Band: Nina Nastasia
Album: Dogs
Best song: “A Dog’s Life” is great. “Stormy Weather” is probably the best song on the record.
Worst song: “Smiley” isn’t great.
George Carlin once said — I’m sure I’m misquoting, as I can’t find it via Google — that dogs only know two different times: Now and forever. I know this probably isn’t true, as well-behaved dogs don’t freak out when the dog owner leaves the house. But, my dog? He freaks out. “Ross is gone forever. He was here now, and now is he gone forever,” he thinks.
He is an idiot.
Nino and I have been together since I adopted him from a family that’d fallen under some unfortunate luck and had to move out of their house. Their new place would not accept dogs, so I adopted him from the family. He was 18 months old and a whirling dervish of a bulldog. I drove him back from Capitol Heights to my old place in Langley Park as he sat, quietly, in the backseat of my car.
I got him home and he mostly just walked around my place, confused about his new surroundings. If I remember correctly, he mostly just sniffed things. Until I got into bed and tried to go to sleep.
It should be noted that I do not own a bed frame. In TV shows, when a character has moved into a new place, the easy imagery to show that the place is new and the character has not moved in totally is just that: A mattress on a floor. I’ve lived in this are for seven years. I still have just that: A mattress on a floor.
I hopped into my bed and the dog just sat there, barking. He was not letting me go to sleep. I moved to the couch in the other room and he barked. I lived in an apartment and there are other people next door, the floor above, etc. This barking was unacceptable for so many reasons.
I barely remember what I did, other than simply try and placate the dog. The last thing I wanted was to get kicked the fuck out of my apartment because my dog wouldn’t shut up.
This is, basically, the essence of my relationship with Nino. He complains, I placate him. He is, after all, the love of my life.
—
There’s something gorgeous in the ability to make the romance of a dog’s life into song. It’s an easy trope; after all, domesticated dogs sit around all day, eat, fart and chew on junk. They don’t have responsibilities within the societal constraints of the world that we do. They don’t have to go to work, pay taxes, etc.
“A Dog’s Life” expresses this well. “Stormy Weather” recounts a gorgeous, seemingly veiled look at mental illness. “Underground” speaks of woe. “Nobody Knows Her” is Elliott Smith-ish in its recitation of normal life, but describing a Los Angeles that isn’t in movies or TV, as strings and a fuzzed guitar accent the driving beat.
Nina Nastasia is a master arranger and a fantastic vocalist. Coupled with Steve Albini’s production, she makes Dogs a near-classic.
