Album du jour #10 - japtastic

Lili Haydn - Lili (1998)

I haven't done one of these in a few days. Computer foibles, St. Patrick's day, frantic weekend paper writing, March Madness, and Hegel grad student conferences (or, the skipping of) all conspired to limit my time.

Prior Relationship to Album: JP and I went to see Page and Plant perform at the Rose Garden in the summer of 1998, obviously a big event (especially given how Led Zeppelin obsessed I was at the time...not that I am any less so now). Lili was the opening act, and I don’t think I’ve ever been as enamored of an opening act as I was of her. But what were the chances of me being interested in a gorgeous, dark haired, angsty rock violinist? Somewhere between one hundred and ten thousand percent, to be precise. I bought her cd and got it signed – even though waiting in line in order to do so meant that I missed the first few minutes of Page n’ Plant’s intro. (Interesting sub-thought: I’ve officially declared the cd format to be dead to me, since the thrill of owning something physical has worn off, especially since it is really no less physical than the part of my hard drive that I ripped this album onto…but while you can transfer cover and booklet art to the computer, I can never transfer her signature. Will people struggle with the loss of that kind of attachment to a physical, temporal object in an increasingly digital world?)

High Point: #03 “Real.” It is tough for me to reconcile the fact that I pay almost no attention to the sense of lyrics of music that I’m listening to (I’m interested in the musicality of the voice, but rarely what is said, which is why I don’t mind singing along with “Jesus is just all right with me” or misogynistic blues lyrics or whatever, but I don’t give a shit about compelling personal stories told via indie rock)…but this is an exception. The defiant feminist tones here I cannot specifically relate to, but can generally (is this similar to how white people can be moved by, say, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man?). Is this just because it is a female singing? A strange relationship to the (m/)other I have indeed! But even without all that crap, this song rocks hard.

Low Point: #09 “Daddy.” Still very good, just a tad repetitive. And not nearly as technically interesting as the instrumental that follows.

What I Learned/Realized:

- George Clinton called her the “Jimi Hendrix of the violin.”

- Her parents allowed her to choose her own name. For awhile, she went by the name “Helicopter.” Cool! I might have to steal that. The letting my child pick her/his own name part, not the calling myself Helicopter part. Although…..Helicopter Ward. Has a ring to it!

Future Relationship to Album: Never lending it out to a girl to try and impress her with my soulfulness ever again. I did that once with a girl I dated very briefly in college….took me months to get it back.