I have (finally!) had occasion to read The Tale of Genji with the sort of attention that the work deserves.
And because I apparently can’t help making these sorts of cross-media connections, It occurred to me that Apple Blossom from The White Stripes’ “De Stijl” album makes an eerily good Genji/Murasaki song.
What do you, the viewers at home, think?
I just kind of felt like putting this song up.
I don’t listen to Orange Pekoe much these days, typically because it immediately triggers acute, stabbing bouts of nostalgia, centered mostly around walking around Toyooka in the rain, trying to write a novel.
But today it seems appropriate, so here you go. (Also, this woman has pipes.)
This song goes out to Bianca. It’s from the Brazilian group Querosene Jacaré and basically just rocks. Biank, if you want the rest of the album, just let me know.
I think the line at the beginning means something like, “Hey, waiter, get me a tequila—I got some business to take care of!” Yes, business… the business of rock, Brasil-style. Enjoy.
Appropriate to nothing outside of a romance whose failure will end in firearm-related felony convictions, here’s a Cocco song. Cocco’s one of a very few Japanese women who are as weird as Shena Ringo—you know, I think Cocco might actually be weirder.
From one of the all-time great navel-gazing bands, here’s one of the all-time great navel-gazing songs.
Y’know, my friend Chris had a knack for finding really, really good music when he wasn’t wallowing in the Angels of Light or Godspeed You Black Emperor. A serious knack. Nokko was one such find of his, and this song served as the closing theme for our nerd game—you know, Legend of the Five Rings, an Oriental-themed role-playing game. Shut up. Shut up, damn you.
Merciless torment aside, it’s a very mellow, very chill tune. Great beat. Good bass. Sultry vocals. Enjoy.
I don’t know why I’m posting this. But I’m a-gonna tell ya just what I’m gonna do…
I’ve resisted posting this group for some time. I don’t know why. The band, Self, makes brilliant, sneaky pop music that masquerades as top 40 boy band sorority chick rock. I am not joking.
The creative center, one Matt Mahaffey, has the wit of a drawma_boy/”>Cody or a Jake, the production chops of a BT or a Flood, and the self-serving creative purity of a Fluffy. I am still not joking.
These tunes are from the album “Breakfast with Girls,” which is probably the easiest Self record to find. “Meg Ryan” is a jumpy declaration of what-ifs and if-onlys, “What are you thinking?” might be regretful paean disguised as a pop-rock epic, and “Better than Aliens” is just a weird, thoughtful tune. Seriously, download this. More hooks than a tacklebox, more beats than the NYPD, and you don’t even have to lose your indie cred to dig it.
Here’s an old one. Maybe I’ll go through letters of the alphabet starting with “A,” all BBT-style. Or maybe not. Who knows. Enjoy some globe here. This is some epic technopop shit. And is still good, I think. Some of that TK stuff is withstanding the test of time. Some of it.
