I Wanted You to Be Home By Now

Imge Ozbilge - Gustav Klimt Remastered (2007)

A friend in college, we can call her Silas, was heavily inspired by Gustav Klimt's famous painting "The Kiss". Her white apartment walls were plastered with 3x5 postcards (instead of the original oil on canvas) that she had purchased in some museum lobby. I remember one night in particular when I was cooking a curry and glanced over to see her curled up in a hand-crocheted afgan that may have been the exact texture Klimt was approximating with his golden mosaics. She was pale like Adele Bloch-Bauer but with all her eyes closed.

Mew - Silas the Magic Car (mp3)
Link removed at the artist's request.

A Ghost of A Man

Nick can Woert - Ghost (2009)

This song matches the asymmetrical haircut that you've always wanted, and plan to try as soon as you quit your job. It's also similar to the conceptual tattoo you sketched on the back of your strategic planning document and thought about scheduling today (or tomorrow). You're your own barrier. Today is the perfect day to experiment.

Micachu & The Shapes - Golden Phone (mp3) [Playing the terrace tonight at 9:45]


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Le Chant Des Oiseaux

Greg Sand - Family Reunion (2008)

Music is human birdsong. It isn't mp3s or downloads or tracks or top ten hits. It is people, their wails to the open sky about love, their eyes focused on the new morning, their fear of death. My urge to you is to find an unpopular one. A song with braces, one that's much too quiet or much too loud, one sitting alone in the lunchroom. Spend some time with it, get to know it. If there is one thing I know, it's that you'll have more in common than with the popular kids.

We Are the Willows Isabel's Song (mp3)

JustSayin PRESENTS @ Forward Music Festival 2009

JustSayinIsAll.com is presenting two showcases at the 2009 Forward Music Festival here in Madison this weekend. If you haven't bought your pass yet, go to FMF09.com! With an all-access pass you have to chose between 108 bands, so let me make it easier on you. Preview my picks for the weekend with a quick listen and description below. See you soon!

FRIDAY 9/18
OVERTURE - Capitol Theater
Location: Corner of N Henry & Dayton Streets
Genre: Post-Rock, Experimental

8:00-8:45 El Valiente (myspace): One of the best rock acts in Madison, their freely experimenting instrumentation stretches into the territory of Mogwai.

9:00-9:45 Collections of Colonies of Bees (myspace): Chris and Dan's flair for layered electronics is tempered by traditional folk tendencies which keep the sound accessible. Lately they're known under the moniker Volcano Choir with fellow Wisconsin native Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.***

10:00-11:15 Cougar (myspace): Hardly comfortable under the "Madison rock band" descriptor, the new Cougar album sounds more like guitars tossed in a light vingarette abstraction with an occasional chunk of choir or crescendo.

11:30+ Atlas Sound (myspace): The solo side project of eccentric Deerhunter singer Bradford Cox juxtaposes extended isolation with sudden pops of buzzy garage rock.

SATURDAY 9/19
PROJECT LODGE
Location: 817 East Johnson Street
Genre: Singer-songwriter, Quirky Indie

3:00-3:45 Laura Barrett (myspace) (previous post) (previous post) : JustSayin's favourite Canadian kalimba player returns to Madison with her lightning thumbs and quirky charm.

4:00-4:45 Zach Vinson (myspace) (previous post) (previous post): Zach is an exciting young talent (originally from Sheboygan) whose catchy songwriting and dynamic vocals erupt into a spontaneous, yet mature musicality.

5:00-5:30 The Chairs (myspace) (previous post): An Appleton band with enough raw talent and clever indie covers to delight any Wisconsin hipster.

5:30-6:00 Joe Pug (myspace): A young singer-songwriter from Chicago who strums poetic acoustics and soulful blues.

***This FMF showcase will be the first opportunity to buy the new album by Volcano Choir, the collaboration between Collections of Colonies of Bees and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

Torpe, Traste y Testaruda

Derek Blagg - Melanie

Shakira - She Wolf (mp3): A deep electronic voice pleads "S.O.S" over a crescendoing party bass. Intro a loop of gangly indie guitar. Then, Shakira? Yes, Shakira. After the shock of the first listen, the second sent me into a flashback of 2002. This was the year I first watched Shakira crouch awkwardly in clunky black platform boots to peform Ciego Sordomuda on Univision. I remember immediately thinking her wacky courage reminded me of a spanish-speaking Alanis Morissette. And now the exotic quality of her voice still continues to experiment without any regard for belonging. Beyonce/Fergie meets Kraftwerk... why not?

I'm (Not) Sure

Nina Chakrabarti

The Xx - Heart Skipped A Beat (mp3): Hello beautiful, I'm sure you've heard that before. You make my heart skip a beat, I'm sure you've heard that before. You hair smells like cheese, I'm sure you've heard that before.

Dan Black - Alone (mp3): Leave me alone.

No One Would Know That We've Gone

Chris Hornbecker [from "The Inside Light"]

Grab a blender. Add: 2 cups cut grass, 2 teaspoons neon food coloring, five thawed freezie pops, 3 grilled brats (chopped), 2 tablespoons glitter, a lime (squeezed) with pulp, 6 vodka shots, one flip flop (preferably just the flip), 1 teaspoon sea salt.

Blend for three minutes, pulsing every 30 seconds. Pour the liquid evenly into an ice cube tray. Cover the tray with tin foil. Stick one toothpick through the foil and into each cube (this will be the Popsicle stick). Freeze for at least four hours. Remove tray from the freezer (run under hot water briefly to loosen pops if needed). Play "Memory Tapes" at full volume. Find a breezy porch, a soft lawn, a crowded beach, or a reckless night bike ride. Enjoy. [Serving Size: One]

Memory Tapes Bicycle (mp3)

Heavens to Betsy

Christoffer Relander [from the series "Photo Project"]

Roll up your tattered picnic blanket and lay it on the wooden lawn of the Project Lodge tonight for Vandaveer (Saturday, September 5th @ 7:30). Close your eyes and it could be Richard and Linda Thompson. Madison's plaid and bearded riotriot opens.

Vandaveer - Beverly Cleary's 115th Dream (mp3): Though my favourite female in this equation is Rose Guerin, whose dynamic harmonies carve out the depth of Vandaveer's sound, a love song to a grown Ramona Quimby of Beverly Cleary fame is certainly intriguing.

Browser Paintings

Michael Demers - Color Field Paintings [Browser] (2009)

Click here to generate the digital installation
(pop-ups must be enabled, each installation will last 10 seconds)

The internet is the best.

Awesome New Republic - Digital World (mp3)

Will O` The Wisp

Sam Jinks - Flower (2008)

I keep an eighty-year-old jazz singer in my apartment to give me perspective. She tells me that I drink tea too hot, which makes my mouth vulgar. When I wear sneakers to work, her glance is sharp -- but not a scold. In the morning she gently nudges me awake. Happiness isn't something this generation lost, she whispers, it's something every generation loses and then finds.

Ernestine Anderson - Make Someone Happy (mp3)

Ernestine Anderson - Skylark (mp3)