the kittybrains collective

Amour mama! Not cheap display

2012-01-20T06:50:00.001-08:00

The first 100 or so times I listened to Joni Mitchell's The Hissing of Summer Lawns, I didn't really take much notice of the opening track "In France They Kiss on Main Street". It's the most conventional sounding pop song on the album, and for a long time I was so focused on the enticing strangeness of all the other songs that this one just didn't make much of an impression. The other day, however, I pulled up this album on my iPod and without warning the greatness of this song suddenly knocked me flat. It's a nostalgia song about being young and wild in a very specific time, when "rock 'n' roll" stood for a certain kind of rebelliousness that sounds almost quaint now. It's sort of a short story about being a teenager in a very different time and place.

I'm not sure if it takes most people a year or so of listening to this song for it to suddenly come through and take life, but I'm glad it finally did for me. It's great. Below is a slightly weird video of a live version...judging by her hair and clothes, a live version from the 1980s.

"He Speaks French Too"

2012-01-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

The latest Newt Gingrich ad really plays like a parody of a Newt Gingrich ad that Drischord would put together.

10 Reflections on 2011

2012-01-04T22:43:00.000-08:00

Well, as the blog sputters into 2012, it looks like no one has posted a proper Top 10 list yet, and I'm not going to either. Instead, I'll just list 10 things that I liked or observed in 2011-- several of which were created in years past.

10. Best Rock Concert Ever- "Queen Rock Montreal" I actually first saw this on PBS, and then I acquired the DVD for repeated viewings. This is the best rock concert I have ever seen, including the many I've seen in person. You will not find 4 musicians more on top of their game than these guys were at the time of this concert. Mind-blowing.

9. Best archival discovery- Jobriath. Speaking of flamboyant glam rockers (see above), I was amazed to learn about this guy, who was completely lost to history. His manager said that comparing him to David Bowie was like comparing a Ferrari to a Ford Model A. He's basically everything that Bowie and Marc Bolan and Bryan Ferry were-- but in total overdrive. And it so happens that his 2 albums are awesome-- particularly the first one. (I should also mention that Lost Moon Radio created a character partially based on this guy. We didn't push it much farther than the real life Jobriath.) Read about him online and then check out his music.

Second-best archival discovery- Roy Harper (Led Zeppelin's "Hats Off to Harper" couldn't be less representative. His actual records sound more like a mystical Nick Drake.)

8. Past raves of mine that held up nicely in 2011: Superchunk "Majesty Shredding" and Guns 'N Roses "Chinese Democracy" (and I'll spare you further editorial comment; all I'm saying is it's still great, as recent listens have confirmed)

7. Two Observations: First, the best way to listen to Radiohead's "King of Limbs" is in rush hour traffic. It helps calm you and it focuses you rather than putting you to sleep. I've definitely appreciated that record more in my car than in my home stereo. Second, Nick Cave's cover of "All Tomorrow's Parties" is way better than the Velvet Underground original. Just wanted you to know. (This will be my only mention of a Lou Reed-related work in this post. Sorry, Metallica.)

6. A couple new releases I enjoyed this year: St. Vincent "Strange Mercy," Buffalo Tom "Skins," Wye Oak "Civilian," Wild Flag s/t, The Rosebuds "Loud Planes Fly Low," Tom Waits "Bad As Me," PJ Harvey "Let England Shake," Drive-By Truckers "Go Go Boots," Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit "Here We Rest" (huge step forward from his last one), J Mascis "Several Shades of Why," R.E.M. "Collapse Into Now," Bill Callahan "Apocalypse," Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues," Robbie Robertson "How to Become Clairvoyant" (surprisingly enjoyable!), TV on the Radio "Nine Types of Light," Lucinda Williams "Blessed," Bonnie Prince Billy- Wolfroy Goes to Town

5. Indie bands from the past that I got into: The Grifters, Mule, Beat Happening, The Wipers, the Ryan Adams album (Love Is Hell) where he decides he wants to be Jeff Buckley and is admittedly pretty good at it

4. Band that I love just as much now as when I discovered them 17 years ago- Buffalo Tom. I happened to be in Boston the weekend of their 25th anniversary concerts. So awesome, and that was either my 5th or 6th time seeing them. Really criminal that they never got bigger. Honestly, listen to "Let Me Come Over" and "Big Red Letter Day." Two of the best albums of my lifetime.

3. Album that I finally appreciate to its full degree- "Dark Side of the Moon." I was lucky enough to be invited to play this record live from start to finish with a very cool band here in LA. In performing/listening to it live, I realized how much awesome raw power the record contains and how good all the individual parts are-- particularly David Gilmour's guitar lines. I gained all new levels of respect for that dude. But really it's all of them-- great set of songs.

2. Thoughts on Wilco's "The Whole Love"- While it was among my favorite releases of the year, I'm not quite sure where it ranks for me in terms of their total output. I'd say it might settle on the second tier of three for me. I know we all have our own opinions, but for me, I think it's: Tier One- YHF, Ghost, Sky; Tier Two- Whole Love, Being There, Summerteeth; Tier Three- A.M., (the album) Either way, I'm still planning to listen to this many more times before rendering a final verdict. It's definitely a return to form after a record (the album) that I consider unfinished. It also utilizes the full band much better than (the album) did.

1. Top ranking that Pitchfork actually did get right- Bon Iver had the best record of the year. Totally haunting and more fully realized than the one before it. I've been listening to this one a lot lately. It really holds up.

Happy New Year!

Top 5 Opening Sentences from Pitchfork's Top 50 Album Reviews

2011-12-23T07:49:00.000-08:00

The other day I went meandering through the Pitchfork year-end lists, just to see what was there. And as you might expect, I was met with quite an overwhelming volume of words--so I decided to just read the first 2-3 sentences of any given review and then move on. Pretty soon, however, I started finding opening sentences that I found so amusing or confusing that I started cutting and pasting them to save for later. I therefore present to you: my Top 5 Opening Sentences from Pitchfork's Top 50 Album Reviews:

5."I don't give a fuck about you, you, her, him, that bitch, that nigga, y'all them," hisses DJ Quik on the very first line of his eighth album. To be fair, not many rappers will cop to "giving a fuck," but Quik is able to stay truer to his word than most.

4. On 2008's Saint Dymphna, Gang Gang Dance made their most succinct set of statements to date. Their desire to sift a broad range of pan-global signifiers through concise pop frameworks continued on this year's Eye Contact, but it also found them building bridges to their past.

3. Hymns are designed to unite a crowd of people in praise, aiming for a communal religious trance through the power of group vocalization. On Tomboy, Noah Lennox tests whether a congregational spirit can still be achieved by a single voice slathered with enough multi-tracked harmonies and reverb, a chorus of one worshipping secular matters.

2. There's a startling moment on Clams Casino's debut mixtape when a phlegm-soaked scream rises above the gorgeous murk before quickly being subsumed once again. It sounds like the last gasp of all the East Coast rap this New Jersey producer grew up on-- Dipset, Wu Tang, Mobb Deep-- making its presence known, handing the beat down.

And the #1 slot on this list goes to the review which came the closest to being 100% incomprehensible to me:

1. If you're a promising young artist partly responsible for turning a Hipster Runoff punchline into a viable (but still often maligned) subgenre, what do you do in order to stand out? Do you chart a course in a different direction, or hope that the wheat will eventually separate from the chaff? Chaz Bundick escaped the increasingly long shadow of chillwave by getting a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and (temporarily) throwing his computer out of the window.

Best Op-Ed of 2011

2011-12-21T21:14:00.000-08:00

Instead of posting a single best-of list, I'll post a few things over the course of this week. Here's my first one: My favorite op-ed of the year, written by Nicholas Kristof in June. I'm guessing many of you read it when it first came out, but it's worth another look...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/opinion/05kristof.html

Year-End Roundup

2011-12-06T13:27:00.001-08:00

Blog's been pretty dead lately-- any interest in doing any year-end roundups? I know Tex dutifully filed his last year and no one else followed suit. Any interest this year? Mine will, as usual, probably be more focused on the non-2011 stuff that I spent the bulk of my time listening to, but there were some worthy/interesting things released this year that may be worth discussing. Anyone? Bueller?

A Reunion to Celebrate

2011-11-03T04:44:00.000-07:00

I never watched this show back in the day, but since I like everything else Mike Judge has done pretty well, I decided to give the premiere of the new Beavis and Butthead a shot. I have to say, it was pretty damn funny!

Chuck Klosterman on LuLu

2011-10-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

Because Drischord seems to be interested in all things LuLu, I wanted to make sure you saw this Chuck Klosterman musing on the album. It contains the usual Klostermanian excesses that can sometimes grate, including the fact that it inexplicably concludes with a set of typically broad pronouncements about the NFL quarterback, Tim Tebow (viz. "[N]o one who follows football thinks Tebow is anything other than who he is."). But I like how he ties the whole thing in to the collapse of the music industry, and his general takedown of the quality of the album is pretty great:

If these cagey tunesmiths had consciously tried to make a record this simultaneously dull and comedic, they'd never have succeeded; the closest artistic equivalent would be what might have happened if Vincent Gallo had been a script consultant for The Room. . . . Lulu is as appalling as logic demands. If the Red Hot Chili Peppers acoustically covered the 12 worst Primus songs for Starbucks, it would still be (slightly) better than this. "Loutallica" makes SuperHeavy seem like Big Star.

I had to google "SuperHeavy," and I was appalled by what I found out: "a supergroup consisting of Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, Damian Marley, and A. R. Rahman." Supergroups in general tend to be a bad idea, but supergroups with anonymous rhythm sections are completely unforgivable.[1] Say what you will about Chickenfoot-- at least it had Michael Anthony and Chad Smith. But either way, even putting aside that sin, this group is a pretty horrifying combination.

[1] Traveling Wilburys are the exception that proves the rule.

Sonic Youth on the Ropes?

2011-10-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Today's Pitchfork headline: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/44318-kim-gordon-thurston-moore-separate/

I don't really know what to make of this. Obviously on a personal level I'm sorry for them. From a band level, it's hard to say what will happen. Obviously 93% of Sonic Youth fans would just like Kim to leave and to have them continue on with Thurston, Lee, Steve, and Mark Ibold. That would be an unspeakably awesome band. But more likely will be the decision that there is no Sonic Youth without Thurston or Kim (or Lee or Steve, you could also argue) and they will thus break up. That would suck.

I suppose they could also continue their professional relationship and keep things more or less status quo, although their press release was far from assuring in that regard.

Relationship aside, I'll say this: From Murray Street through The Eternal, Sonic Youth has been on what's easily the best run of their career, and in the past decade, they've gone from being only an occasional listen for me to one of my favorite active rock bands. It would suck if this spells the end of that run.

Rest in Peace, Bert Jansch

2011-10-06T22:59:00.000-07:00

Several great people died this week. Bert Jansch was one of them-- probably the one you heard least about. I've posted about him before, and Dr. K has linked to some of his work with Pentangle. Anyway, on the event of his death, a proper acknowledgement is in order.

As a folk guitar player, he reminded me more of Nick Drake than probably anyone else has. He didn't have Drake's beautiful voice, and he strayed from genre more often, which probably limited his appeal. (At least with this generation; I know he was fairly big in the '60s.) I'm no folk music expert, but I think he remained pretty widely revered in today's folk community, both in England and the U.S.

As recordings go, "The Best of Bert Jansch" is a pretty good retrospective, although he put out a whole bunch of albums. And I myself need to hear more Pentangle, especially after reading the NPR obituary linked to above.

I was more of a casual fan than any sort of expert on his work. All I can say is he was a special musician, and he died much too young.

Wilco-Related Audio Complaint

2011-10-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

No, it's not about The Whole Love, which I continue to find awesome. It's this: This morning, Jeff Tweedy's solo acoustic album Sunken Treasure came up on my iTunes shuffle, and it confirmed something I've subconsciously thought for years now: Tweedy's live acoustic guitar tone SUCKS. He's got such a great array of guitars, and he sticks some shit pickup into them-- or maybe it's the amp-- but it's terrible. So obnoxiously treble-y with no natural decay. It makes his guitars sound so cheap. Hard to believe a tone freak like Nels Cline would let him get away with that.

Listen for yourself:

It's not like I feel "entitled" to a better acoustic tone from Tweedy, but I feel inspired to articulate something that's bugged/disappointed me for several years now.

Heavy Lifting

2011-09-27T05:39:00.000-07:00

I've only listened to The Whole Love a few times so far, and as a super hard core Wilco fan I LOVE it. That said, I can accept the proposition that someone less devoted to the band could enjoy it less than I do. That said, the AV Club review really annoys me. Not because they give it a "B," but because of the condescending, "advice to the band" kind of approach the review takes. It's something nearly worthy of Pitchfork:

As enjoyable as The Whole Love is—and it’s an appreciable improvement over the wan Wilco—it still has some of its predecessor’s slight, low-stakes feel. The Whole Love is an album of reliable, occasionally exceptional, but mostly just solid pleasures from a very good band that doesn’t seem interested in doing the heavy lifting it takes to be great. Wilco’s early records seemed like the product of painful deliberation and unmitigated tension, a real life-or-death proposition; The Whole Love breezes by like a sunny Saturday afternoon among best friends. Now that Wilco has finally found its comfort zone, it might be time to venture elsewhere for a change.

I just have two comments:
1. Wilco "doesn't seem interested in doing the heavy lifting it takes to be great"? What does that mean? If they'd just worked a little harder and shown some dedication they could have written another Yankee Hotel Foxtrot? It's like saying: "what happened to the Martin Scorsese of Goodfellas? If only he'd been willing to do some more heavy lifting, The Aviator could have been just as good, but he lost his nerve."

2. Does he think Wilco needs more "unmitigated tension" to get back to its old self? It reminds me of an interview I once heard with Joni Mitchell from the mid 1970s, in which the interviewer said that lots of her fans thought she'd lost the sense of "vulnerability" that she'd had in her earlier work. She said something to the effect of "maybe I don't want to be so damn vulnerable anymore." Hard to argue with that.

Who Needs This To Work More?

2011-09-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

Lou Reed + Metallica. Two artists on the back end of their relevance, who have been increasingly pigeonholed in recent years. Metallica still sells out stadiums and plays really well, but nearly all of their fans agree that they peaked 25 years ago, with Master of Puppets. (Mayyybee ...And Justice For All is better, albeit with terrible production, but even that's 23 years old.)

And then you have Lou Reed, who quite possibly peaked 40 years ago, and who some (ahem, me) would argue was overrated at all stages of his career. And most of his recent career lies in the realm of performing shitty faux-beat poetry for yuppies who paid $175 a pop to be there.

And now they're collaborating, which frankly seems to fit in the general narrative of Metallica post-Hetfield Rehab, where the guy is all about exploring his feelings and embracing the same '60s music he used to openly despise.

Here's the preview track, and I have to say, while it starts pretty badly, it ends up in a pretty cool place. It's enough to make me interested in the record as a whole.

The View by Lou Reed & Metallica

Also note how the promotional website continues in the Lou Reed tradition of describing Metal Machine Music as though it were actually a pre-conceived work of art, as opposed to a stream-of-consciousness piece of crap motivated by disdain for the music industry and fans that had written him off.

Why You Should Avoid Watching Your Adolescent Artistic Heroes Be Interviewed

2011-09-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

He was a great songwriter, but I have to admit I'm no longer mesmerized by his interviews. 20 years later, Kurt Cobain just reminds me of the somewhat pretentious goth kid who lived down the hall from me in college.

Get More: Nirvana, Music News

R.I.P. R.E.M.

2011-09-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

You knew the day was coming, but it's always a little jarring when it actually happens.

http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=1446

On the one hand, you could argue that they had long since peaked and weren't doing anything particularly 'important' these days. On the other hand, you could argue that they survived their creative valley of Reveal and Around the Sun and had just made two solid records in a row.

But the fact that R.E.M. made it 31 years is pretty cool. They were never the most superlative band in any category, but they challenged themselves and their audiences and they definitely tried a lot of things over the course of their career. I never saw them live, although I was supposed to-- festival got rained/lightning-ed out before they came on stage-- and I never heard the greatest things about their shows. But I do know they put out 5 or 6 of the best records in my lifetime. (Which also raises the point that since we're all about the same exact age as R.E.M., it's weird to think about the end of a band that's existed for basically your entire life but not before.)

I'm saddened by this news, yet I can also see why now was the time for it to end.

Wilco Streams Live Shows On Their Website

2011-09-01T00:23:00.000-07:00

Did you guys realize this? Here's the link: http://wilcoworld.net/#!/roadcase/

I'm currently listening to a New Orleans show, which has a local horn section on about half the tracks. Not the greatest sound quality, but certainly great playing.

And in other news, I pre-ordered the deluxe edition of The Whole Love. Anyone shelling out for the vinyl? (And by anyone, I mean Tex and possibly Dr. K.)

Tears on the mausoleum floor/ Blood stains on the colosseum doors

2011-08-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time to listen to Watch the Throne yet, but the very least you can say is that Jay-Z and Kanye definitely know how to come out swinging.

Human beings in a mob
What's a mob to a king? What's a king to a God?
What's a God to a non-believer who don't believe in anything?

I guess somebody should post this

2011-07-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

To paraphrase Kurt Cobain's mom, someone else just joined the stupid club.

You know what else is great?

2011-07-23T05:37:00.000-07:00

All things considered, I think Figure 8 has turned out to be my favorite Elliott Smith album. I think the critical consensus is that this one doesn't quite measure up to Either/Or and XO, but these days I listen to Figure 8 far more often than either of those. It's still got all the bitterness and sarcasm that you expect from an Elliott Smith album, but it's not nearly as mopey: there are lots of upbeat rock songs, and even a definite theme of a man who is determined to get his life together and not succumb to his darker impulses. It's a shame that that obviously didn't work out.

There WILL Be a Post This Month

2011-07-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

... and since it falls on me to choose what it will be, I'll choose: "my biggest clients... Hall & Oates!"

The Difference

2011-06-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

This song really holds up. (Better, I might add, than Jakob Dylan's voice does at the end of what sounds like a long tour.)

This Rules

2011-06-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

Blondie is awesome, and this proves it. That is all.

Now you know I'm only human, instead of all the things I'd like to be

2011-06-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post one of my favorite Gil Scott-Heron songs. He was one of the great ones.

Rest in Peace, Gil Scott-Heron

2011-05-28T00:37:00.001-07:00

Was surprised and saddened to learn that he died today. I always respected him, although I rarely cued up his music. I do recall listening to a few of his records with Quinapalus-- quite possibly with a beer in one hand, a joint in the other, and bull-riding silently airing on the TV. I suppose Gil deserved better-- especially given the political and emotional weight behind so many of his songs-- but I'll always enjoy those memories.

Two Crazy Links

2011-05-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Ta-Nehisi Coates kicks back with Moby Dick, then goes into a weird, Star Trek-and-Marvel-Comics-infused reverie on the greatness of Melville. Very entertaining.

And on an unrelated note, Outdoor Life has an extensive interview with Vladimir Putin about hunting and conservation, among other things. Very weird.

The Disappearing Pleasures of Used CD Browsing

2011-05-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent a good hour or so browsing in what may be, for all I know, the last great used CD store in Manhattan: Academy Music on 18th st. It's been so long since I had a used CD shopping spree that I went a little bit crazy. Academy Music is primarily a classical music store, so to start with I picked up a number of classical CDs. The one which has made the biggest immediate impression on me is Wagner's opera Siegfried. I'm not particularly familiar with Wagner, and didn't bother trying to listen to him for a long time, partly from the casual prejudice that I was dubious about somebody that the Nazis liked so much. But as with so many of the artistic discoveries I've made over the past year, Proust liked him, so I decided to give him a shot. On listening to Siegfried once all the way through, I'm too overwhelmed with it to say anything besides the fact that it's very good.

Academy also has a small but decent popular music section, and I picked up some old Bruce Springsteen albums that I'd never gotten around to owning, as well as Metallica's so called "Black Album"...which is exactly the kind of CD which I'd never seek out on my own, but stumbling upon it used for $2.99, I was more than happy to pick it up.

I'm pretty well a convert to the convenience and available variety of online music shopping, but I do miss the congenial atmosphere of a crowded record store, and the surprises and discoveries you can make flipping through the used music stacks.

One Rapper's Take on Obama

2011-05-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

At first I thought it might be a stretch to put a Cornel West piece on a music blog, but then I realized that the man is a noted MC, so I guess it's okay to post about him on here.

I assume some of you already read about his Obama critiques, most notably that he's a "black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats.”

This Washington Post article touches on the fact that West also said: "As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he’s always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white. He is just as human as I am, but that is his cultural formation."

The article then goes on to brilliantly quote this piece in The Nation, wherein the author notes that West "has spent the bulk of his adulthood living in those deeply rooted, culturally rich, historically important black communities of Cambridge, MA and Princeton, NJ."

I certainly think West has some interesting things to say, but he made a total fool of himself with the Obama comments. He seems to completely disregard any component to Washington politics other than Obama himself. It's almost a teenage perspective on government. West is always a good interview subject, but he'd be about as good a president as he is a rapper.

O'Reilly/Stewart Video

2011-05-17T23:42:00.000-07:00

Eric mentioned this in the comments section and I just watched it for the first time tonight. Stewart definitely waits for just the right moment to unload his arsenal.

Game of Thrones

2011-05-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

Is anybody else watching this?

I've found it pretty entertaining from the beginning: a medieval themed political and social drama, with just a touch of fantasy around the edges, is exactly the kind of television likely to appeal to me. It was a little bit slow in laying out all the necessary exposition, but this week's episode really sealed the deal for me. I am totally hooked.

I don't suppose any of you guys have ever read the books this is based on? I haven't, and as much as I like the show I probably don't plan to. While I'm relishing this show as an hour long TV drama, I don't think I'd be able to deal with a whole dense fantasy novel cycle. Still, if anyone has ever read it I'd be curious to hear what you think.

On a related note, I've only watched 2 episodes of the latest season of Treme, but that remains a very good show as well. It's not flashy, and there aren't a lot of nailbiting cliffhangers, but once you wade a few episodes in it will really sneak up on you.

Steve Albini Blogs About Food

2011-05-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you are Steve Albini fans, but I used to worship the guy. Not so much for his ascetic recording techniques, but just because I admired the array of bands he took on, his non-gouging flat-rate business model, and the meticulous degree of care he seems to put into all his projects. I also like the bands he's been in-- particularly Shellac.

Anyway, it turns out he also writes a comprehensive blog about meals he cooks for his wife. I could never put in the effort he does in his preparations-- for one thing, I'd probably eat everything as I was making it-- but I actually really enjoyed reading these entries.

Albini is a funny guy. I met him once, and I can't say he was particularly friendly, but his intelligence is instantly evident-- in a snide sort of way. I asked him to autograph a Shellac record and he signed a fake name. Which, in retrospect, is probably the best possible verification of its authenticity.

Anyway, read his blog and check out this video of Shellac live.

(via Pitchfork)

Noted Music Critics Sarah Palin and Karl Rove...

2011-05-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

... apparently did not approve of Common's inclusion at the recent White House poetry night.

Mostly for Quinapalus, although he probably already heard.

Stay classy, Turdblossom.

Another Domino Falls!

2011-05-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

As predicted here about two weeks ago, we have yet another Kittybrain tied up in the yarn of pending marriage. Congrats to Eric, who is marrying his high school sweetheart (although not before cycling through a few other ladieeez in between). The wedding will be at either Amoeba Records in California or Bull Moose Records in Maine, and Eric will be cued when it's time to leave a compelling selection of Zombies bootlegs in order to recite his vows.

Congratulations Eric! We're now down to just TexPlush and me. I don't know who will fall first, but considering one of us is in a multi-year serious relationship and the other one is waiting on his 5th date from some girl he met on the internet, we can probably establish some odds.

On A Last Waltz Kick

2011-04-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

I feel like we all owe it to ourselves to revisit great works of art from time to time, no matter how exposed we may have been to them in the past. Recently I've gone through such a journey with The Last Waltz. I'm not going to definitively argue that it was the greatest rock concert of all time, but I will certainly listen to someone who does claim as much.

Here are my personal highlights:

Ophelia

Caravan

Acadian Driftwood (no video footage!)

The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show (again, no footage)

What a concert. What a band.

Congrats to the Doctor!

2011-04-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

Congratulations, Dr. Kittybrains, on your nuptials this past weekend! I hope your first dance was Jack Logan. Wait, actually that would be a really bad idea. But maybe one day the two of you can dance to Jack Logan.

Eric and I attended a wedding as well-- that of my brother. (Let's call him Erischord.) It was a great weekend! (And their first dance, by the way, was George Harrison's version of "If Not for You.")

And with Quinapalus already engaged, I look forward to the world's first honky-hop first dance! And as I've already predicted, Eric will follow close behind. Really the only question is which British rocker will have the honor of serenading his first dance.

The New Lucinda Williams is Really Good

2011-04-09T19:23:00.001-07:00

If you're like me, you'd lost interest in her after two meh albums (World Without Tears and Little Honey) surrounding a genuine clunker (West).

But this new album is quite good actually. It's not quite on the level of Car Wheels... but it's probably up there with Sweet Old World and Essence on that next tier. Here's a track...

The fact that her new guitarist sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughan doesn't hurt either!

Just a Damn Catchy Song

2011-03-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

This song came out in 2000, and it has been stuck in my head for basically all of that time. The band is called the Rockfords, which was Mike McCready's band pre-Pearl Jam. He then revived it as a side project once Pearl Jam got famous. The singer is Carrie Akre, who was in Hammerbox. (I believe that reference might be for me only.)

Anyway, listen to this song and tell me how catchy it is. Just downloaded it today since I can't find the CD.

Honky-hop's moment has officially arrived

2011-03-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

You'd Think That People Would Have Had Enough of Silly Love Songs

2011-03-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

Preamble: Someone gave me Red House Painters' Songs for a Blue Guitar during a hard drive swap, but I haven't ever listened to it all the way through.

Anyway, I had my iTunes on shuffle while I was doing things around my apartment, and I heard this song come on that I assumed was some obscure Neil Young live jam-- acquired during a different hard drive exchange. :)

Turns out it was Red House Painters covering Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs." Duh!

At the end of the day, Mark Kozelek will probably be best remembered for his covers... AC/DC, Modest Mouse, and apparently also McCartney. Hearing this also reminded me of what might be my favorite cover of his. This is Red House Painters doing "I Am a Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel.

Good stuff.

WTF Podcast

2011-03-20T07:22:00.001-07:00

Have any of you guys ever listened to the "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast? I've been getting into them recently: most episodes are interviews with comedians, but they're especially worth listening to because of Maron's interview style. He brings a lot of himself and his own complicated psyche into the interview, and while in other hands this could be self-serving, it has a way of making his guests feel comfortable and able to reveal parts of themselves that they might not have expected to reveal.

If you haven't listened to it before, a great place to start might be his interview with Louis CK, which was recent enough that it's still available to download free on iTunes. I was also very entertained by his interviews with Gallagher and Ira Glass.

I was prompted to write this post, however, because of how unbelievable his two interviews with Carlos Mencia are (Part 1 and Part 2 here). These episodes are older and cost $2 each, but they're some of the most fascinating celebrity interviews I have ever heard. I've never been much of a Mencia fan, but the conflicted, complicated, angry human being that Maron coaxes Mencia to reveal himself as in these interviews is absolutely fascinating. Part 2 is by far the most intense and interesting (and might qualify as much as an "intervention" as an "interview"), but Part 1 is probably necessary listening as a set up.

J Mascis Solo Album is very nice

2011-03-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

And it's all acoustic! And I love the cover art. There's a full stream going on here.
It's also worth noting that J looks a lot better with a beard.

New REM Album...!...?

2011-03-09T08:23:00.001-08:00

I've been taking a brief break from listening to golden age hip hop to listen to middle period REM. I've probably written about this before here, but I have a kind of funny relationship with REM. They were the first contemporary band I got into (before that it was all Beatles and Broadway) back in the Out of Time / Automatic for the People days. I remember being shocked that the "Losing My Religion" band had released SIX albums before that one. Anyway, then in college, when I got more into "indie" rock, I gravitated back to the early IRS albums. And I'd still say that their best album is Murmur. But listening to those peak-era Warner Brothers albums brings back more vivid memories of my youth, which is always nice.
I was inspired to pull this stuff out in part by this:
http://www.nerve.com/entertainment/ranked/ranked-rem-albums-from-worst-to-best

I was particularly struck by the high ranking of Monster, which is probably their most maligned album (and is probably the number 1 Used CD of all time). I had always thought it was seriously sub-par, especially because it was a total 180 from Automatic, which was my favorite album at the time. But listening to it now, totally out of context, it's actually fantastic! Every song is interesting and good, and the ones that, at the time, seemed like pale rewrites of their hits totally stand on their own. (Check Strange Currencies, which I always thought of as an Everybody Hurts rip, but is actually the much better song).

The other separately interesting thing is that a new REM album came out yesterday. I heard a bit of the stream from NPR and it seems reasonably solid, though not terribly exciting. But what I'm most excited about is that the REM Record Review Pattern seems to be holding strong.

I posted about this before, but this post did some great research on the phenomenon:

http://www.hitsville.org/2008/03/31/rock-criticism-101-if-you-cant-say-something-nice/
It's really a must-read illustration of the absurdity of mainstream rock criticism.

The pattern is, basically, that every REM that comes out is an improvement upon the last album, which was, for one reason or another, problematic. Thus, the new album becomes their best album since [an older album, usually from the Bill Berry era]. I would have thought that, since Accelerate was such a self-conscious throwback/comeback album, and it got such good reviews, that the pattern would break. It actually seems like the pattern did break, though, Pitchfork, of all things, sticks with the script:

Pitchfork:

After releasing the plodding Around the Sun, the band attempted a "return to rock" with 2008's Accelerate, barreling through a forceful but generic set and grasping at a raw, aggressive sound that was never really R.E.M.'s to begin with. So, it comes as something of a relief that Collapse Into Now sounds unmistakably like an R.E.M. album. At its best, Collapse Into Now evokes R.E.M.'s best work while capitalizing on the energy conjured during Accelerate.

To Rolling Stone's credit, they seem to have finally broken the streak:

Collapse Into Now is the first truly messy album R.E.M. have made in 10 years, since their underrated 2001 gem, Reveal. Their recent albums have focused on one musical approach at a time: 2004's Around the Sun was all slow-motion torpor, and 2008's excellent Accelerate went for spiky rockers. But Collapse Into Now touches on all their favorite tricks: punk raves, stately ballads, piano, accordion and the most mandolin they've put in one place since "Losing My Religion."

Relatedly, I was glad to see the AV Club's Steven Hyden partially acknowledge the ridiculousness of his article saying that REM was never all that good to begin with:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/rems-incredible-nonshrinking-legacy,52852/

Perhaps more than anything else I’ve written in my four and a half years with The A.V. Club, “R.E.M.’s Incredible Shrinking Legacy” left an indelible impression on readers. And by “indelible,” I mean “negative.” Very negative. Countless pieces with my byline have come and gone, but this particular essay has followed me around like an especially unseemly sex scandal. From time to time, whenever commenters wanted to cite an example of my writing that proved incontrovertibly that I was a buffoon, “R.E.M.’s Incredible Shrinking Legacy” was what they pointed to.

It's a pretty good read, and it grapples with the strange place REM occupies in the rock canon. For a long time they were sort of parallel to U2 as huge, mega-selling bands that had their roots in the postpunk/college rock scene in the early 80s. But whereas U2 keep making hits, REM have sort of returned to just having a cult audience (albeit a very, very large one). It's hard to imagine them having the kind of profile that U2 still have. (Though U2 are doing their best to tarnish it with the Spiderman musical).

Lupe Fiasco: "I hate this album"

2011-03-08T11:19:00.001-08:00

This has got to be the most negative interview I've ever read from an artist about his own album, especially considering that said album was still a month away from being released at the time this article was written. An excerpt:

"There’s nothing really to tell about that record, to be honest. I didn’t have nothing to do with that record. That was the label’s record. That wasn’t like I knew the producer or knew the writer or anything like that. That was one of those records the record company gave me, [they even gave me] stuff they wanted me to rap about. It wasn’t like, ‘Hey I did this and I went to a mountain and found inspiration and it was this.’ [Last April] I was backstage at a show at the House of Blues in L.A. and the president of [Atlantic Records] came to me and said, ‘Hey check this out, I got this song.’ He played ‘Show Goes On’ for me on the iPod. I was used to it because they presented me like ten other songs in the same fashion or via email. So for me, at that point, it was just another record like, ‘Is this a song you want me to do?’ There was nothing special about it for me at that point. It was like, ‘You know we still want off the label, right?’ That was the conversations we were having."

I guess I'll probably still hear it, because at his best I love this guy...but this does not sound promising at all.

If You Haven't Heard the New Superchunk...

2011-03-03T19:20:00.001-08:00

... you should. Now it isn't exactly "new" anymore; it came out almost 6 months ago. But I think it might be the most satisfying album I've heard from last year. In fairness, I thought last year by and large sucked for new albums. (Which is one reason why I still haven't written up a Top 10 list.)

That aside, everyone should still check it out. I think it's Superchunk's best ever. Great melodies, great production and Mascis-like lead guitar. What's not to like?

Dr. Dre Started Burning Man

2011-03-03T04:34:00.000-08:00

If this is a hoax, it's a hilarious hoax. Make sure you scroll down far enough to see the handwritten letter.

Sharp Dressed Man on Drums

2011-02-26T10:01:00.001-08:00

Eric's brother posted this on his Facebook wall. I think it might be old, but I'd never seen it before.

Note the similarities to a certain dead SNL alum.

So King of Limbs Is Already Out?

2011-02-18T12:59:00.001-08:00

A day early! Anyone got it yet? Honestly, I'm torn. I know I'm going to want to buy the CD later and I don't want to pay twice. But I also want to hear it... legally if possible. Streaming site?

Here's the video in case you haven't seen it:

Overdue Pitchfork Criticism

2011-02-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

I was just looking through some old files I'd downloaded, and I came across this screenshot from Pitchfork that I'd meant to share with you guys. It's an American Express ad starring John Legend. (Click on the image for a better view.)

I don't have much to say other than one of the following things is off base with the others: Pitchfork's current identity, advertisers' concept of Pitchfork's identity, or my concept of Pitchfork's identity (or at least what it should be.)

Now having posted that, it's actually my opinion that Pitchfork criticisms are kind of passé at this point. I've been the most guilty member of this collective in railing at them every couple months on schedule, but in truth I hardly care anymore. Short of going the Rolling Stone route (i.e. multi-page puff pieces on Kei$ha), they're not really going to surprise me. We all know their script and it doesn't merit much further analysis. Personally, I barely read the site at all these days.

Still an amusingly misplaced ad though.

Meanwhile, New Radiohead Album? New Radiohead Album.

2011-02-14T08:31:00.001-08:00

http://kingoflimbs.com/DIUSD.htm

Looks like I'm going to have to pay cash money for a digital album for what may be the first time ever! (I don't count emusic, because that was more of a subscription fee, and I quit long before they started listing album prices in dollars).

Clear 10" vinyl sounds cool but I don't think I need to spend fifty bucks on one album. Either way, this is pretty fucking badass and exciting. The cool thing about In Rainbows for me, more than the Met Museum style "suggested donation" thing, was the fact that they controlled when their music got out so that everyone could hear it at the same time. I really miss that experience. (I realize that makes me a dinosaur, but at this point I'm embracing it. After all, I still purchase CDs.) I was traveling in Peru when it came out, so I couldn't hear it for a few days, but this Dutch guy who I was on a hiking trip with had left after it came out, so he had it on his iPod and I listened to it on the van while we drove around the rim of the Colca Canyon. That was a good day.

Grammys Post!

2011-02-14T07:55:00.001-08:00

I'm still working on my epic post about the RZA's production style and the brilliance of Inspectah Deck's wordplay on Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), but in the meantime, a couple of quick comments about the Grammys and the shocking (!) upset by the Arcade Fire, Texplush's most hated of bands.

I actually watched the whole show last night for the first time in years. The Grammys are kind of hilarious. They go out of their way to make themselves as irrelevant as possible, starting with the idiosyncratic eligibility period of September - September. So you get Grammys in 2011 for Lady Gaga's album from 2009.

Then there's the fact that the nominations/winners have very little correllation to either critical acclaim (ie, music publications' year-end best-of lists, etc) or sales/popularity. No knock against Steely Dan, but Two Against Nature was far from the best album from 2000-1, but neither was it the best selling. So then what was it? I'm not saying it was bad, but what does it mean to have an "Album of the Year" that's neither critically acclaimed nor popular.

Anyway, Arcade Fire's win is a rare nod to the critical community-- it might not have been the critical consensus favorite of the year (Kanye will have to wait until next year's awards, because his album came out in November), but it definitely appeared on all of the usual lists. I liked how genuinely surprised they were-- they even *gasp* smiled!

And the thing is, despite Arcade Fire selling out MSG, having a number 1 album (which at this point, seems like one of the less impressive achievements out there), and now Album of the Year, most people still don't know who they are!:

http://whoisarcadefire.tumblr.com/

Rosie O'Donnell!

J.S. Bach: Total Badass

2011-02-02T06:04:00.001-08:00

Well, I guess I'll just keep posting even if nobody else is.

I've been listening to a lot of Bach recently...for whatever reason, he's a composer that I've never delved into very deeply before. I think when I was younger I was turned off by how orderly (and thus conservative) he sounded, but listening to him now it's exactly the order and precision that I'm especially astounded by. There's something almost contemporary in the deliberateness of his structure, something which fell out of fashion with some of the great European composers who followed him. There's no mistaking a Bach composition for the lyricism of Mozart or the mysticism of Beethoven; the structure is always right out in front in Bach, like he's communing with the laws of mathematics.

Plus, sometimes he gets astonishingly weird. Check out the below clip, especially the harpsichord breakdown that starts around the 50 second mark. If I didn't know it was Bach, I might have thought Phillip Glass or Frank Zappa wrote it in the 1970s:

In some ways it gets even weirder in the following movement.

Also, just to point it out, these particular clips come from his concerto for four fucking harpsichords. Maybe that was more common than I realize, but on the surface I have to say it sounds kind of insane. It sounds like a Trey Anastasio side project or something: "Dude, on Trey's latest album, he's ditching that guy who only plays the washboard, and is bringing on four harpsichord players! I hope they do 'The Squirming Coil!'"

Coates on Kanye

2011-01-03T17:01:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite bloggers has some really intelligent analysis of the new Kanye West album. He cuts to some of the problems I also have with the album, but phrases them in a way I never could. For example: "I'm tired of rappers who deploy slut-shame to smoke-screen their near total fear of pussy."

This guy writes all kinds of great stuff on all kinds of topics, so while I'm at it, here's another recent post of his I loved about the nexus of comic books, hip hop, and Faulkner.

Q's 2010 Lists

2010-12-26T06:26:00.000-08:00

Once again, I'm pretty sure I got through the whole year without listening to 10 total new releases, so doing a Top 10 list seemed a bit absurd. Here are a handful of shorter lists that hopefully you will find interesting:

Top 3 New Albums I actually listened to this year:
3. The Roots, How I Got Over
Another great album from a great band. I even loved the bonus track "Hustla" with the weird baby-crying sample.
2. Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot
I hope he and Andre 3000 do more work together in the future, but if Big Boi's solo output remains this good, there will be nothing to complain about if they don't.
1. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I'm going to have to go with the critical consensus on this one. I've just been obsessed with this album, and there's no denying that it was my personal favorite of the year, despite its flaws, and despite my reservations about it. In fact, with the possible exception of some albums by The Roots or Lupe Fiasco, I might have to go back to The College Dropout to find a new record I played this incessantly. I'm glad Kanye has been able to harness his batshit craziness to create something so compelling!

Top 3 Joni Mitchell albums besides Blue:
I've been listening to tons of Joni Mitchell this year, much more than I've been listening to new music. I started with Blue, which unsurprisingly is an incredible album. What I didn't realize, however, was just how much first-rate material she created in the 1970s. There are a number of absolutely classic albums that I had never even heard of before. Below are three albums which, in my opinion, are as much worth listening to as Blue, even if they are all less immediately accessible, and may require more time and attention to appreciate.
3. The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Weird, unsettling, and wonderful. This album is strange enough that it probably shouldn't be anybody's first encounter with Joni Mitchell, but there is some seriously great material here to explore.

2. Hejira
This album is a huge grower. For months of listening to it, most of the album seemed like sort of an easy-listening blur (even if a couple of the songs, such as "Amelia" and "Refuge of the Roads" were undeniably great from the first listen), and I couldn't understand why so many Joni Mitchell superfans on the internet claimed that this was her best album. But slowly, the extremely wordy complexity of Hejira began to open up for me, and I discovered it to be full of some of the best songs about how traveling affects the soul this side of Townes Van Zandt.

1. Court and Spark
If you haven't heard this album, you should give it a shot. It's the most accessible of her classic albums besides Blue, and it really has it all: sad folk songs, weird jazz experiments, a rare dash of unexpected humor, and even a couple of songs where for once Joni Mitchell just rocks out. I was hooked from the moment I heard about the character who "buried the coins he'd made in People's Park/and went looking for a woman to court and spark."

Top 3 Literary Giants Whom I Somehow Never Got Around to Reading Until This Year:
3. Thomas Pynchon
I really enjoyed The Crying of Lot 49, and I've been surprised how much this extremely short and strange little book has stuck with me since reading it. I'll even go so far as to say that it's made me think about the concept of a "mystery" in a new way, and has informed some of my teaching on the subject. Despite his reputation as being an impenetrable writer, this book is a fun, fairly quick read, that any of you might enjoy.
2. Franz Kafka
I started out by reading some of his short stories, and very quickly couldn't believe it had taken me so long to get around to him. Reading "Metamorphosis" reminded me of the sense of wonder and dread I used to feel as a kid when reading Stephen King...except that Kafka is almost certainly more terrifying. I also wondered if the strange torture machine from "In the Penal Colony" might have been J.K. Rowling's inspiration for the magic quill that carves "I must not tell lies" into Harry Potter's arm. Actually, much of Kafka's writing on the surface is so simple that it could almost pass for a pulp thriller or horror story; the further you go, however, all the details start to pile up into something far more obscure and disturbing than you first expect.
1. Marcel Proust
I'm currently reading volume 2 of Proust's 7 volume mega-novel A La Recherche Du Temp Perdu, and I am very excited that so much of it still lies ahead of me. Proust reminds me of James Joyce, at least in one sense: both writers have a way of looking at the world partly through the prism of art and literature, and try to make sense of life by finding surprising parallels between great art that they admire, and their own mundane, bourgeois, sometimes sordid lives. In other words: it's right up my alley. Proust is also dense in the best possible way. Every page is so packed with evocative descriptions, philosophical asides, and unexpected doses of comedy, (not to mention the surprisingly frank--and weird--discussions of sexuality), that you need to read it extremely slowly in order to take it all in (which is fortunate, since I'm attempting to read it in French, and slooooooooow is the only way I can go). A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu has even served as a sort of crash course in art history for me, as Proust assumes of his readers a certain level of familiarity with European painting, and often chooses to shed light on characters, or create interesting juxtapositions, by making extremely specific references to particular paintings. For someone like myself, who has only a passing familiarity with that material, regular internet searches to track down the relevant paintings become a must in order to fully understand the narrative. That may sound like kind of a chore, but honestly, I've found it to be kind of like an awesome treasure hunt. Not only does knowing each painting help me to more fully enjoy the book, but the book is actually helping me to appreciate European painting in a way I never have before. It's hard to ask for more!

Best Book I (Re)Read This Year:
Voltaire's Candide may be my favorite book. It's so short that I've actually read it once a year for the past several years, and it never seems to get old no matter how often I come back to it. I think what separates Candide from other snarky, remorseless take-downs of human vanity (such as may be found in the work of Jonathan Swift, Kurt Vonnegut, or sometimes Mark Twain, all of whom I also enjoy) is that there's something strangely life affirming and even uplifting about Candide. At the end of the book, after going on countless adventures in search of love, wealth, and philosophical glory, the main characters all decide that the only thing that will really make life bearable is to settle down and work hard at jobs that they enjoy. "We must cultivate our garden" is how the novel ends, and it's a phrase I often remember when the world seems unbearably depressing. In the end, life is never going to be easy, and sometimes it's going to be awful, so you might as well try to find something that makes you happy. There's no point in worrying about the rest.

Texplush's Favorite Albums of 2010

2010-12-24T14:32:00.000-08:00

11. Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer
Backed by two of my new favorite producers, Gaslamp Killer and Flying Lotus, Gonjasufi sings twisted soul in the midst of dense and disorienting electronics.

10. Frightened Rabbit - Winter of Mixed Drinks
I guess there's nothing quite like a thick Scottish accent to make sadness feel authentic. These guys are going to make the young girls swoon if they keep writing songs like 'Swim Until You Can't See Land'. Driving rhythms, hooky melodies and eclectic arrangements overshadow the occasionally over-earnest lyric. FR feels like sipping whiskey in a warm chair by the fire.

9. Janelle Monae - The Arch Android
A protege of Big Boi, Janelle Monae's album is the most over-the-top and ambitious of the year. She attempts a slew of genres- and invents a few of her own in the process. Her voice is absolutely insane and she's short and adorable. Also my vote for best album cover of the year.

8. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and the Good Friday tracks
With Kanye, the highs have always been stunningly high, and the lows have been embarrassingly low. That is still true with MBDTF, but songs like 'Power', 'All of the Lights', 'Monster' and 'Runaway' are the best of his career. I could do without the Chris Rock monologue, but Kanye makes up for the unlistenable stuff with almost another album's worth of great tracks for free on his website (the GOOD Friday tracks). Here's one of my favorites:

7. Deerhunter - Halycon Digest
I have always flirted with liking this band, but previous albums have been inconsistent and immature. Halycon Digest, on the other hand, slays on almost every track. Neil Young meets Sonic Youth, with absolutely killer production. A headphones masterpiece:

6. Vampire Weekend - Contra
I drank the Kool-Aid. Contra is a great album and such a leap forward in terms of production, with a lot of new colors for VW's pallate that surprise and complement their established sound. There are still some embarrassing lyrics here and there, but Contra proves that Vampire Weekend is in it to innovate. Here's one of my favorite tracks:

5. Field Music - Measure
Field Music's third album is an embarrassment of riches. Twenty songs and every single one is impeccably written, arranged, played and produced. A modern XTC with a hint of Big Star - I like to imagine if I was a math major and british, this was the music I'd make.

4. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Just when I was on the verge of tiring of Sufjan and his ever-angelic anthems, this crucial work in the Stevens oeuvre appears, on the heels of the less impressive but still entertaining All Delighted People EP. The Age of Adz is not always a soothing listen - it's often dissonent and cacophonous - but it is nevertheless a welcome change of pace and a thrilling ride. This is a long player in the epic sense. As some have commented, the closing 20-minute track 'Impossible Soul' alone has more exciting musical ideas than most other albums that came out this year.

3. The Walkmen - Lisbon
This is their simplest record and most unified statement. Drawing inspiration from Sun Studios, the arrangements are spacious, warm and simple. Hamilton Leithauser croons like he's never crooned, the guitars chime with honeyed distortion and the Walkmen continue to sound like absolutely no one else. Lisbon is calming, invigorating, fresh and classic all at once. The money shot on this song comes at 2:28:

2. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
The best hip top album of the year. Thick, southern, purple and funky. This track says it all:

1. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
This year, I fell in love with LA's beat scene, of which Flying Lotus is sort of the godfather. Conceived as a 'Space Opera', Cosmogramma feels to me what I imagine it must have felt like to hear jazz for the first time. It has served as quite the gateway drug, introducing me to Gaslamp Killer, Teebs, Shlohmo, The Take, Baths and more. Total eargasm.

Honorable Mention:
Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings
Aloe Blacc
Spoon
Gorrilaz
MGMT
New Pornographers
Maps and Atlases
Mark Ronson
The Soft Pack
The Roots
Sleigh Bells
LCD Soundsystem
Mount Kimbie

Favorite Songs:
Swim Until You Can't See Land - Frightened Rabbit
Shadow People - Dr. Dog
Rill RIll - Sleigh Bells
When The World Comes To An End - Dirty Projectors
Shutterbug - Big Boi
Tightrope - Janelle Monae
Power - Kanye West
Coronado - Deerhunter
Norway - Beach House

Any thoughts on the new Sufjan Stevens?

2010-12-21T07:58:00.001-08:00

I found it very off-putting and hard to listen to at first, but it is officially growing on me. Have you guys been listening to it at all? What do you think?

All My Friends...

2010-12-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

Ah year-end season... What better time to post a song from 2 years ago that I have only just now really started to appreciate.

I'm not sure what the general opinion here is on these guys, but I have recently become a full fledged convert to LCD Soundsystem. It took me quite a long time - I heard the singles but they didn't do much for me. Watched this video from Pitchfork this summer (alas, I was not there live as I only attended Pavement day) which increased my interest, and after about 3 or 4 listens of their new album, I'm finally all over it. Not sure exactly how I will put together my year end lists of sorts, but the new album is a 2010 highlight for me.

Anyway, here is "All My Friends" in a truly glorious performance.

For Your Consideration: The G.O.O.D. Friday Dowloads

2010-12-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

For those of you who love the new Kanye album, but haven't heard any of the free downloads which he posted on his website prior to its release: there are some very good songs which didn't make it onto the album, and which are definitely worth tracking down.

Below is one of my favorites. On one level it's really just a mash-up of a Justin Bieber song and an old Wu-Tang track, with some extra rapping thrown in...but what other major artist would not only have the audacity to release such a thing under his own name, but could figure out how to make it sound this good?

Best of 2010 Season Begins

2010-12-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

The AV Club is rolling out their list.

The first detail that popped out at me: why does this band I've never heard of called Dum Dum Girls have basically the same album cover as Vampire Weekend? Is it just a weird cosmic coincidence?

Jim O'Rourke in a Walmart Ad

2010-12-06T14:21:00.001-08:00

Drischord, I suspect that emusic is behind this treachery!

Recovery is a (sometimes fascinating) mess

2010-12-02T05:24:00.000-08:00

Maybe this is just because ever since college, (when I was a reluctant fan of The Marshall Mathers LP, despite my best efforts to be repulsed by it), I've been dreaming of what Eminem would sound like if he ever attempted to peel through the layers of posturing and bullshit and make a "mature" album. Anyone hoping 2010's Recovery would be that album will be disappointed, but I still personally find it to be kind of a fascinating mess.

"Fascinating" is not to be confused with "good". At best, this album is unbelievably erratic, and contains numerous moments that made me literally wince the first time I heard them (who is laughing at all the Michael J. Fox jokes? For your own good, Marshall, cut it the fuck out!)

Eminem sounds at war with himself on Recovery. On the best songs you hear a man struggling to achieve a new level of honesty, and to figure out what a more grown-up, reflective, and even repentant Eminem might sound like. And then on the very next song he's right back in the sewer, doing tired, lazy retreads of the kind of shock songs he used to....wait, did he just make another Michael J. Fox joke? It's not funny, it's just stupid! Even those knuckleheads who might have thought it was funny the first time don't want to keep hearing it. Stop it!!

Well, anyway, this obviously isn't a recommendation of this album, but for anybody who's ever been quietly rooting for Eminem to grow up and achieve something more profound, you might want to go to YouTube and listen to "Talkin' to Myself" or "Love the Way You Lie" or "Not Afraid" and keep on hoping. Or at the very least, listen to "No Love" on which Lil' Wayne rhymes "broken bottles" with "open Bibles," and hope that maybe that guy's best days could still be ahead of him as well.

RIP emusic

2010-11-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

Congratulations, emusic. Having toiled over the past 7 years to build up an indie-centric, DRM-free alternative to iTunes-- a go-to site for the frugal but savvy underground music connoisseur-- you've finally reached the mountaintop...

Christina Aguilera's back catalog.

And not just that. Xtina's friends Brittney Spears, NSYNC, Ricky Martin, Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys are also finally available on emusic. Praise the lord and pass the roofies!

Of course, nothing comes without a price, but fortunately in emusic's case it was only Matador Records, Merge Records, XL Records, 4AD Records and Domino Records. They're gone now, but that's okay because now emusic has Shania Twain!!

Sure, you'll no longer be able to download music from Yo La Tengo, Pavement, Arcade Fire, Caribou, Sigur Ros, Animal Collective, Spoon, Polvo, and all the other bands that made emusic what it is, but let's be realistic. Having done the heavy lifting to lay the foundation, it's time to send those artists out to pasture to clear room for the real jewels of recorded music...

The cast of FOX's Glee! (all exclusive trademarks apply)

Nice going, fellas.

Predictably Appalled by Pusha T

2010-11-26T09:03:00.000-08:00

One of the verses that immediately stood out to me on the new Kanye album was Pusha T's verse on "So Appalled". Mostly, it stood out because it has some of the most openly, unabashedly misogynist lines in the entire album, although I must confess a weird kind of admiration for it. Throughout all his time with The Clipse, Pusha T has really gotten his flow down to a science, and I'm actually stunned by how efficiently he crams all of his usual talking points into such a short amount of time.

Take a look below, where I've reprinted the verse as I found it on a lyrics website. Over the course of about a minute he manages to:
1. Weave in an astonishing number of references to cocaine. ("Still move a bird like I'm in bed with mother goose, etc.)
2. Assert his superiority to women. ("I never met a bitch who didn't need a little guidance.")
3. Mention an expensive car he owns. (Range Rove, leather roof.)
4. Rhyme that mention of a car with some gangsta bravado. (Love war, fuck a truce.)
5. Make the kind of unexpected, oddball references that make him somewhat more interesting than your average gangsta rapper. (Flow similar to the Legend of the Falls.)
6. Get close enough to something approaching social commentary for the Pitchfork crowd to swoon over him all the more. (CNN said I'd be dead by 21.)

All of which definitely takes a certain level of craftsmanship, even if it ends up being so predictable that I personally find it unendurably boring. Listening to The Clipse is like talking to somebody at a party who is only capable of discussing the minute details of their job, or the expensive vacation they just went on. Ok, Ok, I get it, you used to be a drug dealer. If you're to be believed, maybe you even still are a drug dealer. You made a lot of money doing that. Can we move on now?

Success is what you make it
Take it how it comes
A half a mill in twenties is like a bill where I’m from
An arrogant drug dealer the legend I’ve become
CNN said I’d be dead by 21
Black jack I just pulled in aces
You looking at the king in his face
Everything I dream muthaf-ckers Im watching it take shape
While to you I’m just a young rich n-gga that lacks faith
Range Rove leather roof
Love war f-ck a truce
Still move a bird like I’m in bed with mother goose
Them hoes come in a bakers dozen
Claiming they was with me when they know they really wasn’t
I keep the city’s best never said she was the brightest
So if you had it too, it don’t affect me in the slightest
I never met a b-tch that didn’t need a little guidance
So I dismiss her past until she disappoint your highness

I speak the gospel, hostel
Tony doing time for what he did to nostrils
Paranoid mind I’m still under the watchful
Eye of the law, aspire for more
Them kilo’s came we gave you bobby brown jaw
Flaws aint flaws when it’s you that makes the call
Flow similar to the legend of the falls
Spillin’ I own you all, yeah

Rabin on West

2010-11-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that in the coming month we'll all get in on the discussion of the new Kanye West album (which I am officially obsessed with, even if I have some mixed feelings about it). I just wanted to point everybody to Nathan Rabin's review over at the AV Club. It's the only review I've seen that spends some real time addressing what to me is the most remarkable aspect of the album: the debt it owes to rock songwriting, instrumentation, and production. This album is crawling with electric guitars, keyboards, and driving drums that often owe as much to indie-rock as they do to hip hop. There of course have been rock-rap crossover acts for decades, from Run-DMC and Aerosmith's famous collaboration, to Lil' Wayne's recent, less successful efforts. But I actually think that in the last few years there's been growing interest from the hip hop community in cross pollinating traditional hip hop sounds with electric guitars and rock sensibilities (perhaps on another day when I have more time I'll offer a few more specific examples), and it's been interesting to watch it happen, even if up to now there have been a lot of sonic missteps.

Whatever else you can say about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I think that Kanye has blown the door open on rock/hip-hop crossover, and has created something that could (and hopefully does) serve as the blueprint for a lot of new music going forward. He has successfully fused elements of both styles, and made something thoroughly rock-oriented, without losing the hip-hop underpinnings that made his music so great in the first place, resulting in a mind-bending sonic landscape that I can't stop playing over and over again.

Does he also share some archaic and/or stupid views about women and relationships in the process? You bet he does! But when the music is this good, and the self-examination this intense (there are moments that almost remind me of Blue era Joni Mitchell...maybe I've just been listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell, but I think there are actually similarities) it makes you want to overlook all that. Kind of like the way everybody overlooks the noxious antisemitism in The Merchant of Venice, because the author certainly has a way with words.

But I'm sure I'll post more on that when I've had time to wrap my head around this album a little bit more. In the meantime, I hope everybody is listening!

Springsteen + The Roots

2010-11-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

Awesome jam at the end.

My apologies for embedding a Hulu video-- nothing but ads. I hate them, but what can you do?

Christian-Era Bob Dylan

2010-11-16T14:22:00.001-08:00

I recently decided to start exploring the Christian period of Bob Dylan's career, since it's a pretty sizable gap in my knowledge of the guy.

Stop one is the record Slow Train Coming. Two things stand out immediately: One, it is definitely Christian. Two, it is definitely a Bob Dylan record. Check out the track "Precious Angel" and try to tell me one bad thing about the music. For that matter, try to tell me how you'd write greater Christian rock lyrics, if you were setting out to do such a thing.

I particularly love the horns on this record. I can't think of any other Bob Dylan album where horns factor in at all. Also coming up huge is Mark Knopfler, who produced and plays lead guitar.

But the funniest thing about Knopfler's involvement is that Dylan never actually told him they were making a Christian record, and it didn't become apparent until he started laying down vocal tracks. Knopfler says he called his wife from the studio and said something to the effect of: "Sessions are going well. But... and I'm not sure about this... but I think we're making a Christian record." Classic.

(It also brings to mind one of my favorite Onion articles ever-- "Bassist Unaware Rock Band Christian.")

Patriotic Embarrassment

2010-11-16T06:33:00.001-08:00

Is anyone else as obsessed as I am with following stories on the insane new TSA procedures for airport security, which involve either taking naked pictures, or doing an "enhanced" feel-up, of every single passenger to pass through American airports?

Some of the bloggers over at theatlantic.com are writing about it almost daily, and this post in particular, in which James Fallows compares airport security here to airport security in China, really gets at the embarrassment (I would call it a patriotic embarrassment) I feel as an American, thinking about how incredibly scared and stupid we must look to anyone from any other country in the world who is unfortunate enough to have to pass through one of the airports in which these new radioactive naked-picture machines are located.

I was especially disturbed by this footage of the new head of Homeland Security. The relevant portion begins around the 1:00 mark.

Cripple Fight
Tags: SOUTH
PARK more...

Bottomless Pit in New York

2010-11-08T15:53:00.001-08:00

New York Kittybrains... go see them. This Saturday at the Knitting Factory. (Which is apparently now in Brooklyn?)

http://www.bottomlesspit.us/dates.php

Fifty Percent of the Kittybrains Collective Is OFF THE MARKET

2010-10-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post my congratulations to Quinapalus, who joins Dr. Kittybrains among the ranks of the engaged! My sources tell me it happened over the weekend.

Add in the fact that Via Chicago is already married, and this Collective is flying off the shelves like Faith Hill CDs at WalMart. Congrats to you all!

Who will be next?

(And by "who will be next," I mean "Eric will be next.")

The Latest from Campbell/Lanegan

2010-10-26T11:00:00.001-07:00

A couple months ago, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan put out their 3rd CD together-- Hawk. It's mostly Campbell's project-- she writes the tunes and plays a couple of instruments, while Lanegan just doubles her on lead vocals. Even the contact information in the liner notes refers you to Campbell's website. But my attachment to these collaborations come mostly via Lanegan-- certainly one of my favorite voices in all of rock.

I finally got my hands on this record yesterday, and I'm really impressed. Pretty sure it ranks as my favorite of theirs. For one thing, it's just more energetic than their first two records. While both good, those tended to focus on lulling ballads, whereas this one has more than a few bar room stomps. It also has 2 really good Townes Van Zandt covers-- Snake Song and No Place to Fall. (FYI, it's hard to find a Mark Lanegan interview where he doesn't gush all over Townes Van Zandt. His voice is much huskier than Townes' but there's an obvious influence there.)

If anything, a lot of Hawk reminds me of Bob Dylan. Some sounds like his late '60s stuff, particularly the New Morning album, and others sound like songs he's releasing today. Check out this track, which is the last one on the album.

After listening to this twice, it's already sounding like one of my favorites of this year. We'll see come December.

Whoa Again

2010-10-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Kanye officially enters the Use Your Illusion phase of his career.

One of My All-Time Favorites

2010-10-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

Mark Eitzel's West...

I haven't listened to this in at least a year, and I'm kind of kicking myself for it. It's been one my favorites for the 13 years(!) that it's been around, and now I've got to put it back in my rotation.

The whole record was co-written with Peter Buck, who is featured throughout on guitar. It also has perennial Buck collaborator Scott McCaughey on bass and keys and the stellar Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin on drums. (Those three were also in Tuatara together.)

Here's a track:

And wouldn't you know it? Even Pitchfork loves it!

I apparently recommended this record 2 years ago in the midst of praise for a then-new American Music Club album. And while that record holds up, if you only acquired one thing by Mark Eitzel, I'd strongly suggest West.

Whoa

2010-10-08T05:12:00.000-07:00

This craziness sure took me by surprise...

Boardwalk Empire is Great!

2010-09-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Trailer - Sunday 9pm

"All I want is an opportunity."
"This is America ain't it? Who the fuck's stopping you?"

Monster

2010-09-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of you guys have been pretty down on Kanye West, but his new song "Monster" featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj (who I'm not that familiar with, but whose verse on this song kicks ass), and frickin' Bon Iver, really deserves to be heard.

You can (and should) check it out here!

You Guys Into Jason Falkner?

2010-08-30T14:57:00.001-07:00

Sometimes a song comes up in your iTunes shuffle and it just makes you smile. This happened to me today with Jason Falkner.

I first became aware of him because he played on the first Eric Matthews album. (Eric will remember that guy as a classic Drischord selection-- although one I no longer really like. Too coy and pretentious.) But then I got sent a Jason Falkner solo CD when I was writing for the Daily Northwestern. It was a collection of 4-track demos, about half of which had previously been released in fully "produced" versions on prior records.

Probably because I heard them first, I prefer the 4-track versions to this day. Raw and fun, but not undeveloped or lo-fi. This is probably the way these songs sound live.

Now, of course, I think of Jason Falkner mostly as the guy in The Grays who wasn't Jon Brion (and the one who wrote/sang their best song-- "Very Best Years"). He was also in Jellyfish-- a band I don't really know. Anyway, great power pop type of guy, and highly underrated.

Awesome cover

2010-08-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Everything about this Sweet Child O' Mine cover is amazing, from the outfits to the fact that there are several points in the song when each musician is _almost_ playing the actual part, but absolutely out of sync with the other two. But the point is not so much to make fun as it is to be thankful that youtube wasn't around when we were that age, because I am fairly sure that my band (shoutout to Pete X!) laid down performances that were almost as embarassing in my parent's basement (though I think even if youtube did exist then, we would have had the good sense not to post the footage):

Also, actually, Pete X was never this bad.

If Wyclef Jean Was President

2010-08-06T04:37:00.001-07:00

I hope that in his campaign for president of Haiti, Wyclef remembers to uphold the seemingly supernatural promise he makes in the opening of this song.

"I'd get elected on Friday, assassinated on Saturday, buried on Sunday, then go back to work on Monday." (Not the plan I'd go with, but I trust he knows what he's doing).

Your Latest Phish Update

2010-07-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

The latest cover from Phish and it's, well, it's annoyed some folks. As a caveat, this came in the midst of "Harpua", which is traditionally a spot reserved for super goofy covers. Anyway, here you go...

What most surprises me here is how straightforward and faithful this is. And that they play the whole dang song.

No Conclusion

2010-07-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

A rare example of a 10 minute song that pays off like gangbusters. This guy knows how to build a song, and once you've heard the final release, the way he teases you with it the first time, ducking back into the verse after we initially hear the words "I never ever wanted to write this song" is agonizingly delicious.

Though not on the CD, this is the final track on the vinyl version of 'Hissing Fauna...', and I can't imagine the album without those extra songs on side four of the LP. I've made my own iPod version of the album including the whole 'Icons, Abstract Thee!' EP as the final tracks of the album and it works for me very well.

Kevin Barnes' lyrics on this album, so paranoid and embarrassingly personal, really speak to me. As melodramatic as they are, I love the crap out of them. This guy really got under my skin on Hissing Fauna, but sadly, Skeletal Lamping was a huge disappointment. Meh.

The Latest From Bonnie "Prince" Billy

2010-07-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Glad to see Q and VC leading the migration back to the blog, and I'd like to chime in with my take on an old favorite of this collective. Bonnie "Prince" Billy's latest, The Wonder Show of the World, has been out for a good 3 months now, and it's aged quite well during that time span.

Musically, I'd place it between the open pop embrace of Lie Down in the Light and the spare open spaces of Master and Everyone. To me, this hits on two of Will Oldham's greatest qualities. I've gone off in the past about how minimalism as an "artistic choice" is kind of a cop-out for me, but there are some people who do minimalism damn well, and I think Will Oldham is one of them.

On the other hand, this new album isn't purely "minimalist" in terms of production values. It sounds professionally recorded to a degree I don't think I've heard since Bonnie "Prince" Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music, and that was a record that I think a lot of people found "produced" beyond an indie rocker's acceptable taste.

Take those comparisons as you will; this is a great record. The ensemble is great-- and gets equal billing for the first time-- and it features some of the most unabashed pop hooks of Oldham's career. If you're already a fan (and I think most of us are), I see no reason why you wouldn't be completely into this album.

Get This Album!

2010-07-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

The best compliment I can give Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot is that it totally holds it's own even in the long shadow of the Outkast discography, and even in the complete absence of Andre 3000. (Although a couple of songs featuring Andre have leaked separately from the album, and are also very awesome.

As an added bonus, listen through to the end of this great new song, and be treated to a description of the most avant garde sex move since Soulja Boy introduced us to the superman.

Summer Jam Time = Phish Time

2010-06-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

It's summer, and the #1 band of that portion in my life when I saw most of you folk on a daily basis is doing their thing. That's right - let's talk Phish.

Because of the changes in mobile technology during their absence, the new Phish is a whole lot more accessible than ever before. Gone are the days of waiting for tapes - I know have pretty much all of the summer tour. And while I often am against this kind of relentless hoarding, which I think leads to collecting music, not listening to it, I have to say that I am indeed listening to an awful lot of Phish.

I won't get too into details, except to say that they are absolutely, 100% back, and sounding as good as they ever had. Some highlights for you:

An absolute destruction of Zep's "The Rover" that makes me wonder why they never covered this before:

Bizarrely, a cover of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." Weird, and didn't do a ton for me, but thought it might be of interest:

"2001" played on the anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, and man is it a blast (I sacrificed video quality for sound quality on this one):

Hip Hop Hooray!

2010-06-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

It's summer! And I finally have enough free time to be excited about new music again!

If you didn't already know, it's shaping up to be an great summer for hip hop:

To start with, The Roots just released a new album. I've only had a chance to listen to it a few times so far, but I definitely like it a lot. Maybe not as much as their last couple of albums...but then again, those two albums were both major growers, so I suspect that the true greatness of this new one may only gradually reveal itself.

Also, these guys are probably the only compelling reason to go see a Jimmy Fallon taping. They're really incredible in their role as house band, and when I went we were also treated to a pre-show performance of "The Seed 2.0".

And, Big Boi's new album is apparently actually for-reals coming out in a couple of weeks!! This may be the only album in a long time I'd describe myself as "eagerly anticipating", and there's every reason to hope that it's going to be very, very good.

Big Boi may just prove himself to be the underestimated Jeff Tweedy of the Outkast songwriting team.

I also have to say that from what I've heard of his stuff, that Drake kid actually appears to be pretty good. He's been mentored by Lil Wayne, raps about himself with the like-ability of Kanye West circa 2004, and is as Canadian as Neil Young! I haven't actually purchased any of his music...something about him makes me feel old. Maybe it's the fact that I've more than once had Drake lyrics shouted at me by defiant middle schoolers in Harlem, as if to say to me "this artist raps how I feel, and you couldn't understand, old man". But whether I actually end up trying to get into his album or not, you can't deny his talent. (Also, one could make an argument that Drake is greatly helping Kanye's 808's and Heartbreak production aesthetic seep further into the mainstream...which could be good or bad depending on your perspective.)

Hell, even Eminem appears to have released a solid new album! Now all we need is for Lil Wayne to give up on his dream of being a cross-over rock sensation. (Lupe Fiasco recently fared slightly better than Wayne, turning in a rap/rock song that's only mediocre. Maybe if Lupe were able to wed a radio-rock hook to his usual lyrical complexity, he could put something together that wasn't even half bad, but probably the New Moon soundtrack isn't the place to expect him to pull that off.)

Finally, on two not-entirely-related notes:

If you haven't seen it yet, check out this highly readable evisceration of M.I.A. by the New York Times.

Also, let me be the first to say on this blog: despite how much I'd like to resist this idea, Lady Gaga is addictively entertaining.

Who is this actor...

2010-05-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

...and when is somebody going to give him his own TV show for real??

Semi-Literate Former Gold Prospector Given Own Cable News Show

More Joni

2010-04-21T01:04:00.001-07:00

Well I have to say I was thrilled when Quinapalus shared his newfound Joni Mitchell appreciation with me. As I said in my comment to his post, she is truly among select company at the top of my all-time list. While Court and Spark is my favorite, I do want to share two others from later records:

First is "Coyote," off Hejira. This song is pretty famous; Jaco Pastorious's bass playing is legendary. It also just conjures up a beautiful "western" image for me. Montana or Wyoming or (more likely) Alberta.

The second is "Don't Interrupt the Sorrow" from The Hissing of Summer Lawns.

What's interesting for me about Joni Mitchell is that while she's forever singing about either California or Canada (and occasionally Detroit), I truly got into her while living in Boston. And almost all her music puts me back in that city, usually on my bike, out on a weekend ride. This song places me back at a specific intersection in Cambridge, about a half-mile north of Harvard Square. It's got nothing to do with the song, but Joni Mitchell will be indelibly associated with Boston for the rest of my life. (So will Jackson Browne-- ironically another Californian, but the second I hear "Late for the Sky," I'm on a hill in Roxbury.)

My Joni Mitchell Phase

2010-04-08T19:27:00.001-07:00

For years I resisted liking Joni Mitchell. I wrote her off as a hippy-dippy, self-absorbed 70s throwback...which she sort of is. But then I started listening to bits of Blue on YouTube and LaLa, not even really liking it at first--I'd even say finding it annoying on some level. But something made me keep wanting to come back for more despite myself. The complex wordplay, the loping unexpected melodies, the moody piano songs like "River" and "The Last Time I Saw Richard" that suddenly seemed to explain the basis of Tori Amos' whole career... before I knew it I had bought a copy and was listening to it obsessively.

Then I went to LA for week--which somehow put her music in an even better context for me, and where Drischord recommended a few of her jazz-influenced 70s albums. And now I'm all tangled up in 1974's Court and Spark, which I'm listening to about twice a day, and there seems to be no turning back. Count me a full-on fan, despite my years of resistance. There's even something in her mid-70s work that starts to remind me of Townes Van Zandt...but I think I could (and may) save that for another post.

Rest In Peace, Alex Chilton

2010-03-17T23:21:00.000-07:00

Oh man, this is another bad one. Alex Chilton dies at age 59.

There's almost no music in the world that I love more than the first 2 Big Star albums. You almost couldn't dream of a better fusion of the Beatles and the Stones. And even though Alex Chilton hadn't written a particularly great song in about 30 years, it still feels like he died way too young.

I saw Chilton on stage once. He was opening for the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at Roseland back when I was in high school. (Talk about a headliner unworthy of its opening act.) The audience was largely ignorant of Chilton's music and talked through much of it. And as a solo performer, he wasn't particularly compelling on stage. But it was still pretty cool to be in the presence of a giant. (At least by my estimation, he was one.)

To quote Paul Westerberg: "I never travel very far/ Without a little Big Star."

My Chick Bad

2010-03-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

Ludacris continues to be (in my mind, anyway) something roughly analogous to the Aerosmith of his generation. He doesn't take himself too seriously, he's obsessed with sex and partying, and he can write a really solid pop song.

Jaydiohead

2010-03-15T05:15:00.000-07:00

Well, what the heck, here's yet another rap/rock mashup. There's actually something about mashing up "99 Problems" with Radiohead's "National Anthem" that really works.

It's coming...

2010-03-09T18:26:00.000-08:00

I hope that at least Via Chicago is as pumped as I am. Despite the disappointments of last season, I'm always ready for more.

PS22 Strikes Again!

2010-03-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

Doing Collective favorites, Phoenix!

Pavement's "Kennel District"

2010-03-07T11:03:00.001-08:00

Been listening to a lot of Pavement lately in anticipation of seeing them at Pitchfork this year (anyone else seeing the Pavement reunion train?) and discovered this previously overlooked gem:

"Kennel District" from Wowee Zowee

I've always found Wowee Zowee to be the unfairly overlooked album in Pavement's catalog. Something about it's bizarre song fragments really appeals to me for the same reason I have an irrational love for Todd Rundgren's A Wizard A True Star album. And it's highs (Rattled by the Rush and Grounded primarily) are just so, so good. But somehow I've overlooked this song in the past, and I am the worse for it.

I love the combination of My Bloody Valentine-esque guitar with (dare I say) almost Wilco-style poppiness. It sounds very un-Pavement to me, but is just fantastic, and helpd remind me why this band still holds up, and why I can not wait to see them.

She needs cash, to buy asprin for her pain

2010-02-27T12:31:00.000-08:00

On a friend's recommendation, I went back and listened to this song off of Live's 1994 smash hit Throwing Copper. The album as a whole is pretty ridiculous (even if I did enjoy it in earnest as a 15-year-old) but there's something about this bizarre song that's kind of great. I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions...

Field Music is back!

2010-02-21T10:25:00.000-08:00

Field Music is back together after a brief hiatus in which they became The Week That Was and School of Language, both of which at one point Drischord and I were heartily in favor of. The new album is pretty stunning, if a little bit hard to digest, coming in at 20 tracks. Sounds like XTC meets Big Star.

I'm Just Gonna Keep Posting Vic Chesnutt Songs

2010-02-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

I'm officially still mourning this man's passing, so I think the best thing I can do right now is keep posting his hauntingly* beautiful music and let it speak for itself.

This is "Supernatural" off his aforementioned Drunk album, which everyone should own.

* apologies for using the adjective/adverb "haunting(ly)" in consecutive posts

Bob Dylan Live at the White House

2010-02-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

His range isn't even what it was in 1964, but this arrangement of "The Times They Are A-Changin" sounds like so much of his recent output... haunting.

Just part of a larger White House concert to commemorate music of the civil rights era.

The Mercy Seat

2010-02-08T05:26:00.000-08:00

Man, this song is good. I loved it when Johnny Cash sang it, but this version is just one more thing that tells me I need to get into Nick Cave at some point.

The Unsung Insanity of Crispin Glover

2010-02-04T15:56:00.000-08:00

Clowny Clown Clown! Oh dear God, I can't believe there's a video on YouTube of this Crispin Glover spoken-word train wreck! I can't express how amazed and delighted I was to come across this after all these years!

It even contains references to Glover's bizarre alter ego Rubin Farr, mentioned without explanation so that you'd have to make an effort to dig deeper into the Glover canon to find out what the heck he was talking about.

I'm tempted to go on for a long time, but really, I think the material speaks for itself.

An Surprising Example of Well-Produced Music

2010-01-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I stumbled across a slice of mid-'90s esoteria-- The Crash Test Dummies' random hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm." And I had two reactions:

1. The song holds up remarkably well. I actually really like it.

2. It's really well produced. The instruments are wonderfully clear and precise, the stereo mix is excellent, and while it is definitely compressed, there are still dynamics within the track.

Unfortunately I have to upload a compressed .mp3, so it's not going to sound as great in this stream. But check it out. I'm really impressed and would be interested to hear what some of the more discriminating audiophiles in our collective think.

I'd also welcome other examples of great production.

Press Time Update: Right before posting, I went to All Music Guide to see just who the hell produced this anyway. And I guess I wasn't alone in my opinion:

"Thanks to Jerry Harrison's remarkably clear and focused production, Crash Test Dummies' second album became a surprise hit."

Production mentioned in the first line of the review... and it's a "celebrity" producer no less! Yay Talking Heads! (sort of)

Quinapalus Does a Few Year-End Summations

2010-01-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

I'm afraid I don't have a top ten list in me this time around. I was kind of on my own pop-cultural planet all year. Here is a quick summary:

Album of the Year:
Nirvana: Live at Reading. This was one of the very few albums released this year that I actually got a copy of, and I've listened to it nearly every day since it came out. Listening to it now gives me a new appreciation of what a fucking tight band they were.

Album from last year I've unexpectedly grown to like:
Bon Iver: For Emma Forever Ago. I resisted liking this for a very long time, but ever since Drischord's post a couple of months back in which he mentioned how much he liked the last song, I've been listening to the album via YouTube quite often, and in the end may even have to get a real copy of it. It has really grown on me.

Concert of the Year:
Wilco, on Coney Island. Quite seriously, my concert of the year, in that I literally don't think I went to a single other concert all year long. And in fact, I didn't get off my ass to buy a ticket even to this one, Tex just had an extra ticket and convinced me to go. Don't get me wrong: it was a GREAT concert, and I can't think of a band I would rather have been the only one I saw all year. But I am officially an old man now, and I just don't get off on loud noises the way I used to.

Semi-retraction of the year:
I'm afraid I went too far in my condemnation of Mos Def's newest album. It's not up to the level of his classic material, but not all of it is abysmal either (even if some of it is abysmal). It's not something I listened to very much in the end, but my initial review was the knee-jerk reaction of a once-devoted fan, who is being much too hard on an artist for not living up to his past glory.

YouTube find of the year:
Perhaps the most brilliant example you'll ever find of a once-devoted fan being extremely hard on an artist for not living up to his past glory. I tuned in to this sprawling dissection of all that is wrong with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace simply out of curiosity, expecting to watch about 2 minutes of it. Before all was said and done, I had not only watched all 70 minutes, but was truly awed by the talent it took to put together such a hilarious and damning essay, and held a new appreciation for just how terrible and disappointing that movie truly was.

Writer I always underestimated before this year:
J.K. Rowling. Those Harry Potter books are actually quite entertaining, especially starting with the third installment. The later books in the series are also pretty marvelously structured, and I could (and maybe someday will) write a whole essay on the unique, very contemporary, tongue-partly-in-cheek way she has chosen to meld together the myths and fantasy stories of the past into her Hogwartsian universe. (I would probably title that essay either "Identity Politics and Demi-Giants" or "Myth and Multiculturalism"). I may have more to say when I finish the series (I've got 1 and a half more books to go) but so far you can color me impressed.

Overall theme for the year:
Getting into material I can't wrap my head far enough around to post about yet. Musically, I've been on another planet this year for some reason, and one of these days I will learn enough about the Baroque period, and jazz fusion, to write competent posts on both topics. For the moment though, I'm still in the phase of just getting my mind blown, and have nothing worth sharing to say about either of those things yet. I've also been trying to learn French, and am getting much much better at reading it (if not speaking, writing, or listening to it), and the richness of the French literary tradition is in some ways only really starting to dawn on me. It's also very freeing to be able to read something, and feel basically OK that there are sentences that I can't make heads or tails of, paragraphs I have to spend an hour on to understand, and subtleties that are beyond a doubt going way over my head. It reminds me of being a kid and discovering British literature for the first time, and having a great time just entering into this vast, unexplored world, without it being necessary to understand it all: the newness and the mystery were part of the allure, and I knew I'd understand more with time.

I think I'd nearly forgotten how much fun it was to run up against something totally new that you couldn't quite wrap your head around. It can be quite rejuvenating!

Year in Review Update

2010-01-08T15:32:00.001-08:00

I discovered a giant, massive, glaring omission in my Year in Review list. That being... the reunion of Faith No More. It's not just the fact that they returned, it's that they put on an absolutely amazing show for their first time back. Seriously, this is at lowest my #3 music moment of 2009, maybe #2, hell maybe #1. And if I'm being totally honest, while I am thrilled that Phish is back, if you told me that tomorrow I could either have tickets to a Phish show or FNM, I'd take the FNM tix in a heartbeat. Some of you might hate this, but I don't think it gets much better than the following for music in 09: