Tag: palace

Christmastime in the Mountains, by Palace Songs.

Reader, I did not intentionally take Boxing Day off from this project. Rather, I spent a good hour or two on a longer project, was happily interrupted by a Spider Man movie, a dog park, takeout dinner, and after those three events, I was dead tired, and drawn into playing videogames with both my kids on their new Nintendo, literally a dream come true for all involved, and then, I am not making this up, some of us watched some of a Little Prince movie.

I slept well.

I didn’t even remember that I had slacked off on day 360 until I walked the dog this morning, and found myself quietly humming this song, which I had on my Christmas music list (I mean, sort of, right?), and realized I had better go and sing it real quick. I think this is the third Palace song I’ve done off the Hope EP? If I had a few more days, I would finish the rest.

This is the second time I have been late in 360 days, which seems not bad at all.

All Gone, All Gone, by Palace Songs.

Another one of my most precious bits of indie rock, a band and record that I only discovered via that Amy Sohn column in New York Press before other friendly indie rockers more twee than me validated my love for all things Palace, be they Songs or Brothers or Music.

This song (Bandcamp link!) has some killer lines, and part of the chorus has the same chords as part of the chorus of the only “song” I ever really “wrote” as a teenage guitar student, which I just realized.

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I’m a little under the weather, hence the Bill Callahan baritone for as long as I could stand it. Props to the phone microphone for not making it terrible.

I Am A Cinematographer, by Palace Brothers.

I mean, how am I supposed to come back from literally Margaritaville? That’s right, we’re going to the well for one of the most pretentious songs I could possibly play, a Palace (Brothers/Music/(just Palace)/Will Oldham/Bonnie Prince Billy) number that harks back to when Cinematographer was pretty much my desired job title, and I was doing it in school a little, and then I walked away from New York City, and eventually California, oh, indeed.

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Short and sweet, but had to add a second little guitar line and a little backup vocal because I am not that fragile.

Untitled by Palace Songs

Did I really start listening to Palace because of that Amy Sohn column in New York Press? Maybe. Maybe I got into them after one of my most indie rocking indie rock friends in college played something of theirs at… a party? A dinner party? Why was I there? I met that guy on a student film where he was the DP and the dolly grip was cracking up for some reason and sort of ran away from the set while the camera was rolling and I jumped up and finished the shot and it only occurs to me all these years later that it was the first of TWO times that I ended up getting a gig because a dolly grip laughed during a camera move and the second time it had to do with Joan Rivers.

Anyway.

Playing with Garage Band software instruments and layering on more vocals to disguise my lack of talent is fun and reminds me of learning to use Photoshop around 2001 and covering up for my crappy scanner that left a pink streak on everything.

But also, this song is somehow banal yet critical to my psyche. I mumbled the words at dinner tonight and my wife recognized it from the first mixtape I ever mailed her.