05.16.06

Wake

Posted in Personal at 5:29 am by Moody

There are reasons to be a sleepy sheep, reasons not to wake up; reasons to stay in bed where the dreamless and unformed blends, unnoticed, into the undreamed and formless. There are reasons to rise at the beckon call of the alarm that alarms the psyche with its liar’s urgency; reasons to play along — ha-ha-only-serious — with its blameless punctuality and non-sane, non-sense demands. There are reasons to do one thing over another thing, but there certainly isn’t always a reason to do anything over any other thing. Rationalization is there to fill in the gaps left when the choice we made was not the perfect fit for the situation there at hand (e.g., getting up or staying in bed; cappuccino or lye, for instance).

That you have spoken my name and with sincerity bade me to live a long, long time: that is reason enough, however else I may feel about my prospects.

05.11.06

Fave Playlist @ Work

Posted in Music, Personal at 7:50 am by Moody

This playlist gives a pretty fair representation of what I’m listening to lately, if I’m not listening to death metal or dance music…. It’s also rather consciously put together, an especially appropriate playlist for work when I’ve been overhearing the crap monkeys chatter too long.

  1. “Your Heart is an Empty Room” — Death Cab For Cutie
  2. “Take It Easy (Love Nothing)” — Bright Eyes
  3. “Off the Pedestal” — Wheat
  4. “The Way Love Talks” — Devics
  5. “Mourning Glory Story” — Jen Trynin
  6. “Love’s Lost Guarantee” — Rogue Wave
  7. “Take Your Love Out On Me” — Tracy Bonham
  8. “Cheap Honesty” — Skunk Anansie
  9. “Zero” — Smashing Pumpkins
  10. “Mechanical Animals” — Marilyn Manson
  11. “Amnesia” — Swans
  12. “Low” — Darkest Hour
  13. “Sunflower” — Low
  14. “More Yellow Birds” — Sparklehorse
  15. “Hold On, Hold On” — Neko Case
  16. “Church In Calhoun” — Boxharp
  17. “Black Heart” — Calexico
  18. “Love And Communication” — Cat Power
  19. “Almost Home” — California Oranges

Running Time = 1:14:41

05.04.06

Minor Feast, Motley Album

Posted in Bands, Music at 12:57 pm by Moody

Rogue Wave: Descended like Vultures[image]

There’s a lot of good music out there these days. Sometimes the sheer volume of choices can seem positively overwhelming. Not that that’s a bad thing. But every now and again it would be nice just to know who’s star is really set to rise. Okay, then… Rogue Wave is one band that presents music fans with an easy choice. Like other indie-pop bands, their work refines a standard/style set by successfull garage bands and other talented independents. In this they succeed, though it will take a third album, I think, to fully prove whether their mettle is on a par with the likes of, say, Spoon, or The Shins. For now, they have earned the benefit of the doubt.

Descended Like Vultures, the sophomore offering by the band, starts out slowly with “Bird on a Wire”, an often downright tipsy bit of psychedelia (à la The Sunshine Fix, Robyn Hitchcock) featuring lightly sprinkled xylophones, a dash of backmasking, a minor key seasoning, and a sing-along choral fromage that may make you overlook the wistful turns of the lyrics even as your ears consume the song, which somewhat sets the tone for the rest of the album, although the musical thrust ultimately (mostly) leaves the initial psychedelic recipe behind for more traditionally indie (à la The Breeders, California Oranges, Spoon) and folksy fare (à la Winterpills, Decemberists, Nick Drake).

Lyrically and vocally, Descended like Vultures is a smart album. The layering is well done, the choruses are not overbearing or clichéd even when they are “simple”, and the words are fitted nicely with the music. In terms of the actual mixing, the songs are variable: rough and jangly sometimes, tightly produced at other times. The mixing is, like the lyrics, fitted to the tone and message of the song, which is to say that it seems to be a conscious product and not a non-professional one.

I agree with some reviewers who’ve said that Rogue Wave sound as if they are yet coming into their own sound. There is enough variety in the songs for the album as a whole to border on showcasing une affaire de disparité. But based on this effort, I’ll certainly expect good things from them in future. In other words, I have a lot of praise and no substantial complaints.