A House

One of these great Irish bands I love so much and sadly forget about sometimes. A distant cousin to the Go Betweens — just a great sounding band — a fusion of post-punk and indie pop/rock.

They possessed an unwavering conviction and commitment to making the records they wanted to make.

I admire it so much — and it’s exactly my new approach. There are a whole lot more filmmaking deal breakers for me now.

A House was wiling to turn their backs on record labels. They were gloriously stubborn and doubled down on their music.

I thought I would choose The Strong and the Silent or Endless Art, but I am drawn to I AM THE GREATEST today. I love the affirmation. Muhammad Ali said it and we believed him.

Coming from A House, sure it’s ironic, tongue-in-cheek. 😂 The song is flat-out hilarious on one level. I love its simmering anger, frustration and honesty. And the last minute is brilliantly bonkers — how it evolves into shouting. ❤️

Nirvana

This one transcends. A gorgeous, confounding, mysterious track with an addictive riff — bass, guitar, drums. Kurt’s great vocal. Quiet, loud, quiet.

In the sun, in the sun.
I feel as one.

We tend to think we’re special when we’re young. Invincible even — with our whole lives in front of us.

All in all is all we are.

But we are each special and unique. Even when I’m consumed by existential thoughts, I still believe this. And this life is as brilliant and perfect as it is cruel.

Strange Ranger

Formerly Sioux Falls — these guys keep shapeshifting and making music that’s artful and original. The post-grunge sound has faded and replaced with eclectic, genre-bending records.

I love this band and look forward to each release. This indie-rock, indie-pop fusion on REMEMBERING THE ROCKETS is especially in the pocket for me.

I’ve put this track on so many of my playlists. I love the surreal, sweet longing in the lyrics. The disillusionment and care-free melody.

Planes moving through the sky
I walk to work in fading light
Daddies with their kids
I still want thatI still feel sick

Alvvays

I love a song with a question mark. Don’t see that very often but usually it’s a good sign. Especially a song that soars with such confidence and melody. And the questions keep coming.

Does it get easier on your own?

So many questions when we’re young and wide-eyed and starting out. Still so many questions thirty years later.

I love Molly’s vocals paired with these shoe-gaze guitars. But the album never drones, it’s big power pop, never too sweet — full of energy, emotion and ideas.

Here’s a band that’s peaking before our eyes.

Passengers

From ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS I — I played this one to death during film school and wrote many of my first screenplays listening to this little masterpiece. I love this little six minute meditation. The tempo — the bongos, percussion, keys, bass. How it starts small but builds, grows, evolves. Only one little lyric, so no danger of it becoming didactic.

Always forever now

It really does sound like Brian Eno, which makes sense with the song writing credit here. The electronic singing at 3:11 even sounds like Eno’s voice. And that screeching guitar feedback at 1:22 is outstanding. Feeling more Jonny Greenwood than Edge with more Eno-esque soundscapes at 4:27 carrying us out — electric guitars, whines, escalating scale.

Evan Dando

The Jon Brion produced BABY I’M BORED showcases some of Evan’s best songs. Love this record so much and the deluxe edition is a real treat, unearthing twelve new tracks. Played this album a lot back in 2003 — we even caught his solo gig that year at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica before we left town.

This beautiful record was such a highlight during that time. Most of these are Evan’s songs, but this one’s a cover. It’s a song that just drops me into the present tense — a big reason I love this hypnotizing track. If we’re lucky, we get many seasons in life — and it’s so meditative to call out what’s happening to us right now with gratitude. Our lives in motion.

Dramarama

A band I loved and followed closely as a kid — I remember their debut LP CINEMA VERITE holding a strange power over me in ‘85. It had real mystique. It was rock n’ roll. It was post-punk. It was even pre-grunge, and ahead of its time. And their single Anything, Anything was one of the greatest songs to come out of the U.S. in the eighties.

But I have to admit….their new release COLOR TV was totally unexpected. It came out of nowhere. I guess I figured they had called it quits. But this record is a genuine return to form in 2020 after a fifteen year hiatus.

Big guitars, drums and bass. Soaring vocals. Easdale is almost snarling and grinning at the same time. I love how this track tackles aging and nostalgia with both humor and sadness. A song that’s made me laugh and cry. The wit and truth is almost too much for me to think about.

And there’s no cure for our disease
The magic words are thanks and please
All the antennas look like trees.
And everything you buy is cheese. 😂

U2

A band that needs no introduction. In the running for greatest frontman ever, Bono’s passionate singing and performing presence has been the focus, along with Edge’s jagged, beautiful guitar work.

But the thing I love most about this band is how they stood the test of time and stayed together for decades — a testament of their will as four creative individuals making up one unified creative force.

In this amazing single, we’ll never know if it’s a girl or a drug — perhaps both. But whatever it is? It has emptied our hero. 💔

Nothing to win and nothing left to lose

This single still sounds so beautiful and washes over me this morning, playing it loud in my office at 7AM. That Adam Clayton bass in the mix is so perfect — so big but never overpowering. The entire mix and arrangement has Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois fingerprints all over it.

I love how the music grows and swells — like the thematic obsession in the lyrics. Not many bands can get away with these Broadway-esque howls at 3:03 but this song easily earns it. And like any big high, I love how the music descends and gradually comes back down, with Edge’s guitar carrying us out of the last minute. Perfect song.

Pixies

I was feeling HEY from DOOLITTLE, but then started thinking about Kim Deal. 💔 Specifically how sad I feel when great bands break up and go their separate ways.

Luckily though, we’ve been in the Paz Lenchantin years. And I really like her. Just listen to this tune — it already sounds like classic Pixies to me. Sure it’s a familiar riff but what a song. It’s aged well.

Paz’s vocals — on a song written for Kim — are so beautifully sung. They have power and sincerity. And the Black Francis lyrics have a tenderness and a longing. We feel his regret about how easily ego and conflict can grow and do real damage. But this is still a song about remembering what was actually true. They were happy. And there is real gratitude here.

Remember when we were happy?
If I'm late can I thank you now?
I'm gonna try anyhow

I remember we were happy
That's all I think about now

Neil Young

The Nine Pins video yesterday got me thinking about Neil Young, who just released his 42nd album WORLD RECORD.

I left Hollywood three different times in my life. The second time I left, Annie and I packed up our things, feeling disillusioned and broken by this dream of making movies. We had some money saved up and we moved out to a cabin country near Mt. Shasta to recover. I had ON THE BEACH playing in our car as we drove deep into the woods to our new place. In a home away from home.

Something about the melancholy and disillusionment in this track. It’s so beautiful and Neil sounds so good. It was like he was serenading me with these lyrics in my disappointment, making me feel grateful and hopeful again. That winter we made our short film WOW AND FLUTTER from that little cabin in Northern California.

Well, all those people,
They think they got it made
But I wouldn't buy,
Sell, borrow or trade
Anything I have
To be like one of them.
I'd rather start all over again.

Well, all those headlines,
They just bore me now
I'm deep inside myself,
But I'll get out somehow,
And I'll stand before you,
And I'll bring a smile
To your eyes.
Motion pictures,
Motion pictures.

Neil Young

Sadly, only one more Neil tune — just not enough December days left for me to mess around.

I’m sticking with ON THE BEACH, my favorite Neil Young record. I reach for it most often because it makes me feel good.

Great picking and guitar work and I love that fiddle — and Neil’s baritone feels bold and unusual. And I find it so calming as he dives deep into these poetic memories with obscure references.

An ambulance can only go so fast
It's easy to get buried in the past
When you try to make a good thing last

Meat Puppets

I’m not sure how well known this record is, but it’s alt-country in the best way and from their most recent DUSTY NOTES. Pre-pandemic goodness abounds on this one from 2019 and this little song is a mid-week uplifter for me. It makes me grateful for our place that we were lucky to get into before the pandemic hit.

Between the trees
A strip of green
That’s rolling my way

I love the poetry and simplicity of the melody and these lyrics. Great playing from each band member — love the picking, the stand up bass and accordion.