Kimya Dawson's immortal words re: Michael Jackson, from "My Heroes (Are Falling Apart)"....

A couple weeks ago, Eric Grandy wrote about a nagging question he's always had about The Blow's song "Parentheses"—"It's a minor complaint, as the song is like 99.99% perfect"—off the (fucking great) 2006 album Paper Television. Eric's basic problem is with this lyric in the chorus: "And when you're holding me/we make a pair of parentheses." As Eric pointed out:

A pair of parantheses encasing plenty of space looks like this:

(plenty of space)

But if we're talking about people as punctuation, wouldn't two parentheses holding each other look like:

))

Khaela Maricich, aka The Blow, has written a response to Eric's question. Here tis:

It's nice, and a little surreal, to read that people could be interested enough in something that I have made to nit pick over the grammer and specifications of the imagery. To a certain degree, I feel that if I didn't get the idea all the way across in the song, if there is confusion about what I really meant, then it would be sort of cheating for me to go tacking on notes of clarification after the fact. However, my approach to my live shows has been to use them to put the songs from the album into context and to flesh out what I meant with the lyrics. A written explanation could be viewed as a mini show from the comfort of my couch.

There have been a couple of requests to use the song "Parentheses" in commercials. In a pitch from Secret deodorant, their sketches showed a girl with her arms up over her head that would be shown when the lyrics about parentheses came up. I guess in that case, the metaphorical arms of the deodorant are holding the girl, making her feel safe (by encasing her smell?). I suppose that the feeling I was trying to nail wouldn't be that different from the security of knowing that strangers can't smell your b.o. The subtlety though, and the romance of it for me, which didn't seem to be there in the Secret commercial pitch, is that there exists a person with whom you could let go a bit, someone with whom you could lay side by side, holding each other, unworried about odors, and feel space to talk about things that you don't understand and can't easily describe.

I've been trying to describe that particular indescribable in songs and performances for a long time. In my mind I just refer to it as "the weirdness." Generally, I am trying to address how bizarre it is to exist here alive on the planet, and then the web of awkwardnesses that radiate ouwtards from there. On some occasions I feel like people have understood me. Certain audiences, certain nights, I have felt like the veneer got pulled back and we shared a moment of that strange raw awareness. But I really wonder how the Secret deodorant people heard the lyric about "there's plenty space to encase whatever weird way my mind goes." Does the song just sound poppy enough that they didn't notice that part? Or do they totally get it, and understand that teenage girls do get into existential trip-outs, and believe that this would be a deeper sellng point? My stance lately is to just say the thing that I am thinking about as clearly as I can, and then let people either get it or not get it. It's hard, though, as I tend to be the type who will obsess over whether or not people understand me. It hadn't even occured to me that there could be uncertainty about the physical positioning of the snuggled bodies in the refrain.

Khaela Maricich, ladies and gentlemen.

Whidbey Island techno producer Computer Controlled (aka Wisconsin transplant Larry Kleinke, who was featured in Data Breaker March 3) releases a new 12” on Assimilation Records June 25 titled The Beacon. You can hear the original and a remix by Decibel Flekx here.

“The Beacon” is one of those intense, stoic bangers that burrows into you like laser surgery. The incessantly wavering, rubbed-wine-glass tone is the key to the whole track, focusing your attention like an insidious government mind-control experiment. This is some heady body music.

Press release after the cut.

Since the band has something like 80 songs to choose from, it's a daunting task to vote for just one favorite. So, if you're hemming and hawing over which tune gets your support, might I suggest you give one more listen to the best Built to Spill song ever? It's called "She's Real," and it's a cover of a song originally done by Kicking Giant. Also: It is amazing.

Then go here and take a crack at "Secret Agent." You have until July 7.

Tony Allen was the rhythm doctor behind Fela Kuti's vastly influential Africa '70 bands. When anyone uses the term "afrobeat," you should think of Tony Allen.

Been listening to/thinking about the song "Parentheses" by the Blow lately, and remembered something that's always bugged me about the song. It's a minor complaint, as the song is like 99.99% perfect—that echoing, shuffling pre-murder-Phil Spector backbeat; the squiggling guitars; Khaela Maricich's voice, bare and close enough that it sounds like it's coming from two feet away rather than from some laptop studio somewhere in Oregon; the idiosyncratic romantic lyrics.

Except, something about the chorus bothers me:

And when you're holding me
we make a pair of parentheses.
There's plenty space to encase
whatever weird way my mind goes,
I know I’ll be safe in these arms.

Aw, cute. Right? Wrong! Now, again, this is like a 0.01% kind of complaint, because that chorus is amazing. But here's the problem as I see it:

A pair of parantheses encasing plenty of space looks like this:

(plenty of space)

But if we're talking about people as punctuation, wouldn't two parentheses holding each other look like:

))

You know, like people spooning? (You don't "hold" someone with only feet and faces touching; yes, I know they make a go of it in the above video, but, look, they're not even touching! Or are you supposed to be standing with arms around each others shoulders and leaning your hips out in opposite dirctions?) And but so if you're spooning, then where does the "plenty of space" go?

)plenty of space)

That doesn't look right at all.

And isn't "))" already the Miranda July symbol for a butt, as in "back and forth forever"?

Is "parantheses" just a handy half-rhyme for "me"?

(I HAVE QUESTIONS!(

You thought 2-Step and Speed Garage were the only casualties of the Millennium Bug right? Although the widespread popularity of the glittery, syncopated, uptempo urban dance genres quickly fizzled in the 00s, the rhythms and vibes have continued to fuel the London underground. Influenced by Hardcore and Drum and Bass and subsequently influencing Dubstep and Grime, 2-Step has resurfaced under a new name, Funky or UK Funky.

Stick Up Skank by Dotstar aka Lagosboi, really hits me in the sweet spot. Rhythmically spirited drum programming and simple, clever lyrics combine to create an effervescent summer jam. This tune already has its own dance and has spawned countless youtube tributes.

Dotstar aka Lagosboi's Myspace page featuring a collection of great youtube tributes.

Visit UKFunky.com to listen and legally download some tunes.

Check out Stick Up Skank in the mix here.