*I'm a Looper,**He's a Looper,**She's a Looper,**We're a Looper,*Wouldn't you like to be a Looper, too?
Stuart David of Belle and Sebastian has handed a DIY book on home sampling out to any and all kids with a Casio keyboard and a tape recorder. He wants them to turn everyday life into a story set to music. And to quote something I read somewhere more than twice, "lovely music it is." David makes me happy because he writes happy songs. Hmm... I guess I should have more to say on the subject. Well, let's put it like this: David notices things and takes pleasure in them. He's someone who could sit on the front porch with a ray of sunlight touching his toes and realize that it was good.
The songs on Up a Tree don't wander far from the backyard. Actually, three of them don't even leave the treehouse. There's one that tells the story of him and his wife Karn (who performs the visual half of Looper... adding slides and movies to their shows) and the letter- writing that led to their here and now. None of these are actually the best songs ever written, but they're fun. And the honesty with which David presents his stories along with the stripped down and earnest 'electronica' backing them is far fresher than pretty much anything you can hear on the radio today. I'd like to go to a club (I guess that means I have to go to a club) and shake my all to any of them, but I'd rather just sit in the grass and listen.
"The Ballad of Ray Suzuki" professes David' belief that we all can be Loopers. Most people probably won't follow his lead, although I could envision some sort of folk-hop movement starting up on the college campuses. Drum machine, anyone? Care for a tape loop, madame? Sample yourself. Sample your friends. Just don't sample the Police or Led Zeppelin and perform rap Karaoke over them. No one would ever buy that.
