Meet Me In Montauk

Song of the Day #1,294: ‘Loca’ – Shakira

Clay — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:03:38 +0000

My second installment of Random Weekends starts off with the English-language version of Shakira’s ‘Loca,’ a bonus track from her most recent album, 2010′s Sale El Sol.

The Spanish version of this song was the album’s lead-off single and I prefer it to this one, though to be honest, they’re basically the same. I just prefer Shakira’s voice in her native Spanish — the way the multi-sylabbic words roll off her tongue so effortlessly.

These days she doesn’t have to work so hard at the English lyrics (before she was fluent, she had to learn them phonetically) but it’s still not as natural a performance.

This was a nice random discovery, a reminder of a terrific album I don’t listen to enough. I hope Shakira is planning a new release in 2012.

She’s playin’ dumb all the time
Just to keep it fun
To get you on like (ahh!)
Be careful amigo
She talkin’ and walkin’ just to work you up
She’d die for your love
But your love’s only mine, boy

Sigo tranquila
Like I’m on a beach in Anguilla
Sippin’ my Corona
Like it’s nothin’ goin’ on
I ain’t leavin’ you alone
What is meant for me
No other girl is gonna take
So keep them off

And I’m crazy, but you like it (loca, loca, loca)
You like that it ain’t easy (loca, loca, loca)
I’m crazy but you like it (loca, loca, loca)
And I’m crazy but you like it

That girl is a nutter
Hot though, I heat up when I touch her
Chica caliente
Got me rapping to merengue
I feel so el presidente
I’m runnin’ shit and I’m lovin’ it
She’s got a mean lil’ butt,
But you should see what she does with it
She keeps it down low (down low, down low)
I can never get enough (oh no, oh no)

She gives me the runaround,
But I stay chasin’
But I mean, yo, I’m in love
With a crazy girl
But it’s all good
And it’s fine by me
Just as long as I hear her say, “Ay, papi”

And I’m crazy, but you like it (loca, loca, loca)
You like that it ain’t easy (loca, loca, loca)
I’m crazy but you like it
And I’m crazy but you like it (loca, loca, loca)

You’re the one for me
And for her no more
Now you think she’s got it all
I got one kiki

You’re the one for me
And for her no more
Now you think she’s got it all
I got my kiki

I guess she doesn’t know the things
That I do to please you
I take you to the malecon por un caminito
They say your girl is looking for me with a rifle
Cause we were dancin’ Mambo
what she don’t allow it??

I really can’t help it
If I make the lady loca
I don’t want no trouble
I just wanna hit the (Ooh!)

And I’m crazy, but you like it
‘Cause the kinda girl like me
They’re running out of in the market

And I’m crazy, but you like it (loca, loca, loca)
You like that it ain’t easy (loca, loca, loca)
I’m crazy but you like it (loca, loca, loca)
And I’m crazy but you like it (Dios Mío)

That girl is (loca)
That girl is (loca)
That girl is (loca)

Loca
That girl is (loca)
That girl is (loca)

You’re the one for me
And for her no more
Now you think she’s got it all
I got my kiki

And I’m crazy, but you like it (loca, loca, loca)
You like that it ain’t easy (loca, loca, loca)
La loca, la loca (loca), la loca (loca)
Loca (loca)

Song of the Day #1,293: ‘You’ – TV On the Radio

Clay — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:03:09 +0000

My final 2011 video, and my favorite of the bunch, is TV On the Radio’s clip for the song ‘You’ from their album Nine Types of Light.

This is more of a short film than a music video. The concept is that the band members are meeting up in a diner a year after breaking up. The first several minutes of the video, as well as spans at the middle and end, show the five men reuniting with the sort of casual improvisational conversation that made Diner and Tin Men such a treat.

Each member catches the others up on what he’s been doing in the preceding year, with each story more amusing than the last, culminating in front man Tunde Adebimpe’s news that he has been performing as a sidewalk Prince impersonator. His experience in that role makes up the “music” part of the music video.

This video is a wonderful blend of humor and melancholy. The sad scenes of Adebimpe mourning the loss of his band are balanced by the hilarious barbs in the diner (“can we get some more syrup?” is a personal favorite). And every one of these guys proves to be a hell of an actor.

On a sad note, bassist Gerard Smith (the waiter in this clip) died of lung cancer earlier this year.

You
Gave no reason for letting go
I just thought you might like to know
You’re the only one I ever loved

True
We’ve demolished a thing or two
But it seemed like the thing to do
And you’re the only one I ever loved

Comes to know
Though the feelings were half where we lied
Comes to be wrong
In our dreams we were making it right

But you
Threw your hands up and walked away
Seems strange I could feel this way
You’re the only one I ever loved

Comes to know
Though the feelings were half where we lied
Comes to be wrong
Though the secrets were safer at night

Come, sugar, home
Stow your feedback and take inside
Cross your heart
In our dreams we were making it right

But you
Threw your hands up and walked away
Seems strange I should feel this way
You’re the only one I ever loved

Song of the Day #1,292: ‘Bonfire’ – Childish Gambino

Clay — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:03:24 +0000

My third featured Childish Gambino song in the past few months earns its spot here thanks to one of the more compelling videos I’ve seen in awhile.

‘Bonfire’ is the hardest song on Childish Gambino’s debut album, Camp, the track most like traditional rap. It features the sort of casual misogyny and boasts about his rapping prowess that have been trademarks of hip-hop albums for decades.

But even on this rather rote track, Gambino gets off some pretty great one-liners. “I love pussy, I love bitches, dude, I should be runnin’ PETA” is a particular favorite.

He also makes effective use of so-called hashtag rapping, in which a line is followed by a short related phrase, Twitter-style:

“‘You’re my favorite rapper now’ Yeah, dude, I better be or you can fuckin’ kiss my ass #Human Centipede”

“Made the beat then murdered it #Casey Anthony”

Though this song is one of the least original on the album, the video is excellent. In it, Gambino (Donald Glover) wakes up in the woods with a noose tied around his neck. He stumbles toward a group of teenagers gathered around a campfire, trying to warn them about the approach of a knife-wielding man.

But when he arrives and his presence goes unnoticed, he realizes that the kids are reenacting the gruesome tale of a young black man who was lynched years ago in these woods — and he is that man’s ghost.

[Verse 1]
Okay, it’s Childish Gambino, homegirl drop it like the NASDAQ
Move white girls like there’s coke up my asscrack
Move black girls cause, man, fuck it, I’ll do either
I love pussy, I love bitches, dude, I should be runnin’ PETA
In Adidas, with some short shorts, B-O-O all over me
My green is where it’s supposed to be, your green is in my grocery
This Asian dude, I stole his girl, and now he got that Kogi beef
My dick is like an accent mark, it’s all about the over Es
Hot like a parked car
I sound weird, like ‘nigga’ with a hard ‘R’
Fly like the logo on my cousin’s 440
Eatin’ Oreos like these white girls that blow me
Vodka for my ladies, whiskey for a grown man
Hangin’ in the islands, lookin’ for Earl like Toejam
I made the beat retarded, so I’m callin’ it a slow jam
Butcher and I know it, man, kill beef, go ham
These rappers are afraid of him
Cause I’m a beast, bitch, Gir, Invader Zim
Gambino is a call girl, fuck you, pay me
Brand new whip for these niggas like slavery
Told me I was awful man, that shit did not phase me
Tell me how I suck again, my memory is hazy
“You’re my favorite rapper now” Yeah, dude, I better be
Or you can fuckin’ kiss my ass, Human Centipede
You wanna see my girl? I ain’t that dumb
You wanna see my girl? Check Maxim
“Man, why does every black actor gotta rap some?”
I don’t know, all I know is I’m the best one

[Hook]
It’s a bonfire, turn the lights out
I’m burnin’ everything you muthafuckas talk about

[Verse 2]
You know these rapper dudes talk shit, start killin’
Fuck that, got goons like an arch-villain
I’m from the South, ain’t got no accent, don’t know why
So this rap is child’s play, I do my name like Princess Di
Yeah, they say they want the realness, rap about my real life
Told me I should just quit: “first of all, you talk white!
Second off, you talk like you haven’t given up yet”
Rap’s stepfather, yeah, you hate me but you will respect
I put in work, ask Ludwig
Put my soul on the track like shoes did
Played this for my cousin, now he can’t even think straight
Black and white music? Now, nigga, that’s a mixtape
Shoutout to my blerds, they represent the realness
Shoutout to Gambino Girls, my dick is in the building
I know you hate me cause your little cousin play me out
I like black girls who nerdy but when they dance they saying ‘Owwww”
I’m sorry for who followed me
Chillin’ with a Filipina, at your local Jollibee
Yeah, I’m in her ass like sodomy
So if you see my hand under the table, don’t bother me
I don’t talk soft, that’s that other guy
I’m screamin’ “What the fuck is up?” like I ain’t seen the sky
The shit I’m doin’ this year? Insanity
Made the beat then murdered it: Casey Anthony
These rappers don’t know what to do
Cause all I did was act me like a Looney Tune
I’ll give you all of me until there’s nothing left
I swear this summer will be summer Camp, bitch

Song of the Day #1,291: ‘The Greeks’ – Is Tropical

Clay — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:03:28 +0000

I’m wrapping up the week with my three favorite videos of the batch I looked at for the blog.

First up is ‘The Greeks’ by Is Tropical, another band I’d never heard of before this week. Even the normally trusty Wikipedia has failed me in this case, identifying Is Tropical as simply “an electronic band from England.”

The song is pretty good, tapping once again into the 80s vibe that is so popular once again.

But the video is a subversive masterpiece. The concept is simple — depicting the war play of children with fake guns but adding sound effects and animation as if the carnage were real.

The result is disturbingly, but comically, violent. If this was live-action simulated blood and guts rather than cartoon effects, this clip would earn a hard R from the ratings board. And yet, the actions of these kids are entirely consistent with role-playing games children have carried out forever.

Is every kid a secret sociopath? Or are their imaginations a perfectly healthy place for these visions to find a home?

You only get what you give away
You’ll only get it if you give it away
You only get what you give away, so throw your hate away

The Greeks have got him
With their tales of lust and myths of grief
Lights from the big wheel
Casts shadows that dance around the fair
Time for consulting, whilst carouselling
The quiet before the storm
Now he’s in trouble, we’ve all had trouble
But learned to keep it shut

You only get what you give away
You’ll only get it if you give it away
You only get what you give away, so throw your hate away

The Greeks have got him
Now he’s solemn and beat up pretty bad
Just like his brother
He will wear leather to thicken up his skin
He can’t see colours, or hear like others
And has fallen into sin
Now it’s all laughed at, the stage is past that
And filled with you and me

You only get what you give away
You’ll only get it if you give it away
You only get what you give away, so throw your hate away

Song of the Day #1,290: ‘Cruel’ – St. Vincent

Clay — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:03:11 +0000

St. Vincent is the stage name of singer-songwriter Annie Erin Clark, who was born in Oklahoma, raised in Dallas and is currently based out of New York City. She has been a member of both the Polyphonic Spree (another band I know very little about) and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band.

Today’s track, ‘Cruel,’ is the first single from her third full-length album, Strange Mercy, and it features a rather unsettling video.

In the clip, a woman (played by Clark) is kidnapped by a man and his two children and forced to act as their wife and mother. Initially she plays the role without attempting escape (at one point we see that the door to the house is left open) but things turn sour. The video culminates with the family burying her alive in the front yard.

I suppose this is a commentary on a woman’s role in the modern family — she is expected to give selflessly and is persecuted for minor transgressions. That’s my take on it, anyway. What’s yours?

Bodies, can’t you see what everybody wants from you?

[Verse 1]
Forgive the kids, for they don’t know how to live
Run the alleys casually cruel
Cruel, cruel

[Verse 2]
Bodies, can’t you see what everybody wants from you?
For you could want that, too
They could take or leave you
So they took you, and they left you
How could they be casually cruel?
Cruel, cruel, oh
Cruel, cruel, oh

[Bridge]
Bodies, can’t you see what everybody wants from you?
If you could want that, too, then you’ll be happy

[Verse 3]
You were the one waving flares in the air so they could see you
And they were a zephyr, blowing past ya, blowing fastly so they can see ya
Cruel, cruel, oh
Cruel, cruel, oh

Song of the Day #1,289: ‘Kaputt’ – Destroyer

Clay — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:03:19 +0000

Continuing last week’s focus on some of the memorable music videos of 2011, I arrive at ‘Kaputt’ by Destroyer. Or is it ‘Destroyer’ by Kaputt? This one is completely new to me.

Destroyer is a band fronted by Canadian Daniel Bejar, who initially started the project as a solo act and has invited a revolving door of musicians to collaborate with him over the past 15 years. He has released 10 full-length albums and a number of EPs.

The video for the title song of his 2011 album, Kaputt, is among the more ambitious — cinematically — that I’m featuring on the blog. It is split into three parts, each depicting the dream of a central protagonist.

First up is a nerdy kid sitting at his computer and imagining himself surrounded by hot, bathing suit-clad women. The video’s director says she cast those women to resemble the sort of babysitter types an adolescent boy would fantasize about. Next up is a dying man in a desert who sees a mirage straight out of Bollywood. And finally, a whale dreams of flying. Of course.

wasting your days
chasing some girls
alright, chasing cocaine
through the backrooms of the world
all night

sounds
smash hits
melody maker
NME
all sound like a dream to me
all sound like a dream to me
all sounds like a dream

step out of your toga
and into the fog
you are a prince
on the ocean
in a pinch
in the sky
in your eye

step out of your toga
and into the ocean
look, they got your prince
on the fall
in a pinch
in the sky
in your eye

in the sky
in your eye

in a pinch
in the sky
in your eye

i wrote a song for america
who knew?

i wrote a song for america
who knew?
who knew?

Song of the Day #1,288: ‘Temptation’ – Billy Joel

Clay — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:03:10 +0000

And my second Random Weekend selection is… ‘Temptation’ from Billy Joel’s 1986 album, The Bridge.

Well, it could have been worse. It could have been ‘This is the Time.’

The Bridge is an interesting album in that it features some of Joel’s most ambitious, complex work (songs such as ‘Big Man on Mulberry Street,’ ‘Running On Ice’ and ‘Code of Silence’) but also some of his worst forays into MOR sap.

I will admit I softened a lot toward ‘Temptation’ when I learned it was about his daughter, Alexa. It’s hard to dis a song a father writes for his kid. But the production of this track just turns me off from the start, and the lyrics just get so melodramatic by the end. He’s losing composure and restraint, he’s not a hero or a saint… all because he likes playing with his kid too much?

It’s time for me to be on my way I know
I’ve got business to conduct and I’ve got places to go
But I can’t help looking at her sleeping instead
Another morning I’ll have trouble climbing out of this bed

Because – she’s such a temptation
It’s driving me crazy
And it’s my fascination that’s making me act this way
And I know what all of my friends say
They’re afraid that I’m losing my touch
But she’s such a temptation

I look so tired ’cause I don’t get much sleep
And I’ve got too many commitments that are too hard too keep
And I try to be rational and I try to be wise
But it all gets blown to pieces when I look in her eyes

Because – she’s such a temptation
And nothing can save me
Any my only salvation is tearing myself away
I know what all of my friends say:
There’s a danger in wanting too much
She’s such a temptation

I should be leaving, but I can’t cut it loose
I have my reasons for resistance, but I have no excuse
And I lose my composure; I could use some restraint
I never claimed to be a hero, and I never said I was a saint

She’s such a temptation
And it’s driving me crazy
And it’s my fascination that’s making me act this way
And I can just hear all my friends say:
“Better watch out, you’re losing your touch”
She’s such a temptation
Yes she is
She’s such a temptation
Yes she is
Yes she is
She’s such a temptation

Song of the Day #1,287: ‘Time’ – Sarah McLachlan

Clay — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:03:50 +0000

I’ve gone through seven different weekend series over the past two and a half years. Starting in May of 2009, I’ve featured (in order) Motown, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Ron Sexsmith, Brad Paisley and Paul Simon.

Faced with the need for a new weekend theme, my first thought was that I’d have to go with a woman. With the exception of about half of the Motown tracks, I’ve gone through 250+ weekend songs by men.

But considering the options, I realized that few of my favorite female artists meet the requirements for a weekend series (the requirement being, basically, at least 8 albums worth of material to feature). The only two serious candidates were Aimee Mann and Lucinda Williams, and I’ve dedicated theme weeks to each of them already and feared redundancy. I might still return to them for a future weekend option.

While kicking around some options based more on theme than performer, it struck me that I’ve featured fewer than 10% of the total songs in my iTunes library. Why not just dip into the other 90% blindly and see what I come up with? So I hereby introduce Random Weekends.

I’m reminded of a game that was briefly popular when iPods were just starting to become ubiquitous. A few friends would gather, all hit ‘shuffle’ on their iPods at the same time and announce the song that came up. It was then up to the group to decide who won the round — which song was best. God forbid you wind up with a long-forgotten Spin Doctors song matched up against The Rolling Stones and My Morning Jacket.

Our music collections hold deep, dark secrets. Which guilty pleasures will be surfaced by Random Weekends? My only rules are these: No repeats of songs I’ve already featured on the blog, and no gimmick tracks, such as the minute of ambient noise that separates two songs on an album or a 30 second skit on a rap album. Otherwise, everything is fair game. I promise not to cheat to protect my reputation.

As I write this, I have not yet spun the dial to reveal the first song. I guess I’ll go ahead and do that now….

OK, first up is Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Time’ from her 2003 album Afterglow. I imagine everybody assumed, halfway through this post, that I was about to launch into Sarah McLachlan Weekends. Scary thought.

McLachlan has put out two classic albums (Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and Surfacing) but midway through their follow-up record, Afterglow, she hit a wall and never recovered. The first several songs on this album are very good but then it just falls off. And her next record, Laws of Illusion, sounded like somebody doing a bad imitation of Sarah McLachlan.

Today’s song, my first Random Weekend selection, is pleasant enough but clearly comes from the period after McLachlan ran out of gas.

Time here all but means nothing
Just shadows that move ‘cross the wall
They keep me company
But they don’t ask of me
They don’t say nothing at all

And I need just a little more silence
And I need just a little more time

But you send your thieves to me
Silently stalking me
Dragging me into your war
Would you give me no choice in this?
I know you can’t resist, trying to reopen a sore

[Chorus]
Leave me be, I don’t wanna argue
I’d just get confused and I’d come all undone
And if I agree, well, it’s just to appease you
‘Cause I don’t remember what we’re fighting for

You see, love, the tight, thorny thread
That you spin in a circle of gold
To have me, to hold me
A token for all to see
Captured to be yours alone

And I need just a little more silence
And I need just a little more time
The courage to pull away
There will be hell to pay
The deeper you cut to the bone

[Chorus]

Time here all but means nothing
Just shadows that move across the wall
They keep me company
But they don’t ask of me
They don’t say nothing at all.

[Chorus]

Song of the Day #1,286: ‘Moves’ – The New Pornographers

Clay — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:03:26 +0000

This video should be better than it is. The idea — to parody a movie trailer for a biopic about a rock star — is ripe with possibilities (Walk Hard did some fun things with this idea at feature length).

And the assembled cast, including Paul Rudd, Bill Hader and half the correspondent team from The Daily Show, is certainly up to the task.

But the final result falls flat. Too few jokes, too little momentum, not enough focus on the task at hand. Or am I being too harsh?

As for the band, I don’t know The New Pornographers’ music at all. I know them only as the group Neko Case was in before she went solo (and apparently the group she’s still in, though she doesn’t tour with them).

I believe
You’ve had some-
thing that’s mine
All this time
So to sing along, cry
Fork it over

I live among
The alarms
Where I trip
Where they sing
So to sing along, cry
Hey, come over

Uh Uh – Uh Uh – Uh Oh-

Up the hill
Goes the type-
writered beat
Of my step
So to sing along, cry
Undiscover

And all the years
At quarter speed
Haloed and
Trembling clean
So to sing along, cry
Turning over

Uh Uh – Uh Uh – Uh Oh-

Slo-o-o-ow do-o-o-own la-a-a-a-die-e-e-es
Slo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ow do-o-o-o-o-o-o-own

These things get louder
These things get louder

The lava alarms
And your true
Villain love
Are kept at bay
So to sing along, cry
Like you wrote it

Will the beams
Be broke and crossed
Motion sensed
It’s all heat
So to sing along, cry
It’s not over

Uh Uh – Uh Uh – Uh Oh-

Slo-o-o-ow do-o-o-own la-a-a-a-die-e-e-es
Slo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ow do-o-o-o-o-o-o-own

These things get louder
These things get louder

So to sing along, cry
So to sing along, cry

You with all your moves
You with all your moves
You with all your moves
You with all your moves

Song of the Day #1,285: ‘Romance’ – Wild Flag

Clay — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:03:37 +0000

Wild Flag is a Portland band made up of four women who are members of other bands — sort of the chick version of Monsters of Folk.

Front woman Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss are both veterans of Sleater-Kinney, the celebrated alternative band that went on “hiatus” five years ago. Brownstein has also received attention recently for co-writing and co-starring in Portlandia, a sketch comedy show that also features SNL-er Fred Armisen.

Today’s song, Wild Flag’s second single, is pretty damn good, clearly the work of seasoned professionals. They’re like The Go-Go’s for a more cynical generation.

This video is fun, too. It depicts the four band members working in different capacities (from boss to janitor) in the same office building. When the lunch hour hits, they don plastic masks and drive off together to wreak havoc across the city.

Hey, hey, can you feel it? The way it sways you,
The hum in your chest?
You make my feet move, you turn my head loose
That’s why I love you the best

Hey, you fill up the spaces, those empty places
The corners and cracks
You kill my sickness, my only witness
You’re all that I have

Hands down we like, we like what we like
Hands down we like, we love, we choose you
We’ve got an eye, an eye for what’s romance
We’ve got our eyes, our eyes trained on you
You watch us dance, we dance ’til we’re dying
We dance to free ourselves from the room
We love the sound, the sound is what found us
Sound is the blood between me and you

Back when I had no story, nothing to form me
You got under my skin
You were my maker, my re-creator
My reason to live

Can’t stop the bleeding or this leaving
Though I’ve tried
And when I return, with them fresh burns
You’re waiting inside

Hey, you’ve got me crawling
You’ve got me spinning
Shake, shimmy shake
First you wreck me, then resurrect me, it’s too much

Hands down we like, we like what we like
Hands down we like, we love, we choose you
We’ve got an ear, an ear for what’s romance
We’ve got our ears, our ears trained on you
You watch us sing, we sing till we’re crying
We sing to free ourselves from the room
We love the sound, the sound is what found us
Sound is the love between me and you