Moonshake >> I have to hide behind mirrors

Moonshake - "The Taboo"

(C/Z Records / World Domination Recordings, 1996)

This song is fittingly bittersweet, evocative and mysterious, making a far cry from the angular confusion of their early years.  It's the final song on Moonshake's third/final album, Dirty & Divine, and I think it lives up to the album title.

Dave Callahan (ex-Wolfhounds) finally learned how to sing on this LP, replacing his snarl with a more relaxed, melodic delivery.  Mary Hansen and Katherine Gifford, both of Stereolab, provided some vocals on this album; someone named Kate Blackshaw is credited with the female vocals, specifically "South Pacific vocals," at the very end of this song.  Moonshake were named after a mediocre 1973 CAN song.  Their 1992 debut album, Eva Luna, is a fractured masterpiece of post-punk rhythms, illegally funky basslines, sampler-based hijinks and edgy, surrealist lyrics, with vocals split between Callahan and Margaret Fiedler.  Their 1993 EP Big Good Angel is even better.  Here's the video for the punk-funk onslaught that is "Capital Letters" from Big Good Angel:

Fiedler and (mind-bogglingly amazing) bassist John Frenett then quit Moonshake to form the band Laika.  Moonshake's sophomore album featured vocals by friend & frequent tourmate PJ Harvey on five songs.  Since Dirty & Divine featured neither Fiedler nor Frenett, most fans don't consider it to be a true Moonshake album, but as it's the first one I bought, in March '99 for about $3, I'll always have some loyalty to it.  I had first heard about Moonshake in a summer '95 issue of Alternative Press on this list, a list which sort of changed my life.

Eye-catching vertical typography on the back cover & spines

This "sleeveface" randomly self-generated in my computer room, so I had to take a picture of it, after chuckling at it for a few weeks each time I walked by it:

The Scott Walker album cover reminds me of the somewhat famous (at least if you've been on a message board in the last year or so) "exasperated Jerry Seinfeld" meme, which people post in response to a dumb statement:

I got an amazing grilled Mediterranean chicken pita sandwich for lunch today at this restaurant & coffee shop in Arabi called Touché Cafe, which opened in January, right down the street from Chalmette Battlefield.  I'm kind of sad that I'm missing a big family reunion up in Vinalhaven, Maine this week.  I went there for my uncle Tom's wedding in '84, then in '95 and '97, but not since then.  So... sorry, fam.


Planets with similar climates: Rip Rig + Panic - "Sunken Love" (1983), The Werefrogs - "Between Tomorrow & Sleep" (1992), Primal Scream - "Higher Than The Sun" (1991), Massive Attack feat. Liz Fraser - "Black Milk" (1998), Bush Tetras - "Rituals" (1982), Tipsy - "Space Golf" (1996), Moloko - "Boo" (1995), Poem Rocket - "Contrail de l'avion" (1994), Morphine - "Whisper" (1995).


Most telling headline of the week: Apple now has more cash than the U.S. government


Currently watching: Thunderball