Don’t ask me why I obsessively look to rock ’n’ roll bands for some kind of model for a better society. I guess it’s just that I glimpsed something beautiful in a flashbulb moment once, and perhaps mistaking it for prophecy have been seeking its fulfillment ever since.
- Lester Bangs
Showing posts with label Stephen Malkmus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen Malkmus. Show all posts
Spring - how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
We are being blessed with glorious weather here in the Midwest...so took full advantage by taking my beloved Boston terrier Miko for a long, music enhanced walk. I just put the shuffle on and let the randomness have it's way with me.
I love hearing long forgotten gems, weird covers, and deep cuts off of newer albums that you probably should have listened to more but haven't. So here is one of each of those: Something new, something old, and something borrowed.
BEST SHOWS/SETS I SAW IN 2008: 5) Langhorne Slim (Columbus) 4) The Hold Steady (Cleveland) 3) My Morning Jacket (Coachella and Columbus) 2) The Swell Season (Coachella and Columbus) 1) Prince (Coachella)
BEST SONGS I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD GET A CHANCE TO HEAR LIVE, THAT I DID ACTUALLY GET TO HEAR IN 2008 4) 'Cactus'(Pixies cover) - The Swell Season @ Coachella
3) 'It Could Be Sweet' - Portishead @ Coachella 2) 'Bittersweet Symphony' - The Verve @ Coachella 1) 'Creep'(Radiohead cover) - Prince @ Coachella
BEST STALKING OPPORTUNITY REALIZED IN 2008 1) Minnie Driver @ the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood (And I didn't even rush the stage...I was really proud of myself) * Minnie Driver - 'Down' MP3
BIGGEST LIVE MUSIC DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2008 1) Jens Lekman @ Coachella - Maybe it was too early in the day, or maybe I built him up too much in my music obsessive mind...either way, it just fell flat :-(
LOUDEST SHOW OF 2008 1) Stephen Malkmus @ Coachella - What??? Seriously...my ears haven't been the same since April.
BEST STAGE BANTER OF 2008 1) Glen Hansard - In a LANDSLIDE! I have never seen somebody so genuinley happy to be on a stage playing music in all my life.
WORST STAGE PRESENCE I WITNESSED IN 2008 1) Bill Callahan - I LOVE your music Bill, I really do...you just looked painfully uncomfortable up there. To make it up to you I will play one of my favorite songs of yours.
'Pavement' was the first band I ever immortalized in sticker form on my green Chevy Cavalier, the first car I ever owned. It was a giant black sticker with Pavement spelled out in giant block yellow letters...so tacky, I loved it!
So needless to say, for nostalgia's sake alone, new Stephen Malkmus music is still a big deal for me. Here is one off of the new record 'Real Emotional Trash.'
I always thought of Stephen Malkmus more as a poet who happened to play in a rock n' roll band, as opposed to a guy who wrote poetic lyrics for a rock band.
I am not sure when I heard Pavement's 'Slanted And Enchanted' for the first time. It was my first or second year out of high school. Up until that point, growing up in suburban Columbus, Ohio, I was pretty much raised, musically speaking, on bad hair metal and even worse hip hop. And being the painfully shy, not so adventurous soul that I was, I had no idea where to broaden my musical horizons, or even if such a thing was possible. If it wasn't played on MTV did it even exist? Then somebody at Ohio State must have seen the sad musical state that I was in and let me borrow Pavement's debut record, 'Slanted And Enchanted'. It was so wonderfully weird. The lyrics were so abstract, the guitars were so fuzzy and so beautifully out of tune...It was love at first listen. It was definitely my gateway into music that was slightly left of center. Shortly thereafter came to my ears The Replacements, Sebadoh, REM, The Pixies, and on and on and on, and a music lover was born.
I have wondered at times where I would be if this record hadn't found it's way into my life, but the possibilities were actually frightening...so i don't like to dwell on it, but instead just enjoy these incredible songs as often as possible and at the maximum level my old ears can withstand!
...or my email is anyway! Hey, it's me Blair...the Certain Songs staff of one. I just do this for the love of the music and am in no way trying to rip anybody off, so if you are an artist or a record label and you are not happy that I am promoting your music, or you want me to take a song down, just shoot me an email and I will most definitely oblige.
And please support the artists I post here in whatever way you can if you do download a song...go to a show, buy some merch, buy an album...these songs are the soundtrack to my life and I just love to share them. But I can only do that if the insanely talented artist responsible for said songs are able to eat.
I also love hearing new stuff...so any submissions can also be sent to my email, I will try my bestest to listen to everything and get back to you all...peace,love,rock n' roll.
csmusicblog@gmail.com
Monthly Mix Tape
Mission Statement
I guess you're old enough to know. Kids out on the east coast. Roughly twenty years old. Got coaxed out by a certain perfect ratio. Of warm beer to the summer smoke. And the meat loaf to the billy joel. Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls.
She goes low on the seats when she gets high in her car. She looks shallow but shes neck deep in the steamy dreams of the guys along the harbor bars. She's pulling out her shirttails and jacking up her socks. Stern and stoned and confident, coming up towards the jukebox. Born into the only songs that everybody finally sings along. B-1 is for the good girls. It's only the good die young. C-9 is for the making eyes. It's paradise by the dashboard light. D4 is for the lovers. B12 is for the speeders. And the hard drugs are for the bartenders and the kitchen workers and the bartender's friends. And they're playing it again. Ellen Foley gives us hope. Certain songs they get scratched into our souls.
I guess you're old enough to know. Kids out on the west coast are taking off their clothes. Screwing in the surf and going out to shows. They get high and ride around in gtos. I guess you're old enough to know. CERTAIN SONGS THEY GET SCRATCHED INTO OUR SOULS. - The Hold Steady
