Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009
Podpicks for October 29, 2009
With the spooky vibe of Halloween in the air, we pillage the soundtrack to the upcoming vampire/werewolf flick "Twilight: New Moon" to offer some macabre rock you can download (legally, of course) to your iPod or other personal media device.
"Hearing Damage" by Thom Yorke - Like vampires, werewolves and teenage abstinence, there is no such thing as indie rock - well, not after last Tuesday anyway. Destined to become the only franchise with back-to-back No. 1 soundtracks, the second Twilight OST (expertly curated once again by Alexandra Patsavas) is coursing and throbbing with the finest college rock blood. As per usual, Radiohead's Thom Yorke fares the best. Quivering atop a low-end theory of pulsating synths and echo-spiked vocals, Yorke stresses his partiality in the chorus. "In my eyes, you can do no wrong," he willfully admits. With Edward Cullen out of the picture this time around - and Team Jacob fast encroaching - it's hard not to imagine Bella Swan singing this one herself.
"Slow Life" by Grizzly Bear with Victoria Legrand - Physically at least, Stephanie Meyer's vampires and indie rock fan boys have a lot in common: sun-hating, cripplingly sensitive, hopelessly smitten with awkwardly gloomy brunettes, etc. Both the undead bloodsucker and the unkempt Pitchfork reader are over-served here as Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste cryptically dialogues with belle of the Beach House Victoria Legrand. She starts it, a simple, unadorned guitar backing her plea to "keep up the slow life for the night." As expected, things get heavier and more orchestral once Droste enters the picture. Shimmering like the diamonds in Pattinson's skin, he promises that "if you ask, I'll cut you free." With themes a bit too intense for young adult fiction, your niece will opt instead for that Death Cab song...and that's a good thing.
"Possibility" by Lykke Li - Speaking of likelihoods, there's a possibility that this installment of the Twilight saga will be the wooden stake indie rock's had coming for a while now. And even if it's not quite that catastrophic, once the end credits roll, millions more will have heard a Bon Iver or Sea Wolf song than ever before. Opening your record collection is almost as dangerous as opening your heart, and when Swedish songstress Lykke Li laments "all I'm gonna get is gonna be yours then," it speaks an awful truth to insular music snobs and insecure adolescents alike. Here, a doleful, brooding piano languorously bangs the perfect accompaniment to Li's breathy, childlike delivery. Sometimes the answers aren't there, and to that, she hums a chillingly resigned "mmmm." In the end though, Li figures it out. "By blood, and by me, I'll follow your lead," she finally realizes.