Music
The Songs We Can't Escape
5ingles
AGF and ELLEN ALLIEN
"Liniendicke"
There's almost too much sound-sculpting goodness to absorb here: Antye "AGF" Greie's strident, slippery, and strategically corroded spoken word (in English, German, or maybe a bit of both?), the wrecking-ball boiiiings-booms, the busily bup-bup-bup beatscape that seems to materialize out of nowhere.
EL PERRO DEL MAR
"Do Not Despair"
I'm so easily soothed, so simply comforted. Why else would this tender lullaby from Sweden's Sarah Assbring blow me away, emotionally speaking? It's just, like, seesawing Vicodin organs, Assbring's indelibly murmured reassurances and wordless "ooo"'s, the odd brass rumble, right? And yet for all the corniness of its sleepy optimism, while "Do Not Despair" is playing I actually don't despair, you know? For a moment or two, no obstacle seems insurmountable, no crisis lacks an eventual resolution.
BE YOUR OWN PET
"Food Fight!"
You know, I'd bet that when these Nashville punkers start throwing Sloppy Joes at each other and whoever else happens to be around, it gets mean. People winding up in ambulances, on crutches, all that. This is assuming that they food-fight the way they rock out, of course.
RACETRACK BABIES
"The Messenger"
Excise all the stalkerish innuendo cluttering up the verses, and this fuzzed-out, skronk-y strut-rock tune could be at the center of a bidding war between UPS, Fed-Ex, and whatever other delivery carrier you can think of. Then the general public would discover, embrace, and celebrate this Danish crew. Hey, I can dream, right?
THEE OH SEES
"Ghost in the Trees"
Whenever it comes time to compile The Complete John Dwyer anthology (in 2039 maybe; a 10 CD-R/3 flash-drive set, surely), his as-yet-unborn hagiographers will have to root through a lot of one-take throwaways like this to find the good stuff. Nice to know that Dwyer's still whipping out that chilling ax-murderer falsetto of his, but the song itself is like a Raveonettes chassis stripped of all melody and distortion.