Ballot blasters: The spin tent
Decider’s 2008 local music platform
Jessica Horn
Takebacks singer Vid Libert amid the forbidding landscape.
Need a little help getting motivated to trudge out to the polling place on Nov. 4? Decider has weighed the issues and scoured some of 2008’s finer local music for inspiration.
The dub-inspired instrumental breakdown in the middle of The Takebacks’ “X-Ray Vision” echoes the kind of headache that might result from, say, watching campaign ads and CNN segments for 12 hours straight. Queasy echoes, distant calls, a drum throbbing against the rhythm, scrapes of feedback: It’s a counterpoint to songwriter Vid Libert’s plea for clarity. “I want x-ray vision so I cut through the shit covering everything,” he sings. What really makes the song feel urgent, though, is a pang of self-doubt: “All along I thought my eyes were good enough / now I see they ain’t got the stuff.”
