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Mount Eerie - "Stone's Ode"
Last year Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie, the Microphones) put out Lost Wisdom, a collaboration with Eric's Trip's Julie Doiron and Fred Squire, but the dark, multi-textured Wind's Poem (out 8/18 on P.W. Elverum & Sun) feels like the true heir to The Glow Pt. 2 and No Flashlight. As Elverum put it, the collection investigates the "theme of wind and also destruction and impermanence." We asked him about closing track "Stone's Ode."
For people who haven't heard Wind's Poem, can you explain the song and the characters of "Wind" and "Stone"? Basically the idea with Wind's Poem is that this crazy beautiful force of erosion and destruction (wind) constantly wraps around the world and permeates our lives, and is occasionally audible, blowing through buildings and branches. It is an invisible river, and it sings/says poems in a mystery language. So, the counterpart to wind must be "stone" (meaning all solid tangible things) and why shouldn't "stone" sing a hidden song too? So, "Stone's Ode" is about this. It's about the interplay between these two things: shape vs. destroyer of shape. It could also be heard as "person vs. mysterious mortality," or "a sense of stability vs. inevitable impending chaos." It might seem meaningless and overly theoretical to most people, but honestly it is very touching for me to think about these things, and to see a the way a river has carved out a hillside and relate it to my own aging body and surprising failures and joys.
Wild Beasts - "We Still Got The Taste Dancin On Our Tongues" Video
Wild Beats' previous Two Dancers video for "All The King's Men" was set in a mystical forest peopled with various fair maidens (and the band). Luke Seomore and Joseph Bull, aka Institute For Eyes, pilot us toward some actual wild... (more)
The Thermals - "Canada"
This week the world turns its attention to our northernly neighbor for Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics. Not everyone's enthused. While the Thermals' one-off ode to Canada has no direct relation or reference to the world's most celebrated international pissing contest,... (more)
YACHT - "Holiday" (Weezer Cover)
Fun fact: according to Jona Bechtolt, his YACHT partner Claire L. Evans "...used to run the #2 most-popular Weezer fansite." Consider this cover a fan tribute then. "Holiday" is available on YACHT's recent iTunes Session EP, but you can listen... (more)
Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova Reissue Gets Four New Tracks
The original collaboration record One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels came out back in 2004, but the groups reunited last fall to write and record new songs at Mike Mogis's Omaha studio. The ten-track album will be out March 23.... (more)
