Category: music

I love them.

I first heard of them and saw this this weekend at Appleton’s music fest Mile of Music. The whole thing was amazing, with 10k people in attendance (!), and the event managed to cause a Wisconsin bar to run out of booze — after they placed a special order on Saturday and ran out of all *that* booze by Sunday.

But this band – oh, this band, I just fell in love with.

“I may have girly parts / but I have a boy’s heart…” is probably the standout lyric, but the one that first killed me was the “I just wanna play in the mud with you / you just wanna stick it in.” How great is that?

I honestly didn’t know what to make of them when they first came onstage, but I already knew I was going to go home & look them up. They started with a track from their newest, Blur the Line, called “Oh God”. The room went still and we all listened to every lyric, I think, rapt. Amazing stage presence, and they rocked. It surprised the hell out of me that they won over that crowd, and the lead singer told me later it surprised her, too. I’m hoping I’ll get to interview her/them at a later date. Check out “Optimist” – “I used to be an optimist / but it got too dangerous” – for the flip side of the sound of “Oh God”.

This is them playing the more straight-up country “Wild One” at Brooklyn’s (now defunct) Southpaw back in 2008. I wish I’d been there. They tour all over this fall. I will most definitely see them in Madison.

(This post is dedicate to Darya, who I predict is going to love them at least as much as I do.)

NPR has 10 cool tracks that are free to download today, including a cool one by Neko Case.

It really doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

Just DAMN. She is too righteous for her own good. & No, the booty don’t lie. That last rap is too fantastic:

My crown too heavy like the Queen Nefertiti
Gimme back my pyramid, I’m trying to free Kansas City
Mixing masterminds like your name Bernie Grundman
Well I’m gonna keep leading like a young Harriet Tubman
You can take my wings but I’m still goin’ fly
And even when you edit me the booty don’t lie
Yeah, keep singing and I’mma keep writing songs
I’m tired of Marvin asking me, “What’s Going On?
March to the streets ‘cuz I’m willing and I’m able
Categorize me, I defy every label
And while you’re selling dope, we’re gonna keep selling hope
We rising up now, you gotta deal you gotta cope
Will you be electric sheep?
Electric ladies, will you sleep?
Or will you preach?

So here’s the other thing I love about her: she’s wearing heels, which she never does, but somehow, she wears them like they’re combat boots.

A few weeks ago I was up at dawn up in northern Wisconsin and you know, if you know me at all, that if I am up at dawn it’s only because I haven’t slept. Right before I’d gone up there I’d loaded a bunch of new music onto my MP3 player and while I was standing there shivering, this song, which I had never heard before, came on.

I highly recommend listening to it when you’re on the edge of something – a lake, a cliff, a decision.

My heart is wild / my bones are steam / and I could kill you with my bare hands / if I was free

It was a very cold, very bright sunrise that morning, and all the gray of this long Wisconsin winter only turned to silver, not to color, as the sun came up, but it was still astonishing.

This is just because I woke today so full, so peaceful, so – resolved. I have been through a little too much these past few weeks and have been feeling exhausted, and winter seemed like it would never, ever end.

So take some of it, those of you who need it; and thank you to those who have given me some.