Dan Mangan - Postcards and Daydreaming

Thanks to P for dropping the name Dan Mangan. Don't have enough info yet for a proper discussion, but there's always time for preliminary gushing. I'm loving Journal of a Narcoleptic and So Much For Everyone. I heard the latter on a TV show last night. Possibly, because of the B.C. connection (the show's filming location and Mangan's home province are one in the same), or possibly because his album is headed for watercooler fame.

Mangan also covers There is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths. Heart, heart, heart.

The Latest From David Gordon Green

Will be watching for Snow Angels in March. As mentioned previously, David Gordon Green's film, All the Real Girls is a favourite. He does small town really well. Not necessarily in an accurate way (since mini-suburbs pass for small towns in many areas today), but in a way that fits well with imagined small town life - picturesque main streets, family values/bored teenager leisure pursuits, inhabitants who are a little lost and a little rough but still aiming to find happiness.

Looks like he's upped the plot stakes this time around (the film is based on a novel) which should be an interesting evolution. The Believer caught up with him about Snow Angels and his other films in November 2006.

Joan As Police Woman

I think I might dig Joan As Police Woman, but want access to more full listens before firmly committing. For now, the exquisite Real Life and two songs here will do. When Real Life turns up in a sensitive, indie film some day soon, I expect the floodgates will crash open and the album will be everywhere.

The Carps - The Young & Passionate Days of Carpedia EP

Off my beaten path, but no less interesting for it, is Compton to Scarboro by The Carps. Maybe, I'm feeling aggressive and thus welcoming the noise. Whatever the reason, I really like this song and am intrigued by the EP. It doesn't hurt that The Carps hit a soft spot for two-man bands (The Inbreds, you are much missed).

I could do without the monologue/dialogue midway through, but the social statement in the video is something to be appreciated, even if it does call to mind Soul Asylum's Runaway Train a little too readily. And yes, that is a sample from Bell Biv Devoe's Poison. Nice job, boys.

The Carps aren't easily categorized. Self-described here, the music is "Punk Rock with a gun to R&B's head on the Dancefloor". Okay. The Carpedia EP is just $3.99 at iTunes. A steal?

Jens Lekman - Pop Specialist

"And I would never kiss anyone who doesn't burn me like the sun". Sweden's lovable Jens Lekman may seem a tad overwrought when he sings this line in the orchestral And I Remember Every Kiss, but how can you criticize the man for being too passionate? I first read about him here and well, When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog lived up to the hype. Back catalogue searching led to the welcomingly upbeat A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill, Black Cab and other great songs.

His new disc, Night Falls Over Kortedala is equally good (witness the fawning). Particularly endearing are The Opposite of Hallelujah and Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig. If you're going to have songs stuck in your head, it's these two you'd want. The catchiness to actual likability factor here is eclipse-like (overlapping and rare).

Such good and fun pop.

Living With Music

The New York Times' Paper Cuts book blog devotes Wednesdays to playlists by writers in its Living With Music posts. Best idea ever!

Literary Hodgepodge for $800, Alex

Can't wait for Ibi Kaslik's The Angel Riots due out in March. As described here, it's filled with thinly-veiled references to much-adored Canadian indie rockers. Too much fun.

Other additions to the enormous reading list: The Deportees, the first collection of stories from Roddy Doyle whose Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is spectacular; The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories by Max Apple, a collection of stories described as memorable (literally, you will be able to remember them years later) because I can surely stand to put something I read to memory, and Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life, a memoir from Steve Martin. Shopgirl, The Pleasure of My Company and everything he's ever written in The New Yorker are arguably as good as any funny bit he's done on screen.

A little insight into the origin of my Canada Reads pick, Not Wanted on the Voyage.

Somebody please read Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truths Behind America's Favourite Addiction (Jake Halpern) and explain to me why educated, normal people care about Hollywood's crotch, DUI and babymaking antics. Even if anecdotal not scientific evidence is used, I need to know. Because I am an educated, normal person.

Canacademy

Today's Oscar nominations proved rewarding for several Canadians, including Sarah Polley for writing Away From Her. Adapting an Alice Munro work, casting Gordon Pinsent and shooting in the winter cold ticks nearly all the boxes on the icons of Canada list. How could she go unheralded?

She should get a nod for acting eventually as she consistently does good work, bringing a genuineness to all her roles. See Go or My Life Without Me. Most importantly, see Dawn of the Dead. When the trailer was released, I was psyched to see the movie largely because the thought of Sarah Polley in a zombie flick seemed so improbable. Wouldn't she be too fragile? Too serious? I took to calling her Sarah Polley, Action Hero, partly in jest and partly in hopeful admiration. She didn't disappoint. Sarah Polley, Action Hero is out of control badass. That performance sealed the deal. She can play anything believably. And as horror flicks go, Dawn of the Dead is a fine addition to the zombie oeuvre (as is last year's Planet Terror). Overlaying the chaotic opening credits with Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around sets the perfect tone.

Even though I miss Sarah Polley, Action Hero, her branching out into other realms of the movie industry can only be a good thing for the future of intelligent film. Come to think of it, Sarah Polley, Oscar Winner has a nice ring to it too.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

In honour of the tennis fabulous serving away at the Australian Open in Melbourne, it seems appropriate to offer up some complementary Australian music. Problem # 1 - the tiny number of Australians on my radar. Solution # 1 - get Australians on the radar. Architecture in Helsinki were already there and so were The Grates, a little bit. The Cat Empire is a new find and the song below is kinda fun, though not very new. Just try to stop yourself from declaring after the chorus, "my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die".

Architecture in Helsinki - Souvenirs
The Grates - 19 20 20
The Cat Empire - Hello

Cinematic

A list of films I need to see as soon as possible (recently released, out now or upcoming):

Once (dir. John Carney) - with Glen Hansard of The Frames. Musicals can be a sketchy proposition, but this one about buskers in Dublin is getting fantastic reviews and seems just different enough that it might work.

Starting Out in the Evening (dir. Andrew Wagner) - with Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose and Lili Taylor. Not a surprising pick from someone who really enjoyed Wonder Boys and Finding Forrester.

The Savages (dir. Tamara Jenkins) - with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney. I have mixed feelings about these two actors. I think it's their intensity. That they are skilled actors isn't the issue, it's whether their characters will be likeable enough to enjoy a few hours with. But I'm too curious to see what the director of Slums of Beverly Hills has cooked up to let a little trepidation get in the way.

Boy A (dir. John Crowley) - When time-shifting stories are done well, the layered suspense of the slow reveal is highly satisfying. Fingers crossed here.

Amal (dir. Richie Mehta) - You can't go wrong with a story about one man's decency, especially when the setting lets you armchair travel along the way.

Local Boy Makes Good

If confronted with one of those theoretical doomsday scenarios that force you into making black and white decisions (e.g. you can only listen to one artist's music for the rest of your life, go!), Ron Hawkins is my undisputed choice.

Reasons to listen to RH are innumerable. A few: his voice is genetically designed for ear-pleasing singing; his lyrics, instead of relying on the generic, are peppered with unique descriptions and images and diverse geographical, historical, political, local references that actually make you want to do a little research; he writes brilliantly about the songwriter touchstones of love and loss too, he plays small venues at amazing prices considering the insane quality of his musical catalogue.

In whatever permutation Ron's singing in (solo, with Lowest of the Low, with The Rusty Nails), it's always worth the time. Since he's promoting his new disc, Chemical Sounds, on Saturday evening, the folks at NOW are sniffing around. Standout track on the new disc - Peace and Quiet. "We cursed a dishrag sky. We vowed to change the weather."

A sampler:

Bite Down Hard
Small Victories
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Gamble

The Only Ad I've Enjoyed on a Movie Screen

"We are floating in the same white space, like different phrases on the same page".

A few years ago, the Toronto Star put out a commercial that used an incredibly dreamy, acoustic song as its soundtrack. Googling lyric snatches and Star and commercial and who knows what else turned up a title and artist. White Space. Jason Gleed. No tangible sign of it on the Internet though. I wrote down the title and artist on the magnetic board on my fridge and waited. It did finally appear courtesy of the man himself and the fridge board was grateful for the long-desired cleanse. Get it while you can.

Single of the Week

Maybe it's obvious that this feature at the iTunes Store is a tickle trunk crying out for rummaging, but I was a bit skeptical, equating free stuff with sucky stuff. Capitalism sure burrows into your head, doesn't it? When my friend G let me listen to Hold Your Secrets to Your Heart by Miracle Fortress I saw that me being the man was detrimental to the Discovering Excellent Music cause. Further proof that cost and quality aren't neccesarily connected came in the form of Wintersleep's Weighty Ghost and Young Galaxy's Outside the City. Check out the free stuff. The choices seem to have an anthemic, hooky commonality and they just might hook you, as anthems tend to.

You Do The Robot, Girls

In reading the Minipops link posted here, I learned they were shockingly controversial in Britain. Jigga what?

The following is an excerpt from The Observer article of 27 February 1983:

"Is it merely priggish to feel queasy at the sight of primary school minxes with rouged cheeks, eye make-up and full-gloss lipstick belting out songs like torch singers and waggling those places where they will eventually have places? The final act of last week's show featured a chubby blonde totlette, thigh-high to a paedophile, in a ra-ra skirt and high heels; her black knickers were extensively flashed as she bounced around singing the words 'See that guy all dressed in green/He's not a man, he's a loving machine.' Kiddieporn, a shop-window full of junior jailbait? And does the show thrust premature sexual awareness onto its wide-eyed performers?" (Wikipedia)

Seriously? In 1983, I didn't give a crap about kids dressed as minxes except to think they made funny-looking grownups. I just wanted to rewind Video Killed the Radio Star one more time and sing along.

Canada Reads - 2008

CBC Radio is getting bookish again. The annual installment of Canada Reads kicks into gear next month and as per the usual, I've read next to nothing from the list. Admittedly, I'm underqualified on Canada Reads as I've never actually listened to the week long book-off (see radio deficiency). No worries though - Lee, a friend of a friend and a nice person, is blogging away over at the CBC. No doubt, she'll keep y'all up to date, right good. This year my biased vote would go to Timothy Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage, and not just because it's the only title I've read.

Not Wanted on the Voyage landed on a Top 10 list I was asked to come up with a few years ago. I should explain why. Unfortunately, most of the details of a book fade for me relatively quickly and I'm left with impressions only. So, I will quote me from that Top 10 list to demonstrate why this book is worthy of your time:

"From a writing perspective it was a revelation to me to see such a skewed view on a well-known tale. Findley tells the story of Noah's Ark but makes it messy. Noah's a bastard and that's great because it corrupts everything we've been taught and provides a fresh outlook".

The book's somewhat blasphemous rep might hurt its chances but I'd recommend it regardless of what you believe about the original story. I didn't enjoy it because it targeted traditional Bible lore, I enjoyed it because it reminded me that one view of an event/story/anything isn't the only possible view.

Besides Not Wanted on the Voyage, I'm interested in Brown Girl in the Ring, but mostly for its cool book cover and because that phrase was lingering sing-songy in my head all day. It was driving me crazy and I couldn't place its familiar musical origin. Was it from that Minipops cassette from so long ago? I swear, Google is the greatest advancement in the field of artificial intelligence the world has ever seen. I don't need to stretch my brain to extract long-buried information any more, I just need to type at my keyboard.

It's a Boney M song. Of course it is.

The Music Effect

The depth of my love for Stars knows no bottom, and the distance between my ears and heart evaporates almost immediately when they're singing. Some day I'll try to explain how they elude my saturation point infinitely. For now, let me say that the last 1:25 of Midnight Coward from their latest album, In Our Bedroom After the War, epitomizes everything I love about them and about music in general. I am transported.

Josh Rouse = Joyce Carol Oates

Anyone who is prolific in their field can be compared to writer Joyce Carol Oates and in this respect, Josh Rouse is the JCO of the singer/songwriter world. You can barely keep up with his catalogue. Worse still, all of it is good, i.e. no 'taking a pass on this one', everything must be investigated. Country Mouse City House now exists. Has existed for half a year it seems! It's too new to me to be able to say much about it but what I've heard so far sounds reliably enticing.

If you enjoy a smooth voice, soft sound, and heartstring-plucking lyrics, Josh Rouse is your go-to guy. I first heard him opening for Sarah Harmer (whose hands playing guitar I could watch for days) in 2000, in one of the best intimate venues around. You could follow my path into his discography but you'd be safe starting nearly anywhere. For the record, said path was - Home (the discovery), Under Cold Blue Stars (the reinforcement of appreciation for), 1972 (the solidification of worshipful listening - I adore this album). The discs kept coming and I kept getting sucked in.

Samples:

Home - Directions
Under Cold Blue Stars - Christmas with Jesus
1972 - Love Vibration

Tegan and Sara - Listen, Buy, Love

More on Tegan and Sara as promised. Tegan and Sara appeared in my music collection around 2000. I can't pinpoint the date, other than to say I remember being told by the doorperson at a Hawksley Workman show that I should check out their upcoming show at the same venue (I didn't). This memory sticks out either because I bought This Business of Art after that tip or had just bought it and found the recommendation coincidental. I'm leaning toward the latter, but memory is slippery. The disc became a quick favourite for its distinctive sound. No matter what the music around them is like (stripped down, synth infused, punkish) Tegan and Sara's vocals are always recognizable.

I fell out with the band for a time, dismissing their next release, If It Was You, as too loud and too different in direction. Fortunately, my friend M pushed me to listen to their new album. I gave him the 'too different from what reeled me in originally' spiel, but he insisted I would like it. Based on release dates, I assumed 'new album' meant So Jealous (he'd actually meant If It Was You) so that's what I sought out. And I loved it. Regret seeped in. I'd given up too soon. I could've been listening to this album for years prior and I'd turned down a suggestion from my friend K to see the band on the So Jealous tour, still labouring under the 'too loud' delusion. Luckily, because I hadn't kept up, new material was just around the corner.

The Con is strong from start to finish. You won't find a track to skip. While I gravitate to Tegan's songs on this disc, the preferential pull is slight. The whole disc impresses me more each time I hear it. Press play and then repeat.

Here are my owned standout tracks. I could easily have chosen more (tried and failed to pare down from The Con) as none of these albums contain obvious filler. Maybe, super standout tracks is a better description:

This Business of Art - My Number, Come On
So Jealous - Downtown, Wake Up Exhausted
The Con - Burn Your Life Down, Nineteen, Dark Come Soon, The Con, Back in Your Head, Call it Off

These choices are reasonably balanced between Tegan's songs and Sara's songs. That's not intentional and the balance extends to other favourites on the albums. I always knew they split songwriting and lead vocal duties but until recently, I didn't know which voice belonged to which song. I just knew I liked those voices equally. Sadly, age and digital music have stolen some of the dedicated fan-ism of my younger days. Band trivia, bio details and liner notes don't find their way into my head as often any more. Lots of great info about these two is out there if you look (ask Google). One helpful resource even breaks down who sings what.

To conclude, I will no longer let misconceptions interfere with my appreciation for Tegan and Sara. I will give If It Was You another shot. My initial judgment of it was based on cursory listenings. Though I've managed to miss the recent local tour dates, it wasn't intentional this time and I won't pass up an opportunity to see them live again. Especially, after checking out the wealth of hilarious concert banter footage on YouTube. People say Tegan and Sara should have a TV show and I believe that they would deliver solid ratings. Just as they deliver solid albums. How rewarding, and rare, to listen to a band that improves on fantastic with each new effort.

Lars and the Real Girl

About 10 years ago, I used to laugh at a friend's infatuation with Ryan Gosling of Breaker High. Who? What? I don't wish to take back that laughter, but I'm not laughing now. The guy knows what he's doing and he knows what projects to do it in.

Lars and the Real Girl is lovely. The plot has been well-publicized elsewhere so I won't go into it here. The Six Feet Under creative team connection is not a secret either. If you liked the show, it's likely you'll enjoy this film. What does need to be said is that Gosling is Lars. You don't question his commitment to the story or the character and you don't question Lars' commitment to his lady. None of this praise is news either. He's been getting talked up, deservedly-so, for this role and lots of others.

What you may not have heard is that the supporting cast is also top notch. Patricia Clarkson is a brilliant actor whose work I've seen a fraction of. From this fraction, I'll pinpoint her outstanding performance as Katie Holmes' mother in Pieces of April. See it. The film is funny and sad and awkward, just like the family it observes. It introduced me to The Magnetic Fields and for that I will always be grateful. Find One April Day by the band's Stephin Merritt if you can. It's all you'd ever want to say to whoever means most to you.

Equally good is Paul Schneider, who won me over a few years ago in All the Real Girls. The slow pace of this film lulls you into a state of reverie. Not exactly blissful, but dreamy and away from your own cares. Unsurprisingly, its great cast (including wonderful Zooey Deschanel) also features small movie staple...Patricia Clarkson.

A Shuffling Aside

An example of why I love shuffle next. In back to back plays tonight it spits out one of my favourite misheard lyrics - "No one can steal your dead baby" from 54-40's, Baby Have Some Faith, then reaffirms that I should set up that pondered meeting when it spins Beautiful Freak by Eels.

Shuffle is NOT random. It knows.

Fall - ish Films

I've been more pathetic than diligent about movie-going this past year. No doubt I've missed brilliance so I hope to catch it on a future Sunday afternoon (whenever network TV exhausts its supply of Steel Magnolias prints). Here are a few notable* films from the latter half of 2007 that I did manage to see:

Lars and the Real Girl - dir. Craig Gillespie. (See above post. A lone sentence won't do).
My Kid Could Paint That - dir. Amir Bar-Lev. In which the fallibility of the documentarian's relationship to documentary films is exposed and a seemingly unprovable suspicion raises more questions. Enthralling stuff.
Margot at the Wedding - dir. Noah Baumbach. In which Nicole Kidman reminds us that you don't have to make a character likeable to demonstrate fine acting skills.
Empties - dir. Jan Sverak. In which the ordinary, smallness of a man's post-midlife crisis is charming rather than silly. Thanks Kolya team.
2 Days in Paris - dir. Julie Delpy. In which a romantic relationship is peeped at in a warts and all way and Delpy's parents create circus-like comic relief simply by eating a sit-down meal.

*Notable to me at least.

Decidedly Electronic

Right now, I'm most craving music that has a strong electronic element. It started with What's That Sound by Firefox AK and continued with two T's input. First, thanks to my friend T for closing my pathetically longstanding M.I.A. knowledge gap with Boyz and for throwing I Get Around (original version) by Dragonette on a milestone mix. I discovered today that I'm six degrees closer to Dragonette than I ever would've imagined. A little unsettling, but the song's greatness stands.

Thanks too to T #2. That would be Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara, whose list of 2007 favourites I happily plundered. The result is the heavy rotation of Turn it Up by Robots in Disguise, a song which can be best described by using the word cool, as in: it is cool; they are cool; it makes me feel cool, etc. Synthy Shiny Toy Guns' Starts With One and Rainy Monday (original versions) are running neck and neck in the play count. And less electronically inclined but still on repeat is the aforementioned T herself singing on Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart by Against Me!. Further info soon about Tegan and Sara's excellent new album The Con which spawned the digging that led to all these gems.

As always, must listen to more of the above - more songs, more albums, more.

My Fleeting Love Affairs With Top 40

It's been years since I've owned a functioning, proper radio (radio on the Internet just doesn't feel right) so most of the music I listen to is music I seek out. But when you accompany a friend for a little harmless shopping you can't avoid the canned store playlist. Damn you, H&M. Not since the summer of my hour car commute and all the Tal Bachman and Sugar Ray the airwaves could throw at me, can I remember a catchier, more ingratiating song than Sean Kingston's Me Love. Of course, since I don't have a radio I can't even be sure it is/was Top 40.

For this one, you get the video because the Brady Bunch split screens amuse me. Oh, so many me loves.

Books Read - 2007

24. As you can tell, I'm not a fast reader. Here are the titles that stand out:

Housekeeping vs. The Dirt - Nick Hornby
The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

Here's why. As a reader it's fun to navel gaze with Nick Hornby and sometimes I even want to read what he's reading. I definitely want to describe the idiosyncrasies of reading the way he does in his first book of Believer columns, The Polysyllabic Spree. Jhumpa Lahiri's words weave a world. My slow-paced page turning nearly stopped altogether because I didn't want to leave. Zadie Smith's characters are real in a way that makes the word 'seem' seem false. For this reason I'm very much looking forward to the collection of stories that she's edited recently. The Book of Other People awaits. On Chesil Beach made me feel, really feel, happiness and heartbreak for its lead couple in a short space over a short span of time. What more can Ian McEwan deliver than genuine reader engagement and what more can I ask for?

Who is That Singing?!?

People, me included, get a little weird about covers. Usually, the problem is profound allegiance to the original version (to cross mediums, Rob Zombie should've left Halloween alone). But honestly, we should probably relax. Covers are like cheese slices - not the same as the original, not meant to be the same and potentially tasty in their own right, depending on your tastes.

If you haven't heard these covers you are missing out in the slice department:

Can't Help Falling in Love - Lick the Tins (Elvis Presley)
Top of the World - Shonen Knife (Carpenters)
Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins (The Traveling Wilburys)

Late To the Party

Why I've started blogging now:

• Discovering amazing bits of pop culture in a vacuum is no fun. Celebrations of one are rare for a reason.
• I'm increasingly lazy about writing and need a push.
• I get to use bullets at will.

What The Pop Triad could've been called if the taste arbiters of the Internet universe hadn't already snatched up two of my very favourite phrases for various uses:

• Light Strikes a Deal (from Iron & Wine's 'Each Coming Night')
  
• Patience is Like Bread (from The Lemonheads' 'It's About Time')

Good calls taste arbiters. If only I were a quicker draw.