Musical Notes

Does this happen to you. That you think, "I need to blog about that." And you don't for various complicated reasons. And then you think, "Oh yeah, I need to blog about that." And ditto on the complicated reasons. And then all of a sudden, a couple more of those loops. And you've got a back blog that keeps you from getting anything up on the screen.

Enough already! I'm thinking. Largely thanks to our friend Bonnie "Prince" Billy. He has a new thing. "Lie Down in the Light." Wow. It was sounding eternal the first time I listened to it. Having it playing on a loop hasn't convinced me otherwise. He sings things like. "You remind me of something/ A song that I am and you sing me back into myself/ When I wake, When I'm sleeping/ The song is a man and a woman and everything else." It's a good thing he adds everything else. Otherwise I might not be able to love him. Weird, isn't it. When you accept music you're hearing as your own. When it enters your ear and nestles there. And you know you can just push the button and find it again. Antony's been that way for me. Our friend Mr. C., too. Joanna Newsome I had to keep trying. Kate Bush. Kiki. Not necessarily anything terribly original about that roster of originals. Just love them. Some others, too.

Like Animal Collective. And lovely Panda Bear. I can't decently write on a blog called "Search for Delicious" and not mention that I spent a brief evening watching him stare out at me and the rest of the crowd. He actually made me weep. I'd never heard the band allow a slip of Panda Bear solo into one of their sets. This time around they did. "Comfy in Nautica." The chords that open the song. All they promise and get going on already. The surprise of hearing the group let him have his say on his own with them. The risk that must represent for them.

And then I luv this song. Like a lot. They played it when we heard them here à Paris this past fall. And I think I looked it up then, too. Googling "I want to walk around with you." And finding out they're calling the thing "Bearhug." Apparently it doesn't have a proper release yet. Though I'm waiting for it. I kinda imagine it as the centerpiece of their next album. Since they're apparently playing it to death in their live shows. There are lots of people I want to walk around with. And I love the rhythm and the urgency of they way they just scream it out.



'Member how I said that the first time we saw them it was the joy of discovery. And that the second time it was like they'd found the rhythms they'd been kneading and therefore didn't need to knead them anymore? Well, this time it was like they still didn't need to knead, and it was also like they, too, were a little tired. The show didn't even go on for two hours. But as tired as they were (and they have been touring an awful lot). It was like they had spaces to show us. Patches of woods. A little stream. Things they'd come upon while they were walking around. And that they're happy to show off.

Part of my backblog is of course my own damn fault. I mean. I set myself up for a fall bein' all like "I was consecrating something and it's not marriage." I'm going to blather on about it off-screen for a little while. Because if Berlin and my writing about it was some kind of consecrated non-marriage. Or some kind of entirely other ceremonial. You know. I wanna be careful about how exactly I say what exactly it was. Or, maybe not careful. I just wanna get it right. Right enough to keep me dancing.