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

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?

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?

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.

Nomination for greatest band of our time

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?

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?

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?

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?