Soi Disantra: Recent Obsessive Listening -- Not Hard to Read Between the Lines Edition

July 28, 2006

Recent Obsessive Listening -- Not Hard to Read Between the Lines Edition

Lily Allen -- "Everything's Just Wonderful"
Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are. I never go for the "irresistible" pop stuff, whether it's hipster bloggy (Annie), Timbaland-whatever (Aaliyah, Nelly F.) or somewhere inbetween (Kylie, recent Madonna). Just not my thing. But boy do I love me some Lily Allen. It's not just that it's very simple and very catchy, but it's also really damn charming. At least I find her charming. I don't care if she's rich and prefab. After listening to the album enough I've realized that I get my fix after the first four songs, all of which are now a part of "My Top Rated" playlist. "LDN" is still the best bet to end up on the year-end countdown, but this is the one I've been enjoying most this week. It sort of reminds me of "The New Pollution," a song I never really liked back in high school. But it's got everything that makes me love her -- it's kind of funny, she curses, it's to the point. Bravo, Lily, bravo.

Modest Mouse -- "3rd Planet"
A couple of things that I used to do a whole lot that I stopped doing almost entirely that I've started doing again -- driving around at night and smoking cigarettes. I'm not really a big Modest Mouse fan -- far from it -- but the band writes good songs for driving around at night, good songs for smoking cigarettes, and when you combine the two, it's a pretty wonderful thing. I can't really listen to Modest Mouse while not doing those things, actually. And I really only like the first five songs off The Moon and Antarctica, anyway. And that one song just makes me think of the "Mom's have changed" minivan commercial. But this song is a killer, a definite masterpiece. Did I mention how I like cursing in songs? For a while I liked "Dark Center of the Universe" better, if only because that was a better showcase for Brock's best talent (repeating the same phrase with different, interesting intonations), but this is the one that stands up to three, four straight listens.

Liz Phair -- "Divorce Song"
Liz Phair probably wins the award for artist/band of the last decade whose post-peak body of work has been so utterly terrible and embarrassing that it really makes you not want to listen to her good stuff at all. But goddamn if Exile isn't a really great album, still. I wish that "Flower" was never on there, because it's a terrible song that distracts from the rest of the album, but whatever. This one was always my favorite back in the day and it still is. Hey, how about that, she curses. The one thing that always confused me was why she stole his lighter. I never figured that one out. It seems like it wouldn't be an easy thing to hide, and if you light a cigarette in his presence he'd probably be like, "Hey, isn't that my lighter?" But what's the big deal, anyway? I bought a six-pack of lighters the other day, I wouldn't care if someone like Liz Phair stole one of 'em.

Material Issue -- "Diane"
I suppose this is sort of an appropriate pairing; didn't Material Issue and Liz Phair collaborate at some point? Before Jim Ellison suffocated himself to death, of course. Probably not quite as bad as the Elliott Smith route, but definitely not the quickest and least painful way to go. Which is sort of the point, right? "Valerie Loves Me" is the obvious hit from this album, but "Diane" has the most staying power, I think. Who wouldn't love a 19-year-old with her own helicopter and submarine? Valerie, Diane, Renee, Christine ... dude had a lot of ladies in his life. That makes his suicide either even more questionable, or, more likely, all the more understandable.

The Oranges Band -- "I Live Alone"
On Monday night, ZR and I will be heading up to the Ottobar with our new BFFs to catch TOB. Yes, I still get super-excited every time I get to see TOB, even though it happens fairly frequently. I recently decided that my favorite moment in any TOB song is the first few seconds of this one right here, the kind of fake start followed by a "Hoo!" (which is different from "Woo!" mind you). It's not as pogo-inducing as "Success" or "My Street" or as pretty as "Open Air" or "Ride the Wild Wave," but it's heavy, repetitive, features a great one-note solo and is done under two minutes. There's this song of mine that ZR and I are working on right now that he really likes and I like it to, but I feel it might be just a bit too much of a straight rip of this tune. And for me to say a song of ours is too much of a straight rip of another song, then you know it's gotta be pretty shameless. I'll recap Monday's show in the upcoming "Show Diary, mid-June through July" which will also feature fun stuff like The Great Blue Cheer Banter of 2006 and The Full African Experience of Konono No. 1 at the Black Cat.

--DM--

July 28, 2006 | Permalink

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July 28, 2006

Recent Obsessive Listening -- Not Hard to Read Between the Lines Edition

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