Spanning Time

Staff dodgeball. I'm Batman

2008-08-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

Comic Con!!

2008-07-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

I went to Comic Con this year with about 140,000 sweaty, smelly, overdressed (and underdressed) losers. It was a painful experience, but a few cool things happened:

I ran into Claudio Sanchez from Coheed & Cambria and gave him a copy of Geek's September issue, for which I interviewed him about his five favorite graphic novels.

I also saw Mick Foley:

James Duval (This one's for that Gregg Araki lovin' Nick Dean):

Tori Amos:

Lou Ferrigno:

Joanna Angel:

And, of course, Method Man, who I interviewed for Geek.

Blanco Mice

2008-03-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

I'm interviewing White Mice for Rock A Rolla. Since they're one of those bands who exude a ridiculous persona, I sent them an email asking if they'd answer in character, or seriously.

Here was the the band's response:

"sorry for delay, hard to keep up with everything at once last week. We would answer the questions in character, no one cares who we really are, and no matter what, the answers are bound to be irreverent, stupid and inventive. We will fill in the facts as best we can but we always speak in our own language which we call "boobonics". The standard fact sheets and band bio mental midget bullet points I can send to you, but our answers and ideas are usually beyond/below reasonable interview territory. Every band projects some image, even the most holier than thou "no gimmicks" artists, ripped sweater faux folkies/ indy kids, metal dudes, etc, much of the big business of music comes to us a preconfigured package, a commodity, and complete with a very professional cover story, biography and glossy photo. etc. An image refined. We find it all totally hideous and funny and we reflect that in our project. We unrefine music, where others would spoof we would spoor. It is all about the anthropomorphic bad joke against humanity like zombie movies are made in bad taste. You can ask the questions, but you might not actually want to know what we think, its usually very wrong. Lettuce know.

cheese!"

Breakfast

2008-03-18T10:12:00.000-07:00

This is my latest obsession: buying vanilla yogurt topping it with various fruits I've purchased. It's so much better than store-bought yogurt. I've tried strawberries, bananas, blueberries, kiwi, raspberries and blueberries.

Today is raspberries, which I purchased despite being $4.99.

In other news: I've been loading a ton of CDs onto the computer to put onto our new 80GB Ipod and I'm going crazy because I'm only at the F's (Fiery Furnaces, to be exact) and our computer's memory is about big enough to fit 20GB.

Rapper to look out for: Kail. He's an ultra-vulgar Los Angeles culture critic whose debut (True Hollywood Squares) will be out on April 22 (Alpha Pup).

In the past couple of days I've seen Dan in Real Life twice, No Country for Old Men and American Gangster. I'd seen Dan in the theater, and still really like its weird, oddly happy, white family vibe like The Family Stone and, to a lesser extent, The Squid and the Whale.

I'm convinced that the main reason No Country for Old Men was so successful was because there was no music throughout the whole movie. The lack of outside influence makes just the characters matter, and adds an extremely potent amount of tension. Loved it. They also omitted the proper elements of the book to make the story stand strong.

American Gangster wasn't too bad. I always have difficulty following mob movies the first time I see them because of all the character names and then trying to figure out who's bad, who's good and who's good/bad. Because I'm concentrating so much on this, I miss a lot of key dialogue, further confusing me.

Anyway, after we watched the movie, Jen looked up to see what was true and not true about the movie. Most was pretty accurate, but Frank Lucas only served five years in jail for his initial crimes, not 15. (Completely inexplicable!!) We also learned that he's friends with Sean "Puffy" Combs' dad, who was/is an actual gangster.

Furthermore, Jen also saw an L.A. Times article that ran yesterday that alleges P. Diddy ordered 2Pac's death.

hmm....

upcoming releases

2008-03-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

I've had trouble getting my hands on a few a few releases I've been looking forward to for a while. Not surprisingly, two are clients of the same publicity firm. Oddly, they come out on the same day. The other two are major label artists, and although I consistently get emails from one of their publicity firms, they will not answer the ones I send back.

3/18 She & Him Volume 1
The Kills Midnight Boom
4/1 R.E.M. Accelerate
4/29 Portishead Third

In addition I'm getting more and more advances lately, and they arrive personally watermarked, but without any sort of album artwork. So I tend to buy them on vinyl, since I can just rip the CD-Rs they send and pop them on the Ipod. Here's that wishlist:

3/4 Cadence Weapon Afterparty Babies
3/25 The B-52s Funplex
Singer Unhistories
4/8 The Breeders Mountain Battles
Tapes N Tapes Walk It Off
Man Man Rabbit Habits
4/15 Does It Offend You, Yeah? You Have no Idea What You're Getting Into
Power Douglas Pentecostal Fangbread
5/20 Islands Arm's Way

When I most recently went to Amoeba in L.A., I returned a bunch of shit and somehow got $146 in credit. I was expecting maybe $50. Here was my haul:

Vinyl:
Radiohead's OK Computer
Q and Not U's No Kill No Beep Beep
The Locust's New Erections
The Shins' Chutes Too Narrow
Vampire Weekend's Vampire Weekend

New CDs:
Grayskul's Bloody Radio
Grayskul's Deadlivers
Bat For Lashes' Fur and Gold

Used CDs:
Pearl Jam's Vs. (used to own on cassette, had a burned copy)
Menomena's Friend and Foe

For Jen's parents:
Goo Goo Dolls greatest hits (Jen's dad)
Amoeba T-shirt (Jen's mom)

I'm currently listening to this album by Extra Life called Secular Works. Apparently the mastermind behind this band used to be in that freak free jazz outfit ZS. Instrumentally it's kind of gloomy post-rock, but the vocals are killing me because the dude sounds almost exactly like that dude I went to college with, Joe Mulhollen (who now does that awesome unsigned band Needle Up!), except this guy has difficulty staying on tune. It's still tripping me out though.

More Jabba

2008-02-29T21:52:00.000-08:00

My other cat looks like Jabba the Hut

2008-02-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

My cat keeps trying to eat my classroom keys.

2008-02-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

AIDS Wolf and HEALTH photos, as promised long, long ago

2008-02-23T07:48:00.001-08:00

Christmas loot:

2007-12-26T10:54:00.000-08:00

Here's the Christmas loot:

Portishead Dummy vinyl LP
Radiohead The Bends vinyl LP
Jeff Buckley Grace vinyl LP
Beck Mellow Gold vinyl LP
Sonic Youth Rather Ripped vinyl LP
Nirvana Nevermind picture disc vinyl LP
(bought with money given to me by Jennifer and my grandma)
Metallica Metallica CD
A 750 ml bottle of Partida Anejo tequila
a 50 ml bottle of Patron
a 50 ml bottle of Cabo Wabo
a subscription to The New Yorker
a subscription to any other magazine of my choice
a Buffalo Bills hoodie (wearing now)
a Buffalo Bills t-shirt
a Buffalo Bills ornament
a Buffalo Sabres hoodie
a Buffalo Sabres t-shirt
a Buffalo Sabres thermal (wore yesterday)
a Buffalo Sabres ornament
$200 gift card to IKEA (joint present with Jennifer)
snacks & candy

We'll probably use the gift card to IKEA to purchase nightstands, a futon and shelves. Maybe a bookshelf.

Also, we got gift certificates from Best Buy and used those to purchase The Fugees The Score and Snoop's Doggystyle. I'm hoping to get a decent haul the next time I return CDs to Amoeba so I can get the new Twin Peaks box set.

Overall, a good haul. We really got too much stuff, so our birthdays, which are coming up in a month, will be pretty lean.

Your Christmas shopping list:

2007-12-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the end of the school year and access to my wife’s laptop, I decided to tackle something I’ve ever done before: a top 50. This list compiles my favorite albums from 2007, in descending order, for your reading pleasure.

Of course, I must add the requisite disclaimer. This is the top 50 albums I heard this year, which means I probably missed some good stuff. For instance, I’m positive that Menomena’s Friend and Foe would be there, as would Bat for Lashes’ Fur and Gold, but I haven’t heard either in their entirety. (That should be rectified after my upcoming visit to Amoeba.) And, no, I didn’t forget LCD Soundsystem (I hate them) or Dinosaur Jr. (I never listen to Beyond). Another note: despite the awesome collaboration with Chuck D, The Go! Team missed the cut.

And now I’m rambling. Without any further ado:

50.) Giovanni Marks
Marks in Angles
Team 2Mex

The penultimate example of success in lo-fi hip-hop, Marks in Angles might get derided by hip-hop fans as poorly produced. They’re missing the point. This album thrives as a deconstruction of hip-hop’s glamor and excess. Marks dropped his “Subtitle” alias, and with the unmasking, created his own warped throwback to rap’s roots. It’s simple, and simply weird.

49.) Lozen
Enemies Against Power
Australian Cattle God

This album is the single biggest reason the Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP missed the cut. In a similar way to how I felt about Des Ark’s 2005 album Loose Lips Sink Ships, Enemies Against Power ups the chick punk ante. Their chugging guitar riffs contrast with Amy Argote’s jagged stylings, landing them more in the “threatening” category than “noodling.”

48.) Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Quantum Fucking
French Kiss

I think my brain confuses The Flying Luttenbachers (who I don’t like) with Fatal Flying Guilloteens, so forgive me if I winced when I put Quantum Fucking in the stereo. Needless to say, I’m glad I actually listened to the record and didn’t immediately dump it in the reject pile. FFG recall churning post-hardcore acts like These Arms Are Snakes and Kill Sadie, but with muddier bass theatrics and a significantly less enigmatic vocalist. Probably the most anthemic album on this list, and the only one that made me almost say “Arab on Radar” in a comparative sense.

47.) Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities
Lucas
Ghostly International

Probably the most overlooked indie collective of 2007, Skeletons create exuberant music like peers The Animal Collective, but rarely add bizarre noise elements to their songs that alienate certain types of fair-weather fans. I received probably 50 mellow, generic, indie rock records this year and only Lucas survived.

46.) White Mice
Blassstphlegmeice
Load

Lets say that Satan exists. What might his vomiting sound like? That’s all.

45.) Tender Buttons
Hot Abductions
Gold Standard Labs

I’m not sure if it’s fitting or just weird that Gold Standard Labs went under not long after the release of Hot Abductions. Only released on digital and vinyl, the album’s alien theme somewhat serves as a metaphor for its sound. Strange. Dance-y. A greenish tinge. Etc.

44.) Holy Molar
Cavity Search
31G

I fear that 31G will fall sooner than later, so I’m savoring their releases. Holy Molar are probably the most playful of any band on the label, and they still sound like they were created by ill-fed ravenous creatures with bloodshot eyes and hateful souls.

43.) HEALTH
HEALTH
Lovepump United

I never thought I'd ever see something both primitive and choreographed at the same time, but HEALTH's live show would fit that description. And there, at (where else) The Smell, I fell in love with HEALTH the album. Filled with punk guitar shreds, thundering drumming, odd noise manipulations and an incredible amount of soul, HEALTH will conquer L.A., if Silver Daggers don’t first.

42.) Chinese Stars
Listen to Your Left Brain
31G

Another Arab on Radar reference, but this one’s unavoidable. Eric Paul and friends always create oddly sexy albums, but Listen to Your Left Brain could almost be titled, Listen to Your Dick. It churns like Paul’s old band did, but also sways back and forth. They’ll make you woozy before they make you vomit.

41.) The Eternals
Heavy International
Aesthetics

I get shit all the time because I have no interest in dub, reggae or old-school ska. Sorry folks. This is the closest I’m going to get. Punk-infused, quasi-dub reggae with a political slant and occasionally painfully awesome falsettos. (Check out vocalist Damon Locks’ other band Trenchmouth).

40.) Deerhunter
Cryptograms + Fluorescent Grey EP
Kranky

Unlike everyone else in blogland and the hipster realm, I’m not completely smitten with Deerhunter. I wasn’t even sure if I liked Cryptograms all that much, but Fluorescent Grey sold me. I do, however, like them, much like I liked early Liars. Hopefully they’ll follow a similar career trajectory.

39.) Thee More Shallows
Book of Bad Breaks
Anticon

This slot was slated either for Thee More Shallows or Peter, Bjorn and John. Thee More Shallows won out the contemporary shoegaze battle because their album is better, even though PB&J certainly created the catchiest song of the bunch.

38.) Sole & The Skyrider Band
Sole & The Skyrider Band
Anticon

I love it when white rappers don’t sound white, so when a white rapper doesn’t sound white and raps over atmospheric music inspired at least partly by Radiohead, consider me impressed.

37.) Twilight Sad
Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
Fat Cat

These Scots won my heart this year in much the same way Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities did, except they did it within the first minute and a half of one song (“Cold Days from the Birdhouse”). Then that song exploded into a bombastic mood-shifter, and my life changed. (Not really, but I love this band.)

36.) M.I.A.
Kala
Interscope

Like my feelings regarding Deerhunter, I don’t have a raging hipster boner for M.I.A., but I really like her music. I periodically play contemporary underground music for my Hip-hop club kids, and they got down with “Bamboo Banger.”

35.) Iron & Wine
The Shepherd’s Dog
Sub Pop

Sam Beam’s music formerly was perfect sleeping music. It was relaxing, but also incredibly boring. Add band. Now Iron & Wine is one of my favoritea. The students at the school I teach at might call the transformation “active.” It’s certainly welcome.

34.) Nine Inch Nails
Year Zero
Nothing

I keep waiting for Trent Reznor to release a complete dud, and he still hasn’t disappointed me. Sure, there was plenty of excess on The Fragile and a few missteps on the poppy With Teeth, but he keeps fiddling with knobs and screaming with enough anguish to keep me interested. Year Zero finds Reznor exploring dance noise with his oddly catchy melodies.

33.) Shellac
Excellent Italian Greyhound
Touch & Go

There’s very little you can say about a Steve Albini project.

32.) Queens of the Stone Age
Era Vulgaris
Interscope

I bought this on an impulse, despite the fact I hadn’t heard anything from it and hated Lullabies to Paralyze. I’d like to say I had a hunch about how awesome the album would be, but I think I just had a hankering to purchase any mainstream album, since 2007 was pretty lame in that regard. Although the collaboration with Trent Reznor didn’t even make the album, his influence seems peppered throughout. The resulting mutation of Queens of the Stone Age sounds like a reinvention.

31.) Subtle
Yell & Ice
Lex

As alluring as 2006’s For Hero: For Fool, yet oddly ignored this past year, Yell & Ice brings together Subtle with a plethora of guests, including Tunde Adebimpe, Yoni from Why? and Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner. Sure, the resulting collaborations can barely be categorized as hip-hop (even Anticon hip-hop), but it’s certainly gorgeous.

30.) Modest Mouse
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Sony

A return to the pre-major label days of screamy Isaac Brock, We Were Dead keeps Modest Mouse on track as the best indie rock band hoodwinking the major labels. There’s plenty of swashbuckling here and it crushes The Decemberists and Murder By Death. There’s not much else to say except the album’s great. Nick Dean. You bastard.

29.) Arcade Fire
Neon Bible
Merge

Had I composed this list about six month ago, I doubt Neon Bible would have even made the honorable mention cut. At the time, I thought they were just rehashing The Boss and had lost their way. But after a few months without a listen, I popped the album back in and fell in love. It’s odd, political and speaks.

28.) Wu-Tang Clan
8 Diagrams
Motown/Universal

“People” and “Folks” are calling this album hippie rap and calling its creation the death of the Wu-Tang Clan. We’ll see if that’s true, but 8 Diagrams certainly feels different than 36 Chambers, where a ragtag bunch of MCs spit venom all over the place. They’re more subdued here, but still create music better than 99 percent of mainstream rappers.

27.) Subtitle
Terrain to Roam
Alpha Pup

One of the only artists to make multiple appearances on the list (Trent Reznor and Justin Pearson are the others), Giovanni Marks (a.k.a. Subtitle) created a rather uneven album here. However, each individual track works well enough for inclusion. His Ben Stein meets Mr. Lif delivery doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for me.

26.) The Good, The Bad & The Queen
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Virgin

Let’s see if Damon Albarn can resurrect David Bowie’s music career. Could you imagine a collaboration between those two?

25.) Celebration
The Modern Tribe
4AD

Katrina Ford and Sean Antanaitis finally mellow out after years of blisteringly mimicking The Birthday Party with Jakes and Love Life. Less circus-y than their self-titled debut, The Modern Tribe made me believe that Celebration (or another incarnation of Ford and Antanaitis) will exist for another 12 years.

24.) Bad Brains
Build a Nation
Megaforce

I’ve never been a huge fan of early hardcore, including Black Flag, Minor Threat and Bad Brains. But, on a whim, I gave Build a Nation a try, and marveled at its diversity. Hymns, metal, reggae and hardcore punk all fight their way onto the album, perhaps an indication as to how loopy frontman H.R. really is.

23.) Grayskul
Bloody Radio
Rhymesayers

Confession: one of the old Aural Minority writers did an interview with Aural Minority with Grayskul regarding their first album, Deadlivers. I’ve still never heard it, and have been masochistically stabbing myself periodically in the kneecap until I get my hands on it. Bloody Radio might be the most accessible hip-hop record I own that no one’s ever heard.

22.) Big Business
Here Comes the Waterworks
Hydrahead

If there were a sound system big enough to level a city behind the right band, I’d certainly hire Big Business to handle the duties. I’ve seen them live three or four times and still can’t believe how they create music, given how much hatred with which they play their instruments.

21.) Panda Bear
Person Pitch
Paw Tracks

The opposite of Neon Bible, I loved Panda Bear’s Person Pitch when I first listened to it and it was a surefire top-10 a few months ago. It just didn’t hold up. Initially, I loved the Brian Wilson-esque atmospherics, but now I just think they’re borderline annoying. Regardless, the overall album still earns its place for the heart and soul poured within, given Noah’s personal struggles, etc.

20.) Saul Williams
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
Self-released

If someone walked up to me and told me Saul Williams could sound anything like Trent Reznor, I’d first ask them who the fuck they were and tell them to get out of my face. Then I’d ponder the statement for 30 seconds and forget it. (All of that just means that Saul worked with Trent on this album, and it sounds like the best Nine Inch Nails album never made, save the awful cover of “Sunday Bloody Sunday”)

19.) Puscifer
V is For Vagina
Puscifer Entertainment

Maynard’s done prog. He’s done rock for the masses. Now he tackles atmospherics. There’s apparently little he can’t do. (And I interviewed him for January’s issue of Geek magazine, on newsstands now!!)

18.) Radiohead
In Rainbows
Self-Released (at this point)

So, yeah, I’m putting the best Radiohead album in a decade at number 18. I remember a time where that would have been blasphemy for a young arts editor of a certain college publication. But standbys like Radiohead, NIN, QOTSA, Modest Mouse, etc. lose out in year-end excitement because they’re always there.

17. Neurosis
Given to the Rising
Neurot

I tried to get into Neurosis a long time ago and bought what apparently was their worst album (A Sun That Never Sets) and didn’t really like it at all, so I never delved further. When Given to the Rising arrived, I again winced a little as I pressed play, and got knocked over. A tremendous achievement in metal.

16.) Feist
The Reminder
Cherry Tree

I know. I know. “Dude listens to Neurosis and Feist?” Yes. Fucking chill out.

15.) Animal Collective
Strawberry Jam
Domino

This year Bjork talked about alien intrusions, but the Animal Collective actually created one. An insane blend of electronic and organic sounds, Strawberry Jam actually makes a lot of sense both as an album and a concept.

14.) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Some Loud Thunder
Self-released

I think I was the only person on the face of the planet who thought this album was better than their self-titled debut. I’m going to listen to “Satan Said Dance” now and dance. Satan told me to.

13.) Aesop Rock
None Shall Pass
Definitive Jux

I was about to write for CYHSY that they were another band (like Liars and Panda Bear) I interviewed for Modern Fix that they never ran. Then I remembered they never ran my Aesop Rock interview either. I feel dirty about all of this. I’ll post them after I let this run through the holidays. None Shall Pass is my second favorite hip-hop album of the year. (Foreshadowing…)

12.) Thurston Moore
Trees Outside the Academy
Ecstatic Peace

I’ve never been a huge Sonic Youth fan, and especially not a Thurston Moore fan. Yet, they started to win me over with the more accessible Rather Ripped and Trees Outside the Academy. I know I’m speaking some sort of music geek blasphemy, but I care not. Thurston can write rock songs in addition to alienating noise.

11.) The Shins
Wincing The Night Away
Sub Pop

The mark of a great album: I can play this in my classroom with six opinionated as hell emotionally disturbed students and none of them even comment on it, good or bad. Yet, they bitch and moan about anything else I play. (They all listen to hardcore or rap exclusively and are so close-minded it’s unbelievable.) Regarding the album: it should have sucked, but doesn’t. I can’t explain it.

10.) Silver Daggers
New High & Ord
Load

Depending on whether or not they release another album, 2008 should see Silver Daggers transforming from L.A.’s best kept secret into L.A.’s best band. New High & Ord actually betrays how throttling the band is live and still kicks art punk ass all over the place.

9.) Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
In Glorious Times
The End

The best, most inventive musicians in metal. If you can call it metal. In Glorious Times only builds on Of Natural History a tiny bit, but with a bar this high, where, really, can they go? It’s like an English professor getting a second doctorate in Comparative Literature. Also: I’d like to hear vocalist Nils Frykdahl rap. Just once.

8.) Magik Markers
Boss
Ecstatic Peace

Where’d this come from? Noise, noise, noise, noise, noise…the second coming of Grace Slick and Janis Joplin?

7.) The Locust
New Erections
Anti-

The Locust actually wrote an album that’s listenable. That is, if you live in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi wasteland. But, still, it’s a start.

6.) Oxbow
The Narcotic Story
Hydrahead

The Narcotic Story, on the other hand, is incredibly difficult to listen to, but not for reasons you’d expect. Where Oxbow once reinvented punk rock with a blues veneer, here they slow things down to a surgical pace, opening your world to Eugene Robinson’s nightmarish overly active imagination.

5.) Les Savy Fav
Let’s Stay Friends
French Kiss

Duh.

4.) Battles
Mirrored
Warp

Contrary to popular belief, vocals weren’t really added to Battles’ new record. They’re just another instrument of their savantish creations.

3.) Qui
Love’s Miracle
Ipecac

David Yow hit me in the head with a microphone this year, and sang on the year’s best rock album. Genius move by the brothers Qui to hire the drunk to man vocals. The great thing is, he only wrote vocals for one or two of these songs…what the fuck is their next album going to sound like?

2.) Busdriver
RoadKillOvercoat
Epitaph

I didn’t listen to any other album as many times as RoadKillOvercoat. Busdriver is a genius, a saint and an overall pleasure.

1.) Liars
Liars
Mute

Like Sonic Youth’s Rather Ripped. The album redefined rock and the band that created it. Well played, Mr. Angus and co.

Honorable mentions: Proof of Youth (The Go! Team), Through the Panama (Sightings), Is Is (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Big Doe Rehab (Ghostface Killah), Grass Geysers…Carbon Clouds (Enon), Sports (The Pope), gAame (Aa), Writer’s Block (Peter, Bjorn & John), Plague Park (Handsome Furs), Random Spirit Lover (Sunset Rubdown), Kid City (Abe Vigoda). Probably others...

Panda Bear interview. Also no home.

2007-12-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

Panda Bear

Before sitting down to compose a new song, Noah Lennox (a.k.a. Panda Bear) typically will decide beforehand whether he’ll bring the new creation to his band mates in the Animal Collective, or if he’ll try to flesh it out for a solo release.

“It’s sort of an instinctual feeling,” he says while taking a break from the Animal Collective’s month-long trip to Wavelab Studios in Tucson, Arizona to record the follow-up to “Feels” (Fat Cat). “There’s also a certain sensibility that I know some of the other guys won’t be so into … I can tell if it’s not something the other guys are going be excited about working on.”

His most recent collection, “Person Pitch,” doesn’t bear the emotional weight of its predecessor, “Young Prayers” (both on Paw Tracks), which despite its exuberance dealt primarily with the untimely death of Lennox’s father. “Person Pitch” collects a number of seven-inch releases and sounds as though Lennox holed himself up in his new home in Lisbon, Portugal with anti-depressants, an eight-track and some Beach Boys records. Turns out that’s not entirely the case.

What made you decide to move to Lisbon?

Noah Lennox: I met a girl there while we were on tour, and I don’t really believe too much in long distance relationships, at least not for very long because I had a couple of them and they were all disasters. I figured that either she had to move to New York or I had to move there, so I up and left.

Has the move put any strains on the Animal Collective at all?

Um, I was kinda worried about that. And I wasn’t the only one in the band (worried). I think it’s actually turned out to have more positives than negatives because we’re not around each other every day. When Dave and I were doing “Sung Tongs” (Fat Cat), and a couple records before that, we worked together at a record store and we lived together and we practiced together. I was with him for almost every waking hour of every one of my days. Then we’d go on tour together. You’re just around this person all the time. It wasn’t like we were punching each other or anything like that, but the time that the four of us have had away from each other, when we get together we’re so psyched to be together and make music together that the whole process gets sped up. Even though I was really worried about it at first, it’s really turned out to be a good thing. I’m certainly a much happier person than I was four years ago.

The track “Take Pills”—did you have specific medication in mind, or is it a metaphor for everything we ingest culturally?

All the words I write are pretty direct. I tend to like to write in phrases that aren’t too metaphor heavy or double-meaning heavy. Usually what I say is what it means. In that song I’m talking to myself and my mom. For a time we were both on anti-depressant drugs, and even though I do feel like the drugs really helped me get through a certain period of my life and helped me create habits of thought that were far more healthy and far more positive for me, as soon as I got on the drugs I was thinking about getting off them. I never wanted it to be something I relied on, even the doctor told me I had a certain kind of personality and needed to do this stuff all the time. I think my mom is still taking them, but the song is about us not doing that sort of thing, or feel like we have to do that sort of thing. I want to clarify. I don’t want to act like nobody needs them. I think drugs can be a very powerful tool for people.

Did the depression stem from your father’s death or was it more of a genetic thing?

I think it’s more of a genetic thing, to be honest with you. I think there’s only one member of my family who isn’t sort of a melancholic type. It’s kind of a tradition in my family, I suppose.

Is music a sort of therapy for you then? The Animal Collective stuff and your new solo stuff both sound very celebratory.

It is a bit, I’ve found, of therapy. Particularly around the time I started writing this music I was really tired of dealing with and thinking about negative stuff or feeling sad a lot. I guess it did directly follow my father’s death, which obviously was a super heavy time. Even on (“Young Prayers”) I wanted to try to focus on positive stuff. I did want to write something people would listen to and get really depressed about. Right around that time I started getting excited about making music that would make me feel good, and hopefully other people to.

I was wondering if you’re influenced by Brian Wilson at all as a songwriter. A lot of “Person Pitch” sounds like lo-fi The Beach Boys.

I think so. I certainly like his music and his production a lot. I like “Pet Sounds” a lot, and I like a whole lot of the later Beach Boys stuff where he was still writing a lot of songs and producing, but he wasn’t going on tour with them or a large part of the band after a while. I actually kind of prefer the super late period stuff to anything else. I should say that I don’t know his music or their music all that well. Most of the stuff I’ve heard is from other guys in the band because those guys have thousands of records and libraries of music. At home I have 10 CD-Rs or something in my house. I don’t really know anything about anything.

paw-tracks.com
2007 Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
2004 Young Prayer (Paw Tracks)
2003 Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished/Danse Manitee w/Avey Tare (Fat Cat)

Here's a Liars interview that never ran anywhere. Damn shame. It might arrive at the beginning of the year in Modern Fix.

2007-12-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

Liars

Three known liars sit in front of me at one of their homes in Los Angeles. They’re hitting the bong something fierce, stopping occasionally to down a hot dog or answer a question. Whether the answers are truthful or not is up for reader interpretation.

What’s not is that the band’s new record, “Liars”, might be their most divisive yet. After a career of spawning primitive, tribal noise punk, the band decided to actually try to write rock songs. For context, check Sonic Youth’s brilliantly constructed “Rather Ripped” to see how far Liars have come as songwriters. Or, conversely, how close they’ve come to “selling out” in the narrowed eyes of purists.

The following interview with vocalist/guitarist Angus Andrew, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist Aaron Hemphill and drummer Julian Gross meanders through a bunch of topics, most notably the new album and the contemporary music landscape.

What was your mentality going into the new album? It seems like more of a “rock” mentality than every before.
Angus: We’ve made some records in the past that are quite conceptual and intellectual. We became very concerned about how albums worked as a whole, making sure songs related to each other, etc. to the point where when we got to this one, we really wanted not to think about it at all and go more from instinct and fun, really. We didn’t really labor over songs as much as we normally do, or really even talk about them as much. The rock aspect comes from something we all love. Me personally, I never thought we could actually do that. The music we have made in the past had more to do with not sounding like anything else, rather than sounding like something. That was always a positive element in our naïve approach to making music. It was sort of an experiment. It was sort of surprising that we could play a rock song, or something like that. That was immediately exciting and gratifying for me.
Aaron: It’s become really fun and scary. Most bands tend to rock out (for their “experimental” album). It’s scary to try to write “songs” and focus on other ways of applying concepts, instead of just using one instrument or tones, blah blah blah. It seemed scary, like, “God. Can we just do this?” I feel really proud that we faced that fear as though we just had to do it.
Julian: That fear is something we thrive on. I’d rather attack something we fear, that we’re afraid of rather than something we’re more confident in. Do something unexpected.

Did it take you guys a long time to get to a place where you could write an album like this? Were you afraid if you wrote an album like this that you’d get a lot of backlash? Maybe “selling out” or something like that?
Angus: The whole album is the result of our progression so far. It’s a culmination of however how many years we’ve been working together, almost finally relaxing enough to do something like this. Like Aaron said, it was probably one of the most frightening to do because it was so straight-forward and instinctual. It had a lot to do with just being surprised at making these sort of songs. There’s one song called “Cycle Time” on the record that starts with a straight-forward blues riff, or something like that. It seems like such a classic rock sort of thing. For us that seems so foreign, but also so a part of us. We love Led Zeppelin.
Aaron: It’s funny. Always if you “go the other way” it’s associated with selling out for monetary gain. No one ever says that if you’re making an experimental record that you’re trying to cash in on the intellectual loyalists.
J: I don’t even understand what “selling out” is anymore. I was trying to think about how somebody could sell out. I guess it would be if every record you ever put out was against eating beef and then you did a commercial for McDonalds.
Aaron: But if you want to eat McDonalds, it’s the life you should lead. Do it.

Is there any significance to the fact you named the new album “Liars”? Is this album what Liars as a band is?
Aaron: I think it’s more to do with the fact we didn’t have a pre-process concept that’s linear. The last one we didn’t either, but we had this thing that tied the songs together which was mistaken for concept (the relationship between Drum and Mt. Heart Attack). We just wanted to get out of the way of it. There was no huge reason other than to avoid misunderstanding or replacing ourselves of any sort of ownership of ideas of a song. You listen to a song and you apply the ideas. Otherwise it sounds like we’re in your room saying, “This is about a captain and the sea” or whatever.
Angus: It’s been fun making interesting titles and stuff. But after a while it becomes a bit of extraneous noise in relation to the actual music. We would find ourselves explaining more about characters or particular song titles rather than the music itself. I think it represents the idea of getting back to a direct quality and avoiding the intellectual, cerebral approach.
Aaron: I think before we would have been less comfortable with having a song being singled out, so part of the concept with making the titles so difficult so people couldn’t just say, “Listen to ‘The White Lamb.’” With this one, maybe we all feel a little more comfortable with people saying, “I like ‘Cycle Time.’”
J: I like the straight-forwardness of it too. It’s simple in its sound and rock idea. That quick song title is an old rock idea.
Angus. We were going to title it with Roman numerals. “IV.”

The album opens with the lyric “I wanna run away.” Does that have anything to do with you fleeing New York for Los Angeles and Germany?
Angus: When Aaron and I started talking about songs for this record, we were interested in the idea of what it felt like to be like a teenager and to hear music and be affected by music in a certain way. At that point, one song or one band can really turn your life around. Escapism is fairly common subject matter for me, and us. I think the idea was more exciting and happy escapism, than sad, like the last one was. “Plaster Casts of Everything” is really about a teenager wanting to run away from home. It relates to our idea of how music can be for a teenager at that time. One of the ways we thought about those songs was pulling at the gut strings, instead of the mental.
Aaron: It’s interesting too, to interpret it as how he (Angus) was as a teenager and what he was listening to. I think my input and Julian’s, if you were to go back in time and see what we were listening to or raised on, or what our childhood was like, who raised us…(would all be in the album).
Angus: Love, escapism, melodrama, the angst of being a teenager.
J: I don’t think about running away in that song as running away from your problems, necessarily, or getting away from the world so much as running into the world and starving. I’m 17. I’m getting out of high school. I’m ready to start my life. I’m ready to run out of where I’ve spent my whole life. It’s time to begin, start fresh, by myself. Become a dishwasher. Or something.
Angus: It’s more about the romanticism of that period of your life and how it can be affected by music.
J: Even how great it is how you feel like there’s so much responsibility, like everything’s so heavy. Looking back on it, I could have done anything. I could have lived on people’s couches and it wouldn’t have been a big deal. Work anywhere. Or not.
Aaron: I could not have gone to jail for petty crimes. (everyone laughs)

What do you think triggered that nostalgia?
Angus: Again, it’s that idea of being caught up in making records that are caught up in themselves, and looking to make a direct connection. The most obvious way to make that connection was exploring those years. Referencing that time period as a way to get in touch with the really visceral quality of music. It doesn’t have to be a mind game. It can be something that can really make you cry, or run away, or something.
J: I’m not that little spring chicken I used to be. You’re closing in on those years where you remember your parents at the age you are now. That was a weird turning point for me. Somehow that makes being young again kind of special. I see young kids skating down the street on their skateboards and it makes me smile in this really weird way.
Angus: Our friends too. Deerhunter, The Blood Brothers. They’re not kids, but they’re definitely younger than us. It’s inspiring to go on tours with those people who have that youthful enthusiasm that everyone wants. The Fountain of Youth. Maybe that’s what we should have called the record. (everyone laughs)

In connection with that, your sound is very tribal and primal. What led you there?
Angus: It has to do with our genesis, which has a lot to do with naivete, especially on my part. Aaron knows how to play the instruments, but me not knowing how to play brought him into another level of it. We’ve always gone to the basics. Tribal, but maybe minimal is another way to describe it. There hasn’t been a lot of guitars or things going on because we really don’t know how to do that, or at that point didn’t know how. It was about working with what skills we had. My skills have only just been growing. It’s a learning curve. I think we’ve always been drawn to a native, instinctual, banging on things and making loud noises, but I would say this record is something that makes us realize that maybe we can craft some songs that can affect people. Not that we haven’t already (laughs).

Did you ever think starting out that you’d end up here?
Aaron: No. I’m not saying in spite of all the riches we accrued (spans arms out in the direction of Gross’s modest home), I think we still approach every record the same way. Let’s do it now and investigate what we’re interested in to the fullest. Just make the record that you wish was out there for you here. I’ve had some bands who have said, “I wish we could rock out more.” You can just do what you want.
Angus: In such a creative and liberal field as music, people can get stuck in conservative ways of approaching it. Interpol’s got their thing and there’s no real reason they should change it. I ran into their singer after we did “They Were Wrong, So We Drowned” (Mute) and he said, “We want to make a record that has no vocals.” We were all like, “Yeah right! Do it then. It’d be great.” Obviously other things come into play. We’re grateful for the fact we can really make anything we want to.
Aaron: We really ignore expectations in a really humble way. There’s so much music out there, how could people be thinking: “Gee, when are Liars going to come out with that tribal, skronk, no-wave whatever the hell.” Generally we have a humble disregard for expectations and just make the music we love because that’s what has worked. Some people get bummed and accuse us of ignoring our audience, but I think the worst thing we can do is worry about the fans and what they want. I think our responsibility is to make music we’re interested in.

liarsliarsliars.com
2007 Liars (Mute)
2006 Drum’s Not Dead (Mute)
2004 They Were Wrong, So We Drowned (Mute)
2001 They Threw us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top (Gern Blandsten)

So this is the new year

2007-12-14T10:38:00.000-08:00

I'm not a "New Year's Resolution" kind of guy at all. In fact, I've never, ever done it. However, I think I've made a couple of decisions about how I want the next year to go. Call them resolutions if you must.

1.) I need to get in better shape. I've already started working out in preparation for this, and feel great.
2.) I need to read more. Again, I've already started this "resolution" by reading Slaughtermatic, The Road (Cormac McCarthy--pictured) and starting Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
3.) I need to interview more bands. Since Geek only needs one or two music features per issue and only six CD reviews, and Rock A Rolla and Skyscraper have such specific scope, a lot of bands I'm loving are falling by the wayside since I'm having trouble landing features elsewhere. Therefore, I'm going to try to update Spanning Time with a new interview every two weeks. In addition, I'm going to start publicizing the blog around the interweb more.

I don't have that much free time, so we'll see if any of this actually happens. I'm trying to wean myself off of TV, and these adaptations plus the writer's strike should help matters.

wabbit

2007-12-10T19:52:00.001-08:00

Got sent the new Gram Rabbit today...

It's dance-y.

My cat's breath stinks. Actually it smells like cat food. Ralph Wiggum was prophetic.

2007-11-27T20:34:00.001-08:00

I still can't find the cord to upload my photos from the AIDS Wolf/HEALTH show.

I'm currently listening to the Yikes EP that came out in September on Kill Shaman (It features that dude John Dwyer who was in Pink & Brown and Coachwhips and now is in OHSEES). I wish they had sent it to me a lot earlier...it's really good and I probably could have snuck it into Geek at some point. Now I'm not entirely sure I can even cover
+ 3
it.

That "+3" is the result of Peter "The Bandit" Cetera jumping on my lap and hitting the keyboard. He's jumped on my lap 5 times in the last three minutes and crawled up under the desk to attack my hand as it moved the mouse. Weirdo. Here he comes again. Attention whore.

./l n m

There goes Peter again.

I listened to a shitload of promos today, and not surprisingly didn't like too much of what I heard. I am, however, loving Future of the Left (ex-Mclusky). If only I could find my Ipod cord to load the album onto my Ipod.

Cords-a-plenty missing.

I'm currently reading Slaughtermatic by Steve Aylett, and although I really have no frame of reference for reading cyberpunk shit (especially Brit cyberpunk), I'm digging it. But my next purchases are going to be The Road and No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Recently I've also been hitting up Ebay for some fun vinyl...such as Andy Williams and Bing Crosby Christmas albums and a few Bruce Springsteen albums. I haven't spent more than $5 or $6 on any of them, including shipping.

Hooray for screaming. I'm not sure how my tastes morphed from grunge to art punk and hip-hop, but it happened.

Other new additions to the family

2007-11-21T07:22:00.000-08:00

The Apes "Ghost Games" rules. They got a new singer and they're just as good or better than ever. Think acrobatic circus-y stuff like Celebration with psyched out instrumentation.

Also, I bought the new Subtle record, "Yell & Ice" which features guest appearances from Why?, Dan from Wolf Parade and Tunde from TV on the Radio. Typically I wait to accumulate credit before buying stuff anymore, but I couldn't wait for this one...Satisfaction.

My I-Pod is getting too full. It's only a 30GB, but that helps me keep the collection focused. I have 5 more GB left...

There's no bigger bitch than when Itunes doesn't recognize the song titles of a CD.

2007-11-20T17:13:00.000-08:00

I got a chance to see the following show on Friday night:

AIDS Wolf
xbxrx
HEALTH
Abe Vigoda

Other than xbxrx (who I've seen previously) I've been wanting to see all of these bands for as long as I've known about them. None disappointed.

Abe Vigoda were a lot gayer (literally) than I expected, but also a lot more fun. I was expecting a nastier band, but it seems as though they're going more in a "The Prayers" or "No Age" direction. I hate The Prayers and No Age though, so the fact I still liked what Abe Vigoda was up to turned out to be a nice discovery.

xbxrx played next and they killed it. I'm not a huge fan of their recorded output, but they're always an amazing kick in the teeth (literally and figuratively) live.

AIDS Wolf made me wish three things:

That I lived in Montreal
That I had seen them sooner
That I actually had a chance to see Arab on Radar

There are few bands that actually make me lose myself in the moment, but AIDS Wolf forced me to feel what they were creating. The crowd surges equally felt like a part of the show, rather than a nuisance. I already can't wait for them to come back.

HEALTH were easily the biggest surprise of the night. I haven't listened to their new album in a really long time, and I had kind of forgotten what they sounded like. But even their self-titled debut couldn't have prepared me for their visual onslaught. They opened with the a cappella "Lost Time," which immediately made me realize I was about to see something on the special side. Alternating between noise, punk, hardcore and avant, the band seemed highly choreographed, but not especially contrived. It seemed as though they were painting a portrait aurally.

Or something.

I took plenty of pictures, but we still haven't found the USB cable that connects the camera to the computer after the move into our new house. I'll upload them at Jen's house in San Diego and then post a few here.

In other The Smell news: I was calling someone and didn't notice that I was standing under that wire near the building that's home to about 40 pigeons. The homeless dude who works the door/does security alerted me to this fact and I thanked him. He then asked me for money and I gave him $5.

.............

We bought two kitties. One is named Riley. The other is named Peter "The Bandit" Cetera. They're are terrified of the house (it's way bigger than the cage they'd been living in) and only let us pet them when they're hungry. But they're pretty funny and terrorize the house while we're sleeping.

xiu xiu

2007-11-15T16:11:00.000-08:00

Why is Xiu Xiu so damn good, I ask you?

just sitting here listening to Women As Lovers.........................

ugh

2007-11-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

Last night Jen and I watched I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

It was pretty painful except for the "hilarious" jokes centering around the word "Faggot."

I don't even know if I'm being truthful about that. Not even this could save it:

We also tried to watch Terry Gilliam's Tideland. It seemed as though he was trying to make a surreal John Waters film, which you could interpret to mean "Tim Burton purposefully trying to make you uncomfortable." It was lame.

I just woke up after sleeping for 12 hours. Guess I needed that...

thoughts

2007-11-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here listening to the Eels greatest hits collection, marveling at how much they (he) sound like Beck.

What the fuck.

Anyway, I've been pretty unimpressed with most of the new albums I've gotten, with the exception of:

Puscifer's V is for Vagina
These Are Powers' Terrific Season
Ring's Black Habits
Sightings' Through The Panama

That's about it.

Oh...and I interviewed that guy------>

Nick Dean is a son of a bitch

2007-11-06T18:46:00.000-08:00

As requested:

The Premise: List 5 things that certain people (who are not deserving of being your friend anyway) may consider to be "totally lame," but you are, despite the possible stigma, totally proud of. Own it. Tag 5 others.

The List (in order of how I thought of them):

1.) Going to the movies by myself: When Jen's out of town or I want to go see the next installment of, say, Underworld, The Devil's Rejects, or 30 Days of Night and my buddy Sergio isn't around, I have no qualms with heading to the theater on my own. I don't get a snack. I don't get a drink. I don't sit near anyone. I just sit back and relax. It's really a glorious thing. For some reason, I also do this in the middle of the afternoon.

2.) Watching Iron Chef America: When I lived in Fredonia the summer after my sophomore year with Doghed and Ayaku, the latter constantly watched the Japanese version of Iron Chef, specifically when I wanted to watch sports or, well, anything else. It drove me up a fucking wall. And yet, when I stumbled upon the American version, I freaked out. I actually cheer for Mario Batali, call Bobby Flay a smug fuck, root against Cat Cora, and scratch my head at the strange creations by Morimoto. Excellent reality show.

3.) NHL Hockey: Most indie kids tend to be completely anti-sports because, in their eyes, sports are a manifestation of corporate greed, macho culture and gladiator-esque violence. Yet I can't get enough hockey. There's something so gracefully beautiful about watching the game unfold. People always say that hockey's difficult to watch because great plays happen so rarely, but as an avid hockey fan, it's the anticipation of those plays that keep me interested. I love watching how a goal happens from one end to another, how a player lines up another for a hit and feeling tensions rise to the point of a fight. Other sports seem too scripted.

4.) Christmas: Who cares if the holiday was invented in order to give the "new world" of Germans, Brits and everyone else some sort of identity, or whether or not it has become, like hockey, a symbol of corporate greed. Snow. Christmas trees. Ornaments. Tinsel. Cookies. Bailey's. Trains. Family. Gifts. Holiday-centric foods. Wreaths. Santa. Elves. Snowmen. My favorite time of the year.

5.) My uncanny knack for finding the WORST movie on TV at any given time and watching it for at least 15 minutes: I think this started the one night I worked Night Desk at Chautauqua Hall and Neil the Tie Guy and Kevin Sciretta came over and we watched Night of The Lepus in its entirety. Bones from Star Trek was in it. I can't even describe it further. Just watch it. Since then, a small smattering of amazing films I've seen parts of: BloodRayne, Vlad, Survival Island (A fantastic Billy Zane trilogy), Red Planet, 2001 Maniacs, National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 1 & 2, Blind Beast (the Japanese classic), Night at the Golden Eagle, Bound By Lies (Kristy Swanson and Stephen Baldwin), Alone in the Dark (Christian Slater), Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, Whore, Conan The Destroyer, Poison Ivy III, Wild Things II, etc.

Hopefully I'll update this bitch more often. Problem is, right now school is my life, and I can't really write about my psycho students because of confidentiality issues....

oh well.

Interviews galore

2007-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

I'm calling David Yow from Qui/The Jesus Lizard/Scratch Acid later today. It's a rather intimidating proposition, but I figure I'll just ask him about his bartending prowess to start, and go from there.

The new Qui album (due out Sept. 11) is one of my favorite records of the year by far. When I interviewed Elisa from Magik Markers the other day the album came up and she asked me what it sounded like and I told her Jesus Lizard fans would be happy, the band could tour with huge bands like Tool and be fine, but it could also tour with Magik Markers and wouldn't seem out of place. It's powerful, heavy, and brutally intense. What else would you expect from David Yow?

Elisa and I chatted about her favorite out of print records for DIW, and then chatted about a bunch of other random shit for a while. She's really, really nice. Her band's new album, Boss is coming out on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label comes out in September too (I think) and it rules. They've gone from being total noise psychos to the second coming of Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane, with noise taking place of psychedelic indulgences.

Speaking of Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth is playing an Urban Outfitters store tomorrow in Santa Monica to support L.A. institution KXLU. I'm pretty stoked, because I've a.) never seen them and b.) am on the VIP list.

Two days ago I spent an hour on the phone with Tim Harrington from Les Savy Fav chatting almost exclusively about their new album Let's Stay Friends. The album features guest vocals galore, tons of hollering and plenty of goth-y guitars. Oh, and Fred Armisen (Trenchmouth/SNL) on drums. I'm piecing the interview together for Geek, and will have to cut extensively. If I don't find an outlet for the Q & A, I'll probably just post it here.

In other news: Jen kicks my ass at Dr. Mario. (We inherited her gramma's old Supernintendo).

Waiting for Elisa from Magik Markers to call Ipod list (#4)

2007-07-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

1.) "The Second Part" By The Dears (No Cities Left): Is it Murray Lightburn's fault that his voice sounds so much like Damon Albarn's that nearly every one of his melodic epics sounds like a noirish variation on "Coffee & TV"? Probably not, but he's treated pretty poorly, pretty regularly in the mainstream press. (That may or may not be because he's a dick.) This track's most intriguing selling point is its jazzy interlude that sound like what porn music from the 1930s might have sounded like. Oh, and the second part of "The Second Part" also sounds a lot like Pulp's This is Hardcore, which is pretty fun.

2.) "Talk of the Town" By Shoplifting (Body Stories): The perfect boy/girl Northwestern post-punk band needs to come out with a new album, but I think they might be breaking up or something. Anyway, this forceful blast cryptically examines body image (fancy that...given the album title) and empowerment. Riot, Girls.

3.) "Boycott" By Shellac (Excellent Italian Greyhound): The shortest track on Shellac's latest album, "Boycott" is pretty lo-fi and rageless, especially for Steve Albini. Albini even sounds a little bit like Kurt Cobain on Bleach, which is a total mindfuck. Obviously the instrumentation here supersedes Kurt & Co.

4.) "Flying Saucer" By Dmonstrations (Dmonstrations): The post-punk theme continues as Tetsunori Tawaraya screams about God-knows-what over the top of loud fast dirges from Nick and Aaron. Though it barely tops 2 minutes, the funky bridge between vocal sections breaks the album into two firecrackers.

5.) "Chivalry" By Abe Vigoda (Sky Route/Star Roof): I think this record currently is out of print, but I'm not sure on that. I know the first Not Not Fun pressing is. Anyway, Abe Vigoda are one of L.A.'s brightest stars. Here they muffle the vocals, a la Lightning Bolt and fall in love with their cymbols. Like the above Dmonstrations track, there's a nifty breakdown that recalls everyone from Big Black to Throbbing Gristle. Love the sound of steam escaping pipes.

Ipod Songs post #3

2007-07-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

1.) "Mechanical Sounds Cascaded Through The City Walls And Everyone Reveled In Their Ignorance" By Red Sparowes- Not being a musician, it's hard for me to discuss instrumental bands. When a band's got a vocalist, lyrics and such, it's easier for me to try to make sense out of what they're all about. However, Red Sparowes use their song titles not only to describe the sounds they create, but also to tell a story. The stories they tell typically speak of the apocalypse--foreboding, intense and all-consuming. This track's from At the Soundless Dawn, which pales in comparison to their latest, but I still like getting swept away in their tidal waves. Even if they're over 10 minutes long.

2.) "The Valley" By Oxbow- A theme's developing here. I'm sitting here hoping for some pick me up, and I'm getting Red Sparowes and Oxbow. Where the former talks about the apocalypse, Oxbow talks about the horrors of the here and now, of which there are many. "The Valley" is a largely acoustic beast, and Eugene Robinson moans over the top. Someone recently called Oxbow contemporary blues, and this track goes a long way toward proving the theory--even though these blues bear the burden of suicide and drugs more than being po' in the south. Surprisingly delicate for Oxbow, this song is probably the least scary on their recent "greatest hits" collection, Love That's Last: A Wholly Hypnographic & Disturbing Work Regarding Oxbow.

3.) "Secret Heart" By Feist- Closer to what I was looking for, Feist here explores why a lover won't reveal his inner self to her. This is one of those times where the music almost betrays the theme of the song. Her lover obviously is hiding on something, yet the music is playful and spritelike. Not sure what to make of that...maybe Feist has her own secrets?

4.) "You & I" By Jeff Buckley- Where's the razor? Shit man. I should have put my hip-hop folder on random. This shit's killing me.

5.) "Symphony of Light" By Orko the Sycotik Alien- Finally. This dude's elusive as hell and only really releases his music as CD-Rs. It's sad, really, because his shit blends reggae, hip-hop and supreme beat-making into some of the best underground hip-hop around. If only his stuff wasn't so hard to get ahold of...though www.accesshiphop.com has most of it, just at a pretty steep price for CD-Rs. Oh yeah...this dude has made beats for Saul Williams too...

Oh, yes he did. Ipod post #2

2007-07-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

1.) "I Don't Want to Die" By The Unicorns- A penultimate Unicorns track, featuring delicate melodicism, strange electronic bleeps and Nick Diamonds singing his heart out.

2.) "Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" By The Beatles- Since this is off the Love album pieced together by former Beatles producer Sir George Martin for a Las Vegas Cirque Du Soleil show, I'm not sure whether or not I should call this a "Beatles" song. Much cleaner, bolder and "perfect" than the originals, I actually like this stuff better. I don't know why. Maybe I'll get to see the show some day.

3.) "I Travel" By Free Moral Agents- Trip-hoppy grooves from the keyboardist for The Mars Volta open the track before guest MC J takes over. For a minute. Then we're back trip-hoppin' through Ikey's mind.

4.) "Point #1" By Chevelle- The bridge between Christian rockers P.O.D. and mewithoutYou, Chevelle actually used to be good. So good, in fact, STEVE fucking ALBINI produced this record. Not that he really turns anyone down, but it gives some indication into the fact the Loeffler brothers didn't always play generic alt. rock. Melodic post-hardcore at its finest, the intensity of "Point #1" made me fall in love with them. And, hell, we all do need healing aloe plants from time to time.

5.) "Jambi" By Tool- 10,000 Days isn't an album I listen to a lot, but "Jambi" is one of my favorite songs from it. Tribal percussion, A Perfect Circle-ish Maynard vocals and some Pink Floyd-y guitars and seven minutes almost sound like a recipe for disaster, but Tool know what they're doing by now.

Ipod Songs post #1

2007-07-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

Stolen from Nick Dean. Let's see if I can keep it up longer:

1.) "Orange Spider" By mewithoutYou- From their newest album, Brother, Sister, this minute-long track barely gave me enough time to write about it. It's a goofy, intimate folk song that's part 2 in a trilogy of spider-themed songs. It surprised me the first time I ever heard it. It also made me realize that mewithoutYou absolutely has invigorating moments to share with the world, and anyone who doesn't give them a listen simply because their singer's a religious nut who dumpster dives is sorely missing out.

2.) "Wind Up" By Foo Fighters- I'll blame Jen for this one. I don't even really like the Foo Fighters all that much. Some of their hits are great songs, but I don't always like listening to "songs." She does. Our brains just work differently that way. Anthemic, but also brutally heavy, I have little love for this song. It's hard to buy someone screaming over ridiculously generic pop rock riffs/drums, etc...

3.) "In the Backseat" By Arcade Fire- God, what a gorgeous song, even though Regine has trouble staying on key more often than not. When she sings "My family tree's losing all it's leaves," given the backstory, it's absolutely heart-wrenching. And the driving metaphor as a metaphor not only for coping, but living? Expected in theme, but not in this sort of delivery. The song also ends Funeral much in the same way an actual funeral ends...there's a sense of catharsis, but also that pitted emptiness signified by the weeping, muted orchestra that ends the song.

4.) "Dr. Strangelove" By Blonde Redhead- Not going to lie to you. 23 is the first Blonde Redhead album I've ever heard (blasphemy, I know) and I've really only listened to it once or twice. With little frame of reference, I have a hard time figuring out anything constructive to say about the song (or the album for that matter). To these ears, it's pretty, indie rock sung by an Asian lady named Kazu. It does, however, make me curious to hear their more primitive albums.

5.) "1992" By Blur- For a while there, before I actually started trying to diversify my musical tastes, Blur was the first band that made me realize there's more out there than just what I selected from the radio to like. The other great "ballad" from 13 besides "Coffee and TV" blended the shoegaze-y fuzz of Blur with more traditional melodic rock. The main difference here is that Damon Albarn's vocals--of which there are few--aren't treated. If I shot up heroin, or even smoked pot, Blur and 13 would be among my first choices to get high with.

Well that was fun. My brain's kind of burnt, so I didn't really say anything of substance above. Oh well.

For the record, song 6 was "Each Other's Futures" by Year Future.

Wedding Shots

2007-07-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

I'm married.

2007-06-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

I love watching foreign films that remind me of how terrible American cinema really is these days. After I interviewed Liars the other day at drummer Julian Gross's pad in Glendale (or Burbank or Pasadena), Jen and I drove over to Arclight Theatre in Hollywood to see Day Watch, er Dnevnoy Dozor because that's pretty much the only theatre around town showing it. There were only four other people in the theatre with us, and we were all treated to some inventive good vs. evil interplay (like X-men, but less "for the masses" if that makes sense). Not to mention some impressive cinematic eye candy.

I can't help but think of the movie in conjunction with Transformers which looks so incredibly glossy and generic it could be straight-to-video. Instead, Day Watch is gritty, occasionally goofy, filled with a somber feeling of sorrow and regret, well-imagined and oddly realistic (for a post-apocalyptic, grimy film). The only recent popular film I can think of to compare it to is Children of Men, and that, of course, was directed by Alfonso Cuaron, a Mexican. Maybe it has to do with the embrace of Magical Realism in Latin America, the former Eastern Bloc and India, and America's outdated "art imitates life" trappings. Who knows. I am going to go see David Lynch's Inland Empire later this week, so maybe that'll restore my faith.

(No lie. A video advertisement for the Transformers video game just emerged on AIM. And even it looks better than that movie.)

After the movie Jen and I stuck around for a minute because the theatre was hosting the premiere of some terrible sounding "B" movie called "On Bloody Sunday," which isn't even listed on IMDB. I'm not sure how that's even possible. Through research, I learned the movie is a "feature length teen horror film depicting an unspeakable reign of terror wrought through the lures and seduction of Internet social networking on Myspace." It's apparently being put out by Seskri Produktionz, which, from observation at the premiere, means "The Mob." As for the actors, financiers and their "arm candy," I've never seen such a collection of dorks mixed with road whores in one place. Unintentional comedy scale was through the roof. So, yeah, earlier that day I interviewed Liars, and we had a blast. They were all smoking pot and chatting about bullshit, and I didn't come off like an idiot, so I consider the whole thing a bit of a victory. I think my favorite part of the interview happened when we were discussing the art of marketing, and Julian said, "Yeah man. I want to buy the new Paul McCartney. And three Ipods!"

Last week, in addition to Liars, I also interviewed Aesop Rock and the Animal Collective's Avey Tare. Nothing special to report there, except both went pretty well.

Two nights ago Jen and I went to go see Rhode Island's White Mice at The Smell. They're this insanely heavy bass/drums/electronics trio on Load Records who dress like mice and apparently also are Satanic. Their new album is called Blassstphlegmeice. Tragically, there were probably only about 25 or so people there to see them, but I bought their new album, and an older one on vinyl called Do They Know it's Christmice.

Rhode Island is awesome. I want my children to go to school there.

Chuck Dukowski from Black Flag also played with his "Chuck Dukowski Sextet." The dude can still rip on the bass. But before I go any further, a funny story.

The last time (and first time) I took Jen to The Smell, we saw Barr, who is a mild-mannered spoken word artist who sometimes writes absurdist word interplays, and other times writes hyper-sensitive personal narratives. All around great dude. Anyway, he's performing for the first time at The Smell in Los Angeles (his home venue) as a band. He's doing his thing, his band's doing its thing, and all of a sudden he steps on the mic stand and almost falls. He kicks it out of the way and it nails Jen and me in the collective heads. He apologizes endlessly at the end of the song, we laugh it off (though Jen did get the brunt of the contact and two bumps).

Flash forward to the second time I make Jen go to The Smell with me. We're watching the Chuck Dukowski sextet, which features Chuck on bass, a crazy cool lady named Lori Norton on vocals, some teenager named Milo on guitar and a buff drummer named Tony. They're playing their psychedelic rock and everyone's grooving. Then they bust into a cover of Black Flag's "My War" (Is it a cover if Dukowski wrote the original?) and Lori freaks out, screaming (it rules) and throws the mic stand at, who else, Jen and me. All of the force of the stand hit Jen directly on one toe (a decidedly better spot than her face) but it still hurt. Again, it was the nicest lady ever who did it.

Weird. I'm not sure if she'll ever go to a show with me there again.

Knocked out...

2007-06-04T23:04:00.001-07:00

For months I've been hearing about how amazing Knocked Up was, and finally got the chance to see it tonight.

A short list of what blew:

The chemistry between Seth Rogen (a supporting character at best) and Katherine Heigl (a walking set of boobs at best). There was nothing compelling about their relationship, or even vaguely real. They didn't even hug, that I can remember.
The underutilization of Jonah Hill and the other potsmoking friends of Rogen's character. Almost every line seemed like outakes from "You know how I know you're gay" improv games.
That Jonah Hill's character was named "Jonah."
That the funniest person in the whole movie was the Asian girlfriend.
The oddly formal conversation between Seth Rogen (son) and Harold Ramis (dad).

A short list of what ruled:

The usage of "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" by Ol' Dirty Bastard.
The pink eye gag. (marginal)
The shrooms experience (specifically the hotel room chairs bit)

That's about it. The movie just failed to click...and I think it all centered around Heigl and Rogen's zombie acting style.

I got the new Liars, Aesop Rock and No Age CDs today. They all come out in August. Print magazines rule.

Real life interaction with Jonah Hill

2007-05-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah: I wanted to ask about the quote I saw in Newsweek. Is it true that the ladies are not flocking to Jonah Hill?

Jonah Hill: They asked me to write something for Newsweek. Judd (Apatow) and I decided to just make it a complete joke. Try to make it funny. I get a lot of ladies. I’m fine. I just wanted to make it a plea for help, as pathetic as possible. People seemed to think it was funny. I’m alright. I don’t have a girlfriend at the moment. I’m single, so ladies, if you’re reading Geek Magazine, which I’m sure only attractive ladies read...

Jeremiah: They did have an article in last month’s issue about a hot girls who play video games calendar. All the hot girls are playing video games naked in the calendar.

Hill: That’s hilarious. We could do a hot guys who play video games calendar.

Jeremiah: Or not hot guys.

Hill: Yeah. We could do a not hot naked guys video games calendar. I haven’t seen what you look like, but if you’d like to email me…

Jeremiah: Yeah I’ll shoot you an email. I think I would fall under the not hot guys category.

Hill: Oh, c’mon Jeremiah. I haven’t seen you, but you have a wonderful sounding voice.

Jeremiah: Thank you.

Christmas

2007-05-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

So, I usually have a decent amount of CDs that come per week. Probably between 10 and 15. Sometimes lower, sometimes higher.

But today was the day to end all CD days.

I got 28 CDs in the mail today, including:

The new Wilco
A new Pleasure Forever b-sides and rarities collection
The new Pterodactyl
The new To Live and Shave and L.A. (released on a French label)
The new Weasel Walter (released on that same French label)
Tons of shit I've never heard of
AND
AND
AND
AND
AND
AND

The new Animal Collective CD that doesn't come out until:

September.

It's so damn good. They went back to their noise roots--it's going to alienate the shit out of people, but still rules.

I'm currently burning CDs for my students as I say goodbye to them.

Subtitle, Busdriver, MF Doom, Madvillian and Mr. Lif for Lorenzo (we engaged in a spirited debate with the rest of the class today on whether or not hip-hop lyrics, or any other lyrics, should be censored on public radio. He and I were the only two who didn't think they should be).

The Paper Chase and Murder By Death for Idania (she's a cellist and I already gave her Cursive and other Murder By Death stuff).

Saul Williams, MF Doom and Madvillian for Donovan.

Sleater-Kinney and Arcade Fire for Tasha.

Smashing Pumpkins for Maritza.

Portishead and Tricky for Uriel.

Probably all of the above hip-hop CDs + Beans for Arsenio, my aspiring rapper.

Burning CDs takes a long time.

Home is where the Heart is

2007-05-27T07:57:00.001-07:00

I watched VH-1's rock honors the other day because I saw Queens of the Stone Age and Alice in Chains paid homage to Ozzy and Heart, respectively. Of particular note was, of course, what the hell Alice in Chains would sound like without Layne Staley.

Unfortunately, the band performed Heart's "Barracuda" with country singer Gretchen Wilson on vocals, so I didn't get to hear Jerry + the new black guy in the band. Fortunately, Ms. Wilson nailed the song, and as an added bonus, the hot Wilson sister (Nancy) came out and shredded with Cantrell. Queens also, expectedly, nailed Ozzy.

We'll not talk about horrible Keane was while covering Genesis. Even Nickelback was serviceable while covering ZZ Top.

In other news, I interviewed Jonah Hill from Superbad on Friday. He was absolutely hilarious, and we decided we were going to make an ugly naked men playing video games calendar.

You had to be there.

Also, Jen and I bought a house. It's monstrous. And cool.

sickness

2007-05-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

Ok. I'm sick.

But I got the new Night Wounds CD...and it's pretty awesome.

And I'm listening to Brother Reade, sitting here wondering whether or not it's racist of me to think that white rappers are almost universally awful. It especially bothers me when rappers try to "sound black" or whatever. I don't know. It's just such a glorious art form that white folk have no business dabbling in.

Except for Aesop Rock. And the Beastie Boys.

They're the only exceptions I can think of.

Brother Reade sucks.
El-P sucks (outside of production)
Brother Ali sucks.
Slug sucks.
Acid Reign sucks.

Why is it that Aesop Rock and the Beasties don't bug me? I have no idea, other than to say they simply sound real.

Stuff

2007-05-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

Small dumb update:

I think I have pneumonia again.
I am very upset at the Buffalo Sabres.
I dig this new band called Attack Formation. And another one called Paper Airplanes.
Apparently I'm the new music editor for Geek Magazine.
90 some odd 11th graders suck the life out of you (in a good way)
I interviewed Michael Cera (George Michael on "Arrested Development")
That's about it.

Donkey-headed something something

2007-03-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's my last day of real subbing...I'm taking over for a teacher who's having a baby...her classes are 11th Grade AP kids.

Should be sweet. Just transcribed my interview with Alec from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah...it went way better than I thought it would. He was pretty hilarious.

Interviewing Sleepytime Gorilla Museum tomorrow night at their show in L.A. That should be awesome...

news bits out.

big day tuesday

2007-03-19T00:36:00.000-07:00

Locust, Modest Mouse, Chinese Stars

few other things here and there....willowz, something else caught my eye.

I'll have to buy The Locust and Modest Mouse, it appears, but that's ok. I already have The Chinese Stars...

Also landed a few CD reviews in Geek magazine and apparently will have at least five in Skyscraper...whee hoo...

Amazon fun

2007-03-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

Picked up old copies of Three Mile Pilot's Another Desert, Another Sea, Oxbow's An Evil Heat and the GZA's Liquid Swords for pretty cheap on Amazon the other day and they've started filtering in.

This, as you might expect, is very exciting news.

In other news, it was cool to see the Arcade Fire debut at #2 on the Billboard charts this past week, but totally uncool to see they lost out on the top spot to Notorious B.I.G.

I'm not very chatty today.

Away we go...

2007-03-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

Interviewing Clap Your Hands Say Yeah tomorrow, and I'm actually more nervous about it than I have been for any interview I've done in a while. (The last one was probably Ian MacKaye, part deux)

I think my impression of Alec is that of a dick. But in a good way.

Here's hoping....

Dear Journal

2007-03-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

I am unsatisfied with what I'm finding new in contemporary "unsigned" art punk (that's what I'm calling it for laziness's sake). I know there are great bands out there, and I'm sick of listening to valid hipster pop stuff like The Shins, Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The new Battles helped, but only a little. It was more of a distraction. It just seems I've hit a brick wall after these bands:

Abe Vigoda
Silver Daggers
Rose For Bohdan
No Age
The Pope
Shearing Pinx
Duchesses
We Quit!

Every other band I check out in this vein seems to be too primitive for my tastes, too loose in terms of "song" structure, or too far out in noise-land for me to really dig. While I might appreciate such music, that doesn't mean I want to listen to it on a consistent basis. And you can only search myspace friends for so long before you become inundated with garbage, or so lost you end up on a friend from high school's page.

I'd like to go more international (New Zealand, Japan, etc.) but that's a pain too. Sometimes I hate not living near anyone with good music taste.

On a positive note, I have recently become enamored with Old Time Relijun and White Mice, and plan on picking up some of their releases ASAP.

Irony

2007-03-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else find it somewhat odd that the day after Jean Baudrillard died, news breaks of this:

(If you can't tell from the picture, that's not a real man on the left. It's a cardboard cutout.)

That's right folks. The military is giving families cardboard cutouts of daddy for families to hang with while daddy's butchering folks (or being butchered) over in Iraq.

Tracy Morgan

2007-02-23T22:51:00.000-08:00

There is no greater master of absurd humor on television right now than Tracy Morgan on 30 Rock. I've never seen anything like it. He basically plays an emotionally disturbed/possibly slightly mentally retarded comedian who flips out when people say "pumpkin" to him and who pretends he's illiterate. It's brilliant.

I just figured I'd give him props since I was very brutal about him when he was on Saturday Night Live. I want to revisit his sketches, because I assume many are simply ahead of their time, or at least weirder than I was prepared for at the time.

Got the new Arcade Fire, !!! and Brother Ali recently. I like the Arcade Fire, but other than "My Body is a Cage" and "Black Wave, Bad Vibrations" it's not stunning. The new !!! is terrible, and I haven't popped Brother Ali in yet. Should also be getting the new El-P (feat. Trent Reznor?!?!) and Battles in the mail soon.

In other news, I interviewed JP from The Locust today and am playing in a staff vs. students softball game tomorrow. Heck yes.

Better late than never

2007-02-05T17:47:00.000-08:00

It’s about a month into 2007 and I’ve already decided that this year is going to kill 2006 in terms of new music. January has already delivered brilliant new albums by Busdriver, Hella, The Shins, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Rob Crow, Holy Molar and The Good, the Bad and the Queen. February’s got amazing new releases by BARR, The Eternals and Marnie Stern. March has the Arcade Fire, !!!, Modest Mouse, Big Business and The Locust. Nine Inch Nails and Chinese Stars have albums coming out in April and Battles, Les Savy Fav, Tender Buttons, Akrobatik, Mr. Lif, Bjork, Silver Daggers and Business Lady all have planned releases at various times in between.

2006 was rather, shall we say, blah. I’m having trouble coming up with more than 15 albums or so to even contend—there are 25 bands listed above—and I’ve already heard at least a third of them. So, really, without any ado whatsoever, my dreadfully predictable top 10 list for 2006:

10) Rose For Bohdan
Then Everybody Hugged, ‘Racism is God.’
Deathbomb Arc

From the opening track, “Friends Forever,” Rose for Bohdan embody the tragic state of racial politics in the current age of “enlightenment.” Then Everybody Hugged sounds as though it could fall apart at any time, and when vocalist/guitarist Brian Miller channels Joy Division (“Love, love will tear us apart,”) you’re not sure what’s going to tear you apart, but something’s on its way. Rose for Bohdan have created an album that will certainly fall by the wayside, but those of us fortunate enough to have it will treasure its brash documentation of Los Angeles.

9) mewithoutYou
Brother, Sister
Tooth & Nail

Few bands can completely reinvent their sound and without making the transformation sound completely contrived. Brother, Sister finds mewithoutYou veering toward ...Trail of Dead land, rather than continuing down the path toward the post-hardcore of Quicksand or that first Chevelle record that didn't suck. Going more epic and less punk almost never works because few punk bands have the chops to pull it off, but vocalist Aaron Weiss keeps everything grounded because of his everpresent impassioned struggle with his God. That alone makes mewithoutYou completely and utterly compelling.

8) Sunset Rubdown
Shut Up I am Dreaming
Absolutely Kosher

How often, exactly, does a guy's sideproject outshine his actual band? Spencer Krug's Wolf Parade is OK, despite the fact they totally rip off Modest Mouse. On the other hand, Sunset Rubdown appear to reveal the man's dreamscapes. How often do you get to dig around inside the mind of a weirdo like him? Experimental, absurd and fun, Shut Up I am Dreaming sounds like the album Spencer's Wolf-mates won't let him make. Commercially they've made a smart choice, but artistically...

7) Subtitle
Terrain To Roam
Alpha Pup

While not quite the masterpiece of 2004's Young Dangerous Heart, Terrain To Roam still clocks in as my second favorite hip-hop album of 2006. Its creator, Giovanni Marks, seems to be going through that quarter-life crisis (he recently relocated to Montreal, wants to drop his nickname, decided to stop rapping about science and Ray Bradbury, etc.), but his nerdy flow remains hypnotizing. I blame his life uncertainty for the album's uneven feel--especially his anti-pill diatribe "Pill Pop,"--but that doesn't mean I want to stop listening to it.

6) Swan Lake
Beast Moans
Jagjaguwar

To answer the question posed in number four, twice. At least to this point. Members of Frog Eyes, Wolf Parade and New Pornographers join to make the second best Canadian record of the year (more on this later). Moody, ethereal, and like Sunset Rubdown, oddly fun, Beast Moans finds more fun things to do with Spencer Krug's drunken vocals. Maybe it's just the album artwork, but when I listen to this album, I can't help but envision some absurdist revival by mountain dwellers cool enough for The Animal Collective, but to cool for Man Man.

5) Liars
Drum's Not Dead
Mute

Speaking of absurdist revivals, Liars crafted the perfect urban revival hymn book with Drum's Not Dead. I can always tell when an album needs to be listed in some kind of top something when I don't like a band at all and they come out with an album I can't stop listening to. Then again, I don't really know what I'm talking about because I can't think of a band that's happened with. By the way, "It Fit When I Was a Kid" gets my vote for song of the year, hands down.

4) Xiu Xiu
The Air Force
5rc

Until Jamie Stewart pioneers a bad album, they'll remain in every top whatever list I'm making up.

3) Mr. Lif
Mo' Mega
Definitive Jux

My current soundtrack for my nine-minute drive to work in the morning. Lif gets a little frisky on Mo' Mega, almost pornographic, and despite the mental images I get the point. Lif, like Subtitle, is growing up and talking about real-life issues. He wants to settle down. He wants a career. What's he going to do? Make Mo' Mega and rip past and present presidents. Duh.

2) Daughters
Hell Songs
Hydra Head

This might be cheating, since I'm combining the album with the band's stellar Los Angeles show I was fortunate enough to catch where vocalist Lex Marshall almost got arrested for indecent exposure. On its own, Hell Songs churns like the best Arab on Radar, Angel Hair and the VSS ever offered and sounds like an electric interpretation of a disembowelment. No, really, that's a good thing.

1) *TIE*

Islands
Return to the Sea
Equator

TV on the Radio
Return to Cookie Mountain
Interscope

Go ahead. Call me a cheater. Islands soundtracked my first half of the year and TV on the Radio the second, so how can I differentiate between the two. Both feature stellar guest appearances (Subtitle, Busdriver, Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire for Islands; David Bowie, Katrina Ford and Kazu Makino for TV on the Radio). Both albums instantly put a smile on my face. I've listened to each album 20-30 times this year. Both are masterpieces following up masterpieces and anticipate more good things to come.

And to get sappy, it's rare that an album can enter my heart (or, in a less gay way, an album I can listen to at any time and feel the same chill I got when i first heard it). Maybe one a year, tops. But this year, both albums became part of the lexicon of Jeremiah, sitting along the shelf with Arcade Fire's Funeral, Tool's Aenima, Nirvana's Nevermind and MTV Unplugged, Stone Temple Pilot's Purple, Beck's Mellow Gold, Portishead's Dummy, TV on the Radio's Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, NIN's The Downward Spiral, ...Trail of Dead's Source Tags and Codes, Tom Waits' Alice, Radiohead's The Bends, Arab on Radar's Queen Hygiene II/Rough Day at the Orifice, At the Drive-in's Relationship of Command, The Mars Volta's, Bjork's Vespertine, Mos Def's Black on Both Sides, Subtitle's Young Dangerous Heart, Busdriver's Fear of a Black Tangent, Far's Water and Solutions, Feist's Let it Die, Fugazi's The Argument, Green Day's Dookie, Hum's You'd Prefer an Astronaut, Jeff Buckley's Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, Les Savy Fav's Go Forth and The Cat and the Cobra, mewithoutYou's A to B: Life, Murder City Devils' In Name and Blood, Cursive's The Ugly Organ, Pearl Jam's Ten, anything by The Pixies, Pulp's This is Hardcore, Q and Not U's Different Damage, Quicksand's Manic Compression, Rage Against the Machine's Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, Sunny Day Real Estate's Diary, These Arms Are Snakes' Oxeneers, or the Lion Sleeps When its Antelope go Home, Tricky's Maxinquaye, Weezer's Blue Album and Pinkerton, Nation of Ulysses' Plays Pretty for Baby and almost everything by Xiu Xiu.

There. Now You've got my canon. Are you happy?

Oh. Here are the 2006 runners-up, in absolutely no order whatsoever: Gram Rabbit's Cultivation, Mason Proper's There is a Moth in Your Chest, The Evens Get Evens, Beck's The Information, Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere, The Blood Brothers' Young Machete, ...Trail of Dead's So Divided, Make Believe's Shock of Being, Cadence Weapon's Breaking Kayfabe, Cex's Actual Fucking, Deftones' Saturday Night Wrist, Red Sparowes, Every Red Heart Shines Under the Red Sun, Man Man's Six Demon Bag, Dmonstrations' Night Trrors Shock, First Nation's First Nation, Tool's 10,000 Days, Thavius Beck's Thru, These Arms Are Snakes' Easter, Yeah Yeah Yeah's Show Your Bones, Yo La Tengo's I am Not Afraid of You and I will Beat Your Ass, Uzeda's Stella, Abe Vigoda's Kid City and Tapes 'n' Tapes The Loon.

Ok. So 2006 wasn't that bad. But I still think 2007 will be better.

courtesy of cr-shirts.com

2006-08-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

so wrong, but oh so amazing...

Ten up. Way up.

2006-08-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

Oh God. I got hired as an English teacher up here. I start early next week.

TV on the Radio
Return to Cookie Mountain
2006 4AD (for now)

I've been trying for two weeks to come up with something coherent to say about this album, but words have been eluding me. I suppose that's part of the mark of a "genius" album. Maybe it's just the mark of writer's block. Whichever happens to be true, Return to Cookie Mountain is exactly what I thought it'd be: beautifully literate. It's the kind of album you can lose yourself in for hours on end, without really knowing why or how. Ikey Owens (The Mars Volta/Free Moral Agents) once told me he thought TV on the Radio were the future of Black music. Return to Cookie Mountain solidifies that future.

Mr. Lif
Mo' Mega
2006 Definitive Jux

Speaking of Black music, political hip-hop king Mr. Lif returns with Mo' Mega, a carefully crafted collection of tracks dealing not only with favorite target President Bush, but also exhibits an artist coming to terms with the fact he might have to sacrifice personal relationships for his craft, or vice versa. El-P's production slows Lif to a verbal crawl, but he's never sounded so powerful. On the eve of his 10th anniversary, Lif told me he's already half-done with his next album, a self-described masterpiece. He might just be selling Mo' Mega a bit short.

Uzeda
Stella
2006 Touch & Go

These Italians have been trying to infiltrate American ears for the last decade, and if Stella doesn't do it, nothing will. You can tell vocalist Giovanna Cacciola has taken over the role of "Steve Albini's muse" from former Jaks/Love Life/current Celebration vocalist Katrina Ford while her band mates (Raffaele Gulisano, Davide Oliveri and Agostino Tilotta) tear through Shellac/Big Black/Rapeman influenced industrialized doom. In the words of Tilotta:

Stella (in english 'star') is a fashinating enlightened point in the sky;
Stella is the individual unit, an identity and original part of a constellation;
Stella is the name of a girl, of a daughter, of a mother, of a grandmother, of a woman;
Stella is the name of a dog;
Stella is a creature in the sea;
Stella is a name for a guitar;
Stella is the focal point of our dreams;
Stella is the joy of our hopes;
Stella is the centre of our Imagination;
Stella is the untouchable secret of our Freedom;
Stella is the neverended beginning of the Creation;
Stella is the most intimate and private colour in a will's desire;
Stella is the colour that nobody can reproduce;
Stella is "sharing together heart to heart";
Stella is the history of the Universe;
Stella is the magic of a smile;
Stella is the world without poverty and prejudice;
Stella is the power of an idea;
Stella is the energy of the Ideals;
Stella is the flag of the Human Wrights;
Stella is the unknown singing of the Whales;
Stella is the deep eye of the Eagle;
Stella is the golden wings of Peter Pan;
Stella is the keyword for Peace;
Stella is the interspace of Pure Silence;
Stella is the perfect cut of a razor blade;
Stella is a sugarcube in a cup of hate;
Stella is the sound power of a bees storm;
Stella is the weapon against a poisoned lie;
Stella is the victory of a sincere truth.

I couldn't have said it better myself--except to add that Stella is a
harrowing beauty waiting to be heard.

Daughters
Hell Songs
2006 Hydra Head

After a few years of admittedly playing music that sounded pretty derivative of The Locust, Alexis Marshall and company seem to have accidently stumbled upon a sound that's at once the bastard child of Arab on Radar and the Get Hustle. The resulting Hell Songs plays like a futuristic debutante ball gone horribly wrong: imagine Carrie mixed with 28 Days Later and Apocalypse Now.

Thom Yorke
The Eraser
2006 XL Recordings

Who didn't think this would at least be a little bit listenable? I actually bought this with less trepidation than I approached Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief (which I still haven't picked up). Anyway, imagine an entire album built around Kid A's "Idioteque" and you'll get some idea as to where The Eraser will lead you.

Margot & the Nuclear So and So's
The Dust of Retreat
2006 Artemis

Even wussier than an entire album of Thom Yorke's musings, I hate myself for liking this band. Their lyrics are simplistic. Their name is horrible. Their record label is pretty awful. Yet, The Dust of Retreat is as utterly infectious as Chutes Too Narrow, another album I'm completely ashamed of liking. I blame Richard Edwards' flawless voice, though the delicate orchestration certainly helps.

Miss Violetta Beau Regarde
Odi Profanum Et Arceo
2006 Temporary Residence Ltd.

I think she might be a Suicide Girl, and if that's the case, I think it adds to my description of what Miss Violetta Beau Regarde is. She's Peaches, but pissed. She's early Le Tigre but not nearly as danceable. She's Eva Inca Ore circa-Alarmist, but more electronic. Fear her, but love her.

Red Sparowes/Made out of Babies/Battle of Mice
Triad
2006 Neurot

I'd have been ecstatic with a live two-song EP by post-apocalyptic instrumentalists Red Sparowes, but No! They decided that wasn't enough, so not only did they ask good friends Made out of Babies to do a split--the two center pieces of the bands (Josh Graham and Julie Christmas) actually got together and formed a whole new entity called Battle of Mice to take on the world. Christmas's voice takes some getting used to--try to imagine a much more alluring Norah Jones crooning over doom rock. But now that I've written that, Battle of Mice sounds nothing like that would sound. That would be awful. Maybe mix some "chick from Pretty Girls Makes Graves" in there and we might have a deal.

Xiu Xiu
The Air Force
2006 5RC

After La Foret and Fabulous Muscles, I was a little worried that Jamie Stewart might be wussing out on us. Fortunately The Air Force hearkens back to Knife Play and A Promise. Stewart told me it wasn't any sort of conscious decision, so I assume the brief mellowing had something to do with his father's suicide. He's not one to reveal anything beyond what his lyrics say. Perhaps the return to form has something to do with the infusion of Deerhoof's Greg Saunier. I could go into that irony, but I'd prefer just to say that The Air Force bleeds the usual uninhibited Xiu Xiu emotions. That is to say, they're gut-wrenching, haunting songs that maul your soul but somehow leave you craving to be abused again.

McLusky
McLuskyism
2006 Too Pure

For someone who completely missed McLusky when they were the saviors of European punk no one had ever heard of, this collection (I got the single CD, not the box set) shows three dudes from Wales experimenting on archetypes first set by Nirvana (via Scratch Acid) and, as their musicianship developed, Fugazi. Very few bands play original punk music like these guys did: energy sweats, experimental vocals and bruising instrumentation. I might have missed them, but I still feel their absence. Where have all the punks who can play gone?

Mini Reviews: Ten Down (Ten Up to follow)

2006-08-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

And now for some not so positive reviews:

With Love
A Great Circle CD/DVD
2006 Gold Standard Labs

Like Italian countrymen Uzeda, With Love have been around for over a decade, but largely haven't found an audience in America. After watching A Great Circle I can kind of tell why. I mean, aren't we over the whole random art house film by now? With Love blend their music film footage reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, random French cinema and David Lynch for an extremely random adaptation what they apparently think their music looks like. Or it's tongue-in-cheek. I just can't tell, and that's the problem. The music, reminiscent of Japanese takes on prog, isn't half bad. The DVD's just too dorky.

Be Your Own Pet
Be Your Own Pet
2006 Ecstatic Peace

It's not that Be Your Own Pet is bad. And it's not like I don't like them because they're so hugely popular right now (though their age and location--late teens and Tennessee--certainly make them novelty act material). It's just that I don't get what seperates them from every other female fronted post-punk (more specifically post-riot grrl) band around (The Gossip, Mika Miko, Shoplifting, and Numbers immediately come to mind). Maybe it's just the fact they have the Thurston Moore stamp of approval. (Let's not forget he's now in a band with Andrew W.K.) Or, maybe it's just the fact the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are going to implode. Either way, Be Your Own Pet are the most overrated band around right now.

CSS
Cansei De Ser Sexy
2006 Sub Pop

Second Place in this year's "All Overrated Chick-Fronted Young Punk Band From an Exotic Location Supported by an Icon" contest goes to Brazil's CSS. Instead of Thurston Moore, Diplo seems to be responsible for these young, irritating, dance hooligans infiltrating American blogs and Soulseek. For the love of God--kids, just listen to Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. In succession.

The Curtains
Calamity
2006 Asthmatic Kitty

The debut album from Chris Cohen's new project he left Deerhoof to play in. It doesn't come out until......

Pardon. fell asleep for a minute there. It doesn't come out until October. Why did you leave Deerhoof for this? Lovers of Oh No! Oh My! and The Boy Least Likely To will eat this shit up.

The Weird Weeds
Weird Feelings
2006 Sounds Are Active

If you can't get enough Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice, The Weird Weeds might just be the band for you. However, if you've had it with minimalistic avant-garde indulgence with occasional upswells of maximalism, then, well, I don't know what to tell you. Plus, THE WEIRD WEEDS? What are you, a Grateful Dead cover band or something? I know we're all running low on band names, but really.

Tam
Tam
2006 Ecstatic Peace

Dude. Thurston. What are you doing to us? I thought your major label imprint was supposed to bring underepresented music to the masses, not some random chick from Montreal who locked herself in her room too long listening to Nirvana when she was a kid. Are you having survivor's guilt or something? (Note: her cover of the Arcade Fire's "No Cars Go" is actually good, but only because it's a good song.)

Comets on Fire
Avatar
2006 Sub Pop

Anyone else out there forget the 1960s and 1970s happened? Did we need a classic rock revival? When did Sub Pop start sucking again? (So much rage happening right now. So much rage.) The kids are eating this shit and Wolfmother up. I want to die. Just go listen to Santana, if you must.

Fucked Up
Hidden World
2006 Jade Tree

For fans of Rye Coalition and New York City hardcore. That's not me.

Two Dollar Guitar
The Wear and Tear of Fear: A Lover's Discourse
2006 Smells Like Records

When I got this CD I actually thought it was a joke. Not a joke, persay, but I thought it was from some amateur from Appalachia. Then I found out it was on a label that has released stuff by Blonde Redhead, Cat Power and--wait a minute--Sonic Youth! What the fuck is going on around here? (Oh yeah...this is for people who like boring, ambient, orchestrated guitar pop. Again, not me.)

Offering
Comfort and Joy
2006 Self-Released

Who in the fuck sends a Christmas album for review in the middle of summer? Anyone? Anyone? It doesn't even have "We Three Kings!" Fuck them. In fact, email them: info@offeringband.com.

(Sorry about the lack of images. Blogger decided not to let me load any more after the first two. That was extremely nice of them, no?)

INTERVIEW: The pAper chAse

2006-08-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

I phoned John Congleton a long time ago for this interview. I hope his publicist doesn't strangle me:

I caught the Pitchfork review earlier this week and was wondering what you thought of the whole ‘post-punk/emo’ label?

Congleton: Well, I pretty much firmly disagree with anyone calling the paper chase an emo band, or really most of the titles people try to pin on us are not exactly apt, in my opinion. Especially emo. I have no idea what people mean when they call us that. The kind of stuff that was pegged as emo in the mid-90s has absolutely no sonic affiliation whatsoever with what people are calling emo now. I think in a lot of ways you can draw comparisons between what emo is now as to what 20 years ago glam metal was. I think that, basically, it’s going to be the brunt of a lot of jokes later on. It’s the brunt of a lot of jokes right now, but I think that it’ll be the butt of a lot of jokes later on. Glam metal was an awful bastardization of something really cool that happened with metal. There were a lot of great and talented metal bands and whatnot. I think that there were a lot of great and talented bands that were pegged emotional hardcore or emo. Right now you have these prefabricated, awful bands that are basically put together because they look good—a nice little meat package. The only people buying these records are underage people, just like the only people buying hair metal were underage girls and guys who wanted to get with those girls.

It’s weird to see the development of the word ‘emo’ and how it’s gone from describing bands like Rites of Spring, Sunny Day Real Estate, and even up through At The Drive-In, it seems like there’s two parallel lines of what emo is and what it has become.

Congleton: Yeah, I mean I try not to devote too much energy to that kinda stuff because it’s just one of those things you have to deal with. The main thing that I don’t like about that word whenever it’s associated with us is that it affiliates us with bands that I think are really fucking terrible and really have no business in the artistic community. To put it nicely.

Tell me how you really feel…

Congleton: I feel strongly about that. I think a lot of those bands should go get fucked.

Are there contemporary bands you are into at all?

Congleton: Sure. A lot of the bands we’re talking about right now I don’t consider to be our peers. They’re on a different wavelength entirely. A lot of those bands don’t know the experience of what really shitty touring is like. They immediately fall into a situation where they have a really nice van, a really, really good publicist all of a sudden. We’re kind of from a different school. Well not necessarily a different school, but we’re older than a lot of those bands and have experiences that they can’t relate to. Sure, there’s bands out there that I think are doing great stuff. Even if it’s not something I would listen to, I think it’s valid and cool.

You mentioned shitty touring…as the band has progressed have the tours gotten better?

Congleton: Uh…yes. I guess I would say yes. We still aren’t a huge draw. We have places we do really well in, and then we have a lot of places where we draw a really small cult following. That’s OK with us. We were never under the impression that we would be some sort of overnight success, or even a success in the eyes of someone who would see ‘success.’ Success is just doing something genuine and honest and working hard at it. The journey is the destination, as far as that stuff goes.

I’ve seen a lot of people describe your sound as theatrical or dramatic. Do you see that? Is that a conscious decision?

Congleton: I think it’s something that I’ve embraced. I think that maybe possibly whenever people use words like emo that’s what they’re confusing.

Is The Paper Chase a soundtrack to your mind?

Congleton: (Laughs) I guess.

Where do the sounds that you guys craft come from?

Congleton: That’s kind of like asking somebody how they got an accent, you know what I mean? Nobody tries to have an accent. They just open their mouth and that’s the kind of accent they have because of the tonalities they’ve been subject to. You spend your whole life in West Texas, you’re going to have a West Texas accent. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we never tried to get rid of that accent, musically.

I’ve read that the band started out as ‘therapy’ for you. I was just wondering if that’s still how The Paper Chase exists for you?

Congleton: I think that music and art is always therapy. No matter what.

You guys are from Texas. What’s it like having lived under George W. Bush longer than any of the rest of the country?

Congleton: First of all he was Lt. Governor, which meant he really didn’t have any power. In Texas, that’s the way it kinda runs. To be completely honest, when he was governor it was one of those things you didn’t really think about because it didn’t really affect anything. The one thing I can vividly remember going, “Jesus, what a jackoff” was when he really loosened restrictions on pollution in Texas, so Texas really quickly became a really dirty state when he was governor.

Do you ever think of leaving at all?

Congleton: Uh, what time is it? Every day.

The state, the country or both?

Congleton: The state.

It’s one of the states I’ve never really been to. I’ve driven through the top once and landed in an airport there once. Is it as bad as everyone stereotypes it to be?

Congleton: No, it’s not. It’s just like any place. It’s got its good and its bad. When you’re from a place you get to see the good things about it, but you get to see the bad things really up close. I think a lot of people, when they talk bad about Texas they’re just generalizing. Here’s the deal. Texas is a huge state, right, so you’ve got three major cities: Dallas, Houston and Austin. In the cities you have dynamic, sophisticated people. A lot of Democrats, actually. A lot of people who don’t like where this country’s going. The problem is everyone regards Texas as a red state, and it is a red state because you’ve got all this flyover country with all the small towns and the small-minded people. Those people vote Republican. There you go. what you have ultimately is a red state. But if you live in the major cities, especially Austin—I mean Austin is a complete oasis in the middle of Texas. You would think you were in Berkeley.

Back to the music. I was reading an older interview with you where you laughed off a comparison to Bright Eyes, and I was wondering if there are other contemporary bands you get lumped in with and you shake your head at?

Congleton: Not really. I know a lot of people have compared us Cursive. The funny thing about the Cursive comparison is those guys were big Paper Chase fans and we did a tour together back when they weren’t drawing all that many people. To me, anything people might be picking up from us as far as Cursive goes, Cursive maybe got from us. I can’t say that for sure. I can tell you I think Cursive is a good band and good guys and I’m happy to see that they’re doing well, but I think it’s preposterous for people to say we knocked off stuff from Cursive. That’s completely illogical and stupid for people to say that. I may be wrong in saying that they were influenced by us at all, but I think that people are really wrong to assume we knocked off something from Cursive. We’re two bands that liked each other a lot and basically shared the same ideals. That band happened to be on Saddle Creek and we happened to be on Kill Rock Stars. They got more exposure.

Do you ever grow frustrated with where The Paper Chase stands in the public eye or anything?

Congleton: No. That’s an exercise in futility. We’ve been doing it a long time and if I was going to get frustrated by something like that I would have quit already.

What keeps you going?

Congleton: It’s just a compulsion. Who knows what makes anybody do anything? The people that are fans of The Paper Chase are pretty tried and true, so that helps a lot.

How long do you see The Paper Chase lasting?

Congleton: What time is it? I dunno man. I have no idea. I thought that it would have stopped by now.

The new TEMPORARY home of www.auralminority.com

2006-08-03T01:24:00.000-07:00

I will start updating this blog with Aural Minority content this weekend. You'll love it, friends.

R.I.P. Peyton

2006-06-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

My sister Nikki lost her baby. He was 8-1/2 months along.

I officially wish I went to Coachella:

2006-06-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Oh, Cee-Lo.

P.S. This is for Nick:

x-men review

2006-05-30T01:29:00.000-07:00

I almost popped a boner when Beast (a.k.a. Kelsey Grammer) jumped down from the roof of Alcatraz and started ripping people to pieces.

That's all.

goodbye, Spin...

2006-05-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

I received the following email from Spin's customer service department:

Thank you for contacting Spin Magazine. Your refund check is being processed and will arrive in the near future. This is a full refund for the unused portion of your subscription.

If we can be of further assistance, please let us know. To ensure yourfuture concerns are handled in a timely fashion, please include all previous e-mail correspondence.

Sincerely,
Steph

Now I get to decide what magazine to subscribe to in its place!! Any suggestions?

wish list

2006-05-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

You know, the Amazon "wish list" feature is pretty handy. I just spent an hour inputting a bunch of CDs I need. Most of said discs I have in MP3 form, but there are simply certain albums you need to actually have.

Lots of Big Black, U.S. Maple, Bedhead, Archers of Loaf, Chromatics and Ex Models, Lesus Lizard and Drive Like Jehu mostly. (Mostly stuff I would have owned had I not grown up in the smallest town outside of Buffalo. Then again, even if I had lived in Buffalo, I probably would have been a Snapcase fan.)

It's always fun to have a wishlist. Some of mine was filled earlier today when I picked up The Ladies, U.S. Maple's Long Hair in Three Stages, Wizardzz and Broken Social Scene's You Forgot it in People.

Bedtime.

P-P-P-P-podcast

2006-05-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

I made a podcast....

the first installment is a little rough, so go easy on me...

http://auralminority.podomatic.com

be careful...my dialogue is a LOT quieter than the music. I'm working on fixing that....

PROMO DAY!!!

2006-05-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

It's promo day, and I'm listening to all kinds of crazy shit I've been sent recently. Especially of note:

The Country Teasers: "The Empire Strikes Back" (extremely well photoshopped at right)
The Eastern Stars: "July 5th, 1969"
Aloke: "One Day We Will Kill You"
The Sound of Animals Fighting: "The Sound of Animals Fighting" (a rather sophomoric attempt by RX Bandits, Finch and Circa Survive members banding together to try and play "The Mars Volta"--but it's kinda neat sometimes)
Umbrella Tree: "What Kind of Books Do You Read?"

Problem is, I cleaned my room and tossed most of the press releases. This happens periodically and I forget who sent what...oh well. I'm sure I'll figure it out...

I was supposed to see Free Moral Agents, The Jai-Alai Savant and Rahim at The Che Cafe on Friday, but the venue had to cancel the show, apparently because they couldn't get some sort of insurance paperwork in on time. But they said they got it in on time for tonight's show (Hawnay Troof, which is Vice Cooler from xbxrx's dorky hip-hop sideproject). The Che has really started to fall apart, it seems.

I'm not sure what insurance company works on Saturday, but whatever. I'm going to see the bands on Sunday in L.A. at The Echo, so no harm done, I suppose. I saw The DaVinci Code instead. It wasn't too bad--though I haven't read the book, so that could make a difference in my opinion. I did think, however, that Audrey Tautou and Paul Bettany acted Tom Hanks out of his jock.

The Sabres won game one today against Carolina. There were so many Sabres fans there that I could actually hear "Let's Go Buffalo" during the third period. The announcers didn't address it. Then again, they didn't address much: they couldn't even get any of the Sabres' names right.

Is it wrong that I just can't get into white rap at all? Whether it's Sage Francis, Radioinactive, Peanut Butter Wolf, Cage or anyone else, I just can't get into it. It all seems so contrived and lame. (Written while trying to listen to Radioinactive's Soundtrack to a Book). Maybe I'm just racist. Ha. Or reverse racist. Or reverse, reverse racist.

Promo day is done. Most of the stuff was worth covering, but not worth raving about.

Spin??

2006-05-19T01:20:00.000-07:00

Sia Michel out.
Chuck Klosterman appears to be out as well.

Joanna Angel in.
Ultra Grrl back in.

new tabloid style layout.
All text, no graphics.
front cover text that says: "Hot! Hot! Hot!" and "America's 101 Wildest Parties"

Incredibly difficult to read, both literally and figuratively.
It's now Us Music Monthly. Or something like that. Shameful.

Then again, I could have guessed it from the, well, LL Cool J feature that something was even more wrong with Spin than before.

I'll have to see how much longer my subscription runs. I'm going to tell them to stop sending it even if I can't get a refund. It's not even palatable enough to read as "competition" anymore.

Let's go Buffalo

2006-05-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of the Buffalo news:

Ryan Miller's head is full of thoughts. His family calls him "a deep thinker." Connect with him on a subject and he'll offer philosophic commentary inconsistent with the stereotypical star athlete.
Miller also owns an emotional soul. It was on full display in his first forays as a Buffalo Sabres goaltender. His fury over a poor performance would cause his lower lip to tremble. He wouldn't suffer the prodding from reporters in search of answers or a reaction.
You could say he wears his emotions on his sleeve, but a better glimpse into what makes Miller tick can be found on the back plate of his goalie mask.
That's where you'll see what's always on his mind.
The ubiquitous "Miller Time" logo, which has followed him since college at Michigan State, is smack-dab in the center. In the upper-left corner is a USA Hockey logo superimposed over an outline of Michigan, the star in the "A" marking his hometown of East Lansing. A lizard, symbolic of an instinctive creature incapable of rapt thought, is perched in the upper-right corner.
The eye, however, is drawn to two images on the lower half. Between the straps stands a cartoon bulldog in Michigan State gear. Along the bottom, just above Miller's protruding black mane, is "Matt Man" in script.
Matt Man is Matt Schoals, Miller's 16-year-old cousin.
Matt Man would love to have a miniature bulldog someday, but he has more pressing concerns right now. He was diagnosed with leukemia in December.
Miller looks at the insignia just before he slips the mask over his scraggly head. Matt Man is a reminder of what truly matters, and the goalie admitted that has helped propel him through the second half of the season and into the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes.
"You learn a lot from tough situations, and I know my tough situations haven't been nearly anywhere close to what he's gone through," Miller said after Wednesday's practice in HSBC Arena. "The magnitude of the things he describes to me and how tough he's been and how brave he's been is unbelievable."
Which cousin has been the bigger inspiration for the other is difficult to say. Schoals and his family have been blissfully distracted byBuffalo's playoff run, which has been anchored by Miller's remarkable play.
"It's kept my mind clear of everything and kept me positive because I know I have a hockey game to watch and get to see my cousin play against the best," Schoals said Tuesday from a Michigan hospital, where he awaited an unscheduled CT scan. "It's really cool because on days when I'm bored or really lonely, I have something to look forward to.
"I do feel like I'm on the ice with him because I'm on the back of his helmet."
Schoals had been lethargic for days, and then one morning, while getting ready for school, the square-jawed lineman and wrestler broke down into a 6-foot-1, 212-pound, crying heap on the stairs of his family's home in DeWitt, Mich.
Matt's mother took him to be tested for mononucleosis. The finding was substantially more serious.
"Burning sensation when we found out he had cancer," said Matt's mother, D'Arcy Schoals. "It's devastating. Your whole world crashes in. You just reach down and pray to God to bring us out."
The news shook Miller, just nine years older than the cousin he playfully dubbed Matt Man as a newborn.
"I know how hard Ryan took this," D'Arcy Schoals said. She is Ryan's father's sister and cousin to NHL players Kelly, Kevin and Kip Miller. "I remember the first conversation with Ryan how upset he was. He was devastated. It has affected him."
Perhaps there's no coincidence Miller's statistics correspond with the ordeals his cousin has endured.
Before the diagnosis, when trivial matters meant a little more to Miller, he was devastated when the freak bounce of a practice puck fractured his right thumb. The disheartening break sidelined Miller for nearly eight weeks and crushed his U.S. Olympic dreams.
He returned to action five days after he learned Matt had leukemia, and the rookie goaltender went on a run that startled even the Sabres. Somehow, he was better with a tender blocker thumb than he was before the injury.
Miller was 6-4 with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage when he got hurt. From the time he came back until the Olympic break, he was 14-3 with one overtime loss and one shootout loss, a 1.98 GAA and a .930 save percentage.
"Every time I tie my skates up I look at this thing," Miller said, pointing to a hockey stick-shaped scar where his thumb attaches to his right hand. "Then you throw in a situation where my cousin is having his young life challenged, you just start to appreciate.
"When you start to think outside yourself and your little life . . . All these things give you perspective. Combine that with my injury, and I felt like "Just enjoy it and have fun. It's not going to last forever, so just do it and have fun.' "
March was a grueling month for Matt Schoals. His immune system was intentionally eradicated by three days of full-body radiation followed by three more of chemotherapy. On the seventh day he rested, but his 13-year-old sister, Lexi, had stem cells and T-cells removed for a March 28 transplant performed at Detroit's Karmanos Cancer Institute, named for the late wife of Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos.
Matt is in full remission. The wicked abnormality known as the Philadelphia chromosome has been eliminated from his body - for now. Unlike the Flyers, whom his cousin helped banish from the first round of the playoffs, the chromosome can come back.
"Everybody knew the chances of him making it was 5 to 15 percent," D'Arcy Schoals said. "We're still fighting the odds. He has shocked everybody because he came out of it in complete remission. There's no leukemia in his system right now. We're still not there yet, and he has an 80 percent chance of relapsing."
All of Matt Schoals' blood still is Lexi's at the moment, prompting him to joke about committing a crime and leaving behind DNA evidence to get his little sister in trouble.
He's taking anti-rejection medicine and steroids. The next stage is rebuilding his immune system. Until then, he must wear a surgical mask and has restricted human contact, which rules out seeing his cousin play live. He hangs out alone at home while his parents are at work, unable to step outside because germs can prove fatal. His diet is limited.
"I'm just excited because I'm almost done," Matt Schoals said. "I'm trying to play football again and all that. I just want my normal life back, just go back to school and hang with the other kids and be a normal high school teenager."
D'Arcy Schoals marveled when informed the days leading up to her son's transplant matched up with Miller's worst stretch of the regular season. From March 11 through April 1, the lizard must have crawled under a rock because Miller went 3-5 with a shootout loss. He was twice removed.
Perspective was never far away, not as long as Matt Man was pressed firmly against the back of Miller's head.
Miller, with his cousin in remission, rebounded in the final weeks of the regular season. He gave up only five goals in his last four outings, including his lone shutout. In the playoffs he is 8-3 with a 2.25 GAA and a .921 save percentage.
"As much as "SportsCenter' likes to portray things as the end of the world when a team loses, like it's the worst day of their life, once you step back for a second and look around, it's a hockey game," Miller said.
"Yeah, it means a lot to the people involved and the fans. It's exciting and fun. But if things don't go your way, come on. Look around you. We're at war with Iraq. We're having a lot of trouble with the Middle East. We're having immigration problems."
Miller paused, looked to the carpet and shook his head.
"And kids are sick before they've experienced life," Miller said. "You're just thankful for what you have."

Corporation buildings

2006-05-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Reason for me being so lax in posting anything:

The Stanley Cup Playoffs. I'll admit it. I'm freaking out about the Buffalo Sabres. That's all I'm going to say, because I don't want to jinx anything at all. Whatsoever.

Also, I saw Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo on Gilmore Girls last night. Pure and utter hilarity.

Lengthy posts detailing my recent visits to NY (we saw Kirk Cameron in the airport!!!) and Los Angeles (I interviewed Daniel Johnston IN PERSON) hopefully will follow.

In the meantime, please note this gem, courtesy of Team America, World Police:

"Pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn't appropriate - and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves... because pussies are an inch and half away from ass holes. I don't know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If you don't let us fuck this asshole, we're going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!"

AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-05-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

MISSING:

Radiohead's OK Computer, CD only.

Last seen in case.

This is distressing....

tv on the radio picture post

2006-05-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

Cross the street from your storefront cemetery

Hear me hailing from inside and realize

I am the conscience clear

In pain or ecstasy

And we were all weaned my dear

Upon the same fatigue

(You're staring at the sun)

Oh my own voice

Cannot save me now

It's just

(standing in the sea)

One more breath

And thenI go down

Your mouth is open wide

The lover is inside

And all the tumults done

Collided with the sign

You're staring at the sun

You're standing in the sea

Your body's over me

Note the trees because

The dirt is temporary

More to mine than fact face

Name and monetary

Beat the skins and let the

Loose lips kiss you clean

Quietly pour out like light

Like light, like answering the sun

You're staring at the sun

You're standing in the sea

Your mouth is open wide

You're trying hard to breathe

The water's at your neck

Your body's over me

Be what you will

And then throw down your life

Oh it's a damned fine game

And we can play all night

You're staring at the sun

You're standing in the sea

Your mouth is open wide

You're trying hard to breathe

The water's at your neck

Your body's over me

You're staring at the sun

You're standing in the sea

You're staring at the sun

You're standing in the sea

and you didn't

2006-04-29T02:44:00.000-07:00

i saw tv on the radio tonight. it was godlike.

i also asked Kyp after the show if he had any of his solo records and he did. i bought it for five bucks. it features his own art and handwriting and stuff.

jen and I also snagged a setlist.

we're dorks, but they're awesome.

photos to follow...

too lazy

2006-04-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

too lazy to write a trip update as yet, so I'll just let you know I've been listening to and liking the following:

Thursday's A City By The Light Divided (myspace stream)
Fat Day's Unf! Unf!
Flying's Just One Second Ago Broken Eggshell
First Nation's First Nation
Think About Life's Think About Life
Appleseed Cast's Peregrine
Parts & Labor's Stay Afraid

and oldies but goodies:

Modest Mouse's horribly underrated The Moon and Antarctica
and the recently acquired Velvet Underground box set.

A fag amongst gays

2006-04-07T01:24:00.000-07:00

Was watching the Match Game tonight and still can't believe just how inherently hilarious Charles Nelson Reilly is. He reached that state only a few men have ever attained: That John Cleese and Fred Willard level of comedy where no matter what they're doing, they're funny. Just looking at them makes you say "Fred Willard" or "John Cleese" as you start chuckling.
I think Rainn Wilson (a.k.a. Dwight Schrute) will be the next person enshrined in the "Inherent Hilarity Hall of Fame."

I'm starting to get into Big Love, HBO's new show about Polygamy. Mostly the show got my attention because David Lynch vets Grace Zabriskie and Harry Dean Stanton signed on to do the show...along with that funny bug-eyed chick from Mean Girls and Tina Majorino (the artist formerly known as "Deb"). We'll see. Chloe Sevigny is pretty irritating in it, but the other two wives, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin (Walk The Line) are really good. I hate Bill Paxton, but he's surprisingly not in the show that much--if he starts getting featured more, I think my interest will wane.

I won't be updating for a while since I'll be in New York City for a week. I'm not going to touch a computer while I'm there. This excites me.

Here are the CDs I'll be bringing along:

Animal Collective: Feels
Devendra Banhart: Cripple Crow and Nino Rojo
The Fall: 50,000 Fall Fans Can't be Wrong
Blur: Blur
The Mars Volta: De-loused in the Comatorium
Fiery Furnaces: Blueberry Boat
Queens of the Stone Age: Songs for the Deaf
Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin
Fugazi: The Argument
Subtitle: Young Dangerous Heart
TV on the Radio: Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
Arcade Fire: Funeral
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Show Your Bones
Islands: Return to the Sea
Mason Proper: There is a Moth in Your Chest
Les Savy Fav: Inches
The Mae-Shi/Rapider than Horsepower: Don't Ignore the Potential
Arab on Radar: Queen Hygiene II/Rough Day at the Orifice
At the Drive-in: This Station is Non-Operational
And You Will Know us By the Trail of Dead: Source Tags and Codes
A Whisper in the Noise: As the Bluebird Sings
Liars: Drums Not Dead.

That's probably too many CDs for just two plane rides, but I never know what I'm going to be in the mood for. I also went pretty "2004" hipster, but I don't care. I'd rather listen to mellow shit on a plane ride because aggressive stuff makes me nervous when i'm listening to it through headphones. The Mae-Shi split may get bumped for Tool's Aenima or The Birthday Party's greatest hits. We'll see.

My mom's coming out to visit me in June. This is exciting news.

Kurt Cobain was right

2006-04-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

Pearl Jam are a bunch of hypocritical, lying, theiving fucks.

I saw that they're playing with Sonic Youth and I was like "Oh. I can kill two Dinosaurs with one stone" and actually thought about going to their San Diego date.

Tickets are $51. FIFTY ONE DOLLARS.

Way to keep the prices down, assholes.

525,600 minutes

2006-04-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

New York Itinerary, so far:

4/9 Rent on Broadway. Or off Broadway. Or somewhere in Manhattan
4/10 Wolf Parade at Webster Hall.
4/12 New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals
4/12 New Amsterdams at CBGB's. I can't pass up the opportunity to go there before it closes.
4/14 Gris Gris at the Cakeshop (this one isn't confirmed yet. I haven't even heard Gris Gris, but Jen wants to try the cake.)

Somewhere in there we're hitting the Whitney and the Guggenheim, as well as Ellis Island. I'd like to see the Teddy Roosevelt house too, but who knows.

quick update

2006-04-05T01:18:00.000-07:00

Interviewing Kyle from Witch and Feathers tomorrow (well, actually THIS) morning. I'm doing Feathers for Aural Minority and Witch for Modern Fix.

Speaking of Modern Fix, I had three articles in the new one: Year Future, Shoplifting and Rahim. They all turned out really well, except it looks like I dropped a word in a sentence in the Year Future piece.

What can you do?

I got SEVEN promos today and they were all absolutely horrible--easily the worst promo day in the history of Aural Minority, and you can imagine we've had some bad ones. Overall we've hit a promo doldrum, though this one band Cougars reminds me of the Murder City Devils/Smoke and Smoke, and that's never a bad thing.

Downloaded the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs (i like the second half of the album, but not the first half) and the new Secret Machines (a snoozer).

I interviewed Camilla from Sunset Rubdown (and formerly of Pony Up!) the other day, as well as J'aime from Islands. If I could just interview people from Canada I think I would. They're just so fucking nice.

I'm going to see Cold War Kids tomorrow for the first time. They're kinda Buckley-ish and I want to see how they pull it off live.

The new Fiery Furnaces is coming out and they were working with a friendly publicity firm and now they're working with somebody who I don't think likes me because I shot them a very curt email after they assured me I'd be listed for a Kills show in San Diego that was sold out, but I wasn't. I may have to bite the bullet and actually purchase it. although I do have Eleanor's cell phone number....

Just kidding. Wouldn't do that.

My Fear is Naked

2006-03-30T02:00:00.000-08:00

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

2006-03-28T22:57:00.000-08:00

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

2006-03-27T01:13:00.000-08:00

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

2006-03-22T01:34:00.000-08:00

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.
************************************************************************************

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.

2006-03-20T00:05:00.000-08:00

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

2006-03-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

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

2006-03-16T01:14:00.000-08:00

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*

2006-03-08T00:06:00.000-08:00

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

2006-03-05T23:32:00.000-08:00

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...

My goddamned left nostril will not stop running

2006-02-24T23:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not even joking. It actually prevented me from going to see Orthrelm and The Pope tonight at The Che. I simply refused to go to a show, only to sit there the whole time blubbering and wiping my nose.

And I also feel like garbage, for the most part. It could be worse. But now my throat's getting sore from "drainage."

Fuck you, illness.

Perhaps it has something to do with the late night the other night due to Les Savy Fav in L.A. Tuesday night. It's the fourth time I've seen them in four years. I'd like to say they keep getting better, but it's not even true. They kill it equally every time. Tim Harrington is a postmodern genius, passing out pieces of banana and orange, spitting beer and water all over the crowd...I'll let the pictures explain the rest.

I've been obsessing over the new Year Future album, which isn't out until May. It's such an awesome mix of Bauhaus/Joy Division and, like, Black Flag. I also just got the new Black Heart Procession album, which was cool, because I've only ever heard a few random MP3s. But other than that, I have to say the promos I've been getting have been pretty fucking foul. Or at least unappealing. I have to admit, I haven't been listening to too much of what I've gotten lately. I'm really trying to buckle down on my thesis and get that bitch outta the way.

I saw a preview for that Russian trilogy (first installment: Night Watch) that's been getting a huge media blitz of late. It actually looks pretty intense. Maybe it'll be lame, but the preview looks like a promising mix of absurdity, terror and plot.

And Finland keeps on winning in men's ice hockey, which is sweet because it's the only team in the tournament with two Sabres (Toni Lydman and Teppo Numminen). John Davidson was raving about Lydman's work on Russian phenom Alexander Ovechkin today, which made me proud.

I had sushi today.

You could argue there's at least some aesthetic value...

2006-02-22T02:11:00.000-08:00

After I heard Nick Dean wasn't too impressed by Jessica Alba's nomination by Playboy as the Sexiest woman of 2006 or whatever, I insinuated he was, despite his subscription to Playboy, a homosexual.

He then took off his glove and bitch-slapped me with a top-25 hottie list challenge. I can guarantee mine'll be more mainstream than his--but I don't care.

1.) Kate Beckinsale

For making not one but three vampire vs. werewolf movies (with a fourth on the way), for having the best hair in Hollywood, for Laurel Canyon and that exquisite British accent.

2.) Maggie Gyllenhaal

For Secretary. No further explanation needed.

3.) Uma Thurman

For her work with Quentin Tarantino, for getting increasingly alluring year after year, for looking hot even when she's bloody, dirty and stressed out, and for doing it all despite a lecherous adultering ex-husband who will probably end up on Nick's list, somewhere after David Bowie and just before Neil Gaiman.

4.) Kiera Knightley

For King Arthur, for being hotter than the real Padme and, again, for that British accent.

5.) Scarlett Johansson

For Lost in Translation, and, more importantly, Ghost World.

6.) Christina Aguilera

I'm not even going to lie to you. ------>

7.) Naomi Watts

For doing multiple lesbian scenes in a David Lynch movie, for doing a David Lynch movie, for 21 Grams, for the vastly underrated I Heart Huckabees, for the first The Ring remake and for her uncanny ability to mask her Australian accent.

8.) Angelina Jolie

For those lips. And Gia. And Foxfire. And maybe Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And for letting Brad have kids. But definitely for those lips.

9.) Mary-Louise Parker

For Angels in America, for Weeds, and especially for doing it all after her dickhead husband left her for Claire Danes when she was PREGNANT with his child. Oh, and for the way she drinks those coffee drinks.

10.) Adriana Lima

For making the world a better place, one bra and panty set at a time.

11.) Lauren Graham

For looking like Kate Beckinsale's hot older sister, for being in Bad Santa, for making Gilmore Girls tolerable (Jen likes the show).

12.) Mila Kunis

For making Jackie the hottest irritating character on television and for bringing Meg Griffin to life.

13.) Ziyi Zhang

For Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Probably for Memoirs of a Geisha too, but I haven't seen it yet.

14.) Mandy Moore

For her Bible-thumping in Saved!, for her guest spot as herself on Entourage, for the inevitable moment when she breaks up with Zach Braff.

15.) Kathleen Hanna

For quitting her job as a stripper. For looking like Selma Blair's mom. For Bikini Kill. For Le Tigre. For feminism. For letting a Beastie Boy date her.

16.) Mia Kirshner

For being the cutest character on The L Word, even though Katherine Moennig is a better actress and Sarah Shahi is the hottest.

17.) Jessica Alba

For proving, once and for all, that Nick Dean is a gay. And for looking amazing in black and white.

18.) Selma Blair

For looking like Kathleen Hanna's daughter. For every strange film she's ever made, specifically Storytelling. Oh, and for her comedic turn in Cruel Intentions.

19.) Devon Aoki

For wielding a sword. For that look. For being the sister of Dim Mak owner Steve Aoki.

20.) Catherine Keener

For Being John Malkovich. For The 40-Year-Old Virgin. For being 46.

21.) Evangeline Lilly

For Lost. For being Canadian. For never having acted before. For picking Sawyer and not Jack.

22.) Cate Blanchett

For being a hotter elf than either Liv Tyler or Orlando Bloom.

23.) Kristen Bell

For not being afraid to get her skull bashed in on Deadwood. For Veronica Mars, though i've only seen the show once or twice. And for being that hot high school girl who was nice, but you could still never get her.

24.) Michelle Trachtenberg

For seducing David's boyfriend on Six Feet Under. For Mysterious Skin. For being the ONLY thing worth watching in Eurotrip.

25.) Lauren Ambrose

For edging out fellow redheads Alyson Hannigan and Laura Prepon. For Six Feet Under. And, most importantly, for Psycho Beach Party.

Sad to leave off list: Commander in Chief's Ever Carradine, Invasion's Lisa Sheridan, The L Word's Sarah Shahi, Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein and, of course, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who I've had a thing for since middle school but she hasn't really stayed in my radar of late.

half the man I used to be...

2006-02-21T02:31:00.000-08:00

On a whim I bought the Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged DVD with some birthday money my mom sent me. I didn't have cable back when this came out in 1996 and never had the opportunity to see it live, though I bought the CD after Staley was found dead in 2001.

Back when I was 16, I never really knew just how bad Layne Staley was into the drugs--I think I was too wrapped up in Smashing Pumpkins at this time--or how amazing his voice was despite it. Throughout this gut-wrenching performance Staley sits completely still with his mouth half-open. And inexplicably he sounds like a God. Just as good as Cobain did. But even Cobain wasn't as fucked up then as Staley is here. I'm not sure what it is about this performance and the Nirvana Unplugged, but they make me more nostalgic (in a depressing way) than anything else.

I suppose it's at least partly because of the realization that there are NO good mainstream bands right now. They are all terrible. Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam all, in their best moments, belong on a plane with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. You can't say that about anyone right now. Sure, NIN and Radiohead are still kicking, and the White Stripes have their moments, but none of these bands are accompanied by the sense of urgency that accompanied the grunge bands. They could write angry and catchy pop songs that were honest to God amazing.

Don't get me wrong, there's some great underground music, but nothing that will turn the mainstream on it's head. That's when something special happens.

Think about it. What mainstream band right now would you want to see do an Unplugged? I'll give a list of semi-realistic (in an alternate reality) contenders I wouldn't mind hearing--though I can guarantee it'll never happen (all the bands are "past relevance" or not on a major except for the overlaps, which just happen to be ones that are realistic and ones I wouldn't mind seeing):

Radiohead
Arcade Fire
David Bowie
Christina Aguilera
John Legend
White Stripes
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
TV on the Radio
Beastie Boys
Flaming Lips
Beck
Tom Waits
Mos Def (w/the Roots)
Devendra Banhart
Bright Eyes
Animal Collective
Modest Mouse
Sleater-Kinney

Instead, if they brought it back for real, it'd look like this:

Coheed and Cambria
Kanye West
Linkin Park
Jack Johnson
Kelly Clarkson
White Stripes
Bloc Party
Michael Buble
Coldplay
John Legend
Black Eyed Peas
Bright Eyes
Modest Mouse
Foo Fighters

Wouldn't it be something though, if MTV decided to genre-fy the "collective" movement and do grunge-like Unpluggeds with TV on the Radio, Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Islands, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Devendra Banhart, Man Man and the Animal Collective? Most of the bands probably wouldn't even participate--which is totally admirable and understandable.

But, really, how awesome would a Xiu Xiu unplugged be?

That's it. I'm starting my own music network.

P.S. When the fuck are the Unplugged DVDs for Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP, Bjork and Hole coming out?

P.S.S. Don't you think the world would be a much better place if Staley had died sooner and Chris Cornell joined Alice in Chains? It wouldn't be a perfect fit, but it'd be a hell of a lot better than Audioslave...

P.S.S.S. HOLE did an Unplugged???

P.S.S.S.S. I know it's an STP lyric. It just fit.

P.S.S.S.S.S. I almost put Thursday for a band I'd like to hear do an unplugged, because they're a pop emo band that still interests me to some extent. But Geoff Rickly can't sing.

P.S.S.S.S.S.S. All I'm saying is, if MTV wanted to, they could be cool again. Not cool with idiot teens, but COOL.

P.S.S.S.S.S.S.S. I'm going to see Les Savy Fav, The Hold Steady and Thunderbirds Are Now! tonight. In L.A. The only bad thing is it's at the Avalon, but oh well...

Bono's a boner.

2006-02-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

I've been looking all over for the transcript of Bono's ridiculous speech last night at The Grammys--not the one where he bitched about not winning album of the year for Achtung Baby or All That You Can't Leave Behind--the first one where he started mumbling philosophic gibberish, that, as far as I can tell, made no sense whatsoever.

I really wanted to be dissecting that right now, but, alas, I'm just left with calling him a pompous, pretentious prick. Sorry dude, but I gave How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb a listen and laughed. It's horrible--almost as dorky as that pile of shit released by Green Day. It's winning a Grammy was justification of just how bad it is. Let's look at some winners over the past few years:

a) Genius Loves Company, Ray Charles & Various Artists (CLASSIC sympathy vote in 2005--the duets are awful.)
b) Come Away With Me, Norah Jones (people weren't so stoked on her when she released her second album of the same ol' shit--2003)
c) O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack, Various Artists (if anyone still listens to this I'll give them money--2002)
d) Two Against Nature, Steely Dan (WTF? 2001. Pretty bad year. "Who Let the Dogs Out" won best dance recording)
e) Supernatural, Santana (2000. Let's remember that this is the album that gave us "Smooth"--torturing supermarket employees for the rest of history)
f) Falling Into You, Celine Dion (1997. This was before "My Heart Will Go On.")
g) Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette (This 1996 winner is debatable. That it was released the same year as Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York makes it a loser. That, and the fact she recently re-recorded the motherfucker acoustic.)
h) MTV Unplugged, Tony Bennett (1995. Yeah, well, also debatable. Old folks love it--can't help that.)
i) The Bodyguard—Original Soundtrack Album, Whitney Houston (1994--OK Bono. Have fun in her company. Also eligible/winning/losing this year: Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, Nirvana's In Utero and lots of trash: “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You,” Sting; “A Whole New World” (Theme From Aladdin), Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle; “I'd Do Anything for Love” (But I Won't Do That), Meat Loaf, U2's Zooropa.
j) Unforgettable, Natalie Cole with Nat King Cole (1992. Sentimental, again. R.E.M.'s Out of Time came out this year, as did a small album called Nevermind. Out of Time won for best Alternative album. I suppose it's still a toss up, when you take all of the factors into account. But, c'mon.)
k) Back on the Block, Quincy Jones (1991. I've never even heard of this album. We don't need to go any further. Nearly all the music in the mainstream sucked in the 1980s. That MC Hammer was nominated in 1991 is enough for me. Although, 1990 did see, “Twin Peaks Theme,” by Angelo Badalamenti win for best pop instrumental. Sinead O'Connor won the alternative category.)

That expert analysis leaves a few decent years: 2004 (Outkast's Speakerboxx/The Love Below) 1999 (Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill), 1998 (Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind in a REALLY lean year--think "I Believe I can Fly," Blackstreet and Shawn Colvin), 1993 (Eric Clapton's Unplugged, which got the sympathy vote over Achtung Baby, and I'm ok with that. Other than Nirvana's Unplugged, Clapton's is the best. Also of note this year: Tom Waits won for best Alternative album for Bone Machine. Now, if Boys II Men or Sir-Mix-A-Lot had won, Bono'd have a truly legit gripe).

I know what everyone who thinks they know about music is going to say: these albums were popular, they sold well, they had good "tunes," yadda yadda yadda.

But they're also, pretty much from start to finish, laughingstocks now, or in a couple cases, forgotten.

(Sidenote: where the fuck is Eminem?? I know at least one of his albums was the "best" album the year it came out. I'm calling shenanigans.)

So, yeah Bono, you've got your fucking legacy. Whee. I wish I could be listed in the same breath with Natalie Cole, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, and have my songs be played in GROCERY STORES. Who-hoo!!! You're mom rock. Way to go. Oh yeah:

Your name is two letters away from being Boner.
And you chose it.
And you're not going to change the world.
And your new music sucks.
And The Edge is cooler than you.
And Mary J. Blige sings your song with more heart than you do.
And your sunglasses make you look like an idiot.
And you will never write a song like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" again.
And you will never write an album like The Joshua Tree ever again.

In watching the Grammy's I actually found a perverse kinship between Bono and Kanye West. If you haven't seen Micha-I-Mean Kanye's outfit from the Grammy's, try to find it online. He is such a cocky piece of shit. Who wears an open shirt besides rapists and losers? Who wears leather gloves in a painful attempt at a fashion statement? Who follows up calling out President Bush on National television with posing as JESUS CHRIST (unironically) on the cover of RollingStone and comes to the Grammys dressed up like they should be playing Tubbs instead of Jamie Foxx, with an attitude of entitlement that would rival Paris Hilton? They're both at that level of "Celebrity" where they aren't even real anymore. As Jen pointed out, Jay-Z (of all people...who would have thought after Jigga Man and all that other bullshit) has acheived a level of cool. He's totally chill...like Dave Grohl. Like David Bowie. Like Bruce Springsteen. Like Eminem. They don't need to fluff themselves up behind imagery (Bowie's grown up a tad since the '70s) to be cultural icons. They just are. They don't need masturbatory awards to prove it.

I listened to a few things while writing this, all of which are better than How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: Weird War, Milemarker and White Magic.

2006-02-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

Holy Christ. I almost just had a heart attack.

I've been drinking a little and I totally don't even remember why that heart attack occurred.

I think it has to do with the fact I deleted all the cookies and history and whatnot from my computer in a (failed) attempt to see the stupid ass CD reviews I couldn't view on the website. Then I went to the website to update this motherfucker and I couldn't remember the password and username.

I think that's what the heart attack was, because I can't think of anything else it could be.

Anyway, I'm listening to Nation of Ulysses's 13 Point Program to Destroy America. I've (somehow) never heard it. In fact, I really can't believe how much better Plays Pretty for Baby is. Concurrently, I'm downloading albums by Sun Ra, Stereolab, The Gossip, From Monument to Masses, Busdriver and Olyneyville Sound System.

I turned off Nation of Ulysses and now am listening to the Flaming Lips' beauteous Clouds Taste Metallic.

It's true. They taste metallic.

Tomorrow I'll be journeying on up to Los Angeles to check out The Mae Shi, Silver Daggers and Abe Vigoda, popping my cherry on all accounts. I don't feel like getting stuck in ghettolishous traffic, so I'm going to head up around one or two, to *hopefully* miss some of the traffic I'd otherwise hit.

I know I'll get stuck somewhere at some point, but whatever. I'm aiming to hit up Amoeba for a while. I probably won't buy anything since I'm po. But it's always nice to hit up a record store that rules. And, hell, last time I was there i ran into Chuck from The Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower and saw Sam Ott (ex-Year Future) and Questlove from the Roots.

Since I'm in a relatively volatile mood, I figured I'd take the time to make fun of people who do things like this: http://community.livejournal.com/alternateicons2/4481.html#cutid1/. Ok. You do realize that YOU ARE NOT A TEENAGE CHICK IN THE 1980s READING TIGERBEAT HOPING TO CATCH THE LATEST GOSSIP ABOUT CHAD ALLEN (who, incidentally is gay) AND KIRK CAMERON (who, incidentally is a born again lunatic), correct?

Good lord. Our culture of celebrity is well beyond hope when musicians from a formerly underground punk band can become cultural icons as well as buddy icons. Fandom is out of control, and I don't really know what to do about it. I appreciate art, and own more than one Ween shirt, but seriously, this kind of gushing is not necessary. What complicates things is that the Mars Volta freak is actually a goddamned teenager from the UK.

I've very recently decided that my entire existence is justified through art appreciation. That is to say that this life is relatively meaningless once you get past personal relationships (which are finite). Art is something that lasts past you that's not an office job for some dumb company working 60 hours a week so you can have a ton of money to leave behind you and not ever use or enjoy.

It's a simplistic/obvious/duh philosophy, I know, but that's that's what my brain's thinking about. At least it was. Now it's thinking about the Flaming Lips. I like them.

I've got to find some way to connote the pictures I've taken and the ones I haven't. I also need a new camera. I took both of those.

Andy: There's something wrong with her panties. Cal: Yeah. They're not in my mouth.

2006-02-05T23:18:00.000-08:00

The "unrated" version of The 40-Year-Old Virgin was simply too fucking long. The movie was too long to begin with, and adding a few mildly amusing interchanges between secondary characters and one set of gigantic breasts simply wasn't worth the now longer waits between the hilarious gags. How many times can I write LONG(ER) in one paragraph? I dunno.

End rant.

Begin new rant:

Did anyone watch the Super Bowl? I've never seen officials blow so many calls in such a one-sided fashion for a team I wanted to lose. Of course, I'm a Buffalo fan, so I've seen my fair share of bad calls go against my teams. But by the end of the game I was actually rooting for Seattle because I felt so bad. I mean, their QUARTERBACK got called for an ILLEGAL BLOCK while TACKLING someone on Pittsburgh who had just intercepted the ball. Clotheslining, kicking and grabbing the facemask are illegal--but Hasselbeck just took out the guy's legs and got called for an illegal block. YOU CAN'T BLOCK SOMEONE YOU'RE TACKLING. It makes no sense. I can't even handle the stupity of the call because I've seen incorrect calls before, or even erroneous ones. But they were always at least semi-debatable. This one was not only flat out wrong, but also completely and utterly ridiculous.

And for the record: Roethlisberger was in, there was NO pass interference on what should have been Seattle's first touchdown, and Seattle should string up their place kicker.

In other news, I saw L.A.'s notorious Captain Ahab for the first time, and managed to get the glorious picture above. I have a couple great pictures of Jim in his speedo, but who hasn't seen that?

The Oscars got announced, and this is the first time in a while that I haven't really seen any of the contenders. Maybe that's not true. I dunno. Mainstream dramas just haven't appealed to me over the last few years, and that's all that ever really gets nominated anyway. The awards should really be redefined in some way to let everyone know that comedies, horrors and intelligent strange indie movies are out of the running.
That being said, seeing AMY motha fuckin ADAMS nominated made my life. I haven't even seen Junebug, but it's the goddamned cheerleader from Drop Dead Gorgeous. She also starred in Psycho Beach Party with the gorgeous Lauren Ambrose. That's enough to make me root for her.

The toughest decision for me will be whether to root for Joaquin Phoenix or Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I wish Maria Bello would have gotten nominated for A Brief History of Violence, but I'll settle for William Hurt.

Saw the Sabres win in overtime over at my buddy Chris's house. Thomas Vanek schooled Dominik Hasek in the shootout for the win. This was especially appetizing since Hasek was the Sabres goalie for nine years and left in a huff. Fuck you, buddy.

I apologize for the completely staccato writing style...Jen's dad and I started drinking Bloody Marys at about 10:30 a.m. and then had to sit through all kinds of exhausting family things for way too many hours. It's now after midnight--I'm surprised I can even think.

My second favorite 40-year-old Virgin quote:
David: You know how I know that you're gay?
Cal: How?
David: You have a rainbow bumpersticker on your car that says "I love it when balls are in my face."

Going to town on SoulSeek

2006-01-30T23:30:00.000-08:00

At one point in my life I was very ashamed of downloading music. It's utter theft. I know this, you know this, the artists know this. Probably your mom knows this.

Furthermore, I fought the urge to burn CDs for the longest time because I wanted the album art. I'm a completist nerd--this cannot be helped.

But something changed when I started to learn more and more about music--I really, simply, couldn't afford to buy that much music. I still felt conflicted about downloading, so I'd stick to finding Nirvana B sides or impossible-to-find Far songs on Kazaa on my parent's computer. The fact my parents are still on dialup (given their amazing rural location in the smallest suburb of Buffalo) made this venture all the more spectacular.

Now that I run a music magazine in my spare time though, I feel more and more pressure to get my hands on every CD I can hear, just so I can continue to reassure myself that I might be able to remotely claim that I sort of think I know what I'm talking about. This costs money I definitely don't have.

After weighing my options I decided to use SoulSeek, the place I figured I'd be able to find the stuff I haven't heard yet by bands like Arab on Radar, Yaphet Kotto, Nation of Ulysses, The Coughs, Ex Models, Karp, Shellac, etc. that I've wanted for years but couldn't afford. You know--those bands you have one album of but couldn't afford anything else.

It was probably the best decision I've ever made. Every single band I've looked for has been on there, and now I have it all. For free. (to be read with a pang of guilt--not gleefully)

I understand this downloading comes with responsibility. That responsibility is to turn the music knowledge I'm gaining by the minute and pounding it straight into www.auralminority.com, not only for the bands but for the readers. (I can also live with myself given the fact that 80% of the bands I've downloaded the past few days have broken up.)

I dunno. Maybe my argument's bunk. Maybe I should be slapped. Maybe I should suck it up and get a 9 to 5 corporate gig so I can afford all the CDs I want.

I didn't think so. I buy what I can, when I can--usually when I see a band live. Then I know exactly where the money's going anyway. I also feel compelled to buy stuff from bands in trouble, like Genders (arrest warrant out for one of them because of too many drivings with suspended license) and The Mae-Shi (who had shitloads of copies of Heartbeeps stolen from them). Supporting smaller local labels like 31G, Deathbomb Arc and Not Not Fun are also priorities.

so, um yeah. downloading.

umm...how many fake Coachella lineups are necessary?

2006-01-26T02:17:00.000-08:00

Now, this first one is actually probably pretty accurate. Most of these bands have been rumored, yadda yadda. However, the misspellings kinda give it away. And there are probably 10-20 too many bands listed. I think I'd have to go to day two, if I had to pick. This, on the other hand, is pure genius. I think I'd actually go.

happy birthday to me

2006-01-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

First and foremost, before you do anything else, watch this video: www.blacknasty.net/HI5.mov and love it.

In the past week I've seen Busdriver (January 21), Vetiver (January 22) and Dmonstrations (January 24--incidentally my birthday.)

Busdriver played at some strange diner place called The Metaphor Cafe in Escondido. There is no proper way to describe the venue, but I'm going to try numerically:

1) When I told Dan from Kill Me Tomorrow I saw Busdriver there he said, "Where?" I described it and he said, "Why didn't he just play Cane's?" I had no good answer.
2) The place was run by a bunch of barely 21-year-olds and a few way-too-olds. One of the way-too-olds referred to himself as a "Cracker Rapper."
3) Cracker Rapper and his group "L.I.E." refused to get off the stage, and people actually started to leave the stage area after Cracker Rapper continually asked if they'd like to "hear a freestyle." 'Cos that's what he was all about. Freestylin'
4) Of the 13 rappers/DJs who comprised the four groups who opened for Busdriver, one person was black--and he was the weakest rapper. The rest were grimy white trashy and/or frat types, strange little Asians and a Mexican. This struck me as odd.

Anyway, Busdriver's delivery is uncanny, and I'm so glad I saw him at a tiny venue, whether it was a wannabe shithole or not. Oh yeah...I also went to a funeral for one of Jen's neighbors this day, the highlight of which was this big ol' Samoan lady singing like Bessie Smith at the end. (It was one of those "celebration of life" funerals, which, in my opinion, has got to be the best way to deal with a tragedy. People smiled and laughed more than they cried. There's something to be said for that.)

Vetiver was boring hippy stuff (another thing I talked to Dan about) so the best part of that evening was watching everyone slowly discover that Devendra Banhart would not actually be playing with the band, as the venue had advertised for months. This was also Jen's birthday day...we spent most of it walking around this outdoor mall in La Jolla (that's where the seals are).

My birthday seemed to come and go without incident. I woke up. I ate oatmeal. I went to see Underworld: Evolutions, which was to Underworld what The Matrix: Reloaded was to The Matrix, except worse because Underworld wasn't all that good anyway. Jen came home from school bearing Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We ate London Broil. We left to go see Dmonstrations at this dude Wilson's house. We got lost. We arrived just in time. Said hello to many folk. Got wished happy birthday by Grm from Mr. and Mrs. Tribute to Ugliness. Got scared for a minute, then realized he had seen the Myspace announcement about it. Got home and was treated to the following text from my brother: "Hey only 4 more years till your thirty fag. Haha. happy b-day."

And thus and suchforth ends my post.

Currently Listening to: Ruins

A news and notes post, I suppose

2006-01-19T01:18:00.000-08:00

1) I Returned a bunch of shitty ass promos to Lou's Records the other day and got $47 in credit, which sucked because I returned about 35 CDs or so. There's one young dude there who appears not to know anything about music and always rips me off.

Whatever. I decided I'd look around all of the miscellaneous sections in the used department because I've had luck finding gems there in the past (TV on the Radio's Young Liars for $1.99, Wives' Erect the Youth Problem for $3.99 and D. Yellow Swans' Bring the Neon War Home for $5.99, Le Tigre's Feminist Sweepstakes for $6.99) so I thought I'd look a little more carefully. The resulting haul:

a) Weird War's If you Can't Beat 'em, Bite 'Em ($5.99--way better than Illuminated By The Light)
b) The Scissor Girls' We People Space with Phantoms ($6.99--check out it's used price on Amazon)
c) Liars' They Were Wrong So We Drowned ($6.99--I had it burned)
d) The Eternals' The Eternals ($5.99)
e) White Magic's White Magic ($6.99--on recommendation from a former writer)
f) Parts & Labor and Tyondai Braxton's Rise, Rise, Rise ($4.99--would have been the gem of the collection, had I not grabbed The Scissor Girls)
g) Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Sings Greatest Palace Music ($8.99--the only bust--way too country for my taste)

The only problem is I picked them clean. The only other things I considered getting were the Rahim Jungles EP for $3.99 (I have the burned promo only) and a couple Legendary Pink Dots CDs. I'll just have to get new stuff for a couple months.

2) Caught the official debut set by The Prayers (feat. Brandon, Willy and Brian from The Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower) Tuesday night at The Casbah. There was no one there (I'm assuming they were all at the house show the band played for 40 people this weekend). Before the show Brandon told me he was really nervous before the first show because he'd never really sang and played guitar before live. I really liked their songs though; the set fluctuated between punk, pop punk, surf punk, rock and blasphemy. Andrew (the other guitarist's) amp kept fucking up causing a few delays, but other than that the show went off hitchless.

3) I've decided to ditch the January 21st Some Girls, Cattle Decapitation, Kill Me Tomorrow show in order to catch Busdriver (!!!!!) in Escondido. Do yourself a favor and pick up his beautiful avant-hip-hop masterpiece Fear of a Black Tangent.

4) On the topic of Lou's, they have a few decent CD's in the used section everyone should be glad to have: Kill Sadie's Experiments in Expectation, These Arms are Snakes' Oxeneers or The Lion Sleeps when the Antelope go Home, mewithoutyou's Catch for us the Foxes and A-->B = Life, Kill Me Tomorrow's The Garbageman and the Prostitute and amazingly, TV on the Radio's Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes.

5) Has any show lost it's lustre moreso than Lost? They really hemmed themselves into a corner. I can't see this show lasting more than three years. Invasion on the other hand has left so many doors open so widely (both dramatically and plot-wise) that it could last years...especially if it goes global after a season or two concentrated in southern Florida. It's also the first show I've seen that has the potential to kill off all of its main characters and still have a show to expand on.

Currently Listening to: Weird War