tankt

Actually, this particular track is much more like the song of the week, as I have listened to it non-stop since first hearing it on Monday.

I subscribed to Flavorpill’s Earplug many years ago, and even though its relevance and timeliness is negligible, I keep it around for the random gem every now and then. Last week’s issue of Earplug is a perfect example as it had a link to three micromixes from the members of Animal Collective.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my brother Kevin for exposing me to AC, then insisting that I continue to listen to them in spite of not connecting at first. He is the reason I saw and loved them in concert (my pics and video). Needless to say, I saw the link and devoted the next few hours to pouring over their mixes.

For better or worse, I couldn’t get past the second song on Panda’s mix, and a little digging confirmed it was Davy Graham’s “Both Sides Now” from 1969:

I played it for Abby the next morning and she immediately pegged it as a remix of Joni Mitchell’s song by the same name, and one of her all-time favorites too. Mitchell’s lyrics are sublime, a taste:

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say I love you right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I’ve looked at life that way

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, and say I’ve changed
Well somethings lost, but somethings gained
From living evry day

Graham’s version is decidedly more up-tempo, of course, and though I know so little about him I have yet to come across anything as spirited in his catalog. I am surprised Wes Anderson hasn’t put it in one of his soundtracks, it is a perfect match for his sound and the story fits with his fondness for life’s, and love’s, mysteries. Perhaps that’s just another reason it resonated so fully with me.

As an aside, I hope to do many more of these SOTD posts, perhaps even daily if all goes well. I don’t expect all of them to be so long-winded, but music has a way of touching so many parts of my life, and to ignore any single one of them paints a much less complete picture.

Let’s see. There’s the iPhone. Granted, that’s almost entirely Apple, but they did need a carrier for the first version, and Ma Bell stepped up. Then there’s AT&T Park, one of the most picturesque ballparks in America, in spite of being home of the woeful San Francisco Giants. And now there’s a fresh batch of Wes Anderson directed commercials, thanks to goldenfiddle from kottke for the tip.

I heard one of them in the background yesterday, but didn’t catch the video, only the story-line and absurd amalgamation of cities and places at the end. All in all, very clever, but nothing without the trademark Wes Anderson seamless movement from scene to scene to pull it all together. Roll the tape:

Typical Wes Anderson brilliance.

As for the dark side of AT&T, see the inimitable emptywheel Marcy Wheeler, at The Next Hurrah for a quick rundown:

Back in June, the Bush Administration invited one of AT&T’s key lobbyists, Ed Gillespie, to serve as White House counselor. A few weeks after that, BushCo expanded AT&T’s resident lobbyist’s role to include most of Karl Rove’s portfolio. Just days after Gillespie took over that role, the DOJ made an unusual intervention into the FCC’s request for comments on Net Neutrality, weighing against Net Neutrality.

Well today, one of AT&T’s former key attorneys, Peter Keisler, just took over the Department of Justice.

…

Basically, Bush just gave AT&T the ability to have its long-time lawyer give it legal authority to collaborate with the government to spy on citizens.

And in case you’re worried that AT&T is stuck with no good legal representation, having lost Keisler, rest assured. You see, former Associate White House Counsel Brad Berenson (who also happens to be Kyle Sampson and Susan Ralston’s lawyer) has taken over for Keisler and is working on the AT&T case, among other things.

Reaching back a week for this gem, on the matter of our esteemed former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his desperate attempts to bury the warrantless domestic spying fiasco:

And finally, it adds another reason why telecom companies are anxious to get immunity for their work on the Administration’s warrantless wiretap program. That’s because some of that wiretapping was based on analysis the telecom companies are already doing on us.

…

You see, when these lawsuits go forward, we’ll have a sense not just of how the telecom companies are complicit in the government’s spying on us—but how much they’re already spying on us, anyway.

Luckily, all of AT&T’s and the Bush administration’s “alleged” efforts to spy on their customers and citizens takes place just right outside my front door at 611 Folsom Street. Thanks, fellas. I feel much safer already.

Great music. Incredible color and composition. Anamorphic wide-angle lenses over lush landscapes. A meandering plot predicated on a succession of seemingly random vignettes, all loosely tied together at the end. Oh, and Futura everywhere.

It looks to be another epic, and classic, Wes Anderson film. I can’t wait for the September 29.