You’re the Same, But I Got Different Eyes (original) (raw)

Please enjoy my awkwardly phrased thoughts on some newish albums, plus some other musings loosely related to music.

St. Vincent, All Born Screaming – This album has some intense rhythms and vocal stylings. The acoustic guitar and piano parts mix well with the electronic stuff on “Hell Is Near.” I like the background beat to “Broken Man,” which might be my favorite as of the first few listens. Dave Grohl is one three drummers on this one. The music on “Flea” is pretty effective. “Violent Times” has some clever lyrics. “The Power’s Out” is quiet and creepy. “So Many Planets” has a good rhythm, almost a calypso kind of thing. There’s a bit of Talking Heads style to it, and Annie Clark did work with David Byrne before. The title track is surprisingly upbeat.

The Decemberists, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again – “Burial Ground” is a good opening, with some nursery rhyme sort of music. It also rhymes “burial” with “malaria.” “Oh No!” has kind of a calypso thing going on, with horns and conga drums. “Long White Veil” has the lyric, “I married her. I carried her. On the very same day I buried her,” which kind of seems like the quintessential Decemberists line. The country-style “William Fitzwilliam” is about the Earl of Southampton who assisted Henry VIII with his various marriages and their dissolution, and Colin Meloy said it was a name that just had to be sung. I’m not sure how Fitzwilliam ended up with a skateboard. “Don’t Go to the Woods” has a melodica solo. “Born to the Morning” is based around a plinky piano part. I have the same question about “America Made Me” that I did about “Sons and Daughters” years ago. If Colin is going to sing with a faux British accent, why does he use the American pronunciation of “aluminum”? It also has a very catchy piano part, starting out pretty minimal before the horns come in. It’s kind of weird that I’m writing about this so soon after Robyn Hitchcock’s “America,” which also personifies the country and presents it as abusive. “Never Satisfied” also kind of sounds like a Talking Heads song, “Little Creatures” being the one that comes to mind. “Joan in the Garden” provides an epic ending.

Tori Amos, Diving Deep Live – It’s a good collection of live versions of songs from throughout Tori’s career. She definitely has a tendency to drag out songs for a long time when playing live, which means you get more of each one, but they sometimes become a bit tedious. I guess I have a preference for more songs over more of a single song, although there are exceptions. I do appreciate “Daisy Dead Petals” and “Climb” somewhat more now. And “Sister Janet” includes an improvisational bit about “nautical nuns,” who also appeared in “Pandora’s Aquarium,” also on this album. Apparently that’s a term that can be used for buoys, although it might well have more than one meaning in these lyrics.

Something Beth and I were both talking about recently is how they really don’t sell CDs in stores anymore. You can still get them, but often only through the mail, and that’s a different experience than going out and buying a new album. Even existing record stores often focus more on vinyl, which is fine, but not as convenient for me. She was looking the other day for the new Franz Ferdinand album, which isn’t exactly obscure or anything. We were at Target recently, and it seems like you’re out of luck looking for music unless what you want is Taylor Swift. There are a few other things, but mostly just her. I’m sure the reason is because more people buy music online now, and I’m not saying I’ve never done that, but it isn’t the same. I like having a physical copy in case something happens, but even besides that, I just like to get physical things. But I guess we as humans are always going to be nostalgic for something that no longer or just barely exists anymore.

Also loosely related to music is that I’ve been a fan of Amanda Palmer for a while, and what I’ve seen about her recently is really troubling. The article I read the other day suggests that she repeatedly sent other women to her sexually abusive then-husband Neil Gaiman. It sounds like she was a victim in some ways, but complicit in others. I’ve enjoyed most of what I’ve read of Gaiman’s, but not to the same extent. It seems like he was the same sort of performative feminist as Jian Ghomeshi, or I guess Joss Whedon, although I’m not as familiar with his work. He was friends with Tori, who founded an organization against sexual violence, and I believe she said he never behaved with her the way he did with other women, which of course he wouldn’t have, because he was crafting an image.