De Musica Ligera: As cool as Kelley Deal

The Breeders, circa 2002. (Image source).

Unfortunately, my musical enjoyment throughout childhood was hindered by my parents. For the most part their musical tastes were distinct from mine and they had little patience for what I liked if it differed from them. Though they didn’t specifically forbid me from listening to certain forms of music, they did raise a big stink when I made it public. Hence, I had the tendency to listen to many different musical genres behind their back.

The first time I heard The Breeders was while watching MTV in the early 90s. A few months after we first installed cable TV at home I caught sight of the music video for “Cannonball”. The video was eye-catching and very interesting visually. But what most caught my attention the brief portion of the chorus when she said “In the shade, in the shade” very sweetly and then repeated it with her sister Kelley. To me it seemed like a siren’s call; a call to come and join them to relax.

Though the rest of “Cannonball” had nothing to do with that, it was that snippet that was my invitation to buy the cassette of Last Splash and listen to an infinite amount of times. It also compelled me to try to catch their videos on TV as many times as possible. (Hence, this post). Obviously, this was all done without my parents’ knowledge despite my desire to play it loudly on the living room stereo instead of surreptitiously on my Walkman. It was weird to have to grow up and be two-faced; one side publicly enjoying Billo’s Caracas Boys and Lisandro Mesa, while also quietly liking The Breeders, Miguel Bosé, and Smashing Pumpkins.

A few days ago it was announced that The Breeders will release a new album in April and embark on a concert tour. As you might imagine I’m eagerly looking forward to it and hope that past vices have not hurt Kim and Kelley’s voices too much.

More importantly, there’s a living room stereo where Mountain Battles will be playing at full volume in a few months time. Regardless of the tastes of others.

• The Breeders - Invisible Man
• The Breeders – Flipside

The Fun Fair

I've been a little too irresponsible blogging here which is why I aim to do double posts this weekend. Hopefully my arms won't detach from their sockets by Sunday evening!

The following video is a small preview of one of the topics I'll write about over the weekend.

The Alternative to Sleep

Monday mornings I usually wake up at six o’clock feeling very groggy and tired from having slept a few scant hours the previous evening. Four hours of sleep is not the best way to commence any week, but I do so sans regrets.

You see, I stay up until two in the morning watching “120 Minutes” on VH1 Classic.

Despite all the cuts at MTV, VH1 and other Viacom entities a few months back, the format of “120 Minutes” is the same as a previous program called “The Alternative”. Though I enjoyed the program more when it was on late Sunday mornings, I gleefully await Monday at midnight when I put on VH1 Classic and hear the terrible faux-goth theme that introduces “120 Minutes.” No veejays. No banter. Just two hours of videos (with intermittent commercials, obviously).

Sometimes the program can be hit or miss since it tries to appeal to several different tastes within the rubric of “alternative music.” Last night’s episode was mostly miss for me though the first 90 minutes though there were a few good tunes from Love and Rockets and The Cure. Yet just as I was about to turn off the TV at around 1:40 am feeling somewhat disillusioned the following quartet of videos appeared (in order):

Morrissey - Last of the Famous International Playboys

The Breeders – Cannon Ball (Directed by the dynamic duo that was Spike Jonze and Kim Gordon)

Blur – She’s So High

Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

Brilliance. Sheer, unadulterated brilliance.

It was difficult to fall asleep after watching those vids, I barely slept, and I felt like crap all day. But it was worth it.

And I’ll do it again next week.

No regrets.

Prologue: Venegas is a friggin' genius! Yesterday she told me that VH1 Classic has a daily "The Alternative" playlist via their website. (Todays playlist centered on David Byrne and Talking Heads).

I'm still going to stay up til 2am every Monday to watch "120 Minutes'. But the daily playlists will definitely make thing a bit easier

Gracias Venegas!