Vacation Songs

Hello campers! First of all, my apologies for Metal Wednesday's no-show yesterday, we're taking a trip to the seaside and that means no time for blogging and mucho mucho mucho packing, arranging and sorting out the kitten etc! I can assure you next week we'll be back on track with a proper Metal Wednesday kicking off our return (probably no posts till then, sorry my guys and guy-ettes).

Now, as a peace-offering to you all for my lack of posts in the coming days I've put together a little bundle of vacation-inspired tracks for you to delight in. Summer might not be quite as hot as expected here in the UK, but we can still hitch a ride to Rockaway beach...

A little about the choice first; 'Rockaway Beach' is from The Ramones' 1977 album Rocket to Russia and has one of the best sing-a-long choruses for a car trip. Plus, as with most Ramones songs, you can learn it in about 30 seconds, so even the uninitiated can join in. 'Summer Skin' is from Death Cab's seminal album Plans and lusciously explores the fleeting world of summer romance over a lazy bass-line that bores into your mind. 'Holiday from Real' is a bouncy piano-driven track by Jack's Mannequin, side project of Andrew McMahon, originally from Something Corporate. It's getting featured here mostly for the line "She lets me drive her car so I can score an eighth from the lesbians out west in Venice". Our final track, 'Packing Blankets' by Eels is more about packing up your past and starting again than packing your suitcase, but it's so endlessly cheery it works perfectly for a road trip. Check the lyrics:

Today is a lovely day to run
Start up the car with the sun
Packing blankets and dirty sheets
A roomful of dust and a broom to sweep up
All the troubles you and I have seen

The Ramones - Rockaway Beach
Death Cab for Cutie - Summer Skin
Jack's Mannequin - Holiday from Real
Eels - Packing Blankets
Bonus! The Ramones - Endless Vacation

As always, please be supportive of the artists, and if you like their work, you can buy it at the following locations:

Hey! Ho! Let's Go: The Anthology by The Ramones
Plans by Death Cab for Cutie
Everything in Transit by Jack's Mannequin
Dasies of the Galaxy by Eels

Something to look forward to... Antony and the Johnsons

As has been much talked about lately, Antony and the Johnsons are set to release a 5 track EP called Another World on October 7th under Secretly Canadian, followed by a new album (at last!) in January next year. It's been three years since the band's second full-length, I am a Bird Now hit the stores and became a Mercury Music Prize winner (woot!) and fans of the warbley-one are in for a treat if recent side-projects are anything to go by.

I know I'm not the only one whose been spinning Hercules & Love Affair's stomping Blind non-stop since it leaked, hooked on the funky drag-esque vocals of Antony Hegarty himself, coupled with a stabbing bass-line and brass section that spills sonorously away into the air like a samba as Mr. H urges us to feel it.

While we're on horns, Bjork's latest single from last year's Volta is scheduled to be The Dull Flame of Desire, a brooding duet with Antony Hegarty. The track is a bold coupling of two unique voices against an almost militant brass orchestra and tribal drum which at over 7 minutes long displays the dextrous tonality of Antony's voice brilliantly. The track comes out on September 29th, but you can hear it here, courtesy of The Selector:

Bjork featuring Antony Hegarty - The Dull Flame of Desire

Now for a real treat, give Antony's I Fell in Love With a Dead Boy a listen. This track is a sublime exercise in subtlety as Antony's restrained vocals are gently backed by a melancholy piano that carries on some seriously intimate lyrics dealing with a truly impossible love:

Antony and the Johnsons - I Fell in Love With a Dead Boy

P.S. By now you really ought to have I am a Bird Now and for the sweet cool-fire of Icelandic desire, why not grab Bjork's Volta while you're at it?

Regina Watch...

As you all may know, I took the name of this blog, Dance Anthem of the 80s from a little known Regina Spektor song, in which Ms. Spektor goes walking, through this city, like a drunk but not. In honour of that fact, I thought I'd see what everyone's favourite Russian New Yoiker was up to these days...

It's been two years since the last album, Begin to Hope was released, and we've all been patiently waiting, going through the live sets to wonder what favourite misc track might eventually get committed to analogue and kick off a new album. However, following a collapse on stage late last year and subsequent development of vertigo, it seems we may have a little longer to go before that dream gets realised. However, with the only up-coming show scheduled this week for the 23rd at San Francisco's Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival perhaps we can begin to hope some studio time is being booked? (Excuse the pun).

Until then I point you to this fantastic website which includes a vast catalogue of live recordings and demo's for those of you too eager to await any real news. My personal favourite among these live rarities has to be 'Aquarius' which isn't actually available at the ReSpekt site mentioned, so I shall post it here. The pause where she gets the song slightly wrong and says 'sorry' is completely adorable, and totally what I love about live music.

Born of a sign that carries vessels
But in a month that brings just ice
I know I question things too quickly
But I've never wondered if I've loved

Regina Spektor - Aquarius (Live)