gravitas kills

Making it over the hurdle

2009-02-25T08:41:00.001-08:00

It seems like sometimes track runners have a hard time making it over the hurdles at the 250-300m mark in a 400m race. I wouldn't know because I don't do it, but I have a very similar feeling when it comes to blogging. Here I am, post #101 and I barely know what to do with myself. Of course, I've been listening to a ton of new music and it's all amazing and I want to spill my guts about it and post download links and tell you about my life, but right now, it seems so much easier to post a new picture and just write "LULZ" on the bottom or post tons of underground railroad to candyland videos without feeling the need to explain them at all.

Of course, if you haven't added it to the reader, check out my tumblr for your daily dose of exactly what you'd expect from me.

Anyways, I do apologize profusely for neglecting my duties here. It makes me sad that I've gone for so long without posting anything here because this blog was definitely my first love. I do have some exciting things lined up, starting with a new muxtape (not an official muxtape, however) already up for your listening pleasure on the dot com. Well bros, keep it real and make sure to ride me until I post again.

post #100: megaposting muxtapes and other goodies!

2009-01-15T22:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Thank you for being here. To the four of you who read this blog from time to time, I'd like to give you a treat. It was meant to be my Christmas present to everyone, but it's super late. Hopefully, you can still find the time to enjoy it a little bit.

I can't believe I've kept this blog going for as long as I have without getting too bored. It's been over a year of spotty posting and hopefully some of the content has been meaningful.

Anyways, I just did a major muxtape update and here are the tracklistings (with a few comments, of course):

MUXTAPE #6: noise pop (04.17.08)
this one was based around all those cool laser snare hits in the gbv song.

1. darker my love - "opening" (darker my love)
2. mark lanegan band - "head" (bubblegum)
3. dinosaur jr. - "sludgefeast" (you're living all over me)
4. skywave - "here she comes" (synthstatic)
5. guided by voices - "i'll replace you with machines" (earthquake glue)
6. no age - "sleeper hold" (nouns)
7. the raveonettes - "attack of the ghost riders" (whip it on)
8. sonic youth - "youth against fascism" (dirty)
9. medicine - "defective" (shot forth self living)

MUXTAPE #11: ryan adams is a golden god (05.16.08)
ryan adams plays the hits. 48 hours would have been his best album, but it never came out. now we'll never know how good he really could be (since he's quitting). i'm looking forward to his book though.

1. ryan adams - "damn, sam (i love a woman that rains)" (heartbreaker)
2. whiskeytown - "yesterday's news" (stranger's almanac)
3. ryan adams - "hallelujah" (48 hours, but this version is from demolition)
4. whiskeytown - "crazy about you" (pneumonia)
5. ryan adams - "my winding wheel" (heartbreaker)
6. ryan adams - "la cienega just smiled" (suicide handbook)
7. whiskeytown - "don't wanna know why (demo)" (forever valentine)
8. ryan adams - "chin up, cheer up" (48 hours, but this version is from demolition)
9. ryan adams - "dear chicago" (demolition)

MUXTAPE #27: carl newman's greatest hits (sort of) (12.07.08)
this one was made in anticipation of ac newman's new solo album, which isn't all that good. some great new pornographers stuff here, including a neko case song that has the newman charm all over it, as well as burt bacharach and a zombies covers.

1. ac newman - "miracle drug" (the slow wonder)
2. zumpano - "i dig you" (look what the rookie did)
3. the new pornographers - "the electric version" (electric version)
4. ac newman - "drink to me" (the slow wonder)
5. zumpano - "what the world needs now (live)" (live on cbc, 1999)
6. the new pornographers - "letter from an occupant" (mass romantic)
7. ac newman - "on the table" (the slow wonder)
8. zumpano - "changes" (b-side)
9. the new pornographers - "the bleeding heart show" (twin cinema)

MUXTAPE #29: christmas 1997 (12.30.08)
i was listening to a bunch of emo from 1997 and realized a bunch of it was sort of seasonally appropriate. contained: one of my favorite jimmy eat world songs, one of my favorite get up kids songs (REUNION) and a song by boysnightout, a canadian band that could have been as big as my chemical romance, had they played their cards right.

1. the promise ring - "b is for bethlehem" (nothing feels good)
2. paris, texas - "cadillac of high hair" (so, you think it's hot here?)
3. texas is the reason - "johnny on the spot" (do you know who you are?)
4. jimmy eat world - "christmas card" (singles)
5. algernon cadwallader - "katie's conscience" (some kind of cadwallader)
6. spitalfield - "you can't stop" (remember right now)
7. hey mercedes - "quality revenge at last" (loses control)
8. the get up kids - "one year later" (red letter day ep)
9. boysnightout - "punched in the nose (demo)" (demo)

MUXTAPE #30: post-everything (01.07.09)
i got really stoked on post-hardcore one day and just went for it. contained: rose for bohdan, whose album was given away for free by deathbombarc as well as an at the drive-in b-side and a new abe vigoda song that sounds like the 80s.

1. abe vigoda - "house" (reviver ep)
2. frodus - "there will be no more sun" (and we washed our weapons in the sea)
3. at the drive-in - "incetardis" (this station is non-operational)
4. fugazi - "facet squared" (in on the kill taker)
5. the nation of ulysses - "s.s. exploder" (plays pretty for baby)
6. the plot to blow up the eiffel tower - "attached to the hip" (dissertation, honey)
7. milemarker - "frigid forms sell you warmth" (frigid forms sell)
8. rose for bohdan - "go to your grave" (there it is, the creeping moral decay of the past thousand years)
9. refused - "the deadly rhythm" (the shape of punk to come)

MUXTAPE #31: it's all downtempo from here (01.15.09)
i really used to like "IDM" but always thought it had such a stupid name. i love stuff that's glitchy and dark. i thought jimmy tamborello was the only one doing it, but then i realized that locust guy had been doing it for like 15 years or something before dntel.

1. ratatat - "one" (9 beats)
2. YACHT - "the magic beat (instrumental)" (instrumentals 2007)
3. four tet - "ribbons" (ringer)
4. slowdive - "shine (splendiferous locust mix)" (souvlaki demos)
5. the books - "it never changes to stop" (lost and safe)
6. new order - "ceremony" (substance)
7. m83 - "run into flowers" (dead cities, red seas & lost ghosts)
8. dntel - "(this is) the dream of evan and chan" (life is full of possibilities)
9. statistics - "mr. nathan" (leave your name)

MUXTAPE #32: achievement (01.15.09)
this one started out as three different tape ideas: one was supposed to be a power pop muxtape, one was going to be a talking heads inspired muxtape and the other one was going to be a lo-fi muxtape, but then the songs all came together so well, especially the talking heads section with the new david byrne/dirty projectors song, which is as brilliant as the new prince song.

1. clap your hands say yeah - "underwater (you and me) (demo)" (demo)
2. lilys - "a diana's diana" (everything wrong is imaginary)
3. dirty projectors - "knotty pine (with david byrne)" (dark was the night)
4. handsome furs - "all we want, baby, is everything" (face control)
5. guided by voices - "i am a scientist" (bee thousand)
6. teenage fanclub - "i don't know" (bandwagonesque)
7. prince - "crimson and clover/wild thing" (demo)
8. the three o'clock - "with a cantaloupe girlfriend" (baroque hoedown)
9. gentleman jesse and his men - "you don't have to (if you don't want to)" (gentleman jesse and his men)

Dear 2009,

2009-01-15T22:22:00.000-08:00

What will you bring us?

Hipster Runoff just posted his first mp3 of 2009 ("searching for ‘the next relevant sound’ to align my personal brand with") and it makes me think about what this year will bring for each of us. As I'm typing this, I hear Vampire Weekend on a Grey's Anatomy preview; think about where those guys were this time last year. They were probably six or seven months out of Columbia, in the middle of recording what would become their first album. Did they think that they were going to be this year's Beirut? Well, maybe, but you know what I mean.

Something seems different about this year. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just time for indie rock to die again or maybe it's where I am in my life, but it's time for a change (OBAMA FTW BANNED WORD KTHX). Maybe this isn't all about the music; I guess it really never was.

My 2nd Annual Christmas Address (on Patience)

2009-01-05T14:57:00.001-08:00

Ed: So here's the deal. I am often reminded about how patience is largely ignored. I'm sitting at my grandparents' house, trying to boot Windows XP from a disc and do a complete System Restore. I've been ignoring the part of my brain that tells me to be patient. You don't always get what you want exactly when you want it. I don't know exactly what it is I've been looking for, but I certainly wasn't going to get it overnight. I have had a rough few weeks and I've been really bad about answering my phone. If you've tried to call me, sorry about that. I will explain in full when I see you all in person, if I haven't already talked to you. Anyways, this was the original Christmas Eve entry. It is unfinished and unedited and presented for your consideration. Expect an email with my Christmas gift.

You know, it seems like every year, I miss Thanksgiving. I know it's coming and I gladly participate in it, but I really miss it. What I mean by this is that I seem to forget its purpose. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm still in the middle of my semester at school and not being capable of thinking of much else, but every time Christmas rolls around, I snap back into a real place of reflection. Last year, my address came on December 13, my last night of studying for finals. This year, I'm writing this on Christmas night; I've been home for almost two weeks and I feel like I've wasted so many of those days, working towards nothing important.

It seems like every year, I'm given the same revelation over and over. I look back and tell myself that "this was the hardest year EVAR" or some such nonsense without really thinking about it. I quickly recover and realize that everything I complain about is what the rest of you people call "life." The only difference from before is that the challenges are different; as I get older, the problems get harder and harder, but this is only fair as I'm given more and more capacity to handle things as the years go on. I'm no different from any of you, however I seem to have an abnormal fascination with thinking that my circumstances are "so harsh." I really don't know if this is suburban affective disorder, what comes with being 22 or just something that is a lot more common than I think.

As with every year, I've had challenges and victories, both big and small. Some of you were there with me and the rest of you I missed dearly. I deeply appreciate the support I get from every single one of you and hope that I can return the favor twentyfold.

MUXTAPE #26: blackout

2008-12-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

MUXTAPE

This muxtape is basically just a bunch of songs that punch you in the face sonically. Get stoked.

1. Titus Andronicus - "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ (The Airing of Grievances)"
This song is a perfect example of why Titus Andronicus have made one of the best albums of the year. This is the first song on the album, which is basically all that needs to be said. Any album that starts with that amount of bombast is bound to be a winner. The text reading at the end of the song is the point in the album when you realize that these dudes were actually trying to make the most epic rock album ever.

2. Sleater-Kinney - "The Fox (The Woods)"
I have a deep appreciation for Sleater-Kinney, though I wouldn't categorize myself as much more than a casual fan. With a band like Sleater-Kinney, I think there's more than a few different types of "casual fan," and I am the sort that appreciates every part of S-K's discography. I listened to enough riot grrl to appreciate the first two albums, I love the pop sensibility of the middle of their career and really love The Woods. The guitars on "The Fox" absolutely snarl and the drum fill in the bridge is brilliant.

3. Nirvana - "Scentless Apprentice (In Utero Albini Mixes)"
Apparently, this version of the song was supposed to be used in an episode of Lost, but the album version aired instead. This is another instance where a guitar can sound like an absolute beast, though this was mostly because of the hard work of Steve Albini, who has finely crafted his guitar sounds over the years at Electrical Audio. I would imagine Albini in his workshop, building amps and pedals with the sole purpose of making hate in sound form. It seems like he wants all of his music to sound like he is a true misanthrope, not just one of those Madison Avenue, novel writer types who "don't like people" because "they're stupid."

4. Hüsker Dü - "Broken Home, Broken Heart (Zen Arcade)"
Bob Mould has written some of the best hardcore songs of the 1980s, and this is one of them. Songs like this one and "New Day Rising" or "Something I Learned Today" just make you want to circle pit into infinity.

5. The Wedding Present - "High (Friday, I'm In Love: A Tribute to The Cure)"
The Wedding Present's recent output has been really weird. It makes me think that they're living in Los Angeles now, which they very well could be, and it also makes me think they still want to be young. I'm guessing at least half the band is actually young, but Gedge is well into his 40s, as he was supposed to be "the next Morrissey" or whatever ridiculous garbage NME put on his head. Either way, they've still got something going for them, and this Cure cover is really great. They still love the distorted octaves and playing fast, so you've gotta give them some credit.

6. April March - "Alec Eiffel (Pixies Fuckin' Die!)"
Speaking of weird tribute contributions, here's one from April March. Yeah, the one from Grindhouse. Though she got way into chanson somewhere around 2000, she put out this cover in the late 90s and it sounds way 90s; the best part is that she took a song that is one of the most covered Pixies songs and made it her own. What this version lacks in Frank Black charm (weird guitar parts, atonal noise), it more than makes up with its melodiousness. It really focuses on the beautiful pop song hidden under the surface of the original.

7. Heatmiser - "Blackout (Dead Air)"
If you didn't know, this song is basically the reason Elliott Smith ended up in Los Angeles. Heatmiser's shows got more and more violent in the Dead Air period and of course, Eliott didn't like this, so he wrote a bunch of songs that ended up being Mic City Sons and then eventually ending the band to write more songs that sounded like Mic City Sons, except quieter and way more sad. Great song though.

8. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - "Heart in the Hand of the Matter (Source Tags and Codes)"
Sometimes I forget just how much I like this album. It never really finds its way onto my "essential" or "favorite" albums list, but each of the tracks on the album is brilliant and always find their way onto my mixtapes. Though their more recent output has been spotty, I know they will continue to put out interesting music.

9. Darker My Love - "Northern Soul (2)"
This is just good music. I never really liked the band, but the more and more I saw them open up for other bands I was going to see, the more they grew on me. They do a psychedelic-Pavement-gazing thing better than any other band in Los Angeles. The funny thing about that genre is that it seems like that was totally the genre of 2008 here. Let's all start 90s college bands!

Sam's End of 2008 List

2008-12-19T20:11:00.000-08:00

Ed.: For those of you who don't know, Sam "Cinema" Song is a film major at NYU and the resident film snob. His "best of" list isn't the usual music list because he claims "he doesn't know anything about music" even though he bleeds hip. I'm glad that he's around so that we can throw stones at... what's the phrase? I'm not sure the phrase even works in this situation, but who really cares? Well, whatever it is, we both do it; I'm glad to have a friend that understands snobbery like me. Anyways, here's a special best of 2008 presentation.

favorite films of 2008, because i know nothing about music. there's still a lot that remains to be seen (a christmas tale, the curious case of benjamin button, etc.) but i feel pretty confident that this list will stay the way it is when all's said and done.

1. rachel getting married (dir. jonathan demme)
that tunde adebimpe sings "unknown legend" to his betrothed at the altar (he's who rachel is getting married to) is reason enough for this to be the best film of the year. pulsates with the rhythms of life, replete with its unpredictable undulations between joy and pain conveyed through the delicious combining of pathos and humor, all handled deftly by demme. anne hathaway is astonishing relative to what she's done up until this point, but she is by no means the star despite her abundance of screen time--this is an ensemble piece through and through, and everyone is perfect. this movie restores my love of the medium as it is everything a great film should be. i only have appreciation and affection for rachel getting married, a beautiful and generous film.

2. flight of the red balloon (dir. hou hsiao-hsien)
i can't not love a film by hou hsiao-hsien, this one made all the more irresistable by its evocations of the beautiful short film le balon rouge. gracefully meandering camera movements, long takes, and juliette binoche's bravura performance give this loving hommage/meditation on cultural displacement and memory a poetic vitality that can only be achieved by hou.

3. momma's man (dir. azazel jacobs) / my winnipeg (dir. guy maddin)
two films, thematically linked, one spot on the list so i can make room for more. both are intensely autobiographical, so personal that it verges on the uncomfortable and are all the more rewarding for it. one is a narrative feature about a man who, after visiting his parents at his childhood home, can't seem to leave (momma's man), and the other an attempt by the filmmaker to escape a sprawling documentary essay about it (my winnipeg). oedipal undertones (or in maddin's case, ubertones) and surrealist imagery abound in these truly original films.

4. don't touch the axe (dir. jacques rivette) (u.s. title: the duchess of langeais)
an underappreciated member of the french new wave, jacques rivette's adaptation of another work by balzac (he previously adapted la belle noiseuse to the screen) is a sensuous costume drama and a marvel of economical filmmaking. max ophuls' influence can be felt throughout, from the fluid and meaningful camera movements to the thematic exploration of human pleasures. jeanne balibar seems to have become his new muse. she's no juliet berto, but she'll do. as is the case with any good period piece of this era, muted passions brim to unbelievable tension and like all of rivette's films, sustains and earns its length. he's one of the few filmmakers i'll accept a running time of over two hours from knowing full well that he'll make use of every second of it.

5. wendy and lucy (dir. kelly reichardt)
transposes vittorio de sica's umberto d. to bush era hard times. the story is profoundly simple--girl is broke and wants to go to alaska to find work, but loses her dog along the way--and is appropriately pared down in its telling. like old joy, it uses the personal to achieve to political, expressing a kind of anxiety and disillusionment unique to this generation, this time and place, and for that if nothing else is an important work. wendy and lucy is a small, quiet film that builds slowly to pack quite the emotional punch.

6. milk (dir. gus van sant)
its prescience in light of all that is proposition 8 is eerie, making the act of watching the film a surreal experience unto itself. as traditional as biopics get, but van sant embellishes the film with aesthetic flourishes and an earnestness that elevate the film to the realm of the sublime. decidedly conventional considering what van sant's been up to with his last four films and the temptation exists to write this film off because of that, but to see the ideas he's developed through his aesthetic experimentation and apply them to a more familiar form is fascinating and inspiring. this is american sentimentality at its best.

7. the dark knight (dir. christopher nolan)
modernity steeped in a greek sense of tragedy and rightfully so, all by way of an american icon restored to power. the darkest and perhaps greatest of comic book movies (my heart will forever belong to ghost world). the dark knight has the sense of a new mythology in its ability to envelope an audience on a textual level while remaining pertenant to the context it comes from, which admittedly can get a little out of hand--the film can easily be read as a bush apologia--but that a film of this kind of entertainment value can be so immediate is enough for me. nothing can be written about this movie without the mention of heath ledger, who will win a posthumous academy award. gary oldman is the unsung hero of this film. batman's motorcycle 180 off the wall and the montage + voice over that ends the film are the giddiest moments the 14 year old in me got to experience at the movies this year.

8. chris and don: a love story (dir. tina mascara & guido santi)
this lovely documentary about the incredible relationship between christopher isherwood and don bachardy is the single most moving testament to the power of love(!!!) of the year. i was so wrapped up in the emotions of their story that i'm not quite sure what makes the film such a sucess, but it's pure and achingly beautiful. passages from isherwoods diaries are read that are moving not only because of the sentiment expressed but also the eloquence and mastery of words, which i guess might be the key to the film's greatness--the inclusion of their lives as artists in the context of their relationship (as opposed to a general statement about artists). a simple and unpretentious joy of a film.

9. pineapple express (dir. david gordon green)
needs no explanation.

10. wall-e (dir. andrew stanton)
a great sci-fi robot romance that only the near-perfect pixar could produce. the first half of this film is so perfect it hurts. once on the spaceship though, we enter typical pixar territory which isn't necessariliy a bad thing, but prevents this film from being truly great. didn't much appreciate having its greenness hit me in the face either. randy newman's song might be the worst song ever written for a disney movie. but these are all bad things. the shades of chaplin in wall-e's mannerisms to the inclusion of hello, dolly!, wall-e is made by people who love the movies, a quality that's severely lacking in recent output.

honorable mention: the wrestler, redbelt, happy-go-lucky, ashes of time redux, trouble the water

A Note from Jeff Enzor about Good Luck

2008-12-18T10:40:00.001-08:00

"So you guys are all like totally gay for this band and I'm all like I
NEVER SAW THEM ON PITCHFORK?!?!?!? so I checked them out and it's all
like GOD DAMN and they were just bumped to #3 on my list. Thanks."

Dorothy's End of 2008 List

2008-12-16T11:36:00.001-08:00

ED: I am still seeking submissions. Email them to chris@sharefestinc.org soon!

Gregory and the Hawk – Moenie and Kitchi
Someday I'll toss all your presents/And bury the letters left unsent
Cause it's bad to do what's easy/Just cause it's easy
And I wanna do what pleases me but I can't

Lauryn Hill – MTV Unplugged

City and Colour – Bring Me Your Love
Sad music for sad Internet users.

She & Him – Volume One
Zooey is so pretty, dudes. Pretty pretty pretty. This album makes me want to wear poofy skirts and giggle on the phone about cute boys and broken hearts

Mirah – You Think It's Like This But It's Really Like This
The Mirah album that actually came out this year was only okay so I went back and remembered why this one's my favorite.

Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Hearing this on repeat at the co-op, I had to start listening to it on my own and now I am embarrassed.

Ingrid Michaelson – Be OK
Well you might be a bit confused /and you might be a little bit bruised
But baby how we spoon like no one else

Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down – We Brave Bee Stings And All
I can never remember any songs from this album off-hand, but when it comes on I can sing along to every single one.

Do not post while drowsy

2008-12-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

The Best of 2008

2008-12-12T18:24:00.001-08:00

As Justin alluded in his Best of list, this year was totally the year of awesome pop-punk. Indie rock is as dead as emocore as far as I'm concerned. How do I know this? Just take a look at the genres of the shows on the schedule at Chain Reaction. EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE LISTED AS 'INDIE.' DONE.

20. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster.../We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

Basically, Los Campesinos! are either destined for greatness in the post-C86 scene or they're never going to put out another good album. At first, they seemed sort of gimmicky. They played songs about twee pop and pop music in general and they had a xylophone player and a violin player. It was some sort of self parody joke, but in the end, they were just a good band with a self-aware sense of humor. Both full lengths released this year were exciting, sonically interesting and decent in length, which is terribly difficult to do. Though the first LP contained a few songs that they had released on EPs released in 2007, they fit very well with the rest of the album and were wonderful singles. The second album, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, was a darker affair that seemed more thought out and more heavily medicated (Ritalined) than Hold On Now, Youngster. Either way, the hooks on the albums are amazing and can't be stopped, even though they're an NME band (I think... they're from Wales or something, which doesn't help).

19. Moscow Olympics - Cut the World

It's good to know that shoegaze has penetrated all the way into the Philippines. I have no idea if this band is part of a scene there or what; all I know is that this is the best shoegaze album of the year and it's from the Philippines.

18. Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances

There are so many things to be said about this album. I knew I loved it when I first heard it, but the more I listened to it, the more I realized its genius. There are like six or seven dudes in the band and I think they're in the band more for group vocals and set dressing than anything else. They literally have four guitars and two keyboards on the stage, along with your standard rhythm section. Earlier I compared the album to the Desaparecidos album, and I won't retract that statement, however, I believe that the best part about Titus Andronicus is the fact that they're actually trying to sound juvenile, rather than coming off as too eager and amateurish in attempting to write songs about capitalism being evil. In the self titled track "Titus Andronicus," not only is the refrain "Your life is over" screamed over and over, there is a very subtle part at the end of the first verse where the dude says "Fuck everything, fuck me." This album was definitely made for the 14 year old in all of us that suddenly reappeared in our 20s.

17. The Mae Shi - HLLLYH

The Mae Shi were one of the early Smell bands that came into the internet's collective consciousness pretty early on. They played tons of shows and were one of the noisier bands. When their new songs leaked on a few blogs two years ago, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What I had known of the Mae Shi was the opening set for the Ozma reunion show a few years back. I hated them. They weren't noisy because it was a conscious choice, it seemed like they were noisy because they didn't want to be playing music at all. The two songs I heard were "Lion and the Lamb" and "Run to Your Grave." I knew that if these were even the only two songs on their new album, they were going to be huge and they deserved it. Those two songs were pop gems and their synths actually sounded great, whereas on their old albums, they didn't. What I've learned about the Mae Shi is that they spend a great deal of time on their electronics and on this album, it really shows. My only gripe with the album is that it is too short. There are a few noisy punk songs which are focused and coherent and one song that is almost 12 minutes long, which is their own dance remix of a melody from the album. The rest of those songs, however, are great. Side note: they also released the best cover of the year of Miley Cyrus' single "See U Again" and it sounds incredibly expensive just because of their brilliant recording and electronics.

16. AU - Verbs

Basically, Animal Collective just met their match. I know some people actually like that band, so I will acknowledge that Au and Animal Collective are different in that AC is more electronic driven whereas Au is more organic, but you have to admit that they are a bit alike. Anyways, Luke Wyland really hit his stride with this album. He collected a bunch of great musicians to play on his songs and it really shows. The end of the album drags a little, but the "All My Friends"/"Are Animals" suite pretty much rules everything, especially if you've seen it live. If you know what I'm talking about, then you know why this album is great.

15. Boris - Smile

Boris has to be one of the best metal bands of all time. They've proven in a few short years that they can pretty much do anything well. They've done drone, psych, thrash, and now they're doing the Melvins shtick, which means they've got everything important covered. The one thing all of their songs have in common is that if you listen to them loud enough, they will crack your skull wide open. Their songs are just that brutal. Also, Michio Kurihara is basically a part of Boris now, seeing as he tours with them, playing not only on the songs off of their collaboration album, Rainbow, but on all the songs they play live. If you take one of the greatest Japanese metal guitarists and add him to the lineup of one of Japan's most exciting metal bands, you get pure gold.

14. Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams

From what I'm getting from other people's lists, they didn't like this one NEARLY as much as they liked Rubies. I liked Rubies fine, but I felt like this one was really good. Maybe I didn't have the absolute Dan Bejar fever in 2006, but now I'm a believer. His New Pornographers songs were what really hooked me, then I heard the excellent This Night. I then took on Rubies, but I was completely intimidated by the nine minute songs. I mean, I get that Bejar's got a lot of lyrics, but damn dude, your songs in the New Pornographers weren't more than like four minutes so keep it clean. Trouble in Dreams has got a little of that going, but it's not over the top. It's the album for those of us who weren't convinced that Bejar could do it without AC Newman standing over his shoulder. Just listen to the first four songs and think about the fact that each one is under four minutes and seems to be just about perfect in length. There are hooks, beautiful guitar parts and wonderful synth sounds, which is everything I could hope for.

13. Annie - Don't Stop

This is the best album of the year that you won't hear this year. It got shelved after Island Records in Europe wasn't satisfied with it, then subsequently dropped her. Annie was in the middle of rerecording a bunch of songs for the album, as well as doing a few new ones when the news came down the river. The album leaked months previous and a lot of people knew it was going to be an absolute gem. There are a lot of great pop moments on this album that Madonna will never be able to attain again, not just because she's old, but because she's really out of touch. Annie just gets it. One of the more hilarious notes about this album is the credits in the liners for the guest guitar work by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand. All the songs that he plays on require such minimal guitar experience, it is ridiculous. I hope for his sake that he phoned the parts in, however I figure that he worked really hard on recording some of the most bland, danceable guitar tracks on the market today, just like the rest of Franz Ferdinand's catalogue. Anyways, solid album.

12. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

This was basically the sequel to Nick Cave's 2007 side project album, Grinderman. It's super dirty, beyond funny and absolutely brilliant musically. Even though Cave is one of the best arrangers and composers, his biggest asset is probably Warren Ellis. If you listen to the chorus for the title track, "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" you will notice that beautifully distorted mandolin track. God, if that isn't one of the coolest sounds, I certainly don't know what is. If this were a Johnny Carson joke, the answer would be, "Hell yes, Nick Cave is one jive motherfucker." What's the question? "Does Nick Cave's new album prove that he is the coolest cat making music today?"

11. The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia/Adorata EP

This is the creepiest album I heard this year. According to Jennifer, the T-Bone Burnett album was much scarier, but I stand by my claim. Just look at the album artwork while thinking about Mark Lanegan and tell me you're not scared already. The songs included on the album are so beautifully terrifying, they will creep into your dreams. I promise that if you really listen to the album at least twice, at least one of the songs will be in one of your dreams. It probably won't be a good dream, but it will be there and it will be beyond vivid. You will wake up sweating and out of breath. You will wish there is an episode of Will and Grace on television so that you can get your mind off of "The Stations" or "Idle Hands" (which has one of the worst videos ever). Basically, Dulli and Lanegan decided that they were going to rip Tom Waits' dark stuff really hard and substitute guitars and strings for whatever Tom Waits uses. Dulli and Lanegan also released a wonderful accompanying EP this year called Adorata, which not only has equally creepy artwork, but equally great songs, but in this case, mostly covers with two Gutter Twins b-sides. There's a Primal Scream cover and a Jose Gonzalez cover (beating the fact that both Dulli and Lanegan are bigger in Europe than they ever will be here into the ground), but the real standout is the duet on "St. James Infirmary." God, that song is beautiful when it's sung by a dude with a great voice.

10. Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins

Last year, I said that Will Sheff was probably the next great American songwriter, in line behind dudes like Jeff Tweedy and Ryan Adams. This album pretty much proves it. It could have easily been a throwaway album because it was meant to be the second disc to The Stage Names' first. What surprises me the most is the departure from the Okkervil River formula. As much as I love the band, I understand that their biggest fault is the fact that their "big" songs all sort of sound the same. There isn't a "For Real" or a "Our Life is Not a Movie..." on this album. The first two songs on the album actually sound a lot like Smiths songs, which is extra weird and awesome.

Also awesome is the series of videos the band did with other artists covering the songs off of The Stand-Ins:

9. The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

John Darnielle can turn a phrase better than almost anyone else still in the game. He is by far one of the most literate lyricists I've ever heard and somehow he's one of the most prolific at the same time. He had time to write a 33 1/3 book about Black Sabbath IN CHARACTER. Dude has so many EPs and weird singles that I've never even heard of and keeps putting out more. He released two companion EPs for this album/tour and I haven't even had the time to listen to them, though I know they're great. The album is in the style of his later LP work, meaning less lo-fi, and also incorporates a few beautiful string arrangements. The video attached above is for the first song on the album and is one of the most creative videos this year for one of the best songs.

8. No Age - Nouns

I really wanted to hate this album and I got away with it for a while. It seemed really mediocre in comparison to the shiny bits of Weirdo Rippers, but then I realized that it was because they had made a fully coherent album that worked together. This is exactly why I hate No Age. They seem to do everything ALMOST perfectly. The songs are good, but sometimes just a bit too short and not as rewarding as they could be. The songs are a little lackluster, but are a wonderful piece of the puzzle. The most frustrating part about them is seeing them live. They can't figure out how to put on an engrossing live show to save their lives. Maybe it's because of their complex electronics/loop setup, but stopping in between songs for two or three whole minutes without saying anything at all is a bit much. Anyways, this album totally grew on me the more I listened to it. I look forward to seeing them on MTV more.

7. Off With Their Heads - From the Bottom

I almost put this band towards the top of my list just because of what they are, however they put out a wonderful album full of pop punk surprises. It's gruff on the outside, but damn if it isn't just like any other manic depressive on the inside: fucked up, confused and harsh. These Minneapolis dudes have been catching more press over the past few months and it's not because the dude sounds like a pop-punk Dicky Barrett. Anyways, this album is everything you could hope for and a little bit more. It's pure, grade A, grass fed punk rock and it is a beautiful thing. I can't wait to see them when they come around at the beginning of the next year.

6. Vampire Weekend - s/t

The Feist album of 2008. You absolutely can't stop these dudes. They're not selling iPods, but they're basically selling college, white sweater vests and Topsiders the same way. My favorite part about the band is their keyboard player, who is just a bro. There was one particular interview on pitchfork.tv where the band was interviewed and played in the English Honors Society frat house or something and the band dynamic is more than apparent. The whole time, the dude who obviously writes all the music seems way uncomfortable with everything while the keyboard player dude is basically throwing up the superfinger while blasting a Natty Ice 30. This album is blowing 18 year old minds everywhere while their dads are totally pissed that they're somehow still uncool. The songs are catchy beyond belief. Just you wait until they make a biopic about Vampire Weekend in 30 years.

5. Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings and All

Everyone keeps saying, "Oh it's like a boring You Are Free era Cat Power copy," but this album is so much more than that. It's a paean to childhood summers without being a seasonal album. Every single song on this album is a gem. The best part about this album is the band. Thao's songwriting is super strong and she's a very skilled guitar player, but her backing band is even better. The Get Down Stay Down is made up of three ultra talented guys who are some of the SQUAREST DUDES IN THE WORLD. They play so well together and it really shines with Tucker Martine's production. If Thao puts out another album like this, you can expect her to be sign to a label much bigger than Kill Rock Stars, but all signs point to "will not try to be a pop star."

4. Vivian Girls - s/t

The Vivian Girls were probably this year's most enigmatic act. They put out a bunch of 7"s in 2007 and 2008 and were one of those bands everyone talked about, but no one had actually heard. At the beginning of the year, the band toured and released their full length ONLY on limited press vinyl (500 copies), which means it sold out ridiculously quick and it wasn't immediately repressed. The album is one part Jesus and Mary Chain, one part B-52s, one part Go-Gos and 100% Black Tambourine, which makes for wonderful music. The production is super lo-fi without sounding cheap. It's hazy and dreamy without losing that punk rock grrl feel. They continue to put out 7"s and will tour a ton. I am just disappointed that this band is from Brooklyn and is somehow related to Crystal Stilts.

3. Algernon Cadwallader - Some Kind of Cadwallader

This band completely makes me think of sophomore/junior years of high school. It just makes me think of how my mind was blown when I discovered Cap'n Jazz and Braid for myself. You make anything math-y and angular and you have my heart. End of story.

2. Jason Anderson - The Hopeful and The Unafraid

Jason Anderson has done it again. 2007-2008 were so completely productive for him. I can't seem to believe that he released so much music over the last two years (a few full length albums, a few free albums and a little over a hundred songs from his "Song A Day" project), and yet he still hasn't lost it. Dude writes some of the most epic, wonderful, beautiful songs about life and friends and generally getting stoked. These albums remind me that we have amazing capacity and if we've got friends, what else do we need? "El Paso" is easily one of the most Springsteen songs J. Anderson has ever written and it's great. It's like seven minutes long and I think it's basically a 14,000 word essay on living life to it's full potential. If you listen to it once, listen to it again, but very carefully the second time. The words this man is saying will change your life.

1. Good Luck - Into Lake Griffy

Hands down, this is the best album of the year. Nothing really came close to this album. There isn't a weak spot on the album. If you don't know, Good Luck is Ginger Alford from One Reason, Matty Pop Chart and Mike from the k-10 Prospect and they've come together to form the best pop punk band I've heard in years. The album is full of hooks, has super positive lyrics co-written by Matt and Ginger and is recorded perfectly, which is to say that it sounds like someone spent money on recording it. It's amazing to listen to what happens when three of the most toured musicians write songs together. The most surprising part about the album is how great the guitar playing is on the album. Matt's guitar parts are crisp and well played, but also incredibly technical. Ted Leo would be totally jealous of some of the guitar parts on this album. Opener "How To Live Here" is absolutely the most perfect opening song. It's such a fast song and is brilliant pop. Lines like "Yeah, everyone feels alone/maybe more, maybe less/maybe this year or next year/or when they grow old/but what a bogus affliction!/it's the human condition." are the reason why they are the best at what they do. They've really covered a lot of ground on this album, and if they ever decide to record another album, it will definitely be hard to top songs like "Come Home", "Pajammin'", "1001 Open Hands" or the "Stars Were Exploding"/"Bringing Them Back to Life" suite, which is essentially two versions of the same, short song, but with two very different effects. The first is a full bodied, pop punk version of the song sung by Ginger and the second is a more sparse version sung by Matt. Diehard Jawbreaker fans criticized Blake Schwarzenbach when he started Jets to Brazil because his lyrics were so simple, but those people were really missing out on the truth in simplicity. These songs have that exact same quality. This band has set the bar.

I don't know if you know or not...

2008-12-11T04:16:00.000-08:00

but I just met Eric Ripert.

He's sort of a big deal. Check out his wonderful blog (and the website for his upcoming PBS cooking series), Avec Eric. This man earned each of his THREE Michelin Stars. I'm posting it everywhere. So what?

/brag

Jennifer's End of 2008 list REDUX DEUX

2008-12-02T17:20:00.000-08:00

Editor:
For all those fans out there, here it is again with a few revisions. Third time's a charm.

Hi blog world.

(this apology came from the bottom of my heart, then i puked it up and it landed onto google docs. it was weird. can you handle that?)

sorry i suck at everything. i've had to edit my best of list like, 7 times. but i just heard the entire titus vaginacus whatever album today. so i had to re-edit my list. again. sorry. it's not like anyone is reading this, so i guess i should really just apologize to myself. and chris! sorry, self and chris, for my indecisiveness.

my best of 2008 list:

1. aretha franklin- rare and unreleased recordings from the awesome years! blah blah

2. lilys- everything wrong is imaginary

favorite album of 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009... and probably until kurt heasley puts out another one.

3. titus androgynous blah blah

fuck everything! yay!

4. spiritualized- songs in a & e

5. t bone burnett- tooth of crime

6. bonnie prince billy- lie down in the light

6. vivian girls- vivian girls

7. mary j blige- growing pains

8. lil mama- voice of the young people

9. the starlite desperation- take it personally

10. au-verbs

i saw them play over the summer and it was so cool!

11. no age- nouns

most anticipated musical things of 2009:

1. cat power's album: this better be good or else i'm going to get mad

2. big death: big jeff, you better bring it.

OMFG

2008-12-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Eat World's Clarity Tour stop in LA sold out.
SO pissed.

Justin's End of 2008 List

2008-12-01T23:37:00.000-08:00

Editor's Note:
To everyone who has previously submitted a best of list, thank you so much. Doing this is so much more fun when it's collaborative and we get to read each other's writing. Today, I have the distinct privilege of posting Justin Conway's Best of 2008 list. Spoiler alert: our lists turned out to be pretty similar in major ways. Final note: to those who still haven't submitted one, send 'em my way!

I’ll start by saying that I never got into pop punk when most people did. I never recognized it as a legitimate form of music, and why would I? I listened to the Germs and Crass, what good would sissy music with whiny vocals do for me? Well 2008 has provided a great awakening for me. A few of the bands on my list are very much pop punk oriented, and as well as falling deeply in love with these bands, I revisited many of the bands that I never would have given a moments listen when I was younger. I find myself now singing along to the Get Up Kids while driving in my roommate’s car, while everyone else is coming from nostalgia, the experience entirely new and wonderful to me. That said, I would say that 2008 was aptly coined “Two Thousand Great: Pop Punk Forever!”.

As far as albums that were released in 2008:

1. Good Luck - Into Lake Griffy
I love this record so much. Definitely my favorite record of 2008. There’s something about Matt Tobey’s vocals that make me feel young again. This album is so solid its ridiculous. What I have noticed is that pop punk albums don’t fare too well past summer, but this a year round record.

“Is it impossible, friend?/ Is it only a dream to find truth in the visions you see?/ Or to believe the love that I'm waiting for is somewhere waiting for me?/ Well maybe the way to get what you want/ is to stop waiting for it to show up./ Have faith in the wind and the rain it will come (but only if you let it come).”

2. Moscow Olympics - Cut the World
It took me a little while to truly appreciate this record. At first listen I figured it was simply some band that was trying to sound like New Order in a really cheesy way, but man did this album hit me hard. Imagine Northern Picture Library covering all of “Movement”. Very shoegaze-y while still remaining delightfully poppy and seemingly perfect for the Sarah Records roster.

You’re not supposed to hear lyrics in shoegaze songs

3. Why? - Alopecia
This CD is so heavy! I have loved Why? ever since I first heard “Elephant Eyelash”, but this album is so different. I can’t reinforce how hard hitting this album is. What I’ve noticed about Why? is that most of the songs are the most incredible collection of one-liners carefully put together in a fascinating collage, but shit man, this album is fucking HARD.

“Even though i haven't seen you in years, yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere”

4. Young Widows - Old Wounds
I really have no clue what’s going in the Louisville scene, but this album rips. Kind of sludge-y, kind of punk, this album rules. Think Jesus Lizard or Melvins playing a show with Coliseum.

"She healed you with her fingernails, she healed you with her teeth"

5. Off with Their Heads - From the Bottom
So much to be said about this band. For sure were my favorite band this year, but this record holds nothing on the “Hospitals” EP. Off With Their Heads are a more punk sounding Dillinger 4, as well as more drunk. This year I fell in love with the gruffy sound of No Idea Records pop punk. The thing about this album, and all Off with Their Heads songs, is the juxtaposition of the bleakest lyrics with the greatest catchy guitar parts! This album rules though, rips all the way through.

““I’ll tell you why I fucking hate my life and I’ll tell you why I can’t seem to get it right.”

6. Algernon Cadwallader - Some Kind of Cadwallader
Sound exactly like Cap’n Jazz, but its still so good.

“Bop Shoo Bop, Shoo Bop Bop Bop” or
“OH MAN, ITS TAKING ME OVER”

7. Dear Nora - 3 States: Rarities 1997-2007
Dear Nora has quite possibly my favorite band for years now. I still feel strangely fan-boy-ish when talking with Katy Davidson, but all of that aside, this is a wonderful compilation of material spanning 10 years. I thought I had the complete collection of Dear Nora recordings, but as it turns out I was way off. The CD is 57 tracks, which seems long at first, but listening to it is a trip! Katy arranged the songs from when they were recorded, so you can totally hear her progression as an artist. Its an incredible record and well worth the listen.

Too many perfect lyrics to pick one.

Esteban's End of 2008 List

2008-12-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

Simple enough. Let's do this.

1. Bomb the Music Industry- Get Warmer: Music for people that were kinda fat, but never really were. Self-realization music.

2. Louis Lingg and the Bombs- EP- Redheaded English man running around Paris playing basements of bars. Grinning music.

3. Fat Beavers- Theres no end to that shit LP- If Ian Mackaye was 25 and lived in Paris and played in the Buzzcocks. Pitting music.

4. Chris Murray- Why so rude?- Nicest man every. So much love and ska..so much ska. Loving music.

5. Slackers- Self Medication- NYC at its absolute best. They play Christmas parties every year where they play a full set, take a break and play ten ska versions Christmas standard. Dancing music.

Worst Music of 2008:

Biggest Disappointments of 2008

2008-11-28T20:27:00.001-08:00

I'll keep this short by saying I was looking forward to a few albums at the beginning of the year and I was let down. I will also mention that you just barely missed this list, Beck. I knew that doing an album with Danger Mouse wasn't going to be a great idea in the first place, so there you go.

Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life

This album wasn't terrible by any means, but it was disappointing because of just how great Hidden World was. I guess I can't expect every album to live up to those standards, but the concept for The Chemistry of Common Life was just as good, if not better than that for Hidden World. Fucked Up is one of the best live hardcore bands I've seen, and I've seen more than my fair share. The songs off of this album sounded good live, but something about the album just didn't seem right.

Man Man - Rabbit Habits

Another instance of, "How could you do better than the last one?" In this case, it was Man Man's second album, Six Demon Bag. This album felt like you were falling down on your face over and over, whereas listening to Six Demon Bag was like listening to the soundtrack for an imaginary Tom Waits pirate-themed cartoon, which was awesome.

Love is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night

I don't know much about the What's Your Rupture? scene. I know that they put out Love is All records and they've put out a Fucked Up 12" and that's about it. From what I gather, all this retro 60s-cum-no wave stuff all sort of sounds the same nowadays and that's what was most disappointing about this Love is All album. I loved the high energy stuff from the last album and the slower stuff was mediocre. This whole album seems to be full of slower, more "vintage" sounding cuts.

Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

Kevin Barnes keeps getting crazier and putting out worse music, but his Outback Steakhouse money keeps him costumed and happy, so I guess that's alright. I guess if I wrote and toured on The Gay Parade, I'd be a little nutty too.

Crystal Castles

I guess I'm just disappointed that a band like this exists.

PS. image via the wonderful toothpaste for dinner.

Best of 2008: Late Adds, Honorable Mentions and EPs

2008-11-27T23:22:00.000-08:00

Generally, my year end list is usually pretty huge and I have to divide it up into categories. This year, I've decided to add a bunch of albums to my favorites list that don't fit under the conventional "Best of" tag. You can check out songs from each album/EP listed below here.

The first set is albums that I discovered and enjoyed this year, but came out in the last calendar year (so called "Late Adds"). As usual, I've attached the albums that I could find on the internet (generally via Google). These albums come in no particular order and are as follows:

Teenage Cool Kids - Queer Salutations
This is one of 2007's best kept secrets. Teenage Cool Kids are from Denton, TX and have found a way into my heart. This album is a perfect example of what guitar pop should be. None of the songs are too complex, they're familiar in content, but original in sound and the band plays tons of house parties, which is completely awesome.

Underground Railroad to Candyland - Bird Roughs
I feel like I've told this story a million times before, but it applies here. Growing up around punks in the South Bay made me never want to listen to the Misfits. All the young punks were assholes and I thought the Misfits were dumb. Once I grew up, I realized I could appreciate them too and it made me feel better because I felt like I understood them at a more mature level. Whatever. Anyways, F.Y.P was a band in exactly the same predicament. Stupid South Bay punks loved them, so I had to hate them. Little did I know that Todd C. was one of the best pop-punk songwriters out there. F.Y.P was first, then came Toys That Kill and now there's URTC, which is probably the most party of the three bands. Even in his old age, Todd C. can still bring it.

Bomb the Music Industry! - Get Warmer
First of all, Jeff Rosenstock releases all of his albums for free. That is awesome. Secondly, he's still doing third wave ska proud. Third, his songwriting is brilliant, hook filled and the production is great. Fourth, it's free. Dude did a weird 8-bit version of Tom Waits' "Anywhere I Lay My Head" and didn't crap all over it like ScarJo did. He took the show on the road on the Asian Man Tour and sang "Holland, 1945" with Sean from Andrew Jackson Jihad like every night on tour. He's got a weird, ragged sense of humor and melody and really stretches out on this album, venturing into a bunch of genres; one of the best songs is "Unlimited Breadsticks, Soup and Salad Days," a sort of ragtime, Dixieland, weird, perfect song. Really, I got the album when it came out last year, but it took a while to grow on me. If I were to redo my list, this would probably be in the top 10.

Andrew Jackson Jihad - People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People In the World
Honest, fun, wonderful dudes singing some of the most beautiful songs around. I can't believe I didn't have this album last year. I don't know why I didn't. This wouldn't have even made the list; it would have been on a separate list altogether it is so good. Yeah, you've heard a bunch of the songs on the original EPs, but the idea of AJJ putting this out on Asian Man alone is too good to be true. You have to admit that all of a sudden, Asian Man Records is one of the best labels out there.

Lemuria - Get Better
This is another reason why Asian Man is god among Punk labels. Lemuria is a band from middle of nowhere Buffalo, New York and they sound like the 90s in a great way. People say things like, "They sound like the Breeders if they had been punk" or "They sound like Discount," but I'll do you one better. If Jawbreaker had a girl singer, they would have been Lemuria. This album doesn't quite fit that description as well as The First Collection does, but think of this as their Dear You, where there's some great pop stuff and a lot of introspective moments you didn't see coming. And plus, they're just a weird band.

Rivers Cuomo - Alone I/II
These two albums sort of don't count as anything in my mind, but they've earned a spot on my Late Add/Honorable Mention list respectively just because of what they are. Cuomo decided he wanted to put out a bunch of his weirder moments on record and somehow arm wrestled Geffen Records into doing it, even though dude's into wearing hair nets and train conductor outfits now. (By the way, one of my favorite musical moments of 2008 was the "how's this for arts and crafts?" bit from "Troublemaker" Similarly good was Rivers' "normal" outfit from the video, dressing up as Tom Delonge for Halloween or something).

Honorable Mentions:

The Postmarks - By The Numbers
I feel like I owe the Postmarks a place of honor on my 2008 list just for their eponymous 2007 debut album, which became one of my favorite albums from last year. Their wonderful mix of chanson and samba is straight from the heart of MIAMI, FL. Since when was there a good band from Miami? Seriously. Can you name one? Gloria Estefan's band doesn't really count. Anyways, the Postmarks album from this year is actually a compilation of songs they did for eMusic. They did one cover a month for the year, with each song corresponding in number to the month it was released. They did a few predictable covers (Bowie's "Five Years" for May and Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice" for February) but there were a few wonderfully surprising picks as well (Ride's "OX4", "7-11" by the Ramones and "Nine Million Rainy Days" by The Jesus and Mary Chain). Basically, you can't go wrong if you're musically strong and doing songs that people already like.

The Ergs! - Hindsight is 20/20, My Friend
The Ergs! are breaking up and this was a perfect way to say goodbye. They're going to put out a few more 7"s before they go, which further proves that they were one of the most productive pop-punk bands out there. Mitch Clem wrote a funny joke about their 2007 album that goes something like this: the first guy says "Yeah, Upstairs/Downstairs (The Ergs! last full length) wasn't as good as The Ergs! best album." The second guy says something like, "Which one was that? Milo Goes to College?" Hindsight is 20/20, My Friend is actually a singles collection that contains something like 33 songs from the last seven years. They've only really put out the two albums, but they've also released something like 8 EPs and a bunch more 7"s. Good God, they will be missed.

The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
Here's another New Jersey punk band that broke into my list this year. I had heard about The Gaslight Anthem through my love of all things Bouncing Souls. I knew that these guys were a Souls favorite to open up home shows, so they had to be pretty good. Little did I know that they retooled the whole sound this year when they put out The '59 Sound. The first time I heard the title track, I was thinking, "Wait, isn't this supposed to be a pop-punk band?" but then I remembered that they were from Jersey, and Springsteen>Lifetime, so it was going to sound like The River. The best part is that the album got a super positive review on Pitchfork recently; the reason this is great is because some of The Gaslight Anthem's stuff has a harsher Tiger Army vibe than early 80s Springsteen. I really hope that the folks over there at the new Pfork home office in Williamsburg dig Tiger Army super hard.

Gentleman Jesse and his Men - s/t
This album opened my eyes to a whole underground of Atlanta pop bands that pal around with dudes like the Black Lips, but aren't in it for Vice Magazine's publicity or to be blogger darlings like Brad Cox. This band is way more into trying to rip Jonathan Richman's early style, along with other great garage pop from the early 70s, and they wear it well.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cardinology
This album didn't end up on the year end Top 20 because it wasn't that good, but by Ryan Adams standards, this is an amazing album. It's super concise and focused. None of the songs are really throwaways and dude hasn't written a song like "Go Easy" in a while. It's great and I welcome Adams back into the fold. I can't wait for his next seven albums. I just wish that he would record that Willie Nelson album without Willie or release another solo album.

TV on the Radio - Dear Science
COMMAGATE 2K8. Much ado about stupid punctuation and non-issues surrounded this album, when the music really mattered. I'm always impressed by what TVOTR puts out and this is no exception. I think to myself, this band keeps getting bigger and they keep getting worse, but somehow they still manage to impress me. I thought their late night appearances this last cycle were terrible, playing one of the worst songs of the year "Dancing Choose," but I still love it. As Jeff mentioned in his best of post, the production is super slick. Sitek really stepped up his game after doing the ScarJo album, also probably because TVOTR is big enough to have a larger production budget. Anyways, the real reason I love this album is the fact that it is a PERFECTLY coherent album. The individual songs taken out of the context of the album sound TERRIBLE, but when put together, they are a force to be reckoned with.

She & Him - Volume One
It's weird to think that this album actually exists. It's good, but man I burned out on it fast. Actually, it makes me want the next M. Ward album that much more, even though I'm setting myself up for disappointment.

Best EPs of 2008:

...and You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Festival Thyme
Here's the moment all you Texans have been waiting for: Trail of Dead getting weird again! The last few albums were weird, but in a very calculated way. This is a return to form for Conrad Keeley and company, playing the insane "Isaac Brock is normal compared to us" card. Just look at the badly CGIed pirate cover for this EP. It's like some Final Fantasy VII stuff, which means it's awesome. As a Trail of Dead fan, you can trust me when I say that the music is not disappointing.

The Raveonettes - Beauty Dies/Sometimes They Drop By
What a weird band that I totally love. Seeing them live over the summer pretty much iced them as one of my favorite bands of all time. Yeah, they totally rip on the Jesus and Mary Chain and all those other bands, but they're so good at it. These two EPs came out within weeks of one another and are both pretty stellar. The song on the muxtape was used in a super indie Gap ad campaign that asked a bunch of bands to write songs based on colors. Dntel did a song called "Red" and the Raveonettes contribution waded in very familiar territory ("Black/White"). Might be one of their best songs.

Final Fantasy - Plays to Please/Spectrum, 14th Century
Also a weird dude that makes great music. His album was supposed to come out this year and blow everyone away, but instead, Pallett decided to deliver two ultra weird concept EPs that blew me away. The first is a tribute EP to a Toronto band called Deep Dark United. The songs are all super gay and sort of scary strange, but stunning as usual. It proves that once Stephen Merritt dies, his seat will still be super warm. The second EP is actually the better of the two and consists of weird "simulated" field recordings Pallett did with members of Beirut. All the animal noises were supposedly just all the people whistling and stuff, which makes it that much more awesome, but what really kills it is the song "Blue Imelda." The EP is about a magical land called Spectrum and the song is about some such nonsense, but it is one of the best songs this year, hands down. It's like the "Postcards from Italy" of 2008.

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Only God Can Judge Me
Like I've said before, Sean and Ben sing some of the most honest songs about life I've ever heard. There is not a mediocre song on this whole EP and you should buy everything you can from them the next time they roll through town because their stuff actually goes out of print FAST.

Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Rapid Response
Now, I thought two of the four songs on this EP were pretty bad and they were the two Leo originals. He did two awesome crust punk covers and put the songs on the internet in a matter of hours with album art and everything. Basically, this EP is just a testament to just how important Ted Leo is to punk rock. He could crap out a brick and release it and his music would still be a statement.

MUXTAPE #24: up late working

2008-11-25T01:46:00.000-08:00

MUXTAPE

So here we are again, in the office way too late, working away. Not able to sleep and not even wanting to yet. The night isn't over, but I need something to get me past what my day had been: soul crushing nothingness. Really? No. But come on. It's almost 2AM, what do you expect. I haven't really had a night's sleep in a few months. Thank god I had a nap today so I was coherent enough to write this entry.

This tape is for everyone up late for no apparent reason or the insomniac, working away. This is for all of you, even if it isn't the middle of the night. If you need something to get you going, here it is.

1. Ryan Adams - "Chin Up, Cheer Up (48 Hours)"
If 48 Hours had been released as an album, it would have easily been Ryan Adams' most successful solo album. It was optimistic, succinct and had this gem holding down the middle section. The album was recorded in two days (thus the name) and is one of the most stunning statements Adams ever made. Don't get discouraged! Ryan Adams is singing you a song about being happy! When does that ever happen?

2. Limbeck - "To Hell With Having Fun (Let Me Go Home)"
If you ever feel like you're being left out, you're not. You should do whatever you want to! Have fun doing your business, not what someone else tells you to do. I don't get as much sleep as I should, but let's get wild anyways! The Limbeck boys have always been one of the most important bands when it came to "live life, have fun, get wild" music and this song proves it.

3. The Format - "Inches and Falling (Dog Problems)"
This was such a perfect note to go out on. The Format knew they'd never make an album this perfect, even if Van Dyke Parks wrote all their songs from there on. This is one of the most perfect pop songs of the year 2007.

4. Old 97s - "Timebomb (Too Far to Care)"
Seeing Rhett Miller sing this song completely made my night this past weekend. I knew that I liked the song, but hearing just how rebellious and youthful it was up close made it that much more real. Jennifer can attest to the fact that I was impressed just by seeing how big my grin was while Rhett was playing this.

5. Camera Obscura - "Let's Get Out of This Country (Let's Get Out of This Country)"
Strange change of pace? Not quite. This muxtape is all about fun loving pop in any form that speaks to our sense of adventure, wonder and excitement. Just think about these lines when you listen to it: "We'll pick berries and recline/let's hit the road, dear friend of mine/wave goodbye to our thankless jobs/we'll drive for miles, maybe never turn off/we'll find a cathedral city/you can be handsome, I'll be pretty."

6. Wilco - "Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Summerteeth)"
Over the past few years, I've come to the conclusion that Summerteeth was Wilco's real masterpiece. No, it wasn't as experimental as YHF or any later output, but it was headed in that direction with a perfect sunny pop disposition. The keyboard sounds on the album were perfection and songs like this prove just how much of a genius Tweedy is. Yeah, he can write poetry to music, but damn if he didn't just write a great pop song too.

7. Jason Anderson - "We Will Bend, We Will Break, Etc. (On The Street)"
This song is probably my favorite Jason Anderson song right now, if only for the lines "Every different town I'm in/I wanna get an apartment/start six bands/fly awesome kites/ride awesome bikes/I just feel so at home." The song is really about wanting to be everywhere at once; loving the road, but missing everything important at home. Sometimes, we make choices, but every single time, we get better and we will grow.

8. Oasis - "Rock 'n' Roll Star (Definitely Maybe)"
This could possibly be the most perfect song of all time. This was the world's introduction to Oasis, in that it was the first song on their first album. How perfect a statement is that? Proclaiming their genius right off the bat, taking hold of everything that's theirs without asking. Sometimes, we need that feeling too, so here it is. Once you air guitar the solo, you'll feel like a fucking champ too.

9. Third Eye Blind - "Graduate (s/t)"
Yeah, you can!

Jeff's End of 2008 List

2008-11-21T14:02:00.000-08:00

Today, we have a very special guest list from the one and only Big Jeff Enzor of Big Death and The Rolltop Loys. I'm excited to post all of these, so keep 'em coming!

1. Department Of Eagles - In Ear Park
I feel connected to Mr. Rossen in a strange way. It's like we share the same musical makeup and he understands how to make every note beautiful to my ears. This album is nearly flawless.

2. Bonnie "Prince" Blilly - Lay Down In The Light
Call me naive, but I feel like this in Oldham's musical masterpiece. It may not be as artistic or emotional as his other great works, but I feel like this album just has everything a great record should; highs, lows, depth, pizazz, and pristine production.

3. She & Him - Volume 1
I don't know why I had such high hopes for this album. I guess I just thought it would make for an interesting story if it actually turned out to be good, and it most certainly has. The best part about this is how it seems like the two of them were making the album completely for thier own enjoyment.

4. Titus Andronicus - The Airing Of Grievances
This is everthing rock music should be. Loud, energetic, catchy and with just enough anger to give it some weight without becoming bloated. This band is one like an idea that seems so simple and perfect, and you wish you had thought of it first.

5. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
When I first heard "Dancing Choose" I figured it was about time to stop caring about this band. Then I was bored one day and decided to give the album a shot and was blown away too many times by their craft to ignore it. This is one of those rare instinces where the slicker the band's production got, the better.

6. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Good pop, plain and simple.

7. Thao and the Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings And All
It's basically the other batch of songs written for Cat Power's "You Are Free" and this isn't a bad thing. Indie pop by a girl that just barely slides under the cuteness threshold.

8. Stephen Malkmus & Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
Malkmus finally found a good mix of jamming and songwriting, and Janet Wiess is a perfect addition to the Jicks.

9. Foot Foot - Trumpet
They really should be a lot bigger than they are. Wonderful songwrting that isn't dressed up in bells and whistles and gimmicks just won't cut it, I guess.

10. Jason Andeson - The Hopeful And The Unafraid
Even though it is flawed the album has enough boombast and sincerity to make you love life for its 40 minutes.

Honerable Mentions:
The Mae Shi - Hlllyh
Grouper - Draggin A Dead Dear Up A Hill
Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements
Shugo Tokumaru - Exit
Algernon Cadawaller - Some Kind Of Cadawaller
Lil Mama - Voice Of The Young People
Pattern Is Movement - All Together

Dissapointments:
Of Montreal - Skeletal Lampings
High Places - High Places
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea

MUXTAPE #19: fuck the fest, here's the rest

2008-11-20T20:50:00.001-08:00

MUXTAPE

Since this is the year of pop-punk, I decided to make myself a "The Fest!" themed tape (tape #16, to be posted about later). I loved it so much that it almost made me jealous of the kids who live in Gainesville and get to go to The Fest! every year, but then I remembered that they live in Gainesville. In response to this, I created another tape with a theme in mind: kids that get to go to The Fest! suck. Basically, it was supposed to be a compilation of bands I would want to play my version of The Fest! Here we go! By the way, this is going to seem like a lazy muxtape post, but there are just so many great videos for these bands these days.

1. The Ergs! - "Books About Miles Davis (Hindsight is 20/20, My Friends)"
Too bad they're breaking up. How could you not like this?

2. Good Luck - "How To Live Here (Into Lake Griffy)"
Another case of "how could you not like this (courtesy of ifyoumakeit.com again).

3. Algernon Cadwallader - "Some Kind of Cadwallader (Some Kind of Cadwallader)"
One of my favorite new bands this year. They sound like Chicago in 1997 in the best way. This just looks like fun. There actually was a video for this song on ifyoumakeit, but I just thought that the quality of this video was far superior.

4. Lemuria - "Dog (Get Better)"
Yet another wonderful ifyoumakeit video here.

5. Vivian Girls - "Wild Eyes (s/t)"
Something about this video creeps me out a lot, but they are one of the best new bands.

6. Teenage Cool Kids - "Queer Salutations (Queer Salutations)"
Something about this band just makes me want to be friends with them. They're from Denton, TX. I feel like there's another band from Denton that I really like, but I can't remember who it was. Anyways, here's a very professional looking video.

7. Underground Railroad to Candyland - "Over and O'er (Bird Roughs)"
Torres said it best. Todd C. is basically what will happen to Mike Saks in 20 or 25 years. This album was a 2007 album and it is the reason I am going to have a separate list for 2007 albums I discovered in 2008. URTC is one of the most fun bands out there. Come see them tomorrow at the Smell!

8. Off With Their Heads - "I Am You (From the Bottom)"
Punk rock Dicky Barrett?

9. Fucked Up - "Vivian Girls (Hidden World)"
They got banned from playing MTV once, but they kept coming back. Pretty great.

I AM A POSTING MACHINE

2008-11-20T20:46:00.001-08:00

Just a little something amusing that I found on the youtube.

weeeeeeird.

The density of life

2008-11-20T20:12:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about Mitch Clem lately. It's strange how much a webcomic can influence your life.

I have been a Blake Schwarzenbach fan for five or six years now, finding out about Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil simultaneously. Ever since then, he's become this mythological figure, a Jeff Mangum type who doesn't really make music anymore, when everyone around him knows that he really wants to, but might never eclipse the glory that he once had. There will never be another In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, but Mangum will continue to tour with the traveling Elephant Six gypsies, only showing up at certain dates in cities like Milwaukee and the fourth tier stop in Texas. I used to put Kevin Shields on this list, but God knows that he wants to be big again (or for the first time, really).

Schwarzenbach had the chance to be big, getting signed to Geffen in the mid 90s by Rob Cavallo, who was the young producer/A&R guy that discovered the pop potential of the East Bay 924 Gilman scene, specifically Green Day. Jawbreaker was to be the seriously literary college kid foil to Green Day's stoner high school rebellion. Blake wrote about some seriously fucked up moments at the age of 24. In 1995, Jawbreaker released Dear You on Geffen Records (ed: What a year for Geffen... not getting Songs From the Black Hole and Dear You?!) and it flopped massively, despite being one of the era's best punk albums (it was like this and Hello Bastards). After this, Blake started the even more unfriendly Jets to Brazil and wrote simple songs about the harsh reality of being alone and unsuccessful. Of course, being a Morrissey fan, this had some appeal for me, but for most Jawbreaker fans, this did not really resonate and many had written Schwarzenbach off as washed up.

Fast forward to late October 2008. The news from the Jawbreaker camp has been minimal up to this point, but a bulletin from the Jawbreaker myspace account pops up, announcing progress on the forthcoming Jawbreaker documentary. Adam Pfahler, drummer for Jawbreaker, sends out the occasional news and wrote previously that Jawbreaker got back together one night to play some music, just for fun. Many fans got excited, thinking they'd get to see Jawbreaker play some sort of show, but the rest of us knew Blake better than that. Those of us who really listen to his albums know that he wouldn't put himself in that position again. The October 2008 bulletin contains a short message from the man himself with a short note about a new band that he's playing in. The next thing you know, there are pictures on Brooklyn based punk blogs of Blake playing house shows in a new band with Aaron Cometbus from Crimpshrine, opening up for The Underground Railroad to Candyland. The world stops turning. Everyone seems to be asking the same question... "Is it as good as it seems?" and the next thing you know, videos start popping up on the Youtube, and of course, we come to find out that we have something else to be excited about.

I hope that I will get the chance to see Blake's new band, not only because I've never seen him live, but simply because I must.

re: Songs From the Black Hole

2008-11-20T19:12:00.000-08:00

While writing a paper late last night, I completed a satisfactory version of Songs From the Black Hole. As I previously posted, there are a few pieces missing, but most of them are inconsequential set dressing/narrative type pieces that would have only been the proverbial "cherry on top" of this already amazing album. The tracklist has changed since last night, but not significantly. Anyways, here it is (explanation to follow):

1. Blast Off! (Alone I)
2. Who You Callin' Bitch? (Alone I)
3. You Won't Get With Me Tonight (Gimme Skelter)
4. Oh Jonas (Alone II)
5. Please Remember (Alone II)
6. Come To My Pod (Alone II)
7. Why Bother? (Pinkerton)
8. Oh No, This is Not For Me (leaked demo)
9. Tired of Sex (Pinkerton)
10. Superfriend (Alone I)
11. The Love I'm Searching For (Excellent Stocking Stuffer)
12. Dude, We're Finally Landing (Alone I)
13. Getchoo (Pinkerton)
14. I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams (The Good Life EP)
15. No Other One (Pinkerton)
16. Waiting on You (The Good Life EP)
17. Devotion (El Scorcho UK CDS)
18. Longtime Sunshine (Alone I)

As I mentioned before, this version more closely resembles Tracklist One; the glaring exceptions here are the Pinkerton songs included ("Why Bother?" and "Waiting on You" were both to be included at some point, however don't appear on either tracklist) and the Rentals demo. The placement of "Why Bother?" seemed fairly obvious if you imagine it as part of Jonas' regret of going back to Maria's pod. "Waiting on You" also seemed somewhat obvious, taking on the regretful tone of the end of the album. It is a natural bridge between "No Other One" and "Devotion" and is the "Holiday" of SFTBH.

The really tough placement came with the Rentals demo. If you asked any other Weezer fan, this song has no place on the album, but since I'm way into Weezer's mythology and am an amateur conspiracy theorist, I believe this is at least one of the early Rentals songs that belongs on SFTBH. I think there are a few more that could have fit in somewhere, but that's for another day.

Everything written after this is purely opinion and I haven't decided whether I'm serious about everything or not, but here it is anyways. It's well known that Matt Sharp didn't really receive as much attention as Rivers did in terms of songwriting for Weezer; in fact, he wasn't credited as a writer on the Blue Album or on Pinkerton and sued the band for cutting him out of the credits for songs like "Undone (The Sweater Song)", "El Scorcho" and "The Good Life." The suit was settled out of court, with the band paying Sharp. The way I've always imagined it was that Sharp was a foil to Rivers, always playing the opposite end of the spectrum, whether it be writing hooks when Rivers wouldn't focus or making things weird when Rivers was trying too hard.

It seems to me that Sharp was excited by the idea of SFTBH because it seemed like more of a collaborative process; he would even have singing parts on the album that weren't backup parts. It seemed as though he began writing songs that would fit somewhere in the narrative arc, but wasn't told exactly what his part was going to be (he was set to play Dondo, one of the two stooges on the spaceship). He wrote songs like "The Love I'm Searching For" and "Waiting" around the time when SFTBH was being written, along with songs like "California" and "So Soon." When Sharp decided to record Return of the Rentals, it seemed like it was Matt's way of saying goodbye to Rivers; he took the Hadens and a bunch of really good pop songs (and was probably trying to take Pat Wilson too) and released ROTR in 1995. When asked in a chat room a few years ago what happened to SFTBH, Rivers answered "ROTR." Many people believe that Rivers didn't want his songs on SFTBH to sound too much like Sharp's ROTR, but I believe that a lot of SFTBH was Sharp and his releasing the Rentals' first album sent everything off the rails.

Anyways, I believe that this is a satisfactory version of Songs From the Black Hole and I hope you enjoy it.

Songs From the Black Hole dilemma

2008-11-20T01:37:00.001-08:00

So, I've pretty much recreated the ultimate version of Songs From the Black Hole, combining tracklists one and two, but I'm not sure it's quite complete. I focused more on tracklist one, even though we all know that Rivers intended on releasing a version more closely related to tracklist two. Also, I know I'm missing "Superfriend (reprise)", "She's Had a Girl", "Now I Finally See", "What is This I Find?" and the one I'm most curious about, "Longtime Sunshine (special coda mix)", but the dilemma here isn't about those songs. It's about the two Rentals songs that most certainly belong with the Songs From the Black Hole. You know they're totally a part of the collection and they were the songs that Matt wrote before leaving Weezer for good, but where do they fit? Is the point that they're not supposed to fit cleanly or at all?

Anyways, my version of SFTBH might or might not be available for your listening pleasure on my website, depending on how I feel after writing about what Immanuel Kant would have thought of it, but here's the tracklist in the meantime:

1. Blast Off!
2. Who You Callin' Bitch?
3. You Won't Get With Me Tonight
4. Oh Jonas
5. Come to my Pod
6. Why Bother?
7. Oh No, This is Not For Me
8. Tired of Sex
9. Superfriend
10. Dude, We're Finally Landing
11. Getchoo
12. I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams
13. No Other One
14. Please Remember
15. Waiting on You
16. Devotion
17. Longtime Sunshine

Rentals Songs?
1. The Love I'm Searching For (Excellent Stocking Stuffer version)
2. Please Let That Be You (the ROTR version is closest in lyrical content/sound to SFTBH)

*EDIT
Here is my final version of Songs From the Black Hole:
MUXTAPE'D
The tracklist is slightly different and only contains one Rentals song, but it makes the most sense to me after reviewing the mythology.

Jennifer's End of 2008 List

2008-11-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

Editor's Note: I will be posting the year end lists (as well as muxtapes) for anyone who so chooses, so let me know. This will be a mandatory assignment for some of you (expect emails soon with instructions).

In the spirit of the season, here's Jennifer's year end list. GET STOKED!

hello blog world.
let me start this off by saying I have no idea why chris asked me to contribute to his blog.
i don't read or post on the radiohead message board. i only read two blogs: gravitas kills and swan fungus. i tried to have my own blog once, but it was hard. what was i supposed to write about? i thought i would have things to say, but then it hit me: i don't know anything about anything. so, yeah.. i bet you're really excited to read my list now. have fun!

1. aretha franklin- rare and unreleased recordings from the golden reign of the queen of soul, 1966-1973

chris said this doesn't count... but it was released this year and it was my most listened to thing of 2008, so i had to make it #1.

2. Lilys- Everything Wrong Is Imaginary

chris said this doesn't count either, because this came out in 2006... but it was my favorite album of 2006, 2007, and 2008. it's also my favorite record of 2009. what? yeah, i went there.

3. The Starlite Desperation- Take it Personally

4. Mary J Blige- Growing Pains

sorry chris! this didnt come out in 2008 either. it came out december 2007, which is basically 2008... just watch the video. i love you MJB!

5. Spiritualized- Songs in A & E

6. Primal Scream - Beautiful Future

(ed: the best part about this album being here is how it got here. I found a link very early on, thinking it had leaked, however it was one of the fakes that Atlantic put out, meaning that all the songs were there, but they were the wrong length... why, you ask? Because it was 30-45 seconds from each song looped. Imagine how much she would have liked the album if she'd actually heard the real one!)

7. AU- Verbs

8. T Bone Burnett- tooth of crime

9. Lil Mama- Voice of the Young People

10. Bonnie Prince Billy- Lie Down in the Light

11. vivian girls- vivian girls

Really Quickly...

2008-11-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

The links for previous muxtapes have been updated, so if you want to find an old mux, just click the muxtapes tag at the bottom of the post and it will take you to all the muxtape entries thus far.

MUXTAPE #1 UPDATED

MUXTAPE #2 UPDATED

MUXTAPE #3 UPDATED

muxtape updates: #4

2008-11-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

MUXTAPE

So, if you haven't gotten the news yet, all current muxtapes are currently available on chrisyamashiro.com, so check it out.

I previously posted that this was muxtape #4, however in reality, it was #3 and this is muxtape #9, but let's not get into that just yet. Eventually, I'd like to have a section on my website devoted to muxtape naming conventions, but I don't think anyone would read that (even you, Jennifer).

Anyhow, this muxtape is a longstanding favorite around these parts and it is called "College Town, 1997." This is not because it is filled with hits from 1997's CMJ top singles list or anything, but it is how I imagine college dorms sounded in 1997, somewhere on the east coast.

1. Jets to Brazil - "Sea Anemone (Orange Rhyming Dictionary)"
I'm totally excited for Schwarzenbach's new band and his master's degree in English, as well as the Jawbreaker doc that's coming out. Apparently, it's crazy professional because it's being made by the guys that did the Minutemen documentary. I was expecting something super punk, but I also forget that Jawbreaker was supposed to be the East Bay's next superstars or something back in 1995. Like much of Blake's music, this song seemed so sad, but it seemed to also be a little bit about Jawbreaker not making it big.

2. Heatmiser - "Plainclothes Man (Mic City Sons)"
Is that some Elliott Smith b-side? Well, apparently he did play this song live quite a bit, but it was from Heatmiser's final album, which many regard as their best. I think people like it just because Elliott's songs sound like his solo stuff, rather than the "alternative rock" of the first few albums, but that's just a stab in the dark.

3. Pavement - "Shady Lane (Brighten the Corners)"
For a long time, I never thought of Pavement as a band outside of Crooked Rain or Slanted and Enchanted, but once I heard this song, I fell in love with the rest of their discog and became a Malkmus believer. The bit about Geddy Lee and the false endings are plain genius. The only thing better than Pavement singles were their videos, for example, the Spike Jonze video for this song.

4. Grandaddy - "El Caminos in the West (Sumday)"
Yeah, this came out way after 1997 and doesn't even sound that much like 1997, Jeff, but I still dig it and sort of wish it had been out around then. I think that if Jason Lytle hadn't been a pro skateboarder in 1997 and was writing these songs, Grandaddy would have been as big as The Flaming Lips were at this point. Yeah. I said it. Seriously.

5. Yo La Tengo - "Sugarcube (I Can Feel The Heart Beating As One)"
What a wonderful song. Also has a wonderful 90s video. Also, this video is great because it really doesn't focus on the song at all, cutting in and out of the audio, finding that the narrative structure was more important. This was supposed to be their "big, coming out" single that broke them into some sort of mainstream consciousness, but I think the video was their attempt to be a non-MTV MTV band. They had the amusing parody video, but the song was chopped and fit for the video, which changed everything. Too bad this came about as 120 Minutes was either dying or dead (and before MTV2).

6. Steve Burns - "Mighty Little Man (Songs for Dustmites)"
Yeah, it's Steve from Blue's Clues and the talented heroin addict from The Flaming Lips! This song also takes liberty with the time period, but I felt like The Flaming Lips in 1997 didn't quite fit this tape. It was after Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and before The Soft Bulletin, so it really doesn't matter to me.

7. Weezer - "You Gave Your Love To Me Softly (Angus OST)"
Yeah, I included the non-demo version, Jeff. I prefer audio files that aren't decayed to hell by Limewire and Karl's hard drive bursting into flames. This b-side from Pinkerton was on the Angus soundtrack. What a wonderful little song to put into a movie. I just wish that I would have seen them play this song as Goat Punishment or something.

8. The Rentals - "Barcelona (Seven More Minutes)"
I never bothered to listen to Seven More Minutes, thinking that Matt Sharp couldn't have written more than a few good songs without Rivers as his foil, but once I learned of Maya Rudolph's involvement in this album, I knew I had to listen. I can't even tell which songs she sings on, and it doesn't matter. The demos for this song are called "California" and are totally different. Some Weezer scholars argue that "California" is the better version, because it reflects more of Rivers' songwriting that Matt lifted once he left Weezer, but I love this version because it really sounds like what the Rentals should sound like (and provided a blueprint for Korg/Moog-emo bands in the future).

9. The Dismemberment Plan - "Gyroscope (Emergency & I)"
I remember downloading this song when I was 14 or 15, reading about The D Plan on the Weezer message board or something. I just knew that they were one of those bands that most Weezer fans respected, so I wanted to get to know something about them. I was just getting into Sunny Day Real Estate and Mineral and thought the Dismemberment Plan must sound something like one of those bands, just because of all the Weezer fans being way into it. What I didn't know is that The Dismemberment Plan was way more influenced by that which surrounded them (Washington DC and Dischord Records) than any other "emo" band at the time. They were somewhat cut off from the Midwest, being from DC, so they sounded a little different (like SDRE, who sounded sort of like Seattle). After I downloaded this, I downloaded all the Dismemberment Plan I could find. Travis Morrisson has a wonderful sense of humor that you don't find every day in "indie rock."

Liveblogging TC5 Premiere

2008-11-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

I decided to forego livetweeting the show. I figured the few people that follow me would appreciate not being bombarded with tons of tweets along the lines of "LOL@" or "SRSLYWTF".

6:57p - Reliving the TC4 finale. Richard looks so sad and I was totally sad for him. I hear both of his restaurants closed down and now he's "consulting," whatever that really means. I guess that gives him more time with his adorable baby.

7:02p - GENE RULES ALREADY. Too bad he's not going to win. Jeff is too pretty; he'll get far, but he can't win.

7:05p - UP THE BEARS.

7:07p - Great elimination quickfire. PEEL THE APPLES.

7:09p - blood. gross. Immunity? Man.

7:12p - I better see some great apple dishes. Also, Radhika might have been a bad choice for fantasy league.

7:18p - God, some of the cheftestants this season are annoying. Also, I love the alpaca commercials.

7:20p - GREAT. The loser is OUT.

7:22p - Oh no! The cat from Boulder doesn't know where Brighton Beach is!

7:23p - GAY ALLIANCE FTW.

7:25p - Fabio/Stefan... bromance or rivalry? Prediction: they will both be in the finale.

7:27p - Who will be out? I hope Carla gets far. I totally dig it.

7:31p - I also dig the dyke. I don't dig Carla describing everything as 'yummy' or Ariane.

7:33p - Gene v. Alex. This will be a tough one. Some of the other matchups are going to be too easy.

7:36p - Asian? We're all the same.

7:38p - Molecular gastronomy is so last year!

7:40p - I predict that if Fabio wins one of the first two elimination challenges, he will win TC5.

7:47p - BEAR AGAIN (fail), Stefan wins. Also, Spike just gave out Andrew's phone number on the TC twitter.

7:51p - My picks are pretty much shot, except for Stefan (FABIO=FAIL). Patrick is done.

7:55p - GENE WINS. BY ACCIDENT.

7:56p - I love it already.

8:00p - Richard is gone soon. So is Ariane and Melissa. Eusebio will get halfway, but that will be it.

8:03p - Eugene will get far unless his inexperience gets the best of him. Also, I have a feeling that Ariane's going home.

8:15p - it's over. Babyface is gone. Duh.

TONIGHT, WE DINE IN HELL

2008-11-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

Everyone should get stoked on fantasy leagues for completely irrelevant reality shows. Should I livetweet this ep?

MAD WEBSITE UPDATES

2008-11-06T00:57:00.001-08:00

there is a SECRET that is not so secret. it contains the following:

i will update with tracklistings and such soon.

If you haven't been there already...

2008-11-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

NEW WEBSITE

The changing of the seasons, both literal and figurative

2008-10-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

Friends, today was the first day it truly felt like fall. It wasn't overwhelmingly hot and at 2pm, I felt like it was at least 430 and I needed a nap. The seemingly endless days are finally giving way to long nights. I can't decide what makes me feel this way, but in the fall (and more so in the winter), I get the sense of permanent midnight. This, of course, is not the same permanent midnight that Jerry Stahl experienced, however it is an overwhelming sense of darkness that envelops everything around you. Permanent midnight is cold, usually with dense fog.

The few years past (excluding last year) have all felt the same. I seem to stay up far too late into the night, seeing everything that happens in the middle of the night, be it marketing for Buzz Ballads, the lone security guard walking all over campus with his walkie talkie turned up loud so he doesn't feel alone or even the madness that is the internet in the middle of the night. I've written before that I feel overwhelmingly alone in the middle of the night, but this year something has felt different. Things certainly have changed in my life. Before, I would only sit and watch TV or go on the internet and felt increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, considering the rest of the people awake were either thousands of miles away or completely insane. Now, I generally find myself trying to be somewhat constructive at 3 or 4 in the morning, either cleaning something in the apartment, working on projects or cooking meals for the next day or two.

Overall, it doesn't sound that bad. Insomnia is a young man's game and I'm still young, however this opens me up to a whole bunch of other things that aren't particularly exciting. I get sick more often, I feel like the living dead and seriously, what the hell business do I have being up that late anyways?

Tonight was a strange night. It is the first time I actually feel tired and just want to go to bed without accomplishing anything. I've been reading Calvin and Hobbes all night, thinking about childhood and the seasons in our lives. This weekend, I had the privilege of seeing Ian Mackaye from Minor Threat/Fugazi/Dischord fame speak. He basically said that "living in phases" or "growing up" is a fallacy, because we don't have less capacity as children, we just give ourselves that excuse. While I agree with that theory, considering how many remarkable children I've met over the years, I still believe that there are seasons for everything in our lives and that things aren't meant to happen all at once.

Reflecting on that which Mackaye would refer to as my "salad days," I can see clearly that I've got some good days coming my way. If Calvin and Hobbes taught me anything, it's that all you need in life is good friends, deep conversations and hugs. Nothing else matters because if you've got those things, you can conquer the world.

ps.

2008-10-22T01:55:00.000-07:00

Wanted: Kooky Asian American bass player from Orange County for post third-wave ska band that covers 80s hits.

Also totally sad that I missed this:

Mind blown

2008-10-20T02:16:00.000-07:00

This is easily the best music video I've seen in a long time, maybe the best I've ever seen.

How do you explain?

2008-10-18T06:36:00.001-07:00

The other night, Jennifer and I went to see Wire and it was awesome. They sounded great, even at over 50 years old. Page Hamilton came on stage for their second encore and played guitar, which was just as exciting for him as it was for the Helmet fans in the audience (probably me and two other dudes).

Anyways, Jennifer and I were having a discussion about the post punk bands that were reuniting and playing the Echo. Besides Wire, the other most influential post punk band, Mission of Burma, had just played a show at the Echo. I was a bit sad that I missed it and Jennifer told me that she had never really listened to them before. She then asked me what they sounded like, to which I responded, "post punk" and she asked me how they were different from Wire, to which I said, "God, I don't know. I guess they're more American because they're from Boston." It took me a few days to suss out exactly how to quantify that, and all I've got so far is that they have less dance beats and they owe less to Can and more to Black Flag. Also, they surfaced a few years after Wire and they have more hooks.

So the epic question of the day is "What is the difference between Wire and Mission of Burma?" I know it's like comparing apples and bloody philosophy term papers, but post punk is still narrow enough for this question to make some sense.

Mission of Burma - "That's When I Reach For My Revolver"

Wire - The 15th

bonus: REM covering Mission of Burma's "Academy Fight Song"

Minor Threat covering Wire's "12xu" (one of the greatest covers of any song ever)

ps. When will you do a Mission of Burma cover, Ted Leo?

2008-10-18T05:39:00.000-07:00

I've come out of the other side of the tunnel, ladies and gents, and yet, here I am blogging at 540am on a Saturday morning.

Midterms have come and gone and I've slept probably less than the year Chris and I worked at the station. I feel like I am not very productive during the day and that the hours during the night just keep coming, one after the next, telling me I should stay up a little later because I haven't done enough work or I can't sleep or I should finish watching the episode of Real Time I started watching. In this morning's case, I slept hard between 3am and 5am, only to wake up to a very cranky mother who needed to be awoken at 730. This definitely sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm trying very hard not to.

Either way, the last few weeks seemed to present me with new lows at every corner, accompanied by the huge resulting upswing the next morning. If nothing else, the epic lack of sleep and weird moods have led to a varied soundtrack. Last night I took a huge nap, mostly because I wasn't feeling enough like myself. I listened to tons of Radiohead and felt great (not depressed) about it. I've been listening to tons of folk punk at four in the morning these last few weeks. I'll listen to the new Andrew Jackson Jihad EP or the Paul Baribeau/Ginger Alford tour CD and get stoked on how anthemic Springsteen covers can be. I've probably been listening to unhealthy amounts of a new band called Algernon Cadwallader lately, who sound EXACTLY like Cap'n Jazz in the best way possible. Sometimes, I'll sit and watch the second hour of American Morning on CNN without the sound and I will listen to Tom Waits and look out the living room window to see the fog rolling up the hill and over the ground. I've found myself trolling food blogs and foodie message boards at 530am and listening to Toys That Kill and Off With Their Heads. Sometimes I will listen to Lemuria and the Ergs! while sitting at my desk in my apartment or the new Good Luck album while sitting at my desk in the office and I will think about how much I would like to be posting about any of this, but I can't bring myself to log in, because what would I really write about anyways? How sad I am? Again? DUMB!

Any way you decide to unpack all of that, you can see that there are a few winners, especially the Ginger Alford related projects, the first of which is was a tour CD-R she recorded with Paul Baribeau for a tour they did together last year. The tour focused on playing Springsteen covers and even though a tour CD-R generally doesn't make up for missing a chance to shout "Bobby Jean" with a bunch of anarchist-lite bike punks, it's still a great remedy for late nights (download). The new Ginger Alford band features Matty Pop Chart and is called Good Luck. It's super positive pop-punk with the most amazing guitar playing that even Ted Leo would be envious of (download).

Now, I'm watching CBS' Early Show and John Popper is the guest. I guess that's what you get for airing at 623am.

I love you all and I hope that you're sleeping well.

ps. http://www.wthefilm.com/
it's going to be AWESOME, or at least I hope so.

2008-09-18T17:47:00.001-07:00

2008-09-16T17:03:00.000-07:00

Nomination for greatest band of our time

2008-09-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

How could Limbeck not be considered for the greatest band of our generation? This wonderful bunch of dudes introduced me to the idea that life is REALLY AWESOME and that we should be pretty stoked on that, no matter what.

Do you remember?

2008-09-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

Good god. Ever have one of those days where you just want to skank and forget about everything? Today is totally one of those days. My roommate is screaming at his computer in the most violent way possible and I can't seem to get away.

I was offered an internship with Michael Levine tonight. If you don't know who he is, just think about who spins for your favorite stars or check out his website. He's overseen lives like Prince, Bowie, Clinton (the good one) and so many more important names.

It's nearly 5 in the morning and this is night twelve (I think) of sleeplessness. When it gets this late, not only do I feel very alone, but sometimes I feel like I just want to go back to when things weren't like this. The attached videos are for one of the bands I listened to from the age of 11 to the age of 13 or 14. Third wave ska was on its way out and I was all over it. Ska was such an appropriate listening choice for a boy my age; it was a great soundtrack for carefree days, for adolescence. Only this many waking hours would make me want to go back to that.

Where do you run to?

2008-09-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that Adrian Tomine doesn't just draw Weezer posters and exclusive graphic novels, but also for New Yorker. No, not that hip magazine throwing parties with the guys from The State and Of Montreal, but the stuffy, not-so-funny one. As J. Peterman once said, "IT'S A ZIGGY!"

Besides the fact that Adrian Tomine is one of my favorite artists, I like this illustration because it reminds me of one of my favorite new bands, Vivian Girls. Yeah, they sound like New York. They sound like the Brooklyn girls that Tom Waits sings about. They open up for Sonic Youth. They look like they read Salinger on double decker buses, but that's sort of the wonderful part about them.

The album plays short like a KRS-era grrl band, but the music is much more hazy, more loose. There are wonderful harmonies that are 60s informed, but nothing that screams "trying too hard" and there are great hooks, especially in the centerpiece of the full length, "Where Do You Run To?"

via ill-formed: Vivian Girls - s/t
A full Vivian Girls show on their wonderful blog.

Will I see you tonight?

2008-09-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days, I've had the strangest sensation. If you've read any of these entries, you know what trouble I have sleeping. I slept hard this weekend, especially on Saturday, however the few waking hours I had that day were spent listening to records I hadn't listened to much yet or hadn't listened to in a long time. I stumbled upon Tom Waits' album Rain Dogs. Some days, I'm glad I can't listen to more Tom Waits because I'm pretty sure I'd slowly drink myself to death, however it just clicked. When I got to "Downtown Train," I got that feeling that I get in the middle of the night when no one else is awake.

Rolling Stone said that Rain Dogs was the "finest portrait of the tragic kingdom of the streets." There's a strange calm loneliness that washes over the majority of Waits' music, however Rain Dogs is particularly desolate. I find this to be particularly true after you've been up for more than 20 hours and you don't know what to do with yourself. I've just about done it all (besides what I need to do, that is). I have no idea what time I started this post, but it is definitely 3am now and I can't seem to sleep, even though I had the opportunity to. I only have one question for you: will I see you tonight?

Hospitals, headaches and another day.

2008-09-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a hell of a week so far and this is only my second day of class. Thank god I only have one more day after this. I have had the hardest time focusing these last few weeks. I haven't been to bed before 4am once this week. The issue isn't that I feel tired or anything really. I've just been struggling. When I was swimming yesterday, I couldn't help but feel so small. I got beat by the low tide. Absolutely pounded. There were two lessons I drew from the experience, but I can't decide which is right. Either I am meant to feel helpless, to know that I can't change the tide or it was just some sort of huge wake up call; as if God were trying to beat me into getting it together.

Last weekend, Jennifer and I went to Fuck Yeah Fest 5. It was pretty great but I was completely disappointed to have missed Off With Their Heads. I've only recently been introduced to their music, but I know it's for me. It's anthemic, it's depressing and the singer sounds like a pirate. Punk photographer Mark Beemer (also founder of the Syrentha Savio Endowment) is from Minneapolis, as is Off With Their Heads. He always described Minnesota punk as being so far behind all other major scenes, except for Dillinger Four. It was never a place I wanted to even think about. After hearing Off With Their Heads' first EP Hospitals, I knew that I really wanted to be there, just to be closer to the places they sing about.

The first song on the EP, "Die Today," has been attached above. The video is Off With Their Heads playing live at the Triple Rock, the club co-owned by Dillinger Four. "I'm not gonna go to work today/I wanna feel the sun shine on my face/and pretend like everything's okay/I won't let anything get to me/.../I just wanna fucking cry today/cause nothing ever goes my way/I spent all my money on cocaine/and I still have rent and bills to pay/everyone's so fucking pissed at me/the reasons why are so obvious to see/I don't care about anyone when the dealers are paid and gone and the pain is relieved/I'll tie it around my neck and kick the chair out with my legs/because I wanna fucking die today!" I haven't heard anything this startling and beautiful in a long time from a punk band. In short, I've seen the light.

Sometimes, I have to be beat into remembering that life isn't so bad. Sometimes life does suck us dry. Sometimes headaches make you want to die. Sometimes, something beautiful happens. It doesn't happen that often, but songs like "Die Today" make the wait worth it.

Off With Their Heads - Hospitals

Two-thirds of the way through the year and where are we?

2008-09-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today is September 1 and there are 121 days left in the year. Eight full months have passed and that leaves me wondering where we are. This is convention season and it seems a good time for a state of the union, of sorts.

As pictured above, the Autumnal Equinox is on the way, which means days are going to get shorter. It seemed like the days were so insanely long during the summer. I really love late sunsets, but I love when it starts to get really dark at night. Fall nights are wonderful times for fall albums. There weren't any particularly stand-out Summer albums, which means that fall is going to be wonderful. There are a few already (see below):

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Only God Can Judge Me
Sean and Ben have consistently put out some of the most astonishingly honest, smart music and they keep the train moving with this EP. As Conway says, they're able to say all the things we wish we could say. "Growing Up" is one of the best songs this year, for sure.

Beck - Modern Guilt
Of course, I have my problems with this album, but I think it definitely has a place on this list. It is immaculately produced by Danger Mouse, who has redeemed himself from the job he did on the Black Keys last album. Beck's songwriting has changed so much over the years; some of it worked and some of it didn't. I won't mention any era in specific, but this album is definitely a comeback. It's a very svelte album (10 tracks, 31 minutes) and it not only has spunk, but it has that elder statesman feel to it, which makes it that much better.

Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins
As I mentioned last year, Will Sheff is one of the new, great American songwriters. He put the first part of the two disc set out last year (The Stage Names) and it was wonderful. The Stand-Ins is a very understated release comparatively, however that isn't to say that it's any better or worse than The Stage Names. Of course, the first two songs resonate the most with me because they sound like Smiths and Morrissey songs respectively and "Pop Lie" has that spark that every great Okkervil River song has. All in all, this is a wonderful fall album that's great to walk down the beach thinking of.

Final Fantasy - Plays to Please/Spectrum, 14th Century
Straight talk time: Owen Pallett is one of the most interesting musicians of our time. It seems ridiculous to praise individuals like Sheff and Pallett, however these EPs are the proof. There were already two great Final Fantasy full length releases (Has A Good Home and He Poos Clouds) and several 7"s/compilation tracks that absolutely rule and these EPs just put the cherry on top. The first Arcade Fire album was Pallett's initiation and he's only improved his individual songwriting since then. The Plays to Please EP is a tribute to Alex Lukashevsky of Deep Dark United and employs a 35 piece orchestra that contains Andrew Bird. What else do you need to know? The second EP is equally genius as it is made up of fake field recordings with members of Beirut. "Blue Imelda," the second song on the Spectrum EP is definitely going to make it to the top of my year end list. Amazingly gorgeous.

Annie - Don't Stop
I really don't know what to say about this album quite yet, although I've listened to it once and I know already that it's the best straightforward pop album this year. It's totally danceable and has great hooks. It's a great fall album because of its Norwegian roots. Scandinavian pop has this wonderful dark quality to it, no matter how sugary the hooks are, just because of the nature of Scandinavia.

Hellsongs - Hymns in the Key of 666
Now, right off the bat, this isn't the most appealing album, and I still have my issues with it, however it is a very well crafted album. Hellsongs is a collective out of Sweden that claims to be a "loungemetal" act. Basically, they do folk-pop covers of metal classics. This edition contains versions of "We're Not Gonna Take It," "Run To The Hills," and a wonderful cover of Slayer's "Seasons in the Abyss." These covers are wonderfully fall-friendly because of how gentle they are.

Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun
Why is this a fall album? Well, for God's sake, this album is being released in a few weeks. Of course, I know it's meant to be a summer album, just by the nature of it being a Brian Wilson album, but the album is a sort of retelling of the Beach Boys story. Again, why is this a fall album? This retelling of the Beach Boys story, along with the fact that Brian Wilson doesn't do much "music" anymore, signals the "end of the summer," if you catch my drift. All in all, "Southern California" is one of those songs that just screams classic album closer.

Algernon Cadwallader - Some Kind of Cadwallader
This album brings back fond memories of the fall of senior year of high school. I had just delved deeper into the world of the mid-1990s Midwest and discovered the world of Kinsella. Cap'n Jazz and Braid quickly became two of my favorite bands. Algernon Cadwallader has put out one of the most Midwest inspired albums of the last five years; even the vocals sound like a Kinsella. Algernon Cadwallader is playing at the Hickey Underworld on November 16 and I am so completely excited.

Paint it Black - New Lexicon
Dr. Dan has put out another genius album. That's like five in five years or something. I was reminded of what a wonderful dude he is the other night when I got to hug him. He had just gotten off stage from performing one of the most intensely negative Paint it Black sets and he was still dripping sweat, but he was gracious enough to stop and talk for a minute. Paint it Black has been slowly wading in the water towards melody and this is their most melodic album yet. Basically, I just can't get enough.

"Rather Be Dead" and wishing for change

2008-08-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

Day three of school just beginnning and I've been meditating on the phrase "Rather Be Dead," just like the Refused song. I'm sitting in class, thinking about it all day. I figure something can't be healthy, however it forces me into a certain place where all I want to listen to is late 90s/early oughts post-post-hardcore or post-emocore/screamo or whatever you like to call it. My professor is talking about dairy farmers and how they make the cows produce more milk by forcing them to listen to music. She's totally a Chinese lady who lives in Monterey Park. She said, "Maybe some of you grow up in rock and roll... maybe that relax you."

I've really changed over the last few years. I used to fall asleep listening to Poison the Well's The Opposite of December. I actually used to relax listening to "A Wish for Wings That Work." These days, I listen to music that normal people listen to, but there's still some part of me that loves that stuff.

"Rather Be Dead" is probably where this movement started. Refused put out two wonderful albums: Songs to Fan the Flame of Discontent and The Shape of Punk To Come: A Chimerical Bombation in 12 Bursts. These albums are often cited as the heirs to the throne that The Nation of Ulysses left as well as the last great punk albums of the century. The Shape of Punk to Come was released in 1998 and started a revolution that made its way to the United States in the early 2000s. Bands didn't just want to be brutish hardcore dudes anymore; they wanted to be complex and have influences that came before 1982.

Curl Up and Die was one of the first metalcore bands in this era. They had math parts and breakdowns and all the formulaic nonsense, but they referenced Starship Troopers and had wonderfully perplexing parts in their songs that confused your everyday FSU dude. Their first EP called The Only Good Bug is a Dead Bug came out in 2000 and wasn't completely revolutionary, but was a great first release.

In 2004, DC band A Day in Black and White put out one of my favorite EPs in the genre to date called My Heroes Have Always Killed Cowboys. The sound is beyond raw in a way that you wouldn't imagine. I've even imagined that the sound of these recordings was a step up on Albini, however that is just plain ridiculous.

Following in Albini's mean sounding guitar steps, OXES put out an eponymous EP in 2005 that is intended to blow minds and eardrums. Basically, all you need to know is contained in the cover.

2005 saw the release of the last Cave In album, Perfect Pitch Black. This was a perfect swan song for a band that has had so many different "sounds" in so few years. This album brings their late 90s-Converge-copycat-Boston sound forward and merges it perfectly with their space rock/Failure/Catherine Wheel sound and even bits of their MCA era-modern rock radio aspirational hooks. The first song, "The World Is In Your Way" is a great example of this.

I've grown tired of this. I was thinking about posting like 25+ albums, but you'll just have to wait. None of you will download any of these anyways.

I guess I've had time this week to reflect on what's changed and what's the same. It leaves me feeling like I need to change something. I don't know what it is yet, but if someone figures it out, let me know.

The Summer Ends

2008-08-25T02:00:00.000-07:00

I don't quite understand myself. I'm tired out of my mind, and yet, I'm not ready to sleep. Tomorrow is my first day of class for the semester and I am looking forward to listening to this song (see embedded video) while walking to class way more than anything else about the first day of school.

As a matter of fact, I will be listening to that song pretty much all day tomorrow.

Yes, summer is about as over as the 90s. Side note: can you believe this song came out in 1997 and not 1993?

Night terrors

2008-07-25T01:27:00.000-07:00

Friends, this is one of the very first times there is no passionate optimism. I haven't been sleeping well and I feel like I'm sleep-blogging right now. I'm in a very gray patch in my life. I just woke up from a very heavy sleep... I think. I'd only been asleep for about two and a half hours and I was having a terrible dream. I don't remember what it was about, but thank God I was woken up by a text from Jennifer. I guess it didn't help that I fell asleep listening to Grace (see above).

If you haven't figured it out, it's been a rough summer. I think that tonight was where everything sort of went overboard. I realize now that I'm different than before. I still don't know the extent really, but I'm definitely more easily tired and I'm burned out. I'm much more sad. I spent half an hour crying in the bathtub tonight. I don't really know why.

I'm just hoping that I don't become one of those people with extreme, uncontrollable night terrors. That would suck.

A Summer of Discovery, Disappointment and Discombobulation (Things to watch out for)

2008-07-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, I tried to start the "post your favorite album from each year since you've been born" meme on my blog, however I realized that if you looked at my list, you'd think I was a total tool. I don't fully disagree, however, I don't feel strongly enough about any one album to put myself out there in that way. I got up to about 1992 and I realized that nearly every single album was somewhere on Pitchfork's top 100 of whatever decade and immediately, I was disappointed in myself for my lack of creativity. Every other blog that posted the same thing tried to make themselves look a little more interesting than they actually were, entering late-era Neil Young, A Tribe Called Quest or obscure west coast hip-hop. Friends, that is not me. I will have you know that I included Social Distortion's self-titled masterpiece on my list.

Anyhow, I've been burned out on a lot of things for a long time. While I was at work on Friday, I finally took the time to update my iPod (in part). I put on albums that I've acquired over the past few weeks and just haven't had the time to listen to. Some of them were not as good as I had hoped (the new albums by The Walkmen, Lucky Dragons, High Places), however there were some wonderful discoveries as well. Here are a few:

Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
I have so many wonderful comparisons/RIYL laden language for this one, it'll make you sick. Jeff Enzor said that this was like Ted Leo minus about 15 years. I feel like this is the Walkmen album that all the Bows+Arrows fans deserve, or at least represents the path the Walkmen could have walked if they weren't fed a Steady Diet of Nothing, rather consuming Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. It's as if 17 year old versions of Canada's Fucked Up were raised in New Jersey, only listening to what the rest of New Jersey listens to (anything by the Boss). It's actually not out of place on the shelf next to the Desaparecidos album from a few years ago; energetic and wild, lo-fi as it can be and sung by a Conor-a-like. Anyways, it's wonderful and the album is a real crowd pleaser.

Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
This band comes from Baltimore and that's nearly all you need to know, considering the fact that Baltimore has been putting out some of the best new music in the last few years (see also: Whartscape festival). The band is a bunch of weird looking kids that listened too a few too many Japanese noise albums. They make joyful, experimental, razor sharp guitar songs that are screamed over with non-sensical syllables.

The Three O'Clock - Sixteen Tambourines
Unfortunately, I don't have a working link for this one, but if anyone wants it, I am more than willing to upload it. This is truly the pride of Carson, CA. The kid you see playing bass and singing was from Carson, but now resides in San Pedro (duh) and this is possibly the best discovery I've had in a while. Jennifer kept telling me about this band that I'd like, but I was totally turned off by the "Paisley Underground" tag. I never really got into The Who or the Velvet Underground, so what the hell did that mean to me? Nothing. That was until I saw the attached video. The Three O'Clock wasn't about anything more than hooks. If someone had told me that before, I would have been all over that like Justin Conway on the Internet.

MUXTAPE #3: je suis nasty

2008-06-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

MUXTAPE

There are so many things in life I've missed out on. Music is an endless journey of discovery and very recently, I've discovered that I've been missing out on real post-punk and post-hardcore.

1. The Wedding Present - "Dalliance (Seamonsters)"
Steve Albini guiding one of England's most beloved bands through what would become their first major album. 1991 was an important year for music in the same way that 1979 and 1984 were for their respective decades. David Gedge wrote one of the best "side one track ones" I've heard recently.

2. Mission of Burma - "That's When I Reach for my Revolver (Signals, Calls and Marches reissue)"
Whenever people would talk about Mission of Burma, I thought they were making fun of me with their (more) elitist references.
Little did I know that people that listen to Mission of Burma weren't messing around. I'd always heard that Mission of Burma was "difficult" and that their music wasn't just for anyone; in actuality, it isn't that difficult and is one of the cornerstones for much of the music I listen to today.

3. Sunny Day Real Estate - "Seven (Diary)"
This is one of the first really angular songs I ever encountered at the tender young age of 14. I heard it and had no idea who it was. Soon after, I learned of the magic of Jeremy Enigk through the Emogame and found out just how amazing Diary was. It is now one of my favorite Seattle albums. Sunny Day Real Estate is totally the Seattle Fugazi.

4. Fugazi - "Brendan #1 (Repeater +3)"
Fugazi just fits so well, right after talking about a fake Fugazi. Before Repeater, I'd never heard drums so intense and yet so restrained. This song is the perfect example of this.

5. The Nation of Ulysses - "The Sound of Young America (13-Point Program to Destroy America)"
Svenonius is a genius. Without him, there would be no Refused and I would have no manifesto. I love the idea of rebellion through obedience.

6. Geno - "Act 1 (Free DVDS)"
Brzezicki is a genius. Free DVDS was wonderful and it's only a matter of time before he blows my mind again. The way this is recorded is pretty great; the guitar sounds so sparse and is perfect.

7. Boris - "となりのサターン (SMILE)"
This little gem is directly in the middle of the new Boris album and it took me a long time to get to it. Usually, with a Boris album, I'll get so stoked on the first two songs that I won't get past them. SMILE is a great example of this. "メッセージ" and "BUZZ-IN" are two brain rattling opening tracks. The drums in the verses, set behind the guitar playing the keyboard parts, are beautiful, but then Boris makes you remember why you liked them in the first place.

8. Pink & Brown - "Je Suis Nasty (Final Foods)"
I always thought of Pink & Brown as some sort of ripoff Lightning Bolt and it's not hard to draw comparisons, but they are genius in their own way.

9. Hella - "Welcome to the Jungle Baby, Your gonna live! (The Devil Isn't Red)"
Old Hella is pretty mind-melting. Get stoked on it.

What Summer 2008 means to me

2008-06-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks, I've been floundering, not quite sure what this summer was going to bring. There's usually some sort of determination at the end of the school year to either keep the good spirit going or change things altogether. I really came away from this year with mixed feelings. So many things happened this year and I'm not sure what to do. It was generally a mixed bag all year long, with amazing highs and ridiculous lows. What this has left me was extreme appreciation for this exact moment. I still lose sight of what's going on right now, but I know that the second it really goes wrong, it's because I've strayed too far from living presently.

I've been working for a week now, and it's only going to get more intense as the summer goes on. I'm currently working 4 days a week in the office, two of those being scheduled half days. Both of the "half" days last week, I ended up working full days. The other day is devoted to "catching up" even though it's only Tuesday. I guess I knew that I would need the break because I ended up picking up another job for later in the summer that will involve me working on the weekends. At least I'm getting paid for one of these jobs.

All of this being said, summer 2008 maybe won't be so "great." As of right now, all I can see is stress and more white hair, but I've decided that I can still salvage some of the summer and give it a theme that's worthy of working towards.

I guess there really isn't a name for summer 2008 yet; what I really hope is that I can take shelter somewhere until it's over. I've always had a strange relationship with summer. I've never been particularly active during the summer. I've never had a real "summer job." I've never really done much of anything, but I've never particularly wanted summer to end. This is the first year that I've had real thoughts about wanting it to just be over so I can go back to school, which is just as terrifying because it's my last year. I really don't know where I'm going or what I'm doing after next year is over.

One of the things that I need from this summer is relaxation. I also would like for this summer to be about civility. These things haven't been hallmarks of summers past, so I've decided that it merits a new activity, something that I haven't tried before; this summer, I will be hosting tea parties!

Over the last year, I've become a food fanatic. I'm even a bit snobby sometimes. I've decided that food is something that isn't just for function; it is to be enjoyed. Through this, I've also realized the power of a good sommelier. Pairing a wine with food is an art. This has been a slow discovery for me, beginning with tacos, mariscos and sangria. The nature of the food and the drink changes in combination. I still don't drink actual alcohol, however I've decided to take the idea of the sommelier and apply it to something I'm more comfortable with: teas. Summer is all about refreshing tastes and what's more refreshing than a tall glass of iced tea?

So this summer, expect to see an invitation coming your way. Love you all.

What the world needs now... MUXTAPE #3

2008-05-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

edit: this one isn't up yet.

MUXTAPE

The last few weeks, I've gone AWOL from nearly everything in my life. Life really caught up to me and kicked my ass. School is finally over for the year and I don't have much to reflect on this year, as I usually do. I guess it's only Monday of the first week, so I'm not much in the mood for reflection yet.

In my absence, I've been moody. I haven't had much human interaction and that may have been to my detriment, and I've also come out of my "unlimited positivity" mindset, but I've at least tried to make it interesting. Last week, I came across a very interesting download on Sordo. It was marked as "Nirvana - In Utero (Albini version vinyl rip)". I had known that much of In Utero was recorded by Albini, but the vast majority of the better known songs were deemed "radio unfriendly" by Geffen, meaning that someone else had to come in to remix/remaster the songs so that they would be more "people friendly."

When I listened to the full Albini version of In Utero, I realized something that I really hadn't thought about before. The Albini Charm has a lot to do with alienation and alienating people. When you think back to Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac, you think of an abrasive, ironic sense of humor with an "up yours" sound that matched. The more and more I thought about the wider Albini production catalogue, I realized all of the things he's had his hand in (minus Ys and Lift Your Skinny Fists...) have basically had the same spirit or idea driving them. Steve effing Albini doesn't have to be people friendly.

To me, Steve Albini's guitar tone and drum sound are two of the things that set him apart from all the rest of the producers in the world. I don't quite understand how he gets the sounds he does out of those instruments, but he does a wonderful job putting out some of the angriest music of the 90s and the 00s.

Without making you wait any longer, here's Muxtape #3, Albini's Angry Teenage Soundtrack:

1. Nirvana - "All Apologies (demo) (In Utero Albini Version)"
This version is so wonderful. The drums and the bass are so huge, the guitars are beautifully chaotic and the outro is so much better than the album version. Angry 13 year olds everywhere rejoice!

2. Scout Niblett - "Lullaby for Scout in Ten Years (Kidnapped by Neptune)"
For a long time, I didn't quite get it. "Scout Niblett? Who's that? Oh, the girl." That was about as much as I cared. This was the first Scout Niblett song I ever heard and when the distorted guitars came in, I thought that I had never heard something so intense. The transition from the very intimate, small sound to the huge, distorted punch in the face is signature Albini.

3. The Wedding Present - "Suck (Seamonsters remaster)"
David Gedge. Steve Albini. Same room. They just recorded another Wedding Present album together, but this was the original one. Gedge's affinity for melody, coupled with his faux-Ian Curtis vocals and Albini's drums and guitars make for some of the most interesting britpop of the early 90s.

4. Pixies - "Tame (Doolittle)"
Sure, Doolittle had its really beautiful melodic moments, like "Wave of Mutilation" or "Here Comes Your Man," but the really big moments come when Frank Black starts screaming, guitars pounding.

5. Big Black - "Colombian Necktie (Songs About Fucking)"
There's really not much to say here, other than I love the fact that the drummer's name is always credited as "Roland."

6. Shellac - "My Black Ass (At Action Park)"
Same deal here. This is the first Shellac song I heard and all I could think was, "Why does that guitar sound so angry?"

7. Melt-Banana - "Sick Zip Everywhere (Scratch or Stitch)"
I thought that this was one of the most wonderful pairings in all of music production history. Take a Japanese noise band and add one of the noisiest producers in rock and roll? Awesome.

8. PJ Harvey - "50ft Queenie (Rid of Me)"
I never knew much about PJ Harvey beyond the fact that she did amazing work with Nick Cave. This particular album, Rid of Me, was a great example of why Albini draws the best out of his artists. PJ wasn't the angriest grrl on the block until she met him.

9. Jawbreaker - "The Boat Dreams From the Hill (24 Hour Revenge Therapy)"
Here's one of those signature Albini "uncredited" moments. Superchunk also did this. The bands felt like if they credited Albini, his reputation would be damaged because they were too pop for him to produce. Albini did a wonderful thing with this Jawbreaker album in the same vein as his work with The Wedding Present. The raw power and weight of his production coupled with the melodic leanings of Blake Schwarzenbach lead to a beautiful album.

Post #50: Megaposting 2000GREAT!

2008-05-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

Here we are, at the end of the academic year and we're sending it up to the spirit in the sky. [/office reference]

Anyhow, I've been here for 49 posts and since I don't actually pay any of you to read my blog, I figured I should give you all a few gifts. How can I do this in a meaningful way that will affect a great deal of you? ALBUM MEGAPOST! As those in the Hickey Underworld would say, happy two thousand great!

These albums are all from my "Best of 2008" list, though it doesn't comprise it fully. They appear in no specific order. Enjoy!

No Age - Nouns

The Magnetic Fields - Distortion

Vampire Weekend - s/t

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

She & Him - Volume One

Jason Anderson - The Hopeful and the Unafraid
note on this as well: July 17 = Harry and the Potters, Jason Anderson, Math the Band at the Troubadour. The tour is called the Unlimited Enthusiasm tour. What else do you need to know? Just be there and support the man who's writing some of the most meaningful music today.

Smile and Evil Thoughts

2008-04-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

I had a super long entry about group meetings and projects and this album being a wonderful cathartic release, and while it is, there's no amount of explanation that can put this into a proper context.

Listen to this Boris album. It will pound your skull so hard, but you'll keep coming back for more.

Smile

It's 3AM. Do you know where your children are? (MUXTAPE #2)

2008-04-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

MUXTAPE

MUXTAPE #2: Summer Shimmer Pop
Summer is upon us! Let's run in the streets and stay out late! The street lights don't go on until 8! We can swim in the ocean, ride seafoam green tandem bikes and get wild!

There's something so great about the stereotypical "American" guitar tone. The only way I've ever been able to describe it is as "shimmery." Fender amps with single coil pickups, high on the mids; all of those things sound like summer to me. I haven't been sleeping all that well lately; the heat, along with the typical "end of the school year everything crisis" mentality has kept me up far too late the last week. All I can say is that I'm going to listen to this muxtape a ton until summer is here.

1. Jeff Enzor - "Filtered Disfunctions (Our Broken Floors)"
Doesn't particularly fit in with the theme in terms of sound, but in philosophy, this works perfectly. This song should be on modern rock radio. No exaggeration there. And, for the record Jennifer, this is not your Jeff song. It should be for everyone. The world will know of this song soon enough.

2. Julie Ocean - "Ten Lonely Words (Long Gone and Nearly There)"
Dischord and DC indie pop vets team up to write one of 2008's best boldfaced power pop albums. There is nothing more summer than power pop.

3. Bruce Springsteen - "For You (Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ)"
I've been so stoked on this album over the last month or so. Subconsciously I can feel summer coming and this album has stood for everything I want my summers to be; it is also the blueprint for all great summer albums in one way or another.

4. Rhett Miller - "Hover (The Instigator)"
Rhett Miller is not only one of the most handsome men in rock and roll, but he's also one of the better songwriters. The Instigator was written mostly by Miller, but was produced (and obviously handled) by Jon Brion. There's so much of the witty Brion charm on this album, it's nearly irresistible.

5. Limbeck - "Yeah, Totally (Hi, Everything's Great vinyl first pressing)"
One of the things that's always been most disappointing to me about Limbeck is the fact that they've decided to relegate some of their best songs to b-sides, tour EPs and compilations. This is a good example of that. It bridges the gap between their power pop incarnation and their current alt.country identity perfectly. I've always loved Limbeck's perspective on music and life, which basically boils down to "life is awesome, let's have fun!"

6. Jason Anderson - "Watch Your Step (The Hopeful and the Unafraid)"
The "life is awesome" school of thought carries over here. I know this song is on Justin Conway's muxtape, but I couldn't leave this one off, because it's just too perfect. It's a beautifully worded love song that has a priceless sense of humor, without losing its seriousness: "Every other day or so/I google image search your name/but there's only one picture/and it's always the same/I had to memorize the lyrics/I downloaded this mp3/I printed out the bass tab/spent my way around the key/I'm working on a version now/to jog your memory/maybe a jog seems ambitious/maybe we should try".

7. The Hold Steady - "You Can Make Him Like You (Boys and Girls in America)"
Though this album came out too late in the year to be a summer album, I think it should be added to the summer album canon because of its unabashed stadium spirit. The thought of hearing Craig Finn screaming out "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at a Mets (or Twins) game is just too good.

8. Stone Temple Pilots - "Plush (Core)"
Originally, this was a perfect 8 song playlist, but I have the obsessive need to be consistent with stupid things like muxtape, so I added this piece of flair. All of STP's singles were pretty good. The idea here is great and the hook is good, but the song is way too long.

9. Paul Westerberg - "Stain Yer Blood (Friends OST)"
What's with those Westerberg songs on the Friends Sountrack? I don't know, but I love them to death. It sounds like the late 90s to me, and God knows I love that. This song actually sticks out to me because it just sounds like the Midwest in the mid-to-late 90s. It actually sounds a lot like a Get Up Kids song, which is weird considering the fact that there would be no Get Up Kids without the Replacements, but whatever.

Liveblogging the Straight Edge Documentary and Final Thoughts

2008-04-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

7:08 PM - Arrived home late to find that the documentary already in progress, on commercial
7:12 PM - A sociologist wearing a "POSI" shirt? mega-lawlz.
7:15 PM - FSU. Loving violence. Awesome. This is the death of the middle class. I love that the guy that started FSU moved to Hollywood away from violence.
7:22 PM - Going into the second commercial break, it seems apparent that the only thing Thurston's going to be talking about is people dying, extremism and Salt Lake City. I really don't know what I was expecting, considering the fact that they couldn't get anyone "from the inside" to narrate the documentary. I don't quite understand the connection between Sonic Youth and Straight Edge.
7:27 PM - THERE'S A BATTLE IN SALT LAKE CITY GOING ON BETWEEN INSANE CLOWN POSSE JUGGALOS AND STRAIGHT EDGE GANGS! OMFG! I LOVE CITIES LIKE THAT!
7:30 PM - Straight Edge gangs kill 15 year old with a springbilly?
7:32 PM - YES POSI-SOCIOLOGIST! KEEP IT POSI! DEFEND THOSE KIDS!
7:37 PM - I love that Reno is the focus.
7:43 PM - I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE LIVEBLOGGING.
7:46 PM - "White Suburban Terrorists"! And since when is Nevada the most dangerous state? I mean, four years, but seriously? How is it not California? It must be calculated per capita or something.
7:51 PM - The problem here is that this is a documentary maker's idea of "non-biased," however every single straight edge comment on the blog has to do with "the way the movement has been mischaracterized" or whatever. The thing about an issue like this is that there has to be a bias when portraying it. It's impossible to tackle such a huge issue in 43 minutes and not present some sort of bias; something will always be left out an someone will always be dissatisfied.
7:57 PM - EIGHTH GRADERS?

As someone who used to claim edge, I didn't find the documentary to be overly offensive. More often than not, I feel awkward in social situations where my beliefs are discussed. I still abstain from drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc., however I don't claim edge anymore, which is strange to me. I lived through some of my most formative years thinking that resisting was the only way, that it was us versus them. Today, I follow the school of thought perpetuated by the Revolution Summer crowd, the idea that change is inevitable and we should only work together for something loftier than what's right in front of us, be it drugs, gangs, self-interest, whatever. If it so happens that, like in my case, this involves living a clean lifestyle, then so be it, but this is not the contingent part. In the end, as everyone else says, it's about personal choice. What most straight edgers don't talk about is the fact that personal choice to follow isn't quite as "personal" as it should be.

ps. The image is sort of funny. I used to have this picture of Morrissey laying down in front of the Capital Building with a SSDecontrol 12", but I lost it. I tried to look for it on google image search, but I found that instead, which is an egregious misappropriation of "How Soon is Now?"

And now Jeff Enzor goes on the list.

2008-04-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

MUXTAPE

This will be updated periodically; I will post the tracklistings here when I change it. Each muxtape will have nine songs and will be around 30 minutes long, just like one side of a real mixtape.

EDIT: the tracks are now backwards.

MUXTAPE #1
1. Paul Westerberg - "Sunshine (Friends OST)"
WHO WROTE THIS SONG? +10 if you get it.
Anyways, a great version nonetheless; the best part is the bit of canned laughter at the very beginning, probably from a bit of dialogue from the show.

2. Guided by Voices - "Glad Girls (Isolation Drills)"
Possibly the best quote of the year: "wtf 'hey black girls i want ot get you high'"

3. Jason Anderson - "July 4, 2004 (The Hopeful and the Unafraid)"
I think that this should be the second song on every album Jason Anderson ever writes. This version is a very succinct version of the one that ended up on Tonight; I like that both versions exist.

4. Elvis Costello - "Alison (My Aim is True)"
Did you know that Huey Lewis was in Elvis Costello's band during the recording of My Aim is True? He didn't record on this song, but a lot of the 80s make more sense because of this.

5. Paul Simon - "Graceland (Graceland)"
Jeff Enzor goes on the list, not only for introducing me to muxtape, but also for introducing me to Paul Simon.

6. Bruce Springsteen - "Blinded by the Light (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)"
Anthony Bourdain was in New Jersey for an episode of No Reservations a few years back and when he went to Asbury Park, he started to talk about this album. This is absolutely the best way to start off a first album.

7. Wilco - "Magazine Called Sunset (demo)"
This is from the leaked engineer's demos. There isn't much more to this version and I actually like the Bridge EP version better, just because the intro is a little different, but I could only find this version to upload.

8. Ryan Adams - "My Winding Wheel (Heartbreaker)"
Something about the way the organ enters the song mimics every other organ moment I love in Americana, but it gets me every time.

9. Whiskeytown - "Indian Gown (Stranger's Almanac reissue)"
One of the hundreds of previously unreleased Whiskeytown demos. Ryan Adams just has too many damn albums, demos, etc. but I love him anyways.

LOL of the day.

2008-04-06T14:07:00.001-07:00

DUDE.
SERIOUSLY?
SINCE WHEN?

Beat It

Damn you, Justin Conway

2008-03-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

+

=

I see things in little orange and purple pegs now:

The Mountain Goats - "This Year" and This Year

2008-03-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I disappoint myself. I get so wrapped up in looking for something new to listen to, when the perfect song has been sitting in front of me for so long. This last week, I've had too many revelations, too many realizations of just how true this fact is. I didn't know just how much I was missing out on with The Wedding Present and Bruce Springsteen and Mission of Burma, but most frustrating of all, I've missed out on a certain Mountain Goats song for a long time.

This isn't entirely true; I've heard it plenty, but just never realized how relevant it was to so many things in my life. The video for the song "This Year" is attached above, however, this version is particularly unsatisfying, as far as I'm concerned. The reason I overlooked it for so long was because of how cheesy it sounded. Something about the harmony parts just screamed "I would walk 500 miles" and I couldn't take that from such an amazing musician. It seemed too easy.

The real reason I didn't notice the song before was because of the intensely recorded version of the song that appears in the video, as well as on the album, The Sunset Tree. I don't like to blame the producer in this situation, because I think that on some level, John Vanderslice did an amazing job, considering the fact that this was one of Darnielle's first "properly recorded" studio albums, however I think that in this particular case, Vanderslice's production didn't lend itself to the song.

Come, Come to the Sunset Tree is a very limited edition, vinyl-only demo collection that accompanies The Sunset Tree. There are 11 songs, recorded in that glorious, distorted Darnielle low fidelity way, eight of which ended up on The Sunset Tree. One of these demos is a stripped down version of "This Year" that basically makes me cry and scream on the inside, all at the same time.

The song itself is a tale from Darnielle's adolescence as a meth user from a broken, abusive home. It is the story of how Darnielle decided that he was going to live past the circumstances that brought him down. This song isn't some Jason Anderson-Andrew WK "life is awesome so live it" songs; it's a pretty fucked up story, highlighting that life isn't always "awesome," but that we can get through anything if we really want to.

Why didn't I get this before, you ask? Well, it's because of the Come, Come to the Sunset Tree version and how vastly different it is than the album version. I will admit, most of the demos on this collection are just stripped down versions of their Vandersliced counterparts, however the character of this version is completely different than the one that ended up on the album. I say this because there is one moment that isn't present on the album version, a moment so powerful, everyone should know this feeling. The chorus is a simple enough refrain of "I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me." This is great enough, along with Darnielle's narrative of being a teenager, but when the bridge gets going, you can feel something building in the demo version. The last line of the bridge is, "There will be feasting and dancing in Jerusalem next year." The sentiment that we can weather any storm to get through to a time of celebration is something that we all need in our lives. The demo version really highlights the feeling and the intent to see everything through until everything is alright.

I am not the only one who feels like I can't catch a break in 2008. Several other people I have talked to have been going through difficulty after difficulty; circumstances that are beyond our control. We have this innate sense that we are helpless when things happen to us, but I think we all have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees. We all have the ability in us to get through anything and if it seems like too much, we all have to rely on one another. I am thankful that I can count on all of you to be there for me and I hope you feel the same way.

In short, listen to the song and even the whole album. I've attached both. Secondly, let's get back on track. We can still smash 2008 in the face.

The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
The Mountain Goats - "This Year (Come, Come to the Sunset Tree Version)"

Metal Beginnings, Dethklok and a Day of Returning to Roots

2008-03-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

I miss blogging. It's been a few weeks and I have no excuse, really. I'd like to think that I've been busy, but I really couldn't say that. It seems like I've been busy, however, we all know that being busy is just a figment of our imagination. It's like we're trying to convince ourselves that we're more important than we really are.

Anyways, I've been in this strange place of not really listening to much music. It's been about a week and a half right now. I usually am pretty stoked on something I just downloaded, but I really don't have anything like that right now. This feeling sort of sucks; music is one of the most important things in my life.

This morning, as I walked to class, I got the genius idea to listen to The Dillinger Escape Plan on the way. Now, since all of you know me, you know that I used to be way into ridiculously technical metal. There was nothing more comforting to me than a sweep picked math riff. This has always proved to be a problem with all of my friends, who don't really understand my love for all things hardcore.

It is a bit ironic, I suppose, however, there was a time in my life where I thought drop C# breakdowns were the coolest thing in the world. Throw in a few dissonant note combinations and you have yourself 50% of a song. All you'd need besides that was the mandatory two-step/circle pit part, multiply by 10 or 12 and you have an album.

The disconnect between my friends and I came when I was watching Metalocalypse with Jeff, John and the Jennifers. It was the Bluesklok episode where Dethklok is tasked with learning how to play the most depressing music ever, the blues. There is one particular scene where the two obviously Scandinavian guitarists are trying to learn to play blues riffs from an old blues man. The guitarists are only able to play ridiculous, Dragonforce-type riffs, full of pentatonic goodness.

Of course, I thought this was hilarious and no one else did. It was funny, not only because I really love metal, but also because the riffs were referencing The Dillinger Escape Plan (I'm pretty sure). After getting completely stoked on "Sugar Coated Sour" walking through campus, I realized that The Dillinger Escape Plan is absolutely genius. The way the two guitars interlock with the drums is ridiculous. It's some kind of Ruins drumming acrobatics, paired with some of the most ridiculous guitar parts I've ever heard.

We all have to go back to our roots sometimes.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
The Dillinger Escape Plan feat. Mike Patton - Irony is a Dead Scene

St. Patrick's Day Massacre, "Gang Vocals" and the Spirit of Community

2008-03-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

As I'm listening to Shane and the boys sing, "Let me go boys, let me go boys, let me go down in the mud where the rivers all run dry," I'm reminded of the real spirit of community in communities like the Irish punk community. Bands like Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys really embody the living legacy of bands like the Pogues and the Dubliners.

It seems to me that the "gang vocal" parts are typical of communities like this; strong, proud groups that are tightly knit by geography as much as experience. The middle class community of New Brunswick has the same feel; bands like Lifetime and the Bouncing Souls have created a legion of younger bands that latch onto the same ideals.

The question I'm left with today is, "Where do I belong?" I've always searched for a community like this, but I've never quite found one that fit my needs. The South Bay hardcore kids were always a bit too mean to be so bound by brotherhood and God knows I wasn't about to find a community like that at school. The answer, as it usually does, lies in synthsis. This is something we have to make for ourselves, without relying on others. There are a lucky few times where you get swept up in the madness of a Revolution Summer or some such movement that is so much larger than you could have ever imagined, but more often, you really have to do it yourself.

The intention of my non-profit was to synthesize this sort of community, based around passion for youth in the arts, with a shadow mission to unite Los Angeles before the subway to the sea did it for me, however, this is still a few years off. I don't know what to do until then. Basically, what I'm asking all of you is who wants to start an Irish punk band with me?

"Rudie Can't Fail"

2008-03-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

Spring break: day 2.
Today, I watched the Joe Strummer documentary, The Future is Unwritten. Of course, there were ridiculous moments of Bono talking about how the Clash should still be making music today and very tender, but unnecessary moments of Steve Buscemi talking about being intimidated by Strummer while making Midnight Train, but just like with every other serious music documentary I've watched in the past few years, I've managed to take something away. The last few minutes of the documentary are audio of Joe Strummer's World Service radio show set to scenery of Strummer's friends and family sitting around campfires all over the world; he talks about how we all have the ability to do anything we want, as long as we want it bad enough.

After a long conversation with John Brzezicki of Lazer, Inc., I've received an assignment. I'm beginning to realize what I want to do with my life and John has tasked me with putting it down on paper. I've decided that I'm going to put all of my half-skills to use all at once: I want to write a book. This is something I've always wanted to do, however, I've never had enough content or drive to finish one.

I've decided that while I'm in grad school, I will be working on a thesis that I will eventually shop around to publishers, detailing the new school of fundraising, putting to work my knowledge of web2.0, the non-profit world and lifestyle marketing.

I've decided to take John's assignment just a step further and start listing the things I don't know now, but should learn about in order to write this, starting here:

-more about the changing economy of America
-basic sociology/urban studies/demography
-the current fundraising models
-how to be a better writer.

A while back, I saw a book called Punk Rock Marketing (or something of the sort). On the cover was a huge black 'A' in a circle, surrounded by magenta. I decided to look past that, just to see if there was any substance inside. Basically, what was contained therein was trash. I don't remember much of it, but basically, it was all about employing a "punk ethos" into marketing, which basically boiled down to "You can do it yourself! But don't forget, you're still working for the man!" Basically, I felt a little ridiculous reading it. I want to write a book with the same idea, but without the ridiculous notion of being "punk rock" or anything for that matter. I want to write a book for people trying to make it while helping other people.

This isn't something I can accomplish by myself. I know I'm going to ask each and every one of you for your help at some point, so thanks in advance for your friendship and support.

The video? Yeah, it's not "Rudie Can't Fail" or even a Clash video for that matter, but it's just as good. Yes, it's the Pogues, but who are all the rest of those people and why are they singing a song I've heard before? Yes, that's Lynval Golding onstage with the Pogues, singing "A Message to You, Rudy." If you look very closely, you can see Kirsty MacColl, David Byrne and Joe Strummer all singing with Lynval, Shane MacGowan and the Pogues. "You better think of your future" is the line that ties this all together.

QUOTE OF THE DAY, VIA HENRY ROLLINS

2008-02-27T14:19:00.001-08:00

Sometimes, watching Vh1 really pays off.
I am sitting in front of a huge television, watching the One Hit Wonders countdown, avoiding everything I have to do, and Rollins comes to bless me with this nugget of wisdom that only he can dispense.

The other HR of hardcore on The Cardigans' "Lovefool":
"When you see a pretty girl singing, 'Say that you love me,' you want to like it; when does that ever happen in your wretched life?"

Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Just Living

2008-02-25T14:22:00.000-08:00

Warning: rambling about positivity and the awesomeness of life enclosed; if you're tired of reading the same thing over and over, go read Stuff White People Like and think about me.

I'm sitting in a study room in the basement of the library at school, updating my blog from my old laptop. Flashback much? I've been working on this huge presentation that I have to make at 9:30 tonight pretty much non-stop since yesterday. Group projects are fun.

Anyways, this is the first time I've been able to get on the internet on my old computer in a few months. The man has shut down the old internet on my side of campus and I can't get access, but I figure since I'm sitting here for another hour with nothing much to do, I can at least post something I've been meaning to for about four months.

Ted Leo's 2007 album, Living With the Living, was one of my favorites of the year, however, I mentioned that the album needed a shower and a shave, so to speak. A few edits, rearrangings and additions later, I came up with Just Living, a perfect version of Living With the Living (along with the bonus Mo' Living EP), that reflected both Ted's genius pop scientist songwriting as well as the songs that he played most live. This album has been sitting on my computer, waiting to be uploaded and posted about since the beginning of the year. It was only today that everything worked out in its favor.

This week is going to be excruciating; today I have a huge presentation that's worth 25% of my final grade and I'm fairly sure I'm going to do terribly because of an incompetent group. Thursday, I have another group presentation for a different class, which I haven't even thought about, a huge history midterm and an art project due; the one saving grace is that once all of that is over, I will officially be on break. I leave campus at 7pm to go home, get a haircut, and leave the first half of my sixth semester behind. It certainly has been a difficult one.

It was a bit ironic that everything happened like this today. I met with a few group members to edit the Powerpoint presentation that we're going to have to give later and I'm planning on meeting the rest of the group in about an hour to test it all out. While I was sitting here, thinking about all the things I've missed about this laptop and all the things its seen, I saw the Ted Leo album, just asking to be posted. It made me think more and more about the past and the message of the album.

Living With the Living is really about losing. There are moments of optimism, but they're often overshadowed. Whether it be oppression of a government that doesn't care or being bested by your own demons; it's an album about losing. The version that I've created is literally about "just living;" it's about fighting to survive and winning. It's a constant reminder to never give up.

I feel as though Ted Leo's intention was never to release an album that was so heavily pessimistic, but it just turned out that way, and that's why he put out the extra EP with brighter moments. The version I've compiled is not only superior musically, but really has a sense of urgency rather than sadness; of course, there are going to be darker moments, just like with anything, but in the end, it really should be about coming home at the end of the day and being able to sleep at night.

One moment that got pushed to the b-sides was Ted's cover of "Rappaport's Testament (I Never Gave Up)." For those of you who don't know the reference, check this. Ted's version is so defiantly positive, that it serves as a great centerpiece.

One of the greatest moments comes at the end of Just Living, with the song "La Costa Brava." The first few times I heard the song, I didn't quite get it, mostly because I was trying to take it in all at once and also because it wasn't originally at the end of the album. This was meant to be the centerpiece of the album, however, I feel like the open ended optimism it leaves you with gives it the merits of any of the best album closers out there. Enclosed are some of the greatest lines I've ever heard: "Everyone needs a Sunday somedays/everyone needs to take some time away/so come on home from the frontlines, baby/you know you've done more in your time than there was supposed to have been/a little time out could turn your head around/a little time out could lift us out of this mess we're in.../everyone gets to feeling weak/but if everyone gets a week and change their pace/you travel west 'til you hit Girona/I'll travel east out of Barcelona/and I'll meet you halfway/one day and night on La Costa Brava/we'll forget the fright and remember why we wanna be brave/and that there's something to save."

I've been feeling like I've been getting beat, but now that I've uncovered this album and all the feelings it evokes, I feel as though I'm going to be able to make it through this week and my life for a little while.

I love and miss you all too much. I have next week off, so come see me or call me.

*EDIT: I forgot to renumber the tracks in iTunes. My bad.
Here's the tracklisting:

1. Nothing Much to Say
2. The Sons of Cain
3. Colleen
4. Rappaport's Testament: I Never Gave Up
5. Already Too Late?
6. Who Do You Love?
7. Some Beginner's Mind
8. Old Souls Know
9. Living With the Living
10. La Costa Brava

Just Living

Appreciating gay culture.

2008-02-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

You know this:

Do you remember this?

What happened there? Is it just that there's only a temporary interest in all things "gay"? There's only one thing I know and that's the fact that there is only one option in this situation:

Farewell to No Depression and Depression

2008-02-20T21:12:00.000-08:00

This week, it was announced that No Depression magazine would end its publishing run. No Depression helped to launch the careers of bands like Wilco, the Old 97s and Whiskeytown and further the alt.country genre.

I never really read No Depression in its glory days (the late 90s), but I know that if it didn't exist, my life would be a little bit more bleak.

On that note, I would also like to bid farewell to depression. These last few weeks certainly have been the longest test of my life, but I know that things are going to get better. This isn't to say that the next few weeks are going to be easy, but I know that I will be rewarded for my patience.

Anyways, here's alt.country. Full entry to come.

The Pipettes and the recreation of everything you've known to be true.

2008-02-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

I haven't had many moments recently. Usually, I'm fighting mindlessly against the tide, and yet recently, I feel like I'm stuck in some barren, desolate hell of nothingness, where there are no waves pushing me back towards the shore. I'm having a hard time getting the words on the page, both literally and figuratively. Sometimes, it's because I'm uncertain and I doubt myself, but a lot of the time, it's just that I'm having an extremely hard time getting my head in the game.

Over the past few weeks, a lot of strange things have happened. I think those things have carried over into the other parts of my life and that's what's giving me all this damn trouble, but that almost seems too easy.

As this has all been happening, I've also had a big project in my art class. We're using Photoshop to create a collage of a space, either imagined or conceptual. Of course, since I've been listening to tons of "Concrete Jungle" and "Ghost Town," I decided that I was going to rebuild a skyline, piece by piece. So far, it's been going okay:

but, there's just something about it that's mundane. Of course, the idea is to portray urban life in a very gray manner, but it's more than just that. My collage is just boring. There's very little in it that's visually interesting. Most of what's going on is at the very bottom and I'm having trouble playing with perspective with the components.

I'd been sitting here for an hour, just trying to drop shadow until something happened, when it occurred to me. I should be trying to recreate things in a more unconventional manner. It may come as a surprise to many of you, but I'm not a very unconventional thinker. Over the next few days, I'm going to be looking for photos, items to scan, magazines, books, etc. of things that could possibly play as stand-ins for the buildings in my skyline.

When you're recreating life in this manner, subconsciously, you want to recreate it as closely to reality as possible. I lied a little before when I said that there was no struggle; I've been grappling with changing the way I think, partially because of this class, but also because of everything that's been going on in my life. Things are changing constantly and when it seems like nothing else could possibly change, they keep getting more and more strange. I've had to look at things in a new way, though this isn't to say that it's been a negative experience. I don't know whether it's fear of losing the original image in our minds that prevents us from creative deconstruction or not, but I think it has a lot to do with ownership. I have no problems destroying something I've created and building it back up in a different way, but when it comes to something that I can't call "my own," I shrink back. It has very little to do with creativity.

There are a lot of different things that provoked this outburst: the art project, the Specials, the emptiness. The strangest thing brought this all together. Right as I came up with the idea to reconstruct the skyline with stand-ins for buildings, the song on my iPod changed to a cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" by the Pipettes. If you know me at all, you'll know that I'm sort of obsessed with good covers and tributes. This is a great recreation, even though it's fairly true to the original and it's also a live cut. As I listened to that and realized everything that it was and was not, I realized that these things were all small metaphors for my life now. I've really taken what I had before and deconstructed it, then built it back up into what I wanted it to be. Though I complain all too much about the emptiness or the struggle or whatever, I'm really beginning to realize that I've built something I can really be proud of, something I wouldn't be ashamed to put on the wall for everyone to see.

"I Think We're Alone Now"

Another album that will make the year end list: The Mae Shi

2008-02-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

Now, as of two years ago, I hated the Mae Shi. I'd seen them live a few times and they were pretty bad. Admittedly, the one time I really saw them was opening up for Ozma, but still, they were bad. As time went on, I became increasingly aware of their deep involvement with the Smell, which made me see them differently than any other "bad" band. They were obnoxious just because they could be. About a year and a half ago, I heard that the band had lost two of its founding members (including their singer) and had replaced them and were in the process of recording a new album.

Tracks started to wander out onto the blogosphere, and they were very good, but it wasn't until I saw the attached video that I actually fell in love.

Last week, their new album, HLLLYH, appeared on the blogosphere in its entirety. I've listened to it about 20 times since then and I love different things about it each time I hear it. The synth sounds are perfectly engineered, just on the edge of distorting wildly, the drums are huge and the multitracked vocals are so impressive in the way that they're stacked. It's obvious that the vocals on this album are a huge part, but they don't take focus away from the instruments.

Now, I was about to post the full album for your consumption, but since I know everyone who reads this blog, you will know that I mean this when I say it: go out and see the Mae Shi live and buy their album directly from them. You know that, for the most part, I advocate stealing as much music as possible, however, this is one of those times that you just HAVE to support the band. Here's why (part of a statement from the Mae Shi's bio):

”This is our story, and we invite you to come along. It's about self-improvement and trying to live life at the top of your lungs, living life rightly, respecting others, making something you're proud of, and trying to sort out all the static and figuring out what matters. It's about trying to forge that third way, that way everyone said it couldn't be done. We do this in basements and backyards and in fancy clubs we don't even feel comfortable in. We do this in living rooms and bathrooms and bedrooms and wherever the sound sounds best. We do this with ten dollar keyboards and Olvera Street guitars and with light-reactive synths we built ourselves. We do this with broken cymbals and busted speakers. We do this the first thing when we wake up. We do this after a hard day at work, when it's the only solace and life seems to be a constant source of frustration. We do this on weekends. We do this all the time.”

I couldn't have said it better myself.

In defense of Ron Paul.

2008-02-02T18:33:00.000-08:00

This entry is a side note, seeing as I need to defend myself a bit here. I'll try not to talk too much politics from here out, but I feel this had to be said.

In the past few weeks, I've taken a lot of heat from my liberal friends for not absolutely hating Ron Paul. I've never really been able to explain my love for him until the Florida primary.

I guess my initial curiosity for the now famous Libertarian was piqued by people like Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert, who adored the man. It was so strange to me that such famous liberals would be interested in a second tier Republican candidate, who was personable enough, but barely garnered enough attention and funding to make it into half of the primaries. He was obviously someone who got into the race to make noise and he did just that. Also, I think I liked that he was basically half Keebler Elf and half Vulcan:

+

As time went on and I started to learn more about his policies, I became disenchanted, realizing just how libertarian he really was. This man wants to murder the IRS and public education in favor of the private sector ruling everything. At first, it doesn't sound so bad. Who really wants to pay taxes? We all realize that we need to pay taxes, but when you get your paycheck with almost a third taken out, it stings. Once you really stop to think about what sizing down the government would mean, the situation gets a little scarier.

Anyways, as I grew more wary of Dr. Paul, I grew more interested in just studying him. He was what made the Republican debates enjoyable to watch. Watching the Democratic debates depressed me; it seemed ridiculous to watch the same debate over and over. Watching Hillary attack "the black man," only to hear him come back with some sound byte about "uniting America" or "change" while being overly polite to John Edwards, who had no chance to get in a word edgewise, was depressing. The Republicans were all clawing at one another, while basically saying the same things. They debated over technicalities in laws and votes, while skirting many of the greater issues. Ron Paul, on the other hand, was in a constant state of panic during the debates. Each of his answers came out in a tone that suggested, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? ARE YOU LISTENING TO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING? WHY DON'T YOU GET IT?" I can understand how this resonated with people disenchanted with the party.

As many of you have asked about, I am a moderate, as listed on facebook. I am a registered democrat, however I still may swing on certain issues, depending on the situation. This cycle, I was looking forward to voting for the most presidential candidate in the race, John Edwards, but he couldn't beat a few bad news cycles and the first viable woman and African American candidates. Why, then, would I defend Ron Paul, you might ask. I defend Ron Paul because I realize what he was trying to do.

There are candidates who get into the race to raise issues and keep everyone else honest. Ron Paul took this to a whole new level. I realize that he didn't do this intentionally, mostly because he must have known that he wouldn't have even gotten this far. In his responses during the debates, he may have seemed to be a little crazy, always using that distressed tone, but people heard what he was saying. The other candidates would laugh off his responses, but more often than not, he made them look plain ridiculous. In one of the earliest debates, he came straight out and proved Rudy Giuliani wrong, saying that he should "read a book from time to time." This is the reason I really love Ron Paul.

As you know, Giuliani decided to drop out after the Florida primary because he played his cards wrong, however I submit to you that it was a mismanagement of his campaign coupled with the success of Ron Paul's strategy that forced Rudy out.

Think back to two years ago. The only Republican candidate that was starting his campaign was Rudy, and it looked like he had a very good chance of being elected. Though it was not all positive, he had so much exposure and face recognition outside of New York between 9/11 and his appearances on Saturday Night Live and Seinfeld. He was building his name from the time he took office and he did a good job. I always thought of him as the Arnold of the east; a closeted moderate who could steal any office he wanted out from under our noses. If you think about how terrible Giuliani's policies would have been in the White House, it is really terrifying to think that there was a time when he was a viable candidate. Once the other candidates started announcing, Rudy's odds took a hit, but he was still the frontrunner. Even John McCain, one of the most beloved moderates, was trailing him at one point. I mean, how many people outside of New England have heard of Mitt Romney?

Back to Ron Paul; I personally don't agree with his domestic policy initiatives (I know, there weren't any besides "eliminating bureaucracy"), but his foreign policy was headed in the right direction (I'm not an isolationist, but I am for leaving people alone when we're obviously just going to ruin their lives) and I liked that. This, coupled with those calculated sound bytes, is what really pushed him forward in fundraising and visibility. He wasn't too good to speak to anyone and really seemed to make an effort to reach out to those demographics that Republicans thought were useless to them (young people, libertarians, and even Democrats). As time went on, Ron Paul started coming in ahead of many viable candidates in primaries and to this day has outlasted not only Rudy, but Fred Thompson ("the next Reagan?"). His being in the campaign not only kept the other candidates honest, but really made many people realize just how ridiculous Rudy Giuliani would have been as president.

In short, thank God for Ron Paul. If it weren't for him, we could have had a punchline for a president.

A word from the proprietor.

2008-02-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

Instead of working today, I decided to come home last night. I went to see Nellie McKay at Fingerprints in Long Beach and she was wonderful.

This morning, I got up far too early and decided, in a sleepy haze, that I should add links in the sidebar. If you look at the top of the right sidebar, you'll notice a link to your blog, since I know you are my only possible readers.

The video, you ask? It's the video for the new Mountain Goats single, "Sax Rohmer #1." This is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs of the first quarter. This is the first year that a Mountain Goats album will make it on to my year end list, which is exciting for me.

Jens Lekman and the wind.

2008-01-30T21:27:00.000-08:00

Over the last few days, it's been beyond cold outside. I can feel myself slipping into a cold, but for some reason, I haven't quite fallen face first into it yet. It's been about a week of waiting for something to happen; it feels an awful lot like this:

You know what's coming, but you just can't wait to jump out of the theater seat, screaming, "OH HELL NO YOU BETTER GET OUT OF THERE."

It's actually been beyond cold; the wind is getting a bit ridiculous. I can usually survive most of the cold weather we get in Los Angeles, but these last few days have just made me want to stay inside. I know that if I go outside and especially if I go to the gym, I'm asking to get sick. It's just going to push me a little too far, however, I don't really feel like doing anything else. I sit in my apartment, essentially doing nothing. Over the last few days, I've been somewhat busy, but every time I'm here, it seems like I'm here alone, making me think that I'm not actually that busy.

The other day, as I was sitting in my room, avoiding the cold, I was looking for something new to listen to and came across something I'd never seen before: An EP for "The Opposite of Hallelujah." I thought of myself as (at least) moderately knowledged when it came to all things Jens Lekman, yet somehow I let this one slip past me. Apparently, the EP came out in 2005, which means that one of the best Jens Lekman songs has been floating around almost as long as he's been on my radar without me knowing about it. The version of the song included on the EP is very similar to the album version, however, a skilled ear will hear that this version is a bit closer to the version Jens plays live. The bassline is a bit more pronounced, the harmony vocals are much more prominent, there's a really great string bit that got cut from the album version and Jens' stumbling vocal meter during the second pre-chorus is just beautiful.

Side note: the attached video isn't for one of the songs on the EP, but for the song that I've recently come to appreciate more off of Night Falls Over Kortedala, "Your Arms Around Me." You can't tell from just watching the video, but if you listen very closely, you'll be able to tell that someone that isn't in Jens' live band is playing the string part in the song; Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy always manages to bring something special to songs that don't even need the help.

Check out the EP; not only is there a great version of one of last year's best songs, but there are three other b-sides that never really made it out of the vault. All of the b-sides have that classic Jens Lekman sheen that seemed a bit more prevalent on the singles collection (Oh, You're So Silent Jens). "I Don't Want To Die Alone" is particularly great; you'd think that I only like it for one reason (the title makes it sound like a Morrissey song), but the song is so much more; it really showcases the transition between Jens' older material and his 2007 masterpiece.

The Opposite of Hallelujah EP

On the "To Ruin" List: the year 2008.

2008-01-28T09:36:00.001-08:00

2007. What can I say?

I'm 21 now and my life up to this point has pretty much revolved around school. I think in terms of school years, so the traditional calendar year means very little to me. After a long period of looking over LiveJournal entries for the last year or so (which took longer than I'd like to admit), I'm beginning to remember how it all happened. The beginning of 2007 was the end of "The Spirit of '88," which wasn't as effective as I thought it was going to be. It was supposed to be like this:

but really ended up like this:

It was really difficult seeing everyone around me go places and do things that I just didn't have the motivation or skills for. I can remember days of listening to those albums by Youth of Today or Gorilla Biscuits and thinking, "This should be easy. Why can't I execute?" I was tired and I just couldn't find the passion to really attack every day. I started running on survival mode, hoping that each day would bring me something rewarding, something to look forward to. Friends, believe me when I tell you, this is no way to live. The end of the school year came fast and summer was halfway over before I even knew it.

I saw some great things over the summer and had amazing moments of fun, but it was also where I turned the corner. Chris and I got fired from KXLU and we're not really welcome there ever again. To think, that Christopher Esteban Torres and I, of all people, are not allowed in the most libertarian place on campus, is hilarious. It was also when I decided that I needed to figure out my next move. The station, in all actuality, was holding me back. I was saving my greatness for when I would work there, thinking I was going to save everyone there, as arrogant as that sounds. That was easily one of the dumbest things I could've even thought about. I was planning on salvaging a sinking ship, expecting that something great would come out of my time there, not seeing that I was only setting myself up for drowning.

Once things started to fall together, things also started to fall apart. I realized that I was to be alone after the dream summer was over. What I was too stupid to realize was that I wasn't ever really going to be alone, but it was just going to take a bit more effort. Uncertainty, which lead to more uncertainty paved the way for "The Year of Change."

In short, nothing was the same as it had been before. My friends had evaporated right in front of me and I was terrified that I wasn't going to be happy. I made the conscious choice to really throwdown on school. The time seemed right to get serious. The next thing I know, I'm sprinting at record pace towards one of the best academic semesters I've had since high school. Once things started moving in that regard, everything else started to move that way as well. My life, as I have known it, has not been the same since the year of change started; it's harder and much more terrifying, but I know it's better and I wouldn't have it any other way. Things aren't perfect in any sense of the word. Things aren't even close, but they're pretty damn good.

I've already started a new semester. I would still consider this a part of the year of change, but really, I feel like that's all over. The changes have taken place and now, it's time to see what it all meant and where it's taking me, thus I dub this semester/calendar year "The Year of Change, part 2: the Launch". This is really where things have to take off for me or else I won't make it out of the atmosphere in one piece. There have already been challenges and it's already starting to weigh down on me, but I have this strange feeling that I'm going to be able to handle it better this time, knowing what I know and having amazing friends who are there to support me.

The first great album of the year: Thao Nguyen and The Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings And All

2008-01-28T02:55:00.000-08:00

Upon first inspection of Thao Nguyen's first full length album, you'd think that she wasn't much more than some lazy Cat Power ripoff, but that's because her first full length was a lazy Cat Power ripoff. Of course, this is a bit of an overstatement, especially considering how much I really liked that album and how much I still like it, but in this moment, I am comparing that album to her new album, We Brave Beestings And All.

The thing that's the most startling about the new album is the huge amount of collaborative songwriting that is apparent throughout. This is made obvious by the change from Thao Nguyen to Thao Nguyen and The Get Down Stay Down, which is her backing band. Of course, the production, helmed by Tucker Martine, shows a great amount of growth, but this only enhances the amazing, lively arrangements laid out by Thao and her band.

This album is difficult to talk about. It's 3am and I'm sitting at the table in my kitchen. I'm supposed to be reading, and yet all I can think about is how great this album is. There isn't a dull moment I can think of. The hooks are all so simple, and yet so well thought out in terms of their placement in the songs. The production is clean and radio friendly, which comes in direct conflict with the music itself; the music isn't intentionally being difficult, but turns out that way due to the nature of Thao's songwriting.

From "Beat (Health, Life, and Fire)" to "Bag of Hammers" and "Big Kid Table", the transitions are nearly flawless without being intentionally strung together. The lead guitar parts on "Beat" are so clean and match so well with the horns that slowly worm their way into your brain without you noticing. The drums on "Bag of Hammers" are reminiscent of "Float On" in the best way possible and the long, fingerpicked drawl of "Big Kid Table" is just too good to pass up. Basically, this is one of the first great album of this year and shouldn't be overlooked.

Thao Nguyen and The Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Beestings And All

One of the three good things Philadelphia has given us: Dr. Dog

2008-01-26T11:43:00.000-08:00

If you had come to me three years ago and asked me what good Philadelphia was to me, I wouldn't have given you a very good answer. I probably would've said that Philadelphia's only contributions to society were The Starting Line and Philly Cheesesteaks. Now, I realize there is something more (like the integral role it played in helping to build our democracy).

I thought about the path I've come down the other day, in regards to what I listen to. In middle school, my friend Erin and I were nearly inseparable. We listened to pop-punk and loved our lives. As we entered high school, Erin got into punk and I got into really technical hardcore; a year or two later, Erin was into goth and metal and I was into emo from the mid-90s. Now, Erin listens to a combination of everything she used to listen to and I basically only listen to pop music. I've long been an appreciator of jangly pop songs, but only recently have I admitted to myself that that's what I really love; it's not about whatever avant-single note, 32 minute composition your friend just turned you on to, but it's really about anything that can be said in three minutes.

The three things that came from Philadelphia that I now appreciate are: democracy (close enough, right?), Man Man and Dr. Dog. Today, we're here to talk about Dr. Dog.

When Dr. Dog and Cold War Kids were touring together, I didn't know what to think. I hadn't heard much and I basically wrote them off as being some sort of trendy, hipster, atonal nonsense. Little did I know that Dr. Dog was one of the most fun, melody loving bands out there today. Take, for instance, the first video attached. It's a live performance of "Ain't it Strange," a song that was originally released on the 2006 Takers and Leavers EP. This song is pure genius as far as I'm concerned. The subtle organ parts, the very obvious, but not heavy-handed solo/outro, the perfectly recorded harmony vocals and that reggae bassline that you can't seem to ignore are all reasons for you to listen to at least the one song, if not everything else they've ever recorded.

It's raining again and something tells me that this album will bring a little sunshine into your day.

Dr. Dog - We All Belong

Destroyer and dark days.

2008-01-25T01:05:00.000-08:00

Destroyer - "Dark Leaves From a Thread"
Destroyer - "Foam Hands"

There's something so charming about Dan Bejar's songwriting; there's something I can't quite describe about it. I've been doing a lot of sitting at my desk, thinking about things I should be doing. Because it's so damn cold outside, I don't feel like doing anything, which is a problem, considering the fact that school is actually starting to pick up. Anyways, the new Destroyer album leaked a few weeks ago and I haven't had a chance to listen to it until just now. Listening to the rain on the roof and "Dark Leaves From a Thread" makes me feel like I've been here before, but it's just because Bejar's songwriting is charming in that familiar, comfortable way.

I will admit that for a very long time, I did not understand Destroyer. It seemed like a task to get through the nine minutes of Bejar's rambling lyrics, but somewhere along the way I began to appreciate the little moments of pop genius, such as "Dark Leaves," or "Your Blood." The only reason I gave any of these songs a second chance was listening to Bejar's genius songs on the New Pornographers records. I figured there had to be something there. From then on, my appreciation only grew.

Listening to the organ track and the shaky synthetic strings on "Foam Hands" makes me realize why this all seems so familiar. It was on a rainy day, much like today, that I began to appreciate Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in all of its glory. I listened to songs like "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "Pot Kettle Black" over and over, but never understood "Reservations" until I listened to it in the driving rain, focusing on nothing but the clouds and the cars passing by.

By no means am I comparing Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, because god knows that Jeff Tweedy just about blows any other songwriter away in my book, however, I realize that much of what's going on in the album is treading a similar emotional path to the depths of what it is we've come to know in our more reflective moments. The watery, wavering guitar lines, the piano parts and those amazing synthetic string arrangements draw back to moments like Slowdive's "Machine Gun" or even "Five Years" by Bowie; they draw back to the idea that there is beauty in stillness. I get so caught up on a day to day basis, just thinking about what I'm supposed to be doing. Even though I think to myself, "God, I ended up being so unproductive," just because I sat and had a chance to catch up, I am beginning to realize that I must put myself in these situations for a reason. I must know, deep down inside, that I need to stop for a moment and just be where I am.

Neko Case and the WGA Strike

2008-01-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't been on strike, however I've been having just as much trouble filling a page as Conan and Colbert.

As often as I check Pitchfork, I really don't like admitting it. Every once in a while, they post something interesting, be it an interview, a controversial review that gets all you hipsters chatting around the hip equivalent of the water cooler or even a news item. Today, there was an interesting item in the latter. It was mentioned earlier that Neko Case would be doing a guest spot on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Now, don't get me wrong. I understand there are serious problems with Aqua Teen, but even though I'm not stoned, some of the jokes are funny from time to time and any show that has Zakk Wylde voicing himself riding into the scene on a chariot pulled by white stallions is genius. An update to this was posted late today, saying the creator of Aqua Teen was writing a new pilot with Neko Case slated to be the main voice actor.

"And that CGI pilot? Brace yourselves: it's called "Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge", and it features what Willis describes as "a Strawberry Shortcake pop princess that lives in a candy wonderland just outside of Detroit. She comes into Detroit and helps solve problems of racism and teen pregnancy with the power of love and teen pop songs."

Unlike her "Aqua Teen" appearance, Neko is lined up to provide the speaking voice of Cheyenne Cinnamon, but won't be doing any singing-- "which is consistent with every other pop princess," Willis notes. "But her character will lip-synch it, and then a decidedly different-sounding voice sings all the songs." He isn't certain who will provide the singing voice just yet.

The songs in question were penned by pop-rocker and producer Butch Walker, and Willis is pretty psyched about them. "Butch turned all the music around in less than a week, and it sounds exactly like something that you would hear all over the radio, like something that would sell 20 million records."

"Cheyenne Cinnamon" is only in the pilot stages right now, but with any luck it will be confounding late-night television viewers soon enough."

UH WHAT?

I think I'm going to explode. If this doesn't make it onto Adult Swim, I will die. Seriously.

Anyway, Neko Case is one of those musicians that I can go for months without thinking about, but when I come back, I have to listen to like six hours straight. Listen to Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and meditate on how awesome this show would be and send positive vibes towards Adult Swim in hopes that this actually comes to fruition and doesn't turn into Freak Show or Lil' Bush.

The Best of 2007: #1-10

2007-12-29T15:01:00.001-08:00

10. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup

Zach Condon is one of those people that you feel a little worthless while you're enjoying his amazing music. He's probably the same age as I am and has recorded two of the most interesting albums in three years. At first, I wrote Beirut off as trendy hipster, world music that wasn't going to mean anything in a year or so. Of course, that was before I listened to it. There are moments on both albums that are "different for the sake of being different" and are geniune attempts at becoming "important," but the really great moments come when Condon abandons those impulses in favor of just playing memorable music. This album is a real change of pace; Gulag Orkestar was a shout-out to the Balkans, collaborating with A Hawk and a Hacksaw. The Flying Club Cup is a shout out to Jacques Brel and chanson, with amazing string arrangements by Owen Pallett. The attached video is for the real centerpiece of the album, "Forks and Knives (La Fete)." The song exemplifies why I love Beirut; it's sweeping, dramatic and beautiful.

9. Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings

I don't admit this readily, but before seeing Dan Deacon live, I didn't love him. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who feels this way, but I'm probably the first to admit it. I listened to the album before I went to go see him on the recommendation of friends, but it didn't click. Sure, it's enjoyable, but with your everyday life, it seems a bit out of context. When I finally got to see him, I realized that it actually wasn't out of context. On a day-to-day basis, you don't have the time for a riotous dance party whenever you feel like it, but no one does. You have to make the time to have fun in life. Besides that, the sense of humor that flies just under "obvious" also makes the album memorable.

8. Lifetime - Lifetime

When Lifetime got back together last year for a few shows, I knew I had to be at one. I was surprised in the best way possible. I had figured, "These guys basically are the reason New Brunswick is on the map," and, "Damn, they must be old." I knew Dr. Dan was looking good, considering the fact that he recovered from a stroke and came back to playing reunion shows with Kid Dynamite and a new hardcore band that he fronts, Paint it Black. When Lifetime announced that they would be reuniting for an album, the high school me came back to life. This album is so full of life and so current without losing the soul of a Lifetime record.

7. Radiohead - In Rainbows

Who saw this one coming? I swear to God, "LP7" talk was nearly non-existent towards the end; people had almost forgotten that Radiohead hadn't put out anything in a few years, then all of a sudden, they had already completed recording and was looking to put out their own album. This was completely sneaky, but in all reality, that's the nature of Radiohead, or at least that's the way I see them. I sort of never see it coming with them. You hear "Creep" on the radio every once in a while and that's fine. Sometimes, you might even hear "Karma Police," but somehow I never expect for them to make an album that I'm going to go crazy over. Hail to the thief was a little too much for me and that's really where Radiohead lost me, but they truly brought it back in with this album. New Year's Day brings the physical release of the album in the US as well as another brilliant webcast. Before, it's been Thom spinning some creepy records or the band playing great covers, but this time, they're playing the album in its entirety. That is pretty damn cool on a level that Trent Reznor wishes he could play on.

6. No Age - Weirdo Rippers

This is easily one of the albums that got the most play from me this year. I've been getting asked why, if this is true, it didn't place higher on the list. This is because of a few things. For one, it's too short. When you take out the incidentals (which are brilliant), there isn't much music there. The live show up to this point sort of reflects this. No Age was never a headlining band, unless it was at the Smell and there were seven other bands playing, in which case everyone's set wasn't really longer than half an hour anyways. The second reason this isn't higher on my list is sort of related to this idea. The album isn't so much an album as it is 11 tracks pulled together from five EPs. The patchwork thing only takes you so far. I really like the cohesive album and this kind of didn't do it for me in that department. What I will say is that the good songs are amazing and I'm looking forward to their real full length debut.

5. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Jeff Tweedy was in a very tenuous position a few months before this album came out. After the success of the relatively difficult Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the intentionally more difficult A ghost is born, Tweedy and company played a new song on national television; it was "The Thanks I Get" and it wasn't at all challenging. It was even confusing. There was a singalong part that he encouraged the crowd to partake in. I was truly afraid for the new Wilco album after hearing that. Nels Cline just sort of stood there, grinning, while utilizing exactly none of his God-given gifts. Of course, this song really grew on me eventually, but that was much later. I should learn to have more faith in those who have never let me down. Jeff Tweedy and Wilco made one of the most mature records this year. A lot of people wrote it off as "Dad Rock," which is ridiculous. Tweedy has like three kids; of course it's going to sound like dad rock at least a little bit. What those naysayers always neglect to mention is that underneath every layer of distortion or studio magic that Wilco used in the past, there was always an amazing, sweet folk-pop song. If you don't believe this, check out Tweedy's solo tour DVD, where he plays "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" without the 13 minute bass riff. Anyways, Wilco stripped away what they had built up over the last two albums and just put out a beautiful album. The solo in "Either Way" stops me every time I hear it.

4. Nellie McKay - Obligatory Villagers

If Morrissey built an empire on cleverness, it's definitely a burgeoning industry that everyone else seems to be rushing to get a piece of. Of course, not everyone can pull it off. There are writers out there like Eddie Argos or Craig Finn, whose prose obsessions far outweigh their allegiances to keys and harmonies, but then there's Nellie McKay. Last year, her album Pretty Little Head made the top of my list and I figured I wouldn't see another album from her for another few years, considering the fact that she loved the double album so much. When it was announced that not only would she be releasing a new album in 2007, but that it was almost done, I couldn't believe it. When I finally started to believe it, I worried about what it would be like. It was obviously a shift from the past albums (only one disc with nine songs and a steady backing band instead of hired studio musicians). The only thing I knew was that it was going to be very clever, and of course it was. I happened to see Nellie at Largo a few months before the album came out and she played most of the new songs there solo. If you get a chance, just listen to the first song, "Mother of Pearl." It is the single funniest song this year. I have never seen someone so convinced of their own wit other than the great one himself, the Mozfather. McKay will inevitably slow down the pace of album releases and whatnot; what I'm really looking forward to is all the musicals I know she's going to write.

3. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

Oh, You're So Silent Jens was a great introduction to Sweden's finest, but like I said with the No Age album before, compilations only can take you so far. Jens far bested all the expectations of fans like me with this album. Each of the songs is great in a very different way, without straying too far; there are even common musical themes threaded throughout the album. I kind of feel like this one is self explanatory and if I say anything else, it would be too much.

2. Okkervil River - The Stage Names

Ever since this album came out, I've been saying that Will Sheff is the next great American songwriter. What's changed since then? Not much, except now I know that Okkervil River is set to be the next great American band. My chief complaint against the album was the fact that it was so short. When something is good, I always want more. The good people over at Okkervil River must've heard my cries, because a few months later,m they released the companion EP for the album, containing Will's solo demos for the whole album. This really could've gone one of two ways. It was either bound to showcase the fact that the band wanted to add something to the album so they could sell more copies later (which didn't hold up, because they shipped the EP with the first thousand pre-ordered copies, rather than releasing it as a "Deluxe Edition") or it was going to showcase each of the songs in a different light, which is exactly what it did. After having my mind blown twice, Okkervil River decided to do me one better and release a Christmas EP for free download on their website. These amazing, stark four-track covers are beautiful and not to be missed.

1. Jason Anderson - Tonight

Far and away, Jason Anderson has made my favorite album of this year. I have a very hard time articulating my deep feelings for this album in this format. I emailed the man himself and he put it best: "All I want to do is connect with people and share my joy and passion for life." If you really want to know, take the time for it and your life will be better.

The Best of 2007: Other Honorable Mentions in Two Sentences

2007-12-19T18:36:00.001-08:00

A Place to Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers

I swear to God, when I first heard this album, I thought, "WHERE'S THE DAMN VOLUME AND WHY IS THIS SO LOUD." Upon further listening, I realized it wasn't a volume issue, but the fact that the feedback the Death by Audio crew uses is on the most eardrum piercing frequency ever.

Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated

Eddie Argos is just one of the most clever gits out there. The first Art Brut album seems a bit dull in comparison to this one; the addition of hookwriting mastermind Jasper Future added a lot to what Art Brut already had going for them.

Au - Au

This was one of the coolest live performances I saw this year. Jarring, multi-instrumental and dramatic; the album doesn't quite hit the same notes as the show, but deserves a mention anyway.

Au Revoir Simone - The Bird of Music

I like girl twee. So sue me.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Ask Forgiveness EP
no video available for songs on this EP, but you should check out the video for "Can't Tell Me Nothing" featuring Will Oldham.
Will Oldham is one of the most consistent songwriters out there; a covers record seemed out of order, considering the talent he is. Not only did he choose songs impeccably from all corners of the realm (a Danzig cover AND an R. Kelly cover?), but he paid them respect and covered them well.

Dean & Britta - Back Numbers

I never really got into Luna, even though they paved the way for like half the bands I like. When I found out the Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips were putting out a slow, folk album, all I could think was, "Thank God for Nancy Sinatra," and boy was I right; the best part is that the album is super solid.

Descartes a Kant - Paper Dolls

Discovery of 2007. Spazzy, schizophrenic songs written by young, cute girls from Guadalajara.

Grinderman - Grinderman

Nick Cave going back to the Birthday Party days? Well, while that's sort of true, really, this album is about being a dirty old man and LOVING IT.

Lavender Diamond - Imagine Our Love

If you live in Los Angeles, you've just been dying to hear what Becky Stark was going to release. This was a bit disappointing, considering all the promises of operatic pieces about the most beautiful diamond, eternal sonic frequency and the era of true love, but once you watch the video for "Open Your Heart," you'll pretty much forget everything and fall in love.

Scout Niblett - This Fool Can Die Now

In the past, I always thought of Scout Niblett's albums as a bit uneven. This album contains major collaboration with Will Oldham and amazing production by Steve Albini as well as the most consistent set of songs Scout's ever released (the live show for this album was really good too).

Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land

Any album featuring Mark Lanegan is good. Next. (Extra sentence merited here: This album would have smashed its way into my top 20 if it reflected just a bit more of what I saw during their live set, though I think most of that was just being in Lanegan's presence.)

The Best of 2007: #11-20

2007-12-18T18:03:00.000-08:00

I've decided to jump the gun a little bit and post the first part of my top 20 album list.

20. Handsome Furs - Plague Park

Dan Boeckner is easily one of the biggest badasses in a pansy-filled genre. As one of the two songwriters in Wolf Parade, he's so often overlooked by the elitists who think that just because Spencer was involved in Frog Eyes, he's the one you should care about. Boeckner has created a bizarre, desolate album; the sets are only dressed by his swaggering guitar lines and a lonely sounding keyboard, played by Boeckner's wife. Unfortunately, like so many albums this year, the album is very short in length and leaves you wanting so much more. As seen above, "What We Had" has one of the coolest sounding guitar parts ever.

19. Bonde Do Role - With Lasers

18. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal

This album was a huge surprise for me this year. I listened to it a few times through and liked it well enough, but I never thought it would make it through the year. As time went on, I fell in love with the bizarre echoed vocals (no, this isn't a studio trick; the lead singers are twins) and the vastly varied instrumentation. There are fuzzy moments of shoegaze-y goodness contrasted with moments of plain darkwave, post-goth dungeon gloom. The 4AD references here are almost too obvious. Anything played decently with tons of reverb can sound good, but this album really blows "good" out of the water.

17. POLYSICS - Karate House

Japan's premiere power-pop act never seemed to take off in the states; Mike Park put out two of their records, while they play to 100000 people at summer festivals in Japan and put out records on Sony. The first few records were very Devo, while still retaining the "Japanese" part of the POLYSICS identity. Karate House is a completely different affair. POLYSICS has abandoned the noisy post-punk affectations for a more straightforward, hook-laden sound. "Electric Surfin' Go-Go" is probably my favorite song of the year; not only does it sound like power pop forgot to take its Ritalin before class, but there's a damn surf bass solo. Who does that? It seriously sounds like Peter Hook if he were born into the Wilson family. If you don't believe me, see this post.

16. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

James Murphy has done something wonderful with the latest LCD Soundsystem album. The disco-punk thing has really blown up in the last year; not only has it hit alternative radio, but it's on television, just like everything else I seem to like. "North American Scum" is the hit off the album, but it seemed too out of context when LCD played it on Letterman. This album is a communal experience. The stage looked so empty with Murphy freaking out in the center precisely because the songs were meant for the dancefloor. "All My Friends" may have been Pitchfork's #1 song of the year, but the real winner off the album (for me) was "Time To Get Away," the biggest, best Prince ripoff I've heard in quite some time.

15. Feist - The Reminder

I tried to resist putting this album on my list. I just couldn't. This album was damn near everywhere this year. I'd imagine it was licensed almost as many times as the Wilco album was and that wasn't even the surprising part. The really surprising part is how long it took everyone else to catch on. Watch this and tell me that you didn't see it coming. Does something seem familiar about this video and this song? IT'S A DAMN GAP AD. DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE KHAKIS YOU HAVE IN YOUR CLOSET? CAN YOU REMEMBER FINDING THEM A FEW YEARS AGO, THINKING, "WHY DID I EVER BUY THESE? I GUESS IT WAS THE 90s." HOW ELSE DO YOU THINK THEY'RE SELLING IPODS?

14. Dirty Projectors - Rise Above

13. The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour

John K. Samson and his brigade of Mounties have once again trapped me in a snowy, nostalgic hell that I can't get away from. Jonah Ray said it best:
"One of my favorite bands. They've made the same album three times now and i dont mind it. Each song has such a sweetness to it, and it doesnt hurt that the singer sounds a lot like Big Bird. Maybe thats why i like it? because it brings in these thoughts of a large, friendly bird bringing me in for a hug...then singing sweet political poetry into my earhole."
The Weakerthans' music is much more subdued than it was when they first started, but they're getting old. What hasn't changed, however, is John K's penchant for writing some of the most relevant, beautiful poetry in music today. It's one thing to make music good enough to listen to over and over. John K's lyrics take this to a whole different level and make me want to write. The way he can turn a phrase is just unreal.

12. Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted

British girl-group revivalists are probably always going to get me off musically. Last year, the Pipettes album was somewhere in my top 5, and this year, it's Lucky Soul. These Brits have found a way to make an intrinsically American album, moreso than their countrywomen in the Pipettes. Where the Pipettes banked everything they had on "spunk" and familiar hooks, Lucky Soul made it all about the music, abandoning the appearance of modernity for a very organic sound that isn't afraid of slowing down."Add Your Light To Mine, Baby" not only has one of the most memorable hooks this year, but has a great three-part harmony that's irresistable.

11. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Living With the Living (or in my case, Just Living)

I won't lie; I was a little disappointed the first time I heard this album. There are so many powerful moments on this album and they were almost all negated by the really weird, out of place moments. Ted really won me back with the "deluxe" edition of the album, though. Generally, I'm interested in the second disc of all "deluxe" versions, but more often than not, they're plain disappointing. A few b-sides that shouldn't have come out from the other side of the vinyl and outcast demo versions, supplemented by suprisingly poor quality live cuts does not merit me spending an extra $5 on an album that I've already bought, but Ted's second disc, the Mo' Living EP, was genius. Each one of the songs on the EP had a place on the album, replacing the parts I saw to be unnecessary. I've created my own version of the album, cutting the fat and turning it into one of the best pop albums this year, calling it Just Living. I haven't upped this album just yet, but I'll let you know when I do.

"Only in Dreams" and a break from our regularly scheduled program for a public service announcement.

2007-12-13T01:17:00.000-08:00

It's 1:30am and all I can think about is how much of a tool Mark Consuelos is, though I can't imagine being married to Kelly Ripa is all that much fun. How cool was he when he was on Connect With English? Damn, that was some of the best educational programming I've ever seen.

I'm sitting with my books open, trying to figure out whether studying at this hour is effective or not, even though I haven't actually read anything at all. After writing for two and a half hours during a final (that I studied a total of 14 hours in two days for), I was just burnt out. I still am burnt out and am generally incapable of doing anything.

Yesterday, my former life came back to haunt me a little bit. In the middle of the night, Rivers Cuomo's home demo album leaked, taking me back to a time I would rather not relive. If you think I'm awkward now, you should have seen me in middle school when I was really into Weezer. I'd like to think that Rivers is not the only one to have changed in that time, though I'd like to think that I've changed for the better (I know Rivers hasn't). After listening to everything that album had to offer, I thought about how much I enjoyed Weezer. Today, while studying for my final, I listened to the Blue Album as well as parts of Pinkerton. My god, was it all brilliant. Even "Surf Wax America," which is the song that most grates on my nerves, is still so wonderful to me.

The one song that still stops me today the way it did then is "Only in Dreams." You think about songs like "Buddy Holly" or "In the Garage" and then take "Only in Dreams" into consideration, in all of its eight minute glory, and it's hard to fathom this being the same band. Even "Say It Ain't So" seems a little far off; in my mind, nothing in the Weezer catalog can come close to this. The experience I can most closely relate "Only In Dreams" to is "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out." There are a lot of people who would have me murdered for even thinking of that comparison, much less saying it out loud and even less typing it for the world to read over and over, but they're both very moving experiences for me.

I was forced into a harsh realization earlier. Over the last few months, I've really come to realize how important the people in my life are and how deeply I feel for them, but I realized that I don't always say it enough. I'm on a mission, a crusade even. I'm trying to tell all the people I love how much I appreciate their presence in my life. I am truly blessed by those who surround me. In light of all that, here's my PSA:

To the few of you who actually stumble across this and have stuck with me thus far, I love you. You will never know what you mean to me, and though sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives that we can't physically make the time for one another and we may even drift apart from time to time, I want you to know that you'll always have a special place in my life.

Dirty Projectors - Rise Above

2007-12-10T21:25:00.000-08:00

The Best of 2007: Part Eight

Complexity isn't a vice.

I have a very hard time remembering that sometimes. I heard the Dirty Projectors about a year and a half ago and I was a little more than baffled. I couldn't help thinking about all the art school kids that were so stoked on this sound: a dense, musical vocal exercise with uncommon instruments and standard instruments being played in a very unique way. When I heard about Dave Longstreth's new conquest, I was way intrigued. A reimagined version of a Black Flag classic, reconstructed completely from memory? Hm. It was going to have to be damn good, I decided, because at the rate tribute albums, re-releases and reunions are happening, I'm going to have to completely write off music in the next few years. All in all, the story seemed too good to be true, and yet, there it was being pumped directly into my head.

Longstreth has recorded one of the most interesting albums of the year. Since the album was reconstructed from memory, it is vastly different than the original outside of the general "sound." The songs are much longer; Damaged is about 35 minutes and has 15 tracks, where Rise Above only has 11 tracks, yet is 45 minutes long. Then of course, there's the sound; I mean "Police Story" is a quiet, nylong-string guitar driven beauty. This is pretty bizarre. One of the most startling new compositions is "Gimme Gimme Gimme." There are gentle vocal melodies; the strange thing is that much of the album was recorded on four-track, but the vocal recordings here sound like they were pieced together in ProTools because of how they're stacked to imitate synthesizers, sounding like a much more complex synth line torn from "Such Great Heights." On top of this gentleness, there are absolute drum explosions, bringing in the chorus, that are so jarring, it recalls the sensation of the real Black Flag.

Obviously, this album is not for everyone. Longstreth's vocals fall somewhere on this side of a duck's bleat after being punched and you're especially not going to like this if you're way stoked on Black Flag and only other things that sound like Black Flag. If you can get past all of that, this is definitely an album to have in your life.

Rise Above
pw: sharedmp3.net

The Number 12 Looks Like You - Mongrel

2007-12-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

The Best of 2007: Part Seven

I've been posting about a lot of metal/hardcore/noise albums lately, but I'll go back to posting about real music soon enough.

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I reall don't care. The Number 12 Looks Like You is easily one of the most brutal bands playing music. They were on a record label called Brutal Records, for God's sake. They're a bunch of weird dudes from Bergen County that worship really bad 80s metal, but somehow manage to come out on the other side of post-jazz-grind-screamo nonsense. If the dudes from the Dillinger Escape Plan weren't so elitist when it came to genres (and also hated Mike Patton), this would probably be what they sounded like.

As I mentioned before, finals make me a bit nervous, so I usually resort to listening to music that would make me feel a little bit shaky anyways. The riffs that the dudes in the Number 12 are playing jerk you around so much, it seems unnatural to people that actually listen to metal and grind full time. Mongrel is much heavier than previous Number 12 releases, however, it still manages to keep that Jersey charm; are suburban kids from Jersey inherently more violent and prone to grind than the rest of the country? I will never know.

If there's one song to definitely listen to on the album, it'd definitely be "Paper Weight Pigs." There's this classical gutiar bridge situated squarely in the middle of the song that's pretty mindblowing, besides the reggaeton/double-bass drum outro.

Mongrel

Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm

2007-12-09T15:28:00.000-08:00

Best of 2007: Part Six

Finals really put me in the mood for a few things, one of them being frantic shredding. From the very first notes of this album, it is wildly apparent that Marnie Stern's guitar work qualifies as "shredding." 90% of her fretwork consists of fingertapping and the other 10% is just plain ridiculous, discordant notes. Zach Hill from Hella played the drums on the album, which means that basically every aspect of the album was technically off the wall. The recordings are a schizophrenic nightmare of panning; notes come from all angles as if your two lousy computer speakers somehow had surround capabilities. This is all fine, even exceptional, but what sets this release apart from the gret number of technical, noisy, releases this year? The songwriting is particularly good. It's so easy to lose direction when abandoning traditional song structures for more technical song parts, weaved together loosely, however the album has a good balance of songs both from the traditional school of songwriting, with hooks and all, and also from the post-punk school of "Fuck everything including you and your fascist structured music."

In Advance of the Broken Arm

Every Time I Die - The Big Dirty

2007-12-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

The Best of 2007: Part Five

I can never deny that I used to LOVE hardcore. I loved it so much that I liked really bad hardcore that is absolutely unlistenable now; I mean stuff that is so embarassing that I try to forget I ever was even there. However, some hardcore, I admit to loving still. Last year, one of my favorite albums was the latest Converge album. This year, a wonderful album was released by one of my favorite hardcore acts, Every Time I Die.

I'm sitting at work right now, thinking of everything else I could be doing. Work isn't fun at all. Every Time I Die is fun. I could be listening to Every Time I Die, but not at work. I'm guessing the Ethnic Studies village wouldn't appreciate that too much, even though it is Friday and it is way empty. I like to think of Every Time I Die as the forefathers of the "party hard-core" genre because of their ridiculous affinity for southern rock flavored hardcore and singing about horror movie creatures. Imagine if Andrew WK were actually 27 years old and grew up in Buffalo instead of Michigan, worshipping Converge. The attached video is for the first single from their latest album called "We'rewolf." Not only is the song genius, but a video based on Teen Wolf? There's not much more I can say about this amazing album; I am powerless before you.

The Big Dirty

YACHT - I believe in you. Your magic is real.

2007-12-05T16:51:00.000-08:00

The Best of 2007: Part Four

Simply put, Jona Bechtolt is a hitmaker. Somehow he has found the way to run the fine line between the uber-exclusive indie pop community of the Pacific Northwest and the super hip dance-punk community of places like Williamsburg or even Silverlake. He gained notoriety by putting together beats for one of (contrary to David Byrne's belief) last year's best albums, Paper Television by The Blow. Bechtolt had been added to the lineup of the band, even though he literally mailed in his beats. He quickly left the band after the tour that supported the album to go back to working on YACHT.

The album is a collection of absurd lyrics, great beats and shout outs to Calvin Johnson. Songs like "See a Penny (Pick it Up)" and "Women of the World" have a real self-aware sense of humor that's really hard to find in music. This year saw this release, as well as one of my other favorite albums, Spiderman of the Rings by Dan Deacon. Both of these albums really don't take fun for granted, which is something I really appreciate in music. People take themselves too seriously; music shouldn't be that way. It really should be an escape.

At the beginning of the year, I thought that dance-punk would be one of the big genres to watch. I knew LCD Soundsystem and !!! had put out great albums, however I didn't take into account the smaller artists in the genre, like Jona and Dan Deacon. Of course, now Dan Deacon is one of Future Shock's saints and YACHT has been opening up for Indie 103/KROQ's favorite act, LCD Soundsystem. Hopefully, Jona won't walk to the other side, leaving behind his amazing body of work in the K Records universe.

I believe in you. Your magic is real.

Dntel - Dumb Luck

2007-12-04T15:11:00.000-08:00

The Best of 2007: Part Three

Jimmy Tamborello has never really let me down. I remember listening to Dntel's first full length, Life is Full of Possibilities, and I was blown away. There were beautiful, quiet moments. There were great hooks and there were subtle ambient parts. I never thought that Tamborello would be able to top this album, especially the song "(This is) The Dream of Evan and Chan," which is easily one of the sweetest songs of our generation.

Of course, when talking about Tamborello efforts, the Postal Service can't be ignored. The hooks were just too huge to be ignored, even by Top 40 radio. When you think about "Such Great Heights," it's hard not to think of how different the music of the Postal Service was compared to what Dntel had already done up to this point. The most pop Tamborello had done was really "The Dream of Evan and Chan" and the Figurine album, which was almost as ignored as Strictly Ballroom's recorded work. When Tamborello returned to the more ambient, typically Dublab recordings with the James Figurine album, it was a bit confusing. Just like anyone else, I figured that the bigger hooks would show up a bit more. Everything was in the details with that album.

When the tracklisting for Dntel's new album leaked, I realized that James was looking to compartmentalize his musical life. The album was set to be released on Sub Pop, which is much larger than the Plug Research label that put out the first Dntel record. When the record finally came out, it was a pleasant surprise. Gratuitous, seemingly useless guest spots from people like Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst were negated by the subtle guest spots from Mia Doi Todd, Mystic Chords of Memory and Sub Pop's new great act, Arthur & Yu, who collaborated on the song "The Distance," one of Tamborello's best songs.

Listen to this one in the dark. There's a good chance I'll be doing the same all winter.

Dumb Luck

Los Campesinos! - Sticking Fingers Into Sockets/The International tweeXcore Underground EPs

2007-12-04T12:05:00.000-08:00

The Best of 2007: Part Two

I won't lie. When I first saw the press pictures of Los Campesinos!, I thought they were a bunch of tools. Indie pop is pretty hard to pull off without looking dumb. Little did I know that hiding within this stereotypical looking nouveau-twee band was something worth listening to.

The first EP the band put out this year was the Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP. I figured it had to be worth listening to at least once because Arts & Crafts hasn't really let me down thus far. After signing the Constantines and the Stills earlier this year, they were on a hot streak. The EP is pretty short, but it has these strange moments of diversity. There are only six songs; one is about a minute and a half and another isn't barely 30 seconds. What really stuck out to me was the song "Frontwards." It sounded vaguely familiar and I remembered that Pavement had a b-side by the same name. Upon further listening, it's a very enjoyable version of a song that I've grown to love. The rest of the EP definitely grew on the shoulders of the one song.

What came next was even more surprising. "The International tweeXcore Underground" single came out digitally just after I had really started to enjoy Los Campesinos! Some part of me wanted to fully reject this, just based on the fact that they were a twee band singing about twee specifically. That never seems like a good idea. When the full EP came out, I was fully intrigued. At this point, I knew them as the band that covered Pavement pretty well and had some other proficient songs. The two other songs included on the "tweeXcore" EP were also covers: one by Heavenly and the other by Black Flag; both bands are namechecked in "The International tweeXcore Underground."

I don't know if I'm just a sucker for stuff like this, but bands performing enjoyable covers that they've made their own just kills me. If that band has a few good songs of their own, sign me up.

Sticking Fingers Into Sockets
The International tweeXcore Underground

Bonde do Role - With Lasers

2007-11-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

note: This entry was written a week ago and since then, I have decided to start posting about my favorite albums from 2007. This is the first of those posts.

Recently, I've had moments where the world seems to slow down and my restless leg seems to shake much faster than it should. I haven't posted in two weeks, mostly due to the fact that these particular weeks have been hell on earth. These moments are truly adrenalin-fueled moments, rather than some crappy "Butterfly Efffect" thing (was that what the movie was about? I don't even know). I thought that this phenomena would have peaked on Monday, when I had two papers due, but it came earlier today.

I did something dumb two weeks ago, when I last updated. I prepared, at the last minute, for a discussion that I didn't even have to lead. This week, I was in the process of writing another essay that was essentially late, when I checked my email only to find out that today, I actually had to lead a discussion. I had 15 minutes to read and prepare notes for an article that my professor wrote. I nearly exploded at the moment I figured out what happened.

I seem to have had a lot of similar moments recently. And of course, when I'm sitting at my desk, I tend to think about everything all at once, rather than just the task at hand. The soundtrack for these moments has been Bonde do Role. Their music embodies everything in those moments: it is frantic, yet subtle and it gives me the feeling that I want to run up a wall or throw up or something. To put it simply, it's a genius album. There are ridiculously cheesy metal riffs and sleazy dance beats, but the best part is the elements of traditional Brazillian music contained therein. There are moments of pure funk, tropicalia and even moments that are genre-less, but fully emobody the carioca lifestyle.

With Lasers

Bouncing Souls - "Gone" and another reflection.

2007-11-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

I often forget (or take for granted) how amazing life is. This whole week, I've been beyond tired. The amount of work I have to do over the next two weeks seems unlimited and impossible and it's really taking its toll.

Today, I made a somewhat comical mistake. I got a class email that had a set of discussion questions addressed to certain students who signed up for particular articles. One of them was addressed to me, however I didn't remember signing up for it. I looked at the email an hour before class and I hadn't read the article at all, let alone thought about the answer to any question. I hurredly summarized the piece and answered the questions as quickly as possible. When I got to class, I found out that the question was addressed to the other "Chris." I wasn't even angry or disappointed, but I felt a little defeated. It was hubris and I should have seen it coming. I shouldn't complain so much, I guess.

The reason this really didn't sting so much was that I came to a point of surrender while working. Generally, I find it helpful to listen to something that will keep me awake while I'm working. Today, I chose the Bouncing Souls' Live album. I generally concentrate on the work for the most part and the music just serves as "mood lighting" in a way, but when I got to "Gone," I stopped dead. I was amazed at the fact that I forgot how many rough days the song got me through. The ideas presented in the song were so important to my development as a person as a whole; it was because of this song, I officially changed my life outlook from "realist" to "optimistic realist."

This seems to happen to me a lot. I'll forget about this song, but somehow, providence will bring me back to my central focus and the lyrical intensity of this song just when I need it. The song seems too simple in a certain way, but it is truth to live by.

The album that the song originally came from, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, is simply one of my favorite childhood albums. I was probably in 7th grade and I knew next to nothing about punk, but I had heard "Gone" on Punk-o-rama TV and I liked it the more I heard it. Once I went out and bought the album, I couldn't put it down. Some of the songs contain a sense of longing for the past and the innocence of youth, but the beautiful optimism of the songs really outweighs the grief over the loss of innocence. Friends, please take the time for this album. It will change your life.

Bouncing Souls - How I Spent My Summer Vacation

There's Always Room For More Reflections on The Smiths/Morrissey.

2007-11-14T01:12:00.000-08:00

These last few days have been pretty mentally and physically challenging. I've been working very hard just to keep up and I don't know how much longer I can keep the momentum going.

I've reflected several times over the past few years about the Smiths and Morrissey's influence on my life. I never really wonder what my life would be like without their collective catalogue because it's absolutely unimaginable. I would be a completely different person in a different place; presumably a much less interesting place with a much less interesting life, but that's besides the point. I've just never questioned, "Why?" or "How?" even though I do that in basically every other part of my life, to the point where it becomes ridiculous. I guess what I mean to say is that The Smiths have always been there for me. When I'm having a particularly bad day, I can listen to the same songs I would if I were having a good day, because there's always something there for me.

Take "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" for instance. Of course, there's the patented Morrissey hopeless loneliness and unreturned desire, but at the same time, it's almost hopeful. The violence and vulgarity of Morrissey's frankness is what shows me that though I have these feelings, there is a way I can express them.

With Morrissey's solo career, there seemed to be two extremes. Some of the songs were about despair and absolute hopelessness and most of the others were about this strange optimism, but a lot of those songs came later in the 90s, when the "casual" Morrissey fan seemed to give up on him. One of the songs from this period is "Sing Your Life," which is in the latter category. The song is about taking ownership of your life because there's no one else that could do it as well as you could. I love that.

On a different day, my outlook might be a little different, but I'm particularly reflective today. Today is the day I legally become a man in the eyes of the world. I'm not really sure what it means yet, but I'm trying not to think too much about it, mostly because I don't have the time to stop and let this take over. See you in hell, bros.

The Killers - "All These Things That I've Done"

2007-11-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

2004 was an interesting year. I was coming out of my "I'm not going to listen to it because you listen to it" phase and I was really beginning to fall in love with pop music. Despite this, when I first heard the Killers, I wanted to hate them and I did. I was being beat over the head with "Somebody Told Me," which is a pretty terrible song. I couldn't understand why people kept buying their album and completely raving over it. One day, I was in the car with a friend and she subjected me to listening to the album, from beginning to end. The first song, "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" is adequate, but it projected the Killers that I didn't want to like, then it happened. The hook on "Mr. Brightside" was just too ridiculously glamorous and sparkly to pass up. I had to have it. The next few months were spent buried in the fruitiest sounding hooks I've ever fell in love with.

"All These Things That I've Done" was probably like the third or fourth single off the album. I was so impressed with the song, I was actually happy to hear that it was getting played so much on the radio, be it top 40, adult alternative or the real "alternative" station. Not only is it a five minute song, but it has a pretty long bridge with a tasteful gospel part, which is easily overdone in modern "rock and roll" (see: Fall Out Boy - "Hum Hallelujah; it's not only offensive to the idea of gospel, but also to Leonard Cohen fans as well). The fact that the guitar parts are the hooks rather than the vocal parts in most of the Killers' big songs has bothered me intermittently over the years, but I've come to accept that Brandon Flowers couldn't sing his way out of monotone if his life depended on it. I love the way the organ intro transitions into that stupid cheap sounding synth and how that provides sonic weight throughout the rest of the song, even though it's barely noticeable (it's called the pad... kthx sound engineering).

When I found out that the Killers were releasing a b-sides comp, I was plain confused. They're one of, if not the biggest American band in the world right now and they only have two studio albums out on the market, both with about 12 songs. How could you have enough b-sides to fill an album, even if you augment it with live cuts, demos, etc? How do you expect people to pay $15 for like 3 songs they haven't heard and 9 versions of songs they already paid for? The story gets better because I only found out this morning that there are like 19 tracks on this b-sides comp. Some of the songs were recorded strictly for this album, which sort of makes sense, considering they actually want to market this and get a single or two off of it, but seriously, why?

The Killers' second album, Sam's Town, wasn't all that good. There were some good moments, especially "When You Were Young," which is the best gay Springsteen impression I've ever heard, but it wasn't the first album. The hooks just weren't there. I listened to one of the first songs from the b-sides comp this morning, a song which features Lou Reed. I can sort of understand that; it's a mutually beneficial relationship. The Killers get some legit credit for bringing in Lou Reed and Lou Reed doesn't have to narrarate tai chi videos to make a little extra cash. I understood it until I heard the song. It's terrible. Absolutely unlistenable and devoid of anything remotely catchy. The Flowers monotone is in full force and is killing innocent citizens everywhere.

So here's my plea to the Killers: please go back into the studio and buy yourself some help from the Matrix or some songwriting team who are going to develop your decent ideas into good songs.

Twee Ideals and the Id.

2007-11-07T09:25:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder whether I'm always going to be 14 inside. We could definitely go into the personnel files and delve deep into the reason this is, but that's really the same old story you tell your therapist every week, isn't it? This isn't about how I feel abandoned or how I was raised. This is about how dumb and impressionable I am.

I was reading an entry in Jessica Hopper's excellent blog the other day about her problems with The Darjeeling Limited. She then spoke a little bit about Wes Anderson and how he really brought "twee ideals" into the mainstream. What is it about movies like Rushmore and Bottle Rocket that we all like so much? Any of his later work can be put into the "I like it because it's pretty" category, which Hopper pointed out, but that can't really be said about Bottle Rocket, which is very obviously his first film, though it's a very good first film.

I know that the "twee effect" really has pulled me towards Wes Anderson in the worst way possible. He knew exactly who he was making the movies for. The idea that a filmmaker identified all our collective imperfections and put them front and center was startling, but at the same time, it was beautiful. It's not in the twee spirit to say, "No one ever understands me," because that's overwhelmingly nu-metal and instantly unattractive. It's more twee to just assume that no one will ever understand you and live your life alone, in a state of adolescent regression. I don't remember how old Max Fischer was supposed to be, but he seemed pretty damn old to me.

I guess it's always been like this; any of Cameron Crowe's protagonists is, at any moment, so weighed down by his own neuroses that he can't get past himself and see that there are other people living in the world. I swear to God, the names of all these flawed, sad bastard protagonists are all just anagrams of John Cusack. Taking it a step further, it was really John Hughes, with his identifiable, realistic teens of the 80s and his hip soundtracks that really spoke to the Anthony Michael Halls of the world, telling them that it was okay to talk too fast, because even if you didn't make out with Molly Ringwald, you were still going to be okay. While John Hughes was a notorious "culture vulture," feeding off of stereotypes and building the walls of social divide even higher, both Crowe and Anderson seem like they were misguided in a sense. They thought they could show that being neurotic and eternally wounded could be attractive if the protagonist came to some beautiful revelation, but what they've really done is create a whole generation of nice guys, doomed to walk about in the figurative "fog of Manchester" until they die. Of course, it isn't completely their fault, but certainly, glamorizing a certain kind of lifestyle is what leads us down this path.

The other part of my piece is about the Id, Freud's imagination playground where we all hide our deepest, most vile and base pleasures. When you think about all your most evil thoughts, the ones you don't tell anyone about, they're pretty bad, right? Be honest with yourself. Are these thoughts contingent with the aforementioned "twee ideals?" In my mind, they are as opposite as can be, for obvious reasons. I think about the conscious/subconscious mind and the 10/90 split when I think about the Id. Many who followed Freud have said that the Id was as prevalent as any other part of our minds and we just didn't voice what the Id was telling us, however I submit that the Id is often beneath the waterline of the glacier of our minds, motivating us to hurt those around us, for no other reasons besides love and hate and all the other great motivators.

When it comes to loves and hates and passions just like mine, the Smiths were the band that really changed my life in that regard; I haven't figured out whether their music has done more harm than good or not though. Morrissey's ever present struggles with lust and murderous desire in his lyrics were always counterbalanced by those great, bouncy bass lines and Johnny Marr's twee-rific guitar riffs. The Id was present in those notes; I could feel it breathing and acknolwledging it felt amazing, but something told me that I should keep it inside. There were many people who were threatened by Morrissey intellectually, but no one seemed to be truly ruffled by his persona and it really seems like it all had to do with his bookish charm and the idea that even if he was spouting about his absolute misanthropy, he couldn't shake the twee image of the big glasses, the hearing aid and the gladiolus.

Is it a perception issue with those doing the perceiving or is it an illusion, something within us that wants to mislead people? I'll never really know the answer to that one, I guess, but what I do know is that now, there are a generation of impressionable nancy boys (like myself) who've appropriated the general feeling, while still being a little ashamed of the Id, however present it is in our lives. Where that leaves us is with the twee I started talking about, the twee of childish longing, of uncertainty and utter oblivion.

The first video attached is for Belle and Sebastian's first single off of their 2006 album The Life Pursuit, called "Funny Little Frog." The song is about chasing after someone who doesn't love you and doesn't even know that they were being pursued in the first place. Stuart Murdoch is an amazing songwriter and has written some of my favorite songs of all time, but I recognize his shortcomings, one of which is his obsession with the unattainable. One of my other favorite Belle and Sebastian songs is "Marx and Engels," about meeting a proto-anarcho-punk girl in the laundromat and falling for her. I think Murdoch and twee pop's obsession with the ideal of punks being the unattainable ones to fall for is well documented and just takes all of our collective shortcomings and beats them to death; we're timid and they're headstrong or we're kind where they're brash. Just listen to these examples:

Math and Physics Club - "La La La Lisa"

Jens Lekman - "I Saw Her in the Anti-War Demonstration (live)"

John K. Samson is probably where this story ends for me. As I wandered to class this morning, all I could think about was the Weakerthans. Whenever I get myself into a situation that scares me, I seem to fall back on John K's songs. John K. Samson was in a band called Propagandhi, which is one of the most radical, anarcho-hardcore bands from Canada, which would automatically exempt him from the "twee" pile, however, listening to his songs written for the Weakerthans, he really might belong in that stack. His songs are about longing and loss and there are even a few written from the perspective of his cat, Virtute, which is really twee, when you think about it. John K's songs are so beautifully written and so literate, it makes me want to bury myself in books and write until I die, which is the real problem. Even when I feel like I've escaped from the twee sound and everything it does to me, I can't get away that easily.

This video is for one of the Weakerthans' first singles, "Diagnosis." If I say much more, my point will be overstated. Just find the lyrics.

I'm just beginning to realize what all this means for me. Am I going to stop listening to Belle and Sebastian and all their European spiritual kinsmen? Probably not. Sure, I'm going to watch Say Anything anytime it's on TV, but I know now that Lloyd Dobler is not supposed to be my hero. Seriously, if you were Ione Skye, wouldn't you be a little creeped out if I were out on your lawn, playing Peter Gabriel? This all means that I have to be more mindful of the things I let into my life and the way I let them change me, because God knows that I'm as dumb and impressionable as the next "nice guy."

The Banana Splits - "That's the Pretty Part of You"

2007-11-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

Oh, so you think this is FUNNY BINGO?

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (or The Banana Splits and Friends Show, as many people know it) was a children's program that ran from about 1968-1970. The show was about a band of animals, supposed to be reminiscent of bands like the Beatles or the Monkees, who played disturbingly good children's music. Of course, they would get into some kind of hijinks that allowed for comedic results in funny animal costumes, but it was really the music that made the Splits relevant and kept them there.

Michael Stipe once said that the Banana Splits music was more influential for him than anything the Beatles ever wrote. While I never really got into REM, I was always kind of impressed by this, mostly because I never saw anything great in the Beatles. I understand what they did for pop music, especially the three minute, guitar pop song (they basically invented it), but I didn't much care for their music. When I finally came across a Banana Splits record on the intarwebs the other day, I had to hear it.

Upon further inspection, it turns out there was a reason for the Banana Splits' music being so good. The songwriting was handled by studio musicians, many of whom later became very important in the pop music world. Joey Levine, one of the most influential jingle writers of all time, wrote a few of the songs (Joey Ramone named himself after Levine, if you're wondering why a jingle writer was so important). Al Kooper wrote one of the songs (most notable for his work with Bob Dylan, basically inventing the "rock organ" part on "Like a Rolling Stone") and freaking Barry White wrote another song. The cavalcade of songwriting stars before their respective peaks were in full force with the Splits, and it shows.

The music is pretty much what you'd imagine. It's sort of bastardized, late 60s sunshine pop with great instrumentation that probably shouldn't be in such a low budget children's television show soundtrack. The Sing 'n Play EP was one of the first releases. Apparently, it came with cereal of some sort, or it was a reward for eating a certain amount of cereal. The theme song appears, as well as three other songs. The second song is easily the most notable; it's called "That's the Pretty Part of You." I often forget the "politically correct/incorrect" didn't really exist in the 1960s because the first time I heard the song, I couldn't stop laughing. The song is addressed to a girl who isn't particularly good at anything and isn't good looking either; her "personality" is what makes her pretty, which is code for, "You lead an unfulfilling life, according to my standards, and no, I probably wouldn't date you, but it's cool, we can still be friends." Something about rolling that up into a pop song screams genius to me.

The Banana Splits - "That's the Pretty Part of You"

Autolux - Future Perfect

2007-11-06T00:54:00.000-08:00

Nighttime has never been good to me. I cease to function properly after a certain hour. Well, that's not entirely true, but I definitely don't prioritize things correctly late at night, as evidenced by the time stamps on most of my entries on this blog. Tonight, there are many things I should be doing, but all I can think about is how dark it is outside and how much that makes me want to listen to albums like American Football or Twinkle Echo or Film School.

I've always loved to listen to Autolux in the dark. Two summers ago, I spent many nights in my room listening to this album, focusing on nothing else. If you take away your other senses and just listen, you start to hear things you didn't when you were in the car or walking to class. The immaculate detail in production comes from the budget Autolux had to work with. Not only were the members of the band some of the most influential "alternative" artists of the 90s, but T-Bone Burnett himself handpicked and produced the band. T-Bone seems like he'd be out of his element with dark, ethereal, post-alt rock, but he knew exactly what he was doing... either that or it has to do with Greg Edwards ruling at everything, especially his post-Failure guitar tone.

It's not just the guitar tone that amazes me. Eugene's bass tone and Carla's drumming (SHE WAS IN EDNASWAP, FOR GOD'S SAKE) are equally great. The pace of the songs; the way they slow down just enough for you to catch up, and then the way they pull away from you at the last second.

God save Autolux, because if their next album is a disappointment after so many years of waiting, the 90s are going to be PISSED they let Greg, Carla and Eugene escape with a shred of dignity.

Autolux - Future Perfect

Kanye West - "Can't Tell Me Nothing"

2007-11-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

Dorothy Young,
I am so not anti-hiphop.

I'm just very picky when it comes to hip-hop. I really don't know what it is that determines what I do and don't like. It usually has to do with certain production styles, but that's not always the case.

Kanye's new album, Graduation is not as bad as I initially thought it was. I was initially so disappointed by the fact that the beats sounded so European and synthetic, as compared to Late Registration, but I've found my way through that stage to discover how good the hooks really are. The determining factor here was staying power. "Stronger" got on my nerves a little, just because Daft Punk is a bit dicey for me. I feel like sampling something like that is a mistake, but I can't really say anything, since I'm not a huge Euro-techno-aficionado. The case with Late Registration was that the beats were so strong, it made the hooks better. On Graduation, Kanye's mainly self-produced beats are so simple, that it puts the focus on the lyrical hooks. Songs like "Good Morning" and "Good Life," even "Homecoming," the self-proclaimed "Billy Joel hook" song, have great lyrical/vocal hooks that are not only single worthy, but are good singles at that.

All things considered, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" is really the standout for me. Not only is it like a five and half minute single, but you don't really lose interest, which is the real struggle when you're talking about terrestrial radio. The chorus hook is just so damn good, that you can't say no. I've never seen the value in much of the hip-hop on the radio mostly because of the subject matter (I just found out what "Superman-ing that ho" meant... who does that?), so you either have to shock me with your beats (Timbaland, Benny Blanco, some stuff by Swizz Beats, Dr. Dre) or you have the hooks to outshine the beats. Very few artists can do both, but Kanye is definitely one of them, though it seems like he hasn't had a song since"Heard 'em Say" that had a brilliant hook and a beautiful beat.

So there, D.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - "I Believe I Can Fly"

2007-11-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

There are days when I really resent the Warped Tour. I used to be fully invested in many of the bands who have appeared on that tour, but the older I get, the more I realize how demeaning it is. It's the biggest, easiest, automatically targeted market you could ever hope for, so much so that it's pretty much exploitative. That being said, I come back to appreciating some of the bands that have participated in the tour.

Of course, now that I appreciate all kinds of music, I don't seem to appreciate the music in the same way that I used to. It all sounds very rudimentary to me now, and that's only considering the recording techniques that most of these bands are using (unless they're produced by Brian McTernan or Steve Evetts). This holds true for almost every band except for Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. I've never stopped appreciating them; in fact, I probably appreciate them more now than when I first started listening to them, just because I know more about music now than I did then.

The idea of a punk rock all-star cover band is pretty kitschy and they play that up perfectly, theming their albums and their stage shows to fit the songs. It's quite impressive, considering that Fat Mike is involved (I've never been impressed by anything NOFX has ever done except for their cover of "Olympia, WA"). Their choice of songs is nothing short of amazing, yet they still keep a sense of humor about their being the best punk rock karaoke act out there (more than a few of their official videos contain karaoke scenes).

What probably amazes me most is that they're somewhat prolific. I understand that there's no songwriting involved, but to have so many albums and singles out there when the guy from NOFX and the lead guitarist from Foo Fighters are in your band is pretty impressive.

R. Kelly's mid 90s masterpiece, "I Believe I Can Fly" was sort of an anomaly. It was written, produced and arranged by the man himself and won three Grammys all while being the theme song for Space Jam, a movie everyone under 25 has seen, but probably doesn't remember (or want to remember). When you think about what R. Kelly has done since then, it's easy to forget that there was a time he didn't seem so insane. Multi-part hip-hoperas and explicit videos with teenagers seem to point in a certain direction, but R. did some things right.

Spike Slawson (of Swingin' Utters) takes R.'s masterpiece to a new level. Usually, "punk" singers don't pride themselves on their vocals, but on their delivery. With Spike, these things are inseparable. He has a way of crooning without being comforting and delivering the lines with intensity without losing the feel of the original songs. To play a truly effective cover, a band has to take it and make it their own without destroying the original, which is a very difficult balance issue; it could easily be too bland or too different. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are really great at destroying songs outside of the realm of power chords and really building them back up again.

Fragile Fawn - "Indian Giver"

2007-11-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

As much as I like to say that I listen to "everything," it's mostly an attempt to do one of two things. Sometimes, I just don't feel like explaining myself. I listen to good music. I don't have the patience to ennumerate the genres that make up "good" music. The other reason I tell people I listen to everything is because I don't like talking about my pop music obsession. I am really in love with pop music... to the point that it's become embarassing to my friends and myself. Sometimes, I'm ashamed to talk about my pop obsession because it gets mistaken for a love of conventional, radio pop. While, sometimes, I am referring to something that is getting heavy airplay, usually I'm just talking about simple music with great hooks.

There's something so special about discovering new pop music for me. Yeah, being an early adopter of whatever new buzz genre band is cool, but discovering really great pop is special because so many people try to do it, but there are so few who do it well. Sifting through the sands of new pop music rarely yields anything of note. When I came across Fragile Fawn's myspace profile, I had one of those eureka-type moments. Plain and simple, this is damn good pop music. I can't advocate enough for this band. I heard that the kid playing guitar/banjo (by the way, I think it's actually all guitar, but how do you play a guitar like that?) is like 17 and studying at Berklee, which makes sense, considering not only his technical ability, but his song arranging.

When I still worked at KXLU, I had to sum Fragile Fawn up in a few words, even though it really requires so much more. What it basically was whittled down to was "Foot Foot with a 16 year-old twee pop spirit," which means I'm immmediately in love. I had only heard two of their songs at this point and I was immediately impressed. Then I heard "Indian Giver." This is like a damn Beach Boys song. Not the "Surfin' USA" Beach Boys, but I mean some heavy Pet Sounds lifting. There's so much going on in this song, I can barely handle it. I have to listen to it at least twice every time I hear it, just because I feel like I didn't get it all the first time. It's not easy to write songs like this without losing direction, but it somehow all stays on the tracks.

Enough geeky worship. Listen.

Fragile Fawn - "Indian Giver"
Fragile Fawn on Myspace

Sleater-Kinney - "You're No Rock and Roll Fun"

2007-11-01T00:53:00.000-07:00

All Hands on the Bad One was the first Sleater-Kinney album I listened to in my misguided youth. I had just learned about the wonders of copying CDs on to my computer and was combing the local public library music collection for anything new. At this point, I was probably still listening to a good amount of music that only contained double stops (hammer-ons if it was a super technical band) or a brass section was involved somehow. I had barely listened to the Clash, but Joe Strummer's albums with the Mescaleros somehow jumped out at me from the library shelves, as well as albums by Quicksand, the Velvet Underground and Morrissey. Sleater-Kinney's album was a curious case, however. It wasn't that there was more than one copy in the library system, but that there were two copies sitting right next to one another on the shelf. Since I was probably about 14, I didn't have a clue as to what that meant, but every damn time I would go back, there those two copies of the gray and orange CD would be sitting.

Finally, I decided to take it home and give it a listen. I didn't get it. Joe Strummer, now there's a guy I could get behind. He's way punk and I didn't know anything about riot grrl, let alone the Pacific Northwest (outside of say... Nirvana). My primitive brain could barely handle the complexities of To Kill a Mockingbird at this time. What makes you think I'd understand two guitars and a drummer WITHOUT a bass player?

Thank god I revisited the album some years later (a lot later than I'm happy to admit). I made myself a hard copy of the CD and then my hard drive crashed. When I was re-ripping my music on to my new computer, I came across the CD and really listened to what I had missed out on all those years where the album sat next to all those damn Travis CDs that I copied as well.

"You're No Rock and Roll Fun" is probably one of my favorite Sleater-Kinney songs. Who knew the girl from Heavens to Betsy could sing without screaming and write a great pop song at that? If someone were to tell me that knowing only of the K Records era girl bands, I wouldn't believe it. The guitar riffs are complicated, but not difficult and the drumming of Janet Weiss is something special. It's funny saying that, considering all the other songs that Janet plays, be it with Sleater-Kinney or with Quasi; the drum parts on a lot of Sleater-Kinney's early recordings are a bit tame, but the technique is there. In the later years, the recordings got better, especially the drum sound. There were no more hesitations, no tentativeness, but the exacting timing and technique were still there.

I had the pleasure of seeing Janet Weiss' drumming up close last night as she played with Quasi. I've always really admired her drumming, but seeing it live took my respect to a whole new level. It seemed like she was playing every song as if it were the last Sleater-Kinney show. What I'm trying to say is that there is no "off" position for musicians like that, and that's probably the most admirable quality in any aspect of life.

I probably shouldn't be reflecting on the genius of Janet Weiss' drum sound at 1am, so I leave you with this, another great youtube find. I don't need to explain it and I don't know that I could even if I really wanted to.