The Wave Pictures

Every now and then I come across a band that completely sweeps me off my feet. You know that scene in High Fidelity in which John Cusack says, “I will now sell 5 copies of The 3 EPs by the Beta Band”?

No?

It’s right here:

(seriously, I love YouTube.)

I admit to being a lot like that “it’s good” guy — except a little more manic. I’m the person who could hear a snippet of something and then rush to the counter to purchase the album (and yes, I did go out and buy The 3 EPs shortly after seeing this movie. “Dry the Rain”? Amazing song. Give a listen here). Some music I need the time to get to know; some music I just know I love from the first note.

iTunes has made getting swept away by bands a hell of a lot more convenient, of course, dangerously so. Because I’m on the computer all damn day, often well into the night, and I am impulsive, and if I’m not physically going into my wallet to pull out the cash it doesn’t quite feel like I’m spending anything. I’ve purchased and downloaded six full albums this week — less than some people, perhaps, but far more than I have ever done in the past. I may also be making up for lost time, including the months my Mac was broken and I couldn’t access iTunes at all and my old playlists were really getting on my nerves because I’d lived with them for too long.

All this is to say: thanks to the nature of my work, I came across a band that’s actually been around for a while, but hasn’t broken through the American music scene quite yet. Or maybe they have and I’m just that uncool. Either scenario is plausible, and it really doesn’t matter, because I know them now.

The Wave Pictures. Instant Coffee Baby.

I’ve poked around the internet and found several reviews, and they all make the same comparisons: Violent Femmes, Jonathan Richman, The Smiths. And that’s all true, but mercifully The Wave Pictures blend those familiar (and beloved, if you’re me) sounds into their own — they don’t sound derivative. It feels fresh, and fun, and nearly every song makes me smile even if the lyrics are depressing (there’s that Smiths influence).

This one just might be my favorite:

There’s also “Kiss Me,” which according to frontman David Tattersall is based on a true story: “a girl that I liked at school wrote me a letter on pink paper, but all about her love for John Lennon and not me. It pissed me off a bit at the time.” (Read more of his notes on each track from this CD at the The Line of Best Fit.) After declaring his hatred of John Lennon, then, Tattersall goes on to sing, “And now you’ve garbaged my copy of Pet Sounds/I think you’ve taken everything from me I have to give.” Accompanied by the ukelele. Irresistable.

I sorta wish I’d found out about them back in May or June — this album strikes me as the perfect summer soundtrack — light and happy. They also nail three of the four primary criteria I have for music (this is a post all its own that I’ve never gotten my act together enough to write):

1. Jangly guitars

2. Clever lyrics

3. Handclaps (man, am I a sucker for the handclaps. A song can have nothing else going for it, but if there are handclaps, I’m sold)

. . . the fourth is Brian Wilsonesque harmonies. Harmonies exist here, but not in that sort of wall-of-sound way. Maybe I can give Wave Pictures 3.5 out of 4, then.

Simply charming.

And if nothing else I’ve said intrigues you, maybe this might.

Why Sarah Palin scares the crap out of me

– The mainstream media’s fascination with the idea that somehow Palin’s nomination as VP is heralding a new age of feminism. Feministing has already compiled a list of headlines to this effect.

One thing needs to be absolutely, fundamentally clear-as-fucking-crystal: “woman” and “feminist” do not mean the same thing. One can be a woman and still insist that women shouldn’t have a say in what happens to their bodies, that it’s right and just that men earn more than women for the same kind of work, and that victims of rape and abuse are somehow responsible for what happens to them. One can be a woman and protect the interests of other women within one’s own circle, familial or otherwise, and fail to see how those same interests might apply to women outside that circle. One can be a woman and not believe in equality or justice.

“Female” does not equal “feminist.” Put Sarah Palin in that proverbial heartbeat away position and we’re going to be living in a Margaret Atwood novel, mark my words. This woman should not have any power in government. She must be stopped.

– The pathological lying. I mean, I suppose it’s to be expected; all politicians lie or bend the truth or omit salient details (and it’s extremely depressing that we’ve gotten so accustomed to this as to expect it — but then again, has it always been this way? even in the good ol’ days?), but Palin’s are Bush-worthy in their egregiousness — and I also suspect that she honestly believes the lies she spews. The bridge to nowhere business, for one — claiming that she refused the money earmarked for this state vanity project when she in fact didn’t refuse it until the entire rest of the United States said, “WTF?” Read more about Palin vs. truth here.

My brother had the perfect movie analogy during the whole “are there WMDs in Iraq” spectacle — Bush was acting exactly like Osgood Fielding III at the end of Some Like it Hot, refusing to accept that he can’t marry “Daphne,” parrying every objection (“I can never have children”) into a compromise (“We can adopt”) until ultimately Jack Lemmon pulls off his Daphne wig and says in his real voice, “I’m a man!” At which point Osgood pauses, and then utters the last line of the movie which I won’t spoil for those who haven’t seen it. My brother’s point was, Bush wasn’t even listening, so intent was he and so goal-driven, that he simply wouldn’t — or couldn’t, if you’re feeling kind — see what was right in front of him. And Palin is exactly the same way.

– Her creationism. I think this nation deserves to have the two people in the top positions of governance be those who believe in the validity of science, who possess the ability to think critically and rationally about anything, let alone the world around us, how it got here, and how we can keep it around for a while longer.

– While we’re on the subject of religion, she is actively involved in a church which not only had a recent guest speak about terrorism in Israel being God’s judgment against those who had not accepted Christ, but the pastor of this church went on record saying, “well, he has a point.” This has not received nearly as much press as the Reverend Wright business did, and it’s no wonder — the McCain campaign knows that a significant number of Hillary supporters are older Jewish women, the same women who swore they would vote for McCain because their candidate didn’t receive the nomination. Should this story come out about Palin’s church supporting, essentially, the destruction of Israel, well, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it.

– Her zest for book banning and the way the mainstream media is sugarcoating it. No, she was not successful in banning any books at the Wasilla local library. But the well-documented fact is that she asked the librarian if she “could live with” certain books being removed from the shelves. And when the librarian refused to consider banning anything, she got a termination slip (which was later withdrawn). This is how Palin handles material she finds objectionable, and people who oppose her. Sound familiar?

So, yeah. I’m afraid. Very afraid.