SOUNDTRACK: THE GHOST OF A SABER TOOTH TIGER-Tiny Desk Concert #92 (November 17, 2010).
The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger is a band created by Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl. I really liked their most recent album so I was pretty interested to hear this much earlier Tiny Desk Concert.
I love this acoustic pairing. Lennon plays the acoustic guitar (and sings and sounds a bit like his father’s more delicate side. Meanwhile, Charlotte plays a ton of instruments and sings as well.
The show starts with them talking about tambourines and how they are unavoidably loud (so Sean’s is on the floor).
“Jardin du Luxembourg” has some great chord changes and Charlotte’s lovely accordion (with a kind of French flair). As with all of these songs, there’s interesting lyrics like, “people say your brain is like cream cheese it takes the shape of anything you please.” At the end of the song, Charlotte comments that she tried to play the accordion quietly but if she does it sounds like it has emphysema. Sean says that she just learned to play it ten days earlier.
For “Schroedinger’s Cat” she switches from accordion to melodica and xylophone. Charlotte sings harmony along with Sean. There are more interesting lyrics here too (trippy ones, of course). It references Socrates, Aristotle, Dorian Gray and many more cultural touchstones.
On “Dark Matter, White Noise,” Charlotte plays bass (and sings lead on alternating verses). The chorus is gorgeous again, with a sort of minor key tone.
“The World Was Made For Men” is the first song they ever wrote together. Again, they sing together and sound fantastic.
At the end of the show, he threatens to do a 2 hour tambourine solo.
GOASTT is really something. I am bummed that they opened for a band I wanted to see this summer but was unable to attend. I hope the two bands tour again together this year.
[READ: January 6, 2015] “Nice Insane”
This was the second short piece in this issue of Harper’s. I don’t know Seth Price. This is an excerpt from his novel Fuck Seth Price.
Generally, I dislike reading excerpts, although sometimes they make you want to read the full novel. That did not happen in this case, though.
This excerpt focuses on the “moment of inspiration that had rejuvenated his [presumably Seth’s] painting career, making him rich but ultimately leading him to reject contemporary art.” (more…)
I Just Read About That... 