Are Seven

I should come up with some sort of rating system for FTF so you’ll know how much to pay attention. Whatever rating system I had, it would be at a red five gold stars at the moment. Okay, maybe not quite that much, but pay attention. I really love this song.

The Last Shadow Puppets, “The Age of The Understatement”

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One of the great things about having a song climax that’s just the singer belting out “OHHHHH!” is that it’s incredible, rarely fails…and is really pretty lazy. It’s like when the singer completely runs out of words so yells a bunch. And it always sounds fantastic.

Alex Turner has a little bit of a spell on me. Ever since I begrudgingly downloaded the first Arctic Monkeys album and ended up loving it, I’ve been pretty fascinated with him. All of his songs come off first as obvious and self-congratulatory, but then you repeated listenings make you realize that the congratulations are deserved. There’s plenty of movement in the songs and the lyrics, while they won’t ever be called poetry, actually are clever. Even when he’s not really making sense (as in this song), the words just sound so goddamn good together:

And she was walking on the tables in the glass house
Endearingly bedraggled in the wind
Subtle in her method of seduction
The twenty little tragedies begin*

After you’ve listened to the song (listen to the song), go watch the perfectly over-the-top video. I would definitely suggest listening first, because the ridiculousness of the video may ruin it for you, but…I kind of love the video too.

Added to my library this week:

• Eli “Paperboy” Reed and the True Loves, Roll With You. We’re playing with these guys on Tuesday. Maybe a little too literal in its sixties soul-ness, but if you’re going to be literal about any kind of music…that’s it.
• Portishead, Third. This deserves a proper review. I can’t say that I absolutely love it, but it’s a mighty accomplishment.
• Foals, Antidote. Proof that sometimes the thirty-second samples can sound a lot better than full songs.
• Santogold, Santogold. It’s good, but…I think this ’80’s fixation may be getting a little out of control. People say she sounds like M.I.A., which isn’t really true. She sounds like Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons. I really can’t say if that’s a good thing or not.

You?

* I don’t know if this line is “twenty or “sweaty, but I love it either way. UPDATE: after listening to it again, it does sound a little more like “twenty”.  But again: either way.

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