Reaching and Bracing

Matt Johnson - Breadface (2004)

I heard a poem on the radio today. There should be more poems on the radio. I almost posted the text here. But instead decided to write vaguely about it so you'll never find it. And when you hear a poem on the radio, you'll agree. There should be more poems on the radio. It would be weird to hear one in your refrigerator or bathtub. But on the radio, yes. More poems. Radio poems. Radoems.

Nathan Mathes - Right Where It Should Be (mp3): Nathan is from Green Bay, Wisconsin. That's cool.

Instrumental Video Nine

Beeple - IV.9 (fullscreen, please)

My favourite instrumental electronic music video magician
from Menasha, Wisconsin has done it again.

Inlets Are Back!

Inlets - Bright Orange Air

JustSayin-favorite and Wisconsin-native Sebastian Krueger is set to release his latest album "Inter Arbiter" in late April. Remember when Sebastian told us about how his Madison upbringing affects his music? Cool.

Past posts:
The Nostalgic Smell of Ken Kopp's Produce Section
JustSayin Best Albums of 2007
Understand Later That She's Shooting at You

Inlets - Bright Orange Air (mp3)

A Record Voice

Yellow Ostrich - Whale

I first shared my love for the Wisconsin project Yellow Ostrich around this time last year. Since then, Alex has found best partners in himself and his looped self. One layer is marked by fresh-faced modesty. The other by rough natural talent. Maybe a third by focused composition. All with that same buttery voice. The following beauties will be featured on an upcoming unreleased album. Can't wait for the world to hear it.

Yellow Ostrich - Whale (mp3)

Yellow Ostrich - Mary (mp3)

Clay Bodies

Zola Jesus - Clay Bodies

Previous Post "Zola Jesus: Diet Coke with Tar" (Feb 2008)

Or What You Think Other People Want You To Want?

Mike Watson - Chocolate Jesus (2008)
[Originally inspired by the Tom Wait's song]

Jesus Christ (the indie band) - Is This Really What You Want? (mp3): This song sounds like a looming memory. It grows slowly by playing and replaying teen movie morals from back when rewind really meant tape was being rewound. Bouncing echos, beating minutes, intersecting thoughts - all overlaid by a wandering inner monologue. It's unsure, but trying to get through to you.

In the Hands of the Rememberer

Cathy Jean Clark - My Grandmothers' Trees II

The Last Dinosaur - Home (mp3): This is the part of the episode where the camera slowly zooms out to juxtapose a weighty decision with its plain context. Wide shot of a twin bed in a stark hospital room. Steady cam of a Toyota leaving someone standing in the driveway. Close up of a hand reaching out to touch a cheek. Slow motion of sneakers sprinting down an empty street, black and glistening in the streetlight. Pan to boxes being packed. Montage of memories ending in a still shot of the rememberer sitting alone in a living room arm chair.

Frostbite Heart

Love Rhombus - Frostbite Heart

Finally, a dance party in an ice-fishing shanty. Yes, even the tundra has its fair share of neon sunglasses and male falsettos. Also, Madison has more love for Rhombi per capita than any other city. As a general rule, there should be more mannequins in music videos.

Love Rhombus Water Walk (mp3)

Larry the Logroller

Waubeno, WI

Most of the things you admire are stoic, so I wasn't surprised when you showed up last night with Larry the Logroller on your arm. He stood thirty feet tall and hollow with a whiskey sour, seemingly unaffected by the entire bar attempting a Taylor Swift chorus in unison. Around his fiberglass wrists were the bracelets of snow you once used to keep me cold and praying and I recognized your bird shit on his shoulders. And still, as I watched you press your lips against his face and walk to the restroom, I stayed quiet and far like you prefered. I stayed in my spot, standing along your highway across the countryside like the others, waiting for your return.

Cedarwell Meeting a Friend (mp3) [Sheboygan, WI]

Slow Down at Meatski's

Meatski's in Pound, WI

Bon Iver The Woods (mp3) [Eau Claire, WI]: Justin sings about going up in the woods because he knows. He knows that towns of 355 people, 149 households, and 89 families sound different. He knows the fun of stopping at a gas station and being greeted by an albino deer on display in a glass case. And that Sierra Mist tastes better when stuffed squirrels are lined across the top of the Pepsi cooler. He knows that his voice can carry for miles over the graceful hills up here. He knows about time slowing down.

Side note: I hung out with a bunch of folks from Eau Claire on Friday who hadn't heard of Bon Iver... I don't know how that is possible. Also, there was apparently a noisecore band in the 1990s called Pound WI.

Reach For Me Through That Dark Tree Line

Minocqua, WI

My tour of Wisconsin music continues with the sunrise over Lake Minocqua and Corey Chisel. Corey's classic American songwriting is perfect for this morning's still and chilly longing. While outside reviewers seem to want every Wisconsin album to be written in a cabin, this one really does belong in the woods. As I sit outside in my moose pajama pants, wrapped in three blankets and stealing wireless from the nearby hotel, its easy to chuckle at all the reviews of "Cabin Ghosts" that mischaracterize Corey's hometown of Appleton (the sixth largest city in Wisconsin with a population of 70,000) as a "small rural city far from urban society". But I know what they're trying to say. Jonk probably captures it best, that Corey sings about a life of growing up and staying loyal to a small town. Crusing up and down Main Street; marrying a high-school sweetheart; working a full day as a machine technician at an injection molding factory; staking out an early picnic table at the park for the annual summer festival; drinking, over-drinking, and switching to cola at the nearby bar of choice. It's all terribly stereotypical, romantic, and true.

Corey Chisel & The Wandering Suns A Home In The Woods (mp3) [Appleton, WI]

Ark of The Lord

Town of Evergreen, WI

On rural Highway 64 nearest the town of Evergreen, Wisconsin sits the Ark of the Lord. The weathered building shares a parcel of land with a trailer and no apparent driveway, which would render it completely unassuming without the proud handmade sign in front that proclaims the spot as 'THE ARK OF THE LORD'. The steps to the pale yellow doorway have collapsed. The white wooden siding is cracked with black. The congregation is buried in the unmarked cemetrry out back. In the rainy haze, the surrounding fields extend forever in each direction. It is exactly where I picture Zola Jesus performing a gothic wedding set.

Zola Jesus Somebody to Love (mp3) [Madison, WI]

Swimming in Spring

Wausau, WI

Laarks All the Words (mp3) [Eau Claire, WI]: The drive around Wisconsin continues as the folk warms, thaws into a puddle, and begins pouring into the front door. This is why March wood is so warped and ripe. It's all the words about how the winter wasn't so bad. And how most people here put on their shorts for a few days and sacrifice their knees to mud and evenings. At Hometown Auto the door mat floats right front of the door. Welcome home.

Business of Evolution

Portage, WI

Zach Vinson So Much To Blame (mp3) [Sheboygan, WI]: Zach is from Sheboygan, this picture is from Portage (right off Hwy 51). Zach is a young singer and one-man show, Rhyme is a 64-year-old Wisconsin-based supplier of office machines and supplies. Rhyme was founded by William “Punk” Rhyme, Zach was nourished by his mother's noodle casseroles and is not very punk. Rhyme really isn't either. Zach sings about his flaws and running away, Rhyme talks about "integrity and a commitment to always deliver on its promises". Rhyme claims to be in the business of evolution, Zach really is.

iPhone as The New Polariod

Lisa Wiseman - [from The New Polaroid]

Julian Lynch Venom (mp3): When Polaroid announced last year that it would stop manufacturing instant film, there was no question that its influence would never stop. A miracle as impressive as an image conjured with only few shakes of the wrist can't be forgotten in a generation. Lazy plucked bass and wah-wah guitar didn't end at the lapse of the seventies, they live on in summer days and the exploration of young adulthood. But Polaroid enthusiasts had suddenly, overnight, become nostalgics, or mimics, or collectors, or ironic. The patriarch of the family stepped silently out of the room to let the grandchildren play with their iPhones. And never returned.

Eyes On The Road

Pablo Helguera [from The School of Panamerican Unrest] (2006)

Jentri Colello Cannonballs (mp3): We're keepers of ambition, she said. Without children we continue to learn the world ourselves and without husbands we're free to follow wherever it takes us. I think we can only lose ourselves by not letting ourselves be strangers in this strange land, she said. If I don't see you again, so long, take care.

In Praise Of Shadows

Eugen Sakhnenko - [from In Praise of Shadows]

Seeing her in her work environment is like seeing a nightclub in full light, without shadow or subtlety. Coyness and mystery are replaced by a large smile with white teeth and a forceful hello. Her face suddenly lacks the alluring makeup of the night. Under halogen tubes, honesty seems like the deception.

The Chairs Flume [Bon Iver cover] (mp3)