Singles Breaking Up, Vol. 1

So it's been awhile. The usual sentiments apply (not dead, super busy, kidnapped by malevolent aliens, etc). In light of not posting in awhile, I wanted to kick off again with a bang, and do something special for you long-time readers (all two of you). In other words, I've decided to bore you in exactly the same fashion as I normally do.

This marks the beginning of a new segment I'm going to call "Singles Breaking Up," (title taken from a Don Caballero record) which will basically detail 3 to 5 songs I've been listening to non-stop lately. Let's plunge right in, shall we?

Ben Folds- "The Luckiest"
So the man may be an insufferable smartass who's obsessed with his own cleverness, but when he really sits down and sets his mind to it, he can write beautiful and incredibly meaningful songs. "The Luckiest" is no exception, a typically Folds-ian song built on his startlingly gorgeous and subtle playing and adding some tasteful strings.

The lyrics are achingly poignant, with Folds musing on love and fate in a surprisingly grown-up fashion, wondering how he's ended up where he is and pondering "all the wrong turns and stumbles and falls" that brought him there. What's even more startling is that Folds, ever the perennial snot-nosed teenager, manages to put all this aside to deliver a bittersweet tale of aging love, managing to include the most direct expression of love's constancy than any I've heard in pop music in years, and states it in such a disarmingly direct way that his sincerity is never in doubt. An amazing song, and one that melts even this overly cynical heart.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy- "I See A Darkness"
Despite the fact that Bonnie "Prince" Billy (known better as Will Oldham) looks like a scary mountain man, he nonetheless writes some powerful songs, delivering them all in a surprisingly thin and slightly shaky tenor (this song was also covered by Johnny Cash recently, and although I've never heard that cover, I understand it's absolutely devastating).

"I See A Darkness," off the album of the same name, takes the form of a conversation the narrator is having with a close friend. The song begins with Oldham reminiscing about all the times they've shared together while drinking, leading to him realizing that he's damned himself through his actions, and ends by begging that his love will save him from this darkness he's walked into. The whole thing sounds and feels very southern-gothic, and would be a great song to curl up in your room with a bottle of Jack Daniels and stare at the ceiling (and no, Mom, I don't know this from personal experience).

Deerhoof- "Milk Man"
On the completely opposite end of the spectrum from our previous two offerings, Deerhoof turn in one of the most pleasantly poppy things I've heard from them (and having been previously terrified by their blend of noise, poppy melodies, and a 4-foot high Japanese girl alternately wailing away like an angry pixie or chattering away in fractured english like a rabid chipmunk, it is indeed comparatively pleasant).

The noise is still there (although constrained to certain sections of the song), as are the sugary melodies, but thankfully this time the shrieking was left behind. The song starts out with a nice guitar part that soons twists and turns it's way into a bass-led freakout that's jump-around-your-room-in-your-underwear good. Interestingly enough, the verse section of the song actually reminds of some work by Lush. I can't really tell what vocalist/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki is singing (save for a few isolated phrases), but when the music's this good, who cares?

Elton John- Tiny Dancer
Okay, so I know it's not cool to like Elton John (and what under-fed, horn-rimmed glassed scenester came up with that rule?), but this song is freaking great. I'd kind of forgotten about this song (due to misunderstood lyric that replaced the words "tiny dancer" with "Tony Danza") until I saw "Almost Famous" a few years ago. There's nothing I can really say about this song that probably hasn't been said a zillion times, so I'll say this: go watch "Almost Famous" immediately, and then go track down this song.

Nico- "These Days"
Another one of those songs I'd forgotten about until I heard it again in a movie (this time in "The Royal Tennenbaums"). Sure, Nico can't really sing, and her Wagnerian intonations nearly ruin an otherwise charming song, but to me, part of Nico's "thing" was the fact that she couldn't sing, but nonetheless tried to. It lends the song a disarming vulnerability. Now go watch "The Royal Tennenbaums" and find this song.

That's about it for now. Sleep calls. I'll post again sometime before I die.