SOUNDTRACK: THE SHINS-Tiny Desk Concert #639 (July 24, 2017).
Although this is billed as The Shins, it is actually James Mercer solo (although really The Shins are more or less Mercer’s solo gig anyway).
Mercer plays three songs with just his voice and acoustic guitar: two new tracks and one that reached back to 2003 from the album Chutes Too Narrow.
The first two are slow and very folky–I don’t know the new album yet.
“Mildenhall” has a country flare and is something of an autobiography. “I thought my flattop was so new wave until it melted away.” The chorus is nice: A kid in class passed me a tape a later chorus reveals: “a band called Jesus and Mary Chain.” Started playing his dads guitar and that’s how we get to where we are now.” I love the unexpected ending chord.
“The Fear” is a delicate, simple song that fits perfectly with his voice. It’s also quite sad.
“Young Pilgrims” is the recognizable song from Chutes to Narrow (the song even mentions that phrase). It doesn’t sound that different in this stripped down format–there’ some missing extra guitars bit other wise the acoustic format fits it well. The biggest difference is that he seems to be singing in lower register here.
In fact none of the songs sounded like him exactly and I think that’s why– he usually sings in more of a kind of higher pitch, so it’s interesting to hear it slower and lower.
[READ: June 29, 2017] “The Mustache in 2010”
I really enjoyed the story. I loved the strange way it was constructed and that even though it didn’t seem to start as a story, it certainly was one.
It begins
Social historians will record that in the early twenty-first century, the fashion for a clean-shaven face lost its dominance in metropolitan North American Bourgeoisie society.
After some lengthy discussion about the merits of various facial hair construction ,we meet Alex, a youngish (36 is youngish in New York City) businessman. He availed himself of this trend by shaving only every third Monday. His growth was dense and black.
One morning he realizes that he had left large sideburns, which amused him. Thereafter he “subtracted facial hair so as to create an amusing residue.” He never wore the stylized looks outside, they were private jokes for him and his wife. Although there was always a scream of horror because he would sneak up on her.
This all l leads to some more details about Alex. He was Québécois living in New York. His English was fine but “fell just short of the level required for wittiness.” This left him with an unjustly wooden personality. So his wife was always looking for nonverbal diversion for him. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: HÜSKER DÜ-Candy Apple Grey (1986).
This disc seems to be universally panned as the worst Hüsker Dü disc (meaning it only gets 4 stars instead of 5) and yet I disagree. Perhaps it’s because it was the second disc of theirs that I had heard and so it has always been more familiar, or maybe it’s because I think the sounds is fuller.