New music Wednesday comes with a decided pout, whereas everymusicblog out there has been posting live photos from SXSW — which, by the way, looks like it kicks fucking ass this year.But I’ve got two nice tracks for you and a video I’m obsessed with. So enjoy!
She & Him – “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here”
The exciting collaboration between world’s-best-guitar-picker M. Ward and world’s-sexiest-female Zooey Deschanel was released yesterday, and I think it’s incredibly interesting. The songs are all Deschanel’s own, and the record was recorded in Portland just this last year (I can’t believe Zooey could have been just chillin’ at the Doug Fir and I was completely unaware… but I would have pulled a Jack-McFarland-meets-Broadway-diva and that would have been embarrassing). The music itself is surprisingly upbeat but definitely quirky, and hearkens to mid-’50s big-hair doo-wop music (I hear an early Linda Rondstadt in Deschanel’s voice, which surprises me because she was almost husky [but hot] when she sang her big solo in the ever-brilliant “Elf”).
This is a live cut via You Ain’t No Picasso from SXSW, but don’t you feel like Rilo Kiley was always intended to perform this song? Kind of like when Sheryl Crow covered “The First Cut Is The Deepest,” and you didn’t want to admit it, but her version was better than Cat Stevens’? Okay. Not exactly. But anyway, this cover is not extraordinary, nor does it take any major risks, but it’s a perfect choice for the band. You listen to it and you think, “Huh. That makes sense.”
Video: Thao and the Get Down Stay Down – “Bag of Hammers”
Thao, aka Thao Nguyen, has released two provocative-but-decidedly poppy albums in the last two years: The brilliant but virtually critically ignored “Like The Linen” and this year’s incredible and explosive “We Brave Bee Stings and All.” Hailed by Laura Viers and others, Thao is growing into a regular indie darling, and for good reason: Her vocals are always careful and her lyrics have that rare quality of being able to stand on their own two feet. She’s my latest obsession. Last week, her perfect stop-motion animation video for “Bag of Hammers” (the first single off “We Brave”) dropped, and it has like 250 hits from me alone.
[EDIT: There are links throughout this, but I had a lot of difficulty formatting this piece for some reason, so the links are just showing up black. But there are three or so opportunities to read the whole interview in XXL.] Today’s quote comes from a really lovely little interview in XXL magazine published last Friday with DMX. The infamous, brilliant, hardcore street rapper is famous for being having the perfect mix of image, edge and indisputable talent (I think allmusic.com puts it well in saying he’s “sort of like a hip-hop Johnny Cash”); now he’s slated to release two albums in the next year, including a gospel record called You’ll Fly With Me Later. The interesting part of the interview, though, comes when XXL is asked to weigh in on the upcoming presidential election:
Are you following the presidential race?
Not at all.
You’re not? You know there’s a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there’s Hillary Clinton.
His name is Barack?!
Barack Obama, yeah.
Barack?!
Barack.
What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?
Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.
Barack Obama?
Yeah.
What the fuck?! That ain’t no fuckin’ name, yo. That ain’t that nigga’s name. You can’t be serious. Barack Obama. Get the fuck outta here.
You’re telling me you haven’t heard about him before.
I ain’t really paying much attention.
I mean, it’s pretty big if a Black…
Wow, Barack! The nigga’s name is Barack. Barack? Nigga named Barack Obama. What the fuck, man?! Is he serious? That ain’t his fuckin’ name. Ima tell this nigga when I see him, “Stop that bullshit. Stop that bullshit” [laughs] “That ain’t your fuckin’ name.” Your momma ain’t name you no damn Barack.
When I first saw this excerpt on 23-6 and kottke, I thought it was a joke. I mean, I guess I though DMX was being funny. Because seriously: He’s Barack O-mother-fucking-bama. The “I Have A Crush On Obama” video by the she-got-her-15-minutes-ObamaGirl has over 7 million views on YouTube; DMX’s “X Gon Give It To Ya“ video doesn’t even boast half that.But it appears DMX actually doesn’t open the newspaper anymore. Some may call him disillusioned. If you read on:
So you’re not following the race. You can’t vote right?
Nope.
Is that why you’re not following it?
No, because it’s just—it doesn’t matter. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. It doesn’t really make a difference. These are the last years.
But it would be pretty big if we had a first Black president. That would be huge.
I mean, I guess…. What, they gon’ give a dog a bone? There you go. Ooh, we have a Black president now. They should’ve done that shit a long time ago, we wouldn’t be in the fuckin’ position we in now. With world war coming up right now. They done fucked this shit up then give it to the Black people, “Here you take it. Take my mess.”
The rest of the interview is actually pretty interesting. Although DMX may appear a cynic and perhaps even ignorant, his assertion that the president is essentially a “puppet” rings true for many who have given up on the bipartisan American system altogether.Ah, but we keep on trying, don’t we?
