Particular Mix 2007: Prisons and Math

Some friends and I made two mixes at the end of last year and beginning of this one. This is the particular mix, wherein each song must match a specific category. I specifically also tried to incorporate songs from as many of my favorite 2007 releases as possible.

1. The last thing you'll ever hear:
Akron/Family - “Don’t Be Afraid, You’re Already Dead” (Love Is Simple, 2007)
Featuring a lovely melody and words of comfort (all lyrics: "Don't be afraid, it's only love/love is simple/don't be afraid, you're already dead/love is simple/la da didi da da didi dum"), this is the song I want playing in my head on my deathbed.



2. Song about a body part:
My Teenage Stride - “Ears Like Golden Bats” (Ears Like Golden Bats, 2007)
I wrote elsewhere about how My Teenage Stride channels kiwi-pop (New Zealand indie rock, I mean) near perfectly, and that even though they're basically no different from any number of garage revivalists, I don't give a damn. This song may sound like 1991, but I love it. I especially dig all the guitar tones and the killer bass line.

3. Cover better than the original:
Sparklehorse & The Flaming Lips - “Go” (The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered, 2004)
Elegaic and crammed with noisy psych-junk, this cover of Daniel Johnston's "Go" moves me like a sad ballad should. Let me say that I love Daniel Johnston, but almost always find his music more affecting when played by an artist possessed of more talent. Johnston has the rare ability to write songs where the sophistication is not immediately apparent in his version. This song, for instance, is pretty simple structurally, but the way it turns on the bridge is masterful.



4. No vocals:
Pelican - “Far From Fields” (City of Echoes, 2007)
This track is more post-rock than metal, but Pelican is more closely associated with the indie-metal scene. Who needs vocals when you have guitar interplay this intricate?



5. What instrument is that?:
Animal Collective - “Derek” (Strawberry Jam, 2007)
I went back and forth on this category for a while, but I finally decided on Animal Collective for their bold oddness. The song only has two parts, a guitar-driven part A, and drum loop-driven part B. But the weirdness that provides depth to the song is a mystery. Some of it ws created by a synth, yes, and some is sampling, but most of the sound is just so bizarre that I can't imagine what created it.



6. Duo:
Nina Nastasia & Jim White - “I've Been Out Walking” (You Follow Me, 2007)
Jim White's drumming is so rich that I have to remind myself when listening to this album that there's only two instruments: drums and a finger-picked guitar. Nina Nastasia's songwriting helps by building tension on a bass melody, like Mother Maybelle covering P.J. Harvey.



7. No chorus, no bridge: the song follows the same structure throughout:
Mekons - “Dickie Chalkie and Nobby” (Natural, 2007)
Jon Langford has written countless two-chord songs that sound like more than they are. It's a neat hat trick when it works, although he occasionally falls on his face. Maybe you have to be a socialist to know how to work with that sort of economy.

STREAMING AUDIO FROM PITCHFORK

8. No verse, no chorus, all bridge: the song has unrepeated (or minimally repeated) movements rather than a verse-chorus structure:
Fiery Furnaces - “Automatic Husband” (Widow City, 2007)
The first few times I heard this song, the intro made me think it was going to be a hip-hop track. Anyway, I flubbed this category. The structure goes: A/B/C/A/B/D/E/B. That's a lot of repetition of the B part (which is instrumental), not to mention two instance of the A verse. Oh well, sorry. I think it's cool that the FFs fit so much into a two-minute track.

STREAMING AUDIO FROM THE HYPE MACHINE

9. Spooooooooooky:
Bela Lugosi - “Beware” (mp3 download, 1953)
Wait! Pull the string! Pull the string!



10. About space travel and/or aliens:
Deerhunter - “Strange Lights” (Cryptograms, 2007)
Arguably about space travel with the "we walk into the sun" refrain and the lines about "In space all things are slow/the sound of speakers blown/the silence fits the scene". It could be about a particularly spacey acid trip, yes. If this doesn't work for you, substitute Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground" instead, because although it's not about space travel, it's one of the few songs we've deliberately shot through space.



11. Perfect road song:
Laurie Anderson - “Lighting Out For The Territories” (United States Live, 1984)
I'm funning with y'all a little bit on this, the closing track from Laurie Anderson's four-disc epic United States Live, which is not a perfect song for driving on the road, although it is a perfect analogy. Drawing on a repeated metaphor of life as a darkened road and people as lost cars, the radio signals a symbol of the difficulty of communication, this song offers a chilly breath of hope: "You've been on this road before/You can read the signs/You can feel the way/You can do this in your sleep".

STREAMING AUDIO FROM RHAPSODY

12. Voice on loan from god:
The National - “Fake Empire” (Boxer, 2007)
I don't know how this guy's deep moany voice channels the voice of god, but man, it's just right for this message - also from god - "we're half awake in a fake empire." Yeah, we are. I like how well the message works with Laurie Anderson's. I love the competing horns towards the end, after the song quits being a ballad shortly past the halfway mark. I love that the guitars don't appear until 2:31 into the song and then they disappate just as quickly by 2:54. I don't know why I'm such a sucker for this band. I don't like Springsteen or U2, but I can't resist the National's big sweeping rock songs.



13. Song that makes you wish you didn't know the language it's being sung in:
British Sea Power - “Straight Down The Line” (Krankenhaus? EP, 2007)
I blew it with this one, too. The lyrics sound so dumb at first that I didn't try to parse them all the way through until after I'd burnt the discs. Then I realized that later verses indicate it's about a captured POW being tortured for information. Geez. I mean, that's horrible and maybe I wish I didn't know this, but certainly a worthy topic for a song.

STREAMING AUDIO FROM LAST.FM

14. Killer guitar solo/Should be in Guitar Hero:
Marnie Stern - “This American Life” (In Advance Of The Broken Arm, 2007)
Shredderrific art-rock! This would kick ass in Guitar Hero.

15. Song that makes you laugh (or includes laughter):
16. Song that makes you cry (or includes weeping):
17. Song you'd like to see made into a movie:
Jens Lekman - “A Postcard To Nina” (Night Falls On Kortedala, 2007)
Lekman is a pop songwriter with the left-curve emotional chops of Jonathan Richman and Stephin Merritt. This song's about Lekman pretending to be the boyfriend of a lesbian friend afraid of her intolerant father. Lekman plays it for laughs until suddenly, everything flips around and it's just so beautiful and poignant that it brings me to tears. I should tell y'all that I was originally going to put Chocolate Genius's "My Mom" in the weeping category because it's just wrenching, but I had to cut it for room. Anyway, I'm throwing this in the movie category, too, although I'm not sure I'd want to see that movie. Hollywood would probably read it as a Meet The Parents-type script and cast Ben Stiller, but if handled right, it seems that it could both be funny and quite a bit subversive.



18. Music from Before 1950:
Blind Willie Johnson - “Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground” (1927-1930)
As I hinted at before (and as most of y'all probably know), this song (among a handful of others) was included on the Voyager spacecraft sent skyward in 1977. No words, just moaning about the lord, but it's as good of an example of what the human race is capable as anything.



19. Song you're sure nobody else in the group has:
Skeletons and The Kings Of All Cities - “Sickness” (LUCAS, 2007)
Someone else may have this, yes. Some of the tracks from this album were free eMusic downloads at some point in the last year. I liked what I heard enough to download the whole thing, but the album altogether is a little long and pushy. This track, though, with the afropop Rhodes and weird rhythms and splashy keyboards and call-and-response, works for me.



20. The greatest song ever made, according to your sixteen-year-old-self:
Pixies - “Broken Face” (Surfer Rosa, 1988)
This one doesn't need an introduction. I loved the Pixies when I was 16. In the interest of full disclosure, I also considered Jane's Addiction's "The Mountain Song," The Cult's "Love Removal Machine," Sonic Youth's "Total Trash," and several other Pixies songs.



21. Song about about wild - or at least, non-domesticated - animals:
Menomena - “Evil Bee” (Friend and Foe, 2007)
OK, this song is not really about an animal so much as it's using the beehive as a metaphor. But the song both rocks and reveals the inner workings of rock. It starts and stops often. Instruments float in and out of the music, as do the drums. Man, what a great song.



22. Title longer than 8 words:
Arthur Russell - “You Did The Right Thing When You Put That Skylight In” (Let's Go Swimming EP, 1986)
Avant-noise disco built around heavily distorted cello. Russell was a goddamn visionary.



23. Title with 3 or fewer letters:
Deerhoof - “+81” (Friend Opportunity, 2007)
One of the more catchy tracks from Deerhoof's overly proggy 2007 album. Typical nonsensical chorus, horn loops, hooks galore, odd time changes: yes, it's Deerhoof.



24. Song recorded before the artist became even remotely popular:
Lou Reed and The Primitives - “The Ostrich” (mp3 download, 1964)
Get down on your face, man! This is Lou's famous first single performed on the ostrich guitar (where every string has been tuned to D and all the frets removed). From hence comes the Velvet Underground.

LINK FROM WFMU

25. Song about death:
Low - “Death of A Salesman” (The Great Destroyer, 2005)
So I took my guitar and I threw down some chords and some words I could sing without shame. And I soon had a song. I played it around for some friends, but they all said the same. They said, music's for fools. You should go back to school. The future is prisons and math. So I did what they said. Now my children are fed, 'cause they pay me to do what I'm asked. I forgot all my songs. The words now are wrong. And I burned my guitar in a rage. I wish the song stopped right there, but Low went a verse too far, trying to pull back from the darkness. C'mon, Willie Loman didn't have any such assurances. Still, right up to that point, the song's a killer.

Book No. 8: John Dougan - The Who Sell Out (33 1/3)

Dougan's 33 1/3 contribution focuses on the cultural context surrounding The Who's Pop Art masterpiece. It's on the MOJO-journalism side of the 33 1/3 style guide, but well worth reading. Especially if, like me, you consider The Who Sell Out the apex of their career and one of the best albums of all time.

Book No. 7: Denis Johnson - Tree of Smoke

This is a hard novel to describe. I wasn't hooked until about the halfway point, but then I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen. I didn't much care for the main characters until that point, but I became intoxicated by their struggles to define themselves and their place in the pointless war around them. Now that it's all over, I realize that it was an attempt to recast Vietnam and the horror of all that senseless struggle in semi-mystical terms, as a spiritual wound that cannot heal unless souls die and gods are destroyed. But that's glib and reductive, and Tree Of Smoke is neither. I think.

The cast of characters is large, but after awhile, I wished it were larger. There's Skip Sands, a young and idealistic CIA spook in 1965. There's his uncle The Colonel, a near-mythic Kurtzian figure so known despite being unaffiliated with the military since before WWII. There's his sometimes-love object Kathy, a widowed missionary struggling with lack of faith while bringing medicine to Vietnamese peasants. There's a storyline following Bill and James Houston, who are scarred by military bureaucracy and the horrible violence of war (respectively) and then wind up in Phoenix, AZ with no more ability to deal with real life than Stone Age tribemen. There's the Colonel's muscle, Jimmy Storm, who acts as Skip's evil twin for awhile, then becomes obsessed towards the end with the idea that he's been lied to. There's the Vietnamese characters Hao and Trung Than, who grew up together in an orphanage and wind up on opposite sides of the conflict.

My fundamental problem with the book is that I never really understand these men's motives. No, that's not right: I get their motives, but I don't understand their arcs. I get why they are doing the things they are doing up to a point (everything becomes inexplicable once the story jumps into the 80s). Johnson's aiming for some sort of spiritual transcendence with these storylines, but the meaning is ultimately obscure. By this, I mean that everything seems to go nowhere. The Houston brothers' story comes to nothing I can make out. Both Skip and the colonel betray their own idealism. There's moments of beautiful writing and moments where the prose sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb. There's scenes that will stick with me, especially Storm's final scene, which seems to cap the point of everything without any resolution. Maybe the point is that resolution is impossible without death, but that certainly doesn't seem like a truth where the reveal is worth the ride.

Do I recommend it? Yes. This is the kind of problem book that I would wish on my friends, mainly because I'm curious about their takes on it. A book containing such baffling multitudes invites conversation. I think there's major parts of the book that are worthwhile, ringing with much more truth than the resolution. But maybe I'm a cynic.

It's on your side. You know as much as it to you reveals. It flies, is money, and waits for no man. And it's our Super-Special Topic for The High Hat No. 10: It's Time.

Yes, 10! Can you believe it? Ten issues of America's little webzine that could! And we want YOU to be a part of this Ultra-Special Issue.

Of course, if you're not interested in writing about our Extra-Special Topic (Had we but world enough and it...), we're also interested in your thoughts on movies, music, tv, books and arts, and life itself.

Please send your pitches to highhatsubmissions@gmail.com by April 30th. We're looking for finished articles by May 15 so we can go to press in June. It is of the essence, so be on it!

Ever yours,
The Editors

FACT: I'm not going to read 50 books this year.

FACT: I am going to read some books this year.

RESOLVED: I will abandon the 50 books project, but will continue to review books here.

RESOLVED: Since I've been reading a lot of 33 1/3 books, I will talk about their pros and cons on the Shoot Out The Lights blog, where 33 1/3 books are of interest.

UNDER CONSIDERATION: Moving the music library posts to their own blog. Not quite sure whether it will be worth it, although the project has been fun so far (and needs updating).

If The Perfect Could Lie Down With The Good

The Wire is over. Like millions (okay, thousands) of Wireheads, I am having a hard time facing a post-Wire world. It was the best series that television has ever produced, combining consistently engaging interconnected plots, impeccable acting, impeccable writing, a finite time to tell the stories (rather than dragging things out to meet network tv standards), a willingness to assume that watchers have enough intellect to infer certain plot developments, meaningful insight into its topics, and an enormous amount of heart for its subjects, ugly though they may often have been. It didn't have or need the dream-logic of The Sopranos, as great as that was. It didn't have or need the constant florid filth-poetry of Deadwood, as great as that was. It had the other kind of poetry, the everyday kind, and the other kind of logic, the Chinese puzzle-box kind.

This isn't to say that it didn't have its flaws. The final three episodes were fantastic, especially the penultimate one, but I wonder if their excellence would have shone quite so bright without the lackluster beginnings of the season. In the last season, the Sun story, in particular, never gelled, and the serial killer story could have worked better with a little bit more of a slow burn into it.

And this is where I'm going to do something stupid to prove my love for the show. I know The Wire made a point of rewarding hubris with downfall, but I'm going to offer my too-late suggestions to fix the final season, hubristic though it may be for do-nothing me to offer suggestions to those who drove The Wire. If you haven't seen Season Five yet, you may wish to stop here.

I get what Simon et al. were saying about the media. The Sun leadership was focused on the personal success to the point of indifference to the truth, the owners cut personnel without recognizing that higher-paid staff was paid more for a reason, and those who were left often missed the real story because they didn't have the necessarily knowledge and reach. However, by focusing on the fabulist Templeton and the saintly editor Gus to the exclusion of many of the other characters, Simon et al. missed an opportunity to dramatize some of the larger issues facing the media in the 21st century.

They needed several more characters, first off. They needed an ambitious TV reporter delivering stories both serious and light with the same lack of depth. They needed a blogger trying to write real news, but uncommitted to following through to ensure accuracy. I think by adding in those characters, even in the background, The Wire could have turned their indictment of the media's failings into a better story. I think they needed another couple of episodes for the story to gel. I think the Sun story should have focused more on Alma and given Templeton, Whiting, and Klebanow more depth. I don't have all the solutions, but here's some scenes that could have changed my take on the story:

1. Somewhere in the beginning of the season, McNulty sitting in a bar by himself, watching TV. The TV reporter is talking with a director filming in Baltimore. He says his movie is about a serial killer stalking people around the Edgar Allan Poe House. Among the banter, one of them drops that serial killer movies make decent money.
2. McNulty and Bunk catch a body near the Poe House. McNulty catches sight of the movie being filmed a block or two away. Bunk is bitching about the lack of pay for real murders.
3. A young Carcetti staffer is talking to his friend at a bar about how he overheard his boss looking forward to Clay Davis's indictment. His friend goes home and updates his blog about Baltimore politics.
4. Alma is reading the blog, Gus looking over her shoulder. He wants to know if they have a story about this. They mention that their online content is subscriber-only, anyway.
5. More scenes with Alma and Twigg. She is the one who should realize that his sources have been carefully cultivated over time. Twigg shouldn't be forced out until a few episodes later, because Alma should feel out of her league without him.
6. Templeton should have a crush on Alma. The early episodes should establish that Templeton is trying to be a good reporter, but he's not likable enough to get people to talk with him. When he decides to embellish something the first time, it should be a major moment.
7. Alma should be flattered by Templeton's obvious crush, but unwilling to do anything about it. Their dynamic should allow for scenes where Templeton admits his secret ambitions and exudes a need to impress her. His first embellishment should have something to do with impressing her. Whatever it is, he needs to make some sort of note in his pad that will eventually lead to her realizing that he's a fabulist.
8. Klebanow and Whiting should have a conference call with the Tribune where they fight for their budget and only reluctantly give in. It should be clear that they're both interested in the awards, but want to keep around the old-timers to help them achieve the prizes. Like Burrell with his ambitions, they're not at the Sun to dismantle it, but to use it for personal glory.
9. When the serial killer thing breaks, the tv reporter should scoop the Sun at every turn until Scott starts making shit up. In fact, they should have McNulty more attracted to the tv reporter than to Alma, and not shift his focus to the paper until Templeton forces him to.
10. When the Clay Davis thing starts to break, Tony Gray should reappear running for Davis's State Senate seat. Carcetti's staffer should quit his office to work on Gray's campaign, which feeds the blogger mostly true stories, but often obviously fake ones, about Davis and Carcetti.
11. The Sun should kill a story for lack of sources that the blogger publishes. It should be clear that some of his stories wouldn't pass the institutional review.
12. Templeton's notepad shouldn't be empty, but demonstrably false. By the end, Alma should want to believe the best about Templeton despite her doubts. Although Gus has the most doubts about Templeton, he should have confided in Alma beforehand. She should have stuck up for Templeton, but when Templeton throws the notepad at the desk, she should flip it open to the page from earlier where he's written something that she and she alone will know means that he's been embellishing the news.
13. Earlier, Whiting and Klebanow should be under pressure from the Tribune to increase sales. The Tribune mentions the tv reporter's serial killer coverage and the blogger scooping them on local politics. This leads to Twigg's being let go. It should be clear that when they decide to back Templeton, they're doing so because they've already submitted his work for prize consideration. Someone other than Gus should bring this to their attention.
14. Alma should work on a story that threatens to expose or contradict Templeton. Klebanow should get wind of this, and threaten her with dire consequences if she continues her research. She should end up passing the story to the blogger, who publishes it. Someone at the tv station should see the story and consider covering it, only to be discouraged because one of the Tribune's partners owns the tv station.
15. When Alma is shipped off to the county, it should parallel Jimmy riding the boat as much as possible. We should see the blogger being hired as the Sun's online editor.
16. At some point, Gus should be given a Sophie's Choice between saving Alma's career and saving something equally valuable to him. Just because his righteous indignation needs to be tempered by a little damnation.

I think that's it. More Twigg, more Alma, a bit less St. Gus. A more-nuanced motive for Templeton, Whiting, and Klebanow. Rival media sources providing shallower news coverage with less verification. The Sun's mistakes shouldn't merely be backing the fabulist, but cutting competent reporters with institutional knowledge, having little idea of how to do online content, and not appreciating that verifying news stories is more important than getting there first. Also, Jimmy should have gotten the serial killer idea from the media.

Music Library: Alex Chilton, Alex de Grassi, Alexander "Skip" Spence, Alison Krauss, Allman Brothers Band

Music library post!

Alex Chilton's collection 19 Years was the last album I listened to, so I'm up to:

Alex Chilton - 1970. Tracks from an aborted album between Chilton's period as the singer of the Box Tops and his time in Big Star. Very influenced by Gram Parsons and the Stones. Some good tracks and a little b.s.

Alex de Grassi - A Windham Hill Retrospective. This was a gift. De Grassi's a decent guitarist, but a little dull and technical for my tastes. A lot of these songs sound like more precise versions of dicking around on an acoustic guitar. I don't think there's a hummable melody throughout.

Alexander "Skip" Spence - Oar. Great damaged-hippie album. If this had come out in the last couple of years, they'd call it "freak folk." I bought this years ago on the recommendation of my old friend Andy, and I've never regretted it for a second. Hmm. A couple of tracks are damaged themselves through what sounds like a poor rip. Reminder to self: fix that.

Alison Krauss - Now That I've Found You: A Collection. This is my beloved wife's album, which both excuses me from listening to it or posting my thoughts on it. I will say that I generally like bluegrass, and some of these songs would qualify as bluegrass.

Alison Krauss - "Jesus Help Me To Stand" from Every Time You Say Goodbye. This is bluegrass gospel, but it's a little too finely sanded for my tastes.

Allman Brothers Band - Eat A Peach. I love the ABB from this period. I don't know what happened to my discs of the first album and Idlewild South, but I'm going to have to pick those up again soon. Eat A Peach is more perfect for its messiness. Duane Allman died with only a few tracks recorded, and this album is meant to capture the emotional highs and lows and pay tribute to him, too. His death haunts the whole affair, but it's not an especially sad collection of songs, but an affirmation of life in the face of death. Plus, between Dickey Betts's contributions and Duane's final recordings, there's a shitload of great guitarwork.

Next time: ABB - Complete Live At Fillmore East. Actually, as long as those songs are, that album may be covered in both the next time and the time after.

Maybe you heard there was a primary vote here in Texas the other night? I voted early, but went down to the precinct house (in my case, a Lutheran church) to vote in the caucus for my Presidential candidate of choice, Barack Obama. 400 of my neighbors also turned out, and we had a nearly two-hour wait to get into the room to sign our names. We could have stayed around to do more - vote for delegates, offer platform positions - but it was late, and I had to get home to help put the kids to bed. I'd say well over half - maybe up to 75% - of the people who turned out were Obama supporters. You may have heard that Hillary Clinton took Texas by about 100K votes, but it certainly appears that Obama will end up with more delegates from the state, thanks to our arcane delegate apportionment rules. There's two possible reasons for this I can see, and they aren't mutually exclusive. 1) Although there's more Clinton supporters, they don't feel strongly enough to go back to the precinct house and vote again. 2) Many of Clinton's supporters lived along the border and out in West Texas, meaning that a lot of them work heavy industrial or agricultural jobs, the type of jobs where your leisure time is at a far greater premium than it is for the middle-class Obama supporters I saw in my district.

For me, although I agree with many of Clinton's policy positions, I think Clinton's going to have a harder time beating McCain than Obama would. It's stupid and high-schoolish, but I think a lot of voters are swayed by stupid and high-schoolish ideas. Clinton's not very likeable, even though she's smart. She's more than a little brittle, and she's shown a tendency to belittle Obama and her other D opponents as if they were the worst people she's ever encountered, and then later she will act like it is nothing to talk this way. To her, perhaps, it is nothing. She's been saying lately that Obama is all talk, saying that his speeches are "just words." Words, she seems to say, are nothing but tools to carry a person forward, a part of the game, if you will. Perhaps that is true in her mind, but clearly, I disagree. A President is a captain of a ship. Knowing how to steer and knowing the direction are important, but it's even more important to know how to lead a crew. You do that with words, Ms. Clinton.