Lou Barlow 's "solo" career I consider to be on par with the stuff that Dinosaur Jr. was putting out in his absence, but this song I think is outright one of my favorites from both a musical and lyrical standpoint. Everythign turning into a cacophony of noise really is what I think a brand new love sounds like, scary and chaotic, but melodic and hopeful
"Any thought could be the beginning of/ The brand new tangled web you're spinning/ Anyone could be a brand new love/ Follow what you feel, you alone decide what's real/ Anyone can be a brand new love"
1d ago
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The first single from Winter Boyfriend from the upcoming album set a, frankly, very different note. 'anx/bodies' is an outlier for us, musically and lyrically, but when putting the final touches to the album it was one of the songs that people seemed instinctively to engage with if they weren't broadly invested in our main thing, essentially indie/indie-punk made by a would-be emo band. At the very least it provoked a reaction.
It's a song inspired by a very specific series of events but is not specifically autobiographical. Outside of the world of this song i am much less forward about sex. I enjoy being 'too much' with friends but i really don't want it going anywhere my family might hear it. Repression is fun! I often wonder if that's similar to what actors feel when doing nudity or whatever. It's a case of, "I don't want to know you've seen me experience that?" Anyway, honesty can help in art, but also maybe so too does a little internal repression.
It was written about a memory of going to a university disco, arriving at the club where everyone was looking hot and cool, and i suddenly becoming very aware of my inability to be calm. It is essentially about over-stimulation and amorousness and the confusion of that smashing like a wrecking ball through any semblance of chill i might have had.
The verse bass riff is really old, easily over 10 years old. I wrote it for a different project, a Death From Above 1979 rip-off thing, and my pal Martin played bass, while i sang and drummed. The song was unremarkable but the riff was cool. There was no way i wasn't keeping it. Also, it explains why it's the only song that uses a fuzz bass tone. Yet.
I have no idea when i came up with the guitar riff but it's one of my favourite parts i've written. It's rythmic and a little bit dissonant, but i think the G# implies an E Major chord, making it A minor natural (sorry music theory experts, probably butchering this).
I was also unsure if i could allow myself to write the chorus which used power chords. It always feels too basic. But it worked in the context of the song. I finished it years ago aside from a few lyrical tweaks and the introduction sound (chord played, tremolo arm depressed as it fades out, recorded and reversed). Also when mixing the song my references were very different and included a lot of 00s and 10s music, including bands that have been grandfathered into the whole 'indie-sleaze' thing, and it made me realise the second verse needed, nay demanded!, a cowbell and some percussion (the other percussion is drumming on glass bottles fyi).
I feel like 'anx/bodies', and the song that follows it, 'on our way home', are two sides of the same coin. One uptight, repressed yet explosive, and the other unrelenting, desperate and flailing. You could almost imagine the latter being later in the same night, getting existential when worse-for-wear. More on that one later.
Jun 19, 2024
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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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Speaking of Lou…
What he could do with noise he could do with words too. This is one of my favorite truly narrative songs, and for me the most disturbing. When a certain character comes in near the end and tells the main speaker to head out… it’s with a rotten, bone-chilling, evil nonchalance that makes me feel sick for participating. His indifference to life outside himself is complete, and he looks you dead in the eyes expects the same :(
Apr 26, 2024
Top Recs from @haydenaugust
A website with a collection of screengrabs from nearly every movie you could think of, and you can sort by film title, director, cinematographer, year, genre, country, etc. Great for visual references for lookbooks, or just to discover a new film you might be interested in seeing!
I've attached one of my favorite stills, a great moment from Chungking Express (Dir. Wong Kar-Wai, 1994).
Dec 30, 2024
Just going out and picking up any kind of used physical media (books, CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes) makes the archivist in me happy, like I’m preserving somebody else’s story/ enjoyment of something
My personal favorite thing is VHS tapes, I’ve got a decent collection (all thrifted) and they’re usually the cheapest things offered
Jan 3, 2025
At my local indie cinema for a projection of the new Nosferatu, infinitely grateful I have a place like this I can go to see new stuff and incredible programming!
Dec 25, 2024