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Song of the Day (11Aug06) [matador #6]

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
Cat Power is probably best known as Chan Marshall's nom de plume (well, whatever the french word for guitar is, i guess), and her distracting and frustrating tendency to completely melt down in live performances. reports of her staring blankly, starting and stopping songs constantly, banging piano covers, etc are legion. luckily, she can cover over all those personality inconsistencies in the studio, where she consistently puts out a quality product.

i might get some grief for not including anything from the new (and most critically lauded) record, The Greatest, but so be it...i'm not all too entrenched in the record, and it's got a gloss which isn't always befitting her (spooner oldham and dan penn, longtime memphis session men, play on this record).

(i can't get no) satisfaction (one of the best covers of all time, no lie)

Nude as the News

He War

 

Tame Ape

BUY HOPE!!!!!!!
Mar 4, 2003
2,284
1
NYC
Didn't CP come up before? At any rate, her latest is fantastic!

Are you going to do Pavement next? How about Railroad Jerk too?
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
Tame Ape said:
Didn't CP come up before? At any rate, her latest is fantastic!

Are you going to do Pavement next? How about Railroad Jerk too?
here are the matador artists profiled so far:

liz phair (kinda informally kicked off the series)
jon spencer blues explosion
pavement
yo la tengo
guided by voices
belle & sebastian
cat power

matador series will close tomorrow; artist has already been selected and it's not railroad jerk (though they are decent, and i once caught a great matador billing of Railroad Jerk/Cat Power/Guided By Voices in '96)

i've not played a cat power song yet (i've got a running list of what's been played since this she-bang started).

tomorrow i will also unveil the next label to be thrust into the spotlight.
 

Del

Monkey
Feb 20, 2004
366
0
Alexandria, VA
Cat Power is hot and her music is awesome. Cross Bones Style was the first song I heard from her and I was sold at that point. The Greatest is a fantastic album. It's good to see so many people digging her.
 

Mackie

Monkey
Mar 4, 2004
826
0
New York
narlus said:
bzzzt...

i was planning on showcasing 4 labels...3 to go. dischord wasn't on the list. i'm sure you can guess as to at least two of the other 3, but my lips are sealed.
Great, now Ian MacKaye is going to cry:
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
K for me is too twee...can i find 7 bands on that label i really dig? probably not. beat happening, eh....heavenly, more eh...

the best thing by far was their International Pop Underground singles series...
 

spincrazy

I love to climb
Jul 19, 2001
1,529
0
Brooklyn
"Twee", a baby-talk alteration of "sweet", was originally a British term for something that is daintily sweet or cute.
Twee pop is a type of indie pop that is known for simple, sweet melodies and lyrics, often combined with jangling guitars. The genre began in 1986, when New Musical Express released C86, a compilation of bands including the Pastels and Primal Scream; see 1986 in music.
The 1970s-1980s Post-Punk Band The Television Personalities are often cited as a major influence on the genre, along with Buzzcocks and The Ramones. This was more evident in the more punk-influenced bands, like Shonen Knife and the Beatnik Termites.
In the United Kingdom, where twee pop was most popular, Sarah Records was home to most of the bands in the field, including Heavenly, The Field Mice and the Orchids. In the United States, the movement was championed by K Records of Olympia, Washington and was headed by the band Beat Happening.
Although 'twee pop' is a widely accepted term for this style of music it did not come into use until the 1990s. In the 1980s 'twee' bands were simply described to as 'indie' or 'shambling', the latter term coined by DJ John Peel, who originally applied it to a session by the group Bogshed.
Though Belle & Sebastian have been described as a twee pop band, this is a description the band has rejected. However, some of their fans, particularly those who also appreciate the work of fellow Jeepster Records bands Camera Obscura and the Candle Records stable, have begun using "twee" to classify themselves, eg. "I'm not indie, I'm twee."
The term has been rejected and then adopted by many of the bands whose sound has been described this way. This has spawned inside jokes like the T-shirts that read "Twee as ****" or "Twee ****er" and Tullycraft's song "Twee" which describes a girl who "wakes up every morning to the sound of Sarah Records".
A more punk-influenced, North American variant of twee pop is also sometimes referred to as cuddlecore and is exemplified by bands such as Cub and Go Sailor.
[edit]
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
Harriet Records, run by an ex-Harvard grad student, was also a prime mover in the twee world.

fwiw, i do dig the Sarah label. and i'd term The Fall as being 'shambolic'.

edit - the C86 movement has also been called 'anorak rock'.
 

brungeman

I give a shirt
Jan 17, 2006
5,170
0
da Burgh
Del said:
SST for some Minutemen love :love:
:stupid:

SST was the sh!t! I loved riding the bus into downtown Pittsburgh, skateboard in hand ready to skate, but the highlight was hitting "Eides records and comics" to see what cool new vinyl was in. I remember many a time when I would split open the plastic to look and see if the disk was colored! SST always threw out some cool colored vinyl!

I can think of few good SST bands....

Husker Du
Screaming Trees (one of my favorites live and recorded, really good guys too!)
Firehose
Bad Brains
Leaving Trains

Oh and whats that other band... THE MINUTEMEN!!!!

OH NARLUS BTW... I was on vacation last week, and by the time I tried to download the "Matador themed SOTD's" the links had expired! MUTHA FUKA!!! I like to listen to your selections as I read your writeup, so I can "Feel" the theme! Oh well, I will have to dig through some of my stuff to listen to your selections!:thumb: