"The African peasant only knows the eternal renewal of time, rhythmed by the endless repetition of the same gestures and the same words"

This article is stolen from Paul Collins' blog (Weekend Stubble) and not music-related, but great nonetheless - The French showing their dissent by reading that jerk Nicholas Sarkozy's least favorite book

One cross apiece for all His enemies

The Obits are the new band of Rick Froberg (Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, Pitchfork) and have just released their debut full-length, I Blame You, on Sub Pop. Despite my love of Froberg and his extended musical family, I have to admit I was slightly (and perhaps irrationally) disappointed in this album for two reasons:

1) This is not the Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, or Pitchfork
2) None of the songs on I Blame You match the intensity of the Obits' previously released 7" single "One Cross Apiece" - This fantastic song really sent my hopes skyrocketing.

However, this is still a very good record and I highly recommend it. And with these songs being a bit more garage blues/pop than the pounding, frenetic, energetic rock of Froberg's former bands, there is definitely a ton of potential here. I'm sure the band is great live, so here's hoping they come to Minneapolis very soon.

Obits - Pine On
from I Blame You
Buy

Obits - One Cross Apiece
from "One Cross Apiece" 7" single
Buy

And you will never see the alligator's glade

Swan Lake is supergroup of sorts. Prolific Canadians Dan Bejar (Destroyer), Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown), and Casey Mercer (Frog Eyes, Blackout Beach) have somehow found the time to release their second album, Enemy Mine, which is an outstanding follow-up to 2006's Beast Moans. Though you could say I am more of a Destroyer/Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown fan, Casey's songs are particularly strong here. But all three possess an uncanny ability to write cryptic, yet beautiful and emotionally identifiable, lyrics, envelop the listener in a swirling mass of guitar, keyboards, and vocals, and inject a repeated word, phrase, or verse with emotion and higher meaning.

The band's label, Jagjaguar, has made three mp3's available for download, one from each songwriter - Casey, Dan, and Spencer respectively.

Swan Lake - Spanish Gold, 2044
Swan Lake - Spider
Swan Lake - A Hand At Dusk
Buy

And a fantastic Spencer track from Beast Moans...
Swan Lake - All Fires
Buy


And finally, in celebration of a new Sunset Rubdown album in June, here is my favorite track from their 2007 album Random Spirit Lover...
Sunset Rubdown - The Mending of the Gown
Buy

Welcome!

The creation of a music blog has been in the works for a few years now, but I could never find the time/initiative to actually start writing. But it's PhD spring break time in Minneapolis and here I am. I don't anticipate this blog reaching the literary heights of Said the Gramophone, or being as content rich as Aquarium Drunkard. But family and friends often ask me, how do you hear about all this music? Well, by devouring music blogs. So, I think I've finally worked up the drive to start advancing my own particular tastes, which both diverge from and converge with the indie music found on Pitchfork, Stereogum, and other music blogs.

Which brings me to the Thin Mercury Sound - a title that conveys the spectrum of my musical enjoyment. For one, this is the title of Caviar's fantastic sophomore album, representing my love for lesser-known elements of the Chicago rock scene - Local H, Triplefastaction, Fig Dish, etc. But said album title is also a semi-obscure Bob Dylan reference, used by Dylan to describe the sound of Blonde on Blonde (one of my favorite albums of all time) - "It's that thin, that wild mercury sound. It's metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up. That's my particular sound."

So be ready for rock, folk/Americana, and many other genres - but my enjoyment, and I hope yours as well, comes from the more general, less tangible qualities of creativity, emotion, and lyrical intelligence - whatever that conjures up.

A few tracks to get this started...

Caviar - Lioness
Caviar - You've Got a Black Black Heart
from The Thin Mercury Sound
buy

This alternate version of "Visions of Johanna" comes from the Dylan bootleg Thin Wild Mercury Music, which includes outtakes from Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde.

Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna