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Showing posts from October, 2024

Election Song : The Foremen-"What Did You Do On Election Day?"

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This jaunty folk song parodies how different Americans act on this important day, particularly along party lines that never seem to change. Showing how frustrated those who vote are with those who do not, the song, prime Foremen tradition, makes fun of various sides of the political spectrum. Even though the song is always pertinent because voter turnout tends to be low, this year many of the lyrics feel particularly relevant, including "I kicked the pamphlets off the porch" and "felt distinctly disenfranchised."  Perhaps these are always perennial concerns, yet most of the characters that are asked what they did on election day tend to have done very little, so when one says that they voted, it seems surprising. That he is a "distant cousin" is telling as those closest to the speaker are too busy thinking briefly about politics before doing something odd like tossing out their Bee Gee records. These actions demonstrate the disregard that many have for vot...

Track This: Jets To Brazil's "Further North"

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Jets to Brazil always makes me think of fall, changing seasons, and remembrance. I started listening to them at a pivotal moment when I was figuring out my identity and becoming an adult. I had long been a fan of Jawbreaker, and when Black Schwarzenbach started JTB, I went to one of their first national tours in 1998 for Orange Rhyming Dictionary in Milwaukee. They played with Fugazi, Compound Red, and the band I saw play most Milwaukee shows at that time, Promise Ring. It was an amazing show for the most part, and I met Blake before the show. For many Jawbreaker fans, Jets to Brazil took some getting used to, mainly because they toned down the former band's punk tendencies for more indie rock and pop influences. While 1995's  Dear You , Jawbreaker's final record, was moving in this direction, JTB added keyboards and sometimes resembled 1980s bands like The Psychedelic Furs or 1990s indie bands like Wilco more than the punk stylings of many of the Jawbreaker releases, Howev...