Lisa Germano - Tomorrowing
Because a musician I’m a fan of tweeted about going on a Tchad Blake listening jaunt, I thought I’d go on my own, starting with Lisa’s last good LP, “Slide”, which features this squalling, deadpan, melodic number which I absolutely adore.
Silversun Pickups - Broken Bottles
When I hear that an EP is being put out between albums, made up of leftover tracks from the previous album, I usually think “okay, sure, a few b-sidey meanders, whatever.” I’m now prepared to reserve that judgement until after hearing the songs on these releases in the future. My word.
Washington - Someone Else In Mind
Such a sweet little b-side which, like the title track of her debut album, morphs into something very different live. I don’t quite know why, but I seem to have a real soft spot for this song, it’s odd, in a nice way, mostly because I never really actively listen to it, but any time it comes by, it’s very welcome.
Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love (Alternative)
Best string section ever, yes?
Tori Amos - Starling
Sometimes I can forgive her ‘Abnormally Attracted To Sin’ (affectionately known as ‘Snottyface’) because of this beauty. Still, four minutes out of seventy five? Yeesh…
His Name Is Alive - Up Your Legs Forever
This song always makes me giggle. Also, isn’t it executed just perfectly? It would make my life to hear some cafe open mic singer start strumming this and have everyone suddenly snort their soy chai lattes out their noses.
Tori Amos - Spring Haze (Live in New York, Dec 2011)
So, she followed ‘Hey Jupiter’ which I posted earlier today with this at the show. This section of the show ran ‘Snow Cherries From France’ > ‘Hey Jupiter’ > ‘Spring Haze’ > ‘Cruel’. I’m a huge fan of using songs to create a narrative arc, both on LPs and in a live context (especially in a live context where you can re-order at will, and augment with back catalogue tracks). When I saw this being live tweeted, I kind of lost it a little and stopped calling it the “Night of Hunters” tour, and (thanks to Shags) started calling it the “Night of Haters” tour, because I couldn’t be there (and don’t get me started on her second LA show that tour).
Also, ‘Spring Haze’ is one of my all time favourite songs of hers - the first time I heard it live (in 2005) I was the embarrassing screamer ruining the hypothetical bootleg. The quartet arrangement here does it absolute justice. Sometimes listening to a live recording isn’t interesting unless you were there. This is absolutely not the case here.
Gang Gang Dance - Chinese High (Live)
I have opened all the windows in the house that actually open - the cross breeze is amazing right now. This is on the turntable, and I’m sitting in the middle of the living room floor, folding laundry. What a lovely way to pass the time.
Tori Amos - Hey Jupiter (Live in New York, Dec 2011)
I was going to write about the evolution of this song as it has been performed live, but really, the only important thing is that it has reached this point, where it is being performed on the original piano, with the additional ‘Dakota Version’ lyrics, accompanied by a string quartet.
Lisa Germano - Cancer of Everything
This shit is bananas, y’all. Happy New Year!
