Intention

I had this idea... to do a blog day about an artist I really admire, but keep a real sense of mystery about him. That way his art will be an entrance into something as opposed to just a brand name or whatever. In my thinking mystery=distance and to create the greatest distance I would try to insert more of an authorial voice into this day than is called for. That would obfuscate stuff. Complexity would ensue. Ultimately I pulled back though. So much so that I thought about making this day a simple playlist of embedded youtube and imeem media. That didn't work either. What you're reading is a what I came to in the end.
For months I'd been meaning to put together a blog day about Sunset Rubdown, by which I which I mean in a more general sense, any music affiliated with Spencer Krug (Frog Eyes, Swan Lake, Wolf Parade). When Dennis put together the day to commemorate the launch of Blair Mastbaums book "Us Ones In Between" (a Sunset Rubdown title) I just knew I really had to. It's still taken me a couple weeks. I'm easily distracted.

All Fires

This is a clip of a group of girls performing a cover of All Fires (From the Swan Lake album) on a cheap keyboard.


If I was a better writer I would write a novel based on this clip. These girls are so compelling to me. This song is, to my ears, the same type of ballad as "Us Ones In between". That's why I'm starting here. The thing is it's more complex to me. I can't quite explain it. Maybe it's the layered narratives. Maybe it's just the song. Maybe the messy Swan Lake production does something. I just love how each sentence follows the next. No matter what's in them I'm just totally in their thrall. I don't know what they mean and I don't care.

All Fire -cover

All Fires Original

All Fires - Swan Lake
10 basically genius songs by Spencer Krug that I'm not otherwise going to write about here.

1 shut up i am dreaming of places where lovers have wings
2 a day in the graveyard ii
3 snake's got a leg ii
4 stallion
5 winged-wicked things
6 are you swimming in her pools
7 you are a runner and I am my father's son
8 fancy claps
9 the men are called horsemen there
10 trumpet trumpet toot toot

Men=Horsemen

"Casanova ran
Towards the eastern lands
His cock was in his hand"
-The Men Are Called Horsemen There (Sunset Rubdown)

Favorites

I've always been jealous of people that have favorite bands. When i was in high school I adored Bauhaus, but as an adult the arithmetic was never there for me and 1 band to come together. There was always reasons to write a band off. While I could love a song or an album, bands have had to adher to ridiculously high standards for them to sustain my admiration. Sunset Rubdown could sell their songs for Marine recruitment videos and I couldn't give a fuck. I'm on their team for life.

Leopard quote

"You're the one that had knives, set aside for the throats of hunters"
-Up On Your Leopard, upon the end of your feral days (Sunset Rubdown)

I'll Believe In Anything

My friend Dave and I both love the song I'll believe in anything. It was first released on the Sunset Rubdown album Snake's got a leg, but I believe we're in the majority who first heard it in the more fleshed out Wolf Parade version from Apologies to the Queen Mary. The song's easy to love. It's low hanging fruit. It's a crowd pleaser. I don't care though. Somehow it sustains the complexity of a less immediately likable track. Another way to say this is that I tend to grow tired of songs of songs I immediately fall in love with but this song is different.

There Was A Day In the Graveyard Quote

"There was a day in the graveyard, with helicopters overhead"
-A Day In the Graveyard II(Sunset Rubdown)

For the Pier (and dead and shimmering)

For the Pier (and Dead Shimmering) - Sunset Rubdown

Stadiums Quote

"I'll lift it to the ceiling tiles
Of Stadiums and Shrines"
-Stadiums And Shrines II (Sunset Rubdown)

Awe

I can't really pinpoint what I find so compelling and magical about the art of Spencer Krug. It's beyond language. For me. I've thought about it. I don't think it's the music he writes. While I think it's genius I don't think it's key. The production is what it is. By and large it's of the standard indie rock type. Just what you would expect. I guess that leaves his voice/vocals. As a lyricist I'm in total all consuming awe of the effect's he achieves. The voice in which his lyrics are written has this studied effect I could spend a lifetime trying to fully comprehend. I'll say this: Spencer Krug's lyrics combine removed, flirty coolness with an emotional immediacy that borders on neediness. they take place in a closed world that is, seemingly, his own invention. It's populated by archetypal royalty and stagehands and mythical creatures. The delivery adds so much though. His voice is frequently off key. I imagine it finds itself flabbergasted to be in the world it finds itself in. I hear, in his singing, a sense of joy at how close he is able to come to achieving that which he intends to, however the over reaching effect is melancholy when it realizes the gap between his intention and his execution. It all happens at once. More laconically- every syllable Spencer Krug sings seems to contain at some base level an internal struggle against the urge to commit suicide because of it's own failure while throwing a party because his play has just been produced..

Swimming Quote

"Fingers make the hand
Rivers make the land"
-Are You Swimming in Her Pools (Swan Lake)

Are You Swimming In Her Pools

Are You Swimming In Her Pools? - Swan Lake

I'll believe vid

I'll believe anything pt 2

I'll believe anything pt 2

So, here's the video for I'll believe in anything. Maybe i overkilled this song earlier. Maybe I didn't make sense. Perhaps my arguments failed. All I know is I felt the need to add more. To revisit. If I was single I'd play it for girls. I'd gauge their reactions. That would be key. They would see so much in me. Things would fall into place. Who knows. Regardless, The video's noteworthy because it's Barry Lyndon on a budget production adds so much, and contains excellent sound design and overdubbing of effects. I love when randomn narratives intersect. that what happens here.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

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Blog days should have interviews with the celebrities they are celebrating. I tried to break that rule, but couldn't.
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Worst case scenario: you hate Spencer Krug and you think this day sucks. Somewhere in the middle: you use it to play the embedded media and kinda like. Ultimate: it casued you to discover his art and it changed your life. Either way, thanks for reading this far.
MG
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