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Lessons from a theme week

teacherSo my goal this week was to single out some artists I’ve heard about but never really heard. I went with two bona fide legends (Tom Waits and Patti Smith), two lesser-known but well-regarded 70s bands (Buzzoccks and Faces) and one contemporary artist who enjoys great critical acclaim (Bjork).

Overall, my takeaway is that I wasn’t missing much. I’m most intrigued by Tom Waits, though his voice remains a stumbling block, and I like the idea of Patti Smith even if her song didn’t completely sell me. Faces seems like a generic 70s rock band. Buzzcocks wrote a great song but their style isn’t up my alley. And Bjork is intriguing but too much of an art-school show-off to really grab me.

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Song of the Day #148: ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ – Bjork

bjorkMy knowledge of Bjork pretty much boils down to weird squeaky voice, freaky videos, critically-acclaimed performance in depressing musical by Lars Von Trier and wearing a dead goose to the Oscars.

I know her albums are beloved by music snobs, and as something of a music snob myself I should probably pay her more attention. But, though I’ve never really listened to her songs, I feel like I know what they’re like… and what I think I know they’re like is something I don’t particularly care for. Very dramatic but very sparse, not particularly melodic and not particularly fun.

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Milk

milkWell, the year is almost over and my top ten list is seriously lacking. Don’t get me wrong… I enjoyed the hell out of Kit Kittredge and Kung-Fu Panda. But I wouldn’t expect them to be among the ten best films of the year in mid-December.

But there is hope on the horizon, in the form of a host of late-release “award” films, some of which are bound to be pretty good.

First out of the gate is Milk, Gus Van Sant’s touching biopic about the Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official. My knowledge of Milk was limited to some vague details about his death at the hands of another city official, particularly the reliance on “the Twinkie defense” to explain his crime. Van Sant, and especially lead actor Sean Penn, have done a wonderful job bringing the rest of Milk’s story to life.

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Song of the Day #147: ‘Gloria’ – Patti Smith

pattiPatti Smith is without a doubt one of the best-loved and most influential women in rock. But I know almost nothing about her or her work.

My one exposure to Smith came on R.E.M.’s New Adventures in Hi-Fi album, where she provides haunting background vocals on the first single, ‘E-Bow the Letter.’ When I first heard that song, I thought she was a man. Then I read that it was Patti Smith, Michael Stipe’s idol.

So that was the extent of my knowledge of her, aside from a vague understanding that her album Horses shows up on just about every “Best Ever” list, just as its cover photo (see picture to the right) shows up on lists of best album covers.

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They are celebrating in the favelas!

mia2So M.I.A. was nominated for a Record of the Year Grammy for ‘Paper Planes,’ last Friday’s Song of the Day.

She has been popping up a lot lately, especially on my own car radio, where a generational war of sorts has broken out each morning.

As always, the younger generation is pushing for edgier music while the elder prefers the old melodic standbys. In this case, it’s my 3-year-old daughter Fiona who has emerged as a big M.I.A. fan while 6-year-old Sophia can’t stand “that awful CD.”

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