More MN Musik

Very few "new" "literate" "serious" songwriters are actually original, insightful, or tuneful. Or they're only one or two, seldom all three.

I heard the song "Amygdala" by the Honeydogs on the Current the other day, and liked it so I bought it....

....Back up a step, I've never liked the name "Honeydogs". Not that I thought about it, it's just a visceral thing....

....I immediately had faves and then other songs I didn't like at all. Elan Vital, for instance, sounded like a 10cc knock-off from The Original Soundtrack. As I listened a few more times though, something sort of clicked in my head and I realized that not only wasn't Elan Vital a cheap rip-off, it was a fucking brilliant musical and lyrical statement. All the songs started connecting with me (musically first, that's how I operate), and in short order I came to realize that I was listening to a work of rare musical genius. Heads or Tales, for instance, literally almost reduces me to tears. Yeah I'm a softy. Blow me. I catch myself humming the songs, lots of different ones, to myself. One will get stuck in my craw and I'll have to stop what I'm doing and go put it on. It's that kind of connection.

The lame part, of course, is that I'm just now discovering Adam Levy's songwriting. Here's this freakishly amazing band in my home town and I never gave them a chance because I didn't like their name. Sheesh.

Everybody Likes Pie (Charts)

Mark's Reflections

Very kind CD review.

Studio Update

Bob and friends have been hard at work building the new and as yet unnamed Supraluxe studio.

To Do

Take one of your wife's magazines and a black pen. Blacken one tooth in every picture of a smile. Wait 30 days. Repeat.

Hope you've been working out

1. go to www.google.com
2. click on maps
3. click on get directions
4. go from " new york " to "paris, france "
5. scroll down in the directions to number 23

Fargo

Just got back from Fargo. Lots of time in the car. I brought three friends with - Phoenix / It's Never Been Like That, Dosh / The Lost Take, and Slowdive / Souvlaki. Never made it all the way through Souvlaki, I like it but it's pretty derivative. Listened to Dosh maybe three times, love it. But my BFF was Phoenix, which I listened to probably 900 times. I've now associated that music with a place and time in my life. It's good to do that with music you really love.

Life is fleeting. Enjoy it.

I've been sort of gravitating toward the idea that it's maybe not in the best taste to trumpet every time we get played on the raydio. We know that privilege isn't afforded lots of bands, so it's a huge honor and we're proud of it. Every musician thinks his/her own music is good, or they wouldn't make it. But when you're able to hit someone else's happy spot with your music it's really kind of a singular feeling. So big thanks to The Current, for all the times they've played us.

Phobia in need of a name

Is there a name for the fear that the elevator you're in will drop just as you're stepping over the threshold, severing you in half? Cause I have that.

"His gift: to tell you things that were hard to hear, without you even noticing it."

Now would be a good time to go find those Kurt Vonnegut books that have been sitting on your bookshelf, and read them again. I'm going to start with Breakfast of Champions.

Snocap

Supraluxe tunes available via Snocap at MySpace.

I haven't blogged in a while

But culture consumption continues. Some high points, in no particular order.

1) The Hang Ups - self titled, 2003. An entirely different band from the one I fell in love with 15 years ago. They got replaced by a more mature, even cooler pop band.

2) Corrine Bailey Rae - self titled, 2006. Some high notes on par with Marvin Gaye.

3) Thin Lizzy. There's a biography of Phil Lynott starring Gary Dourdan coming to a theater near you in the near future.

4) The Clientele. Exists in its own space.

5) Dosh - One of Minneapolis' finest. His latest, The Lost Take, shows huge growth. His best release yet. If this list was in order of preference this would be #1.

Print:

1) Manhunt: The 12-Day Hunt for Lincoln's Killer, by James Swanson.

2) Killing Yourself To Live, Chuck Klosterman.