disaster & devastation...

okay, well this would ideally have been a guest post. and it looks as though we will be featuring some soon-like. however at times you get a recommendation that well just sticks with you. This added to the fact that i just saw these guys at a cd-launch with no new cd, that i seriously rank quite highly on my top concerts of the year so far.

the band is the besnard lakes, and the song is the title of the post: disaster.

if my friend M, would have guest posted she may have drawn connections to brian wilson in some of the harmonics and vocal phrasings, and yes, it has that feel, but it isn't 3-part harmonies.

she claimed that this is one of her daily listens, and well aside from being incredible live, it has been one of mine ever since the show... that and 2 other of her daily listens, so i guess they may get posted here next, as a kind of guest-posting by proxy.

actually, having the 4-song e.p. dark horse transmissions playing right now as i type this, i think i may do a little creative editing, and change the title of the post, and add the second track too.

it is devastation.

they go hand in hand, as their titles suggest, disaster and devastation. with titles like these you may be expecting some goth, i-love-death-and-wear-all-black-music, but no, they actually make the songs uplifting, and celebratory, there's a chorus of female vocals, and some definitely stick-in-your-head melodies.

give a listen, and then please do yourself a favour and go buy their albums.

go.

now.


>>>TheBesnardLakes_disaster.mp3

>>>TheBesnardLakes_devastation.mp3

the third...

and with this post will end the mountain goats trifecta from their album the sunset tree.

The last song is a song about love, and the things you do for love. seems appropriate subject matter given the seasons. what also seems appropriate is the fact that it is cold, grey, and wet out there for this springtime love season. ah cynicism.

the idea for this post has been brewing for a few months now, and i suppose i won't do justice to some very good ideas i am sure i had at some point, but cannot recall.

i remember i was going to post about the coincidence of a reference to raskolnikov in a popsheep post at some point, and i was going to point out that hey, we had a reference to him too, (in the song) ( he was a murderer, by the way, no real need to glorify him) but it was mainly going to serve as an introductory hey how you doin'? to our friends at popsheep (they aren't our friends, yet, you see) and so...well...never mind. they really have a solid blog where most people post regularly in a collective fashion [hint, hint, you jetsetting bastard] you should really go visit, and hey if you post there, tell 'em where you got the reference, and then they'll want to post a reference to bombing mars, maybe, and then want to be OUR friends...

ramble, ramble.

take a moment, and stop to think of some of the things you may have done for love, both good, bad, and painful. i think that just getting you to think about it, is the success of this song, i think the objective is to think back and to remember fondly, and also to draw a lesson from some of the less proud moments, when you did something for love. (they say the road to hell is paved...) this song's aim is to make you look back, and ultimately smile, knowing that there were some things you are proud to have done, and others you are proud to have learned from.

remember the context, folks this is from the same album with the chant i am gonna make it through this year if it kills me..., an album dedicated to the survivors of child abuse, a really wonderful album, that deserves your patronage.

anyhow, as stated, i think i had some great ideas about direction for this post, but in the interest of sticking to our mandate, which is mostly about the the music, i'll spare you the sentimentality.

i'll close with the closing lyric from the song, much like they did in those afterschool specials, or GI-Joe, from back in the day...

some moments last forever, but some flare up with love love love.


>>> The_Mountain_Goats_Love_Love_Love.mp3

one man op.

right, well all apologies dear multitiude,

i was hanging with the communistas, and upon my return to the cyber high-life, i notice that there has been no activity in my absence.

a promised post in a few hours,

a kip is de rigueur, firstly.

barrelling...

well, part 2 of the mountain goats trifecta was going to be up the wolves. an excellent and worthy track, and i was all excited to post about remus and romulus, and their wolfmother. i was going to probably tie in the band wolfmother, and then go on a tired diatribe about all the wolf bands out there, or maybe i was going to be too cool to do so...

anyhow, you were going to get up the wolves, but as i was barelling down the trans-canada highway with severely limited visibility, and oh so very much stuff in the car after a year away, I can safely say that this song is far more fitting.

the song, is from the same album, and is the track that actually got me intrigued to look at the band again, it is this year. I don't know if there are many out there who have attempted the moving it all in one carload before, but if so, hats off. i just have one question, have you ever tried it with a Hammond C kickin' in back?

it's funny when you realize a whole year has gone by. i suppose that feeling can only really acurately happen a few days out of the year, when you can pinpoint exactly what you were doing, and when one year ago... sometimes it works with a little more grey, give or take a day, a week, a season.

anyhow, looking back, i can hear myself singing the chorus to myself across the time gap, i am gonna make it through this year, if it kills me.

cheers to your year, tell us about it.

>>>the_mountain_goats - this_year.mp3

enjoy.