i've been away but now i'm back

Maybe it's just a reflection, but I find myself drawn to things, be they songs and things that consist of what may seem oddly incongruent differences that cannot simply.. work with each other ( mm 'sometimes always') but somehow oddly, at the end of it all, after much trial and error and false starts, find a way to mesh eventually creating something profoundly new and, so I would like to think, more amazing and wonderful than if one merely worked with the same similar components initially. The unexpected from the usual expected. Here again this tendency surfaces again, for I cannot seem to settle on who I like more, the sway of quiet melancholic alluring Mazzy Star ( just look at the video in the previous post) or the dance of all plainly cutesy and yay sunshine zest of the Pipettes.

So imagine my reaction when I came across a cover of ' Sometimes Always' rendered by Brakes & The Pipettes. Interestingly, they have switched the male/female positions in the duet, and subtly changed the whole nature of the song. Depending on you, you can decide that it's a triumph for post-feminism feminism or perfect summer coy pop, but look, now I am simply unable decide which version of the song I prefer, and that is really very telling.

BRAKES & THE PIPETTES - SOMETIMES ALWAYS (COVER)

click to see a video of the Pipette's album single previously mentioned here:

That is Rose again on the left. You can hear and see Hope Sandoval on another video if you scroll down.

you went away you can't come back

So what do you get when one of your favourite bands hooks up with another of your top vocalists?

A duet that is at once one of the most honest and sweetest of its kind out there, and yet is so delicate and dark that a melody borne out of these searing polar contradictions is masterfully crafted. Whirling you up by the ears and heart, Sandoval of Mazzy Star and Jim Reid of JAMC offer a window into an exchange speaking of mistakes and forgiveness, that could very well be heard anywhere and often but never as telling and sincere as this.

Sandoval's trademark seemingly lazy drawl comes on perfectly and without any pretensions right at the start of the song, coming straight to the point, serving as the perfect foil to the strangled voice of a man who is clearly the kind of guy who prefers not to blurt sorry in front of you but to be sorry whether you know it or not. Here however, he realizes that what he needs is simply too pressing and painful to continue dithering and decides to just shut his manliness ego up for once and plough headlong into the whole mess with a direct plea to her. Naturally it comes out clumsy and awkward, but oh well.

When a song is able to capture that much in 2 and a half minutes, you know you are listening to an absolute gem. Netting such nuances with disquieting tension that just cannot be ignored overlayed by what actually sounds like an upbeat tune? After awhile you realize it's appropiate, for the coasting upbeat here exists not in the same happy shiny generically teenagerish way most love songs out there mindlessly cram into, but because this is not exactly another of those happy stories with a certified happy end where it's all kiss and make up it's all a misunderstanding etc etc. The focus is simply on two people who are clearly dreading this moment but go ahead anyway, dropping all previous confusing murky nonsense and simply being honest to each other.

That is where the wry cheerfulness comes from.

Jamc & Hope Sandoval - Sometimes Always

the video is all good and really tops my list too. Press play.

and the way i feel tonight i could die and i wouldnt mind

It was back in my first year of college that I discovered one of the best things that ever happened to me, and as such things go for me I was not even looking for it. My classmates and I happily highjacked one of those computer rooms one day inbetween lessons, and I grabbed the console usually reserved for the teacher. Propping my feet up on the table I logged on to the net, tuned into accuradio, and left it on the Brit Rock channel.

A peculiar song came on that at once reminded me very much of New Order, ( another brit post-punk band I was starting to put into heavy rotation then) a pumping and snarling celebration of dissonance in sound that seemed both joyously lightbeat yet somehow laced with a bit of visceral melancholy at the same time. It was not until after I looked the Jesus And Mary Chain up on Amazon and a visit to HMV that I found out that they specialized in two kinds of sound, one all revved up and charging like in the one I just heard and the other fuzzy droning guitar distortion.

It is this ability to meld both together, in an atmospheric and darkly poppy (?) way, that make them high on my list of favourite bands.

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Head On

an unofficial site, but is a good place to start..

Jamc's best of, " 21 Singles", does not wear out upon repeated listens but instead, like good things in life ( mm grape juice) turn out something new and interesting you never noticed before the more you listen to them.

i never really wanted your heart

Swathes of folk and psyschedelia cloaked in Hope Sandoval's trademark hypnotic vocals make for very good listening on rainy days and late nights. Her calm and understated singing set off against rambling distortions in the backgroundhere make for a song that manages just a right balance between a sense of capitivating ennui and delicate adult cynicism.

Though ' Blue Flower' is not one of Mazzy Star's more recognizable hits like ' Fade Into You' and 'Flowers In December', I find that this song exemplifies well a certain kind of sound that if I ever were in a band, would like to make. The noisy Velvet Undergroundish backscape by guitarist David Roback is already amazing enough, but it is Sandoval's singing and presence that is so utterly unique. Like eyes that seem to draw you in the more you look into them, she communicates more than what the plaintive folksy lyrics do with every nuance and inflection in her breathy and husky voice. Hope remains one of my favourite vocalists, for listening to her
never tires.

Look around for their other songs if you find you like what you hear. ' Blue Flower' is a fine example of Mazzy Star's earlier playful and noisy workouts, but the band's mellower and slower songs like ' Into Dust' demonstrates that they are very much capable too of music that make a virtue out of simplicity.

Something many look for, but few actually pull off. But when they do, it's beautiful.

Mazzy Star - Blue Flower

it's not official, but it's very well made. Look here if you want info, lyrics, chords and such.

The quality of the video is not very good, but here's another of Mazzy Star's that shows a different folksier side of the band. A better sounding version of the song is on radioblog just up there.

Mazzy Star - I've Been Let Down

It is not just her voice but the way she holds herself actually, and yep, that's a harmonica attractively played by a very attractive lady.