Crows, Femmes & the Pants Machine

Funny the doors you open by just unlocking one door. Ever since the crows decided to start visiting me on a daily basis, waking me in the morning, cawing at me from power lines, swooping too close to my hair and bringing bloody varmint carcasses to the roof outside my office window at lunchtime, I can’t stop thinking about them. It’s like suddenly they’re everywhere. But I know they’ve always been here. It’s just that right now I happen to be paying loads of attention. I’ve opened my mind to the obnoxious black creatures. And now they won’t go away. Same thing happened with Violent Femmes. Decided to break out the old albums the other day, been listening to their self-titled debut and Why Do Birds Sing?, singing along to every single word, every single word as if no time had passed since I first heard them in high school. And now the quintessential alt-rock geeky college band is everywhere. Even Gnarls Barkley offers an excellent rendition of the Violent Femmes track, “Gone Daddy Gone” on St. Elsewhere.And recently, a friend/publicist of mine hand-delivered to me a CD by this great new Portland act called Alan Singley & Pants Machine, who make a sloppy makeshift noise reminiscent of Violent Femmes. Singley utilizes far more electronic effects and funny little samples than the Violent Femmes (who maybe never did), but at the core is this sloppy, affectionate jowl and gritty rock and roll chops that convince me: If I were in high school right now, this would be the Violent Femmes of my time. Admittedly, Alan Singley takes songs to slower, more serious places than the Violent Femmes ever did but the sound is, overall, weird and imperfect enough to entertain any weird, imperfect youth. Or me. Even now. It’s like when your high school boyfriend or girlfriend drives a certain kind of car and you start seeing that car everywhere. Or when you start paying attention to pretty colors and the world suddenly looks brighter. Or when you learn a new word and start seeing it everywhere. Or when you start thinking the weird funny bands from your past are all gone and they start showing up again. Sorry to be cliché, but I love life’s series of connections.