Posts tagged: indie pop
Eighties Fan | Camera Obscura
“I’m gonna tell you something good about yourself
I’ll say it now and I’ll never say it about no one else”
Black Tambourine.
You & Me | Tiger Trap
“Bees are buzzing up in my head
I’m trying to think of all the things that you have said
Now I’m finding the words to say
But the springtime takes me so very far away”
“Don’t the sun look good today?
But the rain is on its way
Watch the butcher shine his knives
And this town is full of battered wives.”
You guys, you should listen to more Go-Betweens, I never see them on my dash!
New Zealand’s held some really, really, really great music during the ’80s and ’90s.
I personally think that The Chills trump them all, though. Those quiet notes played about twenty seconds into the song, after the upbeat intro, but before the vocals, is one of the prettiest guitar/bass lines I’ve ever heard.
And everything after that part kicks ass, too, of course.
I used to have such a crush on ’90s Stephin Merritt. He was one of my biggest idols in grade 9 (that’s a totally normal idol for a 14 year-old, right?). For my yearbook photo, I got into a little bit of an argument with the photographer. I kept giving the camera this kind of look, until finally the photographer stopped trying to make me smile and just threatened to get the principal involved unless I at the very least smirked. I even dressed like him for a few weeks, too, buying a bunch of oversized brown articles of clothing from Salvation Army.
It was just really refreshing to see a gay musician not act so stereotypical (another [but certainly not only] reason why Lou Reed and Morrissey were two other of my heroes). I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I sort of forced myself to listen to krautrock at first, because I knew that Stephin Merritt loved it. I’m glad I did though, since I’ve grown to love Kraftwerk, Faust, Can, etc. which I don’t think I would have, had I not forced myself to play them constantly before.
This always was and is and will be my favourite Magnetic Fields song. The lyrics always get me:
“You used to slide down the carpeted stairs
Or down the banister
You stuttered like a kaleidoscope
‘Cause you knew too many words
You used to make gingerbread houses
We used to have taffy pulls
Take ecstasy with me, baby
Take ecstasy with me
You had a black snowmobile
We drove out under the northern lights
A vodka bottle gave you those raccoon eyes
We got beat up just for holding hands”
It’s getting cold down here. Time to bust out the old Galaxie 500 albums.
“when i was young
i thought i was old
i sailed across the sea
to tokyo
i thought there must be more to this world
than we’re being told
when you’re young
you can afford to be bold”
This cover makes me feel much less embarrassed for actually enjoying the original.
