Jens Lekman contracts Swine Flu. Is surprisingly calm about it.

As some of you might or might not have already known, Jens Lekman just finished a brief tour of South America, playing his last date in Chile a little over a week ago. He posted the following on his website a few days ago:

  

"I picked home one last souvenir from South America, it's called the H1N1 virus. Wrongfully known as the Swineflue.

I was crossing the Atlantic when things started getting really bad, the fever was hallucinogenic and shaking me like a leaf and I grabbed the sleeve of the Air France steward. "I'm not feeling well, I should see a doctor" I said and the reply came as a brilliant mix of death anxiety and french rudeness: "Uh, yes... Terminal D... go there maybe... when we land". After that the stewards and stewardesses took long detours. A ring of empty seats formed around me. Peoples eyes were kind but determined, they read "Poor you, I really wish you all the best but if you come near me or my kid I will have to stab you with this plastic fork". I got up and went to the bathroom where I fainted.Now I'm in quarantine for ten days. I can see the summer through my window and it's just perfect. Summer is always best through a window."

 

If it were me I'd probably be balled up in a corner, clutching a pillow, a rosary and a pack of pain killers by now, screaming about how "I'm going to die!!!", but Jens, well, he's clearly a cool(er) cookie.

 

So Jens, consider our hats removed and tipped gently in your direction (north). Enjoy your summer from that window and get well soon!

 

Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves (7-inch Version)

New Radio Dept!

*the beautiful photograph belongs to Ylvas*

The Radio Dept. - David
1st listen: weird intro; doesn't sound like the usual RD; hmm...are they sure they want to go in that direction?
2nd listen: okay, it's not as weird if you listen to the whole song; the end where the guitar breaks in does have a distinct Radio Deptish vibe.
3rd listen: this is actually pretty good!

The Life and Times of John Vanderslice

*illustration by Drew Beckmeyer - check out his site here*


John Vanderslice - Fetal Horses (Romanian Names, 2009)
John Vanderslice - Romanian Names (Romanian Names, 2009)
*
John Vanderslice - Wild Strawberries (Cellar Door, 2004)
"Wholly and totally brave I swam under dying Philippino light
Fighting and furious against the tide
'cause I lost our keys in the sea, diving deep under coral reef
Following treeline on the shore
I stumbled back to the road
Left you on the hood of a rented ford
I looked back, it was the last time I saw you alive
Still light follows the same rules that I do
Reflecting off the water never making it down to the bottom"

*

John Vanderslice - Me and My 424
(The Life and Death of an American Fourtracker, 2002)

The importance of pom pom pom pom pa pa pa

 

 

"Of what?", she said.

"Of pom pom pom pom pa pa pa".

 

Pipas - Barbapapa

Yo La Tengo  You can have it all

Suburban Kids with Biblical Names - Rent a Wreck

Matthew Dear - Pom Pom
 

"Ah!", she replied. "Oh...", she thought.

The Limes: New Songs

Ladies and gentlemen, your refreshments for the day:

The Limes - Dead Furniture
The Limes - Sao Francisco Waters

* find them on MySpace *
* illustration by Ian DIngman *

A Book & a Band

I usually keep my book reviews separate from my song reviews. I use Librarything for the former and Letters Have No Arms for the latter. But I figured it's wort breaking this rule from time to time - perhaps only in favour of 5-star books (ok, I rated it 4.5 actually, not 5, but you get the point). If even one person will be inspired to go out and buy it, I'll be happy. And now my review, copy-pasted from LT:

"The Crimson Petal and the White is a book that knows precisely where it stands - and where it stands is at the utmost edge between Victorian and postmodern. Its themes, its conflicts, its setting, its people, and the motivation behind their actions and thoughts are utterly Victorian. All the concerns of the era, from the Woman Question to the technological advancements and the loss of the "natural", from the "evil of prostitution" to the inhuman working conditions, from the religious dilemmas of the time to the conflict between "tradition" and "modernity" - everything and anything that might concern the Victorian man or woman is addressed here. Issues of poverty, hunger, dirt, and criminality are dealt with so perceptively and touchingly that it would flummox even Dickens. The hypocrisy of the upper classes and their preoccupation with nothing more than balls, parties and "social calls" are ridiculed with a wit and sharpness worthy of Austen.

But if you glance at the novel's form and writing, the daring pen of Michel Faber makes it clear that The Crimson Petal and the White, despite the title's allusion to a famous Victorian poem, does not belong to the 19th century. Faber, the writer, often steps into the story - to great comical effect - to offer the readers advice or to stir the story into another direction. He makes his authorial presence known and, in true postmodern fashion and in the spirit of Lemony Snicket, often addresses the reader directly: "So there you have it: the thoughts (somewhat pruned of repetition) of William Rackam as he sits on his bench in St. James's Park. If you are bored beyond endurance, I can offer only my promise that there will be fucking in the very near future, not to mention madness, abduction, and violent death." It seems that he uses every device and trick known to writers to keep the reader interested in the story, but makes the whole thing seem so effortless - he never lost me for one second. Most importantly, the distance between mr. Faber's era and the era he is describing makes it easier for him to see the past in a clearer light, and allows him to express his observations and his critique openly. "This is the novel that Dickens might have written had he been allowed to speak freely", The Guardian says, and they're definitely onto something here. It was a comfort to see a writer that finally has the courage to address that most mystifying feature of the Victorians - one that jumps out at me whenever I pick up mr. Dickens - the fact that sex is an unmentionable topic with them. Of course, the conflict between the Victorians' behaviour and their "morals" is transparent: while prostitution is soaring and people are certainly no less interested in sex than today, they insist on acting as though sex is simply inexistent, far way from their thoughts and lives. The effects of this sexual repression on society's part are made clear enough in the novel: people battling with their consciences, trying to reconcile the idea of sex as something that is clearly natural and desirable in their hearts of hearts with the idea of sex as filthy, degrading and evil.

I could go on and on but I think I've described the book well enough to stop here. The reason why I didn't award it a full five stars is a certain death that I thought was completely unnecessary - it seemed to me that it was just an easy way to dispose of a character that served a purpose no longer. Other than that, this is a wonderful book. Sugar - our prostitute heroine - along with William Rackam, Henry Rackam, Emmeline Fox, Agnes, Sophie, Caroline, Colonel Leek, Clara, Ms. Castaway will draw you in and never let you go. Great cast, great story, great writing, great book."

Dinosaur Feathers - Teenage Whore
Beirut - My Night With the Prostitute From Marseille

Boat Beam hail from Spain( but sing in English) and have just released their new first album on Origami Records. It's indie pop delightfulness.

Boam Beam - The Rain Pauly

We're from Argentina. Argentina, not Barcelona, damn it! How many times do we have to tell you?

image found here

✂ Chau Fan - Boletos de tren

La canción de aquel momento en que soñabas con un tiempo que nunca quiso volver.

***pic***

Nosoträsh is currently my 4th most played artist on Last.fm. This is largely due to one album of theirs, the sheer musical joy that is "Popemas". If I had a top 50 albums that say a little something about who I am, this would definitely be one of the 50. One of the characteristics of the songs on it is that they're all really short, averaging around 2 minutes long. This is hardly coincidental. In fact, inside the cd jacket sleeve, accompanying the song lyrics is a quote by Augusto Monterroso. The quote - perhaps slightly paraphrasing here because I couldn't find a translation - goes something like this: "What's certain is that there is nothing that the writer of brevities wants more in the world than to write endlessly long texts; long texts where the imagination wouldn't have to work, where facts, things, animals and men stumble upon one another, look for each other, flee from each other, live with each other, love each other, spill their bloods freely without subjection to the semicolon, to the colon. To that colon that in this very instant has been imposed on me, by something stronger than me, something that I both respect and hate.*" Monterroso is a writer of brevities - indeed he is said to have written the shortest story in the world**. And Nosoträsh are writers of brevities as well. They're that kind of band. The kind that cares about the difference between the colon and the semicolon. They pay attention to the detail; they look for the simplest but greatest of melodies; they look for the right words, the perfect words. Yet they talk about simple everyday objects like ashtrays and coffees, and coats and milkshakes and clouds. Their songs feel very much like short stories - sometimes in the song descriptions I couldn't help but write "the protagonist" instead of "the singer" - and in fact I might've called them short stories, if only their melodies weren't so beautiful. I've included only a sample of three songs here, but I strongly recommend that you get the whole album.

*** pic ***

"Arte"

In the first of the three songs the singer is attempting to describe what constitutes Art for her: letting you brush my hair instead of thinking about it; abandoning myself to anyone's hugs, as long as they know how to lie to me and they kiss me hard; returning to your arms, sensing your rejection, yelling until I am left speechless...

"Corazón Colilla"

This one is a metaphor of the singer's love life as the process of smoking a cigarette, which lasts only briefly, leaving you forever unsatisfied. She concludes that, for her, hopes of love are extinguished all too soon and the only thing left is the cigarette butt that is her heart. And even after all the disappointment... "I will draw your picture in the ashes. I will draw your picture with the ashes. I will draw your picture in the ashes".

"Gloria"

In "Gloria" the protagonist is trying to come up with ways to cope after a break-up. Her first impulse is to write to him, and tell him how she's been doing lately. But she realizes that nothing at all mention-worthy has happened in her life ever since and that the letters would be very boring. So she makes plans of what to do with her day instead. Her "1001 ideas" include planting some flowers, getting lost in the streets and "making myself a dress with maps of all the places I've visited since you left me". Dance in cold hallways, make chocolate milkshakes, stay up until dawn on Sundays, "have dinner with the waiter of our restaurant". Jump up and down on the bed or, even better, not be alone while jumping up and down on the bed. Yes, those are all the things she plans on doing. If she ever does do them however, we never find out. And that's how the best of short stories always end. In doubt.

♥ Buy "Popemas" from Elefant Records! ♥
♥ Buy "Popemas" from iTunes! ♥
♥ Song Lyrics (en Español) ♥

*1: "Lo cierto es que el escritor de brevedades nada anhela más en el mundo que escribir interminablemente largos textos, largos textos en que la imaginación no tenga que trabajar, en que hechos, cosas, animales y hombres se crucen, se busquen o se huyan, vivan, convivan, se amen o derramen libremente su sangre sin sujeción al punto y coma, al punto. A ese punto que en este instante me ha sido impuesto por algo más fuerte que yo, que respeto y que odio.

**2: The shortest story in the world is this: "When she woke up, the dinosaur was still there." (Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba allí.)

***3: Visit Marisilla's page on Flickr for more pretty illustrations like these!

Sin Canciones

♥ pic ♥

As you probably read in the last post, my beloved fellow co-blogger (also known as Steven in this thing called "the real world" or something) is now in Spain. And so I'll take advantage of this opportunity to make a little tribute of my own to this sunny sunny country which we love.. The reasons I've never posted any songs in Spanish are pretty self-evident: according to Statcounter, only 5.40% of our visitors are from Spain. And some Latin-American countries are at about 1%. But that shouldn't stop me from sharing something I really love, right? And I really really really passionately love the Spanish (indie) music scene! For some reason most of the bands there make happy indiepop/tweepop that makes you wanna lie down in flowerbeds and wear Alice-bands with butterflies on them and dress in colors. I would've maybe said it's the sun, but I live in Greece and know that sunshine lends no helping hand in the making of a good twee band. And then there's also Sweden...but I digress. Here are some of my favorite Spanish songs and/or bands.

Los Fresones Rebeldes - Al Amanecer

How much catchier can indie pop get?? If you want to find out what this band is all about their name will tell you everything you need to know: The Rebellious Strawberries. As in, we might be twee but we're not afraid to use guitars - our musical influences might come straight from the 50s, but our attitudes don't. This is twee in the days when is was still associated with punk, this is sweet and in-your-face at the same time, this is fruit, but Rebellious fruit! Rock on little strawberries!

Índigo - Yoko Ono

There were/are so many people out there who hate Yoko Ono and blame her for the "transformation" of John Lennon and what happened to The Beatles that someone had to write a song describing how things (possibly) happened from her perspective. And what an sweet song it is.

Parade - Niño Zombi

Lovely lovely lovely song about...well...Zombie Boy! It's a little hard to convey what makes the song so sweet, funny, and sad at the same time without referring you to the lyrics. And I'm a little hesitant to translate myself. But here's the story. Zombie Boy is a kid who goes to school and eats his schoolmates, but doesn't really mean to. He just can't help it. And of course this would be just a silly song if only the lyrics didn't make it so painfully obvious how awful Zombie Boy feels, how hurtful is the realization that he's different from the other kids, and how they all make fun of him and how he knows that it's never going to stop. It's a sweet little tune this one, filled with discrete handclaps and shoopapas. Listen to it side-by-side with the Besties' "Zombie Song" - they make a good couple :)

♥ pic ♥

Le Mans - Buenos Dias Corazon

This is the song you played that lazy Sunday morning, that surreal Sunday morning when you woke up and found that nothing had changed. When you knew that for a while nothing felt real anymore, nothing seemed to have any meaning, any reason for existing. So you woke up and...well, you figured, at least you'd try. "Good morning little heart! How sad are you today? Did you wake up feeling better? Is the world treating you any better?" This is the song you had in your head while you strolled down flea markets with a bottle of cheap wine that you knew will give you a horrible headache afterwards and that made you sleepy. But that's a good thing. Sleeping is good. Tomorrow you'll feel better.

Nadadora - Plásticos y Metales

The most atmospheric and nostalgic from this bunch of songs, Plásticos y Metalos (whose title, by the way, means exactly what you think it means), is a song I find myself playing either when I'm very very sad or very very happy. Beyond jumping-up-and-down happy. Calm-happy. It is also a song that always makes me imagine a beach scene - perhaps because the name of the band means "swimmer" or because of the fragile-sounding instruments, or because of the girl's ah-ah-ah-aaaahs which seem to come and go like waves. Genre-wise you should know that it tends a little more towards shoegaze and post-rock than the rest of the songs I've selected. So if you like that kind of thing, this one's for you.

♥ pic ♥

Tender Trap - Como Te Llamas/Tell Me Your Name

My best friend doesn't speak a word of Spanish. Yet in a certain hotel room in Barcelona, two summers ago, she couldn't stop bellowing "Como te llamaaaaaaaaaas indie girl??" for 7 days in a row. "Tell Me Your Name" is the only bilingual song in this post. And even if you only sing along to the English parts, lyrics rarely come in packages as danceable as this. I rather have a preference for the Spanish parts (and the girl's voice), although the English verse does start with "Cute girl, loves the Smiths..."

La Casa Azul - Hoy Me Has Dicho Hola Por Primera Vez

Guy Milkieway a.k.a. the genius behind La Casa Azul is inviting the girl of his dreams on a date. "Nothing fancy, just casual... er... maybe go downtown and have a cup of coffee? And then we can...you know...talk about Tommy James songs and some good books and stuff....come on! What do you say?? We could go see a Woody Allen movie afterwards if you like!" Okay, I just added the errs and uuhmms and maybes for nerd-effect, but how can you refuse an invitation like that?

Juniper Moon - ¿Volverás?

This song is quite simple really. A girl laments over the fact that her boyfriend left her. Yeah, well, what' else is new? She keeps wishing that he loved her more and wondering whether one day he'll come back to her. Over and over. And if you think that becomes annoying, if you think you'll mind in the least that this song has only two main riffs and keeps repeating the same verse and the same chorus again and again, think again. It doesn't change a thing.

♥ pic ♥

* All illustrations in this post by the amazingly talented Tim McEvoy!

There is one more Spanish band that needs to be mentioned and, at first, I was planning to include it in this post. But I started writing about it and then got totally carried away, as it was bound to happen since it's one of my favorites and I truly love their songs with all my heart. So make sure to check out my next post for this very special band.

Emmy the Great, the Cute, the Talented, the Melancholic, the Sweet, the Magnificent

*by Ahren Hertel*

I don't think we've ever written anything about Emmy the Great. Which is weird because, if you had asked me a year ago to give you ten reasons for starting this blog, five of the reasons would have been variations of "to make everyone love Emmy the Great". Well, it seems that Emmy finally has an album out, titled "First Love". Yet, for some reason, I don't think she reaches her full potential on it. For starters many of her best songs are not included on it. Furthermore, it seemed to me that even some of her songs that I knew and loved weren't as great in their album-versions as they were when they were merely demos. But this post is not just about "First Love". It's meant as a tribute to a singer I truly love. Emmy easily makes my top three of sweetest female voices in the music industry (up there with Camera Obscura's Tracyanne Campbell). But that wouldn't have been enough. As is usually the case with my favorite bands/singers, she also writes heartachingly beautiful song lyrics. Not pretentious or "intellectualized" song lyrics, but song lyrics that are sometimes sweet, sometimes innocent, and sometimes mean, but always honest. Song lyrics that aren't like those paragraphs in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" that you always quote because they sound smart. Song lyrics that are like those passages in your favorite book that you remember most, that you hold closest to your heart, that make you think "that could be me saying it".

"Wish I could tell you all the things that Woody Allen helps me see
How Annie Hall is starting to seem quite a lot like you and me
It took a while to come around to David Bowie's new CD
And it's much too late to give back your Magnetic Fields EP
Can I keep it by my pillow? Fucking loved it -
How I long to tell you so..."
* Canopies and Grapes *

And you and me are still but the scenery moves
Well why would it stop just 'cause suddenly there's one where there used to be two?
And everything's quiet but... looks like the speaker lived through the blow
Still playing some compilation you made
Feels like a lifetime sitting alone so I start humming along to the tape -
I always liked this singer
I remember how you were the one who told me that her name was either MIA or M.I.A"
* MIA *

"I'm having a party and I hope that you know this
Spend Friday alone and pretend not to notice
All of the stupid things you've done I know and I'm telling everyone
'Cause you're not my best friend anymore.
And tomorrow I will find a new friend from the new friend shop"
* My Party Is Better Than Yours *

"Now they tell me that unless you're looking out of magazines, well, then you don't exist
But I knew that you were real before I read it in an interview today
Before I used you as a surface - did a line across your face
In the toilet of a girl who's sitting outside dropping names like they were carpet bombs, she knows everyone
But I knew you first...
Back when love was underneath you with my fingers in the dirt
You said 'I'll stop if it hurts'
You said 'I'll stop it if it's scary' "
* Two Steps Forward *

"What will you look like when you're old?
And what will I do if I don't know you?
I guess that I decided not to know the day I took the road down to the city as it called
Sun making silhouettes of gauze... I don't remember you at all.
They pulled a human from my waist
It had your mouth, it had your face
I would have kept it if I'd stayed"

* City Song *
(non-album version)

Oh, by the way, I thought the illustration looked a bit like her :)

Buy the album here.

Camera Obscura return to their maudlin career

 

maud·lin  (môdln)

adj.

Effusively or tearfully sentimental: "displayed an almost maudlin concern for the welfare of animals" Aldous Huxley.

maudlin·ly adv.

maudlin·ness n.

 

It's been a bit quiet on the Letters have no Arms front lately. Many good books, too much work and February apathy are all in some part to blame for that. So who better than Camera Obscura to rouse us from our slumber!

With the announcement of a new album and a  few dates, Camera Obscura present themselves to 2009. And like an old familiar friend, we embrace them.

 

Camera Obscura - This Maudlin Career

 

 Eliza and I will both be posting a some Valentine's Day themed posts in a few days, so make sure to return by the end of the week.

Union of Knives

 

art: jmarshall.lively

You may well remember Glasgow based Union of Knives from their 2006 album Violence & Birdsong, which contained one of my favourite songs of that year, Evil Has Never. Their sound? Uhm, how about this: Thom Yorke replaces Ben Gibbard in The Postal Service, gets dumped by his girlfriend, develops a rather unpleasant prescription drug habit and gets into bad fights with Jimmy Tamborello. Great music ensues.

 

 

Here's a taster from the upcoming album they recently completed during a two month recording session in and around LA with Atticus Ross (NIN).

 

Union of Knives - We are all doing Drugs

Union of Knives - I Decline

Union of Knives - Evil Has Never

  

They have a few brilliant promotional videos up on their site, 

though if the following descriptions in any way offend you, I suggest perhaps not clicking

here

 

"Two girls slapping each other very hard in a hotel room. Hundreds of naked Japanese couples having sex at the same time."

 

Chances are these videos won't be played on MTV any time soon. 

The return of Suburban Kids with Biblical Names!

 

'Yeah, they say two thousand zero zero party over...'

 

No, this isn't a cover of Prince's famous ode to late-millennial partying (cause 'life is just a party, and parties weren't meant to last'), but a new release by everyone's favourite (Silver Jews inspired) Swedish indie popsters Suburban Kids with Biblical Names. It's so summery you'll want to put your clocks forward an hour!

Suburban Kids with Biblical Names - 1999

taken from their upcoming EP '#4', out on February 4th.

By the time you hear this tape I will be gone...

...and I won't be back
so don't even ask
cause we all know
and we follow
with our eyes on the sky
and our hands in the snow.

 

 Saturday looks good to me - Hands in the Snow

art by my brilliantly talented friend Iro Tsavala

Counting from today it's only 29 days 'til New Year's Eve!

Lacrosse - This New Year Will Be for You and Me
[this sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet album kept me company during last year's frosty London Christmas and as the cold sets in i find myself putting it on repeat once again]

Counting from today it's only 29 days 'til New Year's Eve
And it's easier to still believe this new year will be for you and me
But look at all the faces 'round here, look at all the people 'round here
The dark is getting darker and I'm only empty, still as empty
Some things always stay the same...

You know that counting from today it's only 19 days of darkness left
And starting from that day things can only get brighter
And look at all the faces 'round here, look at all the people 'round here
The dark will soon be lighter and all the empty will be filled
Some things never stay the same...

This December might be the first not to be worst month of the year.
This new year, it will be for you and me.

What I've been listening to the past week and the reason I haven't posted any of it

hooraffes by PETS

Ever since last Tuesday I've been listening to...

> The Happy Hollows! Ever since I first listened to 'Tambourine' I fell in love. Then I found out they're giving their EP for free and fell faster. Then I listened to it and was ready to sell my soul to them. (* We like to exaggerate. It's our thing.) Download Colors or just get the 'Imaginary EP' for free here!

> Love Is All! I need to listen to the whole CD, I know, but I just can't stop playing this song. Download: Wishing Well + buy 'A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night' on cd or vinyl here!

> James Yorkston! In expectation of the quiet, sweet, ordinary, warm and peaceful weekends that I'm hoping the winter will bring. Download: Temptation and buy the album here.

> Miracles of Modern Science! Sometimes it feels like our inbox is full of crap. Other times it doesn't. Download: 524 or get the whole EP for free here.

> The Smittens! How sweet is the new album? No really! On a scale of not-at-all to it-doesn't-get-any-sweeter-than-this how sweet is it? I'd say around sweeter-than-candy. Yeah, that sounds about right. Download: Half My Heart Beats and then buy the album!

> Between the Pine! Their second album will be released on December 16 and you'll be able to get it here. Here's a little taste of what awaits us. Download: Coca-Cola

> My Darling YOU!! I don't know why but for some reason their 2007 EP 'I Will Exclude You With My Body Language' never reached my ears until today. And I really can't tell you how much I love love love love love love love it. I'm sure you will too as soon as you follow the next three steps:
Step 1: Download: Salary to see what I'm talking about
Step 2: Buy the EP here! It's 5 euros/6 dollars (plus if you're lucky enough to live in Sweden shipping is free)
Step 3: Start melting!

And the reason I hadn't posted anything for a week...

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

All I want all I want all I want all I want is to sing about it!

An African-American is president of the United States. Not only that, but a half-Kenyan is president of the United States. Not only that, but in one of the first lines of his victory speech he addresses homosexuals. Now I don't know about you but this makes me believe that maybe - just maybe - we can have realistic hopes for a better future. And all I want is to sing about it.


"...tonight is (...) the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans who sent a message to the world. (...) It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day."

"Our campaign grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy"

"Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope. That's the true genius of America: that America can change."

"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old. She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can. When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can. When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can. She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that 'We Shall Overcome'. Yes we can. A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment."

That movie that everyone seems to adore and I never understood why

 

*painting by Ellen Lohse*

That movie is The Royal Tenenbaums. And at this point you might or might not ask - depending on how much time you have on your hands, how prepared your brain is to spot an inconsistency, and whether you think that curiosity killed the cat or helped it get a valuable after-life lesson - why the hell would someone waste a whole afternoon preparing a post about a movie they're not that crazy about. Well, because this post isn't about the movie per se; it's about two bands I do like that have this in common: despite the fact that I pointedly warned them not to, they both completely ignored me and went ahead and named themselves after characters in it.

Margot & The Nuclear So and So's were named after Margot Helen Tenenbaum and they have, as everyone should know by now, two new albums out. Two because they couldn't agree (*understatement*) with their record company on the songs that were to be included.  So they decided to release one album ("Not Animal") of label-aproved songs, and another one ("Animal!") reflecting the band's selection. "Animal!", unfortunately, is only available on vinyl and online. And I say unfortunately because it contains two beautiful songs that are not to be found on the properly released Not Animal. Both are duets and they tell the story of one Mariel and one Martin: their relationship, their conflicts, and their imperfect life together.

Mariel's Brazen Overture

There's Talk of Mine Shafts

Uzi & Ari are the sons of Chas Tenenbaum. Uzi & Ari is also the pseudonym that Ben Shepard chose to adopt in his solo career. Their last album, called Headworms, was released this month and their song "Wolf Eggs" has been much hyped throughout the blogosphere. Deservedly so.

Patron Saints (Headworms, 2008)

Don't Black Out (It Is Freezing Out, 2006)

Random concept of the day: some songs that really really really should have more listeners on Last.fm

by Marie-Louise Ekman

Alamo Race Track - The Killing
A great song about the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name.

Cave Babies - It'snoteasybeing Green
Joshua from the Watercolor Paintings continuing to make beautiful songs. This time with another band. Plenty of songs for free on their Last.fm page.

Je Reve De Toi - Janeiro
The coolest Brazilian band no one knows about. You won't understand a word, but you'll enjoy the song and absolutely love the 'Eoeoeoeoeo' 2:00 into the song.

Fredrik - Black Fur
I know this curse has been uttered ad nauseam by every indie kid on the planet but here goes:
Damn you Swedish people. Now and forever. Amen.

My body is a cage but my mind holds the key.

photograph by Bettina Rheims

Sara Lov - My Body Is a Cage (Arcade Fire Cover)