Two poems, two songs, by two artists

The Night, The Porch

To stare at nothing is to learn by heart
What all of us will be swept into, and baring oneself
To the wind is feeling the ungraspable somewhere close by.
Trees can sway or be still. Day or night can be what they wish.
What we desire, moer than a season or weather, is the comfort
Of the matter, which is why even now we seem to be waiting
For something whose appearance would be its vanishing-
The sound, say, of a few leaves falling, or just one leaf,
Or less. There is no end to what we can learn. The book out there
Tells us as much, and was never written with us in mind.

--Mark Strand (from A Blizzard of One)

Coming To This

We have done what we wanted.
We have discarded dreams, preferring the heavy industry

of each other, and we have welcomed grief

and called ruin the impossible habit to break.

And now we are here.

The dinner is ready and we cannot eat.

The meat sits in the white lake of its dish.

The wine waits.

Coming to this

has its rewards: nothing is promised, nothing is taken away.

We have no heart or saving grace,

no place to go, no reason to remain.

--Mark Strand (from Darker)

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Love Comes To Me (from The Letting Go)
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See A Darkness (from I See A Darkness)

Iron & Wine - A Hero To Men With Beards

Today being the day of new music releases, I'm giving a taste of the new Iron & Wine album, The Shepherd's Dog. Sam Beam began Iron & Wine with beautifully hushed, lo-fi recordings of simple folk arrangements and his almost whispered singing. Over the past five years and with subsequent releases, however, he has begun fleshing out full-band arrangements, first with theWoman King EP and then my favorite record from 2005, his collaboration EP with Calexico, the southwestern daydream-infused In The Reins. Though I haven't heard the full album yet, The Shepherd's Dog sounds to be everything I expected - Beam's multi-tracked voicing of parables backed by interesting arrangements and intstrumentations to great effect. If you've only been exposed to I&W by M&M's commercial or the movie Garden State with his version of "Such Great Heights," you owe it to yourself to give Iron & Wine's own material a listen. Folk music is alive and well and still mutating thanks to bands like this.

As for more I&W news: It looks as though Iron & Wine is slated to play here in Utah on December 7 at Saltair. While it's not my favorite venue as far as audio-logistics go, I've still seen some fine shows there and there's nothing quite like the experience of listening to live music while the wind scents the stage with salt and dead brine shrimp.

Download entire playlist

Boy With a Coin (from The Shepherd's Dog)
Carousel (from The Shepherd's Dog)
Muddy Hymnal (from The Creek Drank the Cradle)
The Trapeze Artist (from the In Good Company soundtrack)
Jezebel (from Woman King EP)
Jesus the Mexican Boy (from The Sea and the Rhythm EP)
Communion Cups and Someone's Coat (from Passing Afternoon EP)

Gettin' Right With God

I went to a full block of church today for the first time in probably at least a year. In Latter-Day Saints church, this includes sacrament meeting (partaking of the sacrament, speakers from the congregation, hymns), Sunday School (instruction), and Priesthood meeting (all the dudes, more instruction). I'm definitely on the outside fringe of most church-going Mormons, so it can be a struggle to stay devoted to attendence in times when I feel so out of place. Whether it be my qualms and questions with the way the organization of the LDS church has distorted the historicity of its own roots and past or my own personal interpretations of what means what within the canon of scripture, I always have had a difficult time in my attempts to be a Mormon. Usually, if I decide to try again with renewed vigor or on an epiphanous high, there is a brief honeymoon period where I'll shake off comments that I consider ignorant from the person teaching the lesson or I'll remember to find the subtle positive spiritual moments I usually have vs. the magnanimous ones that I seem more privy to in the solitude of nature and literature.

What always brings me back (I've been an on-again, off-again, semi-active church member for about eight or nine years now) is the community. As weird or off-base or just plain messed as I think their own personal interpretations can be, as estranged from a strong sense of faith that is apparent in others as I might be, communal worship fills a void in my life. If there is anything Mormons are good at, it would be community. You can pretty much fill up every night of the week with worship and activities within your congregation if you choose. And while I tend to avoid a lot of the non-Sunday activities when I participate in church at all, there is something so beautiful, so near to perfect as is imaginable in people joining together, striving to lead better lives, to better understand the existential, to offer a hand and a hug. 

So in that spirit, here are some songs that came to mind today as I contemplated my situation. The final one, Randy Newman's "God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind) is a wry, cynical take on God - I always loved a quote of his I read in an article, (paraphrasing) "I don't believe in God, except on days when I'm really sick."


Sufjan Stevens - Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (from Hark! Songs for Christmans Vol.II)
Lucinda Williams - Get Right With God (from Essence)
Randy Newman - He Gives Us All His Love (from Sail Away)
Randy Newman - God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind) (from Sail Away)

Download Entire Playlist

Saturday Sounds

Bleh. It's been a long last few days, putting in a lot of hours at work while we finished a big project under a tight deadline. So I came home this afternoon hoping for a nap before the Utes football game tonight, but I was/am too wired on caffeine to do anything much more than close my eyes and pretend I could drift away. After half an hour of fooling myself, I read a bit about the early days of Caldwell, Idaho (in J. Anthony Lukas's Big Trouble) and made a little playlist. Here it is, fit for my Saturday, inspired by my wide-awake weariness and the weather. (Okay okay, and I had to throw Built to Spill in. I am reading about Idaho - but it was also a cloudy, breezy afternoon in the desert as well.)

Download the Entire Playlist

The Beta Band - Dry the Rain

Built to Spill - Car

Oasis - She's Electric

The Black Keys - Act Nice & Gentle

Pavement - Trigger Cut/Wounded Kite at :17

Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945

Beck - Jack-Ass

TV On The Radio - Province

Weezer - Falling for You

M. Ward - Headed for a Fall

Flight of the Conchords

Today I picked up The Distant Future by my favorite musical comedy duo (sorry Tenacious D) Flight of the Conchords. The Conchords are Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement of New Zealand and they recently wrapped up the first season of their show on HBO. On the show, Bret and Jermaine play themselves upon trying to make the music business in New York, with hilarious results as they fight over women, quit and rejoin and quit and rejoin the band and hang out with their manager and number one (as well as only) fan. Episodes tend to incorporate one or two of the band's songs into the storyline, I'm posting two of my favorites here. There's also a lot of stuff to view of them on YouTube, if you are so inclined.



Flight of the Conchords - The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room (from The Distant Future)
Flight of the Conchords - If You're Into It (from The Distant Future)

Are You Ready For The Country?

I always feel bad for country music (the name, the entity) because of all the crap that gets dumped out of the rotting, bloated Nashville music labels and songwriters that have dominated for so long. It just opens up the term to abuse. Because of this, I always have to defend myself when I say I love country music and go into long explanations about not liking the seventies country-rock imitations (Kenny Chesney grafting and transplanting that early-70's Jimmy Buffet sound, jsut not as good) and adult contemporary rip-offs, which is what popular country has become. If I were able to choose a band to be in, my dream line-up would include a fiddle, pedal steel, dobro, acoustic guitars and banjo. There's something about music with a country bend that, when done well, strikes me more than any other type of music. So here are fifteen of my favorite country-ish artists and songs, though there are many more beyond that. I may have to do a part two to this (especially if y'all like it).

Just a quick shout out -- Band of Annuals are an amazing Salt Lake band, so support them if you dig it. You can buy their records on-line or at my favorite SLC shop, Slowtrain.

(This was inspired by a post over at the ever-entertaining The Wounded Mosquito, where TWM went on a rant of country-inspired loathing. Don't give up, Josh - a lot of this music was made post-grunge.)

Hank Williams III - Trashville (from Lovesick, Broke and Driftin')
Calexico/Iron & Wine - A History of Lovers (from In The Reins)
Johnny Cash - Let the Train Blow the Whistle (from American Recordings)
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood)
Gram Parsons - Return of the Grievous Angel (from G.P./Greivous Angel)
Drive-By Truckers - Gravity's Gone (from A Blessing and a Curse)
Whiskeytown - Inn Town (from Stranger's Almanac)
Wilco - That's Not the Issue (from A.M.)
Merle Haggard - Honky Tonkin' (from Roots, Volume 1)
Son Volt - Hanging Blue Side (from Wide Swing Tremolo)
Band of Annuals - Blood On My Shirt (from Let Me Live)
Neil Young - Out on the Weekend (from Harvest)
Ryan Adams - Sweet Black Magic (from Gold bonus disc)
Pure Prairie League - Amie (from Bustin' Out)
The Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers (from Sticky Fingers)

Radiohead sometime in '08; Band of Horses next month

Before the beginning of this year, I was already holding out the #1 spot on my 2007 top ten albums list for the album that I was anticipating most this year. That would be Radiohead's 7th LP, which was slated for release this fall. Well, winter and spring came and went with hardly a whisper of news. Then, last month, rumors abound that the band was in New York mastering the album, but that it wouldn't be released until 2008. Now that has been confirmed at At Ease. Such a bummer, but expected from the lads who will put five years between albums in order to get the sound they want. I doubt we'll have an official date until the band settles on how to release the album, as they have fulfilled their obligations with EMI/Capitol and are currently label-less.

I sometimes think of the Phish documentary Bittersweet Motel, where Trey Anastasio is reading a review that says, in essence, "Phish could urinate into the ears of their fans and they would lap it up happily" and wonder if Radiohead could do the same for me. I'll not lose sleep over the thought. Here's some Radiohead to tide you over, including two live tracks that I hope make it onto the new album (I've been waiting for a proper "Nude" release for almost ten years now). Here's looking to the best album (hopefully) of 2008.

Like Spinning Plates (Live) (from I Might Be Wrong)
Palo Alto (from Airbag/How Am I Driving EP)
4 Minute Warning (6.04.06)

Nude (8.17.06)

In late 2005 I stumbled upon a new band (thanks to links on Iron & Wine's home page) out of Seattle called Band of Horses. They would post demos on their website from the album they were working on and I really got into them. I saw them at Kilby Court a few weeks before their debut hit the shelves. They were fantastic. I didn't know the extent to which they would be recieved by the music community, but figured if the right things happened, they could go big. I also passed as Philip Seymour Hoffman at that show. Some girl came up to me and said "Congratulations on your Oscar" -- this being a week or so after Mr. Hoffman won for his role in Capote -- I thanked her and offered an autograph, but alas, no pen or marker tobe found. It was the third time I had been mistaken for him (the other two were in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival the previous year), so I decided that from then forth, I'd just roll with it and see what happens.

Well, BoH haven't been content with all the laudatory comments and buzz-band worhty hype that came with their 2006 debut Everything All The Time, relocating to bandleader Ben Birdwell's home state of South Carolina and cranking out a follow-up for this year. Cease To Begin is no-doubt one of the year's most anticipated albums for me and from what I've heard so far, it is no let down. It will be released October 9th on Sub Pop. I'm posting two tracks from the forthcoming album. "Lamb On The Lam (In The City)" is my fave -- I'm a sucker for piano-chord driven melodies, while "Is There A Ghost" is right where EATT left off. Also, enjoy a couple of tunes of their debut.

Lamb On The Lam (In The City) (from Cease To Begin)
Is There A Ghost (from Cease To Begin)
The Great Sale Lake (from Everything All The Time)
Funeral (from Everything All The Time)