Magnetic Fields Can Be Heroes Too

Last month, a friend and I were talking about the Magnetic Fields, a genre-bending English band I'd liked in high school but completely abandoned a few years ago. My friend is still a big fan, and after he described the differences between several of Magnetic Fields' albums, specifically the fuzzy, "punkier" Distortion (Nonesuch Records, 2008), I decided to re-investigate Magnetic Fields starting with that very album (I'd only ever had the Fields' triple-album magnum opus 69 Love Songs). My YouTubing, vis-à-vis my decision, brought me to Magnetic Fields' 1996 cover of David Bowie’s song "Heroes." And what a fucking cover it is:



I'm mainly posting Magnetic Fields' cover of "Heroes" not only because it's awesome but because of this user-comment:

"… the drone and aimlessness and monotony are what make this an excellent cover. Bowie's version highlights on being a hero, but this version flips it on its head and focuses on 'just for one day.'? What do you have before and after? The monotony and drone of your everyday life.”

- pimcnulty

Fuck, that is a cool interpretation. Being able to see music or any piece of art that way, whether through my own perspicacity or someone else's, is why I love analyzing art sometimes. If I could make (and back up) such observations about music, I'd definitely try to make a living out of doing so. For now though, I'll resign myself to blogging about music, however insightfully or not, in my spare time.

Sia Live at the Commodore Ballroom

August 19, 2011
Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver, British Columbia

Originally, I wasn't sure if I was going to go to Sia. I was thinking about going to the far cheaper (and far closer) Mister Heavenly on the same night or going to neither, but a friend of mine bought a ticket for me as a belated birthday gift, so I definitely wasn't going to say no.

Sia was a good show, even though I was asleep for or at least nodding during much of it. That was because I'd gone to the show straight from work. Having to stand (and partially sit) through a lackluster opener didn't make it easier to stay awake either.

My only complaints about Sia were that she was too chatty, and she tried too hard to be funny. I knew she was quirky and chatty, but after a while, I just wanted her to play her fucking songs. It also didn't help that most of her jokes/banter revolved around dick-, vagina- and sex-jokes and that she seemed to have dropped those words just to get cheap laughs; crowds are often pretty easy that way.

Enough about the bad though. If I remember correctly (the show was two-and-a-half months ago), she played every song I wanted to hear, including "Little Black Sandals," "Academia," "Playground," "Death by Chocolate," "The Girl That You Lost To Cocaine," "Buttons" (actually, I think she only played one of these last two) and even "Breath Me" from one of my favourite television shows of all time Six Feet Under.

For more photos of Sia live at the Commodore Ballroom, click here.

The White Stripes - "Hand Springs"

I've always visualized the lyrics to this song written out as a story rather than line by line, as lyrics are usually written. Thus, I've taken it upon myself to add punctuation and separate the lyrics into paragraphs where I deem appropriate:


"Hand Springs"

I took my girl to go bowling downtown at the Red Door, after an argument I started 'cause I thought she didn’t like me anymore. I can't help it: sometimes, I feel pitiful, and of course, she's so young and beautiful.

I bought us two glasses of Coke; that's her favourite, and I wanted to make up for earlier. But I dropped her glass, and it broke, so I just gave my glass to her.

She laughed, and so did I in our lane. Then, she went to the vending machine to buy a candy cane, but right next to that was a boy I knew with a spring in his hand playin' a country pinball machine called "Stand by Your Man." I saw him talk to her, but I stayed in my lane and played my game steady and was thinkin' of a day when I'd be too old to throw a ball this heavy.

But I guess I'm young now, so it's easier to knock 'em all down. Then I looked and saw her say to him, "You really hittin’ that ball around." And he’s lookin' at her the way I did when I first met her: I can see in his face white flowers and cups of coffee and love letters.

I was sorry to interrupt their game, but I went and did it anyway. I dropped my red bowling ball through the glass of his machine. I said, "Are you quick enough to hit this ball, Mr. Clean?" I was scared to lose her, so I couldn't help being mean.

And that ended both of our games. I said I was sorry, but my girl left with him just the same. I thought how much I hate when love makes me act this way. I was bent over a broken pinball machine in a bowling alley, and I threw it all away.

Well, isn't it all just a big game?

High Rotation

Cover art of Go with Me by Seapony (Hardly Art, 2011)

A.K.A. the most-played/my favourite tracks of the approximate week listed in order of when I started listening to them recently. This inaugural edition features new songs by Mazzy Star, Jack White and the Black Keys. As usual, click the song-titles to listen. (Note: this is only a compilation of the stand-out tracks I've been listening to lately and deem worth sharing, not literally my most-played tracks. If I wanted to share those stats, I just would have kept my Last.fm account):

1. Blur - "Song 2" - I had a random urge to listen to this song. I think I moreso just had an urge to listen to a short, punchy song with a crunchy riff and randomly thought it'd been a while since I'd heard "Song 2." Surprisingly, I didn’t have it in my iTunes. Anyway, it's strange how I've liked this song since fourth grade (give or take), but I didn't know the lyrics until last week.

2. Eagles of Death Metal - "Wannabe in L.A." - I came across this song on a friend's Facebook page. I always knew EoDM rocked, but this song is just pure awesomeness. Also, I usually hate cheesy videos, but EoDM are so cool, I actually like theirs. Death by sexy indeed!

3. Mazzy Star - "Lay Myself Down" - Santa Monica shoegaze/dream folk group Mazzy Star are back after an essentially fifteen-year hiatus with "Lay Myself Down," the B-side to their Common Burn single, their first release since 1996's Among My Swan LP. I was never a huge Mazzy Star fan (except for their cover of Arthur Lee’s "Five-String Serenade" which I first heard the White Stripes cover), but I really like "Lay Myself Down." I thought such was strange, because I'm not a big Mazzy Star fan, but then I realized why I like the song so much: it's a damned country song, at its core.

4. Jack White - "Love Is Blindness" - Already discussed here.

5. Seapony - "Always" - Seapony really deserve a post of their own; they're just some of the best stuff I've ever heard. They sound like they're straight out of the 80s, with their lush, airy pop, post-punk drum-fills, watery guitar-hooks, reverb and twee-pop sweetness/simplicity/wholesomeness. I first heard this track on a friend's blog, and I just HAD to get rest of the album Go with Me (Hardly Art, 2011) immediately, which led me to the next track on the list.

6. Seapony - "Dreaming" - The opening track on Go with Me.

7. Plastic Flowers - "Drive Me Home" - I'm not usually into washed out, electronic-tinged pop, but I like the slightly sombre, spacey quality of "Drive Me Home" a lot. The song evokes a feeling of nostalgia for nothing in particular. I don't know much about Plastic Flowers though, because there are at least two acts named Plastic Flowers. I haven't really bothered looking into which Plastic Flowers is which.

8. The Chameleons - "Serocity" - Are you noticing a theme between this and the last three songs? If the song isn't actually from the 80s (as the Chameleons track is), it at least sounds like it is. I just love Mark Burgess' off-kilter vocals.

9. The Black Keys - "Lonely Boy" - Like "Song 2," I've had this song on repeat for up to an hour at a time. Got me finally listening to a lot of the Black Keys' older albums again which I hadn't done in a long, long time.

Halloween Playlist 2010

Featuring the Cramps

1. Queens of the Stone Age - "Burn the Witch"
2. TV on the Radio - "Wolf Like Me"
3. The Dandy Warhols - "Hell's Bells" (AC/DC cover)
4. The Cramps - "TV Set"
5. The Cramps - "I Was A Teenage Werewolf"
6. Robert Johnson - "If I Had Possession Over Judgment"
7. Abner Jay - "St. James Infirmary Blues"
8. Nine Inch Nails - "With Teeth"
9. Japanther - "The Gravy"
10. Joy Division - "Atrocity Exhibition"
11. The Gun Club - "For the Love of Ivy"
12. The Gun Club - "Cool Drink of Water"
13. The White Stripes - "The Union Forever"
14. The Dead Weather - "Old Mary"
15. Beat Happening - "Black Candy"
16. Beat Happening - "Knock on Any Door"
17. Beat Happening - "Nancy Sin"
18. Beat Happening - "Zombie Limbo Time"

Halloween Playlist 2011

Featuring Messer Chups

Just click the song-titles to play:

1. Acid Witch - "Witchtanic Hellucinations"
2. The Flesh Eaters - "See You in the Boneyard"
3. Karen Elson - "The Ghost Who Walks"
4. The Fembots - "Theme from A Radio Play"
5. Aluminium - "The Hardest Button To Button"
6. The Deadly Snakes - "I Can't Sleep at Night"
7. The Deadly Snakes - "There Goes Your Corpse Again"
8. Xander Harris - "I Want More Than Just Blood"
9. KUKL - "Anna"
10. Wanda Jackson feat. Jack White - "Funnel of Love"
11. The Kills - "Ticket Man"
12. Joy Division - "The Eternal"
13. The Cramps - "Zombie Dance"
14. Gary Numan - "Metal"; Nine Inch Nails - "Metal"
15. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "Dead Flag Blues"
16. The Black Keys - "Strange Times"
17. Beat Happening - "Black Candy"
18. Messer Chups - "Vincent Price Bible"
19. Messer Chups - "Tremolo from the Crypt"

Yes.

It cost me a hefty lot, but after much debating, I decided I had to see DFA before I died. And who knows when they'll come around again or what the band's status will be after this tour? Sure, I could wait and find out, and if fans are lucky, DFA will record another album and tour again, but I'd rather see them now, because there's hardly a tour hotter than on a reunion tour. Now, I just hope I can get my closing shift for that night switched ...

P.S: How is this video of DFA on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, featuring Conan's then-band-leader-and-sidekick Max Weinberg on drums, still not on Youtube?: