My poor deck candle couldn't handle the heat yesterday and went flaccid. The once proud and upright candle now leans horizontally, as if it was perpetually prepared to clinch the prize trophy in a limbo competition at a beach party.
I was contemplating some emergency wax injections to help restore it to the luster of it's youth, but I kind of like it the way it is now. There shall be no cosmetic lifts for this stick of wax!
I think that it holds a great deal of potential in it's new form. It would be ideal for some wax drippings, easily hovering over an envelope to make and old fashioned seal.
I could also construct some candle holders that mount sideways on the wall, thus giving my bent candle a new lease on life and allowing it once again to stand upright, pointing boldly towards the heavens.
It's a fantastic metaphor of course, as often we feel completely distorted and repositioned by forces in our lives that are seemingly beyond our control. In many ways the unexpected can occur in our lives in the blink of an eye, forcing a dramatic change of perspective.
The real question therefore is how do we define ourselves in light of the changes that are imposed on us? Are we merely bent out of shape and helpless, or do we suddenly have new avenues and possibilities before that were previously unimaginable?
It is no longer optional and should not be administered sparingly. It is not an elective but an essential course of study. It cannot be held in reserve or banked away for a rainy day. It needs open space to flourish, to spread and infect others with wild dreams and endless possibilities.
HOPE is now officially an obligation for us all. We must brazenly and foolishly flaunt it like a blinding neon sign that is ubiquitous and unwavering. Broadcasting on every frequency it is a strong signal that cannot be drowned out by even the fiercest of elements.
It is a responsibility bestowed upon us all with the greatest of urgency. We must tenaciously cling to this irrational belief that compels us to envision a better world, yielding it like a broken sword when the odds are 1,000,000 to 1 against us.
Whether it is for a battered earth, politics divorced from humanity, or for the endless suffering that surround us, it is time to brazenly and ruthlessly employ it, going for the jugular of those voices that say "why bother" or "there is no point".
We do this for our children, family, neighbours and friends. We do this because we know there are moments of sublime beauty, of fleeting peace and rapturous laughter that continue to find expression in those dark places where they shouldn't possibly exist.
Today I am immersed in the rapturous sounds of the new Sigur Rós album, "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" (translated "With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly"). I have been playing it continuously for the last few days, and a few tracks are already threatening to break into my highly volatile "Top 25 Most Played" playlist in my iTunes library.
It contains the appropriately titled and jubilant album opener "Gobbledigook ", an infectious and organic sounding little ditty that may inspire some to do the same as what is depicted on the album cover. The second track, " Inni mer syngurvitteysingur" continues in a similar vein, topping off a quick one-two punch that invokes a celebratory and tribalistic fusion that lets you know you are on new terrain here.
There are numerous tracks that are uncharacteristically economical and less grandiose than is typical for this tribe of Icelandic craftsmen, though thankfully the band still has a few lengthy ethereal soundscapes to keep the mood firmly rooted in outer space. There are also crackling acoustic guitars on a few more minimalist and sparse numbers that help make this album more varied than on previous outings.
The track "Festival" is a good fusion of the varied elements throughout the album. It is a nine minute center piece and magnum opus of the album that starts of as a jaunty invocation and than switches gears mid way through into a slowly building call to the heavens, gradually mutating into a thundering and triumphant crescendo .
For me Sigur Róshas been one of the most exciting and engaging bands of this nameless decade. Their music works on a very primal and emotional level, refusing to be easily categorized or subjected to rational analysis. It is one part spectacle, and two parts pure transcendent bliss. Needless to say it takes me to my happy place.
Even if the thought of pasty white unclothed Icelandic flesh frolicking in the sun scares you, I highly recommend immersing yourself in this album this summer. It holds the possibility of being able to enhance the moment wherever you may be and might even take you to a far away landscape when you need a quick escape from the mundane.
The current issue of Rolling Stone covers the politically expedient topic of just what exactly the presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama is grooving to on his iPod during those long flights and journeys on the campaign trail.
Sure, this may not be a big issue for some, though as we all know the type of music one listens to is often a reflection of your personality, values and whether or not you are a complete and utterly clueless moron with bad taste. (I still relish my early 90's days as a record store clerk chiding those hapless Milli Vanilli fans and trying to convince them to buy albums by The Cure instead)
In Obama's case he seems to be fairing well with his musical selections, citing artists such as Bob Dylan,Howlin' Wolf, The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder (his 70's era artistic zenith) as essential listening. Of course he name drops Jay-Z and will.i.am, in an attempt to give himself a little cred with the youngsters as well.
He also indicates that "Maggie's Farm" by Dylan is a favourite on the campaign trail, stating “It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric". Score two points for the Senator from Illinois for engaging the spirit of vibrant and socially relevant music!
........ meanwhile, back at McCain world headquarters, in an attempt to be "fair & balanced", Rolling Stone tried to profile the Senator from Arizona and give him a chance to show a little musical love with his own portable player;
Apparently Gilbert & Sullivan really kicks ass at 78 rpms, and the Senator was sooo blown away by the sounds coming out of his "magical music box" that he nearly flipped his lid when he was also told about "talkies", and realized that would make an excellent tool to rally the country around his support for a 100 year long Iraq War if needed.
DISCLAIMER - I am essentially a Canuck doing a little meddling here in foreign affairs and I take full responsibility for having a profound influence on the U.S. election process in a completely biased and manipulative manner. For the record, I also promise to be as equally manipulative during the next Canadian election as well.
If any of my fine American brethren are upset about my actions or interference please refer to the wonderful words of Canada's late great Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to put this in context;
"Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant: No matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt." - Pierre Trudeau speaking to Americans during a speech at the National Press Club in 1969 -
Yes kids, smoking is indeed glamorous, or at the very least an evocative cultural reference point that captures those intense moments of pensive reflection, often functioning as a conduit for fleeting human connection. As witnessed in this video montage to the wonderful "Cigarette In Your Bed" by My Bloody Valentine, some iconic black and white film clips are given a new dimension and are wonderfully enhanced by this richly textured song.
MBV were great at creating surreal and engaging aural landscapes. The simple "shoegazing" label is vastly inadequate. One is more likely to gaze into the infinite sky, their compositions acting like the physical manifestation of a wonderful lucid dream or some brief flight of fancy as the mind drifts freely while absorbed in random memory.
It does good to my soul knowing that they will soon be making music again, though my ears still bleed when I think of the time I saw them in concert. Anyways, sit back and enjoy this splendid video (just remember to extinguish your cigarette before the song ends, as it may induce a dream like state).
RUMINATIONS ON AN "ANTIQUE" OF SORTS AND THE ACCELERATION OF TIME.....
A strange and surreal experience occurred today while sorting through my earthly belongings. I found an old laptop that my beloved and I received when we first moved to the west coast in 1997. I don't think it had been used by either of us since about 2000. It was a gift of sorts from the small software start-up my wife worked for briefly that year.
If you want to be both amused and mortified here are the specs on this "antique" electronic device;
it has a whopping 16MB of memory
the total hard drive space devoted to storing those valuable CorelWordperfect documents is a staggering 850MB - about the same amount of storage capacity that my iPod has in it's small toe
of course it used Windows '95, the ubiquitous operating system of choice from a bygone era
it is a behemoth and weighs about 8 lbs, so it could easily be used for enhancing upper body strength or it could make one helluva sturdy paperweight
it is just over 2 inches thick and could therefore conceivably eat a few razor thin Macbook Airs for breakfast
I experienced a distortion in the space-time continuum as the realization came to me how something within my recent living memory could appear so antiquated after only being out of sight for about 7 or 8 years. The idea of cultural acceleration or "the compression of time" is relevant to my experience, and it seems plausible to me that in this age of rapid fire technological and social change that something 10 years old could justifiable be referred to as an "antique".
I think that this rapid obsoleting of technology is a fairly recent phenomena, one that our human psyche is struggling to play catch up with. In the past, other than a few aesthetic or design related changes, the things we used stayed relatively the same in their functionality ; your typewriter pretty well did the same thing, as did your phone, TV, radio etc.
In recent time it appears to be accepted that what you own will likely be outdated within a few years. I think this speeds up our sense of time, distorts our reality and provides a sense of displacement that is simultaneously unsettling and awe inspiring. We are often left in the dust, trying to catch our breaths as the winds of change blow capriciously around us.
In closing, as I come to terms with the ancient 10 year-old artifact before me, here are some poignant parting words from author James Gleick;
"We are in a rush. We are making haste. A compression of time characterizes the life of the century now closing. Airport gates are minor intensifiers of the lose-not-a-minute anguish of our age. There are other intensifiers— places and objects that signify impatience . . . . The DOOR CLOSE button in elevators . . . Remote controls: their very existence, in the hands of a quick- reflexed, multitasking, channel-flipping, fast-forwarding citizenry, has caused an acceleration in the pace of films and television commercials"
-James Gleick "Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything (Pantheon, 1999)
I love pretentious and dissonant art rock just like any reasonable person does, however, lately I have been entranced by the smooth and soulful sounds of the one and only Al Green. His voice has that rare ability to stimulate a portion of my brain that only usually awakens after a long sought after dose of sunlight caresses my brow (which has been a rare occurrence lately in Vancouver until this point, hence my previous angst filled posting)
I recently picked up his latest album "Lay It Down" which was produced in part by ?uestlove (aka Questlove) of The Roots. It is a classic old school soul album and you could easily close your eyes and pretend to be driving in some big gas guzzling beast of a car while listening to your AM radio circa 1974. By the virtue of the fact that it is actually Al Green it avoids sounding derivative, though admittedly having a few subtle hip-hop or more contemporary elements in at least a track or two might have added just enough of a touch to let you know that it is in fact the 21st century.
Having said all that, I suppose Al Green can do whatever he wants and it is evident that Questlove produced this record out of great affection for the artist. Reportedly, he wanted his own "Rick Rubin moment" and decided that if Rubin could produce a legend like Johnny Cash (or Jack White producing Loretta Lynn) than he needed a legend of his own, hence the collaboration with Green.
I am glad Quest did this, as this latest offering redeems Green from some more recent mediocre offerings. By stripping it down to the essential elements the rightful instrument that is showcased is Green's warm and endearing vocals. It is a refreshingly straight forward record that has no illusions about what it is meant to be, basically a classic sounding Al Green record on par with his classic mid 70's work.
Anyways, even if Al Green isn't your thing and you can't sit through a whole album you might be hard pressed not to at least find a few tracks where his silky smooth voice could add a little sweet lovin' to your day. I suggest getting reacquainted with Al this summer and recommend throwing a few classic tracks on a playlist or mix CD to add even more sunlight to your mental landscape.
Tentative clouds shade everything in vague possibility. The promise of tomorrow out of reach, intangible, whispered like some reluctant prayer. The fulfilment of longing wails like a silent scream into the violent stillness above.... Yet we wait, not just by choice but out of adherence to principals that far exceed the scope of our imaginations, never sure when to look for signs or when to conjure our own magic.
I recently picked up the latest CD by the band James, "Hey Ma". With the help of Brian Eno they made one of my favourite albums of the 90's ("Laid" - 1993). They dropped off my radar for a number of years, though so far the new album seems engaging enough. Tim Booth appears a little angrier in this incarnation, and on the title track he rages against the war machine;
Now the towers have fallen So much dust in the air It affected your vision Couldn't see yourself clear From the fall came such choices Even worse than the fall There's this chain of consequences...
Hey ma the boy's in body bags Coming home in pieces
He also includes the obligatory mid-life reassessment on "Waterfall" where he ponders his mortality, "My mirrors laughing at me, says boy are you getting old/There’s so much junk in your life what you’ve got you don’t even know" and takes the necessary assessment of what is important in life; "Of mobile phones and plasma screens/How much junk in my life do I really need?".
Interestingly, in this age of the lowest common denominator reigning supreme via 24/7 YouTube and reality TV, the album cover caused some controversy in the UK, resulting in the cover being banned from being placed on billboards or adverts. Thankfully, the band decided not to change the album cover, and the artist Darren Hughes issued this statement;
"You need only to have a passing acquaintance with the headlines to be aware of the unfolding horror show of gun culture amongst kids in the UK. Whilst the media are quick to show condemnation.... we seem less able, less curious to raise the vital question, as to what has brought our country, our culture our kids to be so taken with guns?"
It made me think of another album cover from a lesser known 90's album, "Delaware" by the Drop Nineteens (1992). Although slightly contrived, the image of an earthy looking indie kid dangling a gun is both engaging and mildly unsettling due to its capacity to hint at the possibility of violence even from the most seemingly innocuous of sources.
Although the Drop Nineteens were not a political band by any stretch of the imagination, the album cover is striking and stands out as one of my favourites. I remember being so engaged by the cover that I picked up the album when it first came out, knowing very little about the band. Such is the power of captivating art.
In many ways I am glad that artists like James are still willing to make bold statements and are blatantly questioning the dominant paradigm. As long as there are artists prepared to do this my faith in the human spirit will remain unfettered. Also, I hope that as music becomes more predominately digital and less tangible, that the album art will somehow remain a vital component of music, adding a another necessary dimension to the dissemination of ideas in our crazy world.
In a recent Rolling Stone article it has been reported that while sales of CDs are down, sales of vinyl LPs are currently on the rise. According to Nielsen SoundScan statistics, vinyl sales were up 15% in 2007 (U.S figures), while shipments of CDs were down 17.5% during the same period
Many artists are now choosing to make limited vinyl pressings of new releases, and for his latest album "Momofuku", Elvis Costello choose to release it on vinyl before it was available on CD. For their latest release, the Raconteurs "recommend hearing it on vinyl" first. In addition, many artists who release vinyl versions are also including codes for a free download for the digital version as well, thus taking the need for a CD version out of the equation.
Although vinyl will not ever return to its former place of prominence in the market place, it looks like it has found an entrenched, and increasingly popular niche that will be around for a while. Much of this is of course is driven by those who love music and realize that those analog recordings that were quickly abandoned in the early 90's were actually much better quality despite claims to the contrary at the time.
I also don't think this is only being driven by the mid 30's and older crowd who have a nostalgic attachments to LPs, as I have seen many of the teen and early 20's crowd at my local record store gladly snapping up second rock and classic punk rock albums, eager to slip them out of their covers, sit back and enjoy the prospect of listening to an album in it's entirety.
Anyways, it is interesting how in the age of having a million music files at your finger tips there are many who are embracing the visceral and tangible thrill of listening to LPs which are more embedded in a specific place and time. Other formats like CDs & MP3 files may be more convenient, though they are also more inclined to be skipped through or disposed of more readily, rather than being revered and enjoyed as a holistic experience.
Of course that is my unbiased opinion... now excuse me while I go down to my basement to enjoy some great gatefold artwork and enjoy a splendid aural journey at 33 1/3 RPMs!
A toddler bangs a wooden hammer onto a precariously situated tower of blocks and squeals with delight as it tumbles down and makes a large crash...... gas prices spike dramatically within a short time and suddenly SUV and truck plants close, transit ridership increases and people begin to rethink how they live....... an old woman stands astonished while admiring the beautiful flowers that are blooming in her yard about a month earlier than they used to a few decades ago...... a soldier stands on guard in front of an oil field thousands of miles from home, watches a motorcade of Hummers drive by and daydreams of being anywhere else..... a young girl giggles as she shares a joke via a web cam chat with a friend who is on another continent and believes that the world isn't such a big place after all..... for the first time in history an African American is in serious contention for the presidency and people begin to wonder if the dreams of many generations could finally be realized......
I believe that hope lies in always making connections
In celebration of the recent reissues of The Replacements early recordings courtesy of Rhino Records, I wanted to muse for a moment on a video/song from the band that stands out for me as an enduring and timeless classic.
One of my favourite videos by the band is definitely "Bastards of Young". It is a brilliantly minimalistic statement that stood in stark contrast to the glossy image obsessed videos that epitomize the ethos of the 1980's.
The video says a lot by showing very little, and it was a dramatic statement in the context of it's time. Although tragically the band later attempted to embrace the slick image machine that was all prevailing at the time, I still think that this video in all of its simplicity provides a compelling backdrop for this anthem.
To me it captures the yearning and sense of displacement captured in the song; "We are the sons of no one, bastards of young". With a record player, a few LPs in a crate, and a throbbing speaker, this could be anywhere in North America at the time. It could be any place where a young person is searching for connection or meaning through the visceral and liberating joy of music that takes you to another place, somewhere beyond the banality of one's immediate surroundings.
With a little "kick" at the end the spirit of the song is summed up decisively. Enjoy!
My poor deck candle couldn't handle the heat yesterday and went flaccid. The once proud and upright candle now leans horizontally, as if it was perpetually prepared to clinch the prize trophy in a limbo competition at a beach party.
