The Post-Rockist

Posted by Todd

 

The Modern Lovers - Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste
(from Precise Modern Lovers Order)

Galaxie 500 - Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste
(from Today)

The Tall Boy - 45s and Books
(from Go Forth)

Is there anyone more earnest than Jonathan Richman? The nakedness of his voice, the humanity of his plea, his bleating promise to give you “memories to rival Berlin in the ’30s.” And this song, “Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste” - the title alone, even - is what it’s all about for Jonathan: plaintive romantic yearnings for poetic encounters, followed by a simple admission that “I really understand your dating bar ways.” It’s all so heartbreakingly tender and truthful. And it’s not just that I appreciate the sentiment of the song, which I do, but it’s that I can’t get my imagined vision of this performance out of my head. I imagine Jonathan, after spending the better part of an hour fighting against the instincts of his band to play louder while struggling to maintain the interest of a bewildered and chatty audience, stepping up to the microphone alone and laying himself bare with this number. It’s almost painful.

Whereas with Galaxie 500’s cover, the message of the song becomes a much more closely guarded secret. Dean Wareham’s mousy voice is shielded by a dense fog of droning guitars and primal war drumming, and with the defenses of introversion raised there’s an unsettling fear that beneath all the noisy bravado the song has become little more than a hesitant Carpe Diem in their hands. Chilling, for what it’s worth, but the romance feels too neurotic to be simply enjoyed.

The Tall Boy get more to the supposed point on the song “45s and Books.” “You stalk the library for fun, that’s okay a while in once,” sings former Boyracer Matty Green, with an awkward turn of phrase, “But don’t be scared of the young, while you are one.” It’s so easy to miss out on life, they gesture, when yours is populated more with fictional characters and the artifacts of popular culture than with real friends and memories. It breeds a loneliness so cold even the guitars shiver and the vocal reverb takes on the downy qualities of fresh snowfall.

I posted a track by the Tall Boy last week without much reaction, so I feel I should stress how beautiful and hushed this new EP is, Go Forth. Although I’m posting them here again with the Modern Lovers and Galaxie 500 for thematic purposes, stylistically these Glaswegians fall somewhere between the Shins and the Clientele. And as much as this song gently coaxes listeners to do otherwise, a song this simple and moving is a good reminder of why I like to spend so much time with my 45s and my books, or more appropriately, with my mp3s and my blogs.

-Posted by Todd

Posted by Scotter

The following is an experiment. When you click on the song below, it will open in a new window. Allow the song to play in the new window while reading along on the Post-Rockist. The music will probably move faster than reading. Let us know if you’ve enjoyed this experiment or if it works at all.

Nervous Tick Motion of the Head to the Left
Andrew Bird
The Mysterious Production of Eggs

A fading wave of unconsciousness leaves you.

Overperscribed, soberly and acoustically, under the mister [A cattle farmer from Homerville, OH, has installed misters in his fields so that the cows can continue to graze in the otherwise dangerous heat] we had survived to turn on the History Channel and ask our esteemed panel [yes, do] why are we alive? and here’s what they replied: You’re what happens when two substances collide and on all accounts you really should have died [The doctrine of probabilities dates to the correspondence of Pierre de Fermat and Blaise Pascal (1654).][A basic idea of chaos theory is the butterfly effect: “The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a tornado to appear (or, for that matter, prevent a tornado from appearing). The flapping wing represents a small change which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale phenomena. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different.”]

Crack, crackle, crack: jangly thunder claps then fades.

A sound similar to when a door would open in the main deck of the Enterprise in classic 60s Star Trek. Drawing figure 8s with a pencil in 3rd grade on a hot May day. Breath pushed through pursed lips. A finger tip lightly circling the brim of a glass half-full-half-empty with water.

Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick.

Stretched out on the tarmac, six miles south of North Platte [Glenn Miller lived in North Platte, NE, for many years as a child. Later in life, he died in an airplane crash. “Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different.”]

He can’t stand to look back [Martin Scorcese directed a documentary on Bob Dylan called “Don’t Look Back.” It ends in 1967 when Dylan was thrown from his bike and nearly killed. “Had the butterfly not flapped its wings…”]Sixteen tons of Hazmat[HAZMAT is short for hazardous materials and is defined as any solid, liquid, or gas that can harm people, other living organisms, or the environment. From the North Platte Telegraph, 01/22/2005: “The train accident in Granitville, S.C., is just a small example of what kind of disaster could happen in North Platte. On Jan. 6, a tanker car ruptured after a Columbia-bound freight train struck a parked train near Avondale Mills plant. A dangerous gas cloud formed quickly, forcing more than 5,000 residents to evacuate. The chemical spill of chlorine gas killed five people.”]

It’s what goes undelivered.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It’s a nervous tick motion of the head to the left
[Autism is often marked by nervous ticks of the head]
Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick.
It’s a nervous tick motion of the head to the left
Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick.
Of the what, of the head to the left
[Tik is a street name for methamphetamine]
So exercise yourself to your bereft.
Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick.
Cause it’s a nervous tic motion of the head to the left of the, of the, to the
Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick.
[Ticks are second only to mosquitoes as vectors of human disease, both infectious and toxic. Hazmat may be radioactive, flammable, explosive, toxic, corrosive, biohazardous, an oxidizer, an asphyxiant, an allerger.]

The Enterprise door
Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick.
Figure eights
Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick-ta. Tick.
Circular motion makes sound.

Splayed out on the bathmat,
[The bathroom is the best acoustic space in most houses and apartments]
Six miles north of South Platte
[Circular motion makes sound]
He just wants his life back
[Don’t look back?]
What’s in that paper nap sack
[Tik is a street name for methamphetamine]
It’s what goes undelivered
[boom boom]
Undelivered

boom boom boom boom [HAZMAT]

It’s a nervous tic motion of the head to the left
A nervous tick-ta tic tick-ta motion of the head
Head to the tick-ta left
It’s a nervous tic motion of tick-ta the, of tick-ta the, to the tick-ta ta-the
Left

It’s a nervous tic motion of the head to tick-ta the, of tick-ta the, of the tick-ta head of the head to the

Cracks jangly thunder

Over imbibed Under the mister [Homerville, Oh]
Barely alive we cover the blisters in flannel
[Dr. Scholl’s® Molefoam® Padding: Extra-soft, smooth cotton flannel padding]
Though the words we speak are banal
[huh]
Not one of them’s a lie
[No]
Not one of them’s a lie
[Yes]
You’re what happens when two substances collide
[”Had the butterfly not flapped its wings…”]
And by all accounts you really should have died
[…the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different.]

[and now, we sigh]

–Posted by Scotter