I feel like this is the anthem of anyone who works retail or customer service. It certainly describes how I felt working at the fruit stand.

Marina also has a well-written blog, the best post of which may be this one.

This is such an angry song! Why do I love it so much??…

“I hope that our few remaining friends give up on trying to save us
I hope we come out with a failsafe plot to piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it’s already too late

And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town again
In my life
I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it’s darkest before the sun rises
We’re pretty sure they’re all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn’t over
And I hope you blink before I do
And I hope I never get sober

And I hope when you think of me years down the line, you can’t find one good thing to say
And I hope if I found the strength to walk out, you’d stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand and in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die.”

I love Regina Spektor’s videos — they’re always well-considered visually, and create intimate, beautiful spaces. This one’s no exception; it is a visual ode to the collected works of René Magritte, an artist whose work compliments the message of her song well.

Well I know my death will not come
Til I breathe all the air out my lungs
Til my final tune is sung
It all is fleeting
Yeah, but all is good
And my love is my whole being
And I’ve shared what I could
If you give a little love
You can get a little love of your own
Don’t break his heart

Well my heart is bigger than the earth
And my life is what gave it love first
Well life is not all that it’s worth
’cause life is fleeting
Yeah, but I love you
And my love surrounds you like an aether
In everything that you do
But if you give a little love
You can get a little love of your own
Don’t break his heart

Well if you are what you love
And you do what you love
I will always be the sun and moon to you
And if you share with your heart
Yeah you give with your heart
What you share with the world is what it keeps of you.

- Noah and the Whale

Have you ever heard of “The Fall”? No, I didn’t really either, until I was pointed towards it by a friend of mine who was an indie-movie and indie-music buff. Tarsem Singh, director of the incredibly creepy “The Cell,” has done it again: he’s created a work whose visual power will overwhelm you.

I am a sucker for visually intense movies in the first place, but the “The Fall” has something which “The Cell” didn’t, which is: an appealing story. The little kid is cute, Lee Pace is cute, and bedtime stories are timeless, no matter what They Say.

The movie tugs ever-so-slightly on the heartstrings, but not uncomfortably, mostly because the grimness of the story-within-a-story is there to play against the treacle. (This is generally the opposite of how these things work.)

At any rate, this whole post was particularly inspired by the discovery that Tarsem Singh was behind one of my favorite music videos of all time (it was an, “OH, THAT’S why I like it!” moment of sorts) — REM’s “Losing My Religion.”

Which brings me to stage two: review of this video. I’ve always loved the song, but my appreciation of the video has only grown over time. In an era of booty-shakin’ useless videos, the ones which contain an attempt at artistry, symbolism, or any sort of storyline always strike my fancy best of all. This one combines all of the aforementioned ingredients into a frenzy of artistic symbolism based primarily on religious art, and carefully encapsulated in worlds assigned with the three primary colors. The whole video plays as a biography of the stages of faith:

Yellow: Faith, religion, Caravaggio; the Bible (or some weighty Book) appears prominently. St. Thomas sticks a finger in Jesus’ side. Water falls, and the Dutch Masters seem like they might be nearby, because everything is filmed near an open window, with flames, long tables, dripping water. Georges de La Tour would be proud, and Vermeer would wish they’d moved the lights slightly more to the left.

Blue: I do not know the intended purpose, but I have assumed “Gauguin,” mostly from the juxtaposition of the yellows on the blues, but also because of the poses and the presence of Hindu influences. St. Andrew makes an appearance, but the theme is: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

Red: Communism. According to Wikipedia, inspired by the films of Andrei Tarkovsky. I’ve never heard of him or seen his films, but the “red” scenes in the video all remind me of serious Communist propaganda art: behold, industry! The youth! With hammers! Working metal! And, red! It isn’t about religion anymore, it’s about politics; the individual is obliterated to make way for the work-driven masses, an army of Marthas.

Religion no longer plays an important role, except as the primary inspiration for what all three universes have been reaching towards: a pair of wings. In the Yellow world, the man wearing the wings is an elderly, father-of-Icarus figure who has strapped on a pair of bird’s wings which in the last frame highlight the Bible. In the Blue world, the wings are more stylistic and carefully sculpted, while in the Red word, the wings are partially made of metal and engine.

Put another way, it artistically encapsulates the religious and political collision of Western and Eastern cultures, and has as a coda the fallout of poor Russia, which was caught in the middle.

Take a look for yourself and let me know how wrong I am.

Am totally jamming on Aesop Rock right now, mostly because of Coffee. I heard it a number of times before I actually realized, though, that it was John Darnielle singing the end bit — and my gosh, didn’t that make me happy!

John Darnielle is a Mountain Goat, and writer/founder/contributer to Last Plane to Jakarta, a Moste Excellente Blogg addressing subjects of indie music, popular culture, and socio-political matters.

Don’t know the Mountain Goats? I didn’t, either, until they came to Whitman College. The show was poorly-attended (it was poorly-publicized), with the end result that there were about forty attendees total, and we wound up sitting on the floor of the ballroom while the MGs took requests and chatted us up. It was my favorite concert that I’ve been to thus far: it was intimate, which is almost impossible to find nowadays, and the artists were unbelievably clever and talented.

…is the last one. Or anyway, that’s how it was for me.

Steven Delopoulos, interestingly enough, via Drawn!—where they linked to a pretty music video of a song by the same guy.

Go to his website and fill out the little thing to download the songs. They are PRETTY.

There you go, breaking through my expectations. What is up with you, giving me all this good music that is not country?*

I’m talking about Okkervil River, which I saw in Seattle and hated in concert (the lead singer was Harry Potter trying to be Conor Oberst), but then I fell in love with “Seas Too Far To Reach” in a studio-recorded version.

A friend recently introduced me to Eisley, which has beautiful videos, and I love the lead singer’s voice.

Oh, yeah, and Polyphonic Spree is from there.

And now, I am getting into the Nourallah Brothers — I just listened to “I’ll Be Around” and almost cried.

*I like country, I’m just surprised.

Regina Spektor - Fidelity

The Cnytr completely addicted me to this vid…