Hey, There Chickadees!
(before you read this, go to itunes and listen to the first 30 seconds of each track of ACID TONGUE, by JENNY LEWIS)
Today, I'm going to take a few minutes (just a few) to confess my secret obsession with the indie band, Rilo Kiley. Another band/ movie that i got turned on/obsessed with/brainwashed by, thanks to the amazingness and zeigergeist of everything cool and unknown that is NYLON MAGAZINE! (check it out! Trust me, no one paid me to say this... Or did they?)
Rilo Kiley is a Los Angeles band, whose music is what itunes, and the good (sic: illegal) people of Limewire, alternatedly consider to be alternative, indie, blues, rock, folk and country (but if, it's country, it's not like any country I ever heard of). I have this whole obssession with words (yes, i am getting therapy, to deal with this. NOT), and their awesomely indie/bohemian sounding name was what originally attracted me to them. Apparently (according to Wikipedia, my lifeline) their name comes from a dream of Blake Sennett's one of the band members, (a dream name really just means i have to like them), (see the bottom of the page).
Rilo Kiley has produced a total of four amazing albums, The Low-fi (and really laid back, indie feeling) Take-Offs and Landings, The Execution of All Things, More Adventurous, and the more mainstream sounding (but still, awesome and insanely catchy), Under The Blacklight, which has evolved to spacy new wave disco, and hazy dance influenced sound.
Anyway, this post isn't even about Rilo Kiley. It's about the incomparable Jenny Lewis, their front woman (and generally lead singer), who is actually a former child star (Troop Beverly Hills, anyone?). Jenny's first solo effort was the beautiful and melodic Rabbit Fur Coat (with the Watson Twins as backup), an album that played like rose coloured glasses and sable furs, and reminded me of lost love.
Her recent follow-up had the honour of being the first album that i have really waited for and counted down till it was released. Thank God (or whatever) that Jenny eased the pain of waiting (I was born without the patience gene), by ingeniously posting videos on Youtube (A God to many. maybe I should just say Thank Youtube), where Jenny or Jonathan Rice (her boyfriend, and a singer/songwriter) were surprised at home by a crazed Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab For Cutie, and the Postal Service), begging to hear the unreleased album. To appease him, two tracks, Acid Tongue, and the epic, The Next Messiah, were played in different videos. Fanboys' dreams were also granted in a video which revealed Jenny's phone number (no, not really), 1-888-717-ACID, which could be called to hear the title track. Gotta say, though, that's a pretty sweet phone number.
Anyways, segway (human transporter)! On the release date, I came home and downloaded the entire album to my Ipod (Hi Ho Silver!), over my lunch break, and was not in the least disappointed. The entire album is totally FANTASMAGORICAL! It's like a whisky soaked road trip through deserted back roads, and just screams adventure, melancholy and at times, the joy of being a alive. Now i know what to play on my (someday) sun dappled, road trip through the badlands. Really it actually made it hard for me, not to slip into tan leather boots, sunglasses, and a little red convertible and escape (from convention, from classes, etc.). The entire thing is catchy and floaty with a music box of hummable back ground tunes, and singable choruses. As with any new piece of music I discover, I spent the week singing its' mournful and joyous lullabies at the top of my lungs and writing meaningful lyrics all over my school notes (yeah... that whole neat and organized thing, just didn't work for me). I had legions of people thinking I was going insane singing about acid, messiahs, and guys named Fernando (who are apparently the ones you should see if you need ahem...liquid courage). My dad actually asked me who Jack was, why i loved him, and what I meant by Jack Killed Mom, when I tried to copy Jenny's lilting voice, in a moment where I thought I was alone.
I should also mention the fact, that Acid Tongue, had some pretty notable contibutors, such as Elvis Costello, Zooey Dechanel (Yay Salinger!, read about the Genius Glass Family in Franny and Zooey! No, I do not get a cut of the profits. STOP ASKING!), M. Ward, and Chris Robinson (who you may remember as Kate Hudson's ex-husband).
My favourites of the album are Pretty Bird, The (8 minute!) Next Messiah, Carpetbaggers, and Jack Killed Mom.
Just listen to it. You won't be sorry. And if you end up running away and LIVING IN BARS, don't blame me, Blame Jenny and her haunting album. You may never get you soul back, but then again, did you really have one in the first place?
- Goodbye for now, My Pretty Underground Dwellers. Please go to sleep at some point tonight, unlike me. Remember all those who listen only to current mainstream, and Sing A Song For Them.
