Music, Music, Everywhere

It's been a long time since we talked music here, and a lot of musical water has passed under the bridge. A few of the notable discs that have stayed resolutely in our players include Feist's The Reminder, alternating as it does between dirgy tunes like "Brandy Alexander" and poppier masterpieces like "1234" (available on seemingly every Apple commercial). A rough and tumble live album, recorded by Tokyo Police Club at the Chicago Lollapalooza stopover, has sparked our enthusiasm for their Saddle Creek full-length, duo out early next year. Similarly, Bassano del Grappa gets voluably excited everytime Stars' In Our Bedroom After the War comes on, speaking passionately about some kind of Dr. Zhivago-esque grand romance movie script locked up inside his head. Apparently only Stars hold the key.

Other noteworthy releases include Radiohead's In Rainbows (see earlier post). We finally got around to listening to Bright Eyes' Casadegga to only lukewarm response, but the Broken Social Scene's Introducing Keven Drew has grown somewhat on us.

A charming little surprise came to us in the form of New York anti-folketeer Jeffrey Lewis' acoustic covers of Crass songs entitled, surprising, 12 Crass Songs. Stripped of the screaming vocals, and buzzing guitars, couched in softer tones for more suburban surrounds, Lewis helps us think of a time when we were better (and poorer and more radical) people. Generally we solve this problem by listening to Nico's Chelsea Girls, and just descending into a deeply morose spiral best counter-balanced by more uplifting fare, like Tokyo Police Club.

Where did all the cream go?

In a conversation with Spook Country author, William Gibson, we asked Gibson what he thought about when he read books. He replied quite frankly, why he was continuing to read whatever it was he was reading not doing something else, like going for a walk outside.

Recently, while listening to the new Cobblestone Jazz CD, from the stalwart electronica label, k7!, we experienced that same sensation. It has been months since anything related to music has graced the digital pages of The Daily Wenzel, but for the most part its because a lot of the new music we've come across just hasn't been that stellar. Perhaps our favourite new release of the summer was simply a dub remix version of some African Herbsman era Bob Marley. In fact, we were probably more excited about the reissue of the Germs' I #?@! Your Mom, and Suicide's classic debut albums in mp3 format than anything else. You can easily imagine us with Arturo Vega's droning keyboards turned up loud, chanting along to "Ghost Rider".

The one truly bright spot though has been the new Stars' album, In Our Bedroom After the War. "The Night Starts Here" has proven to be one of our favourite songs for these cool September nights. Similarly, "Take Me to the Right" bounces along with an infectious pop-edge that makes it relentlessly catchy.

Better musical news is on the horizon however, as we are waiting for the new Beirut, and the new Broken Social Scene discs to make their way to the office. We'll keep you posted.