Pandora, Pandora
Aug. 8th, 2006 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
featherynscaleI'm afraid I may have a new favorite band, at least for the moment. Pandora, when asked to provide things that were like unto my Durham darlings, The Squirrel Nut Zippers, returned Okkervil River. They have a sound rooted in bluegrass, provided that the bluegrass in question had been watered with the runoff from a meth lab. They are from Austin, which doesn't surprise me at all. For a while, many of my favorite bands seemed to be from Austin.
They are a bit more country than my usual preference, but then, my non-preference for country music is more because of the usual subject matter than the sound style. Steel guitars, banjos, these things I like. Jesus, Momma, and cryin' over your cheatin' woman, not so much.
And they write like this: (from a bio of the band)
I sat in the woods for hours. I listened to nothing but the Incredible String Band for a whole year. I became convinced the world would end in 1995. I became unconvinced of that. Seth said one day the world would shake us all like dog water. He later got arrested for drawing a stick figure picture of a bankrobbery in Mascoma Savings, but was released because he promised to take lessons with the police sketch artist. It felt like nobody had ever been alive before. Friends around us sank into delirium. My father asked that the school not expel me as a personal favor. Meanwhile we were making masks and holding secret ceremonies and trying to chase God out from beind the houseplants...
Why can't I write like that? Wait. I know the answer to that question. I can, but when I write like that, it seems pretentious and I try to stop. But I always appreciate that other people seem to be able to pull it off.
They are a bit more country than my usual preference, but then, my non-preference for country music is more because of the usual subject matter than the sound style. Steel guitars, banjos, these things I like. Jesus, Momma, and cryin' over your cheatin' woman, not so much.
And they write like this: (from a bio of the band)
I sat in the woods for hours. I listened to nothing but the Incredible String Band for a whole year. I became convinced the world would end in 1995. I became unconvinced of that. Seth said one day the world would shake us all like dog water. He later got arrested for drawing a stick figure picture of a bankrobbery in Mascoma Savings, but was released because he promised to take lessons with the police sketch artist. It felt like nobody had ever been alive before. Friends around us sank into delirium. My father asked that the school not expel me as a personal favor. Meanwhile we were making masks and holding secret ceremonies and trying to chase God out from beind the houseplants...
Why can't I write like that? Wait. I know the answer to that question. I can, but when I write like that, it seems pretentious and I try to stop. But I always appreciate that other people seem to be able to pull it off.
