Sunday, January 9, 2011

A Certain Romance: Issa's Sunday Service, #85

Photo by Johann "nojhan" Dréo








The songs that comprise the Issa's Sunday Service list need to contain a direct reference to some element which most people would agree is literary in nature.  Some bands, whose subject matter is literary in tone or style, don't necessarily base their work on a literary precursor or make direct allusion to something literary and so don't make the list.  On occasion decidedly un-artsy bands make the list because of a specific allusion to some well-known literary fact.


Today's entry is at once literate and un-artsy.  Among recent bands, Arctic Monkeys definitely have a way with words and, if not strictly literary in tone, they are most definitely sharp.  They manage to be smart and pop-ish at the same time, no mean feat.  Today's song,"A Certain Romance," contains a simple name drop: Sherlock Holmes, one my favorite literary characters.  So the song's in.  Enjoy.

And, oh, yeah, as a live band they bring it.  Watch.






------------------


This week two poems come from Lilliput Review, #131 (an issue featured twice previously), which shared the same page since they riffed on a particular image or, more precisely, a particular portion of the visible spectrum.  Ah-hem.

Issa, too, has something to say about it. Enjoy.



behind the
shack-up
joint
leaves
reddened
Scott Watson






their red door
    of correct feng shui
       always locked
Ayaz Daryl Nielsen








downstream, the gate
to knowledge...
evening's red leaves

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue







best,
Don


Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 84 songs
Hear all 84 at once on the the LitRock Jukebox


9 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Arctic monkeys. Now there's a band I know I've never heard of.

Conrad DiDiodato said...

"They manage to be smart and pop-ish at the same time, no mean feat."

Well said, Don.

People are too quick to condemn contemporary 'pop' as too un-artsy to notice. Rubbish! When music & lyrics (in any genre) form something "smart" & significant, it's worth writing about (as you do)

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Conrad

I agree - there is so much out there in contemporary music that I'm learning about - thank god for the library, or I'd be broke. Modest Mouse, Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Dresden Dolls, Apples in Stereo, Decemberists, The Shins - I really could go on and on ...

... and hope to with the Sunday Service.

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Charles:

They are newer, have two albums out, don't know that it is exactly up your street but I know you would go for the words ...

Don

Jim Haas said...

Living in a two-college town with student radio stations (and the almost-commercial but still innovative MPR station The Current at 89.3), it's a little easier to keep up with some of the groups like Arctic Monkeys. Nice post, as usual, Don.

Conrad DiDiodato said...

Don,

check out "Warpaint", a great band out of LA (i think)

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Jim,

Ah radio ... glad to hear you are still connecting to new music through innovative radio, so hard to find these days - glad you liked the post ...

Conrad,

Definitely will check out Warpaint - always interested in new work. They are indeed an LA band.

Don

Ed Baker said...

whaT WAS THAT ANCIENT SONG LONG-ABOUT 1956?

"TURN YOUR RADIO ON
AND
LISTEN TO THE MUSIC"

now as then....

well
keep "it' up ...guys

and
jus maybe more cream-of-the blogosphere
like UHAUL (& I could name a dozen maybe fewer
however I don't want to piss anyboddhi off
until 100 years after I'm ded)

rise-to-the-top


un homoginized or fortified or pasterized
or spell checked!

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