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I was at a friend’s show the other night and they covered this song, which I thought existed only for me in a very specific context on a five-year-old playlist for the J train near my old apartment. Hearing it live, seemingly out of nowhere when I least expected it, turned my brain inside out. The repeated riff scratches an itch inside of there, particularly with that little bent note. I think I sometimes come off as a Dean Wareham project, if someone were to compare me to a sound. I hope it’s this one.
Jun 25, 2024
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The story behind my relationship with this song is probably not all that interesting… but discovering it was a real cathartic experience for me. I first heard this song when I went to see The Caretaker perform live at the Lincoln Center and I think he performed a chopped up version of it… I knew I recognized the melody from somewhere, but I was too timid to pull out my phone and Shazam it mid-show. Weeks go by, I’m still thinking about what that damn song was… I surf through The Caretaker’s discography. Nothing! I start sending voice memos to my musically inclined friends, humming how the melody went… nothing! Was I making up the existence of this song? Was I going insane? I saw Jon Rafman’s amazing short “Punctured Sky” where this exact thing happens to his protagonist (obsessing over a video game that he thought existed but no one could help him find it)... it had my number written all over it. I gave up and moved on with my life. But then, about a week or so ago, I was listening to Helena Deland’s new album while doing the dishes and I heard it again… a familiar melody… briefly interpolated on the song “Drawbridge.” But what was it?! No comments on YouTube helped get to the bottom of this musical mystery. I sent it around frantically to all my friends. Ari Balouzian, who does the scores for my films, is a massive Midnight Cowboy fan and was able to identify it after a bit of trial and error. He sent me the Santo & Johnny cover (amazing in its own right)... and finally, after searching around on YouTube… I found it! A haunting piece of music, and the recording itself sounds so… brittle… that it almost adds an extra oomph to the aural sensation of bliss when you listen to it.
Jun 12, 2024
Nobody knows how to end an album on a particularly wistful note like my pal Britt Daniel. ‘Vittorio E’ is like the first of many such closers. 💙
Apr 1, 2024
when I was 18 in 2014 I listened to this ep the first time I did acid while my situationship (this word didn’t exist then) was at work. He lived next to the Stockton tunnel in the city and I could sit on the fire escape of the tiny junior one bedroom. We’d smoke spliffs and create art because we were both art students. I’m reading the lyrics and realize they feel oddly poetic and representative of my life since then.
you left me and I woulda done the same
you’re all poised and I’m made of poison
Anyways kitty is the queen of hyper pop
Jan 22, 2025
Top Recs from @alexwoodward
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Some of his best music is a soundtrack to a documentary about the emotional life of plants. I listen to “Send One Your Love” most mornings, and then again in the evenings, but maybe just the instrumental version, as a kind of daily ritual bookend for my emotional life as a plant.
May 8, 2024
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“Linger” and “Dead Flowers” are the almost the same song, to me. Perfect album I feel dumb for always forgetting about and then it’s just about the only thing on.
May 24, 2024
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goes unbelievably hard
Jul 6, 2024