Stardust Memories And Other Short Stories

I'm so absolutely, hopelessly, irrecoverably behind on What I've Been Listening To posts now it's not remotely funny any more. I had no intention of doing a music post on a Tuesday. That would be madness! (Erm, not the nutty boys from the 1980s. Bad choice of words there.) If I don't do it now, though, it's only going to get worse so let's just get on with it.

Let's see how many there are in the pot... good lord! Over a hundred. Okay, that's not going to fly. And I already junked a bunch last time. And I haven't even checked the laptop...

This is getting out of hand. I'm just going to have to apologise, admit there's a whole load of really good stuff I'm never going to be able to share and just pick some favorites. Then I think I'll have to clean the slate and start fresh.

So, where shall we begin? See who makes the cut? 

Tailor Swif - A$AP Rocky

I mean, come on! The tune's fine but that's the best video I've seen in, like, forever! How did they even do that? Any of it! 

If you never click through any of these music videos, make this the exception. Even turn the sound off if you like. Just, if you do, don't tell Rocky I said to. I don't think he'd see the funny side. Then again...

Speaking of having a sense of humor, "Taylor Swift fans" aren't amused, apparently, although when any of the big music sites say "fans" like they mean all of them, what they nearly always really mean is "a couple of people on Twitter." (I actually typed "X" there just to see if it worked. It doesn't. I knew it wouldn't, too. Dunno why I bothered.) I imagine all the Swifties who have a sense of humor find it as funny as everyone else.

What's Fair - Blondshell

If grunge had been like this the first time round I'd still be wearing flannel shirts. Oh, wait a minute...

One Hit Wonder - Olivia O.

Hey! You can't fool me. This is just that last song again, only slowed down!

Casual Drug Use - Katie Gavin

I am so shallow. If this had been called "Some Days" or something, would I have clicked on it? No, I would not. I guess clickbait works for song titles, too.

Also, you can bring up Joni Mitchell if you want. I wouldn't dare.

Wasn't There - X-Cetra

I was going to do a whole post on this one and I still might. It feels like it really should be a lot better known than it is but then I guess there isn't a whole lot to say about it. I've left myself some room by keeping the last few so short, though, so let's do the basics right here.

Wasn't There comes from an album recorded almost twenty-five years ago by four girls aged between ten and twelve. Or nine and eleven. Depends who you believe. 

One version of the story goes that they were typical Califonian tweens whose dream of being pop stars was indulged by a radio DJ called Don Campau. Don not only happened to have some kind of independent record label but also access to a whole load of 1960s/70s mellow/funky/psychedelic backing tracks that had never been used. Don't ask me how or why. He gave those to the girls and they did the rest. Then he put out the album on his label, Lonely Whistle.

A more authorative telling has one of the girl's mothers, a musician by the name of Robin O'Brien, who had a home studio at her disposal, recording the girls' original lyrics and performances over some backing tracks she'd obtained through a tape-trading circuit (I remember those...) from a German musician by the name of Künstler Treu. Where he got them from is anyone's guess. Then the album came out on Lonely Whistle, so that part's consistent, at least.

Speechless - X-Cetra

Whatever the exact truth, the important thing is that the girls wrote all the lyrics and somehow made them fit with the instrumental tracks they'd been given to create one of those indescribably poignant accidental classics in the vein of the Langley Schools Music Project or the Shaggs, both of which have become very famous in certain circles. 

The album they made is called Stardust and it's like nothing else I've ever heard. You can hear it all on YouTube. I'd buy a CD if I could figure out who's selling one. 

As for what it sounds like, I can't do much better than to give you the list of descriptors that someone on Discogs came up with:

"surreal, mysterious, minimalistic, female vocalist, love, rhythmic, lo-fi, quirky, breakup, nocturnal, melodic, atmospheric, bittersweet, hypnotic, introspective, sentimental, cold, lonely, eclectic"

Yeah, what they said...

X-Cetra seem still to be flying mostly under the radar as far as I can see. There's no Wikipedia page for them and most of the results on Google just quote the same couple of paragraphs of information (Here's the best of them.) I guess I'm just adding to that problem by doing much the same right here.

Boy Obsessed - Robin August & Mercy Cappellino

So, Bhagpuss, just how did you come to hear about this strange record anyway? I'm glad you asked!

You may recall (You won't.) that I included a tune by Robin August in a huge grab-bag post back in Blaugust. I came to Robin via the regular channels - something on one of the music sites - and since I liked what I was hearing I went poking about in her back catalog, which is where I found the above stomper, Boy Obsessed. 

Robin wrote that one with her friend Mercy when the pair of them were ten years old but didn't get around to recording until last year. YouTube's algorithm somehow managed to pick up on the age reference and offer me some tracks by X-Cetra as "Related" titles. 

And that's how the trick is done.

Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild - Merce Lemon

I don't remember exactly how I came by this one but I'm betting it was either when I was going through a bunch of Nick Drake covers (This isn't one but it sure as hell sounds like it could be.) or maybe YouTube just thought Merce sounded like Mercy from the last one. Sometimes I swear that algorithm literally picks up on something in a video, like a striped tee, and gives you all the videos where people are wearing horizontal stripes.

You Are A Dog - Jagged Baptist Club

Then again, it could have been while I was trawling for songs about dogs for a post I'm thinking of doing. There are a lot. I can easily afford to throw one away. I won't leave myself short when the time comes.

Beloved - Hank Heaven feat. Beach Bunny

Nine tracks in and no autotune? That can't be right!

God, I love autotune.

Every 2010s Pop Song Be Like... (Part 2)
Elise Ecklund

Some people never use it , of course. Elise doesn't. Everyone knows that's her real voice.

There's actually a longer version of that one but I think the looped, shorter take is better.

Karma Police - cumgirl8

1. No, it is not a Radiohead cover. Do me a favor.
2. I don't need to give a NSFW warning, do I? I mean, look at the name of the band.
3. As they say on the BBC "Contains very strong language from the start." Always a recommendation.

 

Princess Pink Toes - Marontate

I mean, where do I even begin? And that's them at their more accessible.

Okay, this has been all over the place. I mean fun. This has been fun. Let's end with a rocker, eh?

TV Star - Du Blonde

Not rawk enough for you? Okay, how about this?

Wrecking Ball - Le Butcherettes

Yes, it is a Miley Cyrus cover. I was going to save it for my next Covers collection but I have so many now, including another one by this lot that's even better, so why sit on it any longer. I mean, it's six years old already. Leave it any longer and it might go off.

I can't explain why I never heard of Le Butcherettes before. It seems like I should have. Can you imagine what else is still out there? Come to that, can you imagine what's left in the folder I'm about to delete, that I'm never going to post here?

Don't have nightmares, all you completionists!