Spirit Ditch

February 18, 2007... MP3 blogs is droppin' like flies out there. Among the most recent to disappear from the land of the flickering blue teat was the eclectic, electric Post Punk Junk, which fell victim to ISP problems late last week. PPJ introduced me to Teddy and the Frat Girls and Steven Jesse Bernstein, both of whom have been in regular rotation at Afterbirth headquarters for months. Thanks for the good times, PPJ, you will be missed.

On the up side, Spoilt Victorian Child, the blog that hipped me to the hippy dippy The United States of America aeons ago, is back after a four month absence. The link to SVC is back on my blogroll, along with a new one, to Good Music for Bad, Bad Times, which is a great source for obscure mid-eighties hardcore punk and speed/thrash metal.

One final bit of navel gazing before I move on to more navel gazing. As a method of self-expression, blogging is at least as valid as sitting around a coffee shop and dismissing blogging, buddy. Yadig?

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's make nice...

When I saw Sparklehorse in 1996 (?), band leader Mark Linkous was in a wheelchair, recovering from a loss of consciousness that cut off circulation to his legs for several hours. The band opened with a version of this song, played even slower than the leaden version posted here. At least a minute of slow, slow strumming passed before Linkous leaned toward the microphone and sang the first stanza: "The parasites will love you/When you're dead/La-la-la-la." It was magic.

Sparklehorse - Weird Sisters

I have had nightmares about poverty for my entire adult life. The details vary, but the setting is always pretty similar: I am living in a dingy, drafty tinderbox of a slum. Stray dogs roam the streets, their ribs visible through their mangy coats. There is an all-encompassing feeling of menace. Mullets and trucker hats abound.

Sparklehorse - Spirit Ditch

I have dreamt of sleeping in a burned out basement, and have awakened in a spirit ditch, many, many times. It spooked me to no end to hear that someone else had had the same experience.

Sparklehorse - Tears on Fresh Fruit

Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot is an excellent album. It pains me not to post the poppy "Hammering the Cramps," with its shimmering curtains of tremoloed guitar distortion, and the wheezing, mournful "Cow," with its languid brookside banjo, but I want you to buy a copy of this motherfucker.

If you like Neil Young, or American Music Club, or poetry, if you are not afraid of pedal steel, or the backwoods, or Dixie, you'll love Vivadixie.

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