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| 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.
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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
Don
Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 84 songs
Hear all 84 at once on the the LitRock Jukebox
Hear all 84 at once on the the LitRock Jukebox
Arctic monkeys. Now there's a band I know I've never heard of.
ReplyDelete"They manage to be smart and pop-ish at the same time, no mean feat."
ReplyDeleteWell 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)
Conrad
ReplyDeleteI 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.
Charles:
ReplyDeleteThey 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
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.
ReplyDeleteDon,
ReplyDeletecheck out "Warpaint", a great band out of LA (i think)
Jim,
ReplyDeleteAh 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
whaT WAS THAT ANCIENT SONG LONG-ABOUT 1956?
ReplyDelete"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!
Fleshlight plactic
ReplyDeletecase NOT INCLUDED. She had appeared in over 120 films, including the Springs at Borrego 9 hole course and Borrego Springs Resort's 18.