dutch baklavah: i see you better when the lights are out

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

i see you better when the lights are out

"the fool looks at a finger that points at the sky." /the little boy advising nino in "amélie"

--
here is the area around which i plan to live come this fall:

there's a body of water called grizzly bay! should i frequent it often, i could be a grizzly bayer! that is tops.

the grizz recording:

grizzly bear - two weeks (live on letterman)
grizzly bear - cheerleader (live)
daniel rossen - graceland (paul simon cover)

for old time's/good video's/good music's sake,
central and remote:

stereogum prematurely reviewed junior boys' newest album, "begone dull care." i had it on repeat for a number of hours before i actually committed my full attention to it, and at that point the listening experience transformed from something like hearing the pleasant, background white noise of a busy city at night to listening for individual nuances of sound and lyrics that the junior boys are so good at layering and arranging. "begone dull care" certainly isn't a departure from any of their previous catalogue; rather, it's the latest effort from a couple guys who keep getting better at making the music they make, and from that, it follows that this album would be their best to date. i'm not a fan of "last exit," no matter how many times i listen to it. "so this is goodbye" is worlds better (and worlds away), in my opinion. it's just a different kind of music from one to the next, but "begone dull care" is more of an extension of their previous album. early favorites include "what it's for," a fluid, futuristic gondola ride kind of song complete with about a minute and a half of droning at the end; "parallel lines," in which a sardonic, unrequited lover bemoans, "it's alright to say it just as long as you don't really think so;" "bits & pieces," a fully danceable, synthy loop of cymbals and dub beats circling around the premise of banging at the end of the night ("i see you move / i see you better when the lights are out"); and "dull to pause," which reminds me a lot of elliott smith's "in the lost and found" in that the lyrics are actually quite morose and wistful, but juxtaposed with a jolly, jaunty melody suitable for biking around on a spring day. i love that a lot of the junior boys' catalogue is like that--bummer lyrics about last goodbyes and lost girls set against the finest electronic beats this side of diplo.