Regin-ah, Regin-ah, Regin-a-ah

I really like Regina Spektor. I know it's not super hardcore or punx of me to say that, but I don't care because I really dig her. She's probably of the same vein as Liz Phair in terms of song-writing, although Liz is rougher and more raw and bitter. Her songs are also a lot more interesting in terms of musical composition. She basically just uses a piano (and sometimes guitar and percussion but not very often)--and whereas in Liz's early demo tapes she uses one guitar (later she uses a full band), Regina's songs are fuller. Richer. Plus every song makes you feel really good, even if the lyrics are incredibly depressing. A woman refusing chemo, the inner monologue of Oedipus, an alcoholic husband and a wife in denial, suicide by carbon monoxide inhalation, a lonely woman who spills her life to strangers, people only calling on God in desperate situations; all put to gorgeous piano compositions.

And every instance is specific. Every instance she's singing about feels like its happening while you listen to the song. Regina Spektor basically lays out her life and her thoughts, and puts it to music and it works so fucking well. Observe:

"Hey remember that time I tried to save a pigeon with a broken wing?/ A street cat got him by the morning and I had to bury pieces of his body in our building's playground/ I thought I was gonna be sick."

--That Time, Regina Spektor

"My name is Lucille and I know how you feel/ I live downstairs/ I hear you taking out your garbage/ I hear you loving your girlfriend/ I hear you loving yourself too/ I hear you flushing your toilet/ I hear you turning your thoughts off/ I turn mine off too."

--Pavlov's Daughter, Regina Spektor

"I have dreams of Orca whales and owls/ But I wake up in fear"

--Hotel Song, Regina Spektor

"Summer in the city, I'm so lonely lonely lonely/ So I went to a protest just to rub up against strangers/And I did feel like coming but I also felt like crying/It doesn't seem so worth it right now."

--Summer In The City, Regina Spektor

"But God can be funny/At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or/Or when the crazies say He hates us/And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke/God can be funny/When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way/And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini/Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus/God can be so hilarious."

--Laughing With, Regina Spektor

I just think she's weird and kooky and kind of just awesome. And I think she should be appreciated, even if you don't dig the genre. Because do you know anyone else who writes a song about Ethan Frome? I didn't think so.


On another musical note, Malcolm McLaren died yesterday. Kinda bummed me out. He was ridiculously influential in the UK music scene.