hits, oberlin, lewitt, REM

154 visits yesterday, the most ever in one day. who'd a thunk ECM was such a popular topic?

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ok, so more songs:ohia on the way. this time i picked up impala from an amazon marketplace seller. if gas were cheaper i'd drive to his upcoming solo show in akron largely to buy more of those $10 CDs.


i knew there was a reason why i like this guy's music: he's from oberlin, less than 25 miles from where i grew up...


and, asked to list or identify "Mind altering work of art" he offers: "Anything by Cy Twombly or Sol Lewitt."

partly too it's when he sings "still no guides / it's not a generous world / it is a separate world / the bad luck taste of the dark / the broad luck of blood on the water" ("lightning risked it all," from ghost tropic) or

       but if the blues are your hunter
       then you will come face to face
       with that darkness and desolation
       and the endless
       endless
       endless
       endless
       endless
       endless depression
       ("blue chicago moon," from didn't it rain)

there's no real question of whether or not he means what he says. what's more, he turns it around by the end of the song:

       but you are not helpless
       and you are not helpless
       try to beat it
       and live through space's loneliness
       you are not helpless
       I'll help you to try to beat it

and the will oldham comparisons, tho inevitable i suppose, really don't strike me as that relevant. especially in this review of ghost tropic, which goes to great pains to make the oldham case for an album that if anything is the least oldham-esque that molina has done. now my limited knowledge of oldham is based mostly on there is no one what will take care of you, but first off i think molina is a better singer, or is at least honest about his singing; tho he yelps around a bit on axxess and ace, he avoids the jokey attempt to out-do peter brady in the adolescent voice cracking department.

and as the lyrics above suggest, his songwriting is incredibly honest as well. i can keep going back to this as opposed to feeling like i've gotten the joke and there's nothing more to it.

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oh and i now finally have all the R.E.M. one could conceivably need or want. that'd be complete 1981-1987: chronic town, murmur, reckoning, fables of the reconstruction, life's rich pageant, document, and dead letter office -- though i suppose this latter's not essential (tho it has its moments) and one could make a case for including green in those ranks). oh sweet jangle of chronic town and murmuring innocence!...