e69138;">(We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, Modest Mouse)</span> telling you <span style="color: #e69138;">(Because Of The Times, Kings of Leon)</span> what are <span style="color: #e69138;">(Armchair Apocrypha, Andrew Bird)</span> to my biased ears <span style="color: #e69138;">(In Rainbows, Radiohead)</span> the best albums of 2007 <span style="color: #e69138;">(Boxer, The National)</span> even though <span style="color: #e69138;">(Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem)</span> I enjoyed <span style="color: #e69138;">(Crime & Beauty, Suzanne Vega)</span> this year <span style="color: #e69138;">(The Con, Tegan & Sara)</span> more than <span style="color: #e69138;">(Leaves In The River, Sea Wolf)</span> the last <span style="color: #e69138;">(Wincing The Night Away, The Shins)</span>. I just wanted to make that clear.<br />
<br />
I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking that alternative rock is entering a new, quiet golden age, not just in the sense of today's music being not of the out-loud variety that grunge was, but also because the independent music scene seems to have found a lasting mode of survival, thriving and happy to be buzzing under the radar like never before. I am, of course, talking more about its manner of distribution than the creation of new styles. MySpace and Facebook have made word-of-mouth not only easier and more effective but also cool again, and these new channels have allowed bands to reach new and old audiences without reliance on corporate marketing. While getting rid of the middleman has long been possible through downloads from artists' websites, the conundrum has always been how to translate this freedom from labels into revenues. Radiohead's pay-as-you-wish model for "In Rainbows" introduced a clever way of doing so, because although it no doubt attracted low-ballers, it also won for the band a new market in those who wouldn't have thought of buying the entire album otherwise. I'm pretty sure it won't be the last, and as new, creative ways of selling songs and albums come up, independent artists will continue to make music the way they really want them to sound.<br />
<br />
Which brings me back to my blog. Next year, I'll be back to posting songs not just because they're new and worthy, but because they mean something to me. In the meantime, enjoy this list, which took me a while to compile. <span style="color: #ffcc00;"><span style="color: #e69138;">A few housekeeping notes:</span> </span>There are two ways to listen to these songs. Apart from uploading them individually, I've also grouped the songs in two virtual mix tapes. All songs in each mix are in the same file, and will play one after the other in the sequence below. You can, however, jump from one song to the next or the one before by clicking the forward and back buttons. You can also play them in shuffle mode by clicking on the cube icon. So without further ado:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007A/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007A/best2007mix1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Best of 2007 Mix 1</span><br />
click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007A/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image above to stream the entire list, or<br />
click on the titles to listen to the songs individually<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/australia/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Australia</a> : The Shins</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/domeafavour/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Do Me A Favour</a> : Arctic Monkeys</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/dontyouevah/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Don't You Evah</a> : Spoon</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/gotellthewoman/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Go Tell The Woman</a> : Grinderman</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/coatcheck/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Coat Check Dream Song</a> : Bright Eyes</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/peopleasplaces/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">People As Places As People</a> : Modest Mouse</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/timetogetaway/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Time To Get Away</a> : LCD Soundsystem</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/ahandtotake/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene</a> : Okkervil River</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/plasticities/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Plasticities</a> : Andrew Bird</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/mistakenfor/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Mistaken For Strangers</a> : The National</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/houseofcards/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">House Of Cards</a> : Radiohead</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/theoppositeof/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">The Opposite Of Hallelujah</a> : Jens Lekman</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/somewherebetween/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Somewhere Between Waking And Sleeping</a> : Air</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/nocarsgo/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">No Cars Go</a> : The Arcade Fire</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/fans/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Fans</a> : Kings of Leon</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/makeup/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Makeup</a> : Everybody Else</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/yankeegohome/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Yankee Go Home</a> : Clap Your Hands Say Yeah</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007B/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007B/best2007mix2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Best of 2007 Mix 2</span><br />
click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007B/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image above to stream the entire list, or<br />
click on the titles to listen to the songs individually<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/heartitraces/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Heart It Races</a> : Architecture In Helsinki</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/gronlandicedit/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Gronlandic Edit</a> : Of Montreal</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/raisetheroof/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Raise The Roof</a> : Tracey Thorn</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/closecall/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Close Call</a> : Rilo Kiley</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/zephyrandi/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Zephyr & I</a> : Suzanne Vega</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/myriadharbour/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Myriad Harbour</a> : The New Pornographers</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/layyourheaddown/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Lay Your Head Down</a> : Keren Ann</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/ifeelitall/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">I Feel It All</a> : Feist</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/lifesize/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Lifesize</a> : A Fine Frenzy</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/thecon/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">The Con</a> : Tegan & Sara</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/lovemelike/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Love Me Like The World Is Ending</a> : Ben Lee</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/basementparties/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Basement Parties</a> : Matt Pond PA</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/pioneertothefalls/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Pioneer To The Falls</a> : Interpol</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/likesomething/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Like Something Worth Remembering</a> : Mixtapes & Cellmates</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/potsandpans/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Pots & Pans</a> : Les Savy Fav</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/youreawolf/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">You're A Wolf</a> : Sea Wolf</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=461959973307179801#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2007C/tonightihave/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Tonight I Have To Leave It</a> : Shout Out Louds</li>
</ol>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-5669140286545170972007-10-03T08:49:00.003+08:002012-12-26T10:08:02.003+08:00thoughts from a boat ride<div style="color: black;">
<b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">cartwheels : reindeer section</span></b></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=566914028654517097#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/cartwheels/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=566914028654517097#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/cartwheels/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/cartwheels/listenreindeer.jpg" vspace="3" /></a> How much can you write in half an hour? Half an hour is my ferry ride to work. The amount of time it takes for me to decide where I'm having lunch and actually getting there. Three, maybe five, percent of my waking hours that slips past cognizance as I trawl the internet. (Is that all?) Three hundred and sixty seconds of gainful knowledge as I read the editorial page. Six songs and many years of adolescent memories from my eighties playlist. A tall soya no whip mocha for flatfoot. How do you occupy your mind in a half-hour commute? Sometimes I get to wondering about thought process itself. What do I normally think about when I have nothing to think about? I never knew, or maybe I did, but have forgotten. Thoughts are funnily tentative, like dreams, which are thoughts you never knew you had. Sometimes I steal glances at other people. Do you look at other people too? Mentally pick on the man next to you for his coffee-stained two-buck necktie from Bangkok? Do you close your eyes and try to take a nap? Reminisce your childhood? Cartwheels are the stuff of childhood. I have never cartwheeled in my life. Or maybe I have, but never with any measure of success. I climbed walls and trees and jumped off them to scare my mom. I tumbled in the grass, on my parents' bed, on our living room couch, which wasn't much of a couch, as the make was firm and you hardly sank. I remember the giant shell on the side table. I would put it against my ear to listen to the sound of hollow. The sound of hollow. Empty has a sound. Empty takes aural space. Space is funnily fleeting, like time. My thirty minutes is over. My ferry is about to dock. Good day.</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-6796425605471927762007-09-05T02:02:00.001+08:002012-12-26T10:04:59.780+08:00and i thought it was gonna be the worstest<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">don't fence me in : david byrne</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles2/dontfencemein/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles2/dontfencemein/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles2/dontfencemein/listenbyrne.jpg" vspace="3" /></a>Summer is officially over; how was it for you? I have to say it was good for me, too. I didn't think it would be, what with the new job cutting my annual leave days in half to a miserly 12. A change in company policy brought it to 15, and that was good enough for me to go somewhere far for a few days in July. So I spent my birthday in Prague, followed by a series of trips that were small in scale but surprisingly big on fun. Right after returning from the city of a hundred spires, I played host and tour guide to a few friends whom I met at an internet travel forum, then wore a black shirt, black jeans, and black eyeliners to watch the reunion concert of The Cure. Shortly after, I went to Manila to attend the wedding of a friend, saw Gwen Stefani in concert (please keep that thought to yourself), then went to Singapore, China and Japan, both for business and, with careful planning, weekends of pleasure. My legs are still hurting after climbing Mt. Fuji last Saturday. Needless to say, I'm not complaining. So it is with great pride that I present to you this song – one of the few that I promised to deliver during the Triassic period. Don't Fence Me In is a cowboy song extolling the freedom of the open space, and that's enough for me to call it a travel song. Written by Cole Porter, this version is by David Byrne – one of the guys in the picture above – who also wrote what I call the <a href="http://alternativesounds.blogspot.com/2005/02/this-must-be-place-talking-heads.html">best. travel song. ever!</a></div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-8643887653779200822007-06-12T23:47:00.002+08:002012-12-26T10:02:18.780+08:00hello, what's this?<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">everything hits at once (for discos) : spoon</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/everythinghitsatonce/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/everythinghitsatonce/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/everythinghitsatonce/listenspoon.jpg" vspace="3" /></a> Okay, so I'm still officially off the air, but as I was cleaning my iDisk last weekend, I found quite a few songs I had uploaded but have somehow forgotten to post. In fact, there are seven of them, and I'm putting them up here in single installments, for added suspense. Or something. This here is the funkier version of the first song off Spoon's 2001 album, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Can-Tell-Spoon/dp/B000056O2Q/ref=m_art_li_2/104-2413436-5765541">Girls Can Tell</a>. Everything Hits At Once is a post-breakup song that captures the unease that sets in right after the end of a relationship. It's not quite sadness, but an emptiness that's almost corporeal. You actually feel something hollow in your chest. A chasm that grows every minute you're made aware of your sudden solitude. A vacuum that turns into a whirlpool that sucks you in with every memory of your own mistakes. You want to plug this hole. You want to save yourself. You try to do something, anything – a haircut, a singles bar, a pornographic site – just to take your mind far away from your insignificant reality, but you only end up being spaced out, making a fool of yourself as a matter of course. You catch your own reflection in the elevator door, and it mocks you. <span style="font-style: italic;">Get a grip, for heaven's sake!</span> And you let out a laugh, a sob, a drawn-out sigh. It feels good. You close your eyes, breathe in, breathe out. And tomorrow you'll get over it. Best line: Merging in traffic, cross the lanes, and then we become something bigger than just anyone. Best part: The xylophonic loop that's absent in the original.</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-24865122354405513922007-05-04T01:21:00.001+08:002012-12-26T09:59:25.247+08:00alternative sounds takes a break<div style="color: black;">
As if this blog wasn't irregular enough, I'm taking a break for about a couple of months.</div>
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My iMac, which has the program that converts my songs into the Flash format you listen to here, has died on me. I'm still thinking whether to buy a new one or have it fixed. Either way, it'll take a while before my online life is back on track. If you wish to know when I start blogging again, please e-mail me at alternativesounds {at} gmail.com</div>
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Now as to why I've been quiet for a longer while than usual, yes, that was a bit rude, not making good on my promise of a diverse all-women March. Weird as it may sound, my frame of mind has just been focused on something else. Since my last post, I've not only quit my job, but I've also left the world of journalism where I spent many happy years. Truth is, I had long been wanting to shift careers, but it was never easy for me to do, being in a place the language of which I don't speak, and not having letters of higher learning after my name. You can imagine how happy I was when I got this new job – the title and description will bore you, but it's exactly what I'd been looking for – and so I wanted to make sure that my mind was a fresh, clean slate before my first day. I'm still going through a learning curve, but I think I'll be fine.</div>
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In other news, I had 10 days off in between jobs, and during that time, I finally had the chance to organize my CDs. I think I overdid it. I separately alphabetized my English-language and world-music albums by artist name. Then I stacked my compilation CDs by genre and alphabetized them by album title, then my soundtrack albums by film title, and then my freebie CDs by the names of the magazines they came from.</div>
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I've also been buying a lot of new albums. Here are some of them, and it pains me that I can't blog about them just yet:</div>
<ul style="color: black;">
<li>Air : Pocket Symphony</li>
<li>Andrew Bird : Armchair Apocrypha</li>
<li>The Arcade Fire : Neon Bible</li>
<li>Archie Bronson Outfit : Derdang Derdang</li>
<li>Arctic Monkeys : Favourite Worst Nightmare</li>
<li>Bright Eyes : Cassadaga<br />
</li>
<li>Clap Your Hands Say Yeah : Some Loud Thunder</li>
<li>Everybody Else : Eponymous<br />
</li>
<li>Grinderman : Eponymous</li>
<li>Kings of Leon : Because of the Times</li>
<li>LCD Soundsystem : Sound of Silver</li>
<li>Low : Drums and Guns<br />
</li>
<li>Matt Costa : Songs We Sing</li>
<li>Modest Mouse : We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank</li>
<li>Rodrigo y Gabriela : Eponymous<br />
</li>
<li>The Shins : Wincing The Night Away</li>
<li>Tracy Thorn : Out of the Woods</li>
</ul>
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Anyway. I was actually able to convert three songs into Flash before my iMac died. Here's the rest of what I promised last month.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">fall at your feet : mary black</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=2486512235440551392#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/fallatyourfeet/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=2486512235440551392#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/fallatyourfeet/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/fallatyourfeet/listenmary.jpg" /></a></div>
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Fall At Your Feet by Crowded House ranks high up in my favorite songs of all time, and this cover version doesn't disappoint. Mary Black, an Irish folk artist, made it her own and even infused a lot more emotion than the original.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">zomaye : gigi</span></span><br />
click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=1634698868400468206#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/zomaye/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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A strong reminder that some of the best beats in music can be heard outside the English-speaking world. Gigi is from Ethiopia.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">recovery : new buffalo</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=5206954719372138193#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/recovery/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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I saw this act in Sydney last year. Very good.</div>
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flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-72066189469110302152007-03-19T01:29:00.002+08:002012-12-26T09:53:27.115+08:00women's march : part 2<div style="color: black;">
These are some of my favorite female artists from the 90s whose work I still find immensely relevant to this day. The 90s was a great era for women in music. There was so much diversity in rock alone: from Hole to Mazzy Star to PJ Harvey to Tracy Bonham. These are the ones I listened to the most.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">sinéad o'connor : red football<br />
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</span></span>click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/twosinead/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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Did you know that more women aged 15 to 44 suffer death or disability from domestic violence than from war, cancer, malaria, and road accidents combined? <a href="http://www.un.org/events/women/iwd/2007/factsfigures.shtml">Sad but true</a>. I grew up in a household full of strong, nurturing women, who selflessly raised, educated, and provided for me and my siblings. It's simply beyond my understanding why women should suffer from violence at home and from biases in the workplace, politics, and many other facets of society. Not a lot of female pop artists take up these issues in their work, but you can't blame them. Any form of entertainment is less likely to have mass appeal when its content is heavy. Never one for commercial success, Red Football is doubtlessly Sinéad O'Connor's most up-front statement about women's rights. What this song achieves is it delivers an unequivocal message without being moralistic. Indeed, calling an end to violence against women no longer needs to simply appeal to people's morals. It needs to confront. It needs to provoke. It needs to agitate, as the ending of this song does. Of course, Sinéad is not only to be appreciated for her bravery, but also for her vocal uniqueness. Which is why I also have to post Sacrifice, her cover of Elton John's song about infidelity, which Sinéad delivers with unfurling anger. You will notice the change in her tone when she sings "We lose direction, no stone unturned." Even for a Sinéad song, Sacrifice is heavy on the reverb, but it only highlights what she can do with her voice.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">paula cole : happy home</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/happyhome/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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If you knew Paula Cole from her breakthrough album, This Fire, you would know that Happy Home, from her debut album Harbinger, is anything but happy. In fact, it's about the opportunities women miss and the compromises they make, willingly or otherwise, when they carry out the roles of wife and mother. But what's good about this song is it's a story of two people: the mother suffering a crisis of what defines her identity, and the well-meaning daughter trying to figure out what is going on. It reminds me of the relationship between the young son and his mother, played by Julianne Moore, in that excellent film, The Hours. Best line: But everybody could feel the suffocation underneath the façade of a happy home. Best part: The mix of acoustic and electric after the bridge where she sings "Home sweet freedom, flowing in my mind." </div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">crossroads : tracy chapman</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/crossroads/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/crossroads/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/crossroads/listentracy.jpg" /></a></div>
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Yes, I know Crossroads came out in 1989. But like many, I had dismissed Tracy Chapman as a one-hit-album wonder until she released Give Me One Reason in 1995. The album where it's from, New Beginning, renewed my interest in her music. So while I listened to the spawns of the grunge era in the 90s, I was also rediscovering her sound, which is why I will always associate this song with the 90s. There's a lot of sorrow in her music, but she never makes them sound hopeless or desperate. Her voice doesn't have the range or versatility that the rest of the artists here have, but it beats in itself, not with anger, but with willpower. Hers is the voice of quiet defiance, which you will hear in Crossroads, a song about a woman's refusal to make compromises. Best Line: Standing at the point, the road it cross you down, what is at your back, which way do you turn. Best Part: The intro hooked me to the rest of the song.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">caught a light sneeze : tori amos</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/sneeze/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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I'm not a Toriphile, but I did enjoy her music immensely from Under the Pink to Boys for Pele. The albums that came after were just too labored for my taste, until she released Scarlet's Walk in 2002, where she became a watered-down version of her old self. That said, what I like most about old Tori is not so much her lyrics as her voice and sound, from the restraint of Merman to the more elaborate arrangement of Tear In Your Hand. Most of the time, her lyrics are too coded for me to comprehend; I don't think I've ever agreed with anyone about what Silent All These Years means. Caught A Light Sneeze is no less difficult, but there are enough hints to say it's about the meltdown of her relationship with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The reference to Pretty Hate Machine, the album that catapulted NIN to fame, is a giveaway. Best line: I need a big loan from a girl zone. (I have no idea what it means, but it sure sounds good the way she sings it.) Best part: How she stretches "building tumbling down" at the chorus.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">ghost : indigo girls</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/ghost/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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I first learned about the Indigo Girls when their album Swamp Ophelia was given to me as a birthday present by someone I dated. While the relationship didn't last long – it was in fact my shortest ever – the impact of Emily Saliers and Amy Ray's music on me did. I was so impressed by that album that I immediately looked for their prior work and discovered Rites of Passage, where Ghost is from. Where do I even begin to talk about this song? It's a gem. It captures you with its quiet start, then with the lyrics bit by bit, and then ultimately with its totality. Your appreciation of it grows the more you hear it. There's so much beauty in this song that every time you listen to it again, you're touched by one aspect that's different from the last – a poetic line, Emily's tearful wail, Amy's somber backing, or the way their fingers slide on their guitars. What first struck me was the first line in the chorus – <span style="font-style: italic;">There's not enough room in this world for my pain</span>. It sounds so sincere that it reaches out to your own sense of pain and longing. The best line? It's hard to choose, but it would probably be from the final verse: <span style="font-style: italic;">This bitter pill I swallow is the silence that I keep, It poisons me I can't swim free, the river is too deep.</span> The best part? I love the bridge, where Emily delivers an evocative wail, followed by a reversal of the duo's vocal roles.</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-48094944186664131562007-03-10T23:30:00.002+08:002012-12-26T09:41:55.472+08:00women's march : part 1<div style="color: black;">
March is all-women month at Alternative Sounds, being that part of the year when we celebrate <a href="http://www.un.org/events/women/iwd/2007/index.html">International Women's Day</a>, which is on the 8th. I thought I'd make a conscious attempt to increase the representation of female artists in this blog. This first installment consists of artists from the 80s. The next one will be from the 90s, followed by women of folk and women from around the world.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">all i want : susanna hoffs</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4809494418666413156#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/alliwant/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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Before there was Lisa Loeb, before there was Natalie Imbruglia, before there were Frente!, Luscious Jackson and The Corrs, there was Susanna Hoffs. The most prominent one-fourth of The Bangles was the original pop-rock sweetheart, who exuded vulnerable sexuality with her delicately saccharine voice and wistful acoustic guitar. To someone growing up in the 80s and who was just beginning to form his own hormonally influenced notion of an ideal woman, Susanna Hoffs was the definitive girlfriend material. Madonna was too wild. Cyndi Lauper was too weird. Bananarama were just too...bleached. With her hoop earrings, tapered jeans and Aqua Net-architectured curls, Hoffs came out of VH1 and MTV like a singing porcelain doll, a small, shapely creature with the face of an angel, graced by a full set of lips that broke into a disarming smile, and wide eyes that charmed every time they half-closed. In other words, Susanna Hoffs was the first female artist that gave me the bone. She came to her peak in 1989 when the band released Eternal Flame – that irresistibly mushy ballad to undying love, the first three words of which provoke a universal sigh. But at age 48 – basking in the acclaim of Under The Covers, her 2006 album of duets with Matthew Sweet – Hoffs is still beguiling as ever, outlasting her 90s facsimiles, while her voice has hardly changed. I'm posting her 1996 cover of the Lightning Seeds classic All I Want, which she manages to make cute and edgy with her trademark rasp at the chorus. She only changes the instrumentation, giving it a minimalist treatment but keeping to the pace and form of the original. Best line: Confidence, coincidence, call it a sin, it's just like people say. Best part: I love the drums at the intro and the jangle of acoustic guitar at the first chorus.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">soap and water : suzanne vega</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=4809494418666413156#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/soapandwater/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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If you're not new to this blog, you may have noticed the new personality in the header art. Why didn't I think of putting Suzanne Vega up there in the first place? I've been a fan since Luka, which I realized even at 13 or 14 was a remarkable song. I had been exposed to pop music dealing with social issues before, or since I cared enough to actually mull over the lyrics – from famine (Do They Know It's Christmas?) to war (State of the Nation) to teen pregnancy (Papa Don't Preach) – but somethig was different about Luka. For one, whoever thought of writing a song about child abuse from the point of view of the child? <span style="font-style: italic;">(If you hear something late at night, some kind of trouble, some kind of fight, just don't ask me what it was)</span> The words are haunting enough; the melody couldn't have accompanied them better. The brilliance of the songwriting becomes even sharper when compared with What's The Matter Here? by 10,000 Maniacs, about the same theme, released on the same year (1987). <span style="font-style: italic;">(I'm tired of the excuses everybody uses, he's your kid, do as you see fit.)</span> Make no mistake – the song, written by vocalist Natalie Merchant, is equally brilliant, but Luka is more poetic and empathetic. In fact, a poet who happens to sing is what Suzanne Vega is. Her songs are always full of symbolism. It's not always obvious, but it speaks to you in ways only you can understand – just listen to Gypsy. Luka is one of the easy ones; Soap And Water is another – a song about a couple's separation and how it ravages the emotions of the child. But see how beautiful she illustrates tragedy: <span style="font-style: italic;">Soap and water, wash the year from my life, straighten all that we trampled and tore, heal the cut we call husband and wife</span>. It's hard to think of another female singer-songwriter who approximates her intelligence. Best line: The verse I just quoted. Best part: The six guitar notes that run throughout the song.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">circle dream : 10,000 maniacs</span></span></div>
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Resolute is one of the words I use to describe Natalie Merchant's voice. It's an amazing instrument she has. You hear her sing, and you know she's out to make a statement – from depression (Like The Weather, which you can listen to <a href="http://alternativesounds.blogspot.com/2005/10/where-on-earth-is-sun-hid-away.html">right here</a>) to media desensitization (Candy Everybody Wants) to unwanted pregnancy (Eat For Two). Or at least that's what I think the last song is about. Motherhood is a theme that Merchant writes about with emotional acuity, free of clichés and mawkish testimonies. Circle Dream, from the band's 1992 album Our Time In Eden, is a celebration of life – and here you'll see some parallelism between her and Suzanne Vega's songwriting, because it's written from the voice of the unborn child. Best line: Her warmth coming near, calling me "Sweetness," calling me "Dear." Best part: Natalie's own backing and harmony vocals.</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-81549875334936521872007-02-28T17:44:00.002+08:002012-12-26T09:19:32.961+08:00say, whatever happened to...<div style="color: black;">
I had this idea for a post after watching the Grammys a few weeks ago and seeing Dixie Chicks receive their award for Song of the Year. The award is a songwriting honor, and it was nice to see a long-lost face go up on stage. Dan Wilson, of the post-grunge band Semisonic, co-wrote the song with the Chicks. The sight of him made me wonder what had become of him and his contemporaries. Semisonic emerged in 1998 with the hit Closing Time, and disappeared soon after. A song Wilson wrote was included in the soundtrack to American Pie in 1999 – a duet with Bic Runga which you can listen to <a href="http://alternativesounds.blogspot.com/2006/06/whatever-happened-to-rock-duets.html">right here</a> – and that was the last I heard of him. So now he appears to be back, not just as a songwriter, but also as a solo artist. <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1553254/20070226/dixie_chicks.jhtml">MTV.com reports</a> that Wilson will release the album Free Life this summer. Anyway, Dan looks like a good guy, and sounds like it too, and I wish him luck. In the meantime, here are a couple of his contemporaries who have gone up in smoke:</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">pathfinder : gay dad</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=8154987533493652187#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/pathfinder/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=8154987533493652187#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/pathfinder/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/pathfinder/listengaydad.jpg" vspace="3" /></a> Also known as Cliff Jones, Gay Dad released <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Leisure-Noise-Gay-Dad/dp/B00001SIC9/sr=8-2/qid=1172770201/ref=sr_1_2/103-4504283-8610264?ie=UTF8&s=music">Leisure Noise</a> in 1999, which was decent enough to make it somewhere at the bottom of a few year-end-best-albums lists. But with a name like that, and a sound that was neither original nor innovative, Gay Dad was never taken seriously. Their sophomore album, Transmission, was a considerable flop, although some thought it to be better than the first. The band has split up since, and I have no idea what Jones is up to now. I have the full Leisure Noise in my iPod; I think the songs are pleasant enough to keep. Pathfinder is my favorite, because it manages to be emotionally playful – a rousing intro, a wounded refrain, a carefree chorus, and a torrid bridge – without being messy. The post-Siamese Dream Smashing Pumpkins is a bit like that, and Pathfinder actually reminds me of the pacing of Perfect and 1979 – not to mention that Jones occasionally sounds like Billy Corgan. Best line: You know that crying won't help you now, if it ever did at all. Best part: The vocals in the bridge, 2m 08s into the song.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">someday we'll know : new radicals</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=8154987533493652187#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/somedaywellknow/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=8154987533493652187#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/somedaywellknow/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/somedaywellknow/listenearhart.jpg" vspace="3" /></a>Now here's a band whose loss is regrettable. The New Radicals burst into the scene in 1999 with their album <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Maybe-Youve-Been-Brainwashed-Too/dp/B00000DF6J/sr=8-1/qid=1172770273/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4504283-8610264?ie=UTF8&s=music">Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too</a>, and their debut single, You Get What You Give, was a smash hit. I loved its video of chaos in a mall. The song was a standout, and the album brought a freshly loose pop sound that was clearly veering away from the angst that had defined rock for the most part of the decade. Sadly, the New Radicals disbanded before the release of the second single, which is this song. Band leader Gregg Alexander went on to become <span style="font-style: italic;">almost</span> a Grammy winner. Like Dan Wilson, he worked behind the scenes, and wrote and produced The Game of Love, the 2002 duet between Santana and Michelle Branch, which won the following year for best pop collaboration with vocals. In Someday We'll Know, Alexander gives a jocular twist to the familiar sigh over a star-crossed relationship – both in lyrics and in tone. The song is full of wit – <span style="font-style: italic;">Did the captain of the Titanic cry? Someday we'll know</span> – and he delivers it with unsentimental sincerity. Best line: Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart? Best part: When he sings "Why aren't you here with me?", 2m 47s into the song.<br />
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flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-6031765088148866622007-02-17T09:29:00.001+08:002012-12-26T09:11:47.889+08:00with love from bollywood<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">dil kya kare : adnan sami</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/dilkyakare/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/dilkyakare/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/dilkyakare/salaam.jpg" vspace="3" /></a>This was supposed to be a Valentine post. The last month has been both hectic and nerve-wracking. I had a fascinating business trip to India to report on the business of Bollywood, which sort of explains why I'm putting these two songs up. You probably know that the Indian film industry is the largest in the world, producing over a thousand films a year, or thrice as much as Hollywood. But did you also know that it used to be funded in large part by the underworld? That changed in 2001 when the government officially recognized film-making as an industry, which meant financial institutions could now lend to film-makers. Also, Bollywood actually refers only to the Hindi-language film industry, which is based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay, hence Bollywood). Hindi films make up just a fourth of the total output; the rest are in the couple dozen other languages in India, but largely Tamil and Malayalam, spoken in the south. Anyway, it probably is true that most Indian films stick to the formula of boy meets girl, are pulled apart, but end up happily together – with often outlandish song-and-dance numbers in posh MTV-like sets or against Alpine mountains (yes, some of them do film in Switzerland in lieu of Kashmir, an area of conflict between India and Pakistan). And because music from films is so pervasive in India, the two industries are hard to separate. But before I bore you with any more details, let's get on with the songs, and the movie they're from.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">salaam-e-ishq : various artists</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/salaameishq/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=10754331#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/salaameishq/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles4/salaameishq/salaamdance.jpg" vspace="3" /></a> These two songs come from the film <span style="font-style: italic;">Salaam-e-Ishq</span>, or Tribute to Love, a minor hit in spite of the number of A-list Bollywood actors in the cast. I was told that part of the reason is it veers away from the formula described above, following instead the lives of six couples intersecting in the end. (Critics liken it to <span style="font-style: italic;">Love, Actually</span>, which I haven't seen in full.) I saw it in Mumbai (without subtitles, but the plot was easy to follow) and I thought it was way too long at 3h 45m, and some of the story lines were simply not compelling enough. (I especially liked the couple living in London where the middle-aged husband falls for a much younger dance instructor, the Delhi man who can't commit to marrying his girlfriend, and the British girl who goes to Udaipur to stop her boyfriend's arranged marriage with an Indian girl.) But I think it's pretty much universally agreed that the soundtrack is outstanding. I love these two songs the most: <span style="font-style: italic;">Dil Kya Kare</span> because it's tender and sweet, and the seven-minute title track which is a dance tune that still has a largely traditional sound. I'm posting the lyrics to <span style="font-style: italic;">Dil Kya Kare</span> below, because I asked what it's about in a travel forum, and someone was kind enough to translate it for me. Below is his translation, which I have liberally amended in some parts.</div>
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We're back to regular programming after this post.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Dil Kya Kare<br />
(What's the Heart to Do?)</span><br />
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In the slow searing night<br />
I burn in the rain<br />
I drown in memories<br />
What's the heart to do?<br />
I am lost in myself<br />
There is something I wish to say<br />
But something else escapes my mouth<br />
I endure this strange pain<br />
What's the heart to do?<br />
<br />
Through a meeting of the eyes<br />
Through an exchange of words<br />
Someone has taken<br />
Someone has given<br />
Salutations to love<br />
<br />
Everyday it feels as though I'm missing something<br />
I do not know what it is I wish for<br />
I am alone in the crowd<br />
What's the heart to do?<br />
<br />
I have forgotten the day, the month, the year<br />
I sweat in January<br />
I am not comfortable in any place<br />
If I sit I forget to get up<br />
<br />
I head for the door but I keep walking about<br />
Restlessness has set in<br />
I laugh while I cry<br />
Someone moves about in my memory<br />
Whether I am asleep or awake<br />
Why do I lose my way?<br />
Why do I hum endlessly?<br />
<br />
I set out in tattered jeans<br />
Unaware whether I'm wearing a shirt<br />
Or if a button is undone<br />
The heartbeat plays all kinds of tunes<br />
What's the heart to do?<br />
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flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-71323835436744141962007-01-21T01:57:00.000+08:002012-12-26T09:02:45.551+08:00déjà vu all over again : the best songs of 2006<div style="color: black;">
<img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006A/timemachine.jpg" vspace="3" /> As the new year has come, it struck me as a good idea to revisit 2006 and list the best songs of the past year. The thought of a creating compilation excited me, and I knew it wasn't going to be too difficult since I already knew my favorites. The only challenge was whittling them down to 34 and trying to see how to best group them in two. Thirty-four is not a number I picked for the sake of being random. I still make mix tapes ("mix CDs" just doesn't roll well off the tongue) with the intention of sharing and sending them to friends, and 17 just happens to be the average number of songs I can burn in a normal CD. </div>
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In these mixes, you'll clearly see that the first puts together songs that rock, and the second, songs of a more folksy nature. Now, the diligent mix tape nerd will disregard the fact that most people now listen to music on their computers or iPods in shuffle mode, and will take pains putting the songs in proper sequence. You just don't throw them into a pot; you have a whole set of issues to think about. Do you start with a bang or do you gradually build up the mood? Can you follow a song that ends abruptly with one that starts slowly? How do you make a transition between two completely different genres? Can you build a story out of your song choices? Admittedly, I factored all these when I started to make this set, but in the end I left it up to the wisdom of iTunes: I sorted them by song length, shortest first. And you know what? I'm happy with the way it turned out. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I did putting them together.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006A/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006A/2006mix1listen.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Best of 2006 Mix 1</span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006A/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">here</a> or on the image above to stream the entire list, or</div>
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click on the titles below to listen to the songs individually</div>
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<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/redlight/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured</a> : Arctic Monkeys</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/nausea/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Nausea</a> : Beck</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/portrait/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Portrait</a> : Upper Room</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/longdistancecall/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Long Distance Call</a> : Phoenix</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/youonlyliveonce/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">You Only Live Once</a> : The Strokes</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/youandi/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">You & I</a> : Graham Coxon</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/haveagoodtime/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Have A Good Time</a> : Morning Runner</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/stadiums/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Stadiums & Shrines II</a> : Sunset Rubdown</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/intotheocean/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Into The Ocean</a> : Blue October</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/mrtough/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Mr. Tough</a> : Yo La Tengo</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/somewhereriver/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Somewhere Down The River</a> : Elf Power</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/typical/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Typical</a> : MuteMath</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/deadfunny/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Dead Funny</a> : Archie Bronson Outfit</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/theclock/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">The Clock</a> : Thom Yorke</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/postcards/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Postcards From Italy</a> : Beirut</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/yeahyeahsong/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song</a> : The Flaming Lips</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/youngbride/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Young Bride</a> : Midlake</li>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006B/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006B/2006mix2listen.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Best of 2006 Mix 2</span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">here</a> or on the image above to stream the entire list, or</div>
<div style="color: black;">
click on the titles below to listen to the songs individually</div>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/summertime/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Summertime</a> : Josh Rouse</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/yoursandmine/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Yours And Mine</a> : Calexico</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/loveyoumore/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Love You More</a> : Alexi Murdoch</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/irene/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Irene</a> : Rose Melberg</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/thisvoice/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">This Voice</a> : Ane Brun</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/thiefabout/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Thief About To Break In</a> : Teitur</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/borninthe70s/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Born In The 70s</a> : Ed Harcourt</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/halfassed/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Half-Assed</a> : Ani Difranco</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/lucile/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Lucile (Where Did The Love Go?)</a> : M. Craft</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/ohpeople/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Oh People</a> : Tim Easton</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/yellowtaxi/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Yellow Taxi</a> : Matt Costa</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/splendidisolation/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Splendid Isolation</a> : Pete Yorn</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/forgetaboutyou/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Forget About You</a> : Cary Brothers</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/rootlesstree/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Rootless Tree</a> : Damien Rice</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/brighterdiscontent/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Brighter Discontent</a> : The Submarines</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/beginningtoget/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">It's Beginning To Get To Me</a> : Snow Patrol</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=7132383543674414196#" onclick="control_panel =window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles5/B2006C/youngfolks/index.html', 'control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus(); return false;">Young Folks</a> : Peter Bjorn & John</li>
</ol>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-1163955034496495062006-11-19T23:08:00.001+08:002012-12-26T00:08:53.726+08:00new in my top 25<div style="color: black;">
Most played songs in my iPod, that is.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">mid-november : johnathan rice</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116395503449649506#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/midnovember/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116395503449649506#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/midnovember/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/midnovember/listenjohnathan.jpg" /></a></div>
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A fitting post given that we have just crossed that part of the month. There seems to be so much Johnathan Rice is trying to say in this song, but I can't get through <a href="http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858569301">the lyrics</a>. What's the story behind it? While it speaks of war, I can't make out if it's literal. The mention of death and coins on the eyes – a reference to the ancient practice of placing copper coins on the eyes of soldiers who died at war, according to the movie Troy – made me think it is. I have an outrageous theory. The narrator is the spirit of a soldier in a war, wounded and fighting for his life. He visits his loved one, finds her restless in her bed, and wonders if she somehow knows of his condition. This is probably nowhere near what Rice had in mind, but nonetheless I find Mid-November gravely sentimental, especially with that voice that seems to have just been squeezed out of clinical depression. Feel free to share your ideas.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">please don't send me away : matthew jay</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116395503449649506#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/sendmeaway/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116395503449649506#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/sendmeaway/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/sendmeaway/listenmatthew.jpg" /></a></div>
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Here's another song that breathes with trouble and secrecy. Following <a href="http://www.sigitas.com/artist_m/matthew_jay_lyrics/please_dont_send_me_away_lyrics.html">the lyrics</a>, one might immediately look at it as a paternal discourse. But Matthew Jay was not even 24 when he wrote the song – that was his age when he died from falling from the seventh floor of a building – so it might be that it was his conscience, personified by his father, speaking to him. Torment, after all, comes in many voices. I'm not familiar with Jay's life story, but it looks like suicide was never ruled out as a cause of his fall, and I think his family even volunteered the information that he left no note. It's probably just me, but the words, especially the last three lines of the song, read like a self-addressed farewell from someone who expected way too much from himself and failed to meet his own expectations. Ah, but I think I'm being too morbid.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">way of the sun : archer prewitt</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116395503449649506#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/wayofthesun/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116395503449649506#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/wayofthesun/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/wayofthesun/listenarcher.jpg" /></a></div>
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I don't normally like the sound of everyday objects or even nature being used in a song, and the chime or music box effect at the intro of Way Of The Sun is no exception. But the rest of this clever and striking post-apocalyptic song makes it a worthwhile listen. Think of a massive disaster that cost lives and property and imagine people huddled on rooftops waiting for evacuation. That's the image I get from the third and fourth verses of this song. And as if the lyrics aren't enough to hint at salvation, "Ave Maria" is invoked. I thought it was an unnecessary turn, but here I am talking about it, which means it did its job of calling attention to itself. But what follows after that – a series of claps – is a charming melodic transition to the gradual, restrained ending of the song.</div>
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Anyway. I'll try to post newer songs next. I'm off to get Teitur's latest album. I can't wait.</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-1162834737089736162006-11-15T00:34:00.001+08:002012-12-26T00:04:46.344+08:00grumpy old men<div style="color: black;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116283473708973616#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/vietnamwar/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;"><b>end the vietnam war : allen ginsberg</b></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116283473708973616#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/anarchy/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;"><b>anarchy : utah phillips</b></span></a></div>
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click on either title to listen</div>
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Off to Singapore for a business trip; I will be back this weekend. Here are a couple of old anti-war records, which are as much as I can say about the war in Iraq right now. The Democratic Party's midterm election victory pleases me; I would love to see a reduction of troops there, along with a decisive strategy as far as the government of the country is concerned – one that takes into consideration the differences of the domestic political forces there, and that will preserve lives and prevent Iraq from spiralling further down the hell hole the Bush administration has buried it in. I am now especially eager to find out what happens about Iran. As far as I know, an attack on the Islamic Republic had been a done deal even before the midterms. I count on the Democrat-led Congress to change that. Iran and more importantly the Iranian people do not deserve any form of military hostility regardless of the government's claim that its nuclear program would be completed by March. To be sure, Iran does seem to want to annihilate Israel – I've seen the propaganda posters all over Tehran myself, having visited Iran last July. But my feeling is, the intent is nothing more than that: a propaganda perpetrated by the mullahs for whatever purpose they are trying to achieve. To preempt this empty threat by attacking Iran on the back of the failure in Iraq is neither morally nor politically astute.</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-1163326126225064562006-11-12T17:56:00.001+08:002012-12-26T09:32:18.552+08:00introducing alternative tales<div style="color: black;">
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Alright, as some of you may know, I write for a living, and that what I write in my daily grind is nowhere near what I want to be writing about. I used to write a lot fiction and poetry, but I've stopped. I plan to change that, and just to make it more fun to do, since music is also my foremost interest, I've decided to combine both music and fiction. </div>
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And so I'm going to try to run this series: <span style="color: #e69138;">alternative tales : stories from my ipod</span>. Essentially, this is my self-imposed mental exercise, and it will only work with your help.<br />
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Here's what you do: Give me a song, pick a line from that song, and then give me a name, place, or object.</div>
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And here's what I'll do: I'll write a flash fiction – a very short story of 250 to 1,000 words – about or inspired by that song, throwing in the line and name, place, or object you picked. Anything but rap, metal, country and bubblegum pop. </div>
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To start, I give you Rudie Can't Fail – from the song of the same title by The Clash. A member of a forum I often visit suggested it, and he chose the line "How you get a rude and a reckless, don't you be so crude and a feckless, you been drinking brew for breakfast, Rudie can't fail." His person is Mother Teresa.</div>
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And so it is. Let me know what you think, and don't forget to make your own suggestions.<br />
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<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">rudie can't fail : the clash</span></span><br />
click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=13505224#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/alternativetales/sounds/rudie/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen<br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=13505224#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/alternativetales/sounds/rudie/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/alternativetales/sounds/rudie/listenradio.gif" vspace="3" /></a>Rudie took one final drag of his cigarette as he walked from the side of his car to the green-gray gate of the old house. "Today's the day," he said to himself. He rang the bell and craned his neck to look through the glass window that let the orange mid-afternoon sun wash over the musty living room inside. He could hear muffled voices and the clacking of shoes against the creaking wooden floor on his approach.<br />
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It had only been two weeks since his last visit, yet his father seemed to have aged a decade. Whatever it was that was eating his brain was also doing a good job at tearing his body apart. Rudie felt a tinge of pity for the man, whose once-proud military build now lay slouched on a tattered couch, head bowed down, left hand limply resting on the handle of his cane, right hand gripping a rolled-up newspaper – the same newspaper he had been holding for five years now, the one that had a picture of the crash that killed his wife. He had been driving and had fallen asleep, and in his guilt, Rudie believed, almost willfully drove himself to senility.<br />
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Rudie hunkered down to greet his father, yet again failed to look straight into his eyes for even a second. The dark spots that ringed his neck had formed a map, while the surface of his skin, nearly transparent in its whiteness, seemed to peel away from the flesh of his face. Rudie was taken aback when his father turned his eyes to grab his – a brief, fiery look of recognition that quickly melted into an empty, hopeless gaze. "How are you, Papa?" he asked, and when there was no answer, Rudie wrapped his hand over his father’s papery wrist, surprised both by its warmth and strong pulse. He eased down to his fist and tried to gently pry the newspaper from his fingers so he could hold his hand, but it only provoked a blow to the side of his head.<br />
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"How you get a-rude and a-reckless? Don't you be so crude and a-feckless!" his father howled, his voice mechanical, his eyes unmoved. From the vault of phrases he had uttered in the past that now sprung randomly from his mouth, that was a new yet familiar rebuke. Rudie's V-shaped scar at the tip of his eyebrow reminded him when his father had said it. He was fifteen, stumbling into the kitchen one morning, sneaking from the back door after a night of drunken disappearance. Rudie didn’t expect to find his father waiting. He grabbed Rudie by the collar, smelled his breath, and demanded in a guttural hush, "You been drinking brew for breakfast?" Before Rudie could say a word, he found himself thrown to the floor, his temple hitting the sharp corner of a chair. "Oh, so you care about me all of a sudden?" he shouted back as he wiped the stream of blood from his cheek. That was when his father said the line – humorous in its unintentional rhyme, callous in its unequivocal threat.<br />
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"Rudie can’t fail," came a crumpled voice from a woman sitting next to his father. "Did you bring me those vegetables from the market, Rudie?" She called herself Mother Teresa, although she looked nowhere near the late saint of the gutter. Tall and overbuilt, she one day mysteriously appeared at the doorstep of the house with blood running down her legs, carrying a single bag of clothes and a stack of post-dated checks that went on to the next seven years. No more aware, she had been his father’s companion since. Rudie squeezed her hand, stood up, and brought his father to his feet. Mother Teresa stiffened, turned to face Rudie, and asked weakly, "It’s time, isn’t it, Rudie?" He smiled and nodded. "Goodbye, George," she said.<br />
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Rudie guided his father to his room and gave him a glass of water before laying him down in his bed. There were pictures of his mother on the bedside table, on the wall next to the crucifix, on the mirror in the cabinet. "Happy birthday, Papa," he said, remembering the last time his father had been in his senses. He had gone to see Rudie in his house, but refused to come inside in spite of the rain. "I don’t have much to say, son," he had said. "Just take this and don’t fail me." And that was it – an envelope in his hand, an obligation to fulfill. Rudie took the will out of his pocket. He knew he needed to read the last line when this moment came, even though he'd had it memorized for five years. He whispered a prayer and wiped the tear that fell from his eye. He kissed his father on his forehead, and pressed a needle in his arm. George brought the newspaper to his chest, and pulled his final breath.flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-1162668970911493222006-11-05T02:51:00.001+08:002012-12-25T23:52:50.946+08:00holiday pics anyone?<div style="color: black;">
I'm taking care of a backlog project here. Apart from the songs, below are links to picture galleries from my last two summer holidays. The first is from the Cyclades Islands in Greece where the significant other and I spent about a couple of weeks this July; the second is from Oaxaca, part of my three-week Mexico trip in July last year. Oaxaca isn't actually in good shape right now, and I sure hope they sort things out pronto.</div>
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Listen to the songs I'm posting while you, it is my hope, enjoy the pictures. The songs and the pictures don't exactly go together, but these are the bands I've been listening to lately, having just bought their latest Best Of compilations. The Tragically Hip and Gomez are underrated bands I like. TTH live up to the tragic in their name. These talented Canadians, who pre-date the recent wave of bands north of the US border such as The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade and even The New Pornographers, should be bigger than they are. In fact, they've been around since 1983. Gomez, likewise, came before the Brit wave that we are still seeing. And even though they have a Mercury Prize to prove their worth, admittedly, I think they were never as exciting as the fresher lot are. They're finding new popularity, however, after Grey's Anatomy used one of their new songs, a boost they could certainly use.</div>
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So. Click on the titles to listen to the songs, which will pop up in a new window as usual, then click on the pictures to go to the galleries. They will open in this same page, but there's a link back if you want to return.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116266897091149322#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/scared/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;"><b>scared : the tragically hip</b></span></a></div>
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click on the picture to see greece</div>
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<a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/images/alternativesounds/Greece2006a/index.html"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/scared/Greece385.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116266897091149322#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/diskoloadout/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;"><b>diskoloadout : gomez</b></span></a></div>
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click on the picture to see oaxaca</div>
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<a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/images/alternativesounds/Mexico2005/Oaxaca/index.html"><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/diskoloadout/Oaxaca385.jpg" /></a></div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-1161303102206230412006-10-28T08:01:00.002+08:002012-12-25T23:45:55.873+08:00sometimes i am such a wuss<div style="color: black;">
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116130310220623041#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/autorock/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116130310220623041#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/autorock/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/autorock/listenmogwai.jpg" vspace="3" /></a> Has a song ever made you cry, and not in a contemptuous smart-ass kind of way? In the wide range of human emotions, nothing is as confusing and unreal as shedding a tear over a song that has no sentimental meaning to you. I was standing at a bus stop the other day, staring at nothing, listening to my iPod as usual. The morning had been perfectly ordinary: a slice of bread, a swig of orange juice, fumbling for my keys, waiting for the elevator, a foggy distance, an old man walking his dog, a breath of autumn, missing the 8:40. I could have called for a cab but instead I decided to wait for the next bus. Alone at the shed, I crossed my arms by force of habit, and rested my back against the billboard. There was nothing in particular to occupy the mind. I focused on the music. What was this quiet intro? An 18-second soundtrack to the birth of the universe? And then came the piano, calling, heaving, a stirring succession of notes pulling me out of my early morning indifference. And before I knew it, an invisible lump had built up in my chest, pounding with every beat of the drums, growing larger as the volume rose, and finally forcing a tear from the corner of my eye. I looked down and pressed my lips against my fist. Another tear fell. I turned my back to wipe my cheek. The pounding only grew louder. Was this a never-ending crescendo? All I could do was wait for the song to end, and it did with little warning, a sudden break after a rush, like a rug pulled from under my feet, throwing me into a wall of questions that spelled the same: What the fuck just happened?</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">alone in kyoto : air</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116130310220623041#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/aloneinkyoto/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116130310220623041#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/aloneinkyoto/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/aloneinkyoto/listenair.jpg" vspace="3" /></a> I will never know, and I don't care enough to find out. All I know is that Auto Rock continues to haunt me, minus the tears. I can't connect the song to anything in my memory – unlike Alone In Kyoto, which comes from the soundtrack to the film Lost in Translation. I saw it shortly after it came out and really liked the score, especially the intro where Bill Murray was being driven from the airport to his hotel. I remember the part of the film where this song was used. Three scenes, in fact: a couple in kimono marching to their wedding holding hands, Scarlett Johansson tying a strip of white paper on a branch of a wishing tree, and again her character half-bouncing on a trail paved with round stones. The film succeeded in resonating the isolation and alientation of travelers. This song brings to me that kind of sentiment; it doesn't make me weep, but it sure isn't happy. Even without the memory of the film, the song actually stands on its own as a mild blow to the heart. If the trilling vocals don't release butterflies in your stomach, then congratulations for not being the wuss that I am.</div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-1160618117697748862006-10-12T09:40:00.001+08:002012-12-25T23:41:23.757+08:00the most common song title ever<div style="color: black;">
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Okay. Having unpacked the last box in our new flat, I thought that now was the perfect time to post this. I've long been curious about what's the most frequently used song title ever – not the most frequently used <span style="font-style: italic;">word</span> in a song title (in which case, it would probably be the pronoun "I"), but <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> most frequently used song title, period. And they have to be unique songs, not covers (in which case, Help! by The Beatles would be the hands-down winner). Unfortunately, I don't know of any authoritative source that keeps track of these things. The closest I could find is <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/">allmusic</a>, which has a massive song database; you just have to know what you're looking for. One Googly afternoon, I found a web forum that discusses this very subject, and the list gathered by members looks like the following. (I've added their allmusic count for reference. I doubt that allmusic only counts unique songs, but what, pray tell, is the alternative?)</div>
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<li>Hold On - 963</li>
<li>You - 885</li>
<li>Freedom - 742</li>
<li>Stay - 703</li>
<li>I Want You - 658</li>
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Not a bad sample. We can all think of songs with those titles. Hold On was actually the first thing that came to my mind; I first noticed how popular it is as a song title after Sarah McLachlan released her album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. I compared the forum members' list with my iTunes library (at 15,646 songs as of today, this is larger than the average, but still small by collectors' standards), and then I ran the most frequently used song title in my library by the allmusic database. The result: <i>Home</i>, with 11 unique songs in my iTunes, and 971 mentions in allmusic. Here is one of them:</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">home : cary pierce</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116061811769774886#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/homecary/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen. 3m 46s</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116061811769774886#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/homecary/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/homecary/listencary.jpg" vspace="3" /></a> I was surprised by the result. How many Home songs do you know? How many Home hits have there been? Not much, I would wager. And yet, a lot of major artists have one, from Louis Armstrong to Alan Jackson to Depeche Mode to Sheryl Crow. But my point is that home is something we always think about, but not something we choose to bring out in the open. Who wants to broadcast every little dysfunctional thing about their family? Which brings me to my next point: that the concept of home is quite distinct from the family unit. Many of the Home songs you will hear are not about family relationships but the nostalgia of growing up, the comfort of the familiar, the return to proverbial innocence. Home as your personal world, as you choose to see it, as you want it to be. In this song, Cary Pierce calls home "the way things were," "a place where no one ever lets me down," and a place that he can come back to to keep his life on track. (Can you guess who the female back-up is? The answer at the bottom.)</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">this world is not my home : his name is alive</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116061811769774886#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/homehnia/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen. 2m 40s</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116061811769774886#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/homehnia/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/homehnia/listenhnia.jpg" vspace="3" /></a>Not that I'm saying Home is the most common song title ever. To be sure, love is still the overriding theme in music, and at 1,150 songs, I Love You has more allmusic listings than Home. But I guess you can make a case that after love in all its dimensions, songwriting is ultimately drawn to the idea of home and all its permutations. Apart from what Pierce describes above, home is also a represenation of – cue orchestral music – our place in the larger world, including the spiritual. Here, Michigan indie group His Name Is Alive borrows two lines from the gospel staple written in 1936 by Albert Brumley: <span style="font-style: italic;">This world is not my home, I'm just passing through, And I can't live at home in this world anymore</span>. (Am I the only one to think this is a bit suicidal?) HNIA sings this version with clinical numbness, unlike the acoustic version on <a href="http://myspace.com/hisnameisalive">their myspace</a> page, which is quietly unsettling.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">broken homes : tricky feat. pj harvey</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116061811769774886#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/brokenhomes/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the image below to listen. 3m 35s</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=116061811769774886#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/brokenhomes/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" hspace="13" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles3/brokenhomes/listentricky.jpg" vspace="3" /></a>For the most part, of course, love is what makes a home, and its absence or betrayal destroys it. In fact, this theme often brings about some of the best songs in pop music. My favorite? Burt Friggin' Bacharach's A House Is Not A Home. <span style="font-style: italic;">I'm not meant to live alone, Turn this house into a home.</span> I get all weepy just playing Brooke Benton's version of it in my head. An absolute classic, in spite of Luther Vandross's beautiful but overproduced rendition. This song I'm posting is not <span style="font-style: italic;">exactly</span> about broken homes in the clichéd tradition of most ballad songwriters, but being Tricky, this one is freaking tremendous. Enjoy.</div>
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Oh, and the answer is Lisa Loeb. </div>
flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10754331.post-1159538559858534012006-09-29T21:37:00.001+08:002012-12-25T23:36:10.440+08:00where is my blog?<div style="color: black;">
I can't blog. We moved house two weeks ago, and my iMac, which has the program that allows me to stream songs, is still in the box. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite songs of all time, by one of my favorite bands of all time. I uploaded this a while back, but for a different reason. This song was best used in the ending scene of the film Fight Club, another personal favorite.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">where is my mind : pixies</span></span></div>
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click <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=115953855985853401#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles/whereismymind/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;">here</a> or on the old image of the band below to listen</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10754331&postID=115953855985853401#" onclick="control_panel=window.open('https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles/whereismymind/index.html','control_panel', 'width=366,height=182');control_panel.focus();return false;"><img align="left" src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/103778412/songfiles/whereismymind/pixies.jpg" /><br />
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flatfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16187562943111900672noreply@blogger.com0