We won something
Well, that was a surprise. The good people at Hypeful selected the live version of ‘All My Friends’ that we did in September as the 17th best cover of the entire year for 2008. Also on the list were bands like Vampire Weekend, Spoon, Prince, Radiohead, and others. So that’s some pretty august company, as they say.
Thank you, staff of Hypeful and the residents and denizens of Oklahoma City for having such excellent taste. And thank you, Mr. Google Alerts. You’ve served me well today. And thank you, Mr. Mortimer. I think I’ll go to the movies. By myself.
Merry Christmas everybody. And God bless us everyone.
Hearts on Fire
I wrote an email to Scott Plagenhoef, editor at Pitchfork, after reading his blurb citing “In Ghost Colours” as the 4th best album of 2008. Here’s what he wrote:
There was a surprisingly feast-or-famine reaction this year to Cut Copy’s In Ghost Colours, an album that on one hand should be a go-to indie dance/pop/rhythm release (see “Hearts on Fire”, “Lights and Music”) and on the other is actually closer in spirit to a flat-out gorgeous and uplifting pop record (”Out There on the Ice”, “So Haunted”, and “Unforgettable Season”). Our reviewer Mark Pytlik simply yet accurately called In Ghost “a hard record not to love,” yet it also had the sense all year of an LP bubbling just under the surface.
After reading that blurb, I went home to the apartment and put the album on the stereo. I’ve owned it for months but hadn’t actually sat down and really given it a full listen. Scott’s comments seem totally accurate to me in that light. I knew I liked the music but I didn’t realize to what extent.
My friend said “I liked ‘In Ghost Colours’ got my toes tappin but not my booty shakin.” And I responded that it was probably too sad to be a booty shakin kind of thing but perhaps it’s a “toe tappin’ heart hurtin’” kind of deal.
Take a listen. “Hearts on Fire” is this sad beautiful pulsing throbbing late night kind of electro-groove that seems to take you back to your childhood even when it doesn’t.
Tags: music review
Happiness in 2009
If we’re to believe what we’re being told (and I do in this instance), the economy won’t recover from its ills until around the middle of 2010.
That is a grim thought.
Because 2008 was a tough enough year already for a lot people, including myself, and if I correlate economic growth to personal happiness than it means we’re in for essentially another lost year of satisfaction. I’m not sure I’m ready to scrap an entire year to malaise and struggle, even if that’s the reality.
My personal hope is that the economy is a lagging indicator of personal happiness and that the recession we’re currently mired in lags people’s personal situations by a couple months and that people will be able to find personal enrichment and satisfaction next year despite the economic trouble.
What actually drives happiness (or the lacke thereof) is the question here. Is it economic growth, economic change or is economics scarcely related to personal happiness? I suppose, if I needed to bet, the greatest economic impact to personal happiness comes from an adjustment in expectations, perhaps most directly expressed through the stock market, interestingly enough, since the stock market serves as the consensus view on expectations going forward.
If we believe that hypothesis then the periods of greatest unhappiness are the periods of the greatest aggregate decline in expectations. This year that happened in the Fall. Personally, that hypothesis lines up with my own experience.
But now that expectations have reset (at least based on the seeming stability of the Dow) then maybe 2009 can be a period of gradual and renewed optimism for the country and for me personally.
The deal is that over the last few years we’ve all grown accustomed to instant gratification. That not having to wait. And the adjustment towards a sentiment of steady and gradual appreciation through hard work, concentration and a relaxation of personal ego and self-centeredness. Well, that is something that is potentially very difficult and very painful. My guess is that’s the collective feeling we’re experiencing now. The realization that we simply do not have the power to go back and reset the economic circumstances that, as a country, led us here.
If I look ahead to 2009 for myself I see a year where I’m going to hopefully have better and deeper personal relationships with the people I love (and one person in particular), I’ll put out a record that shouuld get at least some positive notices, I’ll play my biggest shows, and I’ll be working hard to stay calm and focused. So those are all good things. Of course, I’ll be doing it on a tighter budget and that is something that is not as fun. But I’m still optimistic.
We’ll see how it goes. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.
Tags: personal stuff
Small steps
Last week’s show was a success. Not a smash success but good things moving in good directions nonetheless. We didn’t get onto the stage until very late (about 12:15) but I thought we had some nice moments. My voice cracked in the middle of “Broken Bow” but it actually almost sounded natural and/or emotional which is not such a bad thing. The songs that Amber sang on had a special poignancy for me. “Hold My Heartache” always sounds really lovely and “Dirty White Coats” is equally beautiful. We still need to work out the right dynamics for “One More Time” and I flubbed the part coming out of bridge. I also think the new tune “Life Is Hard” has a lot of potential but, again, the trick is dynamics. Creating the right musical tension so that every part and every phrase sits in its place in the song and adds a little inflection, a soft little taste of melody and articulation. Still, Matt’s piano line in that tune is really lovely in a optimistically wistful kind of way which is ironic given the line is “Life is hard today”. But so it goes. Highlight of the set was the “All My Friends” closer which rocked a little more than back in September. It had a frenetic intensity that I found inspiring. And, as advertised, everyone got free copies of the new album. Onwards!
Live at Rockwood, Wednesday night
We’re playing at Rockwood again on Wednesday night. Thinking about adding in ‘Burning a Horse’ and ‘Vicodin/St. Marys’ and swapping out ‘Don’t Look Away’ and maybe ‘The Mayo Clinic’. I listened to the first show on my headphones this evening on the train back from DC and took some notes. There were some beautiful moments but overall lots of room for improvement.
I am thinking the setlist will be something like:
1. broken bow
2. st marys
3. the northern bay
4. colorado
5. one more time
6. burning a horse
7. hold my heartache
8. if you see something
9. dirty white coats
10. all my friends
we’ll see how it turns out. try to make it. rockwood music hall, 10:30pm, wednesday, december 3rd. i plan on being there. there will be advance copies of the new record. it should be a fun thing.
I like this picture
Erecting the frame for the record. This is me and the family Brill recording at Paul's.
