I do realize that four of the last five entries have just been about music

[petronia]

The past week has been ridiculously eventful. It's not even that I don't have time to write about it, I just want to get this stuff up first. XD;

Forro in the Dark feat. Bebel Gilberto - Wandering Swallow (Juazeiro): uploading for canis_m as an example of what Bebel performing with FitD sounds like. It's a traditional song. Odd thing is I watched a performance clip of it ages ago, linked off David Byrne's blog - he's also featured a couple of times on the album. Actually, there he is (inna funny hat XD). I wish I remembered more about what he blogged regarding the gig's context.

Forro in the Dark feat. Miho Hatori - Paraíba: she sings in Japanese, and if no one had told me it was her I'd never have guessed it.

Forro in the Dark - Cajuína: a slower, mid-tempo swing instrumental, brass leading.



Guys, if I ever blog again about Pitchfork-centric "controversies", it will be through the captioning of Prince of Tennis screencaps. CLEARLY DE RIGUEUR.

Speaking of which: Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8.

"Coming in at an exhausting 7,000 years long, music is weighed down by a few too many mid-tempo tunes, most notably 'Liebesträume No. 3 in A flat' by Franz Liszt and 'Closing Time' by '90s alt-rock group Semisonic," Schreiber wrote. "In the end, though music can be brilliant at times, the whole medium comes off as derivative of Pavement."

What I mean to say is, I wasn't aware there was a kerfuffle - last I heard PFork was proclaiming CocoRosie to be genius (first album), not a shit band (second album). XD; Then again, since the last time I checked they seem to have turned into a sort of twee indie hip-hop outfit with a French rapper and a beatboxer(!) that writes actually hummable pop songs about rainbow horse warrior spirits. Or something. And the girl who sings the verses still sounds like Chara with laryngitis (again with the Chara).

CocoRosie - Werewolf (...again with the werewolves): this song starts In a dream I was a werewolf / My soul was filled with crystal light / Lavender ribbons of rain sang / Ridding my heart of mortal fight. I'm not making this up, feel free to download and listen to it. It's gorgeous and sad. Inna vegan femme spoken-word sort of way (note: vegan femme proponents of spoken-word performance are some of my best friends).

CocoRosie feat. Antony - Beautiful Boyz: and this one is about Jean Genet. NO RLY.

Patrick Wolf feat. Marianne Faithfull - Magpie: but wait, it gets better! By which I mean, holy shit it's Marianne Faithfull. XD I wish there were a video treatment of this song (directed by Dave McKean as befits its quality of soundtrack to a nonexistent Neil Gaiman fairytale).

Patrick Wolf - Godrevy Point: a b-side that's grown on me immensely, i.e. this song basically got me through the week. The second best thing to actually being on a deserted shore in Cornwall.

Godrevy Point

Ten miles I've walked today
Along the shore
I saw your ghost again
The season and the birds gather to go
And I lay down at the top of a cliff
Confessed my sins into the wind
And the sky lay a-feather in my mouth

Good lord, what a beautiful day
For travelin', unravelin' this heavy heart away
To forgive and forget myself
My enemies and bruises washed away

Today, was the day, I first said
"I belong."
Here in the ghost region
All alone upon the shore
This changing line between land and sea
Between a cease-fire and a war

And down by the foot of the cliff
Where I gathered shells and watched the swells
Blossom up around my feet
I saw the ribcage of some wreck on the rocks
What a tragic cost, for getting lost, when you just can't find the light
Through this fog

But today, was the day, I first said
"I belong. I belong."
Here in the ghost region
All upon the shore
This changing line between land sea
Between a cease-fire and a war

It's a war... It's some beautiful war

It's a wild stretch of land
Such a sad place to be
When the night comes heavy down
And the sand turns to sea
Many saints have lost their love
Many a pilgrim died unseen
In that wild stretch of land
In that fire to be free

Comments

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I have been sadly fascinated by 'Beautiful Boyz' for, like, two months now. It's so bad! But so good!

[petronia.livejournal.com]

It's incredibly catchy (actually a lot of the most recent CocoRosie tracks are). I heard it first on a live-performance Youtube clip and couldn't understand a single word anyone was singing but had to track it down anyway. XD

Antony of the Johnstons is sort of a special snowflake too, on top of it all.

[cis.livejournal.com]

wasn't one of the factors in the CocoRosie tide-change that everyone decided they were racists? I can't remember if they made any specific comments (uh except, er, dropping the n-bomb on the first album in a character-song kind of way), or Bianca was just seen at a Kill Whitey party and tarred with that particular brush (what was it they did? free fried chicken or sth?). ...mind you i base this impression entirely on ilx, I understand that sometimes it's a little too ready with the 'r' word (either of them).

as ever, thanks. ♥

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I read that thread too. XD I have no idea whether it was one of the ones that was relevant off-ILX though! To be honest it read kind of a non-issue to me; n-bomb in a song sung from the POV of Jesus-loving redneck stereotype seems positively forward-thinking compared with the level of "engaging with black culture" I've become inured to, as practiced by... Korean boybands, say. ^^;;;

Mostly I got the impression CocoRosie were an easy target for ILM hatred due to being vapid insincere hipsters or something. Which puzzles me as much as the love for their first album, which didn't really grab me, but sounds neither more or less sincere to me than their later stuff - it just all kind of sounds like songs. XD;

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely music, thank you!

[one-if-by-land.livejournal.com]

wait, so now it's okay to start using prince of tennis as a valid music reference? XD