"But there was nothing about the little, low-rambling, more or less identical homes of Northumberland Estates to interest or to haunt, no chance of loot that would be any more than the ordinary, waking-world kind the cops hauled you in for taking; no small immunities, no possibilities for hidden life or otherworldly presence; no trees, secret routes, shortcuts, culverts, thickets that could be made hollow in the middle – everything in the place was right out in the open, everything could be seen at a glance; and behind it, under it, around the corners of its houses and down the safe, gentle curves of its streets, you came back, you kept coming back, to nothing; nothing but the cheerless earth."
Thomas Pynchon, "The Secret Integration"
This is Ian Mathers' Tumblr. I live in Canada. I've written about music and other things for Stylus, PopMatters, Resident Advisor, the Village Voice, and a few other places. Hi.
imathers@gmail.com
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Superchunk - “Song for Marion Brown” (by strooka)
This was stuck in my head so severely yesterday. It was great. Indoor Living is still my favourite album of theirs.
A Touching Display 004
Whoops, I forgot to set this post up last night like I normally do, so this week’s installment is a little late. But the music selection is especially great, even if some of my opinions seem a bit out there to me now (mclusky were pretty much perfect, as is all of the future of the left I’ve heard). Actually, the weird thing about listening to these, aside from the fact that, as my girlfriend says, “you sound so young!” is the way that some of the stuff I said back then that I just thought was normal, uncontroversial (almost trivial) stuff now seems really naive and weird to me. But that’s the power of hindsight and being in your early 30s instead of your mid 20s, I guess.
But in any case, if you’ve ever liked anything I’ve ever posted or written about music, you should really download this one for Readymade’s “Hamburg” if nothing else (and everything here is really great); it’s maybe my favourite song from my favourite album, and it’s one I kind of want played at my funeral (if that’s not too morbid for you).
- Aphex Twin – “Ventolin (Carharrak Mix)”
- mclusky – “There Ain’t No Fool in Ferguson”
- Radar Bros – “Open Ocean Sailing”
- Scannerfunk – “Spinique”
- The Fall – “Return”
- Flying Saucer Attack – “My Dreaming Hill”
- Slowdive – “Cello”
- Ride – “Cool Your Boots”
- Readymade – “Hamburg”
Talk Talk - “Ascension Day” (by ColourOfSpring)
So Spirit of Eden is one of my favourite albums of all time, and Talk Talk one of my absolute favourite bands* - and yet, Laughing Stock hadn’t quite cohered for me yet. I liked it, but I didn’t have a handle on it like I do with Spirit of Eden. I figured the same thing that happened with that album would happen with this one, and while listening to the band’s last two albums while editing something at work last Thursday, sure enough it did. I think it’s possible to respect and even love their later work before it starts to really grab you (for example, I definitely would have said I loved Laughing Stock before this week, but in retrospect it seemed way more forbidding and ‘difficult’ than it does now). But once it does grab you…
Like some great music, maybe most (I’m very way of ‘all’), it’s the kind of thing that makes you forget for a little bit that other types of music exist, or at least that they matter. I got Laughing Stock after I already had Spirit of Eden inside my heart, so it’s not surprising this one took a little longer. Now I just need to turn my attentions to Mark Hollis’ solo album again.
*(still need to track down the first album, but everything else is gold)
no one’s telling me to go
no one’s asking me to stay
no one’s telling me to leave
no one’s asked me if I feel bettertoday
A Touching Display 003
So here it is, the first time that my own dulcet tones grace my podcast… which means that I got to cringe extra-hard listening to this one, because I don’t think I’m ever quite so fumbling again after this one (good lord, I hope not). People seem to be downloading these, so I hope there’s still some interest here, and I’ll keep posting the archives as long as they do. This week’s instalment was a set of songs that I found calming, in various ways, and there are some real all-time favourites here. Come for the great songs, stay (or leave?) for my awful voice (I think it sounds much nicer these days) and painfully amateur stylings.
- Guided By Voices – “Learning to Hunt” (2:25)
- Low – “In the Drugs” (4:25)
- Josh Rouse – “Marvin Gaye” (3:09)
- Elbow – “Buttons and Zips” (3:58)
- Jens Lekman – “Black Cab” (5:03)
- Eluvium – “Calm of the Cast-Light Cloud” (5:30)
- Sweet Billy Pilgrim – “Stars Spill Out of Cups” (6:32)
- Jesu – “Tired of Me” (9:31)
