Elan Vital

Today's Music That Jason Is A Little Scared Of But Would Still Probably Make Out With is Elan Vital, by Pretty Girls Make Graves. Now, fairly bad band name aside, this album is kind of neat. It's dark, droning pop with a sultry female voice, the kind of stuff you would expect to hear on a soundtrack for a modern noir film that defies convention by being bright at times (something like Layer Cake, perhaps). It sort of rests in that gray area between ambient and rock because of its tempo and intermittent soundscape; I'd very much consider PGMG to be a peer group to, say, TV on the Radio, Metric, or possibly Ladytron. Sometimes I wish that the band would let go and really cut loose; Elan Vital seems to be a more bark than bite most of the time.

Still, I really like this album. Apparently PGMG came to DSM not long after I moved here and played as the opening band for She Wants Revenge; if tickets hadn't been so much, I would have gladly gone and walked out when the headliner came in. This album is a lot of fun, some of the songs are uptempo enough for workout music, but as a whole I would say it's not that energetic. I suppose if St. Etienne would come over and talk, and maybe get up and dance with you once or twice, PGMG would come over and poke at all your things and sneak around a little. You wouldn't be hurt or at a loss when PGMG left, but you'd feel safer. I think "The Nocturnal House" is maybe my favorite song on this album. The only one I can think of that I don't actively care for is "Parade", because it's a little too happy and seems somewhat out of place. I wouldn't recommend running out and buying this album, but you should check it out.

Unfortunately, PGMG disbanded recently. Sad! Sorry if I got you curious about this album.

In Other News:
I need more music. I also need to practice the guitar.

Today I was having a discussion about color blindness with a coworker. She asked me, "how do you describe the color red to someone who doesn't know what colors are?" I said that it probably looked like a sunburn felt. What do you think? It's kind of a tough one.

Also I thought about messing with people for April Fool's Day, but it wouldn't be worth the trouble if someone started taking me seriously today. I did tell a couple people that I was pregnant though.