Rec. #892: Haunted House

 

What: This song from the brilliantly named Sir Babygirl is an accurate description of how pretty much every social interaction feels now, right? ... Right?

Representative lyrics:

And no one knows the difference from my laughter and my screams
When everyone around me's twenty shots under the sea
And I can't tell if I'm drowning or floating
So I just keep on going, going
And I don't even know if I wanna be free
'Cause the freedom of this party is killing me

How to get it: Don't miss the gut-driven video on YouTube.

List #95: Pop Culture Wish List, part 2

While we're in the zone of fulfilling my pop culture requests, I would like to put forward some additional items for consideration.

See Part 1 here.

Item 3: An adaptation of To Say Nothing of the Dog by Tarsem Singh

To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis, is perhaps my favorite book of all time (Rec. #100). I have hand-picked Tarsem Singh for an adaptation based on his direction of the insanely beautiful and surreal The Fall (Rec. #49).

Someone else might try to make To Say of the Dog twee. It is not twee. It is epic and deserves to be treated as such.

Item 4: New original songs from Nellie McKay

I adore singer-songwriter/activist Nellie McKay (Rec. #608, Rec. #667, Rec. #695, Rec. #777), and I was lucky enough to see her perform last year.

For the past decade or so, she's mainly been doing collections of nostalgic covers, which are great! But I long for the creative highs of her early original albums, like Get Away from Me (Rec. #206), Pretty Little Head (Rec. #320), and Obligatory Villagers. More, please.

Rec. #876: Dylan Thomas

What: "Dylan Thomas," by Better Oblivion Community Center (aka Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst), is truly a Song for Our Times.

It also thrives in one of my favorite song configurations -- a hooky melody with devastating lyrics.

Representative lyrics:
These cats are scared and feral
The flag pins on their lapels
The truth is anybody’s guess
These talking heads are saying
"The king is only playing
A game of four-dimensional chess"

How to get it: Watch the video on YouTube.

Rec. #871: The Psychiatrist Is In

What: I love Belle & Sebastian and I love their movie God Help the Girl and I love, love, love this performance of "The Psychiatrist Is In."

Representative lyrics:
Find your space
Are you breathing well?
Do you feel OK?
Are you calm?
Are you comfortable?
Is your heartbeat racing?
Is this your soul you're facing?


Connections to previous Wreckage: The concept album of God Help the Girl was Rec. #361. The film itself was SSoW #15 and appeared on List #47. Another top song from the God Help the Girl project is "Perfection as a Hipster," which was Rec. #439.

How to get it: Watch this clip on YouTube. The full movie is streaming on Kanopy.

List #94: Best of 2019

The Allusionist: Best Language About Language, Rec. #855

The Art of Process: Best Art About Art, Rec. #863

Be Prepared: Best Reason to Stay Indoors, Rec. #851

Come From Away: Best Reminder That Not All of Humanity Is Terrible, Rec. #852

 
David Tennant Does a Podcast With ...: Best Listener, Rec. #847

The Guardian Blind Date: Best Vicarious Dating, Rec. #865

Knives Out: Best Time at the Movie Theater, Rec. #856

Nothing Like a Dame / Tea with the Dames: Best Overheard Conversations, Rec. #860

Alexandra Petri: Best Way to Reflect on the Year, Rec. #866

"Quite Good, Considering [Rosalind's a Nightmare]": Best Earworm, Rec. #858

Russian Doll: Best Worst Day, Rec. #846

Simone (The Good Place): Best Outfit for Any Situation, Rec. #854 

Superstore: Best Season-5-and-Going-Strong, Rec. #848

This Way Up: Best Depictions of Relatable Human Emotions, Rec. #862

Three Identical Strangers: Best Ripped-from-the-Headlines, Rec. #864

Alie Ward: Best Campaign Promise, Rec. #859

Wine Country: Best New Endless Rewatch Potential, Rec. #850

Rec. #840: Go Far

What: I adore the late lamented podcast Mystery Show, so this song holds a lot of additional emotional oomph for me. It's got the vaguely melancholy lilt of a slow music box carousel, but in the loveliest way possible.

Representative lyrics:

There'll come a day you see that it's true

Everything coming up roses for you

Hope that you did what you wanted to do

Connections to previous Wreckage: I called out my own affinity for songs that are "broody without preciousness" in Rec. #806 (listing several others there as well), and "Go Far" goes well with that musical aesthetic.

I highlighted my beloved Mystery Show in Rec. #403 and List #92.

Rec. #834: Don't Take the Money / I Wanna Get Better

What: I really do like Lena Dunham's direction of music videos for the band Bleachers.

The video for "Don't Take the Money" features --- Alia Shawkat as a marriage officiant; glitz; formal shorts; crowns; leather shorts; a fight scene; the spoken dialogue "is it difficult to make lunch plans?" "no, we eat at home."

The video for "I Wanna Get Better" features --- pool floats; a birdcage; Retta in a power turtleneck; Mary Kay Place as a backup singer; the spoken line "waiting until I get dressed and then putting on the same thing is not 'fixing yourself.'"

Rec. #830: Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

What: Do you feel a chill in the air coming? Are you feeling melancholy yet determined? "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead," from indie pop band Stars, might be just the song for you right now.

First line: "When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."

Representative lyric: "Live through this, and you won't look back."

How to get it: The song is off the 2004 album Set Yourself on Fire. You can watch this video on YouTube. The band is Canadian. The video is very Canadian.

Rec. #825: Hope to Die

What: What is this glorious nonsense? What is this glorious, fringed-face-cowboy, slow-bone-ready, Elvis-Presley-sounding nonsense? And why can't I stop listening to it?

Representative lyrics:
I'm still undone, not quite young
But I, I still try
Cross my heart, now I hope to die

How to get it: "Hope to Die" is one of the fantastic songs off of pseudonymous artist Orville Peck's debut album, Pony. Watch it --- and more! --- on YouTube. 

Rec. #811: Slow Burning Crimes

What: "Slow Burning Crimes" is from the band East Hundred's 2009 EP (Passenger), but it feels like it's from about 15 years earlier -- in the best possible way. Listen and tell me it doesn't sound like something off the Reality Bites soundtrack.

Representative lyrics:

I waited long ago this time
In the cold and rain
So tell me what the time is now
Before I figure it out

How to get it: Watch the music video on YouTube or Vimeo.

Have a good weekend, all. I wish you excellent hipster blanket forts, if that's the sort of thing that rings your bell.

Rec. #806: Worlds Spins Madly On

What: "World Spins Madly On," by The Weepies, is broody without preciousness and resigned without bitterness. It's a tricky balance and also pretty much exactly how I feel every single morning.

Representative lyrics:
Woke up and wished that I was dead
With an aching in my head
I lay motionless in bed

Connections to previous Wreckage: Other songs along similar lines include "All the Umbrellas in London" (Rec. #530), "Damn These Vampires" (Rec. #681), "Endless Imitation" (Rec. #642), "Friendly Ghost" (Rec. #568), "Invisible Ink" (Rec. #579), "Novocaine for the Soul" (Rec. #787), and "Yodel" (Rec. #777).

Rec. #805: From Pulp to Pulp Fiction -- Musical Book Jackets

What: Enjoy dozens of songs reimagined as vintage book covers. Despite the title of The Guardian's gallery, not all of the covers are "pulp fiction" style.

Other styles include comic book ...

And romance ...

And Penguin Classics ...

How to get it: The Guardian had curated a selection of these images. They're also available on the creator's Instagram.

Rec. #791: The Romance in Disappearing

What: Side Saddle's "The Romance in Disappearing" is from a concept album idea about running away to join the circus. Seems about right!

Representative lyrics:
There's romance in disappearing
it's so appealing now
And if I break my old plans and flee the scene
I could have mystery, I could be anything

How to get it: Stream/download on Bandcamp. Watch the video on YouTube.

Rec. #787: Novocaine for the Soul

What: Alt-rock band Eels made a minor alt-rock splash in the late '90s with "Novocaine for the Soul," the lead single off their debut album.

Representative lyrics:
Novocaine for the soul
Before I sputter out
Before I sputter out

Connections to previous Wreckage: "Novocaine for the Soul" has popped up in multiple films and tv shows, including the astoundingly good My Mad Fat Diary, which was Rec. #283. (I first heard the song during the 1996 movie Dream for an Insomniac, which is a sentimental favorite of mine. And which, incidentally, has a really, really good soundtrack.)

For another example of Eels singing about things I want, check out Rec. #568: Friendly Ghost.

Rec. #782: Q.U.E.E.N.

What: Janelle Monáe's "Q.U.E.E.N." manages to be a banger, an anthem, and a cooler-than-thou hangout all at the same time. (The video for the song sits heavily in the "cooler-than-thou" realm.) And it ends with some surgically precise, slicing lyrics.

Representative lyrics:
Are we a lost generation of our people?
Add us to equations but they'll never make us equal
She who writes the movie owns the script and the sequel
So why ain't the stealing of my rights made illegal?

And that last rallying cry stanza:

And while you're selling dope, we're gonna keep selling hope
We rising up now, you gotta deal you gotta cope
Will you be electric sheep?
Electric ladies, will you sleep?
Or will you preach?

How to get it: You can watch the video on YouTube.

Happy International Women's Day

Rec. #777: Yodel

What: If you never before considered that a yodel might be contemplative, then give Nellie McKay's "Yodel" a listen.

Representative lyrics:
Standing with my back to the wall
Minding the sky as it's falling all around me
Listening for a break in the rain
For it's not drowning my pain
Anymore

Connections to previous Wreckage: For more McKay, see Rec. #206, Rec. #320, Rec. #608, Rec. #667, and Rec. #695.

How to get it: "Yodel" is from the fantastic album Pretty Little Head (Rec. #320).

Rec. #695: Beecharmer

What: Nellie McKay in a duet with Cyndi Lauper. They are a markedly good fit, and "Beecharmer" is basically the platonic ideal of a combination of their styles.

Representative lyrics:
Sewed everything he said
Together with a thread
Repeatin' in my mind
Each word like a rhyme

Like a penny serenade
Liltin' through a song
He says the record's overplayed
Where did I go wrong


How to get it: "Beecharmer" is from Nellie McKay's album Pretty Little Head (Rec. #320). 

Connections to previous Wreckage: For more McKay, see Rec. #206, Rec. #320, Rec. #608, and Rec. #667.

Rec. #688: Free Fallin' (Susanna Hoffs & Matthew Sweet cover)

What: "Free Fallin'" is a fan favorite Tom Petty song, and rightly so. This particular cover version only amplifies the dreaminess with the addition of soaring vocals from Susanna Hoffs on the chorus.

Falling never sounded so much like soaring as it does here.

Connection to previous Wreckage: I would like to posit that a Susanna Hoffs cover is always a good idea. She should cover every song. All of them. All the songs. Another favorite is Hoffs covering "I'm Ready to Move On / Wild Heart Reprise" from Bleachers. See List. #62.

How to get it: This cover is from Susanna Hoffs & Matthew Sweet's aptly named Under the Covers, vol. 3. Volumes 1 and 2 are also excellent.

Rec. #685: Revisiting List #54: Some Comfort When You're Sick, Part 1

[Originally posted October 6, 2015.]



When you're sick, the media you consume must walk a fine line --- 
not too peppy (gets grating), 
not too sad (can't run the risk of additional nose blowing), 
not too serious (attention span is basically zero), 
and not too overtly hilarious (laughing hurts).

I speak from recent experience. Your personal mileage may vary.

1. Black Books [TV, streaming on Hulu] (Rec. #68)
Bernard Black provides scads of modeling on ways to be grumpy and misanthropic.

2. Original cast recording of Chess [music] (Rec. #501)
Dramatic and gorgeous and ridiculous. If you're slightly out of it due to being medicated, all the better.

3. Cold Comfort Farm [book and/or movie] (Rec. #34), (Rec. #158)
Maybe if you are pathetic enough, Flora Poste will come and fix your life.

4. The Daughter of Time [book] (Rec. #228)
If you're bedridden, this will make you feel like you too could solve mysteries that are centuries old ....

5. Cherish [movie] (Rec. #29)
... Or like you can be housebound and catch your own stalker.

[See Part 2 here.]

Rec. #681: Damn These Vampires

What: I mean, sure? Maybe the Mountain Goats are right. Maybe we feel like this because of vampires.

Representative lyrics:
Crawl till dawn
On my hands and knees
God damn these bite marks
Deep in my arteries
Crawl till dawn
On my hands and knees
God damn these vampires
For what they've done to me

How to get it: "Damn These Vampires" is from All Eternals Deck, the 2011 album from the Mountain Goats.