Paste Blogs

Rhymes With Five: Ladies love their mamas, too

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:13:47 -0400

As Ben Gibbard ponders the meaning of life in our May issue, Brian Howe explores the nature of mother through the song lyrics of rap stars, indie rockers and, uh, Glen Danzig. Though the most important conclusion I drew from the piece is that I am really glad Danzig is not my son, it also reinforced for me the notion that, much like armpits, everybody has a mom—and like armpits, some people’s moms stink. Like, really stink—Ghostface Killah’s mom beat him for peeing the bed! Harsh, Mama Killah!

Quite unlike armpits, though, mothers are the subject of a few great songs. Iron & Wine’s “Upward Over the Mountain” and Smog’s “I Feel Like The Mother Of The World” are two of my favorites among the ones Howe mentions. Of course, it’s not just men that have immortalized and/or vilified their mothers in song. Plenty of female musicians have raised a musical glass to the women they came from (and may or may not, one day, become). Though lacking in Oedipal awkwardness, these songs still pack a punch.

Bjork - Wanderlust

Fri, 09 May 2008 08:00:42 -0400

Click above to watch "Wanderlust" from Bjork's album Volta, out now on Atlantic Records.

Related Links:
ACL 2007: Bjork Quick Hit

War and Peace

Thu, 08 May 2008 11:30:40 -0400

I am slowly, very slowly, making my way through Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. It’s a daunting task, one I’ve started before, but this time I’m determined to make it. Still, several factors make this difficult.

First, the names. There are more than 500 characters in War and Peace, most of them bearing names like Anya Dmitriovronsky Putinsvetlanaskayaverarovich (who should not be confused with Anya Dmitriovronsky Rasputinsputnikskaya) and, well, the head hurts within a remarkably short period of time.

Love in October - "Petrula the Destroyer"

Thu, 08 May 2008 08:00:13 -0400

Click above to watch "Petrula the Destroyer" from Love in October's new album Pontus, The Devil, and Me, out now from The Musik Group.

Related Links:
Video of the Day - Love in October - "An Average Idea"

Dolly Parton - Atlanta, GA - The Fox Theatre - 4/29/08

Wed, 07 May 2008 13:46:40 -0400

Photos taken at The Fox Theatre by Cory Albertson

Colour Revolt tour diary: 5/6/08

Wed, 07 May 2008 11:07:36 -0400

Nothing in God’s Universe is more depressing than Vegas in the daytime. We crossed the Mojave desert and I saw the huge Louie Anderson and Carrot Top billboards and I quaked and wondered things. What else was there to do but bust out Woven Hand on the iPod and try to take it head-on, like I was cavalry-charging Vegas, the Great Beast. I’ll lose to you, probably, but only a little.

KaiserCartel - "Okay"

Wed, 07 May 2008 08:00:04 -0400

Click above to watch "Okay" from KaiserCartel's new record Okay...and other things we feel, out now on Bluhammock Music.

Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:57:55 -0400

Former Mott the Hoople singer/songwriter Ian Hunter once released an album called You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic. It’s an aphorism that Will Johnson has taken to heart. Johnson is the leader of two bands, South San Gabriel and Centro-Matic. Although the bands are (mostly) comprised of the same members, they could not be more different. South San Gabriel plays sprawling, ruminative folk and alt-country; music dominated by acoustic guitars, cellos, and atmospheric pedal steel. Centro-Matic plays loud, distorted, lo-fi rock ‘n roll, a sort of Guided by Voices meets Modest Mouse mashup. And, just to keep things interesting, Johnson also occasionally records under his own name.

Iron Man

Tue, 06 May 2008 08:30:18 -0400

The appeal of superheroes and superhero movies basically escapes me. I never wanted to fly or leap tall buildings in a single bound. Belch and talk at the same time, sure, at least when I was 11. But I've honestly never given much thought to what the world might be like if I had superpowers. Hence I probably have little interest in watching guys in capes defeat nefarious criminals. In general, guys in capes scare me. I remember Genesis and Yes from the early '70s.

Mixel Pixel - "Fake Girlfriend"

Tue, 06 May 2008 08:00:54 -0400

Click above to watch "Fake Girlfriend" from Mixel Pixel's new album Let's Be Friends.

Mason Jennings - 5/4/08 - Nashville, Tennessee

Mon, 05 May 2008 15:14:22 -0400

I am looking down at a passing train on a Sunday morning from a bridge in Nashville.

Trains were once the new imagery of a powerful, new world. A force of progress cutting across countrysides bringing new cultures together and opening a route of escape for those unsatisfied with their lives. Song imagery using trains was representative of that force. Now trains have taken a new roll in our collective consciousness. Somehow they still evoke escape or power but, as the information age whirs up around them, they more often represent imminence or memory and the fading of all temporal things. The sound of change on the backside of the moment. Distance. From the past and from our dreams.

Colour Revolt: 5/2/08

Mon, 05 May 2008 10:21:50 -0400

So, San Francisco rules, right? Certainly, but I’m getting ahead of myself. When we landed blissful and exhausted in San Diego, our first move was to hit up the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Incredible. We saw a polar bear try his damndest to retrieve a red ball lodged in an underwater crevice in his tank. I watched him for maybe 15 minutes, his huge paw swiping at the unreachable ball with all the tenacity of a 12-year-old hurling his dad’s tennis racket at the football stuck in the uppermost branch of a front-yard magnolia. The koalas, the baby panda asleep perched high in the tree, his little Ewok legs dangling—it was almost too much. And, oh God, the camels. Let me tell you something about camels: they’re huge. Massive. All regal in their gold fur and boredom. They gave us sideways glances with all the celebrity disdain of the privileged. They might as well have been ashing their cigarettes in our faces. Also, a llama sneezed on Jesse, which was hilarious. And we saw two endangered bears boofing. The female didn’t seem too into it, but what can you do when you’re the last of your species? It’s called “captive breeding,” and God bless it.

Kathleen Edwards - "The Cheapest Key"

Mon, 05 May 2008 08:00:53 -0400

Click above to watch "The Cheapest Key" from Kathleen Edwards' new album Asking For Flowers, out now on Zoe Records.

Related Links:
Feature: Kathleen Edwards: North Americana
Feature: These Kids Are Alright: Kathleen Edwards

Life Altering Concerts Vol. 1

Fri, 02 May 2008 17:54:25 -0400

One thing that amazes my wife is that I can’t remember to take out the trash on a regular basis. However, I can easily recall the most minuscule details when it comes to music. Upon meeting me for the first time, she was slightly intrigued by the seemingly Rainman-esque musical knowledge I possessed, while at the same time frightened by the method in which I cataloged my CD collection. (For those keeping score at home, it's left to right in alphabetical order, and if there are multiple CDs for an artist, then the second level of sorting is in chronological order. That is, left to right by oldest to most recent. Think Shrevie from the movie Diner.)

Guilty Pleasures

Fri, 02 May 2008 16:51:55 -0400

We all have ‘em. Admit it. You do too. It’s not as big a problem with iPods, unless you happen to share your playlists with your friends. But with vinyl albums and CDs, they’re out there for all the world to see, displayed on the shelves. So if you’re like me, you do what any self-respecting music lover would do: you hide them behind various kitschy knickknacks and brick-a-brack that your wife purchased at vintage stores, and you hope that no one looks behind the lava lamp. Let’s just say that there are certain albums that push the Hopelessly Unhip meter way over into the red.