Fan video: HORSE the Band is considered to be “Nintendocore.” They mix 8-bit sounds with what I perceive to be Nu Metal riffs. I’ll leave it to my fellow SadClownRep.com writer, Memo, to go into more detail about their sound … Continue reading
3616. “Slapped Actress” by The Hold Steady
Album cover video: Easily the best song on Stay Positive and maybe even the best song in my library by The Hold Steady, “Slapped Actress” is a song that draws all of the themes of the album together while simultaneously … Continue reading
3615. “Joke About Jamaica” by The Hold Steady
Album cover video: “Joke About Jamaica” touches on both the theme of aging and on the murder sub-plot of Stay Positive. The first two verses focus on a woman who was apparently something of a hot young thing in the … Continue reading
Live: In “Magazines,” Craig Finn addresses a man who is trying to date a woman with “daddy issues,” though there is a suggestion that he’s dated her, too. Perhaps I’m over-thinking a plate of beans here, but it seems to … Continue reading
3613. “Stay Positive” by The Hold Steady
Official video: From the opening strains of Franz Nicolay’s organ on the title track of Stay Positive, you can tell you’re in for a great song. One of the running themes of the album is growing older and this track, … Continue reading
Live, 2008 (questionable audio quality): “Both Crosses” is a follow up to “Yeah Sapphire.” In “Yeah Sapphire,” we’re introduced to both Sapphire and the murder victim from “One For The Cutters.” In “Both Crosses,” we learn more about Sapphire’s actual … Continue reading
Live: “Yeah Sapphire” is apparently sung from the perspective of the townie who got murdered in “One For The Cutters.” The Hold Steady wiki linked there makes this case rather convincingly. Sapphire is the name of the woman he’s calling … Continue reading
Album cover video: We’re back to a familiar theme on the powerful “Lord, I’m Discouraged,” specifically living with an addict. The Hold Stead wiki suggests that the character he’s singing about is Holly, who is a recurring Hold Steady character … Continue reading
Live: Franz Nicolay provides another great keyboard part to “Navy Sheets,” this time in the form of a sound that sounds like something Greg Hawkes of The Cars might produce. According to AllMusic, “”Navy Sheets” references four tracks on Led … Continue reading
3608. “One For The Cutters” by The Hold Steady
Fan video: Nicolay, the keyboardist, lays down a harpsichord line that dominates much of “One for the Cutters.” Writer Thum Jurek, over at AllMusic criticizes this choice, writing “it dulls the impact of Finn’s searing words that reference characters from … Continue reading