Daft Punk is Playing at My House

...so get your ass to MT for the party.

Our featured track today is one I've been sitting on for awhile now. I first heard it on Jake Fogelnest's XMU show and it's one of those songs I loved upon first listen. The track is "Postcards" by An Horse, a band sort of 'discovered' by Tegan & Sara. So, let's see--they were made popular by Tegan & Sara, toured in Australia with Death Cab for Cutie, and feature a strong female lead (singer Kate Cooper). I'm not sure you need any other reasons to listen. Ok fine here's another:

How adorable is Kate??

"Postcards" is a track from the band's first and only album so far, Rearrange Beds. Firstly, Cooper's voice is intensely appealing to me. There's something about the hard way she pronounces her words--the way she chews them and spits them out. ie) and you came back; yes you came baCK.

It's the anger when she says TWO postcards in a month or so well I don't know, I just don't know.

It's the way she spits out the 'two' as though she's absolutely disgusted by the thought. And then you have the Aussie pleading of the chorus: But your skin's covered in postcards from you toooo me, toooo me...

Then, of course, we can't discount the somewhat opaque lyrics, grabbing at a kind of seething anger--warranted or no? She doesn't want these memories; she keeps stumbling across them at all the wrong times. Then, to top it all off, the postcards remind her that she's always wanting to be somewhere else. It's not just an old love letter reminding you of what could have been--it's a postcard from the Loire River Valley reminding you that a) you're not with the person you want to be and b) you're not where you would so rather be.

When you see me sit by myself, you'll think that I'm waiting for someone else. But I'm wishing for somewhere else; I'm wishing for somewhere else.

To put the final touches on this blog-asm, let's consider the irresistable guitar riff that starts the song and carries the verses. You can hum it forlornly or you can get your rock on. I'm a fan of efficiency so when I can use one song for two separate emotional states, I inherently support that song.

The rest of the album can be repetitive at times. Many of the tracks remind me of "Postcards" and while I think that is just an indication of how brilliant that lone track is, it can also be wearing to experience the same sort of deja vu for the length of an album. Their pop/punk/rock is refreshing though--An Horse has definitely put out a solid, rocking record and I've added them to the list of things Tegan & Sara have made me appreciate. (Following gay girls, asymmetrical haircuts, twins, self-deprecating stage banter, and the golden age of nineteen).


I'm including some standout tracks from Rearrange Beds as well as Tegan & Sara's "Nineteen" (for clear reasons) and a track by Hammock, "Always Wishing You Were Somewhere Else." When I listen to music, my mind often leapfrogs through different references the artist could have been making or the myriad extrapolations/connections/annotations I can make and then share with the world. Hence the Hammock add-on.


It's probably yet another manifestation of my OCD but it's fortunately less embarrasing/more socially acceptable than the one where I have to count Channel 22 twice before I turn off the telly. (Insert Debbie Downer face here).