Streaming Of Me • RSS • archive

Be safe tomorrow, folks. Me? I’ve got a Lovecraft-themed Apocalypse and 30th Birthday party to enjoy.

Quick-ish and dirty-ish. Credit to my friend Becca for the idea, and to Mitt for just being his beautiful self.

I believe the term is… “GPOY”?

Are you listening to Childish Gambino yet?  You should seriously consider listening to Childish Gambino.

I couldn’t tell you how long it’s been since I bothered to do anything with this account, other than the mindless scrolling once or twice a day of course.  But the whole idea was to share the best of whatever earworms might be plaguing me at any given moment, I do remember that much. 

So here’s a track from Robyn that is more often than not the only reason I’ll have just put on Body Talk.  You’re welcome or whatever.

Bat for Lashes - Trophy

I rarely (read: never) get into something its first go-round.  So it was Two Suns that hooked me inextricably into Bat for Lashes, and only then did I take an interest in the previous/debut album Fur and Gold.  I realized someone had linked me to the thoroughly awesome video for “What’s A Girl To Do?” years ago, but “Trophy” will always be the standout for me from this album.  It’s simple, it tells a story nebulously enough to stay interesting and broadly appealing, and it’s addicting in a way I’m not usually addicted to songs.

Joan Osborne - The Man in the Long Black Coat

My mother, God bless her, had a way of enthusiastically buying me any kind of “rock” music that could possibly reinforce my Christianity as a kid, which is how Joan Osborne’s 1995 album Relish ended up in my Easter basket one year.  But when That One Single turned out to be an outlier, I was left with an album of superbly raw folk and blues music I’d have not otherwise sought out. 

This is the second song on the album and is still my favorite.  When you’re singing Bob Dylan’s words (and they’re in particularly good form here), it’s best to keep things sparse enough that the attention stays focused where it needs to be.  Her voice certainly does not hurt things.

Cake - Comfort Eagle

While I can appreciate how well their style delicately balances between signature and gimmick, I’ve never really considered myself an active Cake fan.  But I found this song as a flash video on Albino Blacksheep ever-so-many years ago and it immediately hooked me.  Something in the way the vocal just relentlessly lands in all the right places, constantly throwing imagery at you without stopping for so much as a chorus.  And it’s one of their darker pieces, which doesn’t hurt either.

It was unavoidable that I was eventually going to be won over by Devotchka, but it took a heartbreaking Siouxsie and the Banshees cover to do it.  Figures.

Junius - The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist

This right here is the reason I keep Pitchfork around: the three parts posturing and hipster douchebaggery are well worth one part priceless discovery.  I’d be much more inclined to accept steampunk as a musical aesthetic if it ended up working (not “sounding”, necessarily) more like this.