"My Sharona" Fridays – An Essay Of Sorts

Favourite New Albums Heard But Not Necessarily Released Between Feb 1 - 28

• A.C. Newman – Get Guilty

• Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue
• Kate Steele – Curve of the Earth

My first ever job was at a small take-out/delivery joint that had the highest ratio of grease-atoms-per-square-centimeter-of-air that is legally safe to breathe. Within a couple weeks of starting I was elevated to the esteemed position of Friday night cook which meant three-four hours of non-stop, assembly line pizza making. Luckily, my assembly line co-worker was one of my fav cousins whose bubbly presence made the four highly monotonous hours, well, really really fun.

One night we discovered we shared a strong affinity for a popular SNL skit called “Janet Reno’s Dance Party”, a hilarious segment in which Reno, parodied by Will Ferrell, hosted a dance party in her basement, frequently and aggressively requesting The Knack’s “My Sharona”. The next week my cousin, in tribute, brought in a tape (remember tapes?) with “My Sharona” recorded over and over on both sides.

“My Sharona” Fridays were born.

For about two-and-a-half months worth of Fridays, we’d loop that godless song for three hours, much to the increasing annoyance of our poor co-workers. Finally, one frustrated fella couldn’t abide another night’s worth of The Knack’s pop sensation and snapped our tape in half. Infinite sadness ensued!

That was, until the following week when my cousin bought the cd single.

“The Heartbreak Rides”, off A.C. Newman’s sophomore release Get Guilty is, so far, my favourite song released in 2009, with Vegas offering up 3/2 odds on it appearing on my year-end best-song-of-2009 disc. I’m not sure I could tolerate hearing it for three hours every Friday for two months, but I probably wouldn’t want to shatter its current allure (to this day, I can’t stand hearing “My Sharona”). The track is acoustic power-pop at its finest. Its slow-building melody is brought to musical life by Newman’s wistful falsetto and thoughtful arrangements (not to mention the piratical “yo-hos!” peppered throughout the song). I pretty much love/heart/adore the whole of Get Guilty, and think, at this moment in time, that it easily rivals anything the New Pornographers have released. Well, okay, you caught me. NOT the sensational Twin Cinema.

Just like A.C. Newman, the uber-talented Jenny Lewis can rock the party solo. Now I completely missed her wonderfully countrified '08 release Acid Tongue and am a little embarrassed by that. The title track would’ve made my year-end best-songs disc for sure, replacing--actually forget it. I’d rather not devalue the illustrious 19 that did make the cut. The prolific and versatile Miss Lewis–whose other credits include acting (notably: star of the 1988 Nintendo vehicle The Wizard), and singing/songwriting (notably: vocals on The Postal Service’s electro-essential Give Up, intrepid leader of Rilo Kiley)–is a bona fide indie diva. Her vocal diversity is on display here with aplomb, particularly on the heartstrings-tugging “Godspeed” and “Carpetbeggers”, a bombastic country ditty.

If music genres were all part of a big extended family, then folk would easily be country’s closest and favourite cousin. Kate Steele, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter from Victoria, makes just that: smart, earnest, and deeply affecting folk. And, wow, does she ever have a disarmingly lovely voice. I wrote all about Kate for my Icelandic newspaper music columnist gig, so I’ll stop here and not self-plagiarize (did you know you can get the ol’ heave-ho from University for self-plagiarizing? I’ve actually heard of a few cases. Lazy oafs.). Anyway, available for download below is a punchy, upbeat folk-rocker by Kate called “Talking to Him”.

It’s no “My Sharona”, but, hey, few things are...

Download: Kate Steele - "Talking To Him"

Infinite Playlist: Beck - Guero

Read more...

Satisfying Musical Editions - End Of September Edition

• Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
• Goldfrapp - A & E 7'
• Parachutes - S/T 10' EP
• Novillero - A Little Tradition
  

So this year I turned 26 (thank you, thank you).

Ever since, I’ve caught myself uttering this rather generic phrase way too much: “I can’t believe it’s been X years since Y” - X being any positive number, usually expressed in years and Y typically being some monumental event. Question: does this phrase mark the commencement of getting old? Am I destined to say “I can’t believe it’s been X since Y” with increased frequency and incredulity as the years tick by? If so, damn. This is surely one small step away from calling young folks “sonny” and “little miss” while repeatedly starting sentences with “Back in my day.”

Honestly though, I can’t believe it’s been almost five years since I saw Mates of State in Vancouver. The concert was great: I spotted A.C. Newman taking in the show; one of the opening acts, Da Hawny Troof were absolutely bizarre and did a whole bunch of crazy shit on stage; and the cutest couple in indie rock proved to be charming and engaging performers. Their latest offering, Re-Arrange Us, appeared in my player quite often this past month and is a welcomed departure from Mates previous recording. The saccharine boy/girl ping-pong vocal exchanges are minimized in favour of lush strings, which add depth and texture throughout the ten tracks. These Mates are now Parents of State, so perhaps the increased responsibility that comes with parenting somehow resulted in this fresh, mature sound. I don’t know.

Last month I proclaimed my undying love for Goldfrapp’s Seventh Tree and confessed to playing “A & E” over and over again, occasionally hugging the disc like a thirteen-year-old girl smitten by some Joey Lawrence-type teenage heartthrob. I have bad news: my torrid love affair with the track came to a dramatic, heartbreaking, and tear-inducing halt just two days later.

However, I apparently and impulsively purchased a 7’ picture disc on ebay while pie-eyed one night, the result of guzzling one too many Grey Goose dry martinis (tip of the day: fewer olives = a less intense hang over). When the picture disc finally arrived two weeks later, I was stunned. The colours are vibrant, the pressing looks flawless, and the track sounds terrific on my olderish record player. Although, “A & E” didn’t have the same impact on me as it did during our love affair, it was still appreciated and savoured. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you're missing out.

I also picked up another record this month: a black 10’EP by Parachutes, a brand-spanking new Icelandic band (to me at least). This was also a sort of whimsical purchase: Parachutes hypnotized me during their opening thirty minute set for Sigur Rós and forced me to sprint down to the lobby and give them money. As an added bonus, anyone buying the record could email the record label and they’d provide a link to the mp3s, free of charge. Something I took advantage of.

I was so enamored with Parachutes that their track “Your Stories” was chosen from a field of thousands to be the illustrious recipient of My 40 000th Scrobbled Track on last.fm. If you’re unfamiliar with last.fm, it is a plug-in you install in your player that sends your music listening information to their site and catalogs it. For example: I have listened to “Naked As We Came” 143 times ON MY COMPUTER. Yeah...even I’m astounded.

Further analyzing my stats, I see I’ve listened to Novillero’s A Little Tradition an awful lot this month. If you haven’t heard their newest release, I suggest getting it right now. Run, bike, swim to Music Trader and give them your money.

And if you don’t have last.fm, get that too (it's free). I can’t believe it’s been three years since I first installed it.

Infinite Playlist - Parachtues - S/T

Read more...