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