1) Jens Lekman, Night Falls Over Kortedala – New quirkpop longplayer from Swede who, I think, now scores Volvo commercials (isn’t that him singing “The Wheels on the Bus” in that commercial where the couple in the stationwagon pick up the hikers?**). You’ll be hearing him in Starbucks real soon, but don’t worry, you’ll like him. He’s good. Like Stephen Merritt, but straight, And, okay, not quite as brilliant as Stephen Merritt.
2)Beirut, The Flying Club Cup – I think I like Beirut for the same reason I like travel writing. Okay, yes, I can see getting tired of the schtick after a while. But not yet. So far it’s a love affair.
3)Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5, s/t – Tunefully skronky. My wife hates this stuff.
4)Thelonious Monk, Live at Monterey 1964 – I’ve been listening to this in preparation for tomorrow night’s show (plug!) wherein several of us will play both Monk performances and others performing Monk compositions. To state the obvious: Monk’s own version of “Evidence” is vastly superior to the one by, say, Andy Summers.
5)Sam Cooke, Live at the Copa – An old standby that recently saw duty as background moodsetter to a Thanksgiving weekend brunch at the TioM HQ. Lovely.
(**UPDATE - It's not Lekman in that commercial; it's Stephen Merritt! I mistook the teacher for the student. How gauche.)
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2 comments:
Ah, man, that WAS Stephen Merritt in the car commercial! Wait, are you positive?
The first time we saw that ad, I snidely remarked, "Who is this? Magnetic Fields?" To which my husband replied, equally snidely, "Yeah, really!" And then we laughed and laughed. Of course, I assumed it was a sound-alike as there are lyrics in the jingle that reference the car itself. I mean, I was willing to believe that Merritt would lend a song to a commercial, but I drew the line of plausibility at Merritt actually extolling the virtues of the "wheel descent." Hmm.
I know! I think my belief that it was Jens Lekman might have had to do with the fact that I found myself thinking, "that sounds like Stephen Merritt," but dismissing that as implausable, and so searching for the next most likely person with a voice kinda like his. Or something. But whatever, everybody's gotta make a buck.
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