Flickering eye: PJ Harvey and Bjork - Satisfaction

I love PJ Harvey. I love Bjork. I love PJ Harvey and Bjork *TOGETHER*.

Of course, this is dangerously close to being a real-life, on-stage re-enactment of Rasputina's "PJ+Vincent & Matthew+Bjork."

Flickering eye: David Bowie - The Heart's Filthy Lesson

It is utterly beyond me why David Bowie's "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" isn't in regular rotation in "Goth" clubs. I remember first hearing the song on a CMJ compilation and thinking that Outside was a must-buy. I know a lot of people don't have patience for post-1980s Bowie, but that album was one of the most brilliant things he's done.

Mixology: Barn burning

Barn Burning
1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Your Funeral, My Trial
2. Johnny Cash - I See a Darkness
3. Bright Eyes - Don't Know When but a Day is Gonna Come
4. Leonard Cohen - The Stranger Song
5. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Today I Was an Evil One
6. Reverend Glasseye - Sins of Portsmouth
7. Faun Fables - A Table Forgotten
8. Jill Tracy - I Can't Shake It
9. Luminescent Orchestrii - La Tarde
10. Voltaire - This Sea
11. Vermillion Lies - Bone Yard
12. Regina Spektor - Apres Moi
13. Amanda Palmer - Have to Drive
14. Angels of Light - Star Chaser
15. Beirut - The Shrew
16. Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen - On Invisible Wings
17. Tom Waits - Starving in the Belly of a Whale

Music to attire oneself to: a guide for effete masculines

I'm currently reading Sebastian Horlsey's memoir, so I've got dandyism on my mind. (More than usual, even.) So, Dear Readers, I thought I would offer forth my opinion on the perfect albums to play whilst "making oneself a walking sonnet," i.e. putting on your togs in the morning.

Music to attire oneself to: a guide for effete masculines

5. Duran Duran - Rio










Now, I was more inclined to put a Prince album in this spot, but if you dare to wear assless pants and then proclaim that gay men are sinners...you're just not an icon of dandyism. Duran Duran will have to do.

4. Adam and the Ants - Prince Charming










The title track teaches an indispensable lesson about dandyism--"Ridicule is nothing to be scared of."

3. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World










The Man Who Sold the World captures a certain fin de siecle world-weariness. The cover alone is an instructional treatise on the art of lounging in the face of ennui.

2. Morrissey - Bona Drag










It was difficult to pick a Morrissey album, I admit. But "Piccadilly Palare" cinched the spot. Morrissey is Wilde's poetic heir, and the sooner we all admit this the sooner we can all break for tea.

1. T. Rex - Dandy in the Underworld










Marc Bolan alone knew what it meant to gambol through the inferno.

In my opinion: Morrissey - Years of Refusal

"Life is testing you out," Morrissey.

Morrissey - Years of Refusal

Though at first I was a little unenthused by Morrissey’s Years of Refusal, it turns out that the album is a grower, not a shower. (Normally, I would feel bad about making such an obvious joke, but since Moz compared his bollocks to powderkegs on the last record, I think I get a free pass.) More muscular and aggressive than his past few efforts (think big guitars instead of torch ballads), Years of Refusal’s rock bombast initially covers up the album’s intricate, intelligent structure, but repeated listens reveals that Morrissey hasn’t missed a trick. From the exploration of how love of a place can supplant love of a person in “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris,” the seemingly newfound realization that, despite his career of whinging about it, there are worse things than being unlovable on “That’s How People Grow Up,” and the wry observations on the ambivalent nature of emotional attachment in “All You Need is Me,” Morrissey is still the poet laureate of effete, sensitive souls.

(Picture provided by Panic, who refuses to blog. She will not blog and she will not be nice.)

Cross-posted to Liar Society.

Flickering eye: Tegan and Sara - Back in Your Head

Back in my head? I can't get this damned song *out* of my head.

Really odd video, by the way. Lots of indie rock mullet on those two.

In my opinion: Franz Ferdinand - Tongiht: Franz Ferdinand

Somewhere along the line the lads in Franz Ferdinand decided not to live up to the promise of their debut album. Their self-titled record had it all: artful edginess, clever lyrics, and an almost effortless rhythmic precision. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the band’s third effort, possesses no tracks with the dark fire of “Jacqueline,” “Take Me Out,” “Dark of the Matinee,” “Darts of Pleasure,” or “Come On Home,” and feels hollow and illiterate when compared against its predecessors. Though one could argue that they were already hitting the downhill slope with You Could Have It So Much Better, Tonight has little going for it aside from its lead-off singles “Ulysses” and “No You Girls,” and even those are lacking the usual wit. Sure, the band has imported some electronica and afro-pop (whatever that means) influences, but a few new quirks doesn’t even begin to make up for the lack of interesting tunes. Franz Ferdinand perseveres in their mission to "make music for girls to dance to," but they used to be so much smarter than this.

Cross-posted to Liar Society.