1.19.2009

Parachute Penguin :: "Your Crimes"

We can only assume that Parachute Penguin put their name together when considering the flight (or non-flight) of the penguin. Which presupposes that someone is just sick or creative enough to strap a penguin to a parachute and throw the mixture from the door of a moving airplane. How that relates to the college-rock mixdown, Edge-like guitar riffs, and the infectious disease that is their chorus, I don't know. But that, I suppose, is between them and God.

I've been thinking a lot of about this recently: go through your iTunes and assume you don't know any of those songs. Forget them all instantly. Then assume those bands will randomly play in bars and restaurants you go to over the next six months. Which songs make you turn your head? Which songs, with no attached hype or good recommendation or publicity blitz (paging Animal Collective) would make you pick your head up, tap your foot or sing along? Strip your musical taste down to immediate reaction. We'd all be surprised which songs speak to us most directly.

And "Your Crimes" is one of those tunes. It's easy and doesn't ask a lot. It sounds like a Better Than Ezra A-side from 1998 and I mean that as a compliment. The guitar-riff is spaced-out and stretches like a tarp over the verses. The chorus is a sing-a-long the second time you hear it and its lyrical plea, "blame it on somebody else" is as direct as it is sarcastic. So, you don't know this song. But now you do. And the question isn't how soon can you play it in your iTunes. It's: How is a penguin ever going to pull the ripcord if he doesn't have thumbs?

Listen :: Parachute Penguin - "Your Crimes"

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