Echk, A Few Things Are Jerking My Chain Today

The Music Hall of Williamsburg used to be Northsix. As such The Music Hall of Williamsburg was my second favorite local venue. Well that was officially rendered not the case when I went to purchase Black Lips tickets for Wednesday September 19th. As it turns out The Music Hall of Williamsburg is a Ticketmaster venue. That's right the intimacy of Bowery Ballroom with the service charges of the Garden. Thanks guys.

My New Top 5 Local Venues
5. Glasslands
4. Studio B
3. Cake Shop
2. Maxwell's
1. Bowery Ballroom

Another thing, I needed a candy bar at work today. Part of me is tempted to suggest that my employer should have a multitude of candy bar options spread out on my desk in the morning but I will choose my battles. I walked over to the candy machine and purchased a Hershey bar for the bargain price of 65 cents. The price was right, but it should have been indication that something was horribly wrong. Upon pulling the presumptively delicious chocolate out of it's suspiciously misshaped packaging I realized it was probably left over from a time when candy bars actually retailed for 65 cents.


And finally, who prosecutes Bill Murray? You're a police officer working the beat in Sweden all of a sudden a slightly innebriated Bill Murray rolls by in a golf cart. Is this A) a recipe for hilarity and an opportunity for a good story or B) high time someone put a golf cart riding hero to task for induldging in a bit of the sauce? Apparently some bobby over in England thought the later. Some people are humorless and unfriendly.

On First Listen: Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala

Jens Lekman's new album was his attempt at cohesion. His attempt to make what he was quoted as calling a "real album". On first listen it seems the melancholy Swede has arrived at his goal successfuly. Night Falls Over Kortedala is mostly what everyone would have expected from Jens and it is to that end one of the most satisfying albums of the year.

The songs themselves fit into the classic Jens mold of minutia and emotional nuance. Musically the album is mostly a mid-tempo affair with a few more galloping moments and a handful of slow crawl sad songs. String arrangements for this album are impressively dramatic and horns break in a lot of areas that might have otherwise felt too stark. Album opener "And I Remember Every Kiss" is a swelling masterpiece of dramatic pop song craft and would act as a suitable entry point to not only this album but Lekman's music in general. Several tracks take on characteristics of vintage disco with a decidedly organic bent, others wallow in the sort of 60's pop schmaltz that could bring a tear to Glenn Campbell's eye.

The lyrics on Kortedala once again find Jens confused by his lack of human connection and bewildered by the few connections he has. The Album high light in my mind is "A Postcard to Nina". The song chronicles Jens' trip to a friend's parent's home in Germany. Before they enter the home she (a lesbian) tells Jens she has told her parents her boyfriend was along for the trip. Over the next few lines Jens fumbles around conversations with Nina's parents and hopes that he's done a good job of convincing her parents.

There is a striking specificity to all of Jens' songs and on this album that seems to become even more true. As a result you get a strikingly personal statement from an artist who seems to have no boundary of where he ends and his art begins.

A slightly subdued live version of album opener "And I Remember Every Kiss"


Another new song.