1996 kris was righteous. and if she knew anything, she knew american culture was bereft. bereft of whatever artistic spirit it might have had. bereft of any understanding of what went on in the rest of the world. and bereft of music. it was all a bunch of nirvana wannabes who played muddy chords to cover up for the fact that they were shit musicians. and that was because they came from america, land of bereft culture. meanwhile, here in england, we were living it up on britpop and enjoying the after-effects of that e i took before the club. we had culture. we had music. we were NOT going to be the 51st state of america.
2012 kris is not righteous. she's thoughtful, she's a little bit quiet, and she really loves nothing more than a bit of quirky music while she takes in the uniqueness of the world around her. i think it's what we colloquially refer to as growing up. so whereas 1996 kris would have taken one look at 'vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot' and spat on it, 2012 kris is so glad she decided to do this crazy record review thing on a whim. because this is what i was hoping for -- to discover something beautiful that i missed all of those years ago.
it's not that i had no clue about sparklehorse -- but by the time i heard one of their songs and actually connected the 'i like this song' sentiment to 'it's sparklehorse', it was 'dreamt for light years in the belly of the mountain' which, frankly, ended up being kind of patchy once i listened to the whole album and not just a few songs. so i put it away, looked at it for a few minutes when i heard mark linkous had committed suicide, then heard shortly thereafter that vic chestnutt committed suicide, and went there instead of back to sparklehorse. but i found it now. 16 years later, but i found it. and the album made me smile. made me feel that wistfulness i enjoy when i watch a grackle on a wire puff and sing to announce his presence to the other birds around him, or when i giggle at the green anole crawling furtively down the tree thinking no one is watching him when in fact there are 6 lanes of traffic he'll be oblivious to, or especially when i come home to my dogs and sit outside in the warm sun and ocean breeze thinking that, yes, it's going to be alright. this album did that. and i'm grateful.
if you like the eels, or drive by truckers, or bon iver, listen if you never have. delighted to have found a wonderful, wonderful record on an otherwise average friday in march.
What do the DBT and Bon Iver/Eels have in common is my question?
ReplyDeleteI finally have DBT on my iPhone, yay!