PHILA: We will be playing music in your streets on Sunday, 6:45 p.m. It’s free and it’s fun! Come say hi!
We would appreciate your follow! Thanklin, and pardon the self-promotion, which is gratuitous and will never stop, probably.
xo
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I have a band called Your Gentlemen and we are recording demos at our homes. This is one of them. It’s called “Pieces In Their Place.” It takes place in a brain, in a bed, from a field, with a girl.
Thanklin, as always.
My Favorite Part #1
“Fast As You Can”
Fiona Apple
from When the Pawn…
1999
My Favorite Part: 1:23
My Favorite Part is a blog I intend to regularly update that will catalogue and share my absolute favorite moments in pop songs. I’m looking to highlight moments that stand out; when a particular lyric cuts deep or a song shifts planes sonically and everything clicks or falls into place. I’m starting it on the behest of my friend/bandmate/movie night adversary Matthew Ryan. I’m not sure if he actually thought that this was a good idea or if he just wanted me to stop sending him overwritten text messages while he was at work. Either way, I’m giving it a shot. I’ll try to make my selections timely when I can, but the connections will probably be loose at best. For example, this entry is about Fiona Apple’s “Fast As You Can” because this past week marked the singer’s first new material in seven years with the release of her new single “Every Single Night.” Anyway, on with it:
“Sometimes my mind don’t shape and shift / but most of the time, it does.”
The minute and twenty two seconds that lead up to that line is all posturing. The song may be an upfront confession of broken tendencies in love and relationships, but with that tempo and confident delivery, it doesn’t come off as vulnerability. Instead, it comes off as a warning siren over a smirk and a rolling piano line. The lyrics are so blunt and self-aware that lines like, “so if you catch me trying to find myself into your heart from under your skin” almost end up sounding tongue in cheek. They’re closer to threats than cries for help. Apple is on the offensive for most of this song.
And then she lets her guard down. At 1:23 Apple blinks. She puts on the breaks, the tempo drops, the edge is taken off and the mood mellows out. The manic vocal inflections disappear and the shift in tone goes from threatening to an honest vulnerability. All signs point to relief and in a certain way we do get it; all of the posturing, the bratty wit and smirk of the rest of the song recedes for a moment of clarity that hits so hard in its simplicity because it brings you to the most upsetting realization about the rest of the song possible. That one line tells you that it’s all true.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Your Gentlemen - “Blue Mood”
This is our “rock” song. You can also download it if you’d like.
We hope you like it and we thank you thank you for listening / coming to our shows / helping us along.
FOREVER THANKLIN.
Feb. 18 @ Maestro 206, Hillsborough, NJ
Feb. 19 @ Arlene’s Grocery, NYC
March 7 @ Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia
Downloading and listening purposes.
Huge thank you to everyone who came out and supported us on Friday. Forever appreciated, as is anyone who listens, comments, criticizes or gives us the time of day. Below are some tracks from that night, recorded through the soundboard. Happy and healthy to you and yours.
Your Gentlemen @ Arlene’s Grocery, New York, 12.30.2011:
Someone cut Ben Gibbard out of there he’s ruining everything. You can see it on Will Arnett’s face.
awesomepeoplehangingouttogether:
Rashida Jones, Ben Gibbard, Andy Samberg, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler
(click to) download:
Live YG’s:
You Never Talk To Me About Anything
Also come see us @ Arlene’s Grocery in New York City Friday, Dec. 30 @ midnight.
Thanks!
