MixtapEP #10: Audra to Jesse

By request from pEPper Alex Kennedy of competing music blog, I Die: You Die, as of this week we’re going to start linking directly to each video individually in addition to the playlist at the top of the post.  Click the song titles to follow along with us, like those storybooks with 7”s in them!  You’ll know it’s time to turn the page when you hear Tinkerbell’s impression of a Mogwai.

1. The Balconies, “Serious Bedtime”

AW: There are actually songs that I liked more by these guys, but this video makes me SO HAPPY that I can’t stop watching it.  Oh man nothing is more fun than people being silly and smiley and having the best time.  This band just moved to Toronto do you think it would be creepy for me to track down this lead singer gal and make her be my best friend Y [ ] N [ ]?

LOOKIT ALL OF HER FACES!!! AAAAA I can’t take it. Also “Serious Bedtime” is a really fantastic combination of words let’s not even pretend otherwise.  Also the singing is good. Listen, I can’t really talk about the music I’m too happy about all of the dancing and goofing.

JD: The best thing about the video is definitely her wildly goofy faces.  The number of problems I have with the faces she is making is best expressed as ZERO.

AW: I need to see an infographic about this.

JD: I’ve had the graphics dpEPtartment whip this up for you:

I am weirdly disconcerted by how the drums don’t quite match the audio when they’re fully featured.  I am a stickler for accurately showing the high hats loosening and smashes getting smashier during a crescendo and stuff like that.  Better drum syncing is all I ask!

AW: Well I certainly didn’t notice that.

JD: Riff-wise there is an extent to which this song is “My Sharona,” and that extent would be best expressed as GREATER THAN ZERO.

AW: Again I am lost without a strong visual.

JD: After a great deal of consultation, the graphics dpEPt and I came up with this symbolic representation of the above concept:

It’s a pretty fun song and the video is nice.  I like that mural, but I feel bad for the dolphins in it!  Kind of hard not to be psyched for the squid kickin’ ass, though.

AW: Oh man now I want to hear you narrate a nature documentary so bad.  I want to know who did the mural! I really like it. Probably someone in Ottawa?

JD: I would narrate a nature documentary SO bad.

2. Casiokids - “Finn Bikkjen!”

AW: I think this video is maybe what it is like in Thesis’s head? I am still on the fence about the song.  It might be too high pitched? The melody is nice but it sort of feels like his voice is piercing my brain.

I really like the synchronized dancing of all the weird creatures, and I THINK I like the way the creatures don’t actually look that weird, they look like they were made using supplies bought at Giant Tiger.  I KNOW I like that dog.

JD: Do you think that guy bought his pretty face at Giant Tiger?  God damn!

AW: Ha! He probably did.

JD: I liked the dancing and the creature styles, but - oh man I’m going to seem the the picker of such nits this time - I felt like two scenes wasn’t enough.  I think a more traditional three acts would have made it seem like more of an ordeal, and then the first dance could have been shorter and stayed seeming just as cool the whole time.

AW: Jesus it’s like you didn’t even notice how cute the dog is.

JD: Audra I am bored of cute dogs.  I have to walk one every day now.  My LIFE is the real ordeal here.

I like the fluttery bass synth, that is my main thing I like in the music.  The voice is not super beautiful to me.  The music overall is not unpleasant to me but not something I anticipate putting back on for its own sake any time soon.  It’s lucky it has a video with weird creatures and some pretty dude’s face!

And fine a dog which is allegedly cute.

AW: Yeah also I feel like Casiokids is a really unimaginative name for a band. Is it? 

JD: I think it wouldn’t seem so weak if they were the ONLY band to co-opt the brand name Casio, but they aren’t.  Although Casiotone For The Painfully Alone recently changed his name to Advance Base, so maybe a spot opened up?

3. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, “I See A Darkness”

AW: Oh weird. There are so many versions of this song! Many by the same dude! Bonnie Prince Billy released in 1999 (like this, I think?), then Johnny Cash covered it the next year. And maybe Oldham did ANOTHER version at some point because I know I’ve heard a different one.

JD: I think if I were doing a bunch of variations on this song, I would have called them slightly different names - this one, for example, might have been “I Smell A Darkness” for example.

That’s just an example.

AW: Okay. 

JD: Is it clear that that was merely one example?  Just, you know, for instance.

AW: Anyway this is a NEW version, and it’s a weird boppy country jam with a 100% delightful and 100% baffling video.

JD: I can’t believe those walks he is doing.  Those walks are ridiculous.

Do you think it is even conceivable for someone to do those gaits and struts and bops if they don’t also have a bizarre walrus moustache like his?  I know for a FACT they cannot be done without a stuffy waistcoat.

AW: I know for a fact that this is exactly what Josh will be like in 15 years.

JD: For reference, this is Josh now:

If I hadn’t recently seen footage of Dave Van Ronk performing “He Was A Friend Of Mine,” I would be convinced that someone with facial hair that fanciful must be banned from ever doing a melancholy performance of any sort.

Still I don’t know how you would do it.  Wouldn’t you be just about to weep and then snap out of it like, “HUUHHHH I look just like a walrus!??”

AW: Hahaha the incredulous punctuation is what really makes this.

JD: Oh fuck what also there is that part where he has no eyes and I’m supposed to one day sleep again?  OH WAIT WHAT THE FUCK ALL OF THEIR EYES ARE GOING WILD ALL OVER THE PLACE WHAT IS THIS OH NO.

AW: I had to cover my mouth while I was reading this because I was laughing so hard in public.

JD: I’M GLAD THAT ONE OF US IS LAUGHING.  EVER AGAIN.

AW: This version doesn’t give me any of the feelings of the one I linked to earlier, but I find it so impressive that he could just remake it. Do you think you could ever take a really sad song of yours and then just do a totally chipper version?

JD: I can’t imagine it, but I don’t often write so broadly as this - the difference in tone really undermines the crushing, ominous presence of The Darkness as it appears in the original version, but a lot of that was atmospheric to begin with - the only phrase that doesn’t seem transformed in meaning is the song’s title.

The narrator isn’t hopelessly returning to depression over and over anymore, but just is kind of a wacky guy is all, it seems to me.

I think I’d have more luck making one of my upbeat songs seem sad!

AW: Think you’ll ever do THAT, then??

JD: Nah I’ll probably always have enough new sad feelings that I won’t have to!  I’m not some hack like Will Oldham.

4. Mint Julep, “To The Sea”

AW: Hope you like feeling crazy, because this video is going to do that for you a lot.  Unless you’ve already seen similar things in which case FINE.  This for SURE makes me motion sick but even with that I am super impressed by the effect.

I like the echoes on the vocals, and the handclaps.  Otherwise I find it pretty unremarkable on first few listens. I just don’t like her voice. I think a different vocalist could really change my feelings about this.  Keep that in mind, Mint Julep!

JD: Wow, you are ruthlessly trying to support a coup.  That’s cold.  I liked the handclaps too, and also the synth arpeggio.  The singer I was fine with!  Poor kid.

AW: Bah. 

JD: It took me a moment to realize that the effect was in fact nothing like the old still image morphing effect, and thought for a while that it was fading between left and right shots from a stereoscopic shoot.  So I pretty much drove my face crazy alternating one eye open at a time to see if it would turn 3D and I kept thinking I alllllmost had it but then thought I was going backwards and kept trying to switch and then I realized NO THIS IS MENTAL and tried to relax.

AW: I wish that was on youtube like when babies eat a lemon.

JD: That’s a very lyrical sentence.  You ever think about rapping?

Anyway I am pretty sure that trying to watch Mint Julep in 3D is how Will Oldham’s eyes got fucked up in the “I See A Darkness” video!!

I really like this video, although something about the books feels jarring.  Maybe I wish they were more integrated into scenes and not just product shots?  I do think that having all those books makes the barrel fire seem like a CRIME SCENE by the end of the video, and I almost had what I imagine the thrill of a horror movie might be like if you are terrible, when the viewpoint slowly encroached more and more on the flames and I was sure I was gonna see some book carnage in there.  But they were TOO SCARED!!

AW: I am glad you are not terrible!

JD: You silver-tongued devil.

5. Adam Arcuragi and The Lupine Chorale Society, “Presidents’ Song”

AW: Wikipedia makes a big deal out of this dude inventing a “Death Gospel” scene, but first of all I can’t really find any other bands who are labelled with that, and second of all I think that music writer needs to watch Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus and simmer down. 

JD: Or just ever hear Blanche, or some Lomax recordings!  This is like the very, very niced up version of those things.

I like the idea of a lot of people just singing one note each in a big, swelling chorus every four bars.  That’s clever.

AW: I like how grudging this sounds. Grumps forever!

There is a lot of tension to this melody that is increased by the harmonies.  I love that.  I like a bunch of friends making music especially while they are wearing suits.

If this song was playing at a party I’d probably dance a bit. But really I just want to be at the party in the video.

JD: Yeah that party is enviable.  Everyone at a big party looking cool and knowing how a song goes and how to play it well seems pretty exciting.  I like when the roles start rotating, like a Sloan concert.  I don’t like the slow motion scenes, because it makes the instruments not match the music WHICH WE HAVE DISCUSSED.

AW: Oh my god organize a protest why don’t you.

JD: That’s cold!  You know I don’t have Facebook.

6. Rufus Wainwright, “Out Of The Game”

AW: Rufus Wainwright just moved back to Toronto with his husband and son, and he gave an interview that I really liked, so I decided to look into his new stuff.

JD: Husband and son?  That’s a lot of hats to wear!  Dude needs to circulate more.

AW: This song’s chorus reminds me a lot of Hawksley Workman, probably in part because of the crescendo-ing melody and also because who else says “Sucker” in a song that is not a hip hop song?

Helena Bonham Carter is really endearing when she lipsynch shouts at the library. I bet they had a great time making this video. Here is some info about it from Wikipedia:

“The music video received mixed critical reception; many  reviewers offered commentary on Wainwright’s use of drag and noted that his characters appear to have sex with one another.”

Rich Lopez of the Dallas Voice thought Carter “anchored” the music video and found Wainwright’s performance “distracting”.

JD: Oh man how am I supposed to top such keen criticism and penetrating insight.  I wish they’d never started Wikipedia!!

AW: You should edit the Wikipedia entry, to say “They never started Wikipedia”. What would happen then??

JD: This feels like the premise of an amazing work of speculative fiction.  I should get my internet friend, whimsical cyberpunk author (and Dad-themed rapper) Jay Friedman to take a crack at it.  Watch this space.

Now, Audra, I think you’re right about the Hawksley Workman thing for precisely the reasons you describe.  I am just like, “yes, correct.”

AW: This is the point where you would take a pencil and underline it twice and write “Quite true!” in the margin. (That is a reference to a Dorothy Parker book review from memory so I maybe got it wrong.)

JD: That said, it’s not really like any of the many Hawksley Workman songs I enjoy.  I have yet to ever love a Rufus Wainright song, which I know puts me in the Wainwrong.

AW: Haaaaaaaa

JD: For sure HBC is a good performer…

AW: Whoa lucrative Hudsons Bay Company sponsorship opportunity squandered

JD: …there is something really different about watching an actor act-sing a song and the usual performer sing-act it.  But the narrative of the video eludes me to a point, and then past that point, it baffles me.

AW: There are three Rufus Wainwrights and they all get it on with Helena Bonham Carter but mostly each other?

JD: Um SPOILER ALERT for the pEPpers, Audra!  But yeah, at first I am really eager to be carried along by the broad symbolism of the cigarette, the flask of booze, and the minor display of sensuality, but then I am not sure what is up.

Is she envious of the Rufuses’ lack of uptightness?  Does she have them put into library jail, on cabaret day?  And then she fucks them because she decides that really she’s the one with the problem?  I think it would be hotter if not for Rufus’s creepy zombie eyes, and how his use of drag is “distracting.”

AW: THEY COULD BE WORSE EYES. 

JD: I feel like this is a threat, and has something to do with the Bill Oldham video from above (1979).

7. The Paper Kites, “Featherstone”

AW: This song and video is a bit like it is from my mind.  Also: trumpets are the best.

JD: Oh that got really beautiful!

I would have had the kids all asleep on their pillows at the end, though.  And also I wish that any of them weren’t white, if they’re trying to do a universal magical childhood make-believe world.  But the forest looks great, and even greater when brilliantly coloured feathers are cascading all over it.

I didn’t really hear the song from listening to it!

AW: You should listen, too! It is great and sad. 

——

Ending Themes

JD: This is the most thematically intricate pEP ever!  I detected the following themes:

  1. books with clearly visible titles, that are real books;
  2. instruments not quite synching up with playback;
  3. each eye going off in some other direction;
  4. things to do with beds! bedtime, sleeping & dreaming, mattress & sex, pillows.

AW: I am bad at themes.

JD: What are you talking about.

MixtapEP #9: Jesse to Audra

  1. Santigold, “Disparate Youth”
    JD: Bloodthirsty babes?  That frenetic guitar blast in the verses actually does make me think of TVOTR and if I were not so devoted to preserving my childlike sense of wonder, I would google it to see if the track’s name has anything to do with that.  Okay but apart from that, here is an exhaustive list of things to not like about this song and video: NONE OF THE THINGS.  The music is so rich and urgent!  The vocal is so trash and ready.  The video is so rich and urgent.  When did she change her name from Santogold to Santigold?  Am I crazy?  This video sets up the pEPisode theme, by the way.  Keep an eye out!  Oh don’t get all excited and think it’s kids singing the hook, though… that’s just this one.  Sorry.  Shit, sorry.
    AW: Oh this is not at all the Santigold video I was going to include in the first pEP I made you! I’ve never seen this! This is great! I don’t remember her being Santogold, or Santigord, or Santa. OH but wait you are right she did it because of being sued. There was a breakfast cereal called Santogold! Just kidding. It was a stupid movie.
    JD: I think she should have changed her name to Common Sense X.  I do appreciate that she only had to change one letter and it was fine.
    AW: ANYWAY.     You are right that this song is musical perfection!!  The video is really striking, too.  I looked it up, and she co-directed it! I think if she wasn’t a person of colour, I’d find it fetishizing.
  2. 10iller, “Native”
    JD:     I saw her by accident at SXSW when I was trying to see MOP - she was hyping Marz Lovejoy, and did some verses and tracks of her own. and I was really taken.  Now I follow her on tumblr, hoping she’ll leak more tracks.  I was sort of disappointed that her mixtapes have a lot more singing than rapping on them, but this one is RAW.  She raps kind of like if Ghostface was in Digable Planets but not like Ladybug, like Butterfly.  I wish this joint was longer, that beat is so mean.
    AW: She sounds like Kassy! Is that sexist of me? I like this a lot! Also it has a cat running backwards I HOPE THAT IS THE THEME!! Yeah this song is too short for sure. She should have made it longer if she wanted me to write more. I don’t have any anecdotes about her!
    JD: Pretty sexist, Audra.  That is also your sailor moon name generator result: Pretty Sexist Audra.
  3. M.I.A., “Bad Girls”
    JD:     Mostly I’m humiliated that I haven’t got around to watching this yet.  Are you in the same boat?  Dammit, maybe you’ve seen it already and this is old hat to you.  But then… you don’t HATE old hats.
    I started off liking the beat a bit and then starting to get bored and then WHOOSH the bassline introduced the chords underlying the basic monotonous sample and I had FIFTY HEART ATTACKS from how BIG the feeling of that progression is.  That combined with how much all the stunts they’re doing scare the hell out of me and I think I felt exactly like I’m supposed to feel - this is something momentous, and very dangerous.  I totally do not care about the many, many clunky lines.  I only care about how this is the new “Otis,” times “Otis.”
    AW: Didn’t I see this when YOU tumbl’d it?? I thought I did! I have watched this a lot of times yes but I am always happy to watch it again! I even posted it on the BIAAG wall and there was a really interesting discussion about it.
    JD: Okay yeah well that’s part of why I felt like a FRAUD for not watching it yet!  But I didn’t see the BIAAG wall thing because I deleted my Facebook to concentrate on my true love of tumblring.
    AW: I am SO INTO HER JUMPY DANCING. I need more of this in my life. This video makes me really emotional and tough. The big failing I think is that most people I know didn’t realize it’s women driving the cars which (I think?) is the entire point.  The other big failing is maybe everything in this blog entry but it doesn’t make me like it less even if it should. 
    JD: I think that blog entry links to a much better blog entry for problematizing the imagery in that video but I think both of them are asking a lot from even an edgy pop music video.  The criticisms seem to be that it’s insufficiently representative of a present Arab reality.  Most music videos are inadequately representative of the culture of anyone depicted in them.  It’s not a documentary, and if the dancers aren’t exactly doing their moves right… I mean, Cali Swag District didn’t invent the Dougie, either.  From Kala onward, I’ve understood a major component of MIA’s thing to be going places and incorporating the art of the people she makes contact with into her work.  I don’t really understand a critique of cultural appropriation that doesn’t hinge on power imbalance and colonialism, which maybe is just a failing on my part but for that reason I don’t think she’s doing any damange with this one.  I think it BANGS.
  4. Rye Rye, “Never Will Be Mine” w/ Robyn
    JD:     This isn’t so much a remix/collaborative jacking as it is a BOWL CUT BATTLE TO THE DEATH.  I like the shots where Robyn looks like a dude from a rap video of the era that “Show Me Love” emulated.  I also like how Rye Rye has the voice of Lil Romeo (when he was an actual child) but really excellent flow and rhymes.  Keep an eye on how the back and forth video stuff plays out and I guarantee your mind will fall out of your ear.  Like when you notice the camera movement stays steady!
    AW: Hahahahaha. Robyn sounds like Kate Bush on here! I didn’t expect that to ever happen! Robyn acts out TOO MUCH EMOTIONS in this song. Calm down Robyn. This is actually one of those videos that I cannot watch because of my FEEBLE NATURE. I am completely motion sick from all the jerky stop-start camera action. So I can really only listen to it. Which is fun for sure! But maybe not where the MOST excitement is about this track. I do like it, though.
    JD: I’m gonna find a Robyn song you jam out to if it kills me…
  5. Rae Spoon, “Ocean Blue”
    JD:     I hope you are ready for some ART!  I really like the scenes where he’s in high contrast makeup, mainly on the gondola.  Some of the stuff that apparently lends structure I was not entirely sold on but I think it LOOKS really good, and has a ton of style.  Is there a Madonna video, or thirty, that it likely reminds me of?  Or is it just a really eighties angsty pop set of visuals?  I think you will like the colour pallette a ton, and also the girls with parasols which you will wish figured in more of the video, as I do.
    AW: Rae actually uses the pronoun “they” now!
    JD: Yeah I knew that; I just find “they” harder as a singular pronoun when it has a linking verb after it.  ”Is” or “are?”  I kind of lean toward “is.”  I don’t think plurals are going to solve the problems represented by prescriptively gendered pronouns, but I want to be accommodating.
    AW: I love the gondola scenes the most, too. The pallet of this is AMAZING you are so right.  Oh this pEP makes me seem SO AGREEABLE. Whoa Rae is a sharp dressed individual. The scenes with the food make me think of Johnny Cash’s video for “Hurt.” They really have the most gorgeous voice, hey?
    JD: See I would have been tempted to write “they really has the most gorgeous voice…” but yeah, I love Rae’s voice at all times.
    AW: I love all the laundry lines of clothes. When the makeup all starts running it’s really interesting! And those umbrellas are so great! And sailor suits are the best! And everything! I love this!!! Why am I not at a beach right now.
    JD: Audra it is fucking freezing out.  Don’t be a hero.
  6. Bowerbirds, “Tuck The Darkness In”
    JD: I did not think this was going to get me.  I spent the whole video certain it wasn’t going to get me, and it was almost over, and I was so un-got and I thought it was kind of obvious and predicable and then IT GOT ME.  Isn’t the kid great?  The kid and the fish are two first-rate actors.  The song is I guess good for a soundtrack to the short film but I will never recognise it or remember it out of context, I don’t think.
    AW: This is maybe the most lovely thing I have ever seen!!  I am totally crying all over my entire face and feeling SO BAD about my tuna sandwich. I LOVE THIS LITTLE KID. I love most when he is a little fish under water! Aaaaaaa. Thank you so much for finding this video! The music is a good fit I agree, but I don’t think it would give me any feelings on my own. 
    JD: Be it resolved: a little kid who loves a fish so much it simply must live forever is more touching than any other theme in art.
  7. The Kills, “The Last Goodbye”
    JD: Oh are you called The Kills because you are fucking killing me, The Kills?
    AW: Yeah. Break up songs that aren’t angry are pretty much the hardest things to take in the entire world. I love you.
    JD: I love you, too.

MixtapEP #8: Audra to Jesse

  1. Lianne La Havas, “Forget”
    AW: I LOVE THIS. I admit that the first thing that caught my eye is that her hair looks exactly like a bagel stuck to the front of her head, but then I was won over by the weirdo harmonies and the urgent guitars.  I know I am not blowing anyone’s mind by liking something that sounds like one parts Goapele one part breakfast pastry and two parts Dirty Projectors but I don’t care! Okay I care a little bit!
    JD: Oh my god this is amazing.  I feel like my whole next pEP is in jeopardy just from how good this one song is.  I like how you snapped up all the good bloggy comparisons to make.  I can’t even mention how I hear a little Björk in there because your mention of the DP’s makes it redundant.  Instead I will just be like “OMG those drummmmmms!” which is becoming my catchphrase and it’s not very funny.
    AW: I knew you would love it!! She is only 22! Before making music, she was a student at Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise College for Girls!! That is the most British school name in history.
    JD: The Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise College for Girls Alumnae Society is going to FREAK when they hear this. 
  2. Soko, “I’ve Been Alone Too Long”
    AW: Well    , Soko still exists! And nothing really happens in this video, FILMOGRAPHY-WISE, but I still find it really affecting. It’s like a simple raw song in a simple (aesthetically) raw setting. I totally believe every word she is singing.
    JD:     That’s gorgeous and a great performance.  I feel guilty about how much I lump together heavily-accented English-language singers into a category that seems sympathetic in my head… like, I would put this with Emiliana Torrini, Rita Pavone, and any of the first-name-only singers featured on Nouvelle Vague compilations.  They all seem like one artist to me!  And that artist is AMAZING!!  I think even Leoncie is in there somewhere!
    AW: WHOA I FORGOT ABOUT LEONCIE. I think Rita Pavone is more [ADJECTIVE NOT FOUND. SUGGEST: ZAZZY? JE-NE-SAIS-QUOI?].
    JD: I do find this video a bit long for how much less is going on in the middle bit.  It starts off completely captivating but I did switch to another window for a bit midway through.  It’s not only because youtube has ravaged my attention spa… oh I have to put my clothes in the dryer!
    AW: Yeah, I sort of like that it’s a bit aimless. I had a hard time choosing which of her new songs to put on this pEP! I love her tiny braids. 
  3. Trust, “Candy Walls”
    AW:     I’m not going to lie. I have no idea what the narrative for this is. It makes me really nostalgic though, I guess because the vocals sound like music I (my dad) listened to in high school, and the visuals are like the sort of summer I couldn’t ever handle having really because I am neither foot-loose nor fancy-free. I’m all feet and all fancy.  But I like that their hair is visibly dirty and I like the way he hugs her at the end. In the middle maybe she dreams she is a horse or something?
    JD:     My parents crossed the continent on a motorcycle not long before there was me.  There was camping and long hauls and I think they had an amazing adventure together.  I’ve never heard them say anything about it that wasn’t wistful and glowing.  This video mostly makes me think about them, and how the experience wasn’t just made up of the slides I’ve seen, but infinite minute moments along the way.
    AW: That’s a good way of putting it! I guess they wouldn’t have taken any video, hey? Too bad! It would have been so grainy and amazing!
    JD: It also makes me want to eat a REALLY FRESH gummy coke bottle like they have here, because I feel like I only ever have maybe once in my life and then every subsequent one was from the same batch because no-one ever bought them on purpose.
    AW: Hahahahaha. How do people accidentally buy them??
    JD: Oh you know, they’re just in with some other stuff.  So as far as narrative, I guess she has a late night freakout?  I thought she was going off to pee but then yeah she seems upset and sometimes there is a horse.  I guess it could be both.  It is really affecting!  The music is great, and sounds just like the music your dad listened to while you were in high school, but I kind of lament not being able to make out any of the lyrics because I feel they would provide some clarity to the narrative.  CLARRATIVE.
    AW: Thants. 
    I feel like kind of a chump because Trust (or maybe TRST? I’ve seen it written both ways) opened of for Sleigh Bells (who were selling t-shirts with “Slay Bells” on them, so clearly NEITHER band is super concerned with being accurately googled) last month, but we missed the opening act. I kind of wish I’d seen them, but also I don’t wish I’d had to hurry more that day. COMPLICATED.
  4. Princess Chelsea, “Yulia”
    AW: This is sort of like if Krista Muir and Kate Walchuk and BA Johnson had a baby. Oh man that would be such a cool baby. Haha look at that cat.  Why are cats so ungrateful when they get to be in music videos?? Most people are quite excited. Also most of this woman’s videos are very similar but I am still charmed by them.  Like sometimes it’s her singing into a camera with a monkey puppet on her bed, sometimes she’s holding a cat, sometimes she’s in a hot tub. I really like the xylophone in this song. Glockenspiel? Oh and singing. 
    JD: Okay she LOOKS exactly like the infant Katie that we once knew - and she also has a bagel attached to her hair so I think I have detected this pEPisode’s theme.
    AW: YES!!
    JD: She makes all the faces, and it’s adorable.  That cat is MEAN MUGGIN’ HARD.
    AW: Haaa I know!!
    JD: He looks exactly like Lil’ Wayne’s pretend dad, Baby.Baby/Daddy
    AW: I don’t know anything about this but it is SO FUNNY I can’t stop reading that sentence.
    JD: I bet he has an amazing grill but he’s not even concerned with stunting enough to show it off.  He’s just like “WHAT U SEE IS WHAT U GET.”
    AW: This is all so funny about the cat.
    JD: I think the other theme of this pEP is really tough drums.  You have my number on that one.  And yeah, glockenspiel - xylophones are made of wood.  I tell you that not to be pedantic, but because it’s fun to know that “xylo” means “wood!”  In Greek!  WOW.
    AW: OKAY WHAT ABOUT A MARIMBA IF YOU ARE SO SMART??
    JD: Without googling, I can tell you from personal experience that a marimba is pretty much a really nice xylophone.  If there is a subtler definition, I’ve forgotten it since All City Intermediate Percussion Ensemble in high school.  I had too many crushes to remember EVERY SINGLE KIND OF XYLOPHONE.

    The music in this track is kind of a brilliant synthesis of “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Take 5.”
    AW: I don’t hear “Ain’t No Sunshine!” Explain!!
    JD: Okay first let’s talk about that triple negative.  What you are trying to say is “I hear no sunshine.”  Second, just listen to the bassline on the original Bill Withers recording!

    Oh my god her album is called     Lil Golden Book?  I’m gonna make friends.  Also I’m gonna put a link to where to buy her record on vinyl because next time I have a few bucks in the paypal I’m gonna snag it up: http://lilchiefrecords.storenvy.com/collections/6311-princess-chelsea  It better not have crazy New Zealand shipping costs or I’ll freak.
    AW:  Too late I tricked you and bought it for you haaaaaa sucker.
    JD: EVERYBODY LOOK UNDER YOUR CHAIRS IT’S LIKE OPRAH IN HERE ALL OF A SUDDEN!??
  5. M. Ward, “The First Time I Ran Away”
    AW: I love the textures of this, both the song and the video. The soft “oooooos” in the background are … voices? I think? But the fact that I can’t tell makes me feel like it’s a warm summer night and it’s room temperature outside and I can’t QUITE believe I’m not indoors. The colour pallet is so lovely, too. I just bought this album ON VINYL but I haven’t listened to it yet at all. 
    JD: OH GOD DAMMIT well I guess I will be taking this off of my totally finished next pEP I had all ready to send you.  I’ve never been so angry.
    This is the M. Ward we like, eh? Huge production and his weird little voice with that exact filter and reverb on it.
    AW: Well I’m still not sure I’d LIKE him ha ha! The album is really pretty, I mean to look at. This is the first song I’ve heard from it.
    JD: I like the llama, and I like the faces, and I like the geometric elements of the natural scenery that make me think of that stonecutter book from when I was a kid.
    AW: It for sure has olde CBCe animatione look to it, do you agree?
    JD: I agree that it was very funny to put “e” on the end of those words, but the animatione looks more like Craig McCracken than olde CBCe to me - Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, that stuff.
  6. Fifth Column, “Like This”
    AW: I feel like you would like to know about Fifth Column, In case you don’t already.  They are a Toronto band whose album “All Women Are Bitches” was on K Records. They were super interesting but I don’t feel like enough people remember them. They got a lot of media when I was a kid and I actually didn’t know the term “Fifth column” referred to anything but their band for the longest time.  They started in the early 80’s and they all made zines and they are the only Canadian Riot Grrrl band I can really ever think of. This video was directed by Bruce LaBruce.  You can learn all about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Column_(band)
    JD:  Ohoooo we are adding videos from the PAST to this whole enterprise??  I’m not prepared for this!  There’s LOTS OF VIDEOS FROM THE PAST.
    AW: I just really wanted you to know about them!!
    JD: For the first two and a half minutes the bass tone and jagged 8mm thing was like an extended interstitial from Kids In The Hall, …
    AW: Oh that is totally true. 100% How did I not notice that??
    JD: …but then vocals kicked in and I was mesmerized for the remaining thirty-five seconds during which I had patience for the song to be going on, and then it was another two minutes, and then I was rewarded for sitting through the chaotic, seemingly plotless video by watching everyone surprisingly meet their GRISLY DEATHS at the end.  This was a rollercoaster!

    Overall I like this sound, it makes me feel like I’m a kid listening to community radio late at night all night (because I was a kid in the 90s).  I just wish this particular song were more compact, and that Bruce LaBruce wasn’t such a rascal.
    AW: Oh no I think I didn’t notice the gory ending? Maybe I tabbed away or blanked. Maybe check out their other stuff? It isn’t all like this! Um, some of it I don’t like as much. Ha! 
  7. Hoodie Allen, “James Franco”
    AW: Okay you don’t have to watch this video more than once but this is payback for the James Franco weirdness on YOUR last PEP.  How is this funny for three minutes?? I have no idea but it REALLY is to me.  I feel like I will laugh every time I see this video.  I might watch it with the sound off next time.
    JD: The beat is great but it’s just “Hand Clapping Song” by the Meters, like various huge sections of it, with another breakbeat layered in.  It’s a really lazy beat.  These are really lazy rhymes - in the middle of the second verse I realized it was post-Das Racist free association “I don’t give a fuck” rap, but like… they have the charisma to pull it off.
    AW: Yeah it just sounds like LFO. Which is the worst insult I can give anything.
    JD: I neither get the sense that he genuinely doesn’t give a fuck in the ways that it’s cool that they don’t, or that he actually does give a fuck in the ways that they do.  I wonder what is the point of singing the first half of the first line as though it’s from “Criminal” by Fiona Apple.  Like was it fun or what.
    AW: Ha!
    JD: I know Thesis played a show with this dude somewhere some time.  So that’s a cool story.
    AW: Interesting! Probably some people should have had giant Thesis heads.
    JD: Obviously I think that every day of my life.  I wanted to like the James Franco head effect, but I think it was also kind of lazily applied and failed to immerse me in a universe where lots of people legitimately have giant James Franco heads.  Which is ALL I ASK.
    AW: I like how lazily applied they are and I like it most of all when they change facial expressions.
    JD: Yeah it’s pretty good I guess.

MixtapEP #7: Jesse to Audra

Hey ‘pEPpers - it has come to my attention recently that maybe I wasn’t totally clear that the video links in these episodes are YouTube PLAYLISTS, and not just a single video at a time?  So you can play all of the songs we link, like, and discuss as one roughly half-hour sequence.  That’s what makes it the most like a mixtape!  (The way it is like an EP is the length; hence: MixtapEPs!)

Yeah so I hope that clears everything up for everyone forever.

Here are some great videos… PLUS A BONUS… VIDEO.

  1. Summer Camp, “Losing My Mind”
    JD: I kind of can’t believe we didn’t think of this concept for BYGF2RD, first of all.  It’s too perfect.  I think this is your new favourite video.
    Huh it is only just now that I am hearing the lyrics - I was paying attention to the blazing drums (I can’t tell if it’s a couple of my favourite breakbeats with heavy processing, or all new live drums with heavy processing to make them sound like a couple of my favourite breakbeats), and realizing it is another deceptively upbeat but sad as hell duet about a breakup.  I guess that is a genre.
    AW: This song makes me really sad! I think it’s partly why I’ve been so pokey about replying to this mix, because mid-way through this track I feel really sort of crushed. The video itself is super adorable and I especially like the inclusion of a cat!! And ASL, but I can’t tell what part of the lyric he’s doing!
    JD: Yeah it is really sad isn’t it.  Sorry, homie.  I was distracted by the video.
  2. Robyn, “Call Your Girlfriend”
    JD:     I’ll be honest, I just went to find out what was the latest Robyn video because I figured it would probably be good.  And I think this dance routine for one that keeps swapping in and out of set and setting (does that make sense?) is really smart, especially with the contrast between the almost cruel confidence of the lyrics and the desperate sadness of Robyn’s face while she performs it.  It’s like the anti-“Girlfriend” (by Avril Lavigne), you know?  It’s like “You Are My Sunshine,” almost, except with a sentiment that’s less sympathetic to begin with.  It’s like she’s just met someone she really likes and then found out they’re unavailable and this is her next thought… “okay so here’s what we can do about that, don’t worry…”
    AW:  Wow that is a serious bowl cut. IS THIS VIDEO ALL ONE TAKE? WHAT ARE THOSE SHOES!!! Okay. I’m not sure what you mean about set and setting. Do you mean that in kind of a “fourth wall” way? Like “Look we have it lit like she’s at a dance club but whoaaaaa now look again I am really in a gymnasium!” That makes sense if that’s what you mean and if it isn’t you should pretend that it is because great point! I love the dance routine a lot, sometimes it seems really choreographed and other times it seems like a little kid freestyling (backwards somersault for sure).  The song itself I’m not really sold on! Maybe I need more COMPLICATED EMOTIONS in a song like this for it to grab me?
    JD: I think the emotions are really complicated!  Only if I’m reading it accurately, though.  Like I think there’s a lot of sophistication to writing a song where you’re supposed to know that the longing expressed is not only a terrible plan, but ill-founded, and probably a way that the character would only feel for about as long as the song lasts, but with a false intensity suggested by the epic and sweeping music.  It ties in with the overthinking I do about Louis C.K.’s comedy, where I view it all as instantaneous thoughts extrapolated into ersatz full-blown attitudes.  Yeah your boy will just use some words like “ersatz” in a normal sentence WHAT.
    And yes, either you’ve explained exactly accurately what I meant by “set and setting,” or I am pretending you did because it’s an improvement. 
  3. Shadia Mansour, “Al-Kufiyyeh 3Arabeyeh” featuring M-1 of Dead Prez
    I’ve never heard of Shadia Mansour before, but she throws DOWN!  In fact I find her cadence and attitude very reminiscent of Eternia, don’t you?  I don’t know what she’s saying at any point in any verse of course, but she avoids the pitfalls of a lot of non-English language rap, where people often neglect rhyme and syllable placement.  She just sounds super tough and on point.  M-1’s less intense verse gives us sort of a legend for interpreting the song’s overall message - the kufiyyeh is a symbol of a particular resistance, not just a fashion statement.
    Weirdly some Scottish dude in the comments to the video was like “um I DO wear it in solidarity, and NOT as a fashion statement… but if that’s how you feel about it, maybe I’ll just STOP!!”  Some Scottish dude is a weirdo.
    Musically I am not in love with this song, but am fine to hang out casually.
    AW: I showed Silk (Eternia) this song, and she is like “Oh I am friends with this girl!”. Of course. She seems crazy talented and really really mad at me. I really really like her raps and singing. I would for sure listen to a whole album of it. The M-1 verse was appreciated as a translation but I feel like it goes off the rails when he says “I said it in Spanish”. I KNOW I HEARD YOU. I’m a big fan of instant nostalgia but come on. Anyway the hook is really catchy and get stuck in my head. Take that weirdo Scottish dude (not you).
    JD: Haha I wish he said, “Hey remember that time I said it in Spanish?” 
  4. Ke$ha, “Sleazy (remix)” featuring Wiz Khalifa, Andre 3000, T.I., & Lil Wayne
    JD: I was linked to this video without any indication of who the features were, so at first I didn’t recognize Wiz Khalifa’s voice and I thought the person shown rapping in the video was the artist.  I didn’t even recognize Andre3000 when that second dude starts, and I thought whoah these guys are really good, who are they??  The guy doing Ke$ha’s part sort of was tipping me off that something was up there, but I didn’t completely get it until the third full verse.  I guess it’s ageist of me, but I realized that old dude was not the rapper I was hearing.  And then yeah the last one was Lil Wayne so duh.  I had also misfired a brain cell and thought “Kreayshawn” when I read “Ke$ha” so I had more of a reason to think it was less known artists, you know?  I think this video is great for the most part, and I like the beat a lot, and everyone raps good, except I think it all falls apart a bit at the Lil Wayne verse.  I don’t know why that kid doesn’t do any lip synching, but it kills the whole point of the project, right?  I don’t expect this to be your new favourite video, but I think there’s enough that’s neat about it that you might think it’s worthwhile anyway?
    AW: Yeah I really like the video a lot! I like that they build characters so quickly in the different verses. It’s really well-acted.  You are right that it falls apart when the kid doesn’t lip synch.  What a weird choice. Maybe he’s someone’s friend and they thought he’d be able to do it but then he couldn’t and they wouldn’t let him just leave the bandana on the whole time? But other than that it’s enjoyable and catchy. Also do people say “bougie”? I feel like only old labour people say that (don’t tell Marnie I just called her old). Also I always think Ke$ha sounds like Alanis, but she didn’t in this song.
    JD: “Bougie” is definitely alive and well in African-American parlance, or at least was well into the nineties.  I always felt weird about it because it comes from pronouncing “bourgeois” as “BOOJ-wahr.”  In my head, I can hear it said by young Will Smith, Prakazrel from Fugees, and also… Lauryn Hill from Fugees.
    I totally agree about the usual Alanis-ness of Ke$ha’s singing voice, although I usually describe it perhaps less accurately as sounding like Shakira. 
  5. Wild Flag, “Romance”
    JD: I expect THIS to be your new favourite video, suprisingly upsetting the Summer Camp video from just a few songs ago.  Yes I read in a terrible fashion magazine about a Travelling Wilburies of all-girl indie rock featuring members of Sleater-Kinney, Helium, and The Minders.  Yes I was like HOLY SHIT I HOPE THEY HAVE VIDEOS AND ARE ALSO GOOD.  Yes I was not disappointed, and neither are you, and I guess now we both want to start watching Portlandia.
    AW:  Whoa!! This is so amazing! It’s really funny when she says “This is supposed to be a pie chart.  This is a square.  Who did this?” So they are all work friends who put on masks and do … at first I thought it was pranks, but then I think I realized they’re just doing whatever they feel like! Petting dogs, helping people out, going to garage sales. Stuff like that. Interestingly, I think this sounds more like Helium than any other band represented by the line up! I would be happy to watch Portlandia with you! I also like that they all have different sorts of jobs.
  6. Wye Oak, “Holy Holy”
    JD:     Who knew roller coasters were bad-ass!?  Okay maybe those mean guitars and slow motion make it seem that way.  But like, good work, mean guitars and slow motion!
    AW: I like the guitars a lot. I’m not sold on the vocals! It sounds too inoffensive like Coldplay or something! Man those carnival swings look fun, though. I don’t think that about any other carnival ride. Do you think they would make me sick?
    JD: Huh I kind of heard the vocals as more bored indie in the vein of… early 90s Matador?  I have to start thinking of something other than Matador Records to compare all sort of venerable-sounding indie rock to, but they’re actually ON Merge Records so that would be tautological… yeah I don’t know.  I wasn’t thinking soft-ass Coldplay, though!  I thought it was tough for girls to sound bored over pulse-shattering guitars?
    Yeah I think those carnival swings would probably make you sick.  My sole criterion was: does it move at all while you are on it? 
  7. Kalup & Franco, “Rising”
    JD:     I’m going to be up front with you - this is pretty terrible on every conceivable level!  I include it merely because I read that James Franco had recorded an EP with a performance artist and some jet-setting electronic musician, and I thought it might have some charm.  THIS song is low on charm, and also low on Franco, and basically has one or two almost interesting effects, not well used.  But floating wig, right? That’s something.
    AW: Weeeeeird.  Did you read about this guy? “For example, Linzy has produced a series of soap opera video works, and has described soap operas as having been a key social component for his family and community. He has said that shows such as Guiding Light were a part of daily life when he was growing up, and he often includes soap opera stereotypes in the characters and plot of his videos. His soap opera videos can be characterized by their low-tech quality, themes of community, socializing, family, the church, sexuality and homosexuality.” James Franco you are pretty interesting but I don’t think I want to see this video again!! 
    JD: Whilst editing together this ‘pEPisode (!!!), I listened to this song through a whole time without subjecting myself to the video, and I found it more palatable.  Probably not going to make my end-of-year list.  I’M SORRY JAMES FRANCO TRICKED US.
BONUS!
8. Wild Flag, “Electric Band”
JD: Surprise bonus song!  I thought it was cheating to have two videos by the same band in one ‘pEP, but it’s only like 1% less fucking amazing than the other video, so what was I going to do?
AW: Haha! This video asks the question, “What sort of animal do YOU think you could beat at a baseball game?” It’s completely amazing in every way. This song sounds even MORE like Helium! Mary Timony must be a real strong personality or something. I don’t love the song but these are the greatest bear costumes in the WORLD.
JD: Hopefully it will get us some crossover reblogs from the bear admirers frequenting my main tumblr, right?

Source: youtube.com

MixtapEP #6: Audra to Jesse

  1. Alex Winston, “Velvet Elvis”
    AW:  Isn’t it weird how much this sounds like TASSEOMANCY??? Doesn’t it sound exactly like them only except for two of them there are one of them? And they were produced by Arcade Fire … which turned out inexplicably super poppy? I LOVE WHEN SHE DRUMS!!! 
    JM: I had to watch it on my phone because VEVO kept crashing my netbook.  This life is the WORST LIFE.  She does totally sing like the Lightman sisters, yeah!  I like the drumming scenes too, in fact I like all the coloured-background scenes and am impatient with the black-background scenes.  The production is great!  The lyrics are creepy, somewhere between the totally unknown mid-90s Jewel song “Memoirs Of A Housewife,” and a much less upsetting version of “Little Birds” by Neutral Milk Hotel.
    Oh and it goes without saying that the degree of my disappointment upon realizing this is not a cover of the “Weird” Al Yankovic song of the same name is massive.
    AW: Hahaha. Oh Jesse.
  2. The Like, “He’s Not A Boy”
    AW:  This could be sort of too novelty-y, but I love the melody a lot and also her voice. It has … gravity? Also it continues on the theme of women drumming! What do you think of it?
    JD:  Handclaps! Fuzzy bass! Shifting vocal harmonies! Mod styling!  YES.  And the breakdown is so tough, with the shouting!  And that’s when I realize there’s a bit of distortion on the lead vocal which is also TOUGH.  And then the drummer does a fill like “OKAY YOU GUYS I REALLY MEAN ITTTTTT” and this whole thing is great.  Including the message, whether taken to be “…so don’t bother with him,” or “…so have a good time!”
    AW: Sometimes I like songs and then I’m shy about them if they don’t seem INTERESTING or MIND BLOWING but then you write this long explanation about why they are so great and then I’m like “Yeah exactly what I meant”.
  3. Zola Jesus, “Vessel”
    AW:  I have NO IDEA what she is saying. Is it english? Who can say. I just love her voice so much. I love how the song has a really BIG sound, even if I partly think that just because the video is so expansive.
    JD: Zola is the name of the thing that pops out of the water in Legend Of Zelda and spits fireballs at you all the time!  The boomerang doesn’t even affect it, you can either waste arrows on it or shoot it with your zappy sword when you have full hearts.  Obviously any band would be proud to invoke such a namesake.
    [AW: This made me laugh and laugh]
    This feels like it’s out of that 90s school of serious woman pop with edgy production that also includes my favourite Tori Amos albums.  The ones that are no-one else’s favourite Tori Amos albums!  It also immediately made me think of that Massive Attack song that wound up being the House theme music, redefining “house music” forever.  I think the verses are not English words, although the internet has tried to phonetically put some sentences together out of those sounds.  I don’t think it really worked.  The chorus sounds more like English that I COULD be understanding if I would only apply myself, but I’m not totally convinced.  It’s either a different language, not a language, or she’s doing that thing that Beth Gibbon once said she did where she doesn’t really want anyone to know what the words are (too private) so she enunciates weirdly.
    The video bores me near to tears, which is a shame.  It’s really grandiose and the night desert shots are pretty but it’s five minutes long and gives me very little feeling of forward motion.  Plus there is already Madonna’s “Frozen” video taking care of a bunch of what ground it does cover… backwards, and in heels.
    AW: Maybe because I don’t know the “Frozen” video, I really love this one!
  4. Crystal Stilts, “Sycamore Tree”
    AW: I knooooooow this is a cop out because there is no REAL video just a live performance, but I completely love the sounds of this song so much. It weirdly sounds just like my ex-boyfriend’s band, except for without any reference to serial killers so way better!! This is good hula hooping music. 
    JD: Ah, and here is introduced our second, tacit theme: analog keyboards with dark white keys and light black keys! (flashback sequence shows the same in video by The Likes)
    I like bands that sound like The Doors but aren’t The Doors. (yes this categorically excludes The Doors, per se) [AW: Yesssss] The keyboard is the star of this show for me, but I do feel like the bass player is a superhero for laying into those two notes so evenly and relentlessly.
    I think I want to replace the vocalist in this band with Edan.  That would work great for me.  
  5. Wheedle’s Groove, “Jesus Christ Pose”
    AW:  OKAY THERE IS NO VIDEO FOR THIS EITHER but I have been listening to this song about five times a day and I wanted to share it with you. I love everything about how it sounds. But I only have the mp3 of it, and there is no video yet as far as I can tell (I think it’s from an upcoming documentary).
    JD: I don’t like it!  Well I mean the drums are good and the groove is pretty much solid (the bass reminds me of a track on the Trigun soundtrack, and I think that’s great) but there’s a guitar player in there who’s not my friend - all this chicken scratching and funky wah stuff makes me cringe.
    I do warm up to the vocal over the course of the song - the backup singers help with that.
    I especially dislike the four minutes of silence that close out the track.  Obvious John Cage plagiarism.  Cagiarism.  Yeah I said it.
    AW: I am sad you don’t like it but you won me back over with the John Cage joke at the end, so we’re good.
  6. Walk The Moon, “Anna Sun”
    AW:  Oh man the first 2.5 minutes of the video are basically the greatest, ending in A DANCE SCENE. I guess it gets a problematic after that, even though it feels more like Where the Wild Things Are than Dances with Wolves or whatever. Okay I only STAND BY the first half of the video, but it is WONDERFUL. 
    JD:     His floppy hands dance at 2:07 is amazing!  I like that he walks into a keytar, and this location is great for a single long shot type of video like this.  I don’t love his singing voice (it is good but not for me), and I kind of wish someone intense was rapping on this music instead.  I guess I wish it was Kanye West but not lazily, or Lupe Fiasco but not annoyingly.
    Oh and then ohhhh yeah three minutes in they really tread all over whatever fine line we’d like to imagine between acceptable for white people and not.  It really is so close but I do think they wind up on the wrong side of it.  Plus one of those kids looks kind of offensively like Ken Marino. [AW: This is VERY FUNNY.]
    I mean almost everyone has two fingers and you can’t entirely copyright the idea of painting on your cheek with them, but WHITE KIDS DON’T PUT IN BRAIDS AND HEADBANDS AND HAVE FEATHERS AROUND WHEN YOU ARE DOING THAT.  Also white kids why are you ALL white kids?  Why do I have to start thinking about racism before I even notice you are conspicuously homogeneous?  White kids!! [AW: THE WORST!]
    I think the party he “escaped” looked way more fun than the outdoor rave he escaped to, too.  Get your priorities straight, and don’t make any more songs where the arbitrary song title looks more like an artist name than your band’s name does!  Okay guys I got you!
    AW: Yeaaaah, you’re right.
  7. Of Monsters And Men, “Little Talks”
    AW: BRASS SECTION! SINGING IN UNISON! SHOUTING! ANIMATED PEOPLE STOMPING AROUND! I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO LOVE THIS MORE! Also maybe the lyrics rip my heart out? Yeah. It’s kind of perfect.  
    JD: I watched it once last night and felt like the horns were too white-ska for me, but then that I liked it when it went into the verses and I wasn’t sure what I was getting out of the animation but as it sort of showed itself to be a more advanced triangulation between the Terry Gilliam bit in Holy Grail where the knights face the beast of Aaaaaargh, and Jesse Ewles’s video for “The Price” by Wax Mannequin, I got into it.  The real human heads are well integrated.  I started to try and figure out what the shifting alliance of the colourful being was saying about the song lyrics, but I didn’t really make them all out.
    Then this morning I watched it again and was only paying attention to the lyrics, and although my understanding of the meaning changed (I thought it was a duet between former lovers, now I think it’s two voices in the head of one person missing another), the impact deepened a lot and now it just breaks my heart.  The horns in their context grew on me as a way to set the urgency of the mood, like a kind of rushing blood sound in the ears when trying to be okay but feeling that slipping away.  It chokes me up.
    It’s interesting to see the diversity of interpretations (and the total lack of patience for one another’s!) on the SongMeanings.com page for this.  None of them match mine, but when I found the one that was closest (and not mean to everyone else who had already posted), I found it choked me up almost as much as the song does.  So uh I think I’m bringing something of my own to the feelings table here, not surprisingly.  I hope it is a potluck.
    AW: I read the song exactly the same way you do, and it’s really really really sad. Especially the manic attempts at self-cheering.
    JD: Favourite SongMeanings interpretation though is from “minniemouse,” and it is elegantly stated: “Revelations/ New world order. Look into it.”
    AW: Haaaaaaaaa.

rljd:

This is my new music video, for “Bring Your Girlfriend To Rap Day” featuring Audra Williams (she wrote and kicked her own rhymes and tapdance!), and directed by UK/Toronto filmmaker Charlotte Wolf.

I’m so excited I could scream until I explode.

Mega thanks to Ms Wolf for the vision and the gumption, and to Tyson Burger for the cinematography, for the three PAs who put in mega work, to Josh F’in Lazer for being the greatest in a hotdog suit, and of course to Audra for all the work she put into the song and video as a performer.

Oh my god we’re so good looking, right?

Reblog your little hearts out, please!

Look, it’s the famous creators of the world-renowned mixtapEPs, doing some sort of musical side project??

Source: dangerously.ca

MixtapEP #5: Jesse to Audra

  1. Sleigh Bells, “Comeback Kid”
    JD: This video doesn’t excite me much, and the production isn’t as cool as their last record, but there’s something in the melody I thought you’d like!
    AW: Oh you are right that it is not as good as their other stuff! I am having a hard time figuring out if I would like this more if I DIDN’T find it disappointing compared to their other stuff.  I do like the melody, I just wish it had some thuddy parts to balance out the airy-ness. And you are right that the video is not blowing anyone’s mind!
  2. Astronautalis, “Contrails” featuring Tegan
    JD: I thought I didn’t like this guy, but I like this.
    AW: Do you think he had a hard time choosing between Tegan and Sara? I enjoyed this, but it didn’t stick with me! I couldn’t conjour it in my head after it was over. It felt summery, though. (Not summary).
    JD: Yeah, was just pleasantly surprised to like a second song of his, after like ten years. 
  3. Shabazz Palaces, “Are You… Can You… Were You?”
    JD: This is not my favourite song from the amazing album, but it has a video!
    AW: I love the production on this so much, and the raps also but especially the production! At first I was thinking that the shots of a pretty girl with finger tattoos and foolish shoes and nosering toodling around on her bike seemed very indierockish … except the girl was black. But then she was fighting with her mom for a huge chunk of the video and that seemed more trope-y. I like the song quite a bit, though!! That is just what I noticed about my feelings about the video.
    JD: It’s Buttafly from Digable Planets, twenty years later.
    AW: Oh, I didn’t know!
    JD: He wasn’t the biggest Marxist, but he was the jazziest.
    AW: Good epitaph. 
  4. Lambchop, “Gone Tomorrow”
    JD: Kind of condenses the plot of The Wrestler; the instrumental section drags a bit, but I think it’s good.
    AW: I haven’t seen The Wrestler! Spoiler! I love this one a lot. It is a bit long, but I don’t get bored while it’s playing! I find it dreamy and layered in that way I really like to get lost in.  The video is also super interesting. Is it EXACTLY the story of The Wrestler?? This is the kind of song I could have on repeat all day.
    JD: I’m relieved that you like it so much; I know he was leaving you a little cold after you loved an older album of his. I went and found the video when I saw his new record advertised in Exclaim!, just in case you might like it!
    It doesn’t have a plot like The Wrestler, just the same setting and appeal to fading masculine glory. I think you should see the movie! I have essential criticisms of it that I think you’ll share, but it’s still really great in a lot of ways.
  5. Childish Gambino, “Freaks and Geeks”
    JD: I hunted down the radio edit in order to minimize the sexist language, which gets a bit much.  Watching this video made me think this needs to be Nole!  Glover’s good, but too Lil Wayne-ish.
    AW: I could watch this video 5000 times … with the sound off. Not to say that I hate the song, but yeah Nole is way better at this than Donald Glover is. But oh holy jesus do I ever love the dancing!!! And the way it is shot all far away at first. But there is nothing about Freaks and Geeks in here. False advertising.
    JD: Haha he does mention the show being good and getting cancelled in the final line! But yeah the energy of the performance is what gets me about this.  He’s so triumphant about his pretty good blow job raps!
  6. MC Frontalot, “Stoop Sale”
    JD: Kind of a shaggy dog story, but cute!  I love the puppets… obviously.
    AW: This video is really cute! I know you told me once what “shaggy dog” means, but I can’t remember. I get annoyed by the cadence of “…. which I do”. But wow this video is amazingly involved and adorable! Do you know how it came to be?
    JD: A shaggy dog story meanders for a long time and seems like it’s going somewhere and then abruptly and frustratingly ends in some other way!  I think.  The story of how this video came to be is kind of awe-inspiring (for indie musicians and people who like them) - check out the kickstarter page where he raise 200% of his $15,000 budget!
  7. Rich Aucoin, “It” 
    JD: ONE THOUSAND PERCENT DELIGHTFUL.  If you have time to watch only one video, watch this.
    AW: This is so uplifting!!  AND PERFECT. HOOOW DID HE CHOOSE WHICH MOVIES TO USE? Wow this is completely gorgeous and perfect. It sort of makes me want to watch a million movies, too.

AW: I LOVE YOU THANK YOU FOR THE mixtapEP!!!
JD: I love you, too, homie - thanks for inventing them. 

MixtapEP #4: Audra to Jesse

  1. Goapele, “Play”
    AW: I like the production of this, especially when her vocals sound like they are super buried. I like the snaps.
    JD: I can’t pretend to not be charmed by the wood-paneled Atari 2600 included for one confusing second. I like the backwards fire.  The bass sound is ALMOST too funky for me, but it’s cool and slinky so I’ll allow it.  Her name is pronounced “WHOP-uh-lay!”
  2. Little Dragon, “When I Go Out”
    AW: Isn’t this video so pretty?? The song sounds like a tape someone rewound too many times to hear the same song over and over. Disorienting, but I like it.
    JD: I didn’t like it very much! It’s too chaotic with all the patterns and craziness.  Some of the phasing actions were neat to pay attention to but the simultaneous use of every colour and texture at once wore out my face. Same goes for the layers of pitch shifting on the vocal, actually. 
  3. Winter Gloves, “Dancing My Heart Out”
    AW: Supercute song. Supercute video.
    JD: I liked how it sounded like early computer game music at first! I spent the whole video trying to get invested in the water balloon fight though and I must say the narrative structure left something to be desired.  I liked the trick shots, but the whole thing moved kinda slow.  I mean it’s in slow motion, so… touché. 
  4. Azari & III, “Manic”
    AW: I kept thinking maybe I didn’t like this song, but then I kept on not being able to turn it off! The lyrics are weirdly melodramatic? It sounds dated, but I can’t figure out from when!
    JD: The answer is 1989! Basically it would be perfectly convincing on either Prince’s soundtrack to the Batman movie of that year, or the music inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film! It’s kind of amazing how precisely it evokes those records for me. I also took a long time to realize it, but the bass arpeggio is really close to “White Horse” by Laid Back. 
  5. Jessica Lea Mayfield, “Kiss Me Again”
    AW: I feel like she’s like “Lana Del Rae Spoon”. I mostly included this video so I could make that really clever observation. But I also like it fine!
    JD: This is catchy and distressing, and has that whole Chekhov’s gun thing going on. It chills me completely to the bone. But also sometimes I am like “why is part of the screen in the wrong place.”
  6. PJ Harvey, “The Words That Maketh Murder”
    AW: New PJ Harvey! Why do I resist listening to new music, even by artists I like? No clue! But I’m gonna get over it. This song is great, and it’s neat when the audio/video switches back to her sitting at a table with … whatever instrument that is.
    JD: It’s an autoharp! I like the song, but the parts of the video that aren’t performance make no sense to me as a remotely thematic collection of visuals.  It feels a tiny bit like… testing out a cool new camera, plus a little bit of PJ Harvey playing, set to a PJ Harvey song. 
  7. Young Galaxy, “Blown Minded”
    AW: This video is so interesting!! I wonder how they did it. The music feels like low-key Pony da Look. So, you know, like Pony da Look but you could actually put it on if you had company over and they probably wouldn’t leave.
    JD: My uncertain guess is that it’s painting on glass?  It’s really got that early Sesame Street / NFB feel to it, eh?  You have a knack for finding those! I like the vocalist; I wish I could put my finger on … tortured grammar coming here… put my finger on just of whom he reminds me.

MixtapEP #3: Jesse to Audra

Jesse got too excited and sent off his second ‘pEP before Audra sent hers, forever throwing off the continuity.  Just great, Jesse.  Real smooth.

  1. Young Magic, “Sparkly”
    JD: This video is a little too psychedelic for me, even though I love clouds, but I think the percussion sounds great! And the music is drony, which you like.
    AW: I love this Young Magic song very much. I listened to the playlist on repeat for a few hours, and every time this song came on, I took notice. I love the production so much. There is something jangly in there … is it a tambourine? A lot of the video is stunning, but I actually got motion sick at some of the sped up cloud stuff.
  2. Memory Tapes, “Yes I Know”
    JD: Always meant to show you this but can’t remember if I did. Amazing/unsettling effects, and probably least boring Memory Tapes song?
    AW: Eeeee this is creepy!!! It’s hard not to think of it as open wounds, even though they don’t really look like them. You’re right that the band is fairly boring. It’s not offensive, it just sounds like it was designed to be used in a poignant commercial.
  3. 13 & God, “Armored Scarves” JD: I think this is boring until second vocalist (Dose) & drums kick in, but love the video aesthetic of decaying industrial things.
    AW: Interesting fact! I got confused for a second and mistook Dose for Nomad! I wonder where they filmed this! Abandoned spaces make me feel a bit like I can’t breathe!
  4. Busdriver, “Kiss Me Back To Life”
    JD: Best line: “Your friends keep talking that greenhouse gas!” I think this is coming out on Fake Four, Ceschi’s label?
    AW: This video looks like an episode of Peewee’s Playhouse that takes place at a goat rave! His voice, when he is singing, sounds like one of the Pet Shop Boys or something! There is a real 80’s thing happening overall! Catchy!
  5. Rae Spoon, “I’ll Be A Ghost For You”
    JD: I don’t know why such an old song just got a video, but it’s pretty great!
    AW: OH this video is just gorgeous. I feel like at any moment in it, you could hit “pause” and you’d get something I’d want to put up on my wall.
  6. The Darcys, “Don’t Bleed Me”
    JD: The song is okay, but more importantly - am I crazy to think they actually pulled off THIS probably hackneyed video concept, of all things, really well?
    AW: Whoa this video IS well done! Except for the casting. I had a hard time following the characters because two of the dudes looked exactly alike (to me), except one of them seemed to have a scab where a soulpatch might typically be. Anyway, other than that, it really gave me the chills! The effects were very affecting, I guess partly because I recognize the landscape.
  7. Nomad, “Son, You Don’t Know” 
    JD: Oh no he grew on me!!  I think you, too, after this.  I think.
    AW: This is ADORABLE. I feel truly bad for him when he doesn’t win!! I’m not sure if I’d like the song on its own as much, though. I like the echo-y processing on his vocals. I still think he sings like Adam Sandler joke-singing.

MixtapEP #2: Jesse to Audra

  1. Foster The People, “Pumped Up Kicks”
    JD: Christie played this one morning and without even knowing the band, I could tell this song was surprisingly good for them.
    AW: OH I LOVE THIS SONG! Um, is it possible I have heard it in a commercial? I feel like I know it, but not this version.
    OH WAIT!!! Now I remember!! It was in that “Kids reacting to viral videos” Youtube channel. They had kids reacting to this video.
    Whoa this song has scary lyrics! It’s like an upbeat “Jeremy,” but from the shooter’s perspective!
    JD: Someone, I think possibly the songwriter, pointed out eventually that no actual shooting takes place in the song’s narrative.  Just the kid feeling inferior, and that things would be different if only etc.  Until that was pointed out to me, it was a less interesting lyric (but still sounded great) to me.
  2. Gotye, “Somebody That I Used To Know”
    JD: This is the Gotye song Ann Simmons played. It features Kimbra!  It has similarly great production, I think.
    AW: I like this, too! What kind of music is this? How would you describe it? It gives me a lot of feelings. Also the video is super delicate and emotional and lovely. I feel like the whole thing has a lot of space to it, even though there is a lot going on? The more I listen to it, the more I like it! He does sound like Sting, yeah.
    JD: I will think about it some more and figure out how I would describe it!  I haven’t watched the video beginning to end yet, I just found it because I had heard the song and liked it.
  3. Lakutis, “Death Shark”
    JD: Not every line is gold, but the VIBE is good, the chorus is great, and the atmosphere builds. Sorry no video!
    AW:  Is that a drawing of Timbuktu? This song was funny! I will listen again to find out what lines I like the best! I like the production in parts!
    JD: Hahaaaaa it’s “male rapper Lakutis,” as his management describes him.  He is friends with Das Racist, as you can probably tell.  I think his EP is pretty great, but maybe overlooked!
  4. Mikey Maybe, “Hush”
    JD: This guy is in a group called Rappers Are People with The Joe, and you probably met him at a show or something. USEFUL SPOILER: nothing bad happens!
    AW: I love this! I listened to it four times before moving on to the next song! The video is also completely charming! Aw! It’s so detailed and mundane but strangely totally relatable and engaging! He raps a bit like Cadance Weapon. This is a great short film.
    JD: It’s that Edmonton sound… except yeah, more human than usual!  Relatability is definitely missing from most Cadence Weapon stuff, probably not always on purpose.  Epic is all too relatable, but he’s from Saskatoon really.
  5. b. dolan & Buddy Peace, featuring Toki Wright, Jasiri X & Sage Francis, “Film The Police”
    JD: Some hard to watch police violence footage, but I think a VERY well-stated message. Residual funkiness of NWA original doesn’t undermine, I think?
    AW:  I saw this on your Tumblr! It’s great! I hope it makes a real difference.
  6. Serengeti, “California”
    JD: You’ve heard this before, but haven’t seen the video!
    AUDRA WILLIAMS WAS SUSPICIOUSLY SILENT ON THE TOPIC OF THIS VIDEO.
  7. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, “Home”
    JD: This one is not new to you, but it goes in this mix.
    AW: Completely beautiful and perfect in every way. I love you so much. Did you see the acoustic version I posted on your FB wall before you took it down? If not, I can look it up again. But really everything about this song is so uplifting. At the same time it hurts so much to hear because I miss so much having a home with you. So it’s hard to listen to.
    JD: I did, and I feel the same way.