TGIF! Let's Have Some DEATH: Prayer to God - Shellac

We're alive! Here's a song about dying!

Well, a song about killing. And praying!

Shellac are the heavy, metallic, noisy rock minimalists comprised of Steve Albini, Bob Weston and Todd Trainer. Albini's name alone should let you know what kind of ragged sonic experience you're in for. He's created a towering collection of hardest of hardcore albums, was the driving force behind Big Black, and produced amongst other bands Nirvana (In Utero), The Pixies (Surfer Rosa) and PJ Harvey (Rid of Me). Combo his already harsh tendencies with the raw production techniques of Weston and your ears will begin to sweat and bleed before you even press the play button.

And boy is this song bloody. Every guitar and bass chord slams home into your tendons like bundles of hot wires. The drums pop and explode and thump their way into flakes of dust, metal and drumsticks. There's a primal brutality to the sound which is mirrored perfectly by the black as pitch lyrics.

There's an unnerving elegance to how simply the rage runs. We have all wanted people to die. You don't do it because that would be bad. And maybe you don't really want to kill someone anyway. Seems hard. But thinking about it late it at night, praying to your own personal Hate for it- those are the moments which this song has captured in their entirety.

So. Remember you are mortal.

And TGIF!

TGIF! Let's Have Some DEATH: Murder Ballad - Das Hoboerotica

Das Hoboerotica are a Nebraska based cello/accordion duo made up of Rachel West and Lenna Pierce. 

Before we get to the music it must be said: Rachel and Lenna are amazing at names. Their band is called Das Hoboerotica. Their first album is called So Long Succors. Their second album is called Feminine Hyjinx. They've won naming things, and congratulations are in order. So, for today's TGIF! Let's Have Some DEATH we are featuring the aptly named murder ballad 'Murder Ballad.'

The song creates an entire story out of spare and dusty parts, and it's immensely affecting. The lo-fi recording techniques render the lyrics a bit hard to catch, but it doesn't matter. When I hear this song I see the body of a woman lying in an underground station as a busking band echoes across from another tunnel. It's not the sound of a death, but what you hear after you die. This is all getting very grim, but the point is I get all of this and more from a piece of music where you can barely understand a word. It evokes an entire film out of its soundscape.

Also that last accordion screech scares the absolute hell out of me EVERY time. Even when I know it's coming. It will still scare the absolute hell out of you now, even though I've told you it's coming. Thank you Das Hoboerotica for reminding us of our own mortality, lulling us into a deathly lullaby, and then making us jump out of our skins in the final hour.

TGIF! Let's have some DEATH: Running Bear - Johnny Preston

It's Friday and you know what that means! Somebody's gotta die! Musically!

Today we have the drowned love of Running Bear and Little White Dove. This sweeping tale of young Indian Braves, rivers, and minor racial insensitivity was sung by Johnny Preston in 1959. The track was written by The Big Bopper, who had discovered Johnny playing in his band The Shades a few years prior.

There are two things in particular I like about this song. First: I love the belchingly bassy 'hoomba-doomkas' that underpin the verses, and how they collide into the far more traditional rock and roll choruses. It's a meeting of cultures! At least I'm sure that's how they pitched it back in 1959. Definitely.

Secondly, I like the song's Wikipedia entry. It has a plot breakdown that looks like a paragraph out of a book report. It tickles me that someone took the time to get that specific and still have it read like something a twelve year old pulled out of CliffsNotes.

So! Happy Friday! Memento Mori! HOOMBA-DOOMKA-HOOMBA-DOOMKA.