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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Currently: binding our very best in hardcover
Today’s Feature: “Bright Inaugural Day, Washington” by Lauren Frey
Latest in Digest: Lincoln Logorrhea

Listening • Joyous Descent!

Story Time With Shugo

“The Japanese, on hearing Western music for first the time, liked what they heard. ‘That first song you played was the best,’ they said. So the Westerners played, but the Japanese guy answered, ‘No, the one you did before that one was the best.’ Turns out he enjoyed the sound of the artists tuning up most of all.” [source]
The only words I can make out are “all day holiday” and “parachute”—Shugo Tokumaru sings the rest in Japanese at great speed. Tokumaru’s “Parachute” offers neither serene floating nor salvation; it is a fast-thinking, multi-instrumental, standing-to-attention kind of song. Bells, guitar, glockenspiel are all played quickly and causes slight panic—but it’s the voice that stops that chute from opening: How does it sound so carefree? Falling to such twee-pop music, knowing that you can pull the cord and be saved at any moment, is an adrenaline rush. Most parachute jumps in one day? 640. Just don’t listen to this song every time. Listen to it once. Now. —Mike Smith, Aug. 15, 2008

» Listen to “Parachute” at Exitfare

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