Sunday , June 13, 2010
Heavy Rotation: Heavenly, Helium, Rilo Kiley + more!
Heavenly, "Atta Girl" and Bedhead, "Disorder"
My two selections for Heavy Rotation this week are taken directly from a mix tape I uncovered from a long-missing box I found while home this past Thanksgiving. This mix tape was made for me in 1995 by my best friend in college, Alissa; it was a recording of her radio show for WHRB one night, which she dedicated to me for my birthday and played tons of songs that I loved. Finding that box of mix tapes only confirmed why mix tapes RULE so hard -- for one thing, cassette tapes are shaped like little presents, whereas CDs are flat and boring, and it's so easy to mix them up in piles of mail because they look so much like those loser AOL CDs that they used to send as junk to get you to sign up for their dial-up service. Tapes are little and they fit in your hand in a certain way, and there is something really satisfying about flipping it over and pressing "Play" and hearing that bit of tape fuzz at the beginning. Oh, man, I'm practically all misty-eyed now thinking about all the awesome mix tapes I've gotten over the year, so I'll just skip ahead to these songs: I haven't listened to Heavenly in years and years, and honestly, this is one of the few songs that stick out in my memory by them. Indie pop music circa 1994 is something I rarely revisit; there was something bubbly and charming and giddily optimistic about that time, which seems so out of place in this infinitely more plastic era. I feel like this song encapsulates everything so great about K Records and Slumberland and all that stuff back then: that sort of DIY riot grrrl spirit, but totally pop-charming and hook-y as all hell. It's blithe but biting, winning but snaggle-toothed, and just soooo 1994. Bedhead's "Disorder," on the other hand, still feels completely relevant to my personal set of ears; first of all, it's a Joy Division cover, which is something that still influences and endures, and I will pretty much never tire of Ian Curtis and company. This was lumped in the "slowcore" label back then, but Bedhead's spare and narcotic sound could still find a space on a Brooklyn dark wave kind of bill, I think; re-listening to this song after not hearing it for years was like slipping into a soft, old, beloved sweater and realizing that it's now back in style. (Hey, man, if all the coeds of Columbia can wear Doc Martens, why not?) At any rate: I never thanked Alissa enough for making one of the best mix tapes I ever got. Alissa, if you're reading this, thank you for the music and for everything upon everything. Your friendship saved my life during those days, and I miss you like hell. (Kat)
Helium, "Devil's Tear"
nogoodforme.com really, really, really loves Mary Timony, which makes a lot of sense: as a person/musician, she's like Kat, Liz and LJ rolled into one sweet lollipop of mystickal slack-pop. Here is my thesis statement on the matter: Mary Timony combines the twilit medieval darkness of Kat Asharya with Barker's laidback Bostonian je ne sais quoi and LJ's wee little weirdnesses. Basically, she is the perfect human being. Lately, I've gotten back into my high-school-era habit of falling asleep listening to headphones, and Helium's Magic City is totally my lullaby collection of choice. This song's melodee is darling but askew, and the lyric "Come on hit me on my mark/This X marks my heart/on the mark" is the best application of rhyming a word with itself I've heard since Mike D rhymed "commercial" with "commercial" in "So Whatcha Want". (Laura Jane)
The Great! Society, "Free Advice"
The Great! Society were (Amazing) Grace Slick's band before Jefferson Airplane got borned, and they are kind of the best band of all time. Even though the G!S are hella San Fran, they sound like the most perfect winter band to me- dark and lush, like a forest full of fir trees. Grace Slick's vocal talents are, to use an adjective that I'm sure everyone who has ever attempted to describe Grace Slick's vocal talents journalistically, HAUNTING. You know how you are supposed to match the wine you're drinking to the food you're eating? I never do that; instead I match it to my record. "Free Advice" by the Great! Society requires the darkest, most vampiric red you can find. Also, if you're interested, their live LP Conspicuous Only in its Absence is the best live album in existence. Sorry, Remember by the Fiery Furnaces.
Rilo Kiley, "The Good That Won't Come Out"
Nothing in the world sounds more like waiting for some hangover-curing coffee in the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru on a freeze-your-bones cold end-of-December morning in your hometown while sleepily trying to figure out your New Year's resolutions than "The Good That Won't Come Out" by Rilo Kiley. NOTHING. (Liz)
Wolf Parade, "You Are a Runner/Fancy Claps" (Live)
And the award for Biggest Disappointment of 2008 goes to...the new Wolf Parade record! Sorry, Wolf-dudes - I listened to At Mount Zoomer about 8 million times, in a vain attempt to try to love it, and now I can't even remember what any of the songs sound like. It bored me to tears, but 2005's Apologies to the Queen Mary opposite-of-bored-me-to-tears. These are two of my favorite tracks off that shiny shiny gem, all beautifully smashed together at a show from a few years ago. "You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son" sounds like going into battle, and "Fancy Claps" has one of my favorite lyrics of all-time ("When I die, I'm leaving you my feet/When you die, you can stand up for me"). They are perfect and exciting songs. Now go make some more perfect and exciting songs. Thank you. (Liz)
Tags: Bedhead, Dunkin Donuts, Grace Slick, Heavenly, Jenny Lewis has been reading my diary, Joy Division, Kat Asharya, Laura Jane Faulds, Laura loves Matthew Friedberger, Liz Barker, lullabies, Mary Timony, Mike D, mixtapes, New Year's resolutions, nostalgia, Wolf Parade
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Posted by Kat in Heavy Rotation |
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1 Comments!!
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this is such an awesome 'heavy rotation'!!!!!!! for some reason i totally missed the heavenly boat. i'm so glad to be sailing aboard it now. anchors away, dudes.
p.s. i wonder if mary timony realizes she's basically the same thing as nogoodforme.com?
By Liz
on December 11, 2008 4:15 PM