another drama by the kitchen sink tonight

dear friends,

1. a tune that would definitely be a hit in the phina household is the long blondes fast & crude darts. over slices of occasionally off-beat, wire-y, slightly out of tune guitar, a woman intones about her desire to play darts like a dominatrix version of justine frischmann. short & sharp & without, perhaps, the shock - this song is a hot slice of pleasing nonetheless.

for other sides to the long blondes (my space page here) try to find once and never again where beret & neck scarf sportin' frontwoman kate jackson gets to let loose in a molly ringwald dance way as she gives wise woman counsel to a 19 year old girl. also seek autonomy boy. this sexy, strutting vamp features one guitar line nicked from post punk 101 & another guitar line that's all slow grind & that's a combo I'm always down with. jackson has a voice that goes from tentative in her upper register & then forward & full throated in her lower register. that alto is her power move, 'cause when she rocks it, as she does in this song, you pretty much have to give in to her charms.

2. go visit twee pop love! which gave a nice shout out to contributor mike's one man project automat. at the end of the post there is a link to automat's my space page where you can listen to several lo-fi pop tracks like princeton train which perfectly captures the feeling of a foggy dayquil type of morning on a nearly empty train platform. you've missed the train (of course) & as you sip & spill your lukewarm coffee, this song is composing itself in your head.

3. even though it strays from their bossa nova template, for sheer amusement you should listen to a ridiculously accented bela lugosi's dead as done by nouvelle vague now available at itunes as part on an exclusive e.p.* don't buy that one though if you only want one song, go instead for their sensuously light rendition of the smiths classic sweet and tender hooligan. despite the usual moz lyrics about infatuations with hard man types, this version sways like a tipsy twirl on a tropical beach.

love, d

songs to seek: darts/the long blondes, once and never again/the long blondes, autonomy boy/the long blondes, princeton train/automat, sweet and tender hooligan/nouvelle vague

* unfortunately, there are no crazy camille appearances on this e.p. which is a shame 'cause with her big ole volatile to lyrical range she is by far my favorite of their chanteuses. maybe next time...