What the world needs now... MUXTAPE #3

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!

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

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)

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

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.

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.

DUDE.
SERIOUSLY?
SINCE WHEN?

Beat It

Damn you, Justin Conway

+

=


I see things in little orange and purple pegs now:

The Mountain Goats - "This Year" and This Year

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

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