Before heading over to Sycamore to play a show that night, I met with Iceland’s Ólöf Arnalds and her equally impressive friend Davíð Þór Jónsson, who had played a fantastically whimsical show with her at Union Hall the previous night. As we walked past a large tree towering over a mound, Ólöf’s head turned, and we decided she might as well sing under it. First song is the catchy “Klara”, which she wrote for her younger sister, the second is Caetano Veloso’s “Maria Bethania.” Before singing this song, she realizes she is missing her lyrics notebook. Davíð keeps company with a short bout of singing and dancing. One more song in Icelandic follows.

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Though I didn’t go to Housing Works Bookstore Café where Ólöf Arnalds shared the bill with Björk, her show at Sycamore two nights prior was probably the perfect way to experience this quirky Icelandic songstress (Ólöf, not Björk). Sycamore is a small bar in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with a lovely backyard, a sensible layout, friendly people, and a tiny yet awesome performance space downstairs, which with its wide slabs of wooden benches looks like it was inspired by a sauna room, and which, as Ólöf demonstrated, is great for acoustic performances, even when unamplified; it’s now easily my new favorite venue (and we’re presenting a show there on the 26th, so mark your calendar and stay tuned). It’s part flower shop!

Download “Klara”

As soon as I entered this space, which can seat about 50, and saw Ólöf and her friend Davíð Þór Jónsson preparing for the show on the warmly lit stage, I knew it was going to be precious. I had seen them the night before at Union Hall, where the show had been ridiculously free-spirited. The two were still their quirky selves at Sycamore, but because of the preciousness of the space and the presence of many Icelandic friends, the mood was much more sober, and despite the continuation of forgotten lyrics and spontaneous conversations between the two, even the way they themselves approached their set was much more treasured. Worth mentioning is that Kristin Anna, who with Ólöf previously sang and played with in the Icelandic band Múm, was present.

Ólöf had played a song she’d written for Kristin at Union Hall, but this was going to be the first time Kristin herself was going to get to listen to it. Ólöf seemed genuinely frightened that she hadn’t had the chance to let her friend listen to it before playing it in front of people. With the hilarious chorus of “Don’t go in the crazy car”, it’s a tune that attempts to persuade Kristin, who has lived in New York since she left Múm, against leaving Iceland. There were tears and hugs afterward, but as the night got more festive, Kristin was invited on stage for a few songs, and Múm fans who weren’t there for it seriously ought to be jealous. For the encore, Kristin requested a song that was based on a “heartbreaking” Swedish poem, and when both Davíð and Kristin interjected with their own thoughts on how this presumably special piece should be treated, Ólöf said, “Davíð and Kristin, shut the fuck up. I’m telling the story here”. Kristin also shared the stage for a Johnny Cash song the two had sang, on the day Johnny Cash died, to 800 Japanese fans when they were sill in Múm. Video of the “don’t go in the crazy car” song is below.

Also present, and representing the creative community of that side of Brooklyn, was one of the twins from the National, not that I can tell which one it was.

Website: Olof Arnalds, Sycamore

20 “Run to Your Grave” by The Mae-Shi

A song to play really loud and jump to, whenever one feels the need to be an ecstatic, aimless punk, which one should feel often, I guess. Taken from Hlllyh.

19. “Oceanic” by Imaad Wasif

When Imaad Wasif played with his band at Cake Shop, the loud treatment of his songs made his delicate voice gasp for air under the weight of all that noise. Then there was a rare moment when everything was quiet and he slowly pulled his voice away from the microphone, and those few seconds had the ache of a dagger through the heart. “Oceanic” is a song where you can hear some of that; a voice that must hurl itself towards everything that will ruin it so that it can resurface all alive and resilient.

18. “Klara” by Ólöf Arnalds

The only non-English song in the list, and this one’s in Icelandic. It reminds me of clothes hung to dry, blowing through the wind, and clouds chasing in over a blue hill. Blue! Whispers of accordion from somewhere not too far.

17. “I Can’t Tell in His Eyes” by Wildbirds & Peacedrums

Mariam Wallentin prefers a highly stylized approach to singing, one that makes her sound primal and aggressive. Sometimes it sounds overworked, but most times it just sounds pretty damn impressive. This song, however, is an unusual slip where she just sings, without a cloak or a mask of any sort. Filled with scenic evocations of the everyday, it’s pretty colorful for a break-up song. Then there’s this killer: “She is the country / That deeply betrayed him / So now he’s moving to Spain / Now he’s packing his things / All of his belongings / And I can’t tell in his eyes / If he’s gonna cry or if he’s gonna fight”. Taken from Heartcore.

16. “Fools” by The Dodos

Rhythm drives The Dodos. The boyish melodies serve to hold the the drums from running too far; the words are a vessel for rhymes; and the consonants are the necessary evil to vowels. “Fools” is a good mix of these things.

15. “Bleed Blood” by City Center

What it feels like to swim under water and let yourself go. City Center’s Fred is a river that runs through Brooklyn.

14. “Dance Dance Dance” by Lykke Li

A song of sweetness, and hips; it reminds me of Vanessa Paradis. Taken from Youth Novel.

13. “The Waves” by Princeton

“The Waves” is an elaborate work of production by Princeton. It’s somewhat silly, with all its tropical inclinations; somewhat dorky, with all its literary references; but all the while endearing; and there’re quite a few places to visit here in 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Taken from their four-song EP, Bloomsbury.

12. “The Nights Pt. 1” by The Builders and the Butchers

I was lucky I got to this band at a tiny dive bar in Connecticut filled with crazed fans who knew all of the songs. Two drummers packed into the corner and faces red and wet with sweat. This is the first song off their self-titled album, a world where you must grow beards, wear big black hats, carry shovels everywhere you go, and sing loudly over beer all the freaking time. Even if you’re a woman. Plus, what an awesome band name, and so filled with character.

11. “Rapture (Sweet Rapture)” by AA Bondy

Here’s how it begins: “I don’t wanna talk about Jesus / I just wanna see his face / The trees are swinging like hanging men /And I just wanna see his face”. Then it gets better; it’s as if the shadows give over to the sun, still water begins to run, and the day breaks as the chorus hits in a swooping lift: “Rapture, sweet rapture / Won’t you lay your hands on me”. But wait, it gets better still: “Mary take that silver dagger / Put it through my throat”. Sung in that amazing voice of AA Bondy’s and taken from that amazing album, American Hearts.

10. “One Cotton Shot Short” by Matt Jones

These verses smell like waffles and they melt in your mouth. It’s taken from The Black Path, which I don’t think is out yet. I stole it from Jesse Elliott’s Mixmas.

9. “More Than Right” by Callers

I’ve been hanging on to this song ever since I heard it back in the summer, though I know little about this Brooklyn band… what a great voice, what a drunkenly staggering pace, and what a night these lovers must have whisked through. They’re playing at Union Pool tonight, the 19th.

8. “The Butcher” by Final Fantasy

Owen Pallett writes a song that sounds like rainbows and butterflies, waterfalls and waves, despite a title that suggests otherwise. Taken from Spectrum, 14th Century, one of the two EPs he released this year.

7. “Trouble No More” by Dark Dark Dark

“I’ll take these rosy cheeks of mine / And be headed south”

6. “Mister Jung Stuffed” by Man Man

A song that captures everything Man Man. Incredible musicians, enthusiastic and consistent theatrics; goofballs, hooligans, drunkards. It opens this year’s Rabbit Habits.

5. “Horn Song” by Suckers

This tune here? A soundtrack for your trip to the gate where angels drink wine, play cards and call each other whores; and you’ll be the most beautiful person when you get there.

4. “Original Bones” by Cotton Jones

“The last time I tried to be so original / I broke all my original bones”

3. “Drops in the River” by Fleet Foxes

“White Winter Hymnal” was the first song I heard and loved from these here Fleet Foxes (like everyone else), but “Drops in the River” was the one I really clung to; it’s got all the goodness of White Winter, but it travels further. I think of them as the same person at different ages, I don’t know which one’s older. This one’s the younger, probably.

There was an unbelievable overabundance of overrated crap this year (Cut Copy – what?), as was there a lot of great music that not everyone discovered and loved as deserved. Then they’re all these year-end lists that are themselves the most overrated act of every freaking year. But, I love Fleet Foxes, and the amount of love and hate that’s been directed towards them, or perhaps the obscene extent of fame they seem to have found (but fame is a ridiculously nonsensical by nature), has ultimately nothing at all to do with my own enjoyment of their songs. They use the language of music with care, compassion and devotion, they seem to understand it really well, and this language, which unleashes its power over your heart than it does your brain, is a funny thing. Right? While it’s great to be articulate about how you feel about music (despite everything, the writers at Pitchfork are really good), it’s terrible to be unable to enjoy music with your heart. I don’t understand why it matters so much that the guy from Fleet Foxes sounds a little like the guy from My Morning Jacket… I really believe in Robin Pecknold. I think he’s good for us. Us humans.

2. “The Gardener” by The Tallest Man on Earth

Heart breaker of a song, everything about it will stab you.

1. “A Day to Float the Bahnar Boat” by These United States

When I first heard this song, my blood level dropped to an all-time low. About 30 seconds in I was having an existential awakening, thinking, “What am I going to do with my life?“, and after I’d recovered, “What were they thinking?” When I made other people listen to it they didn’t quite freak out like I had, which kind of reaffirms my belief that taste is all physics. Everything to do with heart rate and blood levels and how the molecules of the songs fit into the molecules of you. For me, this is one of the most perfect songs ever: in its few words and the compassionate melodies that accompany them, it contains not one but several, unending life cycles, and there’s nothing quite as thrilling as a life. Nothing quite so filled with an exploding spectrum of emotions like hope, triumph, loss, disappointment, sadness, happiness, and so on, all of which I felt when I listened to it the first time.

It was recorded as a free track for Peppermill’s 52 weeks project, for the Spring set in particular. From what I understand, Jesse Elliott took parts from this article in the Washington Post–which was published in the week the band had been assigned by Peppermill–and rearranged them into lyrics. They’ve credited the article’s author Joshua Zumbrun for the lyrics, but that is a lie, essentially. The words and phrases may have been lifted, but the effect they have in the song owes entirely to what parts were picked, and how they were edited and rearranged. Then there’s Tom Hnatow with his haunting glockenspiel and piano…
]]> http://hoovesontheturf.com/200812/best-songs-2008/feed 7 http://hoovesontheturf.com/200809/olof-arnalds-le-poisson-rouge http://hoovesontheturf.com/200809/olof-arnalds-le-poisson-rouge#comments Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:47:01 +0000 sarahana http://hoovesontheturf.com/?p=1522 ]]> Download “Klara” | This was my first time seeing Olof Arnalds as a frontwoman–all previous performances being that of Mum, when she stood in one corner or the other, trading guitar for violin, violin for melodica, melodica for bells, and basically immersing herself in the beautiful clutter that used to be Mum (I still love them, but now they’re a different sort of clumsy). So I was pleasantly surprised that as a frontwoman Olof Arnalds is quite chatty, and those of us who found the expression “tuning this is a bitch” in her soft-spoken, thick Icelandic accent charmingly hilarious must just be forgiven (I’m sure it’ll be less funny the second time anyway, so don’t fret). She started with what sounded like would be the intro track of her new album, and I suppose it was gutsy of her to not only speak over it, explaining what instruments would be implemented in the recording, how this would come in and that, but also kicking the whole thing off with a request to sing along, adding, “Now this is where it gets louder, so you have to be louder too”.

All pictures, and story continued, after the jump.

Very quickly into the set, Olof also performed a lovely Bruce Springsteen cover , though she seemed to have forgotten his name. Looking to her trusty pal Shahzad Ismaily for help, she said, “What is his name again? Ah! Bruce Springsteen”. Later on she would say, “Don’t worry, we’re not going to go ambient on you” when a little tuning lapse occurred; later still, she blurted out some truly instructional things like, “Shahzad, can you give me the beat” in the middle of a song.

So of course Le Poisson Rouge was an awesome venue for this set. Nico Muhly played a Yamaha grand piano, which sounded pretty much divine. Olof’s voice and “guitars” (of varying shapes and sizes) remained central, though the spotlight was shared with Sam Amidon’s violin every now and then. But there were also several elements of barely audible details both on the piano and Shahzad Ismaily’s variety of percussive outlets that seemed really thoughtful, and which the venue translated wonderfully despite their small volume.

The seating arrangement was different from the last two times I’ve been there. About eight or six chairs each were arranged on two sides of several rectangular tables in a way that almost felt like diner tables all butted against each other. This covered the entire floor, which worked well for this show. I thought, however, that Olof’s voice sounded slightly different from what you hear in recordings. It was even more folkish in the sense that it was almost matronly. You could really imagine it coming from a woman washing clothes in the hills, though it’s not true that her voice, like Joanna Newsom’s, is the kind people either hate or love. There are people like me who don’t necessarily love hers or Joanna’s, yet don’t mind it, though we clearly enjoy it since our attention is grabbed more by the songs instead.

I couldn’t stay for Skuli Sverrisson, but here are all the photos:

Nico Muhly on the piano.

Sam Amidon on violin.

Shahzad Ismaily switched between this and drums.

“Tuning this is a bitch” — she said of her charanga, borrowed from Skuli Sverrisson. And also, “It’s made from armadillo”.

Le Poisson Rouge: Yes, you may say that one-time Mum touring member Olof Arnalds is indeed somewhat of a Joanna Newsom in Icelandic. Except, instead of being “freak folk”, her solo work is freakishly folk, compared to the decidedly contemporary sound we get from most Icelandic bands in the indie landscape, including Mum. But who knew Icelandic folk could be so damn lovely. I’m not sure how Arnalds did at South Streeat Seaport this past Sunday when she played the East Village Radio Festival, since that doesn’t seem like the ideal venue for her, but Le Poisson Rouge should pretty much be perfect. She plays an early show that’ll also feature a set from Skuli Sverrisson, with whom she has worked in the past. Meanwhile, Atlanta-based Deerhunter is playing a late show, and one that is not part of the tour scheduled for later this year with BARR, Knyfe Hyts and Vivian Girls.

More bands and all mp3 links after the jump.

Cake Shop: Pogo Togo presents an alternative party with The Magick Report, Love Like Deloreans, Willy Weird, and Omega Jarden, out of which my favorite is Brooklyn’s trio Love Like Deloreans. The band says they’re “Gassy with excitement, had to change our panties a few times and we haven’t even played yet. Ecstatic. We’re gonna check out hot people in the audience and dance and it’s gonna be a party!” But there seems to be a dissident in Lorna, the only girl in the band: “I disagree with this. I’m a lady who enjoys respectable social gatherings.” Well, how was your recent show at Goodbye Blue Monday? “GBM is a great venue. It’s our favorite neighborhood hang. The show was all bands that somehow have members who live in Peter’s apartment and it was all like community love hippie shit and we had tons and tons of fun!” Lorna insists it was a “grand soiree” and that she was the “belle of the ball”. In the meantime, they’re recording some 7 inches, one of which is for a label in Germany. Say the dudes, “Watch out Dusseldorf! We’re coming for you, bitches!” And adds the lady, “The future will be as wonderful as a sunrise on a spring morning whilst on horseback.” There will be a special guest at this show (not the horse).

Pianos: I love Germany’s Locas in Love (download free album), who will be cross-pollinating with The Bloodsugars tonight. Says Niklas of Locas in Love, “The last time we were in New York was one of the best times we’ve ever had as a band and we have great memories of shows we played at the Cake Shop and at The Club Midway [now Rehab]. Incidentally that show was the first time we met Sam, who played drums with The Leader on that day and he will be playing drums for us at Pianos. So this is exciting. Adding to that we’ve loved The Bloodsugars ever since we first heard them so not only playing a show with them but actually cooperating is just about the greatest possible way to spend an evening in the city for us.” For the late show, No Good For Me will present fashion and music with Ver Sacrum and Speck Mountain.

Mercury Lounge: When Maine transplant Luke Rathborne self-produced and released After Dark (download) in 2007, he was a mere 18-year-old. Right now he’s a mere 20-year-old! Though he appears to be no Zach Condon (just to get that out of the way), there’s something to hang on to in his sullen tunes. He’s playing a late show with Five O’ Clock Heroes. Natalie Walker and BM Linx are playing two separate early shows.

Spiegeltent: Last night of the musical by The Citizens Band // Death by Audio: Brendan Fowler (previously BARR), Silk Flowers, our favorite City Center, Katie Eastburn.

Love Like Deloreans: Epic High School
Olof Arnalds: Klara
The Blood Sugars: Purpose Was Again
Locas in Love: Stefanie Sagt
Luke Rathborne: Cold Breeze
City Center: Bleed Blood
BARR: The Song Is the Single
Natalie Walker: Pink Neon
Ver Sacrum: Coco General Mdse
Flocking Associates: B&B
Speck Mountain: Blood Is Clean