The Gods Must Be Crazy: Song of the Day

Kelley Stoltz "Ever Thought of Coming Back" from Below the Branches (Sub Pop)

This has nothing to do with coke bottles or skinny African dudes (or does it...) but seriously, what is up with the weather? Yesterday, I began writing this blog about rainy days only to have my computer crash, my laziness reset in and the sun come shining through. Not that I'm complaining. I love rain, let me tell you. But walking home after a few beers and shots in some torrential downpour weak horseshit kinda blows. If I wanted to take a shower in my clothes, I would have taken ecstasy when I was 18. That doesn't really make sense. And shit, it's raining again. However immaculate the sleep has been, the wetness has really been messing with my vibe. I'm a self-admitted "mood music" person. Heartbroken? I listen to sad music. Going out to drink? I listen to upbeat music. Just ate a whole pizza by myself? I listen to the Pixies (Hey-oh!). So while I've had an influx of great rainy day tunes fall into my lap recently (the mindblowing swan song that is Grandaddy's Just Like The Fambly Cat), I've been mixed up and obsessed with two songs of late: Sparks' "This Town ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" and Kelley Stoltz's "Ever Thought of Coming Back". While Sparks is pretty much gold in any situation, with the exception of while walking in "torrential downpour weak horseshit", Stoltz's sunny concoction has got me turned upside down.

I had never really been that big a fan of Stoltz's. I have 2003's Antique Glow and didn't think much of it. It didn't blow my mind. But I read a great article about his obsession with Echo and the Bunnymen (and found out he recorded a cover album of Crockodials) and realized he's just a dude who loves music. And I thought, "Wait. I'm a dude who likes music." So when Jeremiah shoved his headphones on my ears a little more than a month ago, and I heard Stoltz's "Ever Thought of Coming Back" I was hooked. I saw him that same week at Amoeba, and he gave a very Keanu Reeves impression. Not a slick vapid Neo impression, or a unslick vapid Ted "Theodore" Logan impression but hippie dentist from Thumbsucker good-hearted vibe. And my only thought was "dudes loving music."

"Ever Thought of Coming Back" is not an homage to the Beach Boys. It's not a rip-off either. It is the Beach Boys. The echoey pop of the snare, the ooh-oohs, the ah-ahs, the surfy riffage in the end and of course, the unbelieveable hooks, there's no possible way Brian Wilson didn't have his hand in it. It's as if Wilson had transcdended into some higher form of being where he only communicates through his well chosen disciples.

What else is there to say? The song is seared into my brain. It briefly pushed "The Final Countdown" out (surely, it'll make a reappearance). Though I don 't know the lyrics yet, I have been humming the tune under my breath to myself and going up to friends and saying "dude, there's this dude who sounds like the Beach Boys" and proceeding to ooh and ahh. I don't think it has the same effect. So as the storm persists at washing the streets, I will continue to rock "Ever Thought of Coming Back" until it's dead. Of course, if you sound like The Beach Boys, your sound is timeless. So I might as well just wait until it gets sunny again, and with my Kris Krossed backwards approach, I should be embracing Black Heart Procession's The Spell with the first hint of clean spring sun.