Broken Loveseats

The hiatus

2008-06-11T14:51:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the unannounced hiatus. A lot of things got in the way, and while I've been seeing shows and writing, I've held off on posting anything until I can post mp3s again. I'm also going to have limited internet access for the next three months. This probably means that the blog will be revived at the beginning of September. My apologies and have a great summer!

Coffee Cups -- April 24, 2008

2008-04-30T01:18:00.000-04:00

Self Helpless - Her Space Holiday
What Am I to You? - Norah Jones
The Youth - MGMT
Don't Deconstruct - Rilo Kiley
All At Once - Jack Johnson
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John
Hills - Thao Nguyen
Typical Situation - Dave Matthews Band
Glass Figurine - Andrew Bird
Words Cannot Describe - Mirah
Dreaming of the Plum Trees - White Hinterland
Fidelity - Regina Spektor
Dry Lips - Lightspeed Champion
The Past and Pending - The Shins
Bathwater - No Doubt
Asleep on a Sunbeam - Belle and Sebastian
Good Day - Jukebox the Ghost
The Perpetual Self, Or "What Would Saul Alinsky Do?" - Sufjan Stevens
Fancy Footwork - Chromeo
I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie
Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig - Jens Lekman
Little of Your Time - Maroon 5
It's a Disaster - OK Go
Off the Hook - CSS
It's a Fact (Printed Stained) - Matt & Kim
Bluegrass Stain'd - Mark Ronson, Nappy Roots, and Anthony Hamilton
The Girl You Lost to Cocaine - Sia

"You can't build cathedrals out of finger steeples"

2008-04-26T23:57:00.004-04:00

Thao Nguyen's song Tallymarks off her solo album "Like the Linen" has some of my favorite lyrics ever. I'm normally not into meta songwriting, but the song is so adorable that I can forgive her and embrace the embarrassed, sweet little chorus.

"But I think I might miss you enough to say so,
and I think I already did.
Well, I think I might miss you enough to say so.
There you go, I just said it again."

Tallymarks - Thao Nguyen

Although I generally prefer her work with the band on "We Brave Bee Stings and All", this track is well worth a listen (or twelve, in my case).

Damn the man

2008-04-23T17:27:00.006-04:00

Vampire Weekend's first album is a decent amateur effort that hipsters the world over have been eating up like organic vegan soy chips. There are a couple of stand out songs, namely "Oxford Comma", which I have been aching to play on my radio show. Unfortunately, the first line of the chorus is "Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?", planting it firmly in the "unplayable" category. So, subversive anarchist rebel that I am, I'm posting it here for your enjoyment.

Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

And, in the spirit of censorship, Adam Buxton's hilariously clean version of "Fuck tha Police" by NWA.

The jazz monster

2008-04-22T08:28:00.002-04:00

So, I know what some of you are thinking.

"I wish Sarah would write more about obscure jazz music instead of this indie folk bullshit."
"This blog simply does not contain enough name-dropping and pretentiousness."
"While reading this blog, I feel that I am not simultaneously belittled by a self-righteous music student often enough."

Do you like jazz and feeling bad about yourself? Boy, do I have news for you!!

My friend Callum has a new jazz music blog called "The Jazz Monster", which can be found at jazzmonster.blogspot.com. In all honesty, Callum is a brilliant writer, putting yours truly to shame. He is an incredibly talented musician as well, currently studying at Berklee, and he is also ridiculously knowledgeable about his genre of choice. Best of all, Callum is a pretentious son-of-a-bitch. Read his shit.

Coffee Cups -- April 17, 2008

2008-04-21T17:29:00.000-04:00

Lover Lay Down - Dave Matthews Band
Sunworshipper - Mylo
3x5 - John Mayer
Be Born - Tally Hall
I'm a Cuckoo - Belle and Sebastian
Experimental Film - They Might Be Giants
The Fix Is In - OK Go
Kids - MGMT
Victoria - Jukebox the Ghost
Radio, Radio - Elvis Costello
Campus - Vampire Weekend
Electric Demons in Love - Electric Six
My Girl is Calling Me (A Liar) - Chromeo
Too Little Too Late - Barenaked Ladies
My Moon My Man - Feist
Hanginaround - Counting Crows
Late Sunday Evening - Art Brut
Six Feet Under - No Doubt
Happy Birthday - Sufjan Stevens
The Happy Birthday Song - Andrew Bird
Expo '86 - Death Cab for Cutie
Fear and Convenience - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Sand in My Shoes - Dido
Doctor Monroe - Casey Dienel
Tech Romance - Her Space Holiday
Eleanor Put Your Boots On - Franz Ferdinand

Bandwidth issues

2008-04-15T22:45:00.002-04:00

For reasons [kind of] unknown, people are getting an error message when they try to download songs -- "bandwidth quota exceeded". The main reason, as far as I can tell, is that the files are around 5MB, and I probably only have 10MB of bandwidth, so if more than one person is trying to download at once, we'll probably run into problems, especially if other people are browsing the site at the same time. The thing is, I'm pretty sure I'm not popular enough to actually merit this kind of problem. I have been trying to figure out how much bandwidth I have on this free account (I don't know if my cheap-o domain name factors in at all) and whether or not (and how) I could upgrade the site. Also, I don't even know if this is really an issue or just a false error. So, stick around, I'll keep writing, and I'll get downloads back to normal as soon as possible. Until then, if there's a song you desperately desire, leave a comment with your email address or AIM screen name and the songs you would like and I'll be happy to send you the files. Sorry!!

Coffee Cups -- April 10, 2008

2008-04-14T17:04:00.001-04:00

100 Knives - Mirah
A Long December - Counting Crows
Just Apathy - Tally Hall
Dark Matter - Andrew Bird
Tallymarks - Thao Nguyen
Someday You Will Be Loved - Death Cab for Cutie
Natural Anthem - The Postal Service
1 2 3 4 - Feist
Toes - Norah Jones
Absolutely Nothing - Lily Allen
Get on the Ball - No Doubt
If You Find Yourself Caught in Love - Belle and Sebastian
The Henney Buggy Band - Sufjan Stevens
No More Long Years - Matt & Kim
Post Soothing Out - Art Brut
A Million Ways - OK Go
Symbol in My Driveway - Jack Johnson
Academia - Sia
I'm Wrong About Everything - John Wesley Harding
What is Hip? - Tower of Power
A Postcard to Nina - Jens Lekman
On the Radio - Regina Spektor
You're the Reason I'm Leaving - Franz Ferdinand
The Only One I Know - Mark Ronson ft. Robbie Williams
The Luxury of Loneliness - Her Space Holiday
Pictures of Success - Rilo Kiley
Metal Heart - Cat Power

Title of the post

2008-04-13T22:16:00.011-04:00

As you may have noticed, music is one of the greatest loves of my life. For those of you that don’t already know, I also have a profound relationship with comedy. And there’s one other thing: I’m having a serious love affair with musical comedy. Here are four of my recent trysts.

I saw Tim Minchin for the first time a month ago in New York, where he had a six-week run at New World Stages. The man is a genius, if a bit mad. He is a talented pianist and witty as all hell, and I was hurting from laughing by the end of the show. His style is often dark and vulgar, but he performs with such eagerness that it’s difficult to be offended.

You Grew On Me - Tim Minchin
Inflatable You - Tim Minchin

After the show, we walked down to the UCBT (Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre) and saw Olde English’s variety show, Very Fresh, where they debuted a brilliantly made video, “Akon Calls T-Pain”. If you’ve ever heard a song by either of them and thought, “I can appreciate this very original music and the artist’s clever use of vocoder,” this is not the video for you.

(The three songs parodied are “Buy U a Drank” by T-Pain, “I Wanna Fuck You” by Akon, and “Sexual Eruption” by Snoop Dogg.)

Improv Everywhere is a project headed by Charlie Todd (or Agent Todd, in IE terms) that he started with fellow comedy students of the UCBT improv school. (Todd now performs and teaches there.) Their goal is to “cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places”, which they have been doing since August 2001 with over 70 missions. One of their recent missions, executed in Los Angeles, struck me as particularly great.

I’ve been known to have a slight problem with suspension of disbelief. I walked out of “Superman Returns” because I found it so implausible that Lois Lane did not die in the opening scene that I physically couldn’t sit through the rest of the film without shouting obscenities at the screen. So I definitely understand the problem many play- and movie-goers have with musicals. Strangers shouldn’t be able to effortlessly harmonize after breaking into song about something that, let’s face it, doesn’t deserve to be sung about. Like, say, spilled lemonade:

A bit closer to home, I managed to get a taste of musical comedy on campus at the latest Mixed Company a cappella concert. They invited the Johns Hopkins Mental Notes, and both featured a comedy song; Mixed Company sang “Title of the Song” by Da Vinci’s Notebook, and the Mental Notes sang “Your Love Is (Love Song with Metaphor)” by former Da Vinci’s Notebook members Paul and Storm.

Title of the Song - Da Vinci’s Notebook
Your Love Is (Love Song with Metaphor) - Paul and Storm

I wish I had a recording of the performance to share-- the soloists, Nemo Swift ’11 of Swarthmore and Tom Murphy ’09 of JHU, did a wonderful job. But the real beauty of these songs is in the lyrics. I’ll leave you with verse two of “Your Love Is”:

My love is a sailing ship
Seeking out a friendly shore
To cast out my anchor, happily never to sail no more.
And your love is the ocean that drowns me
Leaving my bones to be picked at by crabs
And bringing settlers to the New World with smallpox and influenza
And wiping out the indigenous population.
Smallpox
Your love is smallpox.

Coffee Cups -- April 3, 2008

2008-04-09T07:09:00.003-04:00

Lonely Night in Georgia - Marc Broussard
Forever and a Day - Her Space Holiday
The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, the Mind That Knows Itself) - Sufjan Stevens
Told You So - Barenaked Ladies
Fair - Remy Zero
Don't Leave Home - Dido
Big Kid Table - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
At the Dept. of Forgotten Songs - Jens Lekman
Nobody's Hippie - Kimya Dawson
Knock Yourself Out - Jon Brion
Sunrise - Norah Jones
TV Trays - Death Cab for Cutie
Crazy Life - Toad the Wet Sprocket
Me and the Major - Belle and Sebastian
World Go 'Round - No Doubt
Mercury Tears - Chromeo
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service
Crash into Me - Dave Matthews Band
Engine Heart - Mirah
The Water - Feist
Science vs. Romance - Rilo Kiley
A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left - Andrew Bird
Summer in the City - Regina Spektor
Raining in Baltimore - Counting Crows
The La La Song - Casey Dienel

Seeing Sia

2008-04-09T01:17:00.002-04:00

Take that smile, and multiply it by twelve. That should give you an approximate level of Sia's energy for her entire show a month ago at Webster Hall.

Watching her was like watching joy personified. She was so thrilled to be on stage and singing (and damn, did she belt):

It came as somewhat of a shock how strong and clear her voice was, nearly replicating the sound of her album. Listening to her CDs first, it is easy to overlook that while she has a produced-pop feel, her voice is natural and honest to her talent in the recording.

I don't know if I've ever met a true star so concerned with everyone else in the (very packed) room. Sia paused between songs to ask how everyone was-- but without the "How's everybody doing New Yoooooork?" that so many artists deem an acceptable form of banter. "How is everyone? You're all good? You sure? Does anybody need anything? Let me know, okay? Write me a note or something." Sure enough, one group of fans did, to profess their love and request a song which the band had unfortunately not prepared for the concert. One of the girls asked to trade scarves with Sia, a proposition which the singer accepted with glee, and slight hesitation: "I like yours a lot! Are you sure you want to give it up?"

Sia also revealed a project called The H Crusader: it's an alter-ego of sorts, the H standing for humanitarian. With the character in mind, she wrote an upbeat album as a sophomore effort and presented it to her record label.

Sia: Look what I made! It's pop!
Label: This is no good. Your last album was downbeat. You have to maintain your fanbase.
Sia: But I worked so hard!
Label: You can't confuse your fans.
Sia: What fans?
Label: Good point. Well, you still have to record another down tempo album first.
Sia: This is what I made! This is what you get!
Label: We're dropping you.

Since then, she says, she's learned to listen to people, and she put H Crusader on hold to write "Some People Have Real Problems". But now that she has fans that are loyal no matter her genre, she is working on H Crusader again, and she debuted a wonderful song called "The Co-Dependent". The best version I could find is this youtube video.

After her last song, Sia returned to thunderous applause for an encore, and swiftly apologized. "I didn't want to have an encore," she lamented, "but they told me that's how they do it here. I don't like encores because I don't believe in making people beg. So if you come see me again, you don't have to clap if you don't want to. I'm coming back anyway!"

Coffee Cups -- March 27, 2008

2008-04-03T01:38:00.006-04:00

I have been really occupied the last couple weeks, please forgive me! Everything will be back to normal with real, timely posts as soon as possible.

Limit to Your Love - Feist
Naive (Kooks cover) - Lily Allen
Stars of Track and Field - Belle and Sebastian
Traffic in the Sky - Jack Johnson
~~Big City - Antsy Pants~~
Paint's Peeling - Rilo Kiley
Life for Rent - Dido
Phantom Limb - The Shins
I Was a Kaliedoscope - Death Cab for Cutie
Death by Chocolate - Sia
~~Minute by Minute - Girl Talk~~
Brand New Colony - The Postal Service
Synthesizer - Electric Six
~~Let the Music Get Down in Your Soul - Marc Broussard~~
I Will Survive - Art Brut
Oh Lately It's So Quiet - OK Go
Skin Is, My - Andrew Bird
Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois - Sufjan Stevens
All the Way Down - Glen Hansard
Geography - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Frankie and Annette - Casey Dienel
The Bidding - Tally Hall
Around the World - Daft Punk
Key Stroke - Her Space Holiday
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Cat Power
Luxembourg - Jesse Harris
Hotel Song - Regina Spektor
Bonafied Lovin' (Tough Guys) - Chromeo

Coffee Cups -- March 20, 2008 & Coffee Cups News

2008-03-20T10:29:00.008-04:00

My radio show Coffee Cups is now available on webcast and podcast! To listen to the show on Thursdays from 8am-10am east coast time, go to www.wsrnfm.org and click "Listen Live" on the left. To listen anytime, you can subscribe to the podcast by going to iTunes - advanced - subscribe to podcast - type in this url: http://www.wsrnfm.org/podcasts/294. The first two recorded shows (3-06 and 3-13) will not play-- this week's is the first recording that works.

Light & Day - The Polyphonic Spree
The Greatest - Cat Power
~~Ghost of Corporate Future - Regina Spektor~~
Cabin Fever - Casey Dienel
The Good That Won't Come Out - Rilo Kiley
See The Sun - Dido
Foundations - Kate Nash
Littlest Things - Lily Allen
Piazza, New York Catcher - Belle and Sebastian
Travel - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
~~Momma's Boy - Chromeo~~
Drowning In Sobriety - Old Springs Pike
Nag Nag Nag Nag - Art Brut
A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill - Jens Lekman
Some Fantastic - Barenaked Ladies
Fire on the Ocean - Jesse Harris
Carrot Rope - Pavement
~~Spring and a Storm - Tally Hall~~
The Avalanche - Sufjan Stevens
What's the Altitude - Cut Chemist
Thin Line - Jurassic 5 ft. Nelly Furtado
Bye Bye Baby - OK Go
This Fire - Franz Ferdinand
Lightspeed - Matt & Kim
Making Sense - Polysics
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - The Arcade Fire
This Charming Man - The Smiths
Day Tripper - The Beatles
Amy - Mark Ronson ft. Kenna

I promise I will write about Sia in the next few days. I've been on the futile hunt for a decent live version of her new song to share with you.

A little bit of folk

2008-03-15T01:06:00.007-04:00

Old Springs Pike did a mini-set this Thursday at Rififi as a closing act for Totally J/K with Joe and Noah, a weekly comedy variety show. They are a young, cute, fun folk trio. A lot of their recent popularity is likely due to ex-member John Gallagher Jr., the Tony winning "Moritz" of Spring Awakening. He recently left the band, but they seem no worse for wear-- maybe short a few hands, though. All three sang, James Cleare (the redhead) was on hands-free harmonica duty, they split the percussion between them, and each took on another instrument (guitar, bass, tambourine- the melodica had been left in a car). Appropriate for the evening, the setup became downright comical on the last song. James C. was responsible for the kick and crash setup, Heather Robb for snare, and James Smith for hi-hat. However, James C.'s hands were full on bass, so Heather would periodically duck out from her shared mic and lean across the stage and under his arms to hit the crash cymbal. I guess it's more of a visual joke.

They played "Drowning in Sobriety", "Reply", and "The Hush".

~~Drowning in Sobriety - Old Springs Pike~~

Did I mention how supremely adorable they are? Witness:

Coffee Cups -- March 6, 2008

2008-03-06T21:29:00.001-05:00

Romulus - Sufjan Stevens
Winding Road - Bonnie Somerville
Beautiful Calm Driving - Sia
~~Perfect Blue Buildings - Counting Crows~~
Turn Me On - Norah Jones
Dendecuba - Daby Toure
~~I Felt Your Shape - The Microphones~~
Where Are You Going - Dave Matthews Band
St. Patrick's Day - John Mayer
Still Fighting It - Ben Folds
Archipelago - Mirah
Death of an Interior Decorator - Death Cab for Cutie
Plane Crash in C - Rilo Kiley
Persistence of Memory - Afro-Celt Sound System
Bag of Hammers - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
One By One All Day - The Shins
Living Proof - Cat Power
Free- The Martinis
~~White Flag - Dido~~
No More - Jesse Harris
Mushaboom - Feist
Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright
Lovestoned/I Think She Knows Interlude - Justin Timberlake
Oh! Darling - The Beatles
Silvia - Jens Lekman
Lady - Regina Spektor
Tundra - Casey Dienel

Define "obsession"...

2008-03-03T00:26:00.007-05:00

When does an addiction start? That first listen, I barely paid attention to "We Brave Bee Stings And All". In fact, I didn't even think I liked it. On the third or fourth listen, I became endeared to it. On the tenth listen... well, I had listened to the album ten times in one day. I knew half the words and was ready to name Thao with the Get Down Stay Down as my favorite band of all time. Once I managed to turn the music off, I realized that such drastic decisions were not to be made under the influence of wonderful jangly indie folk.

Thao Nguyen's voice sounds similar to Chan Marshall's, but it's a touch less smoky and a touch more, well, weird. It's like she's straining her voice, but unlike an inexperienced singer, she makes grasping for notes sound really, really good.

~~Bag of Hammers - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down~~
~~Swimming Pools - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down~~

Picking those two tracks to share was a difficult decision (even though "Beat" is already posted in the entry before this). Nearly every listen through the album gives me a new favorite song, which means I've had seven or eight favorites already. The full album length is only a half hour, which is perfect for the new listener, because it needs a second listen to lodge itself in your brain. But beware: Thao is moving in, painting the walls, and bringing all the heavy furniture. These songs do not plan on leaving your head anytime soon.

"We Brave Bee Stings And All" by Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. Get your hands on this CD.

Coffee Cups -- February 21, 2008

2008-02-27T09:26:00.001-05:00

Step Into My Office, Baby - Belle and Sebastian
Snow (Hey Oh) - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Buttons - Sia
~~Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me - The Pipettes~~
Fallen From The Sky - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Us (MC DJ Remix) - Regina Spektor
Middle Of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat
~~Beat (Health, Life, and Fire) - Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down~~
Naive - The Kooks
Fiery Crash - Andrew Bird
Crash the Party - OK Go
Big Brat - Phantom Planet
~~Bounce That - Girl Talk~~
Direct Hit - Art Brut
When You Were Young - The Killers
Evil and a Heathen - Franz Ferdinand
Crooked Teeth - Death Cab for Cutie
Hate To Say I Told You So - The Hives
Apply Some Pressure - Mark Ronson ft. Paul Smith
Way Too Much - Chromeo
Danger! High Voltage - Electric Six
Tripping Billies - Dave Matthews Band
Let's Get Back - No Doubt
Your Phone's Off The Hook But You're Not - X
Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth - The Dandy Warhols
Girl On The Wing - The Shins
Come On! Feel the Illinoise! - Sufjan Stevens
Tearing Up The Oxygen - Maritime
Mi Wawa - Daby Toure
Inside and Out - Feist

Brilliance, in meme form

2008-02-26T14:06:00.008-05:00

Ah, the culmination of a musical meme.

The original Daft Punk song:
~~Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk~~

"Daft Hands" video:

"Daft Bodies" video:

Kanye West samples Daft Punk:
~~Stronger - Kanye West~~

"Kanye Hands" video: [if it's choppy on the embedded video, click through to youtube]

(For more funny videos, check out www.baratsandbereta.com)

A terrible person reviews some concerts

2008-02-20T17:26:00.002-05:00

I'm an asshole. Here I left you all waiting in anticipation for another brilliantly worded concert review for weeks on end, with no consideration given to just how much your day-to-day life truly depends on my consistently updating this blog.

The good news (for me- who gives a crap about you guys?) is that I got to see another concert in the time being. So, here's a little wrap-up of Mika and Cat Power. I'm sure I could have given a much better account if I had written this directly after either of the shows, but remember? I'm an asshole.

Seeing Mika at The Electric Factory was a different experience for me compared to my normal concert-going routine. I'm one of those people that gets to the show an hour before doors and endures the opener from a few feet back to stake out my spot for the headliner. I watched Mika in a sold-out, packed to the brim venue, 3 or 4 rows in... from the exit. To be honest, it's a whole other world back there. The dance-to-talk ratio was far too low for my liking, especially with music so conducive to happy-go-lucky flailing. And there just wasn't the crowd camaraderie that you get when you're close enough to your fellow attendees to share sweat.

Regardless, Mika rocked the place. He is a performer if I ever saw one. Mika wanted to entertain the crowd, and he would stop at nothing (nothing!) until he had achieved that goal. His stage antics included an "M" prop which he stood on while singing, an inflatable "big girl", a human "big girl", a giant skeleton in a dress (?!), confetti, and a bunny suit (?!?!), whose back story I can't even begin to explain. Luckily for him, he didn't need any of it, as the audience of 13 year old girls (accompanied by their cool dads and drunk moms) hung onto every unintelligible word he spoke. The crowd's love for Mika was so unconditional, he could have walked off the stage halfway through, flipping us the bird, and the place would have gone wild with utter joy. The man put on a show, in every sense of the phrase, and although his ridiculous performance art may have overshadowed it, he displayed some definite talent. And what can I say? It was fun.

Cat Power, who sang at Starlight Ballroom with the Dirty Delta Blues a week and a half ago, was quite the performer as well, but hardly in the same way. Her show was stripped down compared to Mika's-- Chan Marshall is hardly the type for confetti and costume changes. The waiting period after the opener was unbearably long, leaving the audience wondering if we were being treated to a Cat Power concert 3 years earlier. I braced myself for the inevitable announcement that Chan had decided that she couldn't play. Fortunately, she's sober now, and she eventually crossed the stage and started to sing, at which point all transgressions were immediately forgiven. She even played to the fans' cameras (although she asked for the flash to be turned off).

To say I was blown away would be an understatement. I literally spent three quarters of the show with my hands clasped and my mouth agape, unable to move or speak. At one point, overcome with emotion (I'm not even kidding, it was so incredible to hear her live), I shouted out "I love you!", to which she responded, "Thank you. I love you more." So, there's your full disclosure: this review might be a tiny bit biased because Cat Power and I are madly in love.

Chan is absolutely mesmerizing. When she sang, she threw her entire body into every word and note. The lyrics seemed a product of her movement and passion as she lunged and slunk across the small stage. Her smoky voice was barely loud enough to penetrate the band's volume, yet it was so captivating that you could hear everything. It was almost as if the crowd was leaning forward, reaching in to capture each ephemeral wisp of a word as it escaped her lips. I haven't the faintest clue what the setlist was. I don't know if anyone does. It was as if the audience had been hit by a Mack truck every time Chan opened her mouth. And that, my friends, is true love.

Coffee Cups -- February 14, 2008

2008-02-19T23:52:00.009-05:00

I DJed my first radio show last Thursday, making a Valentine's Day debut. For better or worse, the website isn't functioning, so there was no podcast made. I'm still not sure when everything will start working again, but when it does, www.wsrnfm.org should provide you with streaming radio and the podcast as well.

My show is called Coffee Cups, and it airs from 8am to 10am on Thursdays, on WSRN FM, Swarthmore College Radio. If you're in the area, you can tune in old-timey style at 91.5 FM.

I've decided to archive my playlists on Broken Loveseats, and post a couple of the tracks online each week after the show. This week was an amalgam of my most adored modern love songs and my most loudly-played bitter, vindictive songs.

Who Loves The Sun - The Velvet Underground
Concrete And Clay - Unit 4+2
Anyone Else But You - Moldy Peaches
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
Secret Heart - Feist
Samson - Regina Spektor
Willie - Cat Power
People In Love - Art Brut
Don't Ask Me - OK Go
Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5
Where Have You Been - Reel Big Fish
Smile (Version Revisited) - Lily Allen
~~You Are The Light (By Which I Travel Into This And That) - Jens Lekman~~
Day Too Soon - Sia
We Looked Like Giants - Death Cab For Cutie
Where You Are - Marc Broussard
Let Me - Sergio Mendes ft. Jill Scott and Will.I.Am
Chicago (Multiple Personality Disorder) - Sufjan Stevens
Tears Dry On Their Own - Amy Winehouse
Don't Tell Me That It's Over - Blink-182
Mala Gente - Juanes
5K - Matt & Kim
Ex-Girlfriend - No Doubt
~~I Don't Love Anyone - Belle and Sebastian~~
Girl Problem - Her Space Holiday
Anna Begins - Counting Crows
~~A Man/Me/Then Jim - Rilo Kiley~~
Do You Remember - Jack Johnson
Green Eyes - Coldplay
Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

Enjoy the songs. A double concert review is in the works tonight.

"I'm losing my marbles, it's marvelous"

2008-02-01T00:48:00.001-05:00

Review of tonight's Mika concert coming soon. But first, the music video for "Buttons", the hidden track on Sia's album "Some People Have REAL Problems".

"My war paint is sharpie ink and I'll show you how much my shit stinks"

2008-01-28T03:12:00.002-05:00

Everyone's been going crazy over Juno and its soundtrack, and rightfully so- it's an adorable and touching movie with a score to match. My favorite track is "Loose Lips" by Kimya Dawson of the on-hiatus Moldy Peaches. She has five songs on the album, not including a Moldy Peaches track (the 'theme' of the film, "Anyone Else But You") and another two by Antsy Pants. Antsy Pants is another of Kimya's projects, featuring the young Leo, a 13-year old French ukelele player, among others.

Leo & Kimya:

~~Tree Hugger - Antsy Pants~~
~~Vampire - Antsy Pants~~

Back to "Loose Lips". Enhanced, as it were, by the lack of enhancement in the low-fi production, Kimya's voice is vulnerable and innocent. The lyrics are thrown at you in handfuls, honest and unrefined fragments happily, if a bit urgently, patched together. The song makes me feel like an 18 year old kindergartener. The lyrics certainly don't have the naivete of a grade schooler, yet somehow Kimya is your 3'9" best friend, holding your hand and rambling aimlessly and reassuringly.

~~Loose Lips - Kimya Dawson~~

"...and if you wanna kill yourself, remember that I love you. Call me up before you're dead, we can make some plans instead. Send me an IM, I'll be your friend."

I've started to post reviews regularly! Just kidding, it's more Andrew Bird.

2008-01-18T23:48:00.001-05:00

Lucky for you, I never get sick of Andrew Bird. Here's two tracks off his 2005 album, "Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs".

~~Measuring Cups - Andrew Bird~~
~~Skin Is, My - Andrew Bird~~

Both of them have a line in them that just hits me the right way-- I don't know if it's the meaning, or the rhyme, or the melody, but I get the urge to play those few seconds over and over.

In "Measuring Cups": so put your backpack on your shoulder / be the good little soldier
In "Skin Is, My": let it be printed on every t-shirt in this land / on the finest of cottons and the hippest of brands

It's bizarre how catchy these songs can be, when they sound so atypical of a hook-y pop song. Oh, Andrew. It's true love.

"Why bugs?"

2008-01-14T14:26:00.001-05:00

Last night I went to see Mirah perform "Share This Place" at Southpaw in Brooklyn. This, her most recent album, is a collection of songs based on the lives of various insects. A series of accompanying stop-motion videos were projected on the adjacent wall of the venue. The crowd's response was lukewarm- everyone appreciated being there and hearing Mirah's beautiful voice, but was hoping for more of her older music. Adding to the already tense atmosphere - "You look confused. Do I need to explain what's going on?" - was some asshole standing next to me that shouted "Gone Sugaring!" between every song.

Mirah was vocal in her disappointment, telling the audience (in a manner that was partly self-deprecating and partly serious) that she had hoped people would have bought the CD (released in August) and memorized the lyrics by this point. Unfortunately, most of Mirah's fans, including myself, have little desire to sing along to the life cycle of insects.

~~Community - Mirah~~

In its corresponding audio/visual style, the performance reminded me of Sufjan Steven's "The BQE: A Cinematic Suite", which I saw at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on November 2nd. However, Sufjan went right where Mirah went wrong. Even though "The BQE" is a composition with no vocals, the audience felt emotionally connected to the piece. Not only did most of the Brooklyn-area crowd understand the concept (who hasn't experienced the beauty and horror of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway?), but Sufjan deeply understood it as well. It was evident in the background research (the audience was given pamphlets full of essays and reflections gathered during the filming and composition of the suite) and in the compelling nature of the performance. Mirah, on the other hand, could not even answer the question "Why bugs?". The lyrics of her songs relate the insects' struggles and successes to human nature, but the songs draw on little human emotion and thus fall flat.

~~The BQE Movement 3 - Sufjan Stevens~~

It was a nice show to watch, but I'm not running to the store to buy the album. On the plus side, the opening band, Les Chauds Lapins, was great. They played French songs from the 20s 30s and 40s, oo la la. Give them a listen on the track below- it's actually rather catchy.

~~Presque Oui - Les Chauds Lapins~~

Fragments

2008-01-12T23:35:00.002-05:00

The name of this blog (Broken Loveseats, if you've developed a sudden case of amnesia) is taken from the lyrics of "Frankie and Annette", by Casey Dienel. The other day I was listening to the song, and I realized that the word "hubcaps" was indeed singular: "hubcap coffee cups and broken loveseats". I haven't the faintest idea what a "hubcap coffee cup" is, and if I ever meet Ms. Dienel that is the first thing I plan on asking her. Until then, the extended name remains. (And if anyone knows what on god's green earth the lyrics mean, please pass it on.)

Sia (see-uh) is great. Her newest album, "Some People Have REAL Problems", was released last week. I unfortunately missed the free shows in New York but I plan on seeing her in March. I'll try to describe her with misguided and vague references: Sia's voice sounds like a cross between Regina Spektor and Amy Winehouse and her band sounds kind of like Feist, but fuller.

Cat Power has the sexiest voice ever bestowed upon a human being. Ever. I would like to lose my virginity to Cat Power, but if she won't have me I could probably settle for having sex to her music.

I'm a stickler for basic quality, so it should say something that I've been listening to the High Fidelity soundtrack on repeat, even though there are at least two audible skips in my favorite song. I'm pretty sure "I'm Wrong About Everything" is supposed to be a sad song, but I don't care. It makes me laugh. And I'm crap at analyzing songs anyway, so you should probably just give it a listen without any preconceptions. I was super nice and got a decent copy of the track to upload, too. Thank me later.

In another life, I'm a performer, my voice is stellar, and I'm not completely tone-deaf. Few songs inspire this break from reality as much as "Why", by Andrew Bird, recorded live on Fingerlings. He is so suave and captivating on this track, it is nearly impossible to suppress the desire to be him.

Frankie and Annette - Casey Dienel
The Girl You Lost to Cocaine - Sia
The Greatest - Cat Power
I'm Wrong About Everything - John Wesley Harding
Why - Andrew Bird