Thursday, June 27, 2013

Exile

Ahh, the 20th anniversary of Exile in Guyville. To this day, I am never tired of this entire album. Start to finish, there is not an album that encapsulates all the fuckups and sadness and insecurity hiding behind toughness of a twenty something girl. But it's not all nostalgia, it's just a fucking good album, so smart, so cool, just perfect. Go listen.




While we're talking about music that defines me, let's talk about The Muffs. Oh, The Muffs, how I love this band. It's the dirty, silly, angry, diy­ness that I need. Like a good dive bar, a cigarette on a cold night, a pipe in a Soho alley, it's the grittiness that I'm attracted to. I would love to be a posh girl, a sophisticated Betty Draper, but I know I'm not and when I've tried in the past ­to blend into a preppier crew, I feel exposed. Like a big old faker. No matter where you go to school, how much money you make, you cant leave your past very far behind. It's like a shadow. Try as you might, you cant detach from it. You can stand in a way to make it blend in with other shadows or obscure it with other walls and barriers, but it's still there. Eventually you will move into the light and everyone can see it. Oh and can we just discuss the beauty of a two-minute song?


If you need to know just a single fact about me, just know that I adore Morrissey. I have seen him more times than I can count and will continue to, as long as he tours. I love that man with all my heart, since the age of eight. I can't imagine a time when his music and words have not been exactly what I needed to hear.


And in light of being in Texas during such a landmark showing of an elected official actually giving a shit about her constituents, protecting the rights of women in her state, and shining a light on the misogyny and aggression that women everywhere still face (as well as the fucking miscarriage of justice that is happening in our legislative branch, likely on every level), I want to share with you a perfect little song by an amazing trio that put out two albums and promptly fell off the planet.  Oh, Digable Planets, you are the most frustrating show I have ever attended, but I will never stop listening to you and dreaming about a Hip Hop that had more of you (and Tribe and Talib and de la and and...).





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