Talkin' Politics, Red Sox and Sigur Rós

Anyone who has ever talked politics with me for more than five minutes has probably realized a couple of things. First, I'm a political junkie - the theatre of politics is unceasingly interesting to me, definitely to a geek level. Second, my own politics fall well beyond any of the political parties in mainstream America (sorry, the two parties) and I hold about equal contempt for both, it just depends on the day and who is in power. When I say I have libertarian-socialist-via-capitalism leanings, I'm not kidding, it's just hard to fit in a box. If only I ruled the world ...

That said, I like to follow both the liberal and conservative opinion of whatever is going on in my country. I read The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, and Salon.com to try to keep up. Yesterday, I read a fascinating profile by Matt LaBash over at the conservative Standard about Roger Stone , a political operative in the most cunning (or sleazy, depending on your political affiliation) of sorts. The man worked behind the scenes in virtually every election from Nixon-Humphrey to Bush-Gore (LaBash credits him for stopping the recount in Dade County, Florida). He's the kind of political consultant that poli sci students like me drool over, idolize and worship as a god (Karl Rove is also a god, by the way). The stories told (if you can believe them all, that is -- deniability is one of the best assets to a behind the scenes consultant) are the stuff of political thriller movies. It's lengthy, but definitely worth a look.

The fact that I worship men like Roger Stone and view politics as he does (basically as performance art, only you screw as many people as necessary with whatever tactics to win) is why I've scared myself away from seriously considering politics as a career. But I'd be one helluva man to have on your campaign - just don't ask questions.

Today, over at The New Republic is an article about Utah's favorite presidential candidate Mitt (The Biggest Massachussets Flip-Flopper Since John Kerry) Romney and why the Mormon issue is an issue for him unlike it was for John Kennedy in 1960. It's short, concise, insightful analysis. I'm not a big Mitt fan, he's got a track record as a good leader, but after changing many social stances about the same time he decided to run for president, he's lost my trust. Either he's telling social conservative primary voters what they want to hear, or he truly had some sort of epiphanous moment of realization that has affected his views concerning women's rights, homosexual rights and health care (including advancements that stem-cell research could bring). Both reasons for his morph rub me wrong.

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Now on to the congratulations: Thanks to the Boston Red Sox for providing a great season for their fans and winning the World Series for the second time in four years. Curse? What 86 year-old curse? This year baseball actually had the best team throughout the season win the title, which seems to be rare since the wild-card was thrown in. The Colorado Rockies just couldn't catch a break in the 4 games, while Boston's bats where stinging balls down the lines for double after double, the Sox starting pitchers all had excellent outings and perhaps the strangest guy in baseball, (and baseball is full of weirdos and freaks, more than any other American sport, I think) Jonathan Papelbon, was unstoppable when he came in to close the games.
Ever since I was eight years old and watched the official videotape of the 1988 World Series L.A. Dodgers season, I've wanted to participate in a locker-room champagne free for all. Maybe I can scam my way into a general manager job somewhere ...
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And now onto the best stuff. The music, of course. Sigur Rós is on my mind today, I'm not sure why, I think I just needed some beauty to accompiny contemplation earlier on. For those who haven't heard the band, they are a foursome from Iceland, guitarist/vocalist Jónsi Birgisson sings in a made-up language, and they produce some of the most unique, graceful, gorgeous, enlivening music to ever pleasure your ears. If someone were to ask me what one concert they should see, if they only got one in their life, I would not choose Radiohead or Bob Dylan or Wilco or any of my other faves I've had the chance to see live. I would direct them to Sigur Rós.

I bought the band's American debut, ágætis byrjun in the winter of 2000/2001. I was living in St. George, Utah for school at the time. That winter, I remember driving the 300 miles north to my home one weekend during a white-out blizzard that stretched from about Cedar City to Scipio in my 1974 Mercedes, travelling into nothing but pure white as the music floated my car through the storm. It was one of the most beautiful music-to-driving moments I've ever had.

When I saw them in the summer of 2006, I had, no shit, a couple of minutes that are among the most spiritual, trascendent of space and time as I've ever had in my life. (And just for you naysayers out there wondering about chemically psychedelic influence, I was completely sober.) It was during "Hoppipolla", I closed my eyes, and I just was. A pure moment of being. I was not physical, I was spiritual, I was energy. It was absolutely amazing. They've got a really cool looking DVD coming out soon of interviews and performences in some unique places in Iceland, so keep on the lookout.

And for life's sake, if you ever get the chance, see the band live. Best 30 bucks I've ever spent on a concert and definitely worth planning a trip around to see.

Download entire Sigur Rós playlist

Hoppipolla (from Takk)
Untitled #4 [from ()]
Svefn-G-Englar (from Agætis Byrjun)
Staralfur [acoustic live]
Nýja Lagið [Live] (from Svefn-G-Englar EP)
Syndir Guðs [Live] (from Svefn-G-Englar EP)
Vaka (Untitled #1) [Live]

Elliott Smith

I missed the anniversary, but October 21st was four years to the day that Elliott Smith took his life. Funny, I can still remember I was driving up 1000 North in Centerville, on my way to a waterfall hike, when I flipped on NPR and heard Robert Siegal talking about Smith in the past tense. It took me a second to double take and think, "He doesn't have an album coming out", and then I realized, and seconds later the radio confirmed that Smith was found dead inside is apartment in Los Angeles.

This was a sad afternoon. I didn't cry or become hysterical, but rather hiked and reflected the way that his music, his lyrics had played part in my life. I am one who prefers downer music when he is down, it is like forcing empathy in your head. When I had my first (and so far hardest) heartbreak, it was Elliott Smith who predominated my playlist. But he went beyond that. He has also found his way onto my record player and iPod when I'm in the mood for something unearthly tuneful and melodic. When Jeff Tweedy sings about being "Saved by rock and roll" it makes me think of Elliott Smith and his music at moments in my life.

I was lucky enough to see him at the University of Utah's Redfest about a month before his death. Turns out that was his last show. My highlight: his cover of "Long, Long, Long" by the Beatles.

Elliott Smith is missed, but not forgotten. If you missed this year's New Moon, check it out. The 24 tracks sparsely re-worked by one of Smith's studio cohorts is not only fantastic, but represents what I consider the best period of his career (1994-97).

Here's some songs by the master of songwriting and pop music:

Download entire Elliott Smith playlist here

Thirteen (from New Moon)
In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach) (from Figure 8)
Say Yes (from Either/Or)
Let's Get Lost (from From A Basement on the Hill)
King's Crossing (from From A Basement on the Hill)
No Name #3 (from Roman Candle)
Waltz #2 (XO) (from XO)
Angeles (from Either/Or)
The Biggest Lie (from Elliott Smith)

OCTOBER 10 - BEST DAY IN MUSIC FOR 2008!

Radiohead has again proved why they are the greatest band in the world. And by greatest, I mean not only by musical output, but also ingenious guerilla tactics. I recieved an e-mail yesterday from the band's merchandise site, w.a.s.t.e. saying that Radiohead's new album, titled In Rainbows will be released on October 10 -- yeah, that's next week!

I posted recently about how it was looking like an '08 release for the new album, especially because the band was currently label-less. Well, they still are. The band may just throw the record business on its end because they are offering two ways of getting the album, one of which could be for free. If you follow the In Rainbows link above to pre-order the album, you'll find that if you get the digital/downloadable version, you pick the price. That's right, you pay as much or as little as you feel it is worth (or, I would say, are able to at the time). Then, on October 10, you can download the album.

There is also an option though, for what they are calling the discbox version of the album -- which are made to order. This includes two heavy-pressed twelve inches that vinyl geeks like me drool over, as well as CD versions and extra songs not available for download. Oh, and the artwork, which has always been a reason to buy the special edition Radiohead albums. The discbox is running at 40 British pounds, which is pricey (I haven't even converted it yet), but for quality pressed vinyl in basically a box-set, is not too bad.

The band has talked about doing this for a few years, about how they hate sitting on an album for up to six months after it is finished before the world hears it, about being done with "albums" and possibly releasing net only EPs as they finish the songs, etc. Well, they're taking a big risk. Check out Green Plastic, my favorite Radiohead fan site for more details and some excerpts of record industry reaction. Apparently, some are saying, if the best band in the world is going to offer music for free, why would people pay .99 cents for songs by artists who aren't near as good?

Wow, I am excited. Beyond excited. This is like waking up in June and having someone tell you that Christmas is next week. I am giddy and am heading over to the website to order my copy of the discbox right now.

Until then, contain yourself with these oldies-but-goodies from the band:



Talk Show Host
The Trickster
Pearly*

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