My Fear is Naked

I've been on a bit of a Tool kick lately, and I'm assuming it's some subconscious reaction to the fact the new album is about one month away from being released (May 2). Allegedly it's going to be called 10,000 Days, but I doubt that.

Then again, Maynard and company do always have hard-ons for number theory, so who knows. I'm just hoping the album isn't perfect. Lateralus was almost perfect, and it came close to driving me nuts. But still, I can't listen to that album without wincing, because I'm pretty sure I know what the next album's going to sound like. (Something akin to what No. 4 by Stone Temple Pilots, Adore by the Smashing Pumpkins or the three-legged dog album by Alice in Chains.)

Hopefully I'm wrong. We need some hard rocking bands right now that aren't post-punk bands, or dumbshit neo-metal bands like The Sword or Early Man. Tool and The Mars Volta are rock saviors or goats, depending on what they each come up with next.

On a semi-related note, J. Mascis' Witch is actually pretty damn great. Who would have thought blending an avant-folk band (Feathers) with pre-grunge would result in the second coming of Led Zeppelin.

It's actually totally absurd. I'm feeling rather disoriented at this moment...

I cleaned my room today. And vacuumed the floor. And drank at least four Tropicana sugar free lemonades. Watched the latter portion of Pulp Fiction, which is always a treat. Lost was pretty jacked up today too. Oh, and I did laundry and alphabetized my CDs. I didn't write much today (just interview questions for Gram Rabbit and AIDS Wolf). I think that trend will continue tomorrow, as my brain needs a rest. I'm scheduled to interview J'aime from Islands on Friday at noon. And it appears, though I don't want to jinx anything, that I'm going to be interviewing The Legendary Pink Dots, Daniel Johnston and the former guitarist of Iron Butterfly.

Cowboy Up

I realized when the new Gram Rabbit arrived the other day that Madonna could have been Jesika Von Rabbit had the former been born in Wisconsin and moved to the California desert and got all involved in the occult instead of being born in Detroit and gravitating to New York and boning Jean-Michel Basquiat.

But, I suppose that's what happens in these more conservative times. Jesika could have been a big ol' dance party whore, but instead she's interested in Christianity, the occult and Charles Manson and perfectly happy to hang out in the desert with three dudes (one of whom is a Tim Harrington clone). And that's also probably part of the reason why her band's sophomore album Cultivation is 1,000 times better than the Dresden Dolls' Yes, Virginia.

Where Yes, Virginia feels rushed and contrived, Cultivation pushes boundaries. Instead of trying to, say, cultivate a hit, Gram Rabbit went with their drugged out inspirations creating a better and actually less hit-friendly album than its predecessor.

I decided to compare these two bands for a number of reasons: they both have amazingly hot and powerful frontwomen (at least we thinkg Amanda's a woman), they both kinda boomed in 2004/2005 and I stood next to Jesika while watching The Dresden Dolls at Coachella. That doesn't really mean anything. But in my head the two bands are linked now. So, congrats, Jesika. Amanda might be winning the monetary war, but you've got her aesthetically.

Since I have writer's block I'm going to stop chatting now, except to say "Angel Song" and "Jesus & I" are tracks I can't get enough of. (When I listened to Yes, Virginia I just kept waiting for each song to be over...)

Oh, and that new show Teachers is terrible. Not even Sarah Shahi from The L Word can help it. I can't even believe she took the job. Maybe she was sick of making out with ladies.

Burning Down the House

I'm in the process of trying to win/purchase some Talking Heads vinyl records on Ebay. It's going well so far...none over $6 or $7 including shipping. I'm thinking about asking for their box set for Christmas. Or the Sin City collection because I'm getting into graphic novels now.

That's right folks. It took a few years, but I learned, finally, that I'm a comic book geek. I poured through Batman: The Dark Knight Returns today and am about 1/6 of the way through Watchmen, which apparently is the graphic novel. (It's good so far.)

I was thinking about buying the new Ghostface Killah and Yeah Yeah Yeahs records on Tuesday, but then I remembered I really don't like either of them very much. They're just going to be so cheap ($6.99 and $9.99 respectively) I can't even handle it. Plus I'm going to be in New York City from April 8th to April 15th and would like to have a tiny bit of spending money to buy fun vinyl stuff or even fun CD stuff at a fun record store down there.

Also must save money for Flaming Lips and TV on the Radio, especially now that the latter is on a major and I probably won't be able to get the album for free because major labels are stupid.

The L Word season finale was ok, but too many cliches: (Absentee dad comes back, bride leaves bride at alter, psycho mom kidnaps baby, surprise middle-aged pregnancy, budding relationship hits crossroads, stalled relationship hits crossroads, spoiled daughter gets cut off...) This was one hour, folks. On a positive note, the shit's hitting the fan next week on the Sopranos...

Dashboard Confessionals from a Boy Setting Albatrosses on Fire

Bear with me here. I'm feeling out a few arguments for my thesis, using this because it's a little more inviting than microsoft word. That program's so sterile and cold sometimes I can hardly bear it. Consider this a rough rough draft.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about aesthetic and emotional honesty in music, and why critics like myself can spot a band's bullshit from a mile away and why millions of people cannot or don't want to. It seems like a rather clean cut "critic" vs. "audience" discussion aesthetics classes have all the time. But I'm also trying to reconcile the fact that genuine shit exists. No, not Sum-41 that's genuine shit. I mean, say, the new Dresden Dolls album, or the fourth Deftones album or the latest Jonah Matranga Sketchy EP or Thursday's War All The Time. They're all albums created from what I can tell are open and honest intentions, but they're all flat and seem contrived. And maybe they are contrived because of label, personal or fan pressure to recreate a moment they once created.

I want to get at the root of why an album (or even a live performance) has "it," that unnamed carthartic element that separates high art from bullshit. It's, of course, an imperfect science because art is so subjective and personal. The best solution I can come to so far is to pinpoint certain bands at their respective peaks, whether that peak be an album or a series of releases and describe what it is that separates them :

The Flaming Lips: their constant exploration of both music and showmanship
The Arcade Fire: their intense humility*
Nine Inch Nails: Trent Reznor's demons
Radiohead: Thom Yorke's demons
Beck: exuberance, music appreciation
The Locust: prodding the line between what an audience can and cannot handle
Les Savy Fav: treating every show like an art exhibition
Kill Me Tomorrow: losing themselves within their dark underbelly
Fugazi: standing by their ideals while pushing themselves as far as possible musically
Devendra Banhart: blending lost arts with new poetics

Just in that list I see a few patterns emerge:

Dealing with inner emotion and funneling them through the amps
Never settling for status quo
Embracing music as art without worrying about "pretension"
Digging into the past as influence, not guiding principle or direct forefather

I'm sure there are more, but I'm kind of tired.

Anyway, I got on this kick because I watched Dashboard Confessional in a live performance today on MTVHD and admired the fact he still sang all of his songs with the heart it sounded like he was singing with on his first two records. He, along with Thursday, Saves the Day and a few others embody the merge between punk, hardcore and emo. That coalescing might be another element: when an artist is caught up in a movement their fans or the media created--turning their albums into instant classics whether they want them to or not. Their albums have been canonized and revered and overplayed and left for dead.

But there was a reason they became so popular and insighted such a cultural paradigm shift--they meant what they sang about...whether it was about adulterous hair, Ian Curtis or crucifixion.

It also needs to be noted that he was playing in Colorado in front of uber-fans a solid six years after after he began ravaging my college campus. (that just speaks to cultural divisions...I mean, seriously...there were dudes in the crowd singing every single line. That was tolerable-ish six years ago, but it's over now)

Really though, it does interest me that living in such a hugely pop-cultured area causes me to see musical shifts monthly--and in some towns in Colorado a band like Dashboard still affects the kids there. But, it's understandable they'd still be attached to him in some ways. I was watching a Bruce Springsteen thing before the Dashboard thing, and both artists have some of that unnamed appeal: I'll just call it emotional honesty. They mean what they're delivering--even if the boss's delivery is better. I can think of a lot worse things than listening to Dashboard, who, truth be told, can write a goddamned catchy, emotional song--it's just too bad he won't enunciate and he got swept up in a "movement."

So, you'll ask, "What if Sum-41 or My Chemical Romance really means what they're singing about." I firmly believe there's an originality clause in music and musical study. It's why The Arcade Fire works: sure, Win might sound a tad like the David Byrne, but they also sound like a country orchestra--not even Wilco has found such a common ground between new wave, country and rock. Or why Dashboard worked: no one was singing acoustic punk songs about real relationships when he did it. Or why Nirvana worked: Kurt Cobain's voice sounds like nothing before it or since.

In a nutshell, I mean emotional honesty is just part of the equation. It needs artistic exploration as well. That's why I can't take Franz Ferdinand and co. seriously--I didn't like it the first time, when it was called Gang of Four. And why I have trouble with Tool now, because I got into King Crimson. (although Maynard's inner demons do take them to another plane.)

I'm listening to the new Boy Sets Fire. There are gorgeous moments and there are dorky ones. As a whole, I like it because they're trying something new for them. It's almost like they've been listening to Megadeth at times, which is both good (great amounts of anger) and bad (there are parts that are way too polished). And they're still political, which is very admirable in this era of disaffection.

Anyway, I've rambled enough. And lost enough credibility by discussing an emo icon as a legit artist.

*I make an assumption with The Arcade Fire that they will be able to maintain their debut album's majesty.
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P.S.
ok. i've been trying to get shots like these two at the Che ever since I started taking pictures. When they actually turned out I may or may not have popped a boner. Thank you An Albatross.

more awesome CDs.

I don't want to go to bed yet, so I'm going to discuss a few CDs we've gotten lately that are totally awesome*:

(or at least a little awesome):

Oxbow's Love That's Last: a psychodrama filtering in and out of your transom at lo-fi, psychedelic and epic proportions--sometimes all at once, but usually split up. "Insylum" is by far the best song.

Grizzly Bear's Sorry For the Delay: totally lo-fi, moody bedroom recordings. I don't really know that much about the band, but we're working on that...

Thee More Shallows' Monkey Vs. Shark: emo Lou Reed would be a little too innacurate. Maybe emo Yo La Tengo? (worst album name ever, however)

Release the Bats (A 31G Tribute to The Birthday Party): um, Year Future, Cattle Decapitation, Get Hustle, Celebration, The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, Ex Models, Some Girls, Kill Me Tomorrow, Das Oath, Melt Banana...have you had enough?

Islands' Return to the Sea: Two of the Unicorns return for some collective country-ish fun with Busdriver and Subtitle. mmm...

Home's Sexteen: Somebody's been listening to uncle Jason's They Might Be Giants collection...and smoking weed.

Voices and Organs' Orphanage: Pastiche-y absurdly created dreamscape recordings with pretty, distorted vocals. That's pretty and distorted. Not pretty distorted.

Chas. Mtn.'s Hugs: Intense, hypnotic folk. They're really, really good.

Magik Markers' A Panegyric to the Things I Do Not Understand: Sure it's noise, and I'm not the biggest noise fan. But I love Elisa Ambrogio's vocals.


*It must be noted that this high concentration of awesome comes with bad news: The new Dresden Dolls is actually worse than I expected it'd be. Also, given this amount of good stuff, I'm anticipating a very large drought later this year. But maybe not.

We also got a CD by a psycho named Angel Corpus Christi who released an entire album of Lou Reed covers and covers of songs about/dedicated to Lou. It scares me.

V for President Bush is a fucking dick

Before going to see V For Vendetta yesterday, we listened to Ebert and Roepper's take on the movie. They liked it, but gave the very politically correct assessment that the movie's conclusions and opinions were rather convoluted. Ebert was confused as to whether they meant the current administration (do you notice how no one in the media has the balls to call out the President and his cronies by name?), Hitler or if it was just a retelling of 1984. Roepper was less diplomatic, but more wrong, in saying it was Hitler and the Nazi's whom the Wachowski Brothers attacked.

They were both oh so wrong. Thank God.

The Wachowski's set up a plot set in the past, present and possible future. They keep Alan Moore's setting (England) and in so doing add even more complexity to their Bush bashing.

V For Vendetta shows an alter-England in the future run by a Bush/Hitler rightie demon who preys on his subjects, living off their fear. What is called "America's war" (which you can only assume is the "war on terror") has destroyed the country, leaving it in drought, disease and civil war. But you can't be naive enough to think that's all they mean.

The movie's fascist leader, Adam Sutler is Bush, is Hitler, and is Big Brother. He manipulates the media with everything from bombings to the Avian Flu to keep people scared. And he calls the movie's "freedom fighter" a terrorist.

My favorite line in the movie goes something like, "People do not need to fear its government, the government needs to fear its people." That's a direct statement to the people in this country who buy Bush's constant lying and truth manipulation. Consider: there are already movie "critics" admonishing the film for condoning terrorism.

V for Vendetta's a warning to everyone to wake up and stop worrying about anything other than righting the ship in America. Their setup allows for a nice universality (this could be any country in the world) their exaggerations aren't that far from the truth (the media manipulation, cultivating of biological weapons for control and monitoring systems) and it's an enjoyable film.

Granted, the U.S. isn't ultimately in that bad of shape--Bush will be gone soon enough. But if we have let Bush get away with all he has gotten away with, what's to stop someone even worse. And that's why the Wachowski brothers employed the ambiguity that plagued poor Ebert.

Unfortunately I don't think people will get it. No one has or wants any sort of critical thinking ability in this culture of excess. And those that do (me included) aren't doing shit about it. At least the Wachowskis made this movie. Let's hope they're not crucified in the media as terror mongers, arrested, tortured and executed.

news and notes post

I saw the Animal Collective the other day. It was a weird mix of people at the show (500 capacity) because they're friends with a lot of San Diego musicians, so the usual people were there (peppermints, ex-business lady, mr. and mrs. tribute to ugliness, the che folks, Chris Woo) BUT the Animal Collective has also been in Spin. And Rolling Stone. so there were plenty of the abercrombie kids there too, which was weird, but expected.

What I didn't expect was the Animal Collective to be as heavy as they were live. Lots of screaming and lots of crazy panda bear percussion. I don't think the crowd really knew what to do with themselves, which is always fun.

Most importantly though, BARR went over really well. He told me some of the dates on the tour were 1,500 capacity sellouts, which has got to be intimidating for a dude who's up there doing spoken word by himself. He also told me an interesting story about The Arcade Fire peeps, which I probably shouldn't relate here.

Just in case.

Anyway, I got a CD by an insane band called Gays in the Military. As you can see in the photo, the dudes are old, hairy and crazy, and, in my opinion, better than The Hold Steady at claiming the crown the Murder City Devils left wide open when they broke up.

The Hold Steady signed with Vagrant, who are partially owned by Interscope. This intrigues me because it signals them holding up a white flag in regards to emo, I think. I wonder who else they're gunning for. Should be interesting to watch unfold.

I'm going to see, hopefully, An Albatross, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, His Name is Alive, A Whisper in the Noise and Arab Strap next week. Three shows in three nights, two in San Diego and one in L.A.

I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.

Also saw the Blackheart Procession. They were ok--I like the new CD a lot better, but that might just be because I was standing next to a psychotic black chick who kept screaming all kinds of amazing things like, "Chula Vista Represent," "Miles Davis, Mothafucka" and "I'm in an all girl, all black punk band, nigga! Rocket From the Crypt is producing our album."

I was making fun of her to Gabe from The Locust and he said he had a run-in with her when he was in high school. Apparently he and Jimmy LaValle from The Album Leaf went to school together and ran into her at a coffee shop. They didn't know she was insane at the time, so they took her up on her invite to hang out at her place.

When she started taking off all her clothes, they ran.

Best story ever.

Oh, and Sons and Daughters is the worst fucking television show that's trying to be edgy I've seen in a long time.

justasoulpatch*

I'm listening to The Black Angels, who are sorta dark, sorta Velvet Underground-ish. They're OK. Actually my first choice was Sunset Rubdown, the dude from Wolf Parade's darker, more experimental side project, but my $25 portable CD player won't play burned CDs, which, of course, is what the record label sent me because that's the new cheap thing.

As I was saying, The Black Angels are OK. I'd put them in the background in a sleezy movie. But, every once in a while I get this HUGE Oasis vibe from them, and that "Roll With It" song keeps filtering in and out of my brain while I'm listening to the CD. Which is oddly cool.

Anyway, www.auralminority.com has been bombarded with promos lately, many of which are from bands I've never heard of who are actually good:

Mason Proper (Kinda like Belle and Sebastian, but not British. That makes sense when you hear it.)
Helvetia (my early fav for album of the year, so far. kinda mixes modest mouse, sunny day real estate, sebadoh and the flaming lips. let that float around in your little brains. I'm also panicking because I can't find it. but i think it's in my car...)
A Whisper in the Noise (Shellac endorsed post-Nick Cave stuff, sorta like Black Heart Procession, but better)
The Seconds (what I would later learn was the sideproject of Brian from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and that dude from Ex Models)
Zuinosin (best Japanese band this side of Afrirampo)
Foot Foot (shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!)
Sunset Rubdown (aforementioned)

and a couple surprises:
Shoplifting (saw them live, wasn't impressed)
The Rogers Sisters (ditto)

and a couple mainstays:
Man Man (circus freaks)
Mae Shi (punk freaks)
Year Future (political goth punk freaks)
AIDS Wolf (post-Arab on Radar noise punk)
Rose For Bohdan (love punk)

and, given the amazing wrapup post by Nick Dean about the more mainstream stuff that's about to come out, this year should be rather dastardly amazing.

That's right folks. Dastardly amazing.

Now The Black Angels sound kinda like the Secret Machines, but not as powerful. I still don't really like it. Now I'm listening to The National.

This was a lame post...



*This Thunderbirds are Now! reference is regarding the fact I got bored with my beard and shaved it all off today, except of course for my soulpatch. Gotta leave something.

Now it hurts, is itchy and breaking out. I can't wait til it grows back.

I also believe I've contracted a nice case of athlete's foot too. That's what I get for starting to excersize again. Tough Actin' Tinactin my ass. The shit burns like a mother and takes like 3 weeks.

Big Floppy Donkey Dick

Ok. The Oscars just ended a few hours ago and for the first time ever I watched the piece of trash in its entirety, simply because Jon Stewart was hosting. Already accounts are popping up all over the internet saying clever things like "Memo to Jon Stewart: Keep Your 'Daily' Job" and "You would have been more amused Sunday night if you‘d revved up your TiVo and played back an evening‘s worth of Daily Show with Jon Stewart reruns while you tracked Oscar winners on the Web."

Normally I'd defend one of my favorite comedians after a disastrous public appearance such as this one--but it was all his fault for taking the job. He knew it. You could see it in his face. He completely and utterly neutered himself. He lacked any sort of edge, and any edge he presented was stared at blankly by pretentious, uppity fucks like Charlize Theron and Joaquin Phoenix, or dumbs like Michelle Williams, Keira Knightley and Reese Witherspoon.

Sorry that Stewart sorta/kinda/maybe made fun of your "art" folks--your "art" no one, including yours truly--even went to see. Sure, I saw Walk The Line, (which, sorry Joaquin, was just the white version of Ray--the cameras caught Phoenix giving Stewart a death look. It's not Stewart's fault you decided to become an alcoholic for the role and have to go into rehab.) and sorta wanted to see Capote (only because of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener), but had ZERO interest in Goodluck and Goodnight (or whatever it's called), Brokeback Mountain or Crash. I'd just rather not go to the movies for a nap. I'd rather see something completely inventive (David Lynch psycho babble) or the new X-Men movie. That's because every single dramatic film I've seen over the last few years has been exactly the same, including the strange dark comedies I enjoy. Film is such a boring and formulaic medium and nothing is doing anything for me in the "multiplexes." I can't remember any movies I've seen in the past year other than The Devil's Rejects. That's pretty sad.

I even recently rented Nine Lives and The Memory of a Killer, one an indie (I think) and another a Belgian film everyone's raving about.

Not even remotely impressed.

I don't know. Maybe it's because I've started reading again. Maybe it's because television has started to clean house in terms of creativity and talent. Actually, the latter makes a lot of sense--if well-written, carefully planned shows like The Sopranos, The Shield, Six Feet Under, The Office, The L Word, Invasion, Deadwood, Rome, Weeds and Lost can captivate you for an entire year (or at least a few months), how can a two-hour film that simply brushes the surface of a plot even compete?

Being the conspiracy theorist I am, I'm sure the "academy" gave Jon Stewart a three-minute window to be funny before exclusively showing audience reactions by uppity assholes after every joke. I think my favorite part of the evening was when he showed a string of homoerotic clips from Westerns right in a row, and they panned to Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams. Williams had no idea what to do. She had this look of absolute horror on her face, and Ledger leaned in and said, "That's funny!" I saw something that said Stewart would be lumped into the Chris Rock/David Letterman class of Oscar hosts.

That's not bad company to be in, considering Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin weren't even genuinely funny when they actually were "funny." They had 1980s Joan Cusack humor. It's lame. But apparently what Hollywood wants. Maybe that's why their city is one of the most disgusting, urine-stained and embarassing places on the face of the planet. They're all so doped up on anti-depressants, cocaine OR scientology they don't even have a grip on reality anymore.

It was almost like all of Hollywood had never seen The Daily Show, which is probably very true. They're busy people. Busy getting into character for roles, snorting coke, working out and pretending to care about the rest of the world.

I'm sorry, but an actor is just that. They're, in the words of Julianne Moore, pretending. Playing make believe. It's the writers and directors who deserve nearly all of the artistic accolades--unless it's one of those truly great actors, people like Hoffman, Keener, Jeffrey Wright, William H. Macy or John Turturro--people who actually do bring something unique to each unique character they play....

I don't know. I just can't get that self-righteous smirk from Charlize Theron out of my head. Or the flippant way she fluttered her eyelids when Stewart cracked a joke about her. He should have just gone balls to the wall after the first few jokes bombed and torn Hollywood a new one--because as it stands now, he just looks like a pussy.

other notes:

*It's nice to see Jessica Alba has entered the "Ok, I got famous with my ass and boobs, now it's time to starve myself" phase of her career, following in the footsteps of Lindsay Lohan and Christina Ricci.
*Why can't every pair of presenters do a bit as awesome and funny as Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep's?
*Will Ferrell and Steve Carell were hilarious.
*What the fuck was Naomi Watts wearing? I'm surprised Dick Cheney didn't shoot her, along with Bjork (inside ba dum bum)
*No offense, but how did Uma Thurman get into the "Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson" presenter category? I mean, she's hot, but, um, they're kinda legends...