That's not the only lie I told you

Dear friends,

1. Tonight is Beg Yr Pardon #6 at The Delancey. Go there. Eat baked goods. Heckle DJ Jeff K and demand he play some hip hop. Procure bbq for $5 on roof. Catch the sweet stylings of My Teenage Stride and Animandible. Say hi to me at the door. Smile at DJ Matilda von Crumbcake and request some Blues Explosion. Shout "#1! #1!" to no one in particular. Snarf more brownies. Wind the evening down with the electrifying likes of EZMachine and Cassettes Won't Listen. Drink free beers. Dance a bit. Go home. Zzzzz.

Trust me, it'll be good for you to get out of the house.

2. I wanted to post about another entry in the sensitive mysogonist pop sweepstakes i.e. the song Notice by Gomez by putting up the video but there is none. I don't get it. I was sure that would be the single from their new album, How We Operate. It ain't.

Seriously. Who picked the goofy Girlshapedlovedrug* as the first single? The band or their record company? What is wrong with you? Don't they know the lady demographic who would drool over a video shot in pensive blues and greens featuring a frail but handsome (in a romantic poet dying of consumption sorta way) boy clad in a worn man-cardigan crooning about you never noticing him!? The white curtains billow in the room, the singer looks out longingly, 1, 2, 3...sigh. Cue the vj now.

Non-existent cliched video aside, Notice coasts along on an interesting blend of unrequited rom-rock that's equal parts resigned and bitter as all get out. At first, it's just the sudden beat stops that signify that maybe the leading man has more will than he's letting on but by then end, when he's blowing off his previous sucker pronouncements with an "I can tell you're in denial. Get over it," You get the feeling that all that sensitive guy jazz is just another costume. Lady, you're a self-centered bitch, dig? And like the usual contributions in this genre, that underlying message will go...(sorry I can't resist) unnoticed. I wonder if that was the point, if this was intentional? I wonder why I like it regardless, even as it skeeves me out.

3. Coming back from Jersey yesterday at dawn, my ipod shuffled onto a band I'd previously tried to contact about playing BYP but were busy touring, Meneguar. Their song 100 Actors is like a kinder, gentler, post-elocution lesson version of Fugazi's Guy Picciotto riding waves of queasy guitar chords going up and down and up and down. The song is blessed by a tight military beat to go with its first person philosophizing, making it sound way more authoritative than the hazy accusations in the chorus would suggest. Go check out 100 actors on their My Space.

Love, D

Songs to seek: Notice/Gomez, 100 Actors/Meneguar

* Written by member Tom Gray, who usually writes sunny slices of pop goodness. This is not one of them.