Tag Archives: Courtney Barnett

New Courtney Barnett video: If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight

Video: Courtney Barnett – “If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight”

Directed by Claire Marie Vogel. From Things Take Time, Take Time, out now on Mom+Pop.

You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs. Courtney Barnett sees it isn’t so.

“I think my stance in the past was like, ‘There’s so many love songs and they don’t mean anything,’ but there’s something really special about zooming in on a moment and capturing it,” Barnett says. “‘If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight’ comes from the state of where my head was at — trying to communicate honestly instead of keeping [my feelings] guarded.”

What’s wrong with that?

And it’s so quiet outside
With this curfew lullaby
Is now an okay time to
Tell you that I like you?

It isn’t silly at all.

Courtney Barnett: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

New Courtney Barnett video: Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To

Video: Courtney Barnett – “Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To”

Directed by Christina Xing. From Things Take Time, Take Time, due Nov 12 on Mom+Pop.

Wow, this is the most poppy song Courtney Barnett has released in a while! I love her tossed-off slacker drawl, but it’s fun to hear her do something more upbeat. And who doesn’t love twin-guitar harmonies?

Of course the lyrics are still dark, but that’s okay.

Sit beside me, watch the world burn,
We’ll never learn we don’t deserve nice things.
And we’ll scream, self-righteously,
We did our best but what does that even mean?

I wonder if this video will inspire anybody to send some mail to a friend. Hope so.

Barnett says, “I found a deeper communication with people in my life – deeper conversations. And a new level of gratitude for friendships that had been there for so long that I had maybe taken for granted.”

Don’t take your friendships for granted, people. Send your friends some mail!

Courtney Barnett: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

New Courtney Barnett video: Before You Gotta Go

Video: Courtney Barnett – “Before You Gotta Go”

Director by Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore. From Things Take Time, Take Time, due November 12 on Mom+Pop.

Does anybody else do post-millennial slacker style better than Courtney Barnett? She’s so laid back, she might tip over. And yet she’s still groovy. And clever. It’s a combination that works great: Calming and hypnotic without being boring.

Don’t you know I’m not your enemy, maybe let’s cut out caffeine.
Tomorrow’s too late to reminisce, call me when you get this.

Barnett says, “This video was filmed in Titirangi, Tatarata, Taiorahi and Waitakere in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and at various locations on the beautiful lands of the Wathaurong/Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin nation around Victoria, Australia. I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and pay respect to Elders past and present.”

Courtney Barnett: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

New Courtney Barnett: Rae Street

Video: Courtney Barnett – “Rae Street”

Directed by W.A.M. Bleakley. From Things Take Time, Take Time, due Nov 12 on Mom+Pop.

How did you spend your pandemic? Get anything productive done? Courtney Barnett spent hers writing and recording a new album.

She told Rolling Stone all about it. Instead of calling up her live bandmates to the studio, she and producer Stella Mozgawa played everything themselves utilizing the same lo-fi drum machines that Barnett had used on her demos: “It’s pretty much just us. It feels so alive to me, like it’s all happening at once.”

Barnett told Rolling Stone that lead single “Rae Street” started off as a writing exercise. “One day I made a list of all the phrases that I could remember my parents saying.” If that’s the case, her parents were pretty intense.

Shine those shoes and mow those lawns
Let’s get back to normal.
Lay it all on the table, you seem so stable
But you’re just hanging on.

Whoa.

Courtney Barnett: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

New Courtney Barnett video: So Long, Marianne

Video: Courtney Barnett – “So Long, Marianne” (MTV Unplugged Live In Melbourne)

From MTV Unplugged (Live In Melbourne), out now on Milk! Records, Marathon Artists and Mom+Pop.

Courtney Barnett is great. Leonard Cohen is great. What’s not to love?

Like many of Cohen’s best songs, “So Long, Marianne” makes longing feel palpable. And Barnett gets to the heart of that.

Your letters they all say that you’re beside me now
Then why do I feel alone?
I’m standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
Is fastening my ankle to a stone.

Marianne, of course, was a real person. Cohen met her on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960 after her husband had abandoned her and her infant son. She and Cohen stayed together throughout much of the decade and she inspired many of his songs.

On her deathbed in 2016 Cohen sent her a note that went viral after he died a few months later. “I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand,” he wrote. “I’ve never forgotten your love and your beauty. But you know that.”

Courtney Barnett: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Continue reading New Courtney Barnett video: So Long, Marianne

New Courtney Barnett video: Everybody Here Hates You

Video: Courtney Barnett – “Everybody Here Hates You”

Directed by Danny Cohen. Single out now on Milk! Records, Marathon Artists and Mom+Pop.

It’s been five or six years since I first heard “History Eraser” on satellite radio. That song immediately won me over and I’ve been following Courtney Barnett ever since. Her sardonic wit has grown darker over the years, which makes sense when you consider what the world looks like today compared to 2012 when she started releasing solo material.

I go to Loving Hut, I get my hair cut, I feel the same
I feel putrid, I’m getting used to it these days

No word on whether this is a standalone single or a preview of an upcoming album but Barnett will be touring nonstop through the summer, including a visit to Ann Arbor’s famed Hill Auditorium, hailed as a monument to perfect acoustics. She’s there on a Tuesday night so I probably won’t make it, but you should go! I saw Bruce Springsteen there on the Tom Joad Solo Acoustic tour, and it was a magical experience, even deep in the cheap seats.

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New Courtney Barnett video: Charity

Video: Courtney Barnett – “Charity”

Directed by Ashley Connor. From Tell Me How You Really Feel, out now on Milk, Marathon Artists and Mom+Pop.

This is the fifth single/video Courtney Barnett has released from Tell Me How You Really Feel. Keep them coming!

You don’t have to pretend you’re not scared
Everyone else is just as terrified as you.

That about sums up 2018, doesn’t it?

Courtney Barnett: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

New Courtney Barnett video: Sunday Roast

Video: Courtney Barnett – “Sunday Roast”

From Tell Me How You Really Feel, out now on Milk, Marathon Artists and Mom+Pop.

Warning: This YouTube instructional video does not actually teach you how to play the song. That said, Courtney Barnett is super charming and funny and could easily become a superstar YouTuber if that’s what she wanted to do. I wonder if she plays Minecraft or Fortnite…

The verses of this sound like a Kurt Vile song.

I got a lot on my mind
But I dunno how to say it
I know you’re doin’ your best
I think you’re doin’ just fine

Right on. Let’s all continue to do our best.

Courtney Barnett: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

New Courtney Barnett video: City Looks Pretty

Video: Courtney Barnett – “City Looks Pretty”

From Tell Me How You Really Feel, out on May 18 on Milk, Marathon Artists and Mom+Pop.

Courtney Barnett is a treasure. “City Looks Pretty” is the third single from her upcoming album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, and this one is as great as the previous two.

The city looks pretty when you been indoors
For 23 days I’ve ignored all your phone calls.
Everyone’s waiting when you get back home
They don’t know where you been, why you gone so long.

Kim Deal has a funny quote about Barnett in the recent Mojo magazine: “I’m suspicious of her. She seems so casual and relaxed, but she gets so much done and she’s always doing something. There’s no way she can be so relaxed, right? […] I feel like there’s an element of obsessive-compulsive disorder to her lyrics that is really compelling to me.”

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New Courtney Barnett video: Need A Little Time

Video: Courtney Barnett – “Need A Little Time”

Directed by Danny Cohen. From Tell Me How You Really Feel, out on May 18 on Milk, Marathon Artists and Mom+Pop.

It would be fun to compile a playlist of all the songs about how hard it is to be a rock star. Start with Seger’s “Turn the Page,” obviously. Throw in “Across the Sea” by Weezer and pretty much the entire In Utero album. I’m sure the struggle is real, but it always kind of makes you roll your eyes a little.

Courtney Barnett tackles the subject from a different angle. She’s addressing the artist/fan relationship in the era of social media.

I don’t know a lot about you but
You seem to know a lot about me so
I take a little time out, I take a little time out

Barnett understand what would drive a celebrity to go off the rails and act crazy.

Shave your head to see how it feels
Emotionally it’s not that different
But to the hand it’s beautiful

You seem to have the weight of the world
Upon your bony shoulders well hold on
You need a little time out

I’ve always stuck up for Britney Spears who notoriously went bald in 2007 and has been under conservatorship ever since. People have always been unnecessarily mean to her. I think Courtney Barnett agrees.

Courtney Barnett: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.