3 posts tagged “superchunk”

I have lived five years in five days this week. Among other things, I met up with the first real boyfriend I ever had after about a decade of not seeing him. If you had asked me 17 years ago to name which one of us would be sitting quietly on a couch, sipping tea, cradling a baby and calling for a change in the kid's "nappies," it most certainly would not have been J.

This is the same J who used to coerce me into smoking his crushed up prescription drugs with him in the back of strip mall parking lots in suburban DC. I spent a lot of time watching him and his rebel crew land "ollie impossibles" off ply-board ramps in Reston. He was the first person I ever got ripping high with, and likely the first person who broke my heart. As I told his wife, J got an edge in the 10th grade, I became one of the prissy girls, and he became too cool to date me. "Yeah, pretty much," J admitted, in what might have been the most honest, simple post-breakup analysis decades on I've ever had.

J and his very lovely wife (who is all kinds of Minnesota awesome) live in Wellington, New Zealand. They seem very settled, very happy and very smart. It's just as I would have imagined his life to have turned out. I'm wondering now if my taste in people didn't peak at age 13.

Whatever impact he might have had on my life, two songs remind me of those days based on mix tapes he made me that I still recall fondly. One, a Superchunk compilation called "Seed Toss," had the song "Train from Kansas City" on it. It's a cover of a Shangri Las' song and is still one of my favorite. Check out the Superchunk and Neko Case versions:

The other is the Lemonhead's "Drug Buddy," which is just a ridiculous song. But it came out when we were together. And when I listen to it, I'm right back there at age 14 or so, watching J and his friends skate, trying very hard to shed my good girl image to hang on to a boy who would never really be mine.

The music I've been crushing on lately:

1. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago

I can't get over what I've heard of this album, and I've been like a morphine addict for the title track since Saint Bob over at NPR played it a few weeks ago. This song is note perfect. I am beside myself every time I hear it. I want to approach strangers on the street and make them listen.

Bon Iver (or "good winter" if you say it in French) is Justin Vernon, who apparently tucked away for three months in a remote cabin in the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin to make this album after his band broke up. All isolation should sound this good. 

You can check out Bon Iver at the Rock and Roll Hotel on February 19th. In the meantime, listen to Skinny Love here.

2. Lucinda Black Bear: Capo My Heart and Other Bear Songs

Here's an anti-valentine, of sorts. The whole album is about a breakup. Think Neil Young, but darker. Listen here.

3. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend

Am I going to be listening to this band in a year? Is this the next false prophet? Do I feel some shades of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-hype and inevitable letdown coming on in this music? Yeah. Probably. A little twee, as Jason said. But I'll give the Columbia boys a break. And apparently, they put on a decent show at the Rock and Roll Hotel. Well played gentlemen, well played.

4. Superchunk: Seed Toss
Like a fine wine, this album has improved with age. It's well worth the price of admission for Brand New Love, which is a originally a Sebadoh song that's been covered countless times by other bands, including Death Cab for Cutie. But I like Superchunk's version the best. I can't post it here. So you'll have to settle for this:

Speaking of covers...

5. Eels: I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man (cover)

After a raging debate over on Jodi's blog on the merits of Little Red Corvette vs. I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man that divided the sexes, I went seeking answers. And I found this cover.

Do not pass me, just to slow down. Best road rage song ever written. Thank you, 8th grade boyfriend, for introducing me to Superchunk. This band felt very badass back in the day. You can buy the album here.