Headaches!!

This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That.

Believe it or not that is the title of Marnie Stern's sophomore album from the glorious Kill Rock Stars label. To be honest, I will tell you the story of how I just discovered Marnie Stern. I was looking at the KALX website of recent songs because I heard the Dirty Projector's song Two Doves this afternoon and wanted to find out what it was. Then I was scrolling around on the website and I clicked on 2008 DJ Faves. One DJ had that album listed as a 2008 favorite, and I just had to see what music sounded like that had a title like that. Lo and behold, it is Marnie Stern, who has a sound that's difficult to describe or compare to other things. It's very bizarre and experimental, like Animal Collective or Xiu Xiu, but her songs have stronger vocals and therefore stronger melodies. The song Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling is from her first album, In Advance of the Broken Arm. The spoken lyrics remind me of Emily Haines in Rock Me Now. In her more recent album she goes more in the direction of Animal Collective in terms of crazy electronic noises and beats. She is also known for her unconventional ways of playing guitar, like tapping a la Kaki King.

I just realized I have a strange affinity to headache-causing music... Xiu Xiu, Sigur Ros, The Twilight Sad, Animal Collective. Lots of loud crescendo-ing white noise. Sometimes really acerbic or powerful female vocals like Bjork are also painful in a good way. The slightly atonal harmonies of Alela Diane are also pleasantly uncomfortable.

This is The Twilight Sad in front of a Daniel Johnston alien.

Ok, I couldn't decide which things to put, so I just put a bunch:

Transformer - Marnie Stern
Ruler - Marnie Stern
Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling - Marnie Stern
Rock Me Now - Metric
That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy - The Twilight Sad
Peacebone - Animal Collective
Easy To Be Around - Diane Cluck

Now I really have a headache, not even kidding. Goodnight!



P.S. Sorry if the ads are really annoying... which they are, I can't really figure out how to control them. But I am poor, and something must be done if I am to continue with a life exciting enough to merit a blog!