vintage

All this talk about the coalition is messing with my subconscious. Last night I had a dream that there was a debate between the opposition leaders and Harper. Jack Layton came over to talk to people, and I was about to ask him why he didn’t attend Toronto-Danforth’s all candidates debate (I live in his riding, for those unaware), but he went on to speak to someone else. While sitting down with her, he apparently took off his shoes and socks, because when he walked on stage with Dion and Duceppe, he was barefoot. People giggled a little. I kept his shoes and wanted to hold back on giving them to him until he answered my question.

I am not sure what that says about me.

Moving on! I am starting a new thing here on the blog: a track of the week. And because I’m cheesy, it’s called “Tunesday”. Bet you can’t guess what day of the week it will show up. I know, it’s a groaner.

Anyway, I often feel the need to talk about one particular track that is throwing a party in my eardrums, and this is how I will do it. Unlike other track-by-track lists like Radio 3’s Track of the Day, mine won’t be focused specifically on new music or Canadian music or whatever. It could be 1920s Dixieland or cutting-edge electronica or Wings. I don’t really know. (Actually, if I am going to be perfectly honest, the latter is quite likely to show up on the list at least once.)

Today’s track is by Aesop Rock, an American hip-hop solo artist and member of The Weathermen. In 2007, he released an album called None Shall Pass, and it was featured heavily on year-end top lists. I found out about it shortly after doing my lists, unfortunately, but I have made up for the oversight by listening to it quite regularly all year.

The title track is one of my favourites, and that’s what I’m giving you today. The whole thing is really well put together and I love the chorus both for the delivery and for the lyrics: And I will remember your name and face / on the day you are judged by the funhouse cast / And I will rejoice in your fall from grace / with a cane through the sky like “none shall pass”.

The list of hip-hop that I really genuinely like and listen to often is quite small, but Aesop Rock is high up there — hope you enjoy it too.

Tunesday 1: None Shall Pass

A few things I have been thinking about lately:

• Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” is an awesome song. It’s #217 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time – a list which is, of course, biased toward American and British acts, left out various influential artists, and includes nothing before 1940, but still! – and it is truly excellent. Not only does Dolly deliver marvelously, but the very structure of the song lends itself to a sound of desperation. Oh my lordy, I have listened to it seven times today.
   

• I didn’t manage to catch on to hip hop well enough in 2007, but Aesop Rock’s None Shall Pass and Buck 65’s Situation are both absolutely amazing (and would have been on my top 10 list, had I been smart enough to hear them when they were released). The former features tunes with the likes of John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, and even has a song called “Bring Back Pluto” that begins And then there were eight, just like that. Um, awesome. Situation features Spanish guitar and quotes of the Clapping Song and Allen Ginsberg, as well as some seriously great singles like the percussion-filled “Dang”.
   

• The Futureheads‘ album This Is Not The World is awesome. I said I would review it and dropped the ball, so here it is in a few words: it is better than News & Tributes and almost as good as The Futureheads. The first single, “The Beginning of the Twist”, is classic catchy, spastic Futureheads fare; the production on everything is a little cleaner than their S/T, but thankfully not as slick as the unfortunate News work. I like it more and more every week. Well done, Sunderlanders. Now bring back Field Music!
   

• I am seeing Squeeze in 17 days. Not that I am particularly excited or anything.

Goodies:
Aesop Rock, None Shall Pass
The Futureheads, The Beginning of the Twist
Buck 65, The Outskirts