i want wind to blow

Jesus would be a Xiu Xiu fan

2006-06-03T00:13:00.000-04:00

Early reports say the album is their best yet.

WEEEEEEEEEEE!!

dreck and whining

2006-04-27T20:23:00.000-04:00

Will someone please, please, God, hit me up with an album released sometime this year that doesn't land me in a pile of my own drool? Honestly, 2005 looks like an exciting year for music compared to what '06 is shaping up to be. Middling rock, flaccid pop, white bread techno, I am so. bored. Much of the critically praised shit I've waded through leads me to believe that people are just looking for something, anything, to praise recently. Band of Horses may very well be this year's Bloc Party for me -- nice enough band that gets way too much attention for near-flawless execution of enormously derivative and mostly unmemorable music. Though I do appreciate Everything All the Time more than that Bloc Party album, I already forget the name, it's nice at best.

The Knife's Silent Shout? Would be groovy enough if the production weren't so damn sterile. It's too bad, because you can hear the urgency of the timbres underneath the matte finish just itching to break out. And if that's what they were going for, well, congrats, I'll put it on next time I want to shake my ass to bed.

I can't say I was surprised when the new Flaming Lips album kinda, um, sucked. Nor can I say I was surprised at the new AFX to be more of the excellent same old same old. But I am incredibly disappointed with The Streets' latest go at it. I mean, A Grand Don't Come for Free was so spectacular because it turned Mike Skinner's uninteresting, pathetic existence into something epic. (That, and it had "Blinded by the Lights," perhaps the closest musical approximation to getting fucked up I've ever heard.) But The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living is just... uninteresting and pathetic. But what's more, it's irritating as hell. Mike Skinner was once believable in his mundane revelations, now he just sounds coked up and overconfidently underconfident. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun album, but its aims are way too obvious, which makes it all the more aggravating when he misses the targets nearly every time. The verses to "War of the Sexes" are promising, but get utterly crushed by the gratingly awkward chorus; but even that can't beat the oh-shit-I-have-to-come-up-with-another-catch-phrase banality that is "Memento Mori". Weirdly enough, the awfully un-English-sounding "All Goes out the Window" is my favorite track here, strange considering I almost never really care for the slower, more R&B-influenced tracks on rap albums. Yeah, all in all, it looks like the boundary between endearing and annoying was a lot thinner than I thought. Damn.

So come on, other than Neko Case, can ANYONE tell me what needs to be heard from this year so far? I hear new Ghostface is good....

he poos WHAT?

2006-04-17T17:33:00.001-04:00

Finally! Some 2006 albums I feel like gushing over...

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

I mean, I've known Neko to be "that voice" ever since I bought The New Pornographers' Mass Romantic, but how was I to know she had so much more to offer?? (Don't say Blacklisted, don't say Blacklisted... actually I just missed the boat on that one, oopsie.) I mean, those lyrics! How was I supposed to tell the woman was so subtlely poetic when all I knew was TNP's ever-increasingly irritatingly vague lyrics? Okay, I'll shut up about how unprepared I was to *heart* this album.

No, I really do love it. This is not your typical Americana/country dig, no no (though her interp of "John Saw That Number" makes me feel like Nashville is somewhere I would actually want to be for longer than a few days). Instead of the bare-bones, straightforward storytelling one might expect, you get fragmented mythologies and shattered narratives that urge you to explore the strange and bizarre facets to Neko's nuanced and expressive poetry. Single phrases jump out at first, and later transform in meaning when you slowly appreciate the context. Hell, I'm still figuring this shit out. It's engaging, and what's better, it's enormously pleasurable to engage with. The tunes are easy and catchy but never cloying. Oh, and the arrangements! I mean, I ain't know jack about different types of guitars or anything, but the instrumentation is clearly enormously variable and creative; each song's is distinct from the next, alternately conjuring darkness, warmth, and nostalgia. And then there's Neko's voice... fuck it, I'm not going to talk about Neko's voice. Everyone talks about Neko's voice. It's marvelous. The end. The point shouldn't be the voice, because damnit, that's only one element of the greatness that is the whole of this album. Seriously, I will definitely be basking in it all summer.

Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds

Off the bat, I had, like, many reservations about this album. Like, how about the fact that it's called He Poos Clouds. And the artist calls himself Final Fantasy. And the album is described as a song cycle based on the eight spheres of magic in Dungeons & Dragons. Hell, that info alone is enough to make me hate this album. RPG's bug the crap out of me. I never understood the point. Why are you sitting indoors, making up shit about some random character for hours on end, when you can be, oh I don't know, out doing something with yourself? It's called REALITY, people, COME ONNNN.

Emmmm... sorry. I guess I can't fault Owen Pallett (the man behind the goofy name) too much, seeing as that he is out doing something with himself, something pretty impressive at that. He Poos Clouds is by no means perfect, but it does exude creativity, ingenuity, and a striving for something greater than the whole of the parts -- things that have been sorely lacking in most albums released so far this year. Each track features a string quartet, with the occasional piano or sparse percussion, and Owen's sweet boyish voice. To compare him to Patrick Wolf or Andrew Bird seems sort of lazy, though; while the other two have obvious influences respectively in retro pop and blues & folk, Final Fantasy's material sounds a lot fresher, a sort of classical-pop hybrid that owes a lot more to Beethoven than The Beatles. It's a new sound that's quite unprecedented by anything recently released (thank god... as if we needed more derivative sludge anyway).

Still skeptical about the lyrical content? A song cycle based on D&D? No worries -- I see little here to complain about, and more than that, a lot to praise. He Poos Clouds's thematic material ranges from insecurity to suicide, from homoeroticism to metacriticism, from family to Kara Saun (yes, he mentions Kara Saun! TOTES BONUS POINTS). Mostly, though, the album seems, to me, to be about achieving transcendence within the constraints of our middling mortal lives. I know, I know, long worn-out existential banter, right? Hardly, in this case -- Pallett's words take on eerie shades of social and personal criticism as the narratives become more and more entrenched in one another. And something tells me that it's directed at the type of people who might start an album critique hating on RPG's....

Then again, I'm not sure about that. It's complicated stuff, and frankly it'll be quite the joy to figure out on your own. Do iiiiit.

no guitars, totes fun

2006-03-19T13:19:00.000-05:00

Saw Vitalic last night in Detroit with Laurel, what a fuckin treat. Pascal Arbez is a proper Euro techno DJ through and through, early-30's, bald shaven head, way chill. Well not the music, as expected. Extended versions of "La Rock 01" and "My Friend Dario" easily the highlights, he also spun some stuff which I assume is newer, and was quite good, had a different feel than the OK Cowboy romps, a little harder with some killer bass. Arbez was all smiles for the crowd of about 70-80, I was all sweaty for the crowd of one (Laurel) when we kept dancing until the place closed, having the dance floor pretty much to ourselves after 3. My knees are sore but I feel oh so cleansed.

well-oiled, that's what you are

2006-03-13T11:32:00.000-05:00

some older releases that have been getting my attention lately...

Holopaw - Holopaw
Warbly and beautifully understated indie-country that makes me feel like I'm in Kansas. (I've never been to Kansas.) Smoothing out the transition to spring like a skinny joint on a humid day.

Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll
Dude, they actually play this stuff on European radio. And it's, like, quality! Ear-candy along the lines of Daft Punk or Kylie sans-vocals. Yep, it's strutting music.

The Dirty Projectors - The Glad Fact
Oddball/heady/pretentious meets crafted/pretty/down-to-earth with this gritty indie amalgam of styles and sounds. A folk-art cantata with a high-art sensibility? Fuck that, Vic, this thing has too much soul.

The National - Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers
The immediate progenitor of the even-better Alligator, most of this album is Grade-A melancholia for your inner alcoholic burnout.

Top 50 Albums of 2005

2006-02-17T14:59:00.000-05:00

Finally.

50. Mount Eerie No Flashlight
49. Tori Amos The Beekeeper
48. Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene
47. Hood Outside Closer
46. Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary
45. Spoon Gimme Fiction
44. Kanye West Late Registration
43. Voxtrot Raised by Wolves EP
42. Madonna Confessions on a Dance Floor
41. Robyn Robyn

40. Patrick Wolf Wind in the Wires
39. Hanne Hukkelberg Little Things
38. XXL Ciautistico!
37. Missy Elliott The Cookbook
36. Melodium La Tête Qui Flotte
35. Wilco Kicking Television (Live in Chicago)
34. Lightning Bolt Hypermagic Mountain
33. Deerhoof Green Cosmos EP
32. Eluvium Talk Amongst the Trees
31. The Joggers With a Cape and a Cane

30. Six Organs of Admittance School of the Flower
29. Andrew Bird The Mysterious Production of Eggs
28. Art Brut Bang Bang Rock & Roll
27. Gang Gang Dance God’s Money
26. The Books Lost & Safe
25. Alog Miniatures
24. Akron/Family Akron/Family
23. My Morning Jacket Z
22. Emiliana Torrini Fisherman's Woman
21. Antony & The Johnsons I Am A Bird Now

20. Death Cab for Cutie Plans

I have little defense for Death Cab against the haters. Accusations of triteness, oversentimentality, unevenness -- all true. So, uh, yeah, no defense. But let me go on the offense and say, probably contentiously, that few songwriters know how to pair a melody with lyrics like Ben Gibbard. Yup, I said it, what you gonna do about it? Deny that the melodies to, say, "Soul Meets Body" or "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" are almost intractably perfect? Yeah, I didn't think so.

19. The New Pornographers Twin Cinema

So, uh, what's with the lyrics here? Anybody know? I'm not sure what to make of "So heads down, thumbs up/Four beats from soft and get set to exercise your right/Use it tonight" or "The perception, it is wrong, mile after mile/The phantom taste drinking wine from your heels." I'm not sure I want to, either. Frankly, I think the wham-bam yay-hooray power pop is much better suited to the one-line epiphanies of Mass Romantic or the ecstatic "hey la, hey la" jam at the end of "The Bleeding Heart Show." For this reason, I'm not putting Twin Cinema as high as other fans might; the lyrics seem too often arbitarily ambiguous to qualify it as truly great. I still like their debut better. But lyrics aside, the music really is power pop perfection. Catchy but harmonically unpredictable, rhythmic hiccups, sugar pop riffs, and the best drumming this side of splenda make this album a pop affecionado's dream.

18. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

"You will pay for your excessive charm." Indeed, CYHSY! You shall be damned for your accessible bubblegum riffs! Your ridiculously mature instrumental arrangements and pristine production are to be punished! Overhype backlash will cast you into the nether regions where only anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-hipsters reside! For only in these regions does everyone sing like you sing, and it is only appropriate that you should be subjected to this funny, nihilistic, non-self-conscious voice that you (and Pitchfork, those bastards) have forced upon us all...

17. Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra... - Horses in the Sky

People seem to be getting weary of political albums these days, and this is perhaps the only explanation I can come up with for the widespread overlooking of this album as one of the best this year. Sounding something like a mix of Godspeed You Black Emperor, Leonard Cohen, and Neutral Milk Hotel, Horses in the Sky is a post-rock masterpiece loaded with melancholy, grit, anger, and a little bit of blind faith about the imminent apocalypse. Some may be turned off by the whole played-out "rock symphony" thing, but it can't be denied that Silver Mt. Zion pulls it off here with gripping resignation.

16. Grizzly Bear Horn of Plenty (+ The Remixes)

Horn of Plenty is an odd specimen. Distant acoustic guitar, clattering percussive noise, reverb-soaked vocals and dreamy floating “ohs” and “ahs” quietly combine to effectually simulate what it must feel like to be suspended in a clear vat of viscous green jelly while your blurry friends and lovers talk to each other about you on the other side of the glass. As the album progresses, the atmospherics slowly build a muddy haze somewhere between your ears, producing the musical equivalent of mental novocaine. Yeah, it’s pretty cool – and it demonstrates an enormous amount of potential for the future of this new band.

15. Okkervil River Black Sheep Boy

I've heard this described as "alt-country emo" on more than one year-end list, each of which basically goes on to apologize for the "emo" half. Not sure if that's necessary, because first of all, I hear little strictly emo influence on this album. Folk-tinged rock that explores myths and longings of hope, frustration, infatuation, and alienation through choked and wonderfully cohesive lyrics, yes. Chris Carraba, no. Whatever. Screw the comparisons; the oh-so-RAWK ups and downs of this album are alone enough to sustain it, the fine-tuned fairy tales and failure and misfortune are what make Black Sheep Boy great.

14. M.I.A. Arular

Indelibly weird yet undeniably stylish, this album is probably hip-hop's biggest breath of fresh air in several years (and that includes Kanye and Dizzee). Arular grates at times -- the timbres of the synths and M.I.A.'s double-panned nasal voice can be a lot much -- and hell, it even sucks occasionally (all I have to say is "Amazon"), but it's worthy of the hype and praise, especially considering booty jams -- nay, booty STATEMENTS -- like "Sunshowers," "10$," and "Galang".

13. Björk Drawing Restraint 9

Björk, Björk, Björk... will you ever cease to challenge your listeners? Will you ever spoonfeed us what we want to hear, how we want to hear it? Will you ever forget about dissonant cluster brass choruses and extraterrestrial pearl drops? No? Good, I was hoping not. Drawing Restraint 9 is the most difficult listen of any of Björk's releases (including Medúlla), especially considering it's mostly instrumental, but it's also one of the most forcefully forward-thinking avant-pop/classical hybrids I've ever heard. I would hardly agree with the faux-Björkism that "Everything is music!" but this is further proof that, for Björk, music is everything.

12. Venetian Snares Rossz Csillag Allat Született

One of my favorite album moments from this year is the alternately goofy and vastly bleak, tense intro to "Masodik Galamb." A woman wonders aloud, "Why am I frightened so easily? Pigeon, why can you scare me? Am I not part of your life anymore? Am I not welcome anymore?" Strings plead, the silences pull taut. And then Aaron lays down the Funk. Rossz is by no means perfect -- far from it, in fact -- but there are enough OMG!-moments such as this (or the entirety of "Hajnal") that keeps me coming back to the classical string samples, relentless drill and bass, and harsh realities of this doom-laden thwap! in the skull.

11. M83 Before the Dawn Heals Us

Tongue-in-cheek bombast, check. Imperfect, check. Takes itself too seriously (i.e. just seriously enough), check. Uncompromising, check. Turning days into nights and nights into stars, check. Wide-eyed splendor, check. WOW!, check. Sparkle candy, check. Sonic color washes, check. Bursts of light in midnight dark, check. Film soundtrack drama, check. Leather jacket and motorcycle, check. Fuzz killers, check. Spazz!, check. Synths, guitars, drums, but mostly all human, check. Engorging the atmosphere with juicy possibility, check.

10. Iron & Wine Woman King EP

What can one ever say about Iron & Wine? "Sam Beam is an ill fucking songster," "he matures so much with every record," "he just keeps topping himself," "how doesn't the man ever release anything bad?," etc. The moving Woman King EP is a humble, simple folk-pop homage to the more worshipped and complex gender. Almost every song on here is as good or better than the best on Our Endless Numbered Days. Sam Beam, you are astonishing (i.e. ridiculous), you know that?

9. Animal Collective Feels

Wow, yeah, I really did hate Animal Collective for a while there. What the hell did they think they were doing, yelping and beating and stuttering and droning their way into indie kids' hearts, oh how pointlessly pretentious! how blatantly irritating! annoying! boring! unfulfilling! the whole shtick seemed. Then I heard the stunning "The Purple Bottle" - "Bees" - "Banshee Beat" trifecta of Feels. Umm, holy shit... these guys are genuinely having fun! A lot of fun, and it is a trip-and-a-half. It is goofy. It is smart. It is, for lack of more exacting words, fucking cool. Just listen to the chorus of "Bees," the cascading zither and the fairy tale falsetto choir and shimmer drops and the bees the bees the bees the bees rrrwwrrwwrrrwrrrrwwwrrr. How fucking hip are these guys to make such a sweet enchanted pastel psychedelic cloud easter egg giggle ripple glitter marshmallow Valentine's Day card? With rabbits! And gumdrops!!

8. Vitalic OK Cowboy

Let me just put aside the fact that the centerpiece of this album, "La Rock 01," is probably one of the most fantastic dance floor highs of, well, EVER – a thumping neon injection of strobe-light adrenaline and sweat which will send you into utter Dionysian ecstacy.... Yeah, even aside from THAT, OK Cowboy is probably one of the most consistently impressive techno albums I've ever heard. Of course, it's at its best with the electrotrash schadenfreude stiletto-stomp of “My Friend Dario,” or the mechanical bull get-down grinds of "Poney" (both parts!) and "Newman," but the spacey Air-like interludes such as "The Past" and "Trahison" make even those cigarette-stained walks between the bull and the neon-lit bar worth paying attention to.

7. Sufjan Stevens Illinois

I will probably never say that any Sufjan album, existing or in the future, is better than Greetings from Michigan. I have a ridiculously romantic attachment to both Sufjan himself and that sprawling but fragile diary of his. By the way, why does no one talk about how hott Sufjan is anymore? Is his music really that good to forget that he is the cutest thing hipsters have had to worship since Karen O? And why do people magically disregard Enjoy Your Rabbit as though it never happened? Sorry for the digressions, but really there isn't anything left to say about Illinois. Carefully crafted orchestrations, profoundly touching narratives, "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." and "Casmir Pulaski Day" and "Palisades of Wasps," etc etc etc... it made me seriously consider giving up Michigan as Sufjan's #1. Didn't happen. But I considered.

6. Deerhoof The Runners Four

Before The Runners Four, Deerhoof was one of the foremost anti-rock rock bands of the decade (see: "Dog on the Sidewalk," "Come See the Duck!" BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM). With The Runners Four, Deerhoof becomes the foremost, and perhaps only, anti-anti-rock band of the decade. (Does this make it a rock band then? sort of. I think.) Watch "The Four" clean up, watch Greg and Satomi play "nice," watch them lay down 20 (twenty?!) songs, watch some fans shrug and walk away. Watch music academicians and rock geeks go nuts. The quirky meter shifts! The harmonic puns! The goofy riffs! The cleverness! The elegance and the irony! The simplicity and the unpredictability! The depth and the shallowness! The double-meaning and non-meaning! The sincerity and the parody! I'll say it now: The Runners Four is indeed the most remarkable postmodern musical statement of the new century so far. Whether or not all of these songs really stick (many do, several don't) is beside the point: this is some important shit. This album will be analyzed and interpreted for years to come, and with good reason. It's indie rock's weird Library of Babel.

5. Xiu Xiu La Forêt

Haunted house. Doll house. Children laughing. Baby screaming. Shhhhh. Quiet. Screech, shout. Baby vomit. Bloody vomit. Don't cry. Blood is fun. Baby drink blood. Baby laugh! Yeah, it's really hard for me to describe why I like Xiu Xiu's La Forêt. Maybe because it's so uncompromisingly terrifying and miserable that it's actually kind of twistedly funny. Maybe because it juggles different approaches to the music so deftly, switching from bouncy horror-pop to breathing noise experiments with astounding believability. Or maybe it's just because Jamie Stewart actually gets away with that hilarious/sickening/disturbing retch halfway through “Yellow Raspberry.”

(Or maybe it’s just because Xiu Xiu is fucking awesome.)

4. Roisin Murphy Ruby Blue

First things first: Producer of the Year award, right here folks. Matthew Herbert. Like, wow. There are no words. But let me try: this is what groovy, I mean really groovy pop should sound like. Energetic melodic lines that get better with each repetition. Exciting and varied textures that use strange and enticing noises for percussion. Uncanny melding of acoustic and electric backgrounds that doesn’t sound chintzy in the least. Masterful and unforced appropriating and criss-crossing of disparate musical styles such as jazz, R&B, rock, cabaret, and hip-hop. And one hell of a diva to back it all up. I will best remember the music of early-mid 2005 for the great amount of strong, solid, mature pop music put out, and if there’s any musical signpost that I will remember that time for, it is this sexy and slinky treat of an album.

3. Sigur Ros Takk

Sigur Ros took the "post-" out of their usual "post-rock" this past year. Some were dismayed by the result, but I think it’s resulted in their most focused and mature release yet. They create and sustain tension and release like gangbusters here, making for Glorious-with-a-capital-G moments at least once (usually more) every song. e.g.: "Hoppípola" and "Glosoli" are the almost continuously euphoric, "Saeglopur" (Sigur Ros's first "pop" song -- and yes, it really is amazing) brilliantly builds up one of the most intense music-gasms of the decade, and the end of "Andvari" is the most achingly, almost painfully beautiful post-coital cigarette I’ve heard. Who needs ecstacy when you have Sigur Ros?

After all, this album is, essentially, all about beautiful moments. Sustained, genuine, welcoming, Takk is a smiling face, a loved one. The title means "Thanks" in Icelandic, and the more I listen to it, the more I realize how true the title is to the spirit of the music. For once, Jonsi and the boys don't ask all that much of their listeners, they just want us to sit back and take in all the beauty they have to offer. Takk is proof that Sigur Ros have more beautiful moments than they know what to do with – and it feels so. fucking. good. Thank YOU, Sigur Ros.

2. Fiona Apple Extraordinary Machine

To get out of the way my feelings on the whole producer fiasco surrounding this thing, I’ma turn it over to a much better writer than myself, Matt Perpetua of www.fluxblog.org, because he basically says it all right here:

“It's so unfortunate that the critical reaction to Extraordinary Machine ended up getting so badly muddled by a debate over the relative merits of the Jon Brion and Mike Elizondo versions. I maintain that the final product is better by far, but in any case, the basic quality of these songs remains the same, and the best record of 2005 ends up getting screwed over by vote-splitting. I'm sure that in the future, this album will earn the reputation that it deserves, but it absolutely vexes me to see it get passed over by many of my peers in favor of flimsy hackwork in the meantime. I suspect part of it is due to Apple's subject matter. Writing brilliantly on the topic of love is hardly a fashionable thing….”

Word. So enough about that. Extraordinary Machine is easily one of the very best of 2005. Hell, it's one of the best singer-songwriter albums released this decade so far. It's proof that the piano is not tired out as a pop instrument, and that it does not have to be reduced to Rufus-isms to stay palatable. It also has the rare quality of being classically informed music-wise without turning out cliché or campy.

And then there's the lyrics, of which I can't even begin to describe how wonderful (and underrated) they are. The parallels to Tori's best 90's material are sort of amazing. The fearlessness of putting out there delicious similes and metaphors that, while occasionally coming off cringe-worthy, much more often are indelibly precise, each a fingernail to the jugular. See the duality of being both incredibly aggressive and even more fragile because of it. The ability to articulate just what it feels like to be vulnerable, angry, and downright wronged by people (see: men) and circumstances surrounding them. And as Matt pointed out, how great is it that almost every song on the album is about (or rather, "not about") love? Especially when love is such a plus en vogue topic in the reactionary (see: scared of emo) world of popular music, which these days seems far more enamored with sex and personal or political alienation than with, you know, actual enamorment. So, take my word: This album is poised, fearless, and for the first time in Fiona’s career, bites as much as it barks.

1. The National Alligator

In case you can’t tell by now, I am, at heart, an indie rock man. (I will pause for the groans to subside). Now, great indie rock has a funny way of getting under your skin. Like Interpol’s Turn on the Bright Lights or The Wrens’ The Meadowlands, you can listen to it from a distance, poking around at the obvious musical influences and nodding along to the youthful (even if somewhat unoriginal) grooves, all the while both appreciating and chuckling at the lyrics: how sad and twisted and twenty-four! Still, you can sympathize, you’ve been there, sure. And maybe you’ll listen to it again and it will ring a little closer to home this time, and the intrigue will keep you going, even if the music still bores you. And then – and then – there comes that one-liner that sticks to the center of your sternum. You don’t even know how it got there in the first place, but it won’t go away. And you’ll listen to the rest of the banalities, and they too will stick, and the melodies inevitably shake you to your core, they resonate throughout your past and present existence hundred-fold, and best of all you know that it equally resonates with the past of this other earnest person offering you all they can muster.

“I’m a birthday candle in a circle of black girls”
“I have weird memories of you”
“You were right about the end, it didn't make a difference”
“We’re the heirs to this glimmering world”
“Break my arms around the one I love”
“All the most important people in New York are nineteen”
“I’ll put on an argyle sweater and put on a smile”
“Didn't anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room?”

Of course, all this probably doesn’t say much to the person who hasn’t listened to Alligator. They won’t have heard Matthew Berninger’s deceptively and masterfully nuanced vocal delivery, nor his captivating sad clown baritone drawl. They also won’t have heard the propelling (and nearly perfect) rhythm section. Or the Cure-like underdog anthems and country-tinged bedroom ballads. Or the poeticism of twentysomethingness, dusty apartments, insecure late-afternoons, crowded bars and belligerent drunken caprices. I know, I know, it all sounds sort of trite on paper, but doesn’t all great indie rock?

vital

2006-02-08T17:59:00.000-05:00

click on "My Friend Dario"

'Cause though the Poney video is great, rarely has video matched my mental preconception of a song so perfectly as "My Friend Dario." This song is so fucking purple.

Top 50 of 2005 coming eventually, I swear.

why did you listen to that man

2006-01-09T11:40:00.000-05:00

Whoa, it's been a while, so I don't really expect anyone to be reading this. But I do expect to get back into the swing of things soon enough with my top albums of 2005. There's 50. There are blurbs. These things take a while.

It's especially hard when others' top of 05 lists get you listening to the wonderful likes of The National's Alligator and Gang Gang Dance's God's Money, and then you don't know what to do with them because you haven't given them the proper chance to stew and and settle into a proper place on the list, but DAMNIT these are some deserving albums!! So, stewing. I think I can have a list up by next week.

Whatevs, anyone reading this has probably also read my given-away list topper on my LJ (link to the right).

All I have to say is please please please -- no more melodies.

listening: "Mr. November" - The National

Best Songs of 2005 (take two)

2005-12-17T12:13:00.000-05:00

1. "Hide and Seek" - Imogen Heap
2. "Since U Been Gone" - Kelly Clarkson
3. "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." - Sufjan Stevens
4. "Hoppípola" - Sigur Ros
5. "Tymps (Sick in the Head)" - Fiona Apple
6. "Leaving the City" - Roisin Murphy
7. "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" - Death Cab for Cutie
8. "Jezebel" - Iron & Wine
9. "La Rock 01" - Vitalic
10. "10$" - M.I.A.

11. "I'll Believe in Anything" - Wolf Parade
12. "Hollaback Girl" - Gwen Stefani
13. "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
14. "Sing Me Spanish Techno" - The New Pornographers
15. "Shake It Off" - Mariah Carey
16. "Storm" - Bjork
17. "Hajnal" - Venetian Snares
18. "Get Together" - Madonna
19. "Lose Control" - Missy Elliott
20. "Bog People" - Xiu Xiu

children talking

2005-11-08T02:57:00.000-05:00

APHEX TWIN. Aphex Twin. Aphex Twin. Aphex Aphex Aphex Twin. Aphexaphexa twin. Twin aphex twin APHEX twin aphex twin!

Everything I could say right now about Aphex Twin has already been said (except for as described above. totally original, I swear). But there's so much to say about Aphex Twin that hasn't been said. I simply couldn't say any more than anyone else can. Really, I can't come close to expressing about Aphex what I know exists deep inside his twisted barrages of sound, smacks and pops and strings of song.

Which is probably why there is so much that hasn't been said about Aphex in critical musical lit... because it's nearly impossible to verbalize the intricacies of shape and density and timbre in even ten seconds of his wildly beautiful sonic architecture, not to mention the wide array of images conjured and emotions felt and visceral impulses that it imbues in you. Do I talk about how the melodic rhythm counterpoints so vibrantly and unexpectedly with the ocean of polyrhythms swimming underneath? Or how it just makes you want to DANCE DANCE MOTHERFUCKER DANCE SHATTER YOUR TORSO ON THE NEAREST WALL SHAKE CRUMBLE BURST?

Either way, writing about it doesn't come close to experiencing it. I mean, you could say that about most music, but the descriptive/experiential gap with Aphex's music is like a fucking canyon. My comfort in not being able to convey this is based on one fact which I am 100% sure of, and it is that my Aphexian reverence will be vindicated when the efforts of Richard D. James will be considered alongside the likes of Steve Reich and John Cage. There are my words. Mark em.

Hooray for the Hangable Auto Bulb release! It is glorious, as expected. Now they just need to get the Analord series on CD.

what will i learn

2005-11-05T03:38:00.000-05:00

Late fall, and I'm finally getting in the mood to listen to Grizzly Bear's Horn of Plenty and Hood's Outside Closer. They both remind me of The Notwist, which I have been growing nostagic for lately, so it only makes sense.

Speaking of which, I am growing nostalgic for my great albums of the past. I don't know about you, but it seems to me that 2005 was filled with an abundance of really solid albums, but few truly AMAZING albums. And I've been missing that experience. So, many returns to Grace and Greetings from Michigan and such.

Notwithstanding, I've been randomly observing this exceptional 2005 album(s?): Extraordinary Machine by Fiona Snapple is a great great great classic pop album for the traditional types. That is to say, it's heavy on the substance and fairly skimpy on the style (sort of vice-versa the popular/indie-approved "good music" these days).

I've found I like the Elizondo and Brion versions equally. It's quite simple to me, really... Elizondo produced the summer version, Brion the winter version. Each album caters to a different mood and atmosphere. Elizondo's is more flighty & wistful, pop-tastic, and structurally tight (unfortunately, it's also frequently tactless and emotionally distant). Brion's is more dramatic, tense, and thoughtful (but often overcontrolled, lacking a pop sensibility, and misses the forest for the trees). What to do? How to make up for the stylistic lamenesses?

Mix & match, y'all! I like the Elizondo tracklisting better...
1. Extraordinary Machine (Brion)
2. Get Him Back (Elizondo)
3. O' Sailor (E)
4. Better Version of Me (B)
5. Tymps (E)
6. Parting Gift (E, obv)
7. Window (B)
8. Oh Well (E)
9. Please Please Please (B)
10. Red Red Red (E)
11. Not About Love (E)
12. Waltz (B)
bonus:
13. Oh, Sailor (B)
14. Oh Well (B)

I had to include both versions of "O Sailor" and "Oh Well" because they are both incredible in their respective ways. Also love the Elizondo "Window" and the Brion "Get Him Back," but you win some you lose some, I guess....

Kid A+

2005-10-25T02:53:00.000-04:00

Just some thoughts on a little big album released just around this time five years ago...

It seems like anyone who really knows Kid A can tell you how revolutionary it was in the rock world (not an exaggeration -- Radiohead might not have done anything too different from say, Can, but this time EVERYONE noticed), or how it either destroyed all their love for Radiohead or multiplied it exponentially, or how "Everything in Its Right Place" never fails to put you in a twitchy state of complacent paranoia.

What amazes me most about this album is how Radiohead managed to take a baseball bat to song structure, barely mumble some already very obtuse lyrics, experiment with otherworldly electronic noise, and STILL make what is essentially a fantastic rock album. "National Anthem" both bludgeons you with cacophony and pulls you into an irresistible groove, "Idioteque" is moshing disco for the bloodthirsty, and "Motion Picture Soundtrack" has Thom crooning a yearning, sing-you-to-sleep love song (even though it sounds like it's being sung to HAL or something). For every off-pitch tinkle in "Kid A" and anasthetic drone in "Treefingers," there is a catchy power-riff in "Optimistic" and grooving bodily sway to "Morning Bell."

Radiohead managed to stay, essentially, still Radiohead. And though the drasticness of the change caused them to lose a chunk of their fanbase, it didn't affect their record sales in the slightest. Many more picked up on the genius that was Kid A, and its follow-up, Amnesiac, sold even more in its debut week.

Kid A is my favorite Radiohead release. It is also one of the best albums of the decade so far, and even one of my favorite albums of all-time; if anything because it is so incredibly communicative -- even while remaining so incredibly mysterious. There is more to this record than the bevy of musical ideas Thom and his buddies think up.

Most fascinatingly to me, there is a bewildering impersonal warmth to it. As much as Thom Yorke insisted on being Mr. Doomsday at the time of its release, one can't help but feel a sense of an incredibly childlike hope deep, deep inside of this album. Whether this hope is more bitterly sarcastic than genuine is certainly debatable, and clearly the album is laden with premonitions of the apocalypse. On the surface, it seems that the sparkling electronic bubbling that finishes the album is the ultimate sarcastic moment that seals the deal for humanity as Radiohead knows it. But after repeated listens, I can't quite settle with this simplistic view of the record. And I can't pinpoint why not, either. Maybe it's the yearning of the strings in "How to Disappear Completely," or the ethereal, motherlike comfort of "Treefingers," or the way Thom's voice trembles in "Motion Picture Soundtrack." But the album as a whole glows with something unmistakably human, as though it were pregnant with a real flesh-and-blood Kid B.

Hmmm, potential 2006 release? I like it.

listening: "In Limbo" - Radiohead

cracked out

2005-10-22T12:20:00.000-04:00

XIU XIU blows my fucking mind. I've never seen or heard them live, but they are masters of the studio. Their instrumental arrangements are unlike anything, ever. The music and lyrics just drill into that yellow festering pus boil in some shadowy nook in your brain. It makes you tweak a little, maybe your stomach churns or maybe your face goes numb. You go cross-eyed and don't notice that you're drooling. And then Jamie Stewart lays his head on your barely-moving chest and just when you think he's going to fall asleep, he bites it. But lovingly.

I've recently noticed that I find myself drawn, for whatever reason, to performers with eccentric and histrionic musical personalities. I hold Xiu Xiu, Tori, The Microphones, and Bjork all in very high regard, and they all involve careening belligerently in the face of performing convention, especially when it comes to singing.

It's strange, because that is rarely the aspect of the music I like the most about them (except when it comes to Tori, who would be sort of boring if she didn't pant into the microphone). Jamie Stewart's melodramatics are both ridiculous and endearing. Phil Elvrum's voice just sucks, it just so happens to work in most of his sound experiments because it's so weird. And Bjork is Bjork, you know how that goes.

So what's up with the weirdos? Am I empathic, perhaps? Maybe. If I were a musical artist, I would probably croak into the microphone a few times, then sing with a heavy lisp for a while before I bust out some death-metal Slayer shit to cap the song. Yeah, that would be sweet.

listening: "Oh Lately It's So Quiet" - OK Go

SUP BITCHES

2005-10-19T23:34:00.000-04:00

This is what I was talking about the other week. Weird, huh? Yeah, not really when you think about it.

Dudes, everything else I thought I knew about Madonna has blown up before my eyes. Upon reading Z's LJ post that is. My world done turned upside down.

listening: "Spotlight (Aphex Twin mix)" - Wagon Christ

at least it's not "american life"

2005-10-15T15:12:00.000-04:00

It's sort of disappointing that Madonna chose to take the easy - I mean, REALLY easy - way out of her pop music rut. She went with what was safe, which I guess isn't that bad of a thing, except what's safe for Madonna is pretty boring.

"Hung Up," her new single, was leaked the other day. It loops an ABBA single, puts a dance beat behind it, and has Maddy singing some of her worst lyrics since... ever. The melody is junk. The production is okay; nothing to write home about. I'm sure there will be some amazing remixes in the future, but couldn't she have churned out a better single cut? It won't set any trends, all it does is follow them. Fuck, this could have been on Erotica and we would be none the wiser. I mean, come on. This is fluff. It's dull. It's derivative.

But it's still Madonna. SO it's going on repeat all afternoon!

listening: "time goes by... so slowly" (repeat ad nauseum)

poop cab for emo

2005-10-14T22:51:00.000-04:00

Saw Death Cab for Cutie tonight at the Michigan Theater. I was expecting to get bored halfway in, but they actually put on a pretty entertaining show. They totally repped all of their albums, and even a b-side, which is really cool. Not enough artists pull from their catalogue anymore, it's too much "let's play our entire new album and the singles from the old ones." So yeah, I was really surprised to hear so many We Have the Facts and Photo Album tracks. Fuck, they even played a song off of Something About Airplanes, and that album kind of sucks! So, good job Death Cab.

Also, halfway through "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," some guy yelled out in to Ben, "I WANT YOU!," which completely echoed my sentiments just then. That song made me want to pounce him. And Ben Gibbard is not an attractive man. So that just goes to show you the power he holds in those little man boobies of his!

listening: "Lightening Rod, Run" - Deerhoof (kind of weird because "Transatlanticism" is still playing in my head. mashup anyone? hmmmmm)

"Enjoy the Silence. PLLLEEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEEE." -Ian

2005-10-11T02:19:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to listening to indie-ubiq Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! I was expecting another trendy indie band that is all style over substance (*ahembrokensocialsceneahem*), so I was surprised to discover a pleasant mix of the two. It's not groundbreaking stuff, it's just really well-executed. So I'm keeping this one in heavy rotation for now.

Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind. Ummm yeah. THIS one is going into heavy rotation, too... right... or maybe I'll wait until I want to kill myself first. It's well done, but I don't think it has a place in my life right now.

Xiu Xiu, La Foret, sauntering up my mental Best-of-2005 list. I love you, Jamie Stewart.

The new Imogen Heap album is way underwhelming. WAY. I think I will stick with "Hide and Seek" thank you.

I keep trying to make myself love Boards of Canada, but it just ain't happening. The Campfire Headphase is good, but I can't see myself listening to it all that much.

And finally -- I want a new Dntel album FUCKING NOW.

listening: "Invincible" - Ok Go

it's like if god's eyes got thrown against my living room wall

2005-10-09T02:56:00.000-04:00

May I just take this opportunity to say that Good News for People Who Love Bad News is easily the most heartbreaking Modest Mouse album of them all? I know I change my mind every time I listen to their last two, but um seriously y'all, this one is the shit. Talk about the ability to occupy a unique and specific sonic space with universally remarkable songwriting, yet also to be able to transfer that to any mode of living and personal dramatics with the greatest of ease.... It just melds with the paradoxical zeitgeist of jadedness and emotional volatility of our generation so simply yet so brilliantly. Oh man... Happy feeling in the abdomen of my philosophimusical craniumz.

this is not about love

2005-10-05T03:50:00.000-04:00

"'Cause I am not in love."

Fiona wrote some damn good songs for Extraordinary Machine, so leave it to the performance and production to make it or break it. Fact: Fiona sounds much better on the old (Jon Brion) version of EM. Fact: I find Jon Brion annoying. False: "OMG, the new version is sooo much worse!" Fact: Both have their strengths. I am personally inclined towards the new ("more accessible!") version. I like many of the new arrangements; I also find a few far inferior to Brion's. The new "Parting Gift" is quite nice. And if anything, I'm glad the real release finally happened, because it gave me an excuse to listen to this album once again. And what's more, I let my iTunes run right into When the Pawn... as soon as EM was over, and it reminded me of how great that album is, as well. Perhaps her best? Whatever, it brings me back to sophomore year of high school and all those really confusing emotions. And they look awfully funny from this perspective.

listening: "Get Him Back" version 2.0 (again!! it's that good.)

iHeart iTunes

2005-10-03T20:54:00.000-04:00

How many total songs? 8492

Sort by Song Title - first and last?
first: "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" - Tori Amos
last: Zwei Stücke für Violincello und Clavier (II) - Anton Webern

Sort by Time - first and last?
first: Lucky (rap) - Joni Mitchell
last: Sonata for String Quartet - Brian Fernyhough

Sort by Album - first and last? [only on tracks where the album is listed]
first: ! - The Dismemberment Plan
last: You Forgot It in People - Broken Social Scene

Top Ten Played Songs: (this is skewed because I recently updated my library, so these are the top 10 played since like, 3 weeks ago)
"I Will Follow You Into the Dark" - Death Cab
"Int 10/34" - c
"The Ice Tree" - Gravenhurst
"Today Has Been ok" - Emiliana Torrini
"2d2f" - Erlend Oye remix
"Tunnels" - Gravenhurst
"Through Time" - Roisin Murphy
"By This River" - Brian Eno
"Trashing Days" - The Notwist
"Diamonds from Sierra Leone (remix)" - Kanye

Find "sex," how many songs show up? 57

Find "death," how many songs show up? 73 (almost all Death Cab!!)

Find "love," how many songs show up? 290 (Hounds of Love, The Love Below... so many Love albums)

Find "peace", how many songs show up? 5

Find "rock", how many songs show up? 71
___________________________________
1.Total amount of music files on your computer? too much work

2. The last CD you bought was: actually bought? uhh... No Flashlight and Singers by Mount Eerie.

3. What was the last song you listened to before reading this message? "Fast Car" - Xiu Xiu

4. Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
"Float On" - Modest Mouse
"Fog Round the Figurehead" - Gravenhurst
"The Luckiest" - Ben Folds
"Blue" - Joni Mitchell
"Crazy" - Tori

they never saw the sign

2005-10-02T16:53:00.000-04:00

I got to check out the upcoming Gravenhurst LP, Fires in Distant Buildings, today. It's a far fling from Talbot's last album, as he seems to be consciously striving to get away from the Nick Drake comparisons and represent his more prominent influences, namely Husker Du and Sonic Youth. Naturally, I don't like this shift a whole lot. What made Flashlight Seasons so affecting was its naked beauty, in both lyrics and instrumentation. You know that it's intensely personal, yet he pulls it off with such delicateness and melodic knowhow that it never once strikes you as pathetic (see: Elliott Smith. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Elliott, but the last thing we need is another one of him in sheep's clothing). Fires, in contrast, is far from delicate. The production is more lo-fi with plenty of distortion and power-chord-ish riffs. It also does not come off as immediately personal at all. For one, the lyrics are far more engaged in storytelling than his previous stuff. What's more, two of the eight tracks are entirely instrumental, and another two are mostly instrumental.

I'm not a huge fan of instrumental rock.

Complaints aside, I don't dislike the album. As bad as the Gravenhurst-meets-post-punk thing sounds in theory, he pulls it off with a great deal of believability. And of course, I'm not going to react very favorably to such a drastic shift from one of my favorite albums of the decade so far. I think there's a lot more to be discovered in Fires, so I will keep you updated on what I find.

In the meantime, you should still listen to Flashlight Seasons if you haven't already. This new Gravenhurst made me nostalgic for the old, so of course I played it the whole way through. It hasn't lost anything. It's SO. FUCKING. GOOD.

***

I finally got around to getting the M.I.A./Diplo collabo Piracy Funds Terrorism. Anyone else think it's way better than the frequently annoying Arular? I love the Braza Funk!! It makes me want to check out Diplo's other delvings into Brazilia. I bet they're damn good.

listening: "Louven" - Shipping News

Victor, what's a melody?

2005-09-29T02:38:00.000-04:00

I love how uncompromising Deerhoof is. It's extremely endearing.

Takk is the best thing Sigur Ros has ever done.

Franz Ferdinand is really starting to annoy me, which sucks because I have a very comfortable nook in my heart for them.

John Cage was a little bastard homo genius fucker.

And finally...

...anyone notice that she is in almost the exact position of the woman in the new Cesaro Paciotti ads? (Which I am actually enjoying, not gonna lie).

Coincidence? HELL NO!

A prize for anyone who can find an image online of the new ad. I can't.

thinking

2005-09-26T17:59:00.000-04:00

It's like dancing with a palsy; I mean,
it's not like they are unable or even incapable, though some are,
I just think, I think, I think just like that. That is,
I'm unable (or even incapable) of thinking otherwise.
It's sort of egotistic I guess, to think everyone around you is incapable, or even unable,
but that's what makes salsa with a palsy so delightfully awkward.

---

I am listening to some random shit these days, and right now Tin Hat Trio's Book of Silk is rockin the iTunes. It is delicate and beautiful and smart, but I'm not sure this is the right time of year for that, for me. Emiliana Torrini's Fisherman's Woman, on the other hand, is jiving quite well these days.

How strange that as much as I look forward to fall music during most of the year -- God, October is gonna be great -- this week I have been soooo in the mood for winter music. Sigur Ros in particular. I guess the I'm liking the thought of chiseling away at some icy exterior right now for some reason. We will see how that one turns out.

I will hopefully post on live Sigur Ros and Interpol shows soon, but I'll throw out my main points right now: (1) Sigur Ros are less musically precise live than I expected, but that's really cool because it means they're human after all!; and besides, their show is painfully beautiful. (2) Interpol would definitely sound better in smaller venues than large, because large makes them sound too much like The Cure. But DAMN they have the most beautiful lighting I've ever seen at a rock concert.

I know what you're thinking, Z.

playing: "Empire of Light" - Tin Hat Trio

D'zamn... good songs

2005-09-20T15:19:00.000-04:00

I made a "Damn Good Songs" MixCD for Ross last night. We're always talking about how pop songs are so wonderfully simple in construct yet so annoyingly difficult to write well, especially when it comes to coming up with even a half-decent melody. In spirit of that, I collected a bunch of brilliantly written songs that come off easy as hell, gorgeous as shit, and spirited as fuck.

01 Laura Nyro Woman's Blues
02 Nick Drake River Man
03 Death Cab for Cutie I Will Follow You Into the Dark
04 Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane over the Sea
05 Elliott Smith St. Ides Heaven
06 Gravenhurst Tunnels
07 Gravenhurst The Ice Tree
08 The Arcade Fire Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
09 Kings of Convenience I'd Rather Dance with You
10 Fiona Apple Oh Well
11 Brian Eno By this River
12 The Decemberists July, July!
13 Iron & Wine Each Coming Night
14 Roisin Murphy Through Time
15 The Shins Pink Bullets
16 Sufjan Stevens Holland
17 Joni Mitchell The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines
18 Leonard Cohen Famous Blue Raincoat
19 The Wrens Thirteen Grand
20 A.C. Newman The Cloud Prayer

Strange fact: I realized after compiling the songs that at least 50% of them are in the key of F. Weaardz!

who? my name is...

2005-09-18T13:30:00.000-04:00

Which Rock Chick Are You?

Quite appropriate; I really am more a Bjork than Tori.

And may I just say, "Storm" off of Drawing Restraint 9 is easily one of my favorite, if not the favorite, Bjork songs of all time. In-fucking-credible, if you've never heard it, YOU NEED TO. As a matter of fact, DR9 is pretty fascinating as a whole. For me, this soundtrack is ultimate proof that Bjork is one of the foremost geniuses of serious popular music, right up there with Aphex Twin and Radiohead. Her output is so varied, unique, and rich; volumes could be written about it. She will be remembered decades and decades from now, which is not something I can say about a lot of my favorite artists.

And I don't care what anyone says, I thought the swan dress was awesome.

Jammin 92.3 FM presents...

2005-09-16T18:03:00.000-04:00

...the mash-up of Mariah Carey's "Shake It Off" and Ce-Ce Peniston's "Finally". At least, they would if Jammin 92 still existed. And if the mash-up existed outside of my head. Damnit, this needs to happen! Someone do it!!

I have a LiveJournal page now for non-music-related business. Username? PhallicVic, obv. Come say hi.

listening: "So Low" - Self

i think the change from "pathetic ho" to "sort of classy ho" is admirable

2005-08-29T16:18:00.000-04:00

BTW, being home for a week allowed me to listen to the radio and watch MTV, which I rarely do otherwise. And, um, dudes... why haven't I bought The Emancipation of Mimi yet?! GOD I LOVE MARIAH.

in-head listening: shake shake shake shake shake it off

pretty good year

2005-08-29T14:49:00.000-04:00

It looks like 2005 is shaping up to be the year that the great indie artists of this decade prove themselves to be the real deal. I mean, check it: fan-fucking-tastic records by Sufjan Stevens, Kanye West (okay, not really indie, but still damn good), Spoon, The New Pornographers, Deerhoof, and Sigur Ros (and may I say HOLY SHIT for Takk, because it's the most beautiful thing Sigur Ros has ever done, and quite possibly the best album of the year). Word is that the upcoming Broken Social Scene (ehhhhhhh) and Animal Collective are gonna be kickass as well. And I'm all for applauding the Gorillaz, The Books, and The Decemberists efforts this year, even though they're not really my thing. Even Missy and Phil Elverum whipped up some decent ear candy.

Thank god that the tried and true artists are representin', because all this "next big thing" bullshit that's been going on for the last four years has gotten tiresome as hell. (i.e. No, I don't want some new random band to kick my ass, I want the random bands that I already love to kick my ass. DAMMIT.) I'm thinking this is going to be my favorite year in music since 2001. No lie, no lie, no woman no cry.

***

Saw my 12th (!) Tori concert in Rochester Hills last night, and it was easily one of the best ones I've seen. Highlights: "God" with intro & outro of "Running Up That Hill" (!!!!!) by Kate Bush. Holy fuck that was awesome. She then followed it up with a cover of "Karma Police," and I almost went into cardiac arrest. Wow. Pretty Good Year, Barons of Suburbia, Parasol, and Baker Baker were damn good too. I love my fairy elven woodprincess goblin lady.

listening: "He Woke Me Up Again" ~Sufjan (in my head, because I can't listen at work. boo.)

MTV hearts the gays

2005-08-19T12:47:00.000-04:00

So, uh, who's watched MTV lately? Yeah, weird question seeing as that there isn't any new season of Real World or anything right now, so of course I wouldn't expect you to. But I was watching the VMA nominees videos yesterday (btw, the video for "Lose My Breath" by Destiny is so fuckin good), and my god, during the commercials they were making the hugest deal out of Kanye's little speal about gays. As if he were coming out of the closet or something (I'm giving him another two years for that one). Seriously, they showed the clip like, every other commercial break.

MTV, you crazy socially progressive bastards you, what's going on? I'm totes confused here. I mean, I'm not used to the media paying extra attention to these types of things. I still think half of this country's population is unaware that gay marriage was made legal in Spain last month. Hell, I doubt all that many homos know about it. So, like, MTV? Huh?

Well, maybe it comes as no surprise when you consider that MTV Networks is coming out with a new all-gay cable channel. That's pretty cool. Hopefully it will be better than Bravo. Or Oxygen. Ewwww... Oxygen. Anyway, I think Viacom is now my new favorite corporate giant (sorry, Starbucks, I still love you).

I guess this is what happens when the crazy leftists control all the media. Well, not all the media, just the media targeted towards the under-30 age bracket. Well, not all of them either, just MTV and Comedy Central. Whatevs. In a television world where right-wing conservatives influence everything from CNN to 24, this flips my shit. Good job, MTV and Kanye. Perhaps I will actually buy Late Registration instead of just downloading it for free!

Also, the 2005 VMA logo is totes prettty.

mount me

2005-08-19T08:48:00.000-04:00

See No Flashlight get a painfully mediocre review on Pitchfork. See me throw a fit because of Pitchfork's unwillingness to judge a record without holding it up to every previous work the artist has ever done. See me point out that Phil Elverum probably changed his artist name for a reason, probably because he doesn't want his new work to be compared with the old. See me grudgingly acknowledge that Ubl is still right on most of his points about the album anyway, though I don't think it all justifies such a poor review. See all the things that he totally missed about the album because he was so caught up on Phil's ugly vocals and the restrained musicality. See two reviews, review and no review.

Seriously, the TinyMixTapes dude LOVES Phil Elverum. Damn.

Okay, see more reviews. and no more reviews.

I'm still holding off any strong judgments on the thing until I actually get the LP/CD package-fucker-thingy in the mail. I am excited for Singers.

boom boom bing dong

2005-08-18T18:01:00.000-04:00

Roisin Murphy's new record Ruby Blue is ILL motherfuckers!!

feel stupendous

2005-08-15T14:44:00.000-04:00

omg... Wikipedia has some RANDOM SHIT.

like this
and this
and this
and this
and this

listening: OMG somuch new music...
Danger Doom - The Mouse & The Mask
Deerhoof - The Runners Four
Robyn - Robyn
Common - Be
Holopaw - Quit +/or Fight!

and right now: this shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

mount sticky

2005-08-15T09:52:00.000-04:00

I have the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song stuck in my head... it says I must perform zany antics!!!

Gave the new Mount Eerie release a listen last night. I enjoyed it, though I wasn't blown away. Not like I was expecting to be blown away on the first listen - these things take time to sink in, especially with Mr. Elverum behind the scenes.

Okay, so... stripped instrumentation: I was not anticipating that move. Most of the songs on the album simply feature acoustic guitar and random drums. Only Phil on vocals this time. The songs seem more insular than those on all of The Microphones releases. That is to say, it's not the usual cinematic experience you'd get with, say, Mount Eerie (the album), where the album may well be one long song in itself; this whole album is more traditionally structured. Unification through instrumentation and thematic material moreso than production and song structure. Easily some brilliant moments (the tail end of the second track is GLORY I'm telling you). And it's more obvious than ever that Phil is the master of unorthodox drum/percussion tracks. He sets up the most bizarre, unlikely grooves over and over, every weird song, which is quite the feat considering that's not usually where the innovation happens in any pop record. Random. Oh yeah, and the lyrics... well, um... yeah. They go from the usual Elverum musings ("The world is in me and I am in the world") to totes meta ("Knowing no one will understand these songs/I try to sing them clearer/Even though no one has ever asked/What does Mount Eerie mean?" also see: "No Flashlight means there's another world and it's inside this one/No Flashlight means the lake at night." Ohhhh!).

One main gripe: now that Phil seems to be going with a slightly more traditional approach to song conception, his decidedly unkosher (see: out-of-tune) voice doesn't pair up with the music quite as well as it used to. True, he obviously has no aspirations to be played on the radio (save Ann Arbor's college indie station, on which I actually have heard a Mount Eerie tune... weird), but I still feel like the songs would jive better with some more standard vocals.

So then, no verdict (no lake! no moon!) on No Flashlight just yet. But I get the overall impression that Elverum is only starting to get a feel for his new Mount Eerie outfit. This album is clearly only the beginning of something much bigger.

lists are the best

2005-08-11T14:36:00.000-04:00

From Ian's livejournal...

"list ten songs that you are currently digging. It doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're no good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog."

Holler:
Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles (Mama Black Widow Version)
Patrick Wolf - Tristan
MF Doom - Rap Snitch Knishes
The Pussycat Dolls - Don't Cha
Mount Eerie - I Know No One
Mariah Carey - My All
Weezer - We Are All On Drugs (although for some reason, Pink Triangle has been stuck in my head for WEEKS)
Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
The New Pornographers - Letter from an Occupant
Nick Drake - River Man (solo version from Made to Love Magic)

heh heh... heh....

2005-08-11T14:06:00.000-04:00

Whoa, okay, last post just a touch extreme. Sorry y'all, that's what happens when my rabid Toriphilia and my rabid Pitchfork hateration combine into one, I guess.

So, I wonder about those who don't like Tori Amos (or, Torn Anus as I like to refer to her) all that much. My musical tastes have shifted quite a bit since high school when I was first introduced to Tori. I am no longer pubescent and angsty (just angsty), and I realize that the angst naturally fueled my obsession with Tori. But I am still convinced that several of her 90's releases really are "Top 100" material. Am I just blinded by my fandom, or do you think she deserves more credit than she gets nowadays?

* * *

Along those lines (those lines being my growing irritation with a certain website), what's with Pitchfork being all selective and shit with the mainstream releases reviewed? They usually fall into one of three categories: (1) Indie artist that gets picked up by a major label (the majority of these get poor reviews. Surprise!!), (2) Rap or hip-hop artist, (3) Older artists that have established themselves by releasing good material in the past (see Weezer, Beck, Ben Folds). 1 & 3 are fairly self-explanatory, I guess, but what's with #2? Are the Pitchfuckers just not as hip to the indie hip-hop scene as they should be? Or do mainstream rap releases tend to be better than the underground stuff anyway?

Now, why should they cover albums by R. Kelly and Jay-Z while ignoring legit mainstream pop/rock acts such as System of a Down and Madonna? I mean, I don't care if they get godawful reviews, but they at least deserve the same coverage as, uh, Liz Phair. What gives, Pitchfork?

pitchfuckers

2005-08-10T15:15:00.000-04:00

My love-hate-loathe relationship with Pitchfork grows ever more complex. LOOK AT NUMBER EIGHT. That's right, your eyes are not deceiving you. It's TORI! Sitting pretty in the Top Ten of Dickfuck's Top 100 Albums of the 90's. And rightfully so. Little Earthquakes is one of the essential albums of the 90's, whether the indie-cred seekers are willing to admit it or not.

Well, that was their old list. Check out the revised list. Where's Tori? WHERE IS SHE ASSHOLES??? She's not even in the Top 100. What, Bitchdorks, didn't want to tarnish your obviously-better-than-thou image by including an album (that's not Radiohead) whose importance most mainstream music critics actually agree on? I mean, Bonnie Prince Billy is good, but WTF. Duh, obviously it's not cool to like Tori, but what the hell man? How can she just disappear out of the top fucking ten into nothing like that?

And, once again, indie cred takes precedence over the actual music. So gross.

good, good... now smell her a little

2005-08-10T13:49:00.000-04:00

SLSK is the best and worst thing to happen to me this week. It's an amazing program, it really is, but I think I just shot myself in the ethical foot by using it. There really is no excuse; I mean, could easily endlessly justify the wrongness of it all, but in the end no explanation would make me any less of a bad person. So I'll just accept the fact that I'm a mercenary bastard with a Soulseek but no soul.

I finally got Xiu Xiu's Fabulous Muscles the other day, and I find it delightfully pretentious. Of course, I expected that, so it doesn't change the fact that it's fuckin good. Yeah, he's sometimes so oversensitive that you just want to wail on him, but it don't matter when he warbles, "Cremate me after you cum on my lips." Ohhhhh god.

other acquisitions: Messiaen's organ works (50% utterly awesome, 50% wha?!), Nick Drake's Made To Love Magic (charming, obv), MF Doom Mm...Food? and Viktor Vaughn Vaudeville Villain (Z, your contributions to my rap repertoire just get better and better and better. This stuff fuckin rules.)

next up: some thoughts on every culturalist's favorite mortal battle, MO vs. POMO! That's right, I'm taking Boulez and Ferneyhough to tha STREETZ.

going mental

2005-07-29T13:34:00.000-04:00

I swear, sometimes the songs that randomly play in my head would make the best mix CD's. I recall having the *best* playlist ever while triapsing about the Metroparks stoned with Ian about a month ago. I distinctly remember telling this to him, who then proceeded to sing Backstreet Boys, getting it stuck in my head, much to my chagrin. Anywho, the playlist had some M.I.A. (10$ y'all) and Missy (all up in ya melon) and I think some Radiohead, too. Sounds sort of arbitrary, but I swear, it all fit. Of course, I lost it all in the wake of my summerday fog, but it was really damn good.

Then there are those days that my mind basically just empties itself of a whole lotta music gunk. Cleaning out the pipes or something. I woke up to the gratingly catchy "December 1963" aka "Oh What a Night" by The Four Seasons dancing through my neurons. Like, it's fine for karaoke night and all, but geez, I don't want to wake up to that ass! And then there was "Blues in the Night," which again is fine for, like, a high school show choir or some shit, but not for me when I'm trying to get some work done around here!! And you know when you're trying to get that nasty drivel out of your head and you try to sing something else that you actually like but it never works because that damn 80's synthesizer keeps kicking its way to the fore? Maybe it's cleansing, or maybe it's just irritating, but either way it sucks.

I was reading about musical hallucinations the other week. I guess some peeps, when they're in their old age and are just chillin in their retirement homes or whatever, have been known to say "where is that phonograph playing?" And the fat 30-something nurse is like, "biotch, there ain't no phonograph anywhere." And it turns out, these senior peeps are hallucinating songs from back in the day! People have been known to continually hallucinate music for years on end. They say it drives them pretty crazy. Even some composers have been known to have musical hallucinations, such as Schubert and Scriabin. Well alls I gots to say is, if I ever start having musical hallucinations, it'd better not be going like today's. I'd shoot myself in the head.

listening: "Oh What a Night". in my head. again. DAHHH

a list a day keeps the rock snob at bay

2005-07-19T16:32:00.000-04:00

Obviously this list is severely limited by what I own, which is severely limited by how much money I have. So, obv, take it with a grain of salt.

My ever-evolving Top 50 of the Decade So Far (2000-now)

1. The Microphones - The Glow, pt.2
2. Radiohead - Kid A
3. Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
4. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State
5. Gravenhurst - Flashlight Seasons
6. The Notwist - Neon Golden
7. Missy Elliott - Miss E... So Addictive
8. The Postal Service - Give Up
9. ...And You Will Know Them by the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
10. Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
11. Kanye West - The College Dropout
12. Interpol - Antics
13. Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News
14. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner
15. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
16. Madvillain - Madvillainy
17, Elliott Smith - Figure 8
18. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
19. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
20. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
21. The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
22. Q and Not U - Different Damage
23. Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes for Cash
24. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free
25. Bjork - Medulla
26. Radiohead - Amnesiac
27. The Microphones - It Was Hot, We Stayed In the Water
28. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
29. Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
30. The Microphones - Mount Eerie
31. Outkast - Stankonia
32. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
33. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
34. The New Pornographers - Mass Romance
35. Dntel - Life Is Full of Possibilities
36. Spoon - Girls Can Tell
37. The Strokes - Is This It
38. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
39. Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk
40. Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People
41. At the Drive-In - The Relationship of Command
42. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
43. Q And Not U - No Kill No Beep Beep
44. The Books - The Lemon of Pink
45. Thursday - Full Collapse
46. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
47. The Soft Pink Truth - Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want The Soft Pink Truth?
48. Arcade Fire - Funeral
49. Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
50. The Decemberists - Castaways & Cutouts

runners-up: Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs / Death Cab for Cutie - The Photo Album / Deerhoof - Milk Man / Deftones - White Pony / The Dismemberment Plan - Change / Dizzee Rascal - Showtime / Elefant - Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid / The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots / Four Tet - Rounds / Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle / Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American / Madonna - Music / Mindless Self Indulgence - Frankenstein Girls Will Look Strangely Sexy / Missy Elliott - Under Construction / The Rapture - Echoes / Rufus Wainwright - Poses / Rufus Wainwright - Want Two / The Shins - Oh Inverted World / Tori Amos - Strange Little Girls / Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles / The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell

*I'm not including EP's, though let's hear it for Iron & Wine's Woman King, eh?

snippets and shit-bits

2005-07-15T21:58:00.000-04:00

I thought I liked Good News for People Who Love Bad News slightly better than The Moon & Antarctica, but now I'm not so sure after yet another listen to the latter. It's like, every time I listen to one of the two, I become sure that it's actually slightly better than the other! FUCK YOU AND YOUR CONSISTENCY MODEST MOUSE!!

Extra news bits on the upcoming Mount Eerie release. Largest album cover ever? Bewildering and massive liner notes? Laptop music a la Phil's anti-digital lo-fi aesthetic? Mommy Earth preggers at night? Holy shit am I excited. And the mp3's offered (follow the linkie...) are incredibly promising. I am TOTES PUMPED. [side note: they use "totes" in the news bit! Damnit Ian, you're even more avant-garde than when you wore boot cut jeans in high school.]

I've decided I like The Soft Pink Truth's Do You Want New Wave... [blah blah blah etc etc etc] even more than Do You Party?. The LP is fuckin razor-sharp. It either bowls you over with punch-you-in-the-face irony ("Out of Step" is my favorite track on the disc) or kick-you-in-the-nuts relevance ("Media Friend"). And, naturally, the beats are to die for. In the spirit of my being Out of Step with the rest of the music world, it's retroactively become one of my faves of 2004.

listening: nothing. why aren't i listening to anything? what's going on here? OH MY GOD A SPIDER JUST CRAWLED UP MY ANKLE

mount skeezy

2005-07-15T08:20:00.000-04:00

Let me just start out by saying: I. love. Phil. Elvrum. I mean, I also love Paula Abdul, but seriously, this is like, way different. omg y'all.

Okay. Mount Eerie was my first venture into The Microphones' gnarly musical/noise-ical world, and it came awfully close to being my last. At first listen, I wasn't at all expecting the ambient thunder jungle nightmare that opens the LP; I promptly switched it off after ten minutes in desperate need of some Iron & Wine. I was feeling more adventurous the second time around, and threw myself at the mercy of the first track, which pretty much sucked me into another universe. Basically. But as soon as the track ended, I found myself lost again. It was interesting, but just too abstract, too random, too pretentious... I might as well just put on some Sun Ra or something. I didn't really have any ambition to figure it out after this listen, so I just threw it aside in favor of the other stuff I was discovering at the time (The Books! Arcade Fire! oo la la, indeed, fuckers. *slams head into monitor*)

Fast forward a few months later, and somehow -- I really don't remember -- The Glow, pt.2 fell into my lap (destiny, right?) Like Mount Eerie, it initially perplexed me, but not in the same way. This time it beckoned me to figure it out. I could not stop listening to it for weeks. Again, like, omg, y'all.

I again attempted a listen of Mount Eerie a few weeks after I heard The Glow, pt.2. Unfortunately, it was bad circumstances -- I was driving across the Ohio Turnpike at night. Fittingly creepy, yes, but far from ideal. Let's just say, shitty car speakers + sleepy Vic = almost crashing into the median. Thanks Phil, I'm gonna put on Madonna now.

Since then, I've bought most of The Microphones' major releases, and have delved into them with gusto (save Window, which I still have trouble deciphering -- oh, one day, Phil...). But I'd kept Mount Eerie on the shelf (that phrase doesn't really work in the iPod age, huh). If I want to understand it, I figured, I need to be in the right mood at the right time. Well, the right mood and right time finally came -- thank you, music library, for sticking me in the stacks with nothing but hundreds of books to shelve and my iPod (uhh, btw, I still need to name aforementioned iPizzle. suggestions?)

So, uhhm... yeah. After all that, it turns out that I don't have all that much to say about it. Nothing to do with the quality or anything. The thing's great, right up there with his last two. I just don't really have the words to express how I feel about it. It's probably the most cinematic piece of music I have ever listened to, hands down. The way it conjures up elaborate images, scenes, story -- you might as well be watching a film, but like, you know, without the picture. Except the picture really is there. I swear. It's that convincing. So what kind of film is it? Well, it's definitely an art film, but way grander than most. Think Cremaster a la Bjork's hubby Barney, no not the dinosaur. Speaking of dinosaurs, I'm pretty sure there are some in this film. There's also God, angels, blood, ocean, clouds, sun, space, etc... you know, the usual Microphones fodder. If The Glow, pt.2 says a lot about the intangible, Mount Eerie speaks mountains (hee hee) about the tangible. Like I said, it's grand. Which is remarkable, seeing as that the album barely clocks in at 40 minutes. And... hmm. I guess that's it. The words stop there. I mean, I can go into descriptions, but it wouldn't capture half of what makes this album so interesting. In any case, I'll be listening to this one a lot more now.

Excitingly enough, Mount Eerie's debut LP, No Flashlight, is on the horizon, set to be released a month from now. Yay!! (In case you didn't know, The Microphones is dead and resurrected as Mount Eerie. Just like the album. Talk about taking your work seriously.) Pitchfork posted the tracklisting earlier this week, and contrary to my expectations, Phil seems to be continuing a few song titles in the vein of his major Microphones releases (see: "2 Moons," "The Same Ocean"). Perhaps one day we'll have "The Glow, pt.5" on our hands. Oh, rapture!

y kant vikter read

2005-07-13T15:19:00.000-04:00

I knew working at the music library would lead to nothing but a pile of unread books in my apartment. I now have six publishings on pop/rock criticism & culture (enough Frith and Christgau to satisfy my eye-rolling needs for the entire summer), as well as a book on philosophy of music. And then there's the new Harry Potter coming on Friday... oh man I needs to cancel that Blockbuster subscription and get reading. And I haven't even listened to that Harry Partch CD I checked out.

listening: the beeps of the copy machines in the music library counterpointing with "Eli's Coming" by Laura Nyro, which is on repeat in my head.

ty wirehog

2005-07-11T12:22:00.000-04:00

gotta steal kim deal, she snappin through my cable wires. lord knows we don't goes to the store no more, they all nappin back with they laptop or desktop, boppin with the moneymakers to pirate tidbit bump. scratchin and growlin, thumpin and howlin, grind to the seats to the streets with a big fuck you to virgin, verge, yeah vagrant too. mad at the world, gettin paid but who pays anymore but the poor and the needy and greedy? well for once they don't neither, so fuck your subpoena, your big guns and your mons and your skip track hons, this glitch snap bugaboo gon shimmy back to his mac and bang heads with criminals and kim deals for the next couple crunk juice years... can i get a hellz yea...

bi now, gay later

2005-07-05T23:29:00.000-04:00

All I gots to say is, duh! I've been saying this shit for years. Now I have scientific evidence to back it up.

straight, gay, or lying?

excerpts:

"...a new study casts doubt on whether true bisexuality exists, at least in men.

The study, by a team of psychologists in Chicago and Toronto, lends support to those who have long been skeptical that bisexuality is a distinct and stable sexual orientation.

People who claim bisexuality, according to these critics, are usually homosexual, but are ambivalent about their homosexuality or simply closeted. "You're either gay, straight or lying," as some gay men have put it."

"Using a sensor to monitor sexual arousal, the researchers found what they expected: gay men showed arousal to images of men and little arousal to images of women, and heterosexual men showed arousal to women but not to men.

But the men in the study who described themselves as bisexual did not have patterns of arousal that were consistent with their stated attraction to men and to women. Instead, about three-quarters of the group had arousal patterns identical to those of gay men; the rest were indistinguishable from heterosexuals."

"About 1.5 percent of American women identify themselves bisexual. And bisexuality appears easier to demonstrate in the female sex. A study published last November by the same team of Canadian and American researchers, for example, found that most women who said they were bisexual showed arousal to men and to women."

I should be a freaking scientist.

listening: "Bad Man" ~Miss E Miss Demeanor

$18.99 at FYE will get me a New Life!!

2005-06-27T17:06:00.000-04:00

http://indierock4eva.blogspot.com/

Yes, I too have proclaimed the importance of the "life-changing album," singing its praises from rooftops; the album that stirs your insides out, that acts as holy communion (never mind that Jesus was a homosexual nymphomaniac cocksucking Jew from Galilee, thank you Nervous Gender), that you swear was separated from you at birth, damnit, if only you could somehow DNA-test a CD. But making fun of it is still funny.

listening: "i luv u" ~dizzee

p.s. omfgz, pitchfork's grime-hype makes me want to shoot myself.

in response to the Coldplay bashing of late...

2005-06-20T14:31:00.000-04:00

I don't really care that such a ho-hum band as Coldplay sells tons of records and has millions of fans. Plenty other artists that are MUCH worse do just as well, or better. Why aren't we hating on them? Because it's trendy these days among music snobs to hate on Coldplay.

Very well. Not that Coldplay doesn't deserve some of this hateration. Why Rush of Blood to the Head got so many critical accolades beats the hell out of me. What a boring, MOR bunch of songs! Yet the British press (and much of the American press too) went bonkers over the damn thing. What magazine was it that put the album in the Top 20 albums EVER MADE? I mean, that's just ludicrous. And now X&Y is getting a bunch of praise from the mainstream media. Was it Blender or Q that gave it 5 stars? And most other major magazines and newspapers are eating it up, too. Now, I haven't heard X&Y myself, so it's possible (but highly unlikely) that it's just that good. But, uh, 5 is a lot of stars.

See, I don't think we should be irritated with those buying the records. They're just buying albums that they know are guaranteed to be pretty, pleasant, and inoffensive. So be it. I think we should be irritated with the critics and the media. 5 stars? Top 20 albums of all time? What is going on here? I thought music critics had a responsibility to try and uphold a level of artistic integrity in the field. What criteria are they going by here? I always thought that 5 stars should go to artists that challenge the status quo and succeed brilliantly, not those artists who simply maintain the status quo. Perhaps these critics are just writing what their respective bosses tell them to write, for whatever reason (cough cough, GETTING PAID BY THE RECORD LABELS TO WRITE GOOD REVIEWS. ahem.)

So my point is, I don't have all that much aggression towards Coldplay, or even their fans. As was said before, there are many other worse artists to hate on. But what's up with this irresponsible pop criticism? Who's really to blame for the endless praise here?

By the way, Parachutes is actually a pretty decent album, in my opinion. Lick it, haters.

FUCK

2005-06-08T00:53:00.000-04:00

fuck. my computer is fucking fucked. seriously. i've tried everything. no dice. it's slow as balls.

Speaking of balls, today Swain and I wrote the bare bones of what will be a killer rap track called "Lick My NutZ". Though actually, the "Z" in "NutZ" should be backwards.

Okay sorry I haven't updated in a while. Maybe I'll be more up to it as soon as my computer returns to its normal working state... and as soon as I return to mine. Seriously. I need a second job, like, now. Read it: cash money. The beginning and end to all my problemZ.

Oh, and tour turned out all right after all. Yay club.

reading: Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs
listening: nothing because I can't type and play music at the same time. fucking computer. (but I was just listening to Tori's live version of "Hoochie Woman" before this)

there once was a man...

2005-05-08T17:46:00.000-04:00

I am sitting in a multi-million dollar home in Nantucket, Massachusetts, typing on one of about five laptops in the residence. The owner is watching the Red Sox lose to the Mariners, his cat is staring at me in hopes of my petting him, and the wind outside is at about 40 MPH right now. We were supposed to leave this island for Northampton this morning, but the winds were too much for the ferry to leave. Not much to do on this little island, but I don't really care; it's relaxing, and the house is pi-imp.

Tour's been pretty ho-hum so far. Niagara Falls got old quickly. Cornell was beautiful, but we hardly spent any time there. It was great to see Jen in Boston, and singing in Faneuil Hall was amazing, but for some reason I don't much care for the city. And then there was Nantucket. Jesus. Every home is worth at least a million. Smaller population than Brecksville (except in the summer, when Tommy Hilfiger and Teresa Heinz Kerry and their likes all crowd in). Total New England, except for the somewhat uncharacteristic conservatism. I had chowder today. I'll probably have more to say about it later, but damn, this is an experience.

Listening to: the golf game on TV

east coast west coast worldwide

2005-05-02T18:18:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since my last update, and it will be an even longer while until my next update. Let's play catch-up.

Officially done with junior year! I spent three days straight staring at a word processing documents, typing up my final papers for my philosophy seminar and my theory history class. They ended up being the longest and second-longest (respectively) papers I've ever written, actually! I don't think either is the best thing that I've ever written, but hey, when you've only got 3 days... well, you've got to forego a little quality. Still, I'm proud of the fact that I finished them. (If anyone is actually interested in reading about the underlying nature of truth or the history of the Circle of Fifths, that shit's up on my public IFS space. holla.) Okay, so now that I'm a senior, we can all look forward to what is sometimes known as Vic's Superiority Complex. You may be familiar with it if you knew me when I was a senior in high school. If not, get ready for fun and excitement in the form of ME!!

Went home on Friday directly following the paper-writing. Good times, as always. Went to a CIA (art school!) party in Cleveland Heights with Ian Friday night. It was BYOB, people didn't start dancing until almost 2, and there was a lot of awkward milling. DAMN parties are different when you're not at a Big Ten university. Whatevs, I had fun. Saturday I went out w/Jenny and had sushi with the fam before renting White Chicks with Ian & Susie. BAD movie, though had some hilarious parts, or at least parts that are hilarious when you're really high. In any case, I just find it really bizarre that the two whitest black dudes in Hollywood decided to do a movie about two black dudes acting like white girls. Not much of a stretch. And is Shawn Wayans gay? I would not be surprised in the least. I do believe he identified as "bisexual" on some interview (and I bet you know what I think about guys who call themselves bisexual!). I also believe he has two kids. But fuck that. The man is FINE, and I would so tap his homo ass. MMMM.

I am leaving to tour with the Glee Club tomorrow. Needless to say, it is going to be fun as hell. Highlights: Boston, NYC (Beethoven's 9th at Carnegie Hall is gonna be off the hook), Philly, DC. Other sure-to-be highlights: special brownies, bus songs, stories about hooking up, stories about not hooking up, excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, etc etc etc. I'm pumped.

I will be back in Ann Arbor on May 18. I will be back to the world of part-time employment on May 19. Helloooooo summer!

My "Songs I Like" playlist for the roadtrip:
"damage II" ~gravenhurst
"pump it up" ~missy e
"jezebel" ~iron & wine
"there is a light that never goes out" ~the smiths
"things behind the sun" ~nick drake
"this are flashes" ~q and not u
"antlers" ~the microphones
"here i dreamt i was an architect" ~the decemberists
"pull up the people" ~m.i.a.
"company in my back" ~wilco
"famous blue raincoat" ~leonard cohen
"crazy" ~tori amos
"hajnal" ~venetian snares
"a good man is hard to find" ~sufjan stevens
"a true story of a story of true love" ~the books
"off the rails" ~the notwist
"please, please, please" ~fiona apple
"3X0" ~pinback
"the 15th" ~fischerspooner
"pussylicker" ~M83 vs aphex vs khia
"sex object" ~kraftwerk
"pioneers" ~bloc party
"last goodbye" ~jeff buckley

current music: "C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips" ~OK Go

now that's what i call pop music

2005-04-23T19:07:00.000-04:00

You can now check out my pop/rock theory presentation on Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" here. Yeah, I'm a dork, but I fuckin loved doing it. One file is a handout, the other is my written-out oral presentation. The presentation was restricted to ten minutes, so I had to condense and cut a lot of interesting shit. Hopefully someday I'll get around to stretching it out, because there's lots more to be said. Hmmm perhaps I might also get around to posting mp3's to accompany the pres... anyway, let me know what you think if you get around to reading it.

Boring gray Saturdays = sleepy Victor. Nap time!

Listening to: "People's Parties (live)" ~Joni Mitchell

all-day commando

2005-04-22T01:33:00.000-04:00

I finished my score for orchestration. I don't feel like doing the parts until tomorrow morning, so instead I'm gonna chill with my month-old opened quarter bottle of cabernet-merlot and listen to some tunes. How life should be.

Wrote this about Venetian Snares' newest album on RYM...

Rossz Csillag Allat Szülletett is a remarkable work in many respects. Aaron Funk (Venetian Snares) deftly melds early twentieth century classical and jazz styles with his usual heavy drum & bass breakbeats, resulting in an album that is often vicious, icy, chilling, and downright melancholy. He occasionally missteps, as in "Szamár Madár," which loops the theme Elgar's woeful Cello Concerto over Funk's furious beats. This seems interesting in theory, but ends up sounding forced and trite out of the context of the rest of Elgar's piece. Where Funk succeeds, though, he does so with great inventiveness. "Szerencsétlen" makes Bartok seem destined for Funk's drum & bass stylings. "Második Galamb" and "Kétsarkú Mozgalom" are epic aural paintings of stark loneliness, both alternating haunting brass wailings and cold, thoughtful spoken samples with relentless battering of Funk's stutter beats. "Hajnal" is unquestionably the centerpiece of the album, a blending of Eastern and jazz styles with perhaps the most unique of Funk's electronic whimsies. Rossz Csillag Allat Szülletett isn't perfect - where Funk's imagination abounds in some spots, it is completely lacking in others. I still highly recommend it for its stylistic invention and its surprisingly penetrating emotional punch. [4 stars]

listening to: "Stay Loose" ~Belle and Sebastian

they should change "orgiastic" to "orgy-tastic"

2005-04-21T21:33:00.000-04:00

The dead squirrel moved closer to the sidewalk sometime between yesterday and today! Probably about 2 feet from its original resting spot. How did it move? Did some dog drag it? Strong gust of wind? Toddler wanting to play? It still looks exactly the same. The mystery of the dead squirrel continues...

current music: "A Love Supreme" ~John Coltrane

addenda

2005-04-20T12:41:00.000-04:00

sipping coffee with the cigarette smoke built in
face smaller
Tyl3 = yes. yes.
post- morning rain spring haze
karaoke in twelve hours
12 bars of E (in my orchestration final project)
on the up and up

current music: "Music Is the Victim" ~Scissor Sisters

asymmetrical chipmunk

2005-04-19T18:20:00.000-04:00

According to Ross, that's what I look like.

[warning: following story is gross. I don't usually give a warning for such things, but this is fuckin nasty.]
So I wake up yesterday morning feeling as though someone socked me in the left jaw while I was asleep. It was slightly swollen and sort of painful, like a few days after my wisdom teeth were ripped from my skull. I looked even more retarded this morning, so I went into the oral surgeon to get it looked at. After listening to the likes of Lisa Loeb, Gin Blossoms, Creed, and Tori Amos (that's right, "Sleeps with Butterflies" is still in heavy rotation on AAA radio! I'm so embarrassed.) for almost an hour, this crazy young Amazon woman with a thick Eastern European accent chaotically tromps into the room, followed by a much shorter white man in his late fifties. Panicky giant woman reaches into my mouth and squeezes my tender swollen cheek, saying "eet is infected. Look, see? That is pus," she points out as she lets my mouth fill with blood. Gross, I'm thinking. She then hurredly grabs a giant syringe, saying that I'm going to be numbed up so they can drain the infection. Awesome. So she jabs me with the massive syringe, once... twice... three times in different places. Hurts like a bitch. The man hands her a tube, and she promptly forces it into my extraction site. I flinch and flail like a 4-year old getting vaccines. It hurts like a MOTHERFUCKER. I am not numb, I'm seeing tons of blood being hoovered out of my mouth, and these docs want to get it the fuck over with. I'm about to toss my nonexistant breakfast up onto myself. After 30 excruciating seconds, I start making pathetic pleading animal noises. "You are not numb?" asks psycho lady. I get another jab of anasthetic, of course to no avail. I say that I'm about to ralph, and the bitch asks me "Vere you drinkink last night? How many beers?" Har har. More draining ensues; at this point it hurts so much I'm beating my fist on the chair and kicking my legs uncontrollably. This apparently doesn't faze Boris and Natasha, who seem to be more concerned with the mental problems of a patient in the adjacent room. I don't know. After a lot more cheek-squeezing and tube-shoving, they finally finish, the whole process having taken about 3 minutes. I still can't recall a more painful three minutes, to be honest. The intense pain pretty much subsided after another five minutes or so, and they told me to come back in two days so they can check up on it. I'm positively thrilled.

At least one good thing came out of the whole ordeal, and that thing is in the form of Tylenol 3. Codeine rules. I'm happy.

Saw dead squirrel again today. Went up close to inspect, and was amazed to find minimal decomposition and only one ant crawling down its head. It was missing both its eyes. From its flat appearance, I'd say it's being eaten from the inside out. Hopefully it will stay where it is so I can watch the process in all its disgusting, maggoty detail.

Did I mention today was the last day of classes?!

Listening: "Ghost" ~Neutral Milk Hotel

you talk funny

2005-04-18T17:12:00.000-04:00

Fascinating.

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

10% Upper Midwestern

10% Yankee

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

one little piggy

2005-04-18T15:40:00.000-04:00

The theme of 2005 is slowly shaping up to be "I'm A Bad Person." It's catchy, it's fun, it's me! So what makes me a bad person this week? I have Wirehog now. Yeah, I know file-sharing of copyrighted matieral is "wrong" and everything, but when a rabid popular music consumer such as myself also happens to be a cash-strapped college student in over his head with undergrad loan debt, does he really have any other choice? I didn't think so. Whatever, fuck morality. I'm paying the artists lip service. The Dismemberment Plan's Change is really good, as is Modest Mouse's The Lonesome Crowded West. I'm still sort of on the fence with Bloc Party's Silent Alarm and M83's Before the Dawn Heals Us (My initial thoughts with each of these albums was "Yeah... I think I'll stick with Interpol and Air." But I'll probably end up liking them anyway.) Anyway, good thing Wirehog arrived just in time to keep me from working on finals! Today I just realized I have a week to write my research paper for theory history. Shit.

In other news, the same dead squirrel is STILL outside the Power Center. I'm surprised at how undecomposed and unmaggoty it is; it must have been there for five days now. If it's still there tomorrow, I'm gonna inspect it up close. Maybe it's fake.

Listening to: "Shit Luck" ~Modest Mouse

how the damage is done

2005-04-17T16:25:00.000-04:00

How do I keep missing these albums when they are initially released?! I've been listening a ton to The Notwist's Neon Golden (2002) recently, and all I can say is wow. Okay, that's not all I can say. The acoustic and electronic blend here is probably the most successful I've ever encountered. Electronic blips and crackles pervade the whole CD, but they never cloy like they can with Radiohead and Bjork. Woodwinds, brass, and acoustic guitar color the different tracks with tremendous effect, never sounding forced or trite. Maybe more on this later. It's still working on me. But WOW.

Other older releases that have spun my world right round baby right round: The Microphones' The Glow, pt.2 (2001) and Gravenhurst's Flashlight Seasons (2004). The former is a masterpiece in soundscaping atmospherics to express the utterly ineffable. I really can't properly describe the haunting mystery and wonder in every minute of this work; it has to be experienced. The latter is an emotional journey of the best and most beautiful kind. I haven't really allowed an album to confront my most guarded feelings for such a long time now, and I hardly expected this album to find its way inside me without my expressed consent. Don't let the delicateness and fragility of these gorgeous songs fool you: they possess far more power than meets the ear. When music affects you like this, how can you deny its awesomeness?

[warning: rant of a Tori Amos fan follows.]
Saw Tori in D-town a couple days ago. It was fine -- awesome seats -- but I was pretty disappointed with the setlist. She switches it up every night, and since I keep tabs on her every move like the good stalker fan that I am, I expect to hear rarities when I go to see her DAMMIT! She did play "Snow Cherries" and "Butterfly," definitely my highlights. She also played the extremely rare but sort of boring "Abbey Road". But other than that (and her cover of "Penny Lane," which was precious), it was a pretty lackluster set. Then, to add insult to injury, her show in Chicago the night following had an incredible setlist! I'm talking TOP FUCKING NOTCH. Debuted five songs. And to think I could have made it out there for the show! Auuuughh!!
[okay, rant over]

In non-music-related news, check out this link Paul sent me. Most interesting is the quote found ten paragraphs down. Now that's balls.

I don't care, it's still 99 cents

2005-04-15T21:44:00.000-04:00

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/11397212.htm

I just heard about this. Wow. All I know is, this only gives me MORE reason to order Wendy's fantastically sketchy chili. As if I didn't have to wonder about it enough about it before, now I'm getting a spoonful of mystery with every bite. And at a bargain price, too!

I just ate sooooo much food at Ross's house, it's not even funny. Grilled chicken, fish and rice, macaroni salad (get this - I made it myself! and people liked it! Maybe I'm not so inept in the kitchen after all), fruit salad, banana bread, rum cake, peanut butter pie, chocolate mousse, ice cream, beer... yeah, so I'm in pain right now. I had to return to my place to take an breather because my stomach felt like it was going to burst. People say this as an exaggeration a lot, but I'M NOT KIDDING. I'm afraid it's going to rupture, and my insides will be sprayed with the remains of Maggie's birthday party. owwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

In other food-related news, I finally decided to quit being a pussy and order myself a drink at a restaurant. I got a caipirinha, which is basically a Brazilian drink made with lime and cachaÃ§a. It was pretty good, got me nice and liquored up for the Glee Club concert. Holla!

listening: "Jezebel" ~Iron & Wine

chasing squirrels

2005-04-14T16:14:00.000-04:00

I can't help it. Ann Arbor squirrels are seriously the cutest animals EVER. I saw two chasing each other hopping from tree to tree yesterday, and the insane cuteness of it all almost caused me to explode with happiness. It was intense.

I passed the same dead squirrel outside the Power Center walking home today as I did yesterday. It had a lot more flies around it this time, and it looked deflated (literally.) I want to know how it got there in the first place.

I gave my "Since U Been Gone" presentation today in pop/rock. Easily my favorite class thing I've done all year. I talked a lot about blogs in my presentation, coincidentally, so I thought it'd be appropriate and shit to start blogging again. Damn (dzamn) I haven't blogged since freshman year! I think it's still up and archived at dzamn.blogspot.com actually... hmmm I haven't looked at that fucker for ages. I need to figure out how to put in a link for responses again, too. Whatever.

Seeing Tori tonight!!

listening to: "Since U Been Gone" ~miss Kelly C.
"Wrapped Around Your Finger" ~The Police