SOUNDTRACK: EX-COPS-“Black Soap” (2014).
After listening to Myrkur yesterday I wanted to check out Amalie Bruun’s other band, Ex-Cops.
It’s interesting how many musicians can enjoy playing in so many different styles. Because Ex-Cops sounds absolutely nothing like Myrkur. Indeed, an Ex-Cops fan may be shocked by the sounds of Bruun’s black metal alter ego.
Ex-Cops remind me a lot of Garbage and The Cardigans sort of mixed together. Bruun shares lead on this track with Brian Harding and her voice is pleasant and at times sounds like Aimee Mann’s. The song is simple enough, with an easy melody for the verses and a big powerful chorus (stadia await).
The thing that I do like about this song is that Bruun and Harding exchange lead vocal duties. But they duet with each other with the other in backing vocals. It keeps the song from being very obvious. I have no idea what they’re singing or where the title comes in, but that’s okay.
Depending on what other songs on this record sound like, this band could either be a cool indie band with pop leanings or a blatantly pop band. And I’m curious to hear more.
[READ: June 17, 2014] “Possession”
This year’s Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker was subtitled Love Stories. And thus, we have a series of personal essays which fall under the heading of “My Old Flame.” There are several short pieces. And this year there are two illustrated stories by two wonderful artists.
The second is by Chris Ware. I love Ware’s style, despite how depressing his stories usually are.
This story is about the narrator’s fixation on a girl named Daisy. When he was a kid, she lived right across the street from them. He says that he knows her, he has all of these memories of her, but he cannot picture her. He can picture the street and a few concrete memories, but little else.
The first odd thing comes when the narrator was a little older. His family had moved across town. But when his mom asked who he wanted to invite to the circus with them, he said Daisy. (I’m trying to imagine what he parents thought of that). However, when they stopped at her house, the girl who emerged looked nothing like Daisy (what?). And they said nothing to each other the whole time they were at the circus. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: DO MAKE SAY THINK-Other Truths [CST062] (2009).
I’ve always enjoyed Do Make Say Think’s CDs. They play instrumentals that are always intriguing and which never get dull.
SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Sabotage (1975).
Sabotage seems to be somewhat forgotten (maybe because of the creepy cover art 0f Ozzy in a kimono and fascinating platform shoes, Bill Ward in red tights with a codpiece (and visible underwear on the back cover), and Geezer and Tony’s mustaches).
It took me going to Seattle to learn about 
ten. For reasons known only to my head, I was convinced that Sasha was a black woman. Little did I realize that he is not. And that he was in a band that I have a CD of called Ui. He is an excellent resource for all things music, whether I like the artist he’s talking about or not. Some entries are 
SOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-Vs. (1993).
Ten was a solid record, and although it had diversity within it, overall the sound was pretty consistent. On Vs., Pearl Jam mixed it up sonically and otherwise.
Zadie Smith is the editor and she wrote the introduction. I like to cover all of the written pieces in the book, but there’s not much to say about the introduction except that it fills you in on the details of the collection. She thanks Sarah Vowell for the idea but I gather that the rest of the work was done by her.