Word: straps
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...Scottish group Arab Strap are reputedly one of the most "honest" bands making music today. Their subjects are bitterness and bad sex, and for critics the lack of boastfulness or titillation in Aidan Moffat's graphic lyrics translates into honesty. Yet these confessional monologues are coated with Malcolm Middleton's shy, down-tempo arrangements, resulting in delicacies baked from teen-angst and vinegar. Theirs is a music of transmogrification--making souffl out of haggis...
Taking their name from a type of cock ring, Arab Strap are probably best known for the unsolicited shout-out given by fellow Scots Belle and Sebastian on that band's third album, The Boy with the Arab Strap. Musically, the two bands are quite different. If the bouncy, wistful melodies of Belle and Sebastian are good for a late morning walk, Arab Strap are a comedown band, music to keep you company after all the bars are closed. Their first few albums were steeped in alcohol and sadness; indeed, Arab Strap's finest release, a live album, is titled...
True to this upbeat intention, the first track closes with a contented quatrain: "It's best in the morning / When we know it won't be rushed / So leave the curtains closed / And come back when you've brushed." As with any Arab Strap song, listeners are treated to a familiar moment, sketched without sentimentality. Indeed, the real break The Red Thread offers from Arab Strap's previous albums may not be optimism so much as objectivity. Asked in an interview after their last release whether his lyrics were a kind of therapy, Moffat responded, "No, no. It's much...
...Then, at last, at the end you come to an apparently original piece called "Gender-Bending Hyjinx," starring Lovey, a full-figured redhead who goes ga-ga over her friend's "cross-dressing glam-rock boyfriend." She convinces her aesthete boyfriend to go drag, and revolting "hyjinx," involving strap-ons and vomit, ensue. It's classic Bagge: dirty, unapologetic, satiric and extremely funny...
...death than those of other pastimes. NASCAR officials maintain that safety will always be a top priority. But whether you tune in for the competition or the crashes - look deep in your heart before answering - danger is part and parcel of the thrill. When a sport's competitors strap themselves into two-ton steel thoroughbreds and take off around the crowded oval at nearly 200 miles an hour, death will always hover above the infield...