Friday 5 is getting chilly…

November 2nd 2007 by E..

Steve Poltz – “Music Box” from Chinese Vacation

Poltz can pretty much write about anything and it will be great…from his second album, this song is a definite highlight of his shamefully unknown career…his live version from the Tin Angel show I saw (over 35 songs in 2 ½ hours) is even more lovely and heartwarming…

Cat Power – “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With Those Memphis Blues Again” from I’m Not There

The soundtrack to the upcoming experimental biopic of Bob Dylan features indie rock’s legends covering some of Dylan’s best…Chan Marshall does an incredibly lively version of this tune (one of my Dylan favorites), which fits seamlessly along with contributions from Stephen Malkmus, Sonic Youth, Jeff Tweedy and others…

Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers – “New England” from Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers

Though he was trying to make a band in the vain of The Velvet Underground, Jonathan Richman’s boyish charm and child-like lyrics gave the music an entirely different tone from Lou Reed’s dark and brooding tales…by the time this album came out in 1977, the original Modern Lovers had been long gone…Keyboardist Jerry Harrison became a Talking Head, and David Robinson ended up drumming for The Cars…Richman’s lyrics and deadpan vocals continue to be echoed by Calvin Johnson and Dean Wareham…

múm – “I’m 9 Today” from Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK

If you’ve seen the cover of Belle and Sebastian’s Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant, you are already familiar with the good looks of indie’s other twin sisters, Gyða and Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir…the music is catchy, glitchy and everything that music from Iceland should be (with the exception of Bjork’s wailing)…I’m still baffled by indie rock’s affinity for super long album and song titles…at least múm goes the distance by making a few of their songs as long as their titles…

Bright Eyes – “At The Bottom Of Everything” from I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning

Way back when I got this album, I noted how Bright Eyes’ lyrics are really where the boy shines…little did I know what an understatement that was…thought the arrangements are not as grown up as this year’s Cassadaga, the story that opens this song (which, in turn, opens the album), is as literate and depressing as anything that Paul Simon or Robert Smith has written, respectively…

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