When I decided to cover the Lost in Translation soundtrack, it struck me as odd that I had never seriously considered a soundtrack for PJH. At first glance, it would make sense — if this site is about merging sound and vision, then film music seems like a natural choice since it’s often written or [...]
Camera Obscura — Underachieve…
13 December 2012 by Leave a Comment
The cult of Twee is one I’ve never really quite understood, despite owning a vintage camera and having nodded my head gently to several Belle & Sebastian records. There’s are a ton of facets to the sound and the subculture, many of which I haven’t even attempted to explore, so I’ll try not to make [...]
Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese…
28 June 2012 by Leave a Comment
I grew up entirely oblivious to the Smashing Pumpkins, and when I finally did discover the band — with Siamese Dream — I felt as if someone were trying to simultaneously trying to document both the noise and serenity of my childhood. Of course, I wasn’t a little girl dressed as an angel, the nearest white [...]
Bauhaus – In The Flat Field
19 March 2012 by Leave a Comment
The malaise in the world surrounding the 1970s (a.k.a. post-1960s) was condensed into several different genres of music, almost all of which were seething with anger and disillusionment with more than a touch of excess. Punk is most commonly associated with the rage coming from of the mouths of babes, but there was only so [...]
Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls
13 February 2012 by Leave a Comment
I’m thinking of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That shack that ol’ Leatherface called home — a house in the middle of a homestead riddled with bones and deteriorating corpses and bodies stuffed in iceboxes. I admit that I haven’t actually seen the film (horror movies are one of my chronic weaknesses), but the sentiment is [...]
Interpol – Turn on the Bright…
6 February 2012 by Leave a Comment
As a rule of thumb, songs titled “Untitled” are generally hackneyed attempts at mystery — something so complex and so deep, that no title would ever do it justice. Yeah, right. Interpol, on 2002′s Turn on the Bright Lights, is guilty of having the dreaded untitled track, though they pull it off in a way that almost [...]
This Mortal Coil – It’ll End…
2 January 2012 by Leave a Comment
I was a teenager, stoned and listening to Low in the back of a trust fund baby’s Mercedes. Everything slowed to a crawl, set in place by that band’s mournful hum. I was looking out the window over the darkened hills of Santa Monica when the words came at me, hovering in the air like [...]
Reverend Horton Heat – Smoke…
7 November 2011 by Leave a Comment
Would you buy a car from this man? What about life insurance? Snake oil? All seem viable options with a suit and smile like those. That greasy salesman on the cover is Jim Heath, otherwise known as the Reverend Horton Heat, whose album Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em, combines the things that the psychobilly [...]
Dirty Beaches – Badlands
18 April 2011 by Leave a Comment
It’s sorta funny: no matter how many times I listen to Dirty Beaches’ Badlands (and it only came out a few weeks ago) I can’t manage to decipher anything about it. Maybe it’s the hypnotic rhythms or the cavernous reverb or the absolute lack of low end frequencies. Maybe it’s the near-perfect Chris Issak impression [...]
Autolux - Future Perfect
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
The Jesus and Mary Chain...
Radiohead - The King of Limbs