new in my top 25

Most played songs in my iPod, that is.

mid-november : johnathan rice
click here or on the image below to listen



A fitting post given that we just crossed that part of the month. There seems to be so much Johnathan Rice is trying to say in this song, but I can't get through the lyrics. What's the story behind it? While it speaks of war, I couldn't make out if it's literal. The mention of death and coins on the eyes – a reference to the ancient practice of placing copper coins on the eyes of soldiers who died at war, according to the movie Troy – made me think it is. I have an outrageous theory. The narrator is the spirit of a soldier at war, wounded and fighting for his life. He visits his loved one, finds her in bed restless, and wonders if she somehow knows of his condition. This is probably nowhere near what Rice had in mind, but nonetheless I find Mid-November gravely sentimental, especially with that voice that seems to have just been squeezed out of clinical depression. Feel free to share your ideas.

please don't send me away : matthew jay
click here or on the image below to listen



Here's another song that breathes with trouble and secrecy. Following the lyrics, one might immediately look at it as paternal discourse. But Matthew Jay was not even 24 when he wrote the song – that was his age when he died from falling from the seventh floor of a building – so it might be that it was his conscience, personified by his father, speaking to him. Torment, after all, comes in many voices. I'm not familiar with Jay's life story, but it looks like suicide was never ruled out as a cause of his fall, and I think his family even volunteered the information that he left no note. It's probably just me, but the words, especially the last three lines of the song, read like a self-addressed farewell note of someone who expected way too much responsibility from himself and failed to meet his own expectations in spite of second chances. Ah, but I think I'm being too morbid.

way of the sun : archer prewitt
click here or on the image below to listen



I don't normally like the sound of everyday objects or even nature being used in a song, and the chime or music box effect at the intro of Way Of The Sun is no exception. But the rest of this clever and striking post-apocalyptic song makes it a worthwhile listen. Think of a massive disaster, natural or man-made, that cost lives and property and imagine people huddled on rooftops waiting for evacuation. That's the image I get from the third and fourth verses of this song, and as if the lyrics weren't sufficient enough to hint at salvation, comes the invocation of "Ave Maria" which falls just a bit short of sounding somber. I thought it was an unnecessary turn, but here I am talking about it, which means it did its job of calling attention to itself. But what follows after that – a series of claps – is a charming melodic transition to the gradual, restrained ending of the song.

Anyway. I'll try to post newer songs next. I'm off to get Teitur's latest album. I can't wait.

grumpy old men

end the vietnam war : allen ginsberg
anarchy : utah phillips
click on either title to listen



Off to Singapore for a business trip; I will be back this weekend. Here are a couple of old anti-war records, which are as much as I can say about the war in Iraq now. The Democrat victory pleases me; I would love to see a reduction of troops there together with a more decisive exit strategy as far as the government of the country is concerned – one that takes into careful consideration the differences of the domestic political forces there, and that will preserve lives and prevent Iraq from spiralling further down into the hell hole the Bush administration has dug for it. I am now especially eager to find out what happens about Iran more than anything else. As far as I know, an attack on the Islamic Republic was almost a done deal before the mid-term election. I count on the Democrat-led Congress to change that. Iran, and more importantly the Iranian people, do not deserve any form of military hostility, regardless of the government's new claim that its nuclear program will be completed by March. To be sure, Iran does seem to want to annihilate Israel – I've seen the propaganda posters all over Tehran myself having been to Iran last July – but my feeling is this intent is just that, a propaganda being perpetrated by the mullahs for whatever purpose they are trying to achieve. To preempt this empty threat by attacking it on the back of the failure in Iraq is neither morally nor politically astute.

introducing alternative tales

Alright, as some of you know, I write for a living, and that what I do is nowhere near what I want to be writing about. I used to write a lot fiction and poetry, but I've stopped. I plan to change that, and just to make it more fun to do, since music is my foremost interest, I decided to combine both music and fiction.

Introducing alternative tales : stories from my ipod. Essentially, this is my self-imposed mental exercise, and it will only work with your help.

Here's what you do: Give me a song, pick a line from that song, and then give me a name, place, or object.

And here's what I do: I'll write a flash fiction* about or inspired by that song, throwing in that line and name, place, or object you picked.

Anything but rap, metal, country and bubblegum pop.

*It's basically a very, very short story of 250 to 1,000 words. I have one online: Here. (No, that's not my real name.)

I'll post the story – and the songs so you can listen to them as usual – at alternative tales.

To start, I give you a story called Rudie Can't Fail -- from the song by the same title by The Clash. A member of a forum I often visit suggested it, and he chose the line "How you get a rude and a reckless, don't you be so crude and a feckless, you been drinking brew for breakfast, Rudie can't fail." His person is Mother Teresa.

And so it is. Let me know what you think, please, and don't forget to make your own suggestions.

holiday pics anyone?

I'm just taking care of some backlog project here. Apart from a couple of songs, below are links to picture galleries from my last two summer holidays. The first one is from the Cyclades Islands in Greece where the significant other and I spent about a couple of weeks just this July; the second is from Oaxaca, part of my three-week Mexico trip in July last year. Oaxaca isn't actually in good shape right now, and I sure hope they sort things out pronto.

Listen to the songs I'm posting while you, it is my hope, enjoy the pictures. The songs and the pictures don't exactly go together, but these are bands I've been listening to lately, as I just bought their Best Of compilations that they released a few months ago. The Tragically Hip and Gomez are underrated bands I like. TTH live up to the tragic in their name. These talented Canadians, who pre-date the recent wave of bands north of the border such as The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade and even The New Pornographers, should be bigger than they are. In fact, they've been around since 1983. Gomez, likewise, came before the Brit wave that we are still seeing. And even though they have a Mercury Prize to prove their worth, admittedly, I think they were not as exciting as the fresher lot. They're finding new popularity, however, after Grey's Anatomy used one of their new songs, a boost they could certainly use.

So. Click on the titles to listen to the songs, which will pop up in a new window as usual, then click on the pictures to go to the galleries. They will open in this same page, but there's a link back if you want to return to this here blog.

scared : the tragically hip
click on the title to listen
click on the picture to see greece




diskoloadout : gomez
click on the title to listen
click on the picture to see oaxaca