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Are we on our way?

Written by

Detox Retox – Caroline

I’m not sure what this song is about, probably something as regurgitated as the end of a relationship, but when I hear it all I can think about is a road trip.

You stayed up all night lining the roads in a borrowed atlas with a pink highlighter to show where your adventure will take you. The car just had a checkup and an oil change. Caroline packed turkey and provolone sandwiches, stacked neatly in a cooler next to cans of cola and a small bag of carrots.

There’s a new playlist entitled “ROAD TRIP” on your iPod, sleeping bags conveniently cover the bottle of whiskey in the trunk, and you both have your seat belts snapped on.

Caroline rolls down her window in the car parked in your driveway. With an elbow resting out in the summer sun, she turns to you. “Are we on our way?”

1, 2, 3, and yes we are.

[Buy Movement when it comes out June 15.]

Posted on June 7, 2010 - Tunes - 1 Comment » Share

I’d love to come home but I need an escape

Written by

Damien Jurado – Arkansas

Mark’s main preoccupation as a highschooler was trying to figure out how he could scrape together a living as an adult. His mother informed him frequently and smugly that at 18 he would be booted from his home so that she could enjoy the exclusive company of his step-father.

It seemed so daunting. Mark studied the bills that came through the slot every day, piling up on the tacky “Welcome!” mat on which he banged the snow off his boots. Electricity, Internet, cable, heating, gas, dues so that his step-father could receive a record once a month. It was much more than his meager summer jobs – Dairy Queen, church janitor, lawn mower – could ever cover.

Near the end of his senior year, Mark moved out a few weeks before his 18th birthday. His mom grunted when he left. He moved in with a buddy from the grade above, Freddy, who had taken a job at the tool and dye place on the outskirts of town after high school.

After some rough years doing grunt work, Mark accidentally fell into a mechanic gig which he enjoyed alright and which paid him more than enough to live alone and buy a couch or anything else he could want.

While smoothing out the hood of an old lady’s old sedan which a stray baseball had dented, he realized that he’d never planned what to do with his life once he found a tolerable job that paid a tolerable wage and that he had no clue what to do with the rest of his life. Mark was 26. The dent came right out.

[Buy Saint Bartlett.]

Posted on May 30, 2010 - Tunes - 3 Comments » Share

Please don’t change, dear

Written by

Hello Blue Roses – Shadow Falls

My little brother just came up to me and sheepishly asked if we could have Pizza Hut for dinner. We grew up in Asia, and any American chain restaurant – including Pizza Hut and McDonald’s – was a rare treat. Even now that we’ve lived in the United States a couple years, we treat such delicatessens as delicacies.

Sure, kid, we can have Pizza Hut for dinner.

[Buy The Portrait Is Finished And I Have Failed To Capture Your Beauty…]

Posted on May 26, 2010 - Tunes - No Comments » Share

Virtueless in the white smoke

Written by

[Be a dear and buy Kollaps Tradixionales.]

Posted on May 24, 2010 - Videos - No Comments » Share

Think about things I really don’t wanna know

Written by

My little brother just drove across the country–from Texas up to Michigan over to Vancouver down to Seattle–to move in with me. He got rejected from the Canadian border twice and just made it in today. He says he likes this song. I’m not too keen on it.

[Buy Last Train EP, if you feel so inclined.]

Posted on May 18, 2010 - Videos - 1 Comment » Share

Cold as ice

Written by

Eric Benjamin Bach – Cold On Him

After Bethany left me and before she dumped Trevor I thought to myself, “That bitch is just going to do the same thing to him too,” and it turned out she did, which left part of me masochistically pleased that others’ hearts were scarred like mine but I also felt bad for Trevor in a way, you know, because he didn’t deserve that. Nobody does.

Skinny Ricky & The Best Policy – Cold On Him (Live on KPIG)

[Download Dot Org Comp III for free.]

Posted on May 16, 2010 - Tunes - 3 Comments » Share

All wicked strict christian

Written by

The Hold Steady – Slapped Actress

The Hold Steady make sweaty, cock rock. As Thomas Lennon (Lt. Dangle in Reno 911) said, “If you don’t like ‘insane rock faces’ don’t stand by me at The Hold Steady tonight.”

The lyrics use religious puns to weave narratives of Christians getting high, or teenagers getting high, or just about anybody getting high. But it’s an angry, self-destructive high – a high as vicious as the guitar riffs.

These are anthems for ruined souls.

[Buy the newly released Heaven is Whenever or – if you must – purchase Stay Positive.]

Posted on May 10, 2010 - Tunes - 6 Comments » Share

You let your transport rust

Written by

[Buy Clues‘ self-titled debut.]

Posted on May 6, 2010 - Videos - No Comments » Share

The scars were on the back

Written by

Broken Social Scene – Sweetest Kill

As Joey Comeau laments, this world didn’t turn out anything how I imagined when I was a toddler. Almost completely the opposite.

On one hand, I never imagined I could support myself – make money, pay bills. Let’s look at some empirical evidence:

  • – Never in my life have I starved to death.
  • – Never in my life have I lived in my car for a period longer than a week.
  • – Never in my life have I sat on a street corner, cup in hand, begging for money.

On the other hand, young me never imagined happiness could be so elusive – that I might not accomplish all I set my mind to. Let’s look at some empirical evidence:

  • – Never in my life have I been in love.
  • – Never in my life have I been a senator of the United States of America.
  • – Never in my life have I been a professional soccer player.
  • – Never in my life have I been in a bar fight.
  • – Never in my life have I been able to come up with that profound last sentence I will whisper seconds before I die, something so full of badassery it sears itself into the memories of my loved ones forever, sometimes making them cry, sometimes making them laugh, sometimes making them laugh and cry all at the same time.

[Buy Forgiveness Rock Record with its slick production like a piece of hard candy on your tongue.]

Posted on May 5, 2010 - Tunes - 11 Comments » Share

Fishing for forever

Written by

Sun Kil Moon – Australian Winter

Mark Fredricks, 35, had dropped out of school once. He liked the rush it gave him, how he had felt totally free, like he could stand straighter because he didn’t have all that bullshit weighing him down. He’d spent the rest of his life trying to get his shoulders to feel so light again.

Well, if dropping out of school had done it once, dropping out of life should work too, he thought. So he took all the money out of his bank account, sublet his two-bedroom apartment, and donated all his collected junk to Salvation Army. With the money he bought a boat and enough supplies to last him two weeks, give or take. His guitar he unstrung and tied the nylon strings together – tight knots, satisfying knots. He soldered the knotted ends together so they wouldn’t come undone.

Near the inlet where he kept his sailboat he picked up a thick, sturdy stick, and added that to his small bag of possessions aboard the boat.

He had a plan. He would fish for sustenance, throwing his line into the velvet sea and hauling his meals out of the water. He’d stay fishing forever out on the seas, sleeping in the boat, setting anchor in remote areas where no one would bug him. He had a pot to catch rain water. He had a book and he had a tune to whistle and he had hope.

As Mark Fredricks set sail, away from life and away from the Australian beach, his shoulders felt so light he could swear he was floating three inches above the deck.

[Pre-order Admiral Fell Promises and get a free EP featuring covers of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone and the Jackson 5.]

Posted on May 1, 2010 - Tunes - 2 Comments » Share

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