This week’s song of the week is The Boxer Rebellion‘s “Evacuate:”
“Evacuate” is the debut single off of TBR’s new album, Union.
Favorite Music Videos of 2008 Wednesday, Jan 28 2009
music 10:47 am
In keeping with this week’s music theme, I thought I would list my favorite music videos of 2008. Again, the order here is really rough.
My favorite video of 2008 is Jay Brannan’s “Housewife”:
What I like about this video is its simplicity. It’s very queer, which is always a plus in my book, in its lyrics’ appropriation of traditional heterosexual gender roles (or at least queers it according to a particular definition of “queer”). I also like that it starts off like Brannan’s early videos of himself sitting in his NYC apartment playing his songs on his guitar but then expands out into the world.
Number two on my list is Erykah Badu’s “Honey”:
This video is innovative, stylish, and fun to watch while paying homage to some of the great artists that preceded Badu. I especially like her tribute to Grace Jones!
Favorite Songs of 2008 Monday, Jan 26 2009
music 10:02 pm
Yesterday I wrote about my favorite albums of 2008, so today I thought I’d blog about my favorite songs/tracks of 2008. I spent more time listening to music in 2008 than I have in other recent years, so I have a lot of music to choose from. At the end of the year I made a master playlist on my iPod and then slowly whittled it down to a more or less manageable number of 25 tracks.
I’ll go ahead and list them as a top-25 list, though I couldn’t really say that number 18 is more my favorite than number 19 or even number 25. I can say that the songs near the top of the list are definitely my top 10 or so.
1. Laura Marling’s “Cross Your Fingers/Crawled Out of the Sea.” This is actually two tracks, but Marling clearly conceives of them as a pair, so I’ve kept them together as my favorite track of 2008. I have no idea what this song means, but I love it, and the more I listen to it the more I love it.
2. Keane’s “The Lovers Are Losing.” This is my favorite track off of my favorite album of 2008. I especially love the chorus.
3. Duffy’s “Hanging on Too Long.” This is the perfect blend of heartbreak, longing, and the blues.
4. The Killers’ “Human.” This song is quintessential Killers. And I love the lines, “Close your eyes / Clear your heart / Cut the cord.”
5. Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance.” Brilliant dance song. And it’s the number 1 song in the U.S. right now.
6. Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.” So many of my favorite songs this year seem to be about loss, goodbyes, and letting go. I’m glad that I also have a couple of pure love songs on the list. This is the best of the year.
7. Lucinda Williams’s “Knowing.” Another great love song, this one by one of my all-time favorite artists.
8. Jay Brannan’s “Can’t Have It All.” Sometimes Brannan’s music a little too earnest for me, but this song really works for me. I like its discontentment combined with getting fed up with oneself.
9. Keane’s “Spiralling.” The second song by Keane on my list is another one that’s less than happy. I like its sentiment that when we fall in love we’re just falling in love with ourselves.
10. Conor Oberst’s “Cape Canaveral.” Victory is sweet, even deep in the cheap seats.
Favorite Albums of 2008 Sunday, Jan 25 2009
music 6:52 pm
I’ve been wanting to write a short post about my favorite albums of 2008 since the end of the year but haven’t had a chance. So, I thought I’d take just a few minutes to do so now. 2008 was even more about music for me than other years have been, since PJ gave me an iPod for my birthday in June. I don’t think I’ve become a downloading maniac, but I have used it as an opportunity to purchase more albums than I normally would.
As I’ve been sifting through the albums on my iPod, I’ve noticed that I’ve added more than 20 new albums to my catalogue this year (which doesn’t count the downloads/purchases of pre-2008 albums). Of these, five have clearly been my favorites.
My favorite album of 2008 was Keane’s Perfect Symmetry. I blogged about the album in October, so I won’t repeat everything I said there. The thing that stands out to me most about this album at the moment is its skepticism about love. It’s a beautiful album with a great ’80s feel to it, but it’s also cynical and jaded, which isn’t at all the kind of music I usually admire. But the combination of all these things coupled with my clear preference for British music in general last year made this my favorite album of 2008. Here’s the latest single off of the album, the title track:
Four other albums were among my favorites last year. I’ll write briefly about each of them, though I haven’t put them into any sort of ranking.
Song of the Week: Used to Be Monday, Jan 19 2009
music 10:32 pm
This is my new favorite song. It’s by Beach House. The official video can be found here.
Song of the Week: I’m Gonna Be Strong Sunday, Jan 11 2009
music 9:45 pm
I’ve loved this song for years. This is Cyndi Lauper at her best vocally, and I love the way the song builds and crescendos from its quiet sadness to tragic strength. I always think that someone on American Idol ought to cover it. Since Idol starts again this week, it seems like a good time to select it as my song of the week.
Why I Love Tina Turner Tuesday, Jan 6 2009
music 5:34 pm
February 26, 1985. I was in junior high in Nederland, Texas, a small town a few miles outside Beaumont, when Tina Turner performed on the Grammys. I had already heard about her from my favorite teacher, Mrs. Stansbury, the theater arts teacher at C. O. Wilson Junior High School. But seeing this performance sealed the deal: I was in love.
It wasn’t until about 5 years later, however, that I was able to fully indulge my love for all things Tina Turner. As soon as I got my first CD player sometime in college, I bought her four solo albums — Private Dancer, Break Every Rule, Tina Live in Europe, and Foreign Affair — and started listening to them obsessively.
What I’ve always liked about Tina’s music is her combination of strength and vulnerability. This combination is captured in Herb Ritts’ iconic image of Tina. Her story as a survivor shines through in his image. She is strong, determined, and joyful, despite whatever else is happening in her life. Her music also captures this quality.
Because my love for Tina Turner came to full fruition around 1990, it was inevitably bound up for me in my simultaneous coming out as a gay man. Listening to Tina’s music spoke to me in that period of my life, articulating what I felt, what I wanted, and even what I was most afraid of. Ever since that time, Tina’s music as been a constant love, something I return to over and over. Whether I’m depressed, happy, in love, confused or nostalgic, listening to Tina always jives with what I’m feeling. So many other things have changed, are changing, and will change in my life; but my love for Tina remains the same.
2009: The Year of “Here, Now, and Me” Saturday, Jan 3 2009
The last couple of weeks of 2008 found me in a rather reflective mood. The cold weather, holiday travel, filling out a report on my work activities for the past year, and few other things left me thinking a lot about my goals, life, and desires for the coming year.
I realized right around New Year’s Day that I hadn’t ever established any goals for 2008. In January 2007, I sat down and decided on very clear goals for the year, mostly because I seemed to be fucking everything up, so I thought I needed to get my priorities straight. I never had that moment for 2008. As a result, I feel like I’ve just coasted along.
That’s not to say that I didn’t accomplish a lot in 2008. I did. The difference is that I felt like I had a clear aim in life during 2007. In retrospect, 2008 feels like a year where I just drifted along doing a lot of stuff but not really getting anywhere. It’s like being in a row boat on a lake. I rowed a lot, but I’m not sure I went anywhere but in a circle. That feeling has left me feeling unsatisfied. I feel like 2009 needs some clear goals, that I need to sit down and decide where I want to go this year. Where do I want to be a year from now? What do I want to be doing?
The initial trouble with this is that I don’t seem to have an immediate answer to those questions. I don’t know what I want to do or where I want to be. Part of me is thinking that I don’t want to be where I am now; I want to break out of the circle and row someplace in particular. I just need to figure out where that is.
Les Chansons d’Amour: A Review Thursday, Dec 18 2008
Last night, PJ and I rewatched Les Chansons d’Amour, a French film written and directed by Christophe Honoré and starring our favorite French actor, Louis Garrel. It premiered in the U.S. earlier this year, but we first watched it on dvd through Netflix. I liked it so much that I decided to buy it once the dvd became widely available. It’s a great film.
This quirky musical is ostensibly about ménage à trois between Ismaël, played by Garrel, his girlfriend Julie, played by Ludivine Sagnier, and his co-worker Alice, played by Clotilde Hesme. The film is divided into three acts. In Act 1, The Departure, the threesome, which, after a month of togetherness has begun to fall apart, is rocked by tragedy. Act 2, The Absence, looks at Ismaël’s attempts to deal with the absence of love in his life, but Act 3, The Return, presents him with an unexpected romantic opportunity in the form of Erwann, played by Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet. Here’s the trailer:
This film is unlike just about any other film I’ve ever seen. First, the music isn’t glammed up. The songs are relatively simple, and the actors sing their parts without sounding like professional recording artists. I really liked the tentativeness this brought to many of their duets (and trios), a feeling that often reflected the emotions the characters are expressing in the words of the song. Second, the opening act’s action blends realism with non-realism. Some of the characters’ dialogue (especially that between the three lovers) is playful and self-consciously performative, by which I mean that the characters know they’re performing roles for one another and that in self-consciously performing the role they are simultaneously making those roles “real.” These moments, however, are also recognitions that the three lovers are falling apart. They are trying to substitute these performances for the “real,” something that may only temporarily work. And finally, this film blends comedy, romance, and tragedy in a very sophisticated way. I think it’s rare for a musical to really explore the death of a loved one and to show how that loss can devastate lovers, friends, and family. This one goes there.
Keane’s Perfect Symmetry Thursday, Oct 30 2008
music 7:14 pm
Last week I was browsing iTunes looking for new music, as is my wont, and I came across Keane‘s new album, Perfect Symmetry. Three things immediately interested me about the album. First, my general musical tastes lately have run toward British music — Annie, Adele, Amy, Duffy, and Paulo. Second, I had recently noticed a couple of reviews of the album, which stated that it has an 80’s sound. Generally speaking, I love 80’s music. And finally, more than one reviewer has noted that this album suddenly sounds a bit like a British version of The Killers. Since The Killers is one of my favorite bands, I appreciate that comparison.
So, I thought I’d give it a try. So, I went to YouTube to see the video for the first single, “Spiralling.” Here it is:
I immediately loved the sound and look of this video. This definitely isn’t the Keane that I remember ad nauseum on Vh1 singing “Somewhere Only We Know,” a song I didn’t really care for. I like the 80’s style video, and the music is definitely to my taste.
![IMG_8341[1]](https://live.staticflickr.com/8644/27753735444_2ca20d29d0_s.jpg "IMG_8341[1]")
This Gaudy Gilded Stage 