Forgery League

Sitting in a darkened theatre watching Bring On The Night, which follows Sting and collaborators through the recording of and tour for Dream of the Blue Turtles. (I’m not a huge fan, especially when it comes to his lyrics, but I like a lot of his tunes.) Something about that outlandish key change at the top of the chorus, with one of his trademark melodies swooping over it just sent chills down my spine. It’s like the whole song’s just sailed over a cliff and soared up into a pitch-black sky.

La Mer by Debussy, I don’t remember the conductor or orchestra - I think it was a Time/Life box set we got at a library sale. There’s a moment when the horns rise up, lifting a single violin note with them like a wave cresting. No vibrato on this version, just a pure, sweet little zing! - perfect.

The Pixies, “Vamos”. The Surfer Rosa version. While the rest of the band chugs along frantically, Joey Santiago’s guitar, possessed by the insane ghost of a police siren, suddenly sits bolt upright and goes: vipvipvupvipvupvipvipBOAINNNNGGGgggg. (New list: favorite weird guitar noises.)

XTC, “New Town Animal In A Furnished Cage”. Near the end, Andy Partridge just lets out this scream. Not a long, drawn out holler, but a pinched, neurotic, can’t-keep-it-in-can’t-let-it-out scream that’s cut off about two microseconds after it starts. “AA!” And then he goes into the chorus. (Compare to Björk’s longer, trumpet-dive scream on “I Miss You”.)

Muffy recently posted a list of “perfect album” picks, and it got me pondering what my own list would look like. I’ll stick to various sorts of pop music - it’s much easier that way. And it’s in chronological order, according to when I discovered the album, earliest first.

Camper Van Beethoven: Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (1988) - My first exposure to Camper, back in high school. Every song’s great, and when guitarist Greg and violinist Jonathan get to playing off one another, it’s just brilliant.

Thomas Dolby: The Golden Age Of Wireless (1982) - I must agree with Muffy on this one. And make sure it’s the vinyl version, with the “rock” version of “Radio Silence”. Always made me think of those British “boys’ own” annuals full of adventure stories, and from what I’ve read of the songs’ origins, there’s a grain of truth to that.

The Pixies: Doolittle (1989) - Spiky and sweet and grinning like a dog that might be about to rip your arm off but you can’t quite tell but she probably is so you’d better start backing away slowly. And I credit Frank Black for making me realize the wonder of uneven rhythmic cycles - like the 4+2 bars on “Dead” or the mesmerizing coda to “No. 13 Baby”... Actually, come to think of it, Surfer Rosa belongs here too.

Talking Heads: Remain In Light (1980) - Best album ever. It just is. I’m careful not to listen to this one too often for fear of overdoing it. Lyrically, I think David Byrne reached greater heights later on, but it’s the music on this one that gets me right there. Drop the needle on track one, side one and it’s like you’ve tripped in the dark and fallen into a pit that turns out to be the inside of some crazy clockwork machine that’s full of funk-crazed jungle creatures who do frightening and unnatural things to guitars. I have to stop gushing now, because it’s all been said before, and I might never stop.

Orbital: In Sides (1996) - lush interplay of melodies, and their trademark wonderful, oddball chord changes. (I got into this at the same time as Remain In Light, while I was deejaying at CKMS at the University of Waterloo.)

The La’s: The La’s (1990) - Their one and only album, thanks to frontman Lee Mavers’ legendary perfectionism. Good thing it’s brilliant. CD bonus tracks are hit and miss, but they don’t count.

XTC: Drums and Wires (1979) - Why didn’t I find out about this one sooner? It took me until a year or two ago. Strikes just the right balance between their even spazzier early stuff and the gentler pop tunes they ended up doing later. The bonus tracks are all swell. My favorite line is from “Helicopter”: “She’s landing on the town - look out, town!”

A.C. Newman: The Slow Wonder (2004) - There are a lot of bands that I adore but I can’t put on this list because there’s always that one song, on every album. Even my beloved New Pornos aren’t here - mostly because, while I want to love Dan Bejar and everything he stands for, his songs just don’t do it for me. Except “Jackie Dressed In Cobras”. But I digress. A.C.‘s solo album is a whole pile of little pop gems.

I’m sure there are other albums that I’m forgetting. I’ll add them as I think of them.

Of course, I’m usually the type to get lost in the details rather than the big picture, so perhaps I’ll post a “Favorite Music Moments” list next.

The fever’s broken at last, musically speaking. Not quite burnt out on the New Pornographers, but they’ve finally been ousted from their stranglehold on my day-to-day playlist. By whom? Well, by the time I finally finish writing this, I’m sure it’ll have changed, but…

First, Neko Case. (Er… does that count?) Her latest, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, is lovely - I’m especially fond of the closer, “The Needle Has Landed”. (By an odd coincidence, my dad found a little button promoting the album in the parking lot of a restaurant where we’d happened to grab takeout. It’s now adorning the strap on my bass, along with a few of Spacing’s subway buttons.)

Second, dj BC’s Glassbreaks - an online-only album of mashups pitting Philip Glass against a diverse assortment of hip-hop and rap. It’s been taken down at the request of Glass’s publisher, but I think it’s still floating round the peer-to-peer networks. Faves: “Einstein On The Beast”, “For The Glasty” and “Stand Up Dance”, partly because of the choice of Glass bits, partly because of the texture of the voices. I think that’s what I like most about rap in all its myriad forms: low-key Q-Tip and growly Busta Rhymes, the speedy, way-glottal Dizzee Rascal. (Black East London accents sound marvelously exotic to my insulated, middle-class Canadian ears. Would I still find grime so interesting if that weren’t the case? I’m not sure. Man, I feel like such a tourist.)

Finally, Señor Coconut’s latest, Yellow Fever! Following up on his cha-cha tribute to Kraftwerk, Coco sets his sights on the next logical target, Japan’s Yellow Magic Orchestra, and it seems to me to work better. There’s more here musically to dig into, especially on their early electro-lounge (“Tong Poo”, “Simoon”)... but oddly I think it’s the spare, difficult stuff on their middle albums (“Pure Jam” and “Music Plans”) that comes off best. And of course there’s Martin Denny’s old exotica chestnut “Firecracker” which, after what seems like a dozen different remakes by YMO and their remixers, finally comes full circle. Neato.

(Speaking of Kraftwerk covers, “Europe Endless” is a bluegrass tune just waiting to get out and sing. Listen to it. Is that not a banjo arpeggio? And a fiddle line? And aren’t those vocoded vocals a natural for a big soaring tenor harmony?)

From eleven songs that are currently stuck in my head:

It was crime at the time but the laws, we changed ‘em, though the hero for hire’s forever the same one.

I got to give myself one more chance to ring the band that I know I’m in.

Said: I’m so drunk I don’t mind if you kill me.

Felt unsure and catastrophic. Had to tell myself, it’s only music.

We might stop and surf a bit, but we would die for hippy chicks.

I want to be wrong but no one here wants to fight me like you do.

She told them, this is our home for now. God bless this cheap hotel.

And all the troughs that run the length and breadth of my house, and the chickens, how they rattle chicken chains.

And it thump, from the east coast to Bangladesh, big bank, willy gank smoke the thing to death.

You told us of your new life there: you’ve got someone coming round gluing tinsel to your crown. He’s got you talking pretty loud.

I don’t be askin’ the air - every action is a prayer.

Something that’s been going around on various other blogs.

Five songs I’m digging right now:

Deerhoof: “Holy Night Fever”
A drunken stomping spaz-out of a song with an appallingly catchy melody, girly Japanese-accented English and awkward boopy keyboards.
(MP3 ... lots more at the Puzzling Music Archive, but for the love of god don’t touch the cover of “Foot Foot” unless you’re a masochist; somehow it manages to be less listenable than the original)

New Pornographers: “The New Face Of Zero And One”
Probably my fave pop/rock band of the past half-decade. *joy*
(MP3 snippet ... see Matador site for some complete tracks)

King Cobb Steelie: “Busy Bee”
Gentle but still head-nodding stuff. I like their direction on this latest CD - sort of techy dub with African echoes. Or something like that…
(no MP3, but others on their site)

Kraftwerk: “Vitamin”
I thought I’d outgrown Kraftwerk. And then I finally heard some of the stuff off Tour de France Soundtracks and dug it. And ever since, I have been chanting to myself, “Carbohydrat Prote-in, A B C D Vitamin…” Interesting to hear them exploring the Mensch side of the Maschine lyrically…
(Flash excerpt)

The Beatles: “I’m Looking Through You”
One of the few Beatles songs I didn’t hear during childhood, so it’s still fresh. Lovely melody and harmony, and lots of unexpected little chord changes on the verse (with the first line on a minor chord, it’s almost like a story that starts in the middle). It has a weird double personality: the verses are quiet and lyrical, then it rocks out on the chorus - with no vocals.

Ideally, I’m supposed to tag five more people to do this too, but I have to get to bed so we can rent a car and drive to Parry Sound tomorrow. Woo!

A lot of this stuff I’ve discovered thanks to Epitonic: The Decemberists, New Pornographers, the Shins and Metric, to name a few. I’d known about a lot of them before, but having a track or two to try out makes so much difference.

The Shins : Got a very ‘60s jangly garage guitar pop sound, with some really striking melodies. Singer’s voice reminds me of Flaming Lips guy, but I like their tunes and lyrics way better.

Hayden - Elk Lake Serenade
Bob Drake - Little Black Train : Just rediscovered this one. Rusty, broke-down country-prog. It feels like one of those albums that solo multi-instrumentalists do. “Same Old Story” has a heavenly intro that always sticks in my head.

Stevie Wonder - “Superstition” : Holy shit, that horn line. - dat - dat - da da ba baïãa ba dadap... the trills!

The Roots - The Tipping Point : Has its fun moments. Reviewers have been somewhat disappointed. I’ll have to check out their earlier one, Phrenology.

Metric - Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

The New Pornographers “The Laws Have Changed” : Power pop with an absolutely winning chorus, pitting Neko Case’s soaring vocals against a Beach Boys-ish “do do do”. And curious but not disagreeable lyrics about a Pharaoh.
Blonde Redhead “In Particular” : I’m not that into Blonde Redhead - the vocals are a little too preciously ‘indie-rock’, for one thing… I’ll have to listen to some more to decide. But “In Particular” has the most beautiful pulsing guitars, and the hypnotic quality continues over into the vocals. It never quite bursts out into a frenzy as you might expect, just remains, tense and beautifully understated.

The topic of lyrics has come up in conversation with a few people recently… So, for the sheer hell of it, here’s a handful of my favorites - it’s a short list, because most of my favorite bits don’t uncouple well from the rest of the music.

In no particular order:

CONGRATULATIONS STOP WISH I COULD BE THERE STOP Tell me something I don’t know. Is there anything left to know? STOP STOP STOP STOP
...I’ve got this epic problem / this epic problem’s not a problem for me / and inside I know I’m broken / but I’m working as far as you can see / and outside it’s all production / it’s all illusion set scenery
— Fugazi, “Epic Problem”

there once was a king and the king had a plan and the plan had a fist and the fist knew a man and the man had a mouth and the mouth spoke at meetings and the meetings always started with the shareholders’ greeting
— Bob Wiseman, “Libelous”

This used to be real estate / now it’s only fields and trees / Where / where is the town / now / it’s nothing but flowers
— Talking Heads, “Nothing But Flowers”

What did I give to you? / what did you give to me? / a nothing-trail of silences that warp in the rain / you said I don’t really know the reason / it’s just not the same / but oh what a vacant breath when / when you say my name
— Sarah Slean, “Weight”

When I win the lottery
gonna donate half my money to the city
so they have to name a street or a school or a park after me
— Camper Van Beethoven, “When I Win The Lottery”

and I got another factory back home
got a barbecue, a pink Mustang, fenders chrome
at nine o’clock I sit there in my chair
and I don’t know why I lose my hair
and then I go to
and then I go to
and then I go to sleep
— Wall Of Voodoo, “Factory”

All over town they’ve got these like messenger girls what ride around on innertubes / their asses are all scraped up / their eyes cold kick me off the bus y’all.
— Shudder To Think, “Gang Of $”

Think of it this way:
you could either be successful or be us.
— Belle & Sebastian, “Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying”

In the film they made us / a little more articulate / a little less afraid or something / with a lot more attitude and grace / And we danced like we never really could dance / in a scene designed to make you think of the old days / We’re not the outlaws here
— Wooden Stars, “Outlaws”