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July 08, 2009

New Music Tuesday

Ok, I know it's not Tuesday but this got pre-empted by my Tour de France coverage yesterday, so here it is one day late...

Riceboy+Sleeps+riceboy5 Jonsi and Alex are releasing their first album of ambient/instrumental rock July 21st on XL Recordings in North America, titled Riceboy Sleeps.  You can get a download of a song from the album by putting in your email address at their website (or below).  "Riceboy Sleeps" was the original name of the band formed by Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi Birgisson and his partner Alex Somers, but they've chosen to rename themselves Jonsi and Alex for the album release.  The song I received through email is "Boy 1904" but the song I'm providing below appeared on the Dark Was the Night compilation in the spring and is quite representative.  Check it out.

Continue reading "New Music Tuesday" »

July 03, 2009

July, July!

4th of july 14 Happy 4th of July, readers!

there is a road that meets the road
that goes to my house
and how the green grows there
and we've got special boots
to beat the path to my house
and it's careful and it's careful when i'm there

and i say your uncle was a crooked french Canadian
and he was gut-shot runnin' gin
and how his guts were all suspended in his fingers
and how he held 'em
how he held 'em held, 'em in

and the water rolls down the drain, the water rolls down the drain, oh what a lonely thing! in a lonely drain!

july, july, july! never seemed so strange (x2)

this is the story of the road that goes to my house
and what ghosts there do remain
and all the troughs that run the length and breadth of my house
and the chickens how they rattle chicken chains

and we'll remember this when we are old and ancient
though the specifics might be vague
and i'll say your camisole was a sprightly light magenta
when in fact it was a nappy blueish gray

and the water rolls down the drain
the blood rolls down the drain
oh what a lonely thing
in a blood red drain

july, july, july! it never seemed so strange (x2)

Continue reading "July, July!" »

July 01, 2009

Top Songs of 2009 So Far

Sunsetb As we hit the halfway point of 2009, I've compiled a Spencer Krug-heavy list of my favorite songs of the year to date.  Obviously, Dragonslayer has played the biggest role in my musical enjoyment this year, but there have been a number of other highly worthy tracks, and not just from Spencer-related bands.  Yes, the toughest decision was which Sunset Rubdown track would top the list, but this has been a strong year for Superchunk, Asobi Seksu, Mono, The Decemberists, Saxon Shore, and the Spencer and Spencer-adjacent bands Swan Lake and Handsome Furs as well.  Hope you enjoy the included tracks if you haven't heard them.  And come back in December to see how many make the final top 100 list of the decade.

  1. Silver Moons - Sunset Rubdown
  2. You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II) - Sunset Rubdown
  3. Dragon's Lair - Sunset Rubdown
  4. Familiar Light - Asobi Seksu
  5. Learned to Surf - Superchunk
  6. Radio Kaliningrad - Handsome Furs
  7. Nightingale / December Song - Sunset Rubdown
  8. Warlock Psychologist - Swan Lake
  9. Nothing Changes - Saxon Shore
  10. Idiot Heart - Sunset Rubdown
  11. Transparence - Asobi Seksu
  12. The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid - The Decemberists
  13. All We Want, Baby, is Everything - Handsome Furs
  14. Ashes in the Snow - Mono
  15. Ex-Girl Collection - Will Sheff
  16. Harm and Boon - Balmorhea
  17. Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh! - Sunset Rubdown
  18. Jim Cain - Bill Callahan
  19. Harmless Lover's Discourse - Odawas
  20. So Far Around the Bend - The National
  21. Misfits & Mistakes - Superchunk
  22. Coming to at Dawn - Sunset Rubdown
  23. Settle on Your Skin - Swan Lake
  24. The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All) - The Decemberists
  25. Heartswarm - Swan Lake
  26. Seaside - Kestrels
  27. Cello Song - Jose Gonzalez and The Books
  28. The Rake's Song - The Decemberists
  29. Paper Lace - Swan Lake
  30. Hey, Snow White - The New Pornographers
  31. Ghost of My Old Dog - Jason Lytle
  32. I Let It Go - The Thermals
  33. A Hand at Dusk - Swan Lake
  34. Settler - Balmorhea
  35. Air Lines / Land Lines - Bell Orchestre
  36. Young Adult Friction - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
  37. Sunday St - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
  38. People Got a Lotta Nerve - Neko Case
  39. Summertime Clothes - Animal Collective
  40. Something Is Squeezing My Skull - Morrissey

June 23, 2009

Sunset Rubdown Tuesday

1238161532_475 In place of my regularly scheduled New Music Tuesday feature, and in honor of today's official hard copy release of Sunset Rubdown's Dragonslayer -- now available at a fine independent record store near you! -- Vague Space declares today Sunset Rubdown Day, a day for all to enjoy the joy and wonder and beauty that is the music of this seemingly ordinary human named Spencer Krug who has spent the past five years making music of the gods.  Any regular readers of this blog knows that Sunset Rubdown is my favorite band right now, so my glowing review of their new album may come off as a little biased.  As such, I've included some quotes from other sources that have been gathered around the Internet this weekend.  Believe me, I'm not alone.  This is some historically, monumentally brilliant shit going on here.  I'm just glad to be listening...

Drowned in Sound, Jun. 19 (10 out of 10 review)

Spencer Krug dispatches the line "maybe those days are over, over now..." with such conviction you'd think civilization had come to an end, and we failed… but didn't it make pretty colours as it burned? As the song plays out, "...under all the folds of the dresses that you wear / there’s an ocean and a tide / a riot in the square..." is sung with such reverie that you remember 'apocalypse' just means 'unveiling' – that all this is a dance, and if it's going to end, there's something erotic in having been there… That’s just the opening.

Obscure Sound, May 26 (9 out of 10)

Krug shows he can create vivid folk on “Nightingale / December Song”, nostalgic arena-rock on “Idiot Heart” and “Dragon’s Lair”, and fist-pumping anthems in “Black Swan”, but stylistic multifariousness is not the sole reason for Dragonslayer’s apparent success. It is the consistency, thematic focus, and sheer ability throughout the album that makes this one a potential classic. If anything, Dragonslayer will eventually serve as a reminder of Sunset Rubdown’s dominance after their days are over. After all, this decade deserves quality representatives.

Continue reading "Sunset Rubdown Tuesday" »

June 19, 2009

Holy Fuck It's Chrysler?

I just heard a Chrysler commercial featuring one of my top 100 songs of 2007, "Lovely Allen" by Canadian group Holy Fuck.  Yes, Holy Fuck.  Apparently, irony is not lost on the makers of Chrysler commercials.  And yes, I do love when a favorite song of mine appears in a mainstream media sort of way (Grandaddy's classic "A.M. 180" was also recently featured in a car commercial -- also for Dodge/Chrysler, I believe).  But I also love having an excuse to say Holy Fuck as many times as possible in my blog. 

Editor's Note:  It seems that Chrysler has inexplicably pulled the video from YouTube -- why? no one knows -- it's a goddamn commercial for your cars -- you want people to watch the video!!!!!!  That's the whole entire purpose of a commercial, isn't it?  Wow.  Maybe this is why they went bankrupt.  Who the fuck is running this operation?  Anyway, here's a substitute video from the band itself, for the full song:

Watch below...


And here's the full version of the song:

June 14, 2009

Sunset Rubdown Live, 6/13/2009

I see your face when I close my eyes
I see the muscles in your legs from the way you always rise
To the occasion of catching things that fall
Like the statuettes on pedestals I tend to build too tall


3616015582_6f7df1cbf3_o Sunset Rubdown appeared at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia (down in Fishtown) on Saturday night, performing a set consisting mostly of tracks from their new album Dragonslayer.  And as expected, they killed it.  They didn't come out until about 11:15, for a 9 pm show, and by then my anticipation was tempered by a little exhaustion, but as soon as I saw Spencer and Camilla setting up their keyboards, I was ready to cheer.  And I didn't stop until the set was done -- at around 1 am.  They played thirteen songs -- 11 initially, then 2 in an encore -- and they were all absolutely brilliant.  Here's the set list:

  1. Black Swan
  2. Silver Moons
  3. The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life
  4. Idiot Heart
  5. Coming to at Dawn
  6. Winged/Wicked Things
  7. Paper Lace
  8. Snake's Got a Leg III!!!!
  9. You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)
  10. Dragon's Lair
  11. Nightingale / December Song
  12. Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!
  13. The Mending of the Gown

Buy Dragonslayer

Continue reading "Sunset Rubdown Live, 6/13/2009" »

June 09, 2009

New Music Tuesday

Popular-songs Yo La Tengo are back -- after a three-year hiatus from their brilliant 2006 return to form I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass -- with a new mp3 from an album coming out this fall (September 8, to be exact) and a corresponding tour.  The Hoboken trio are calling the album Popular Songs and I expect it to be popular with this blog, at least, which raved about their previous album for months.  Oh, and in case you hadn't heard it, the members of the band spent the early months of the year on a side project called Condo Fucks, whose cover album Fuckbook (a play on their 1990s Yo La Tengo cover album Fakebook, not the ubiquitous Facebook), was released on Matador this spring.  One of the tracks is also below. 


Matador's other classic indie rock band from the 1980s, Sonic Youth, are releasing their - I don't know, 25th? - album today, The Eternal.  I have to admit that my enthusiasm over new Sonic Youth albums waned sometime after the disappointing release of Washing Machine, circa 1995, but each of their many subsequent releases usually has a hidden gem or two (typically a Thurston penned track) and 2006's Rather Ripped was rather great.  Unfortunately, I haven't yet found much to like about The Eternal overall, but here's one of the hidden gems.

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June 08, 2009

Summer Music Extravaganza

Ah, summer.  With all your sun and your heat and your humidity and your sweat.  How I missed you so.  I just ran 2.5 miles, the furthest I've been able to go since my knee surgery, and you know what, it hurt like hell, but out under the summer sky on a beautiful day, all is right with the world.  Barbecues and blooming trees, sandy beaches and broken dreams.  Summer comes only once a year.  Let's enjoy it this time. 

300x300  
Buy Akron / Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free

June 05, 2009

Favorite Dragonslayer Lines

Here's a list of my favorite lines from the forthcoming Dragonslayer album from the greatest band on the planet right now, Sunset Rubdown:

  1. "My god I miss the way you used to be"  - Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!
  2. "And I believe in growing old with grace / I believe she only loved my face / I believe I acted like a child / Making faces at acquired tastes"  - Silver Moons
  3. "He would like to come home naked / Without war paint on his face / And appear before you virgin white / If virgins are still chaste"  -  You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)
  4. "But like all fires and all sunsets / We all burn in different ways / You are a vast explosion / And I am the embers" - Nightingale / December Song
  5. "I hope that you die in a decent pair of shoes / You've got a lot a lot of walking to do / Where you're going to"  - Idiot Heart
  6. "Didn't you love the part right before the dawn?"  - Silver Moons
  7. "I heard your suffering / Come be a wild thing / Come run with Jackie, me, and this lady / The stupid house you made / Fell away like paper lace / Come run with Jackie, me, and this lady"  - Paper Lace
  8. "Under all the folds of the dresses that you wear / There's an ocean and a tide and a riot in the square"  - Silver Moons
  9. "So this is for the critics and their disappointed mothers" - Dragon's Lair
  10. "And if reflections on the water / Sometimes look like burning tears / We can watch them changing shape / Without pushing off the pier"  - You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)
  11. "He said he'd like to move to Nashville / To master the guitar / Where he would live a single day / The way I live a single year" - Nightingale / December Song

Which one do you think should replace the quote from "Us Ones in Between," that graces the top of the Vague Space screens?

Continue reading "Favorite Dragonslayer Lines" »

May 29, 2009

The Trapeze Swinger

51syV-rjGyL._SL500_AA240_ My high school class reunion is on Saturday in Oak Valley, a town within the township where I grew up.  I haven't been to a class reunion since my five year one, although I'm not entirely sure we've had another one since that one.  I kind of think I was class president (or maybe vice-president?), so I  probably should have helped plan one of these things, but alas, I moved out of town when I left for college and besides some way-too-long stays on college breaks, I haven't lived there since.  And I haven't kept in touch with anyone from high school, at least until Facebook forced me to become reacquainted with my old classmates over the past year of reunion planning.  Of course, I only live an hour away now (in the same state), and my parents still live in the same house and my sister lives a mile away from them and I'm home to visit enough that I don't exactly miss Deptford, but I thought it might be nice to see any old friends who are showing up for the reunion, even if I haven't seen many of them since graduation.  I'm also kind of thinking what was I thinking, but we'll see.  They all got together a couple times at Adelphia's recently for some pre-reunion "parties" that I couldn't make but that sounded fun.  So it might be cool.  I just hope there's those little nametags for everyone, because I'm pretty sure I won't recognize anyone.  I saw the girl who organized the reunion at a Phillies game a couple weeks ago and she said I hadn't changed -- nor had she, but I'm not sure I would have recognized her if we didn't plan to meet.  And we used to be really good friends in 9th grade, I think.  I guess you move on, though, and forget.  Even some of the people on Facebook who either graduated with me or a year before me... I don't recognize their names.  Which is rather sad.  But I don't know if that's unusual.  I remember one of my teachers in high school said that we'd most likely lose touch with just about everyone from our class.  I didn't believe him then -- I thought I'd at least stay close with a few of them -- but he was right.   Not sure if any of my old friends ever read Vague Space, but perhaps.  And perhaps they will enjoy this song from Iron & Wine's collection of B-sides, which seems so very, very appropriate for the occasion.

"The Trapeze Swinger"

Please, remember me happily
By the rosebush laughing
With bruises on my chin, the time when
We counted every black car passing
Your house beneath the hill
And up until someone caught us in the kitchen
With maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank
A vision too removed to mention

But please, remember me fondly
I heard from someone you're still pretty
And then they went on to say
That the pearly gates
Had some eloquent graffiti
Like "We'll meet again" and "Fuck the man"
And "Tell my mother not to worry"
And angels with their great handshakes
Were always done in such a hurry

Continue reading "The Trapeze Swinger" »

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