Aug

19

Song in a Jar: Mount Eerie, “Stone’s Ode”

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Do you think this metal is black?

When I heard Phil Elverum would be making a Mount Eerie album influenced by Scandinavian black metal, I worried. Black metal typically manifests as maudlin nihilism, and hasn’t drawn me in. While Wind’s Poem does contain some chaotic, heavy, distorted passages, it also goes subdued with tracks like this one, which closes the album. It also bears mentioning that Elverum has tended to punctuate with noise and distortion throughout his career, last year’s Lost Wisdom being a notable exception.

On “Stone’s Ode” the lyrics work with familiar Elverum themes. The stone is Read more

Aug

14

Song in Plaster: The Zombies, “Hung Up On a Dream”

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A sweet, confusion-filled Matza
“And now I’m hung up on a dream.”
-The Zombies

August 11

I’m mystified. Last night in my dream there was a guy who sort of looked like my boss yelling at me for all the work I hadn’t done, because I’d gotten really into re-editing the Wikipedia page about Internet addiction. I still have no idea what it means. I also had the dream about eating my pillow. When I woke up, the Jet-Puffed Marshmallows I keep by the side of the bed were gone.

August 12

Dreams really are inscrutable. Last night I had this dream where I got Read more

Aug

12

Song in Plaster: Taken by Trees, “Lost and Found”

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takenbytrees
“I’m feeling lost and found.”
-Taken by Trees

Several years ago a couple in their seventies used to come to the park near my house with metal detectors. They’d show up about once a week. Around their waists they both wore small aprons with pockets to collect their finds; the kind a waitress might use for tips. I liked the idea that they were working so quickly they needed to stash their winnings on-the-go, heedless of what they’d dug up until later. Since I didn’t usually have much to do in the evenings, I sat and watched them whenever they showed up.

In this way, I became increasingly curious about them. They never found Read more

Aug

10

Song in Plaster: A.C. Newman, “Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer”

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Consider the unicorn.
“Like a hitman/Oh, like a dancer/All muscle.”
-A.C. Newman

Mel and I watched everyone walking past. We guessed about what everyone did. We sat on the bench in front of the playground facing toward the street. It’s about twenty yards to the street from the bench and in the early evening we used to do a lot of people-watching. We both wore jackets; mine olive, Mel’s a surprising shade of red. Mel said the sky looked like the yellow inside of a foam pillow ripped up by dogs and scattered across the sky. I couldn’t agree. I claimed it looked like a patient waking up just after the ether, eyes clear in front of a fogged brain. Mel stuck to his guns.

A man wearing pants with plastic buckles at the ankles. Bald on top, with a bird’s nest of Read more

Aug

7

Song in Plaster: The Magnetic Fields, “I Think I Need A New Heart”

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I think he needs a new heart within his heart.

Two men, Tolly and Stephen, have shut themselves up in a room. They’re adapting Tolly’s off-Broadway play,The Heart Within the Heart, for the screen.

Stephen: So, in the play Robbie and Jeff are gay?

Tolly: No. They’re brothers.

Stephen: So why do they live in the same room?

Tolly: Because they’re brothers and their family’s a little poor, so Read more

Aug

4

Song in Plaster: Department of Eagles, “Phantom Other”

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It's a metaphor, right?

Two former roommates meet at a class reunion. One of them works as a sales rep for Walgreen and the other is a physicist working on the Large Hadron Collider.

Chris: So you’re working on that thing? That’s amazing. Is it going create a black-hole and kill us all? (Laughs)

Lance does not react.

Lance: No, that’s impossible. There’s no way that anything like that could happen. We’re looking for Read more

Aug

3

5 Minutes with Ghostland Observatory’s Aaron Behrens

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ghostland20observatory-yule-long-aaronIt hits me. I have never actually seen Aaron Behrens before. I have been to multiple shows where Aaron Behrens has been on stage, singing and playing guitar. I have replayed him doing his trademark dance moves in my head over and over again while I attempt his slinky gyrations. I have read multiple articles on him. I have seen multiple pictures of him. And yet, I have no clue what he actually looks like. I only realize this as I stare at his face in bewilderment, trying to believe my eyes. Aaron is not wearing his signature skull-engulfing sunglasses, nor is he sporting his dense Samson-like black braided pigtails. His face is exposed and his hair is unbound, and without his mask on, all I see is a stranger. Read more