Thursday , December 31, 2009
Heavy Rotation: Moderat, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Helium, Dee Dee Sharp, Serge Gainsbourg, Pete Townshend
Moderat, "Slow Match (feat. Paul St. Hilaire)"
Judging from the play count on my laptop's music player, Moderat's record this year is well on its way to ranking as one of my favorites in 2009. Moderat is basically a collabo between two Berlin electro entities, Modeselektor and Apparat (who is one Sascha Ring, and who happens to be my latest dude crush du jour.) What's remarkable about their joint labor, Moderat (Basic Version), is how seamlessly they meld electropop, dubstep, R&B, ambient, IDM and other microgenres of electronic-based music. It sounds like it could be a potential mess, but everything's so smoothly proportioned and subtly sensual that it goes down like a charm. There's a darkness to it that reminds people of Burial but it's actually quite accessible in an intelligent way, and it manages the delicate trick of feeling spacious while being very layered. It's one of those records that reveals more and more of its intricacy and sexiness with repeated listening, and after listening to it way too many times since its release this past May, I highly recommend. (Kat)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "The Weeping Song"
I feel slightly bad putting more Nick Cave on nogoodforme.com this week, but honestly, I've recently been so obsessed with their record The Good Son that I'm completely in love and just want to shout my adoration from the rooftops. Like I said in "All Time Top 5: Goth Makeout Songs," this record is epic and swoony to the core. It's really the work of a man possessed by love, and it's unnerving in its frank romanticism and passion. In fact, the most compelling quality of The Good Son is not just great songs or Cave's classically mordant delivery -- which it has in spades -- but the way this very sense of intimacy and emotional courage is amplified by one of the most theatrical performers in rock. You know those love scenes in movies that are so close, you can hear the lips smacking and stuff? That's what The Good Son can feel like. It's almost so gushy in parts that you get embarrassed, the same way you do when you see two people completely making out and pawing one another in the park in broad daylight. But it's such a testament to the power of emotion that you can't look away. This song is probably not the most intimate, romantic song on The Good Son; it's very classic Bad Seeds, meaning it's full of hook and swagger. But the music itself has a certain snakelike, feline quality that its pretty much the "Goth bordello" moment on the album. Every album could use a serious Goth bordello moment, if you ask me. (Kat)
Helium, "Walk Away"
It's so exciting when the last song on a band's last album is all anthemic about things ending - I even get the chills when Kathleen Hanna whine-shouts "Time to go!" over and over on "Finale" by Bikini Kill. This is one of my fave Helium jams, and a long time ago I'd get so sad that I wasn't a water sign whenever Mary sang "Child of the earth, and I'm of the sea - and that's the difference between yoooooou and me" - but now I'm really into self-acceptance. And I'm bad at walking away but really like the idea of it, and that's something I'm learning to accept about myself too. (Liz)
Dee Dee Sharp, "Mashed Potato Time"
You know what's super-funny is if you listen to this song and pretend it's about eating mashed potatoes instead of dancing the Mashed Potato. Happy Thanksgiving! (Liz)
Serge Gainsbourg, "Initials BB"
I like to walk down the street to this song and pretend that I'm a sexy Mata Hari-style spy. How does one get the job "sexy Mata Hari-style spy"? There are never any listings for "spy" positions on Craigslist, which sucks, because it's a job I think I'd really excel at. If any spy-recruiters happen to be reading this, I just wanna put it out there- my name is Laura Jane, and I'd make a damn good spy. A sexy spy. The glamorous kind. "The James Bond of Babes," they'd call me. While we're on the subject of "braggy epithets", another cool one I recently anointed myself is "The Brigitte Bardot of Brainy Brunettes." And do you know what that means? It means this song is about me. (Laura Jane)
Pete Townshend, "Dogs"
The Who are for dudes, not for Laura Jane. Two weekends ago, my great pal Jack came to visit, and we went on a friendship binge. Mostly, we talked about music, since dudes just can't get enough of "listening to me talk about the Kinks." Being a dude, Jack loves the Who. He is aware of my being a non-dude who doesn't love the Who, so he was all, "I found you a Who song! " and I was all, "You wish!" and then he put it on and it was named "Dogs" and it's about falling in love at the dog track and it says the word "greyhound" a bunch of times and it's so sweet and I listen to it all the time and I love it! But the thing is, it's not a Who song, it's a Pete Townshend demo. This leads me to believe that Roger Daltrey may be the real source of the problem, which is surprising, since he's a babe. I mean, it's definitely not John Entwistle, who is irrelevant. And I will never blame Keith Moon for anything. (Laura Jane)
Tags: Bikini Kill, dudes loves the Who, earth signs, electro, Goth bordello, greyhounds, hot dudes from Berlin, Mary Timony, mashed potatoes, Mata Hari, Moderat, Nick Cave, Pete Townshend, self-acceptance, Serge Gainsbourg, sexy spies, the Brigitte Bardot of Brainy Brunettes, voyeurism, water signs, whine-shouting
Share | 
| 
| 
|
|
Posted by Kat in Heavy Rotation |
Permalink |
Leave a comment |
Comments (3)
+ Contact Us
+ HOME
3 Comments!!
Say something so insightful and witty, it will blow us away. (No pressure.)
Got something to say? We'd love to hear it! Name, email and "type in the weirdo drunken text" thingie are all required to comment; don't worry, we won't email you or anything, we just want to make sure you're not an evil spambot. Keeping in mind the good-times mentality we like to keep going here, we've worked hard to keep NOGOODFORME.COM as fun as possible. We welcome all kinds of comments, but insults/abuse/general bitchery are not tolerated. In other words, we put the smackdown on evil troll posts. If you want to be a hater, please go elsewhere. Now, as Salt 'N Pepa say, "Only the sexy people..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QExmF84ND4g
By yoyoyo on November 25, 2009 3:48 PM
Here's the full-band Who version of "Dogs"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ83-45VpUM
By Derek on November 25, 2009 4:37 PM
Yeah, the normal version of "Dogs" just doesn't do it for me. Neither does "Disguises," though I will give "Disguises" credit for being way better than most Who songs. I will never love the Who. I like "I'm A Boy" though.
By Laura
on November 25, 2009 5:09 PM