Have you ever seen how they make cotton candy at a fair? Where they stick the paper tube in the middle of that vat and the candy and static electricity or whatever starts clinging to the stick?

I think people have a version of that.

“Wild Horses” became a hit for the Rolling Stones back in 1971. Ever since then the song has been covered numerous times, including recently by Susan Boyle. While there are many great covers of his song, I’ve always liked the Sundays version of it that was on their 1992 album Blind.  I had never even heard of the Sundays or heard the song until I saw the 1996 thriller flick Fear (which is a surprisingly well-made movie.) on TV a couple of years ago, and they had the song playing in the background of one of the more infamous scenes of the movies (It’s best if I don’t go into detail.)

It’s really too bad that this cover never became a hit for this band.

Paul Brindley, bassist, The Sundays

The Sundays have recorded a lot of great music.

Here’s “You’re Not The Only One I Know” from their 1990 album Reading, Writing, & Arithmetic:

Here’s a similar sounding song off of the same album, called “Here’s Where The Story Ends”:

hope i’ll never wake….(but i did,,,i had to,,,) i cannot explain why i always dreamed about you for the past months…

After the second viewing, quickly followed the third. This fuckin’ movie is becoming one of my all-time favorites. Put it up there with Godfather, 2001, Taxi Driver, you name it.

90’s bad boys, Reese in her prime (before she got real success), killin’ the family dog, finger fuckin’ on a wooden rollercoaster, flannel, Bush, oh I love this shit.

I’m gonna go get my haircut on Monday with a still-shot from this movie, “Ay, gimme the David McCall.”

If anyone’s seen Straw Dogs, is it just me or does the end sequence pay extreme homage/rip off the Peckinpah masterpiece? Only the wifey doesn’t get raped. No one does (booo.)

The Allman Brothers – Jessica

Bush – Comedown

Bush – Machine Head

The Sundays – Wild Horses

The Sundays foi uma banda britânica de indie rock formada em 1987, em Londres, Inglaterra, pela vocalista e compositora Harriet Wheeler (n. 26/jun/1966) e pelo guitarrista e compositor David Gavurin (n. 04/abr/1966).

Wheeler e Gavurin se encontraram quando ainda estavam na faculdade, período em que começaram a compor juntos. Em agosto de 1988, sob o nome The Sundays, o casal fez sua primeira apresentação no Vertigo Club, em Camden, Londres. Os comentários boca-a-boca dessa apresentação foram excelentes e, em pouco tempo, eles já eram saudados como o próximo grande sucesso no cenário musical. Foi então que Paul Brindley (n. 06/nov/1966) e Patrick Hannan (n. 4/mar/1969) entraram para a banda como instrumentistas.

Em seguida, The Sundays assinou um contrato com a Rough Trade Records, do Reino Unido. De 1987 a 1997, o grupo lançou três álbuns muito bem recebidos pela crítica e pelo público.

Depois do lançamento de “Static & Silence”, Harriet Wheeler e David Gavurin se casaram. Eles têm um casal de filhos.

The Sundays planeja descansar durante alguns anos. Ao que parece, a banda não aparecerá com material novo num futuro tão próximo…

From what I understand, Susan Boyle who was runner-up in the British karoake finals is or has released a similar version of this Rolling Stones song as a single. But for my money, give me The Sundays. Perfect for a rainy overcast day while I pour my broken heart into my journal at Starbucks.

En la epoca de los 90s, cuando lo alternativo era lo estandar, cuando lo alternativo era la moda, en esos días la voz y las armonías  de Harriet Wheeler era lo más parecido a los ángeles.

“So is this what its come to? 
Am I cold or just a little bit warm? 
O well
Give me an easy life and a peaceful death”

Relaxation. dance. Respiration. drive. Meditation … cool out. We all need it. I know I do. Let me help you get there …

“Half Mast” by Empire of the Sun is like … umm … my most favorite song to get stuck in my head. For you that know it, I know you’re singing the hook right now: “.. Ohh Ohhhh Ohhhhhhhhh Hoooneeey I neeeeed yooou …”

Love the fact that this here Vandaveer vid is a “Lavomatik Session”. Also love how great they sound. Did I mention I heart them? ‘Cause I really really do. And just now, I sorta toyed with the idea of yellow hair.

“The Greatest” by Cat Power – I guess if I could describe what floating in water sounds like, this could be the song I choose. There’s something about the echoey vocals strewn through sad violins and a fading piano that allow this song to kidnap you for its entirety. With a touch of “Moon River” mixed with a little bit of Sarah McLachlan’s ”Last Dance”, this song will help you get where you wanna be.

I just love me some My Morning Jacket, especially their song “Wordless Chorus”. Let your mind go … no company necessary to assist in this drift, all you need is yourself.

Always reminded why Basement Jaxx is my most favorite in the world. But you already knew that! This song is exactly how I feel sometimes. Ok, I’m lying. A lot of the time. HA. It’s called “Feelings Gone” and it also features the fabulous Sam Sparro. Enjoy, loves.

The Teenagers “Homecoming” is so totally spot-on-reflective of today’s youngsters. It’s so cool to hear songs that are blunt and tell it like it is. But this song is fantastic even without the lyrics, but honestly, the facebook reference is classic.

OK, raise your hand if you remember ”Wild Horses” by The Sundays. Now, raise your hand if you remember “Wild Horses” by The Sundays ANNNNNND sang it at the top of your lungs in your room, car or wherever you were listening to it in secret whilst crying over some dummy who broke your heart. Yeah, I KNOW. I totally just brought it back.

Miike Snow, in my opinion, is a great dose of “awesome” when you need one. truthfully, why wouldn’t you want a dose of “awesome” EVERYDAY? If you don’t, you’re lame. But, still listen to these … if you listen, maybe you’ll change your mind and your lame situation. hehe …

“Cut Logic” by Miike Snow (I don’t know about you, but I find it amusing when people take random ass flicks – such as Rocky II – and put them to really rad music – such as “Cut Logic” -)

“Burial” by Miike Snow. Maaaaaaaaaan, do I love this vid. I don’t know if it’s the sincerity of the people in it or the realness of the kids dancing … it’s somethin’, though, ’cause I like it. A lot. So, what chu waiting for? Press play already! Oh, and the best line? “At your own burial, don’t forget to cry”.

Band of Horses “Is There a Ghost” is the kind of song I sometimes dream about. Excellent vocals by the man himself and lyrics we’re all  familiar with. And watching people get their ass beat with pillows is also pretty excellent.

Can’t go wrong with a side of Go Sailor once in a while. Here’s one of my favs “Together Forever in Love”. I almost used this song for the outtakes of a film I made in college buuuut, didn’t happen. Either way, this one is fun to dance to.

Travis Fashion Advice to single Girls: Hair up, tight wool sweater.

You’re welcome.

If there was one thing that YouTube was invented for, it was featuring hefty extracts from those cheapo washed-out ’semi’ (ie completely) educational imports that used to be shoved out on Sunday mornings for fear that any ‘proper’ television might dissuade the nation’s youngsters from going to church. Here, then, is a complete episode of The Wonderful Stories Of Professor Kitzel, a 1972 Canadian cartoon series shown endlessly by ITV in the early eighties, in which week in week out the titular boffin remembers some event from history whilst working out plans for his latest invention, leading into 90% of the running time being given over to a strangely Pythonesque dry retelling of some great historical achievement over still watercolours courtesy of his ‘time machine’ (so hang on, he’s invented a time machine and yet still wants to achieve his crowning glory of creating a robotic hand that will automatically insert ‘jelly’ into sandwiches?), returning to the Prof in time for his now-completed invention to invariably backfire with comical consequences, and a quick burst of the old KPM library track Windsor Frolic over an oddly colourless psychedelic splurge.

Apparently there were about seven hundred million episodes of this, covering everything from the obvious likes of Charles Darwin and the Statue Of Liberty to more esoteric subjects such as Covered Wagons, Ponce De Leon(!), and – according to this possibly typo-ridden episode guide at least – ‘Beavis’. Extra points for the appearance in this footage of the Professor’s ‘Granpa’, who inexplicably looks younger than he does, and the presence in the end credits of one Cyril Suede.  Roll on the uploading of nine minutes of Land Of The Lapps…

The three most short-lived traces: the trace of a bird on a branch, the trace of a fish on a pool, and the trace of a man on a woman. –an Irish triad

rian fir ar mhnaoi

She believed everything, the urgency of his body, the touch of his hands, the pressure of his mouth, the insistence of the narrative that ran and ran in her mind.  In his arms she was assaulted, stolen, by a learned mythology …                                –from “Away” by Jane Urquhart

There are two things that I can’t believe.  Number one is that I haven’t heard of The Sundays until now.  Listening to them makes me yearn for the ’90s when my best friend and I would rollerblade around her basement to The Cranberries.  Back then, Dolores O’Riordan’s signature lilt ignited in us fantasies of Celtic romance, lush rolling green hills and The Troubles, a bloody conflict made exotic in our adolescent minds by “Zombie” and U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”  Although The Sundays (1988-1997) are English, Harriet Wheeler’s dreamy vocals and that jangling guitar-driven ’90s sound stir something in me the same way The Cranberries did.  A lot of it has to do with the appeal of the UK to my Canadian mind and the intense draw I feel to that land, to its history, its folklore, its mythology …

The intensity deepens as I read Jane Urquhart’s Away.  Urquhart’s novel spans three generations: from northern Ireland in the 1840s to Grosse Isle and the land of the Canadian Shield to Port Hope and Montreal.  Three generations of women, beautiful and otherworldly with their fiery red hair, explore their personal history and its inevitable tie with the “others,” the faeries, daemons and spirits that roam the curvaceous landscape and brush like a crow’s feather on the Irish imagination. 

Ever since young Mary is visited by a daemon lover, she is considered “away.”  She was touched, inside and out, by one of the “others” and that spell now binds her to the spirit world:

At first it was believed that Mary would die; that she would waste away, abandoning a body that had already been “left behind.”  As time went by, however, and she seemed stronger and more beautiful than ever, it began to appear that other steps would have to be taken.  She did nothing but sing quietly — there was no other form of speech — the songs she had invented during her night vigil with the corpse [...] Her bread rose to ridiculous heights in the oven and the sweet berries for which the islanders spent hours searching began to appear in profusion all around her mother’s cabin. 

As streams of golden tea poured from silver teapots all over the island in the following months, the women, young and old, considered the predicament.  They feared Mary, but did not wish to offend her, fearing the retribution of “the others” more.

–from Away by Jane Urquhart, page 22.

Although the veil of “away-ness” her daemon lover threw over her eventually fades and Mary weds a schoolteacher and emigrates to Canada, his inescapable call draws her to him and the other world in any form of water, and her innate lyricism and mythology inherited from her land carries through to the next generations of red-haired women, just as physically moved by water and song as she is. 

If it sounds a bit abstract, it’s because it is.  Urquhart, I believe, is first and foremost a poet, an honour that can proudly be said of many Canadian authors.  The first few chapters were extremely hard to get through; I felt as though swimming through seaweed with only pinpricks of illuminating light.  However, once a couple chapters of opaque poetic language is sifted through and three generations of women are established, the context and history of the novel begins to take shape. 

I’m not done the book but I’ve decided to review it anyway because I find these ”in-the-moment” reviews less calculated than those done after the fact.  So far, I’m taken with the breathtaking beauty of Urquhart’s poetic literature and feel encircled by the Irish mythology that may or may not dance in my own blood (there was speculation that there may be a teeny-tiny bit of Irish in our family tree, but since most of our records have been lost, there’s no way of knowing.  I’d like to think I have a bit of Irish in me!)  I also love the way Urquhart has drawn together two histories: that of the Irish land taken over by the British, and that of the Aboriginal land taken over by the British, and weaved a tapestry of a people marked by song, by story, by an acknowledgement of the spirit of nature. 

Which brings me to the second thing I can’t believe.  Why have I never read Jane Urquhart before?  And why has her work never showed up on any of my Canadian Lit reading lists?

… and I’m riding on a crest of The Sundays and Chad Van Gaalen.  

hello summer

After a rainy, dreary July, it’s nice to finally enjoy the sunshine and hot weather.  Even though my working Saturday didn’t go as planned and I got snubbed by local politicans’ cronies, paid $75 for a cab to take me from assignment to assignment (who, as it turned out, showed up 1 hour late because this is a small town and everyone drives and consequently, pollutes the planet), biked around the town looking for “people doing fun summery things on the holiday weekend” feeling like a creep and getting rejected, and had a nearly perfect driving lesson on Sunday (with one minor mistake which I’m trying to forgive myself for), today has shaped up much better.  It will be a promising August, I think.

It seems as though the anxiety and self-criticism has temporarily dissipated with the glorious sunlight.  I hopped back again on my bike this morning, camera in tow, hoping for more “people doing fun summery things on the holiday weekend.”  I went to the beach, found a cute 15 month-old boy and snapped away (with his mother’s permission, of course.)  I waded barefoot in the cool, clear water and felt my soul quieted and satisfied as I watched sailboats glide in the distance and my new home come August 28, Toronto, shimmer like a mirage across the lake.  I sat on a rock with the sand between my toes and watched an elderly golden retriever frolic like a young pup in the water, children skipping stones and a young couple stroll barefoot on the shore. 

When I was satisfied with the pictures I had taken, I biked down to the Pumphouse.  I attached my zoom lens to the camera and got some great shots of sailboats, fishing boats, motor boats and yachts that were all taking advantage of the beautiful day.  My zoom lens is so good that I could make out the figures in the boats themselves, rather than simply a speck of the boat on the horizon.  I spotted an assortment of Canadian geese, ducks and seagulls chillin’ near the shore and was pleasantly surprised to see a gorgeous white swan among them.  As I balanced carefully on the shoreline rocks and got out my camera, the swan seemed to follow the direction I was walking in and floated closer to me.  As I went snap-happy, loving the effect of water droplets glistening on her white feathers against the dark blue-green of the lake, she started to preen, stretching her graceful long neck, looking coyly over her shoulder and resting her head on her wings.  It was almost like she was posing for me and loving the camera!  Apparently it’s unusual for swans to be so friendly and approachable, but this one was workin’ it!

After hundreds of photos were taken, I came home, jumped in the pool, and spent the rest of the afternoon reading Away by Jane Urquhart, sipping a homemade iced chai latte and cuddling Sammy on my lap.  It was a much-needed one-day vacation and now I feel mostly rested and serene.

I’d love more summer days like this one, but I also can’t wait for fall (and my new life) to begin.  I just found out last week that I got the editorial internship at Quill and Quire: Canada’s magazine of book news and reviews.  Just a few months ago I was considering the area of journalism I’d most like to get into, and I decided that my perfect job would be to write about books and the publishing industry.  This is a dream come true, and to make matters even better, I’ll be living in Parkdale with my sister and taking a short streetcar to Queen Street East, where the office is located.  I’ve already started buying some new office-y clothes for the internship and am trying to figure out which books I’ll be able to take with me (not a lot … sad face). 

I’m really, really excited about the privilege of being at Q&Q, being near my sister, my boyfriend and the Big Beautiful City that awaits me.

Like Mary Tyler Moore, I’m going to make it after all!

I bet back in the day making out with the singer from the Sundays would involve a lot of really soft sweaters and hairpins everywhere and laughing. 

“Jag ber om en vårkväll på rusiga ängar”

01. Tant Strul – Hela mitt guld
02. Everything but the girl – Each and every one
03. The Sundays – Here’s where the story ends
04. Janet Jackson – Young love
05. The Ocean Blue – Cerulean
06. The Chameleons – Inside out
07. David Bowie – After today
08. The Railway children – Something so good
09. Bob Dylan – Tight connection to my heart (Has anybody seen my love)
10. Morrissey – I know very well how I got my name
11. Staffan Hallstrand – Sång till västanvinden

Finding music to suit one’s mood can be a challenge. Particularly when it’s overall ennui or daily tedium. When there’s nothing bad happening (thankfully), but nothing great either, I find myself reminiscing.  So I choose some music to capture the mood, resorting to a few old stand-bys, and sit with a glass wine. But this weekend I wanted something new. I discovered Camera Obscura several years ago and decided to check out their latest album, My Maudlin Career. A fitting title for a record that will likely become a regular in my playlist for those “weakly and effusively sentimental” moments.

I first heard Camera Obscura’s “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken”, on a friend’s mix CD. The same annual Best Of where I discovered Regina Spektor (see the SWIKest Summer Tours). It’s a catchy tune, supposedly a response to Lloyd Cole’s “Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?”  Lloyd Cole was an ’80’s indie-pop artist who didn’t get much further than college radio in the US. I spent a brief period addicted to his 1990 self-titled album. The lyrical connection may be tough to sort out in these songs, but you can hear his influence on their overall sound.

Camera Obscura seems to be coming into their own. This is the fourth album from the Scottish indie-pop band. It’s their first release with record label 4AD, which houses some of my favorite artists and is known for its artwork.  I like the smooth harmonies, some almost Beach Boys-esque, on this album. Their sound is mellow, but still catchy. The vocals from Tracyanne Campbell with back up form Carey Lander are not sad or depressing, more wistful and melancholy. Their guitars and keyboards surround you like good friends. They have a pop sensibility that pulls you in and makes you smile inside and relax, rather than curl up in ball and cry.

Tracyanne Photo by Esme Deacon

They lyrics are witty and provide an escape from the everyday. Much like “Lloyd I’m Ready to be Heartbroken” they often reference other artists and songs. One of my favorite songs on the new album,”The Sweetest Thing,” had me wondering about U2’s song of the same title. The song also references Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Other stand out tunes on the album are “French Navy” and “James,” but I like the whole album and continue to listen to it from start to finish.

Camera Obscura has been compared to Belle & Sebastian, but I wonder if that’s just the swirly guitar-keyboard pop sound and the fact that both bands are form Scotland? Another Scottish band that does come to mind is the Cocteau Twins. Far more etherial and “out there” than Camera Obscura, the Cocteau Twins brought a mix of emotions captured by Liz Fraser’s vocals and lack of actual lyrics. She was never saying anything specific, but her voice evoked feelings that few others have replicated. The sound for some may seem dark, but I find her vocals and their overall sound soothing. I think that they’ve had a profound, albeit subliminal, influence on much of today’s alternative guitar-keyboard pop music. It’s interesting to note that the Cocteau Twins were also on 4AD. Camera Obscura’s move to 4AD makes them part of the next generation for the label.

More so than the Cocteau Twins, Camera Obscura reminds of The Sundays. One of my all time favorites. They had mild success in the early ‘90’s and were clearly influenced by the Cocteau Twins. The Sundays had small hit with “Here’s Where the Story Ends.” Their first album Reading, Writing  & Arithmetic remained in my CD player for months on end. It was the same for their second album Blind. Their cover of Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” is stunning and beautiful. It simultaneously captures the feeling of lost love and the wonder of being in love. Harriet Wheeler’s vocals are very different from Campbell’s, but the overall sound is similar. I still listen to The Sundays, they suit that certain mood. Call it maudlin. It requires a glass of wine and music with a twinge of cheeriness and much needed irony or wit so as not to take itself (or yourself) too seriously. I expect Camera Obscura will become another go to band for these moments.

Camera Obscura is on tour this summer. I’ll be adding them to the SWIKest summer tours list and catching them at Webster Hall on June 24th in NYC. I highly recommend their new album and seeing a show.

See and hear music in this blog
Camera Obscura Lloyd I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken, French Navy,  The Sweetest Thing
The Sundays Here’s Where The Story Ends, Wild Horses
Cocteau Twins Carolyn’s Fingers, Ice Blink Luck
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Are You Ready to be Heartbroken?, Rattlesnakes
U2 Sweetest Thing
Paul Simon 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

Recommended albums (and links to purchase them)
Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career,  Lets Get Out of This Country
The Sundays Reading, Writing & Arithmetic,  Blind
Cocteau Twins Treasure,  Heaven or Las Vegas

Useful Definitions from Merriam-Webster
Maudlin: adjective 1. drunk enough to be emotionally silly 2. weakly and effusively sentimental
Camera obscura: Etymology New Latin, literally, dark chamber. A darkened enclosure having an aperture usually provided with a lens through which light from external objects enters to form an image of the objects on the opposite surface. The ancester to the current photographic camera.

Mellow Mix vol. 3 is a two disc set of slower songs spanning multiple genres including bands such as Radiohead, Primal Scream, Neil Young, Led Zep and Blur. Unwind and relax.

Click here to download disc 1.

Click here to download disc 2.

It’s an M4A file that when played through iTunes is capable of fast forwarding to the next chapter. Look for the ‘Chapters’ tab at the top of the player when playing. These files will play in all iPods. You may also convert it to a single mp3 file within iTunes by going to the ‘Advanced’ tab at the top of the player and selecting ‘Create MP3 Version.’ You may also subscribe to this blog by clicking on the ‘Entries RSS’ and using an aggregator (feed reader), such as Google Reader to get notifications sent to you whenever a new post is made.