Not Sure I'm A Believer

I often get suckered into buying magazines that offer me "free" CDs, which recently happened with this magazine called "The Believer." I'd never heard of it, but clearly that's because I've been living under a rock; it has some stuff by some awfully good writers, like Nick Hornby and Sarah Vowell.

The CD includes tracks by long-time faves Calexico, bands I've heard of but haven't really gotten into like The National and Destroyer, and folks I've never heard of at all, like Neung Phak. I've gotta say, the same rock that has hindered my awareness of this magazine is also preventing me from figuring out how much of the liner notes is truth and how much is fiction. Take, for example, the version of Destroyer's "Rubies" here, wherein, according to the notes, we can hear the sound of Daniel Bejar's hair cascading across his sweat-slick face.

This Calexico song captures the sound of a passing freight train. Or maybe it doesn't, and just feels like it captures the sounds of a passing train, like most Calexico songs do.

Throws Daggers

Silvery Guitars

I'm a sucker for the sound of a silvery guitar, so Film School is a favorite band.

I associate Film School indelibly with San Francisco. That's where they're from, but the link runs deeper: I first heard them on the rental car radio while sitting in a parking lot waiting for a friend to fetch See's Candy to take back home. Liked them enough to wait through several more songs to hear who they were. Heard them again by random chance on another radio show later that day. Several years later, bought their second album (or is it first? how does one count EPs?) again in San Fran, at a music store near Union Square whose name escapes me, but whose atmosphere does not: indie guy potheads working next to rap guy potheads at the checkout, a used music section that made me very angry because there was so much there that I'd bought full-price, a ratty in-store elevator staffed by yet another indie guy who smelled strooooooongly of pizza, the sound of rain on the roof, which may have been made of corrugated tin.

This is one of the songs I heard on the radio. It's also available on Epitonic, which seems to have somehow got a redesign without me noticing.

Activated

Cute Eyebrows

Andrew Bird is an excellent musician, yes. But forget all that for a moment, and instead focus on his eyebrows, which are the most expressive ones you'll ever see.

OK, back to the music. Many indie music fans will know his album Weather Systems from a couple of years back. It's atmospheric, moody, great for listening to on a rainy, blustering day.

At a concert in NYC well before he released this album, Bird played one of the songs from it, called "I," which I hearted. When the album came out, I was surprised and a little disappointed at how much the song had changed. Not that the album version isn't good. I just wanted to relive the particular experience I had had at the show.

I recall hunting for a live version of this song online right after the show with no luck, back in the day when newly Napster-less fans were milling about trying to figure out what to do with themselves. But with entire shows getting posted online more regularly these days, I recently had more luck. This version comes close. Take a listen.

Capital I (live)

Zdob Si Who?

Zdob Si Zdub is the only Moldovan band I've ever heard of. But even if they were, say, the 5,000,000th Moldovan band I'd run into, I'd still like them the best. After all, they have such a cool drummer.

Lots of Western pop music is derivative, and Eastern European music can be even more so, since it's basically imitating the Western derivative stuff. Not so with these guys. Sure, they may have learned their guitar techniques from Deep Purple, but there're all these folksy, homegrown tunes and instruments and other elements in here that come together in a delicious Moldovan potluck.

Check out their Web site, which has lots of free downloads, some links to other neat Moldovan stuff, and some funny English translations. They say you can buy their stuff on itunes, but I can't find it. They do seem to have a couple albums on Amazon, or, if you're in NYC and willing to schlep to Brighton Beach, you can find 'em there. Start with the older songs, from before someone told them they needed to market themselves to the West.

Intro Joc

What's The Frequency?

After lurking on other folks' blogs for three or four years and thinking about my own for one or two, I'm finally doing it. My very own blog. And what better way to start out than with this blog's namesake song?

I am an impossible Radiohead dork. It's all about the incomprehensible yet haunting lyrics. And the ondes martinot. And Jonny's 'tormented genius' cheekbones. And the fact that Thom is now playing the drums. And the hour or more it sometimes takes them to get to the stage after their opening acts have cleared out because they have so much fricking equipment to set up. OK, maybe not that last.

And this is my favorite Radiohead song, although Down = New Up may be making a run at it. It's all about the bass line. And, live, about the weird, often left-leaning (boo-rah) things they do just before they play it.

I must have 20 versions of this song (and looking for more!), but I'll torment you, dear hypothetical reader, with only a few.

The Gloaming

The Gloaming (note above-mentioned leftist tendencies)

The Gloaming-Remix (again, leftist tendencies abound, but it's a remix so I suppose not entirely up to them)