Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions

The whole reading queue idea

2007-01-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

I kinda failed at this for 2006. Before going back (if I do) and editing that post (link in title) I only have two books listed as being completed. And that was updated April 12.

My goal was to get me to stop buying so many new (to me) books (accomplished, more or less) without cutting back on the actual reading I was doing (failed miserably.)

From a 12/31/05 update from the first one:

UPDATE: At the end of 2005 there are 58 books are currently in the queue (this includes no in-process) and there are 6,558 pages of finished reading through 23 books (12/31/05.)

The list for 2006 (in little order)

Murakami, Haruki: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Garland, Alex: The Coma - I have no real comments, actually. I liked how it started and it was quick enough that it wasn't a problem to finish.
Morgan, Richard K: Altered Carbon
Johnson, Denis: Resuscitation of a Hanged Man
Burgess, Anthony: M/F
Brooks, Geraldine: Year of Wonders
Egan, Greg: Diaspora (I see it listed for 2005, this was actually Distress)
Acker, Kathy: In Memoriam to Identity
Bartheleme, Donald: The Dead Father

9 books. 2481 pages. Weak sauce.

And I don't think I even wrote much about any of those. And I probably still acquired more than 9 books in 2006.

Yay.

Happy 2007, folks.

New Old Posts!

2006-12-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

Folks may notice that new show reviews are appearing! These were written at the dates they're posted here under but I had them elsewhere. I often decide to post such reviews in only one place... which is a little silly.

More recently I've found that writing wholly separate discussions of such shows is acceptable to my being.

Even more recently (hence the start of the back-dated posts) I found that I don't want to lose old reviews so I think I'm gonna start crossposting everything here. Also this way I can find it, yo.

the Starlight Mints at the Rhythm Room

2006-11-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

I saw The Starlight Mints with Bishop Allen and Tom Heinl at the Rhythm Room on Thursday.

Tom Heinl was first; it was just him up on stage, for a few of the songs he played a guitar or a old gas can for accompaniment, for the rest he used recordings he made in his apartment in Oregon. He sings silly songs that at first sound serious in a voice that reminds one of Johnny Cash or Bill Callahan.

Bishop Allen was up next. They are fairly standard but catchy indie pop but they pull it off quite well live. I mean, seriously, they were really really something live. I don't know what else to say. They played a lot of the songs that I had heard before which is only like 8.

The Starlight Mints were last. They are fun. They played songs. Like "Margarita" and "Valerie Flames." They sounded better than the Modified show just after Coachella. Also they seem to pick great shows to be a part of (with Dressy Bessy and Deathray Davies, the Flaming Lips and Liz Phair, that recent show with the Octopus Project and Dios Malos.)

Minimum Wage and Inflation

2006-11-04T13:31:00.000-07:00

OK, so AZ Prop 202 (and similar propositions in other states) would increase the minimum wage to $6.75 (an increase of over 30%) and set up a yearly increase based on inflation.

Doesn't this create a feedback loop? Increasing the minimum wage will increase inflation which will.... Can someone explain why it won't work this way and/or why this is not important?

I mean, I support having a minimum wage and it makes sense to increase it every once in a while and small increases would create less havoc for employers but I'm just working myself into a corner here, aren't I.

2006 Ballot Propositions for Arizona

2006-10-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

Every two years it seems we get a whole bunch of ballot propositions to vote against. I would say a new set but it seems like we always get the Recommendation from teh commision on salaries for elected state officials asking for a 50% raise. For some reason that one never passes. I wish someone would do that for me. Oh, wait, no I don't. I wish someone would recommend a small, reasonable raise for me because that would actually be accepted.

OK, if you saw this in the first few days it was up, good for you. But I'm changing how I'm doing this. I'm just gonna give the number, name and how I'm voting for all 19. Then I'm gonna add comments on the ones I have good comments on. I'd like that to, eventually, cover them all but since there's only just over a week until the election I doubt that's gonna happen. This is mainly for my own purposes, anyway, so that I know how I'm gonna vote.

The 100s- The first 8 all include ammendments to the Arizona Constitution.

Prop 100 - Relating to bailable offenses

I'm voting NO

Prop 101 - Relating to property tax levies

I'm voting YES

Prop 102 - Relating to standing in civil actions

I'm voting NO

Prop 103 - Relating to English as the official language

I'm voting NO

Prop 104 - Relating to municipal debt

I'm voting NO. Well, I'm leaning that way, at least.

Prop 105 - Relating to state trust land

I'm voting NO

Prop 106 - Relating to state trust land

I'm voting... well, I don't know but I'm leaning towards NO

Prop 107 - Relating to marriage

I'm voting NO

The 200s- The next 8 are initiative petitions

Prop 200 - Relating to voter rewards

This establishes a $1,000,000 prize to be awarded to a randomly selected person that voted. The first (and only) FOR argument found in the link above is priceless.
I'm voting NO

Prop 201 - Relating to smoking

"Proposition 201 would prohibit smoking in all public places and places of employment, except as provided by the proposition.... Proposition 201 would not prohibit or repeal more restrictive city, town or county law"
The exceptions: Retail tobacco stores that are physically separated and independently ventilated, Veterans and fraternal clubs when they are not open to the public, Hotel rooms designated as smoking rooms, Outdoor patios.
See the similar Prop 206 below for more.
I'm voting... well, I don't know. Maybe no?

Prop 202 - Relating to minimum wage

I don't hate the minimum wage but I don't see a reason for increasing it over 30%.
This prop also sets up a cost of living increase every January 1... which is something I could get behind. [Edit: See next newer post... OR wait a minute this is a bad idea.]
I'm voting NO

Prop 203 - Relating to early childhood education

Funding early childhood education is good, right? Funding early childhood education by increasing the tax on a pack of smokes from $1.18 to $1.98 is ridiculous. It's not that I smoke, it's more that I find picking on legal addicts to be, well, childish.
I'm voting NO

Prop 204 - Relating to farm animals

From the above link: "Beginning January 1, 2013, Proposition 204 would amend the Arizona criminal code to make it a class 1 misdemeanor to tether or confine a pig during pregnancy or a calf raised for veal on a farm for all or the majority of a day in a manner that prevents the animal from lying down and fully extending its limbs or turning around freely." There are also exceptions (such as during transportation, slaughter or lawful scientific or agricultural research.)
The arguments for and against section is one of those interesting bits of American election fun that you can't get elsewhere. Reading silly comments online isn't quite the same thing; these folks are trying to be serious.
Here is the structure of most every AGAINST argument " It's a sad day when out-of-state , anti-meat , anti-science based interest groups can come to Arizona from back East to push their cruel and inhumane agenda on Arizona's farm families. They paid petition signature gatherers to spread false-hoods and distort modern, humane and science-based agricultural practices."
The AGAINST arguments don't explain why pregnant pigs need to be tightly confined; it's all "you can't tell me what to do!" nonsense.
I'm voting YES.

Prop 205 - Relating to voting by mail

I'm voting NO

Prop 206 - Relating to smoking

Prop 206 does much the same as 201 but has an additional exception - Bars, including parts of restaurants, hotels and other establishments that sell alcoholic beverages and are physically separated with a separate ventilation system - and would "would preempt all city, town and county laws relating to smoking in bars and retail tobacco stores"
Also I need to google "Arizona Non-Smoker Protection Committee" because they paid for pretty much every FOR argument you see. That sort of thing disturbs me.
I'm voting... well, I don't know. Maybe no?

Prop 207 - Relating to eminent domain

I'm voting NO

The 300s- The final 3 are recommendations from some government agency or group or who knows what.

Prop 300 - Relating to public program eligibility

I'm voting NO

Prop 301 - Relating to probation for methamphetamine offenses

I'm voting NO

Prop 302 - Relating to legislators' salaries

Again, give me a choice for rasing salaries from $24,000 to say $27,000 or a plan for slowly raising salaries to $36,000 over a 10-20 year period and I'll vote yes.
I'm voting NO

Ladytron at the Clubhouse

2006-10-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

I forgot to check the normal indicators internets to guage the popularity of Ladytron and was shocked to find the Clubhouse packed and it looked like a goodly number of people got turned away. I bought my ticket earlier when I bought my Magnolila Electric Co ticket and honestly that is the only reason I went otherwise I would've stayed home and watched the Tigers not play so well. And rest. And maybe do some laundry. Shit, it's 9. That means I gotta start a load.

Anyway CSS opened and most people were rather indifferent. Ladytron played a set that was a good 75 minutes long and then after a short break they played another 3 songs.

They were good, I liked the show.

Also I find it saddening that shows like this are the kind of shows most people go to... that is this concert experience is nowhere near as cool when it's too packed to move or go near the bar or get a water and you have to wait 45 minutes to get in and another long line for merch and all. 640 folks went away experiencing that concert (and another hundred or so maybe went away pissed not being able to get in) whereas for the Joggers/Oxford Collapse show I saw on Monday 45 people had a great show with plenty of room and all.

I don't know the answer other than being better at choosing where a band should play and promotors/venues/whoever working together and being flexible and having many options. And free snowcones for everyone.

Two Gallants at the Casbah

2006-10-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

I saw Two Gallants at the Casbah last night. We got going from Phoenix a little lazily and got there just as the first band, Trainwreck Riders, a country rock band, were starting. They sounded pretty damned good. Then we went a couple blocks away to another bar for food because we hadn't time to eat. We missed Langhorne Slim but got back in plenty of time for Two Gallants.

They didn't talk about Houston at all though for the last song by Trainwreck Riders when Adam and Tyson came up and played with them (harmonica and slide guitar, respectively) one of the members of TR put out a shirt that said "Free Tyson Vogel."

Two Gallants were dead on, Adam sounded great tonight. They didn't play most of the songs I was really hoping for but I did get "Nothing To You" and "Age of Assassins" and, really, they don't have bad songs so I can't complain about the setlist. The crowd was of a good size and countenance, singing along a lot and not talking too much. The Casbah is a small place, about 250 capacity... though that probably includes the back room with the pool tables and video games and maybe even the outside patio.

Anyway, yeah, it was great stuff.

Setlist
Steady Rollin'
Las Cruces Jail
Long Summer Day
"high heels and mace"
"red wine"
"not mine"
Nothing To You
Crow Jane
[encore]
Age of Assassins
[second encore]
My Madonna

The encore breaks were really short; Age of Assassins was clearly a planned encore, My Madonna seemed more real, in response to the crowd (and people yelling for that song.) Last night I was thinking it was only 2 non-album songs but I guess I'm wrong.

Magnolia Electric Co at the Clubhouse ==> Cinemechanica at the Modified

2006-10-04T01:03:00.000-07:00

I just saw Magnolia Electric Co at the Clubhouse and then Cinemechanica at Modified. Two totally different shows, both fantastic.

Jason brought out what looked like a setlist but upon further inspection turned out to be a list of all their songs. Well, almost. It included stuff from the 2003 album with an owl on it but nothing earlier (i.e. the stuff that is clearly Songs: Ohia material) as far as I could tell. Almost their entire setlist was from the album release a week and a half ago, though not "Don't Fade On Me" which was the one I had heard going in.

Someone yelled out "The Last 3 Humans Words" which is on the live album Trials and Errors recorded in 2003 and released in 2005. Jason's response: "Has it been that long since we've been through here?" Someone else yelled out for "Hard to Love a Man" and Jason responded "Ain't that the truth." The crowd was kinda quiet other than that (and clapping and such.) About 2/3 of the way through thier 40 minute set they played "Montgomery" from the new one which segued into "The Dark Don't Hide It" which is the only think they played which was released as of 2 weeks ago. Still quite wonderful, though.

Then I left, not sticking around for Jose Gonzalez (the headliner and the reason I was scared it would sell out), to see Cinemechnica. Such a good idea.

They are from Athens and they have two thunderingly powerful drummers (for most songs), two angular/mathy guitarists and a bassist. And several of the songs are long, I almost want to say venturing into post-rock territory but that seems misleading, their songs are not epic, there is no quiet build or lazy scrawl, this is pretty much all rocking and shredding. They played 30-35 and were glorious.

Go see them. Seriously.

Silversun Pickups and Viva Voce at the Modified

2006-10-02T00:45:00.000-07:00

I just saw Silversun Pickups and Viva Voce.

LetDownRight opened, they are local. They were OK.

Silversun Pickups were ridiculous. They played all of the songs from that WOXY set and a few others. About 35-40 minutes in all.

Viva Voce were next. They were good too. They dedicated "Believer" to Dave Matthews for some unknown reason. They dedicated "From the Devil Himself" to me because they asked who had been to their last show at the Modified and I was the only one that responded (AFAIK) and also I was right up front and center.

Rogue Wave at Martini Ranch

2006-09-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

The encore was one song off of Out of the Shadows that I forget the name of now and also "Love's Lost Guarantee." They played two new songs. "Ghost" and "Lake" so the other ones are all previous released songs by them except for "Debaser" which is what you think it is (it was pretty cool.)

Foreign Born covered a Townes Van Zandt song. And an earlier song was probably "5 Years" but the sound was a little muddy and the vocals were very low for that song and I can't be certain.

I only saw a few songs by Jason Collett, they made me wish I had seen more without giving much of a distinct impression.

Mmm... Boddingtons.

the Long Winters at Stinkweeds and the Rhythm Room

2006-09-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

The Long Winters aren't my favorite band or anything but they are enjoyable enough. They played for about 30 minutes at Stinkweeds. After the first song it was all by request which is always nice even if a band only has three albums. And it's fun watching them sit and think, hmm, how do we do this one acoustic-like. It's nice to have a fresh set like that. Michael (drummer) also go to browse the new releases from his chair on songs that didn't require him to do much.

John:

Several hours later they played the Rhythm Room. Asleep in the Sea opened and were mostly tolerated/ignored. I quite like them. The Long Winters played for a good 80-90 minutes. They accepted a good number of requests here, too. For their final song they asked us to choose between "Stupid," "Shapes" and "Departure." Long story short they ended up playing all three since we could not come to a consensus.

The highlight for the instore was probably "Carparts," for the full gig it was probably "Prom Night At Hater High" though "Fire Island, AK" was great and "Depature" was a kickass closer.

Pitchfork Day 2

2006-08-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

Continuing my review of the Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago, IL, July 29 & 30:

Sunday was a little different. Most of the friends (including my cousin) that I knew from Saturday were not going on Sunday. I was, however, more excited for Sunday's lineup (beyond the Mountain Goats on Saturday) and I got going early.

Fortunately it was cool and stormy. If those clouds had been over Phoenix that early (noonish) we'd be in for a downpour; as it stands I felt some drops a few miles North but at the festival we just had some clouds (yay for shade) and cooler temperatures for the first hour or two (it was about 73 F at this time.)

My extra tickets went very quickly (I could've sold twice as many at twice the price) and I actually waited in line to get in. Doors opened around 12:30 and I was going to wander a bit when I remembered that I had not brought enough shirts to have a clean one for the plane ride (only 16 hours off, at this point) so I got a Mission of Burma one and headed to stage C and chatted with someone I met Friday and waited for

Tapes 'n Tapes. They actually started a few minutes early, even with the odd intro from their internet marketing manager (actually pictured! wearing a suit jacket.) He commaneded us to blog about and post pictures from the set. This included threats ("If you don't I will kill your dog... if you don't have a dog I will hurt the weakest member of your family" [paraphrased]) which was kinda funny... because, I mean, if you're not on the internet for ridiculous threats then for what? (Continued: and if you're not on the internet, how do you know about Tapes 'n Tapes/Pitchfork/the music festival?)

There was music too. I like their songs. Their set was good. Nothing killer (ha!) but a good start to the day.

Danielson was up next on stage A. It's achronological to compare Sufjan to Danielson but that'll work for most people (Sufjan got much of his musical sense/ideas playing with Daniel Smith's series of "Danielson..." bands.) Only there's none of the slow, soft folk and Daniel's voice is more Coyne than Stevens. So big, bright, poppy and full of orchestral color. They played a good set consisting mostly (if not entirely) of songs from the excellent Ships.

I saw them in Phoenix on what was actually a hotter day, in a packed venue without air conditioning... I spent half that concert outside (where you could hear near as well) and I left this one early, to get a good spot for

Jens Lekman. He was funny, telling amusing, aloof stories and playing lovely chamber pop songs. He had a full backing band, complete with people playing sax, trumpet and trombone which was great for songs like "You Are the Light." I wanted to leave early but didn't.

I still was fairly close for the National. The park was starting to fill up but the stages were not yet packed tight. The National had a violinist with them and all but two of their songs were from Alligator. Matt Berninger managed the crazy screaming climaxes of songs like "Mr. November" and "Lit Up" as well as I could've imagined. They were a clear highlight.

I met up with a friend at the start of the National and we headed over to the labels tent (where he worked the previous day.) It was surprisingly cool so I stuck around and browsed. This was basically outlet stores for Sub Pop, Absolutely Kosher, Southern Records and other indies.

OK, I looked it up. It was called the WLUW Record Fair. Yeah, I forgot, they also had a good deal of used vinyl and CDs from various vendors (they offered to hold the vinyl if you wanted though I saw several people carting records around the park.)

I had glanced at the Biz 3 Stage (where CSS and then Cage were playing) but it looked to packed for me to try. Liars were the mainstage band and I wasn't too upset about missing them.

After the record fair we wandered around Flatstock for a while. They had some interesting posters but what was best about that was the shows they advertised.

Aesop Rock & Mr. Lif were the next artists I caught. That was nuts. They did my some of my favorites like "11:35" and "No Regrets." And they did Lif's songs too, like "Brothaz" and "Phantom." DJ Big Wiz (or something, I forget/don't care) did his own scratch solo from scratch... which turned out almost entirely differently than the one he had done in Phoenix the previous Monday. I considered leaving early (they were my number 2 artists for Sunday) but I'm glad I didn't as they closed with "Daylight" which got a great response.

I ran over to stage C for Mission of Burma. A no-nonsense set of the old hits ("Academy Fight Song" and "That's When I Reach For My Revolver") and second-incarnation tracks ("The Enthusiast" and "2wice.") The music was strong and hard and driving.

After Burma I was hot and tired from the jumping. I went and got some Phat Thai and sat in the shade. Devendra Banhart (not picutred) was on the mainstage and though I like his music I'm a little sick of him. He was at ArthurFest (saw the whole set), he was at Coachella (saw a few songs) and he was here (saw almost nothing, sort heard from afar most of the set.) The noodles were good, though. I ran into another friend from the day before and we sat in the shade and chatted and relaxed before heading out for

Yo La Tengo. Buy this point there were many more folks around to be waiting at the stages and we ran into some other folks who were getting ready to leave. Anyway, Yo La Tengo. They played mostly songs from their upcoming album I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass like "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind" which is about 12 minutes and loud and droney and poppy. Most of the new songs sounded kinda light, though and I wasn't entirely pleased. I'll bet they are another band that really should be seen in a small little dive or something.

I forget what I did next. I might've used the restrooms (I brought my own sanitizer for the second day) and gotten some water. I dunno. Not a fan of Spoon (not pictured) so I took

pictures of the grounds and the crowds and

myself (go Tigers!) and got in a good spot for

Os Mutantes. I was not very familiar with them. They sounded like fun sixties semi-psychedelic pop with lots of orchestral color. They had two drummers (both playing kits, even.) There were a lot of people there. There were even a few crowd-surfing.

Eventually I got home. I even slept for an hour before walking to the L stop and riding that for half an hour and waiting in the airport for my sold-out 5 am flight home. I read Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan and listened to music (not pictured.) Eventually we landed and I took a shuttle van to my parent's house, got my car and drove home and then sat around for a bit before falling asleep around 9 am.

Pitchfork Day 1

2006-08-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not gonna promise to come back and post more text this time. I mean, I would like to but you know as well as I do that it's probably not going to happen. But here are some pictures and some text inspired by said pictures. And inspired by missing pictures. (Note: the pics are about 25% larger than shown, so you can view image for a slightly larger shot.)

I hear there was about 18,000 people. It was about 95 F with high humidity. Certainly high for me (from Arizona) but it seemed high even for Midwest folks. The water was cheap, the food was decent and not so bad in price, the people overall were fun and there wasn't much of the pushing and forcing to the front.

The first band I saw was actually Chin Up Chin Up (not pictured.) I missed Hot Machines (not seen, even) entirely, arriving around 1:45 pm. We took the bus down from Bucktown and then I had to sell an extra pair of tickets... which didn't take much effort at all what with the show being sold out. Anyway, then I got inside and saw the last song or two by Chin Up Chin Up and then moved to Stage C for Man Man (pictured above.) They were weird. Covered with war paint and feathers, jumping around and being loud. Around this time I parted ways with my cousin (not pictured, but he could be if he so desired) and met up with friends from Ohia (not pictured) to see Band of Horses (not pictured.) I enjoyed them better than Man Man, partially because I was more familiar with their music. I wasn't, however, fully commited to the set and left Stage A early to get a good spot for the Mountain Goats (pictured below.)

Oh, yeah. There are two stages, A and C (plus the dance/whatever tent, B.) The two stages were completely offset, a band would finish their set from stage C and then within about 5 minutes the next band would start on stage A. Even right up at the front you could sort of see the other stage (askew, that is) and you could sort of hear it if they were playing loudly. It wasn't terribly conducive for really listening. So when Band of Horses closed with "Funeral" I knew they were playing it but I can't really comment on how it sounded because I was in the wrong place.

The set by the Mountain Goats was one of the most amazing I have ever seen. John was in a great mood, hilariously telling stories as intros to his songs, jumping around and actually kinda acting like a goofy rock star in front of a large, receptive crowd. I mean, he asked us to sing "No Children" and it is shocking to learn that there are thousands of other people that know this song that well. The setlist was ridiculously great including my favorite, "Source Decay" (which I've never heard live) other songs such as "Dance Music" and "Cubs in Five" and several new songs. They closed with "Terror Song." I was in shock and overwhelmed with joy almost the entire time.

Franklin Bruno (see Nothing Painted Blue, the Extra Glenns, Franklin Bruno) played piano or guitar for most of the songs.

After the Mountain Goats I needed to get some water and cool off and calm down. I really wanted to see Destroyer (see below, kinda, if you squint/imagine it) but... well, the Goats are a tough act to follow.

I did hear Destroyer from afar, thus not really getting into the set. It sounded good enough, though.

Then there was some resting in the shade and eating and chatting with new friends while Art Brut (not pictured) and Ted Leo (not pictured) + The Pharmacists (also not pictured) performed. I did catch a song or two by Ted Leo but I failed to noticed him bloodying himself.

I did see the Walkmen (pictured above.) They were good. They played songs like "The Rat" and "Thinking of a Dream I Had." And a couple guys from Man Man came out to play horns (not pictured.)

Next up was the Futureheads. The sun was starting to set but it was not yet starting to cool off. Who am I kidding, it never really cooled off. The loss of the sun (not pictured) was nice, though.

Setlist:
Decent Days and Nights
Area
View (I can't figure out what I meant.)
Meantime
Back to the Sea
A to B
Favours for Favours
? (I did not recognize this one and I failed to record any lyric snippets.)
Skip to the End
Hounds of Love
He Knows
Carnival Kids
Man Ray

Then I saw the Silver Jews (not pictured.) There was resting and there was "Animal Shapes," "Horseleg Swastikas" and "There Is A Place." It was good but I can see how it would be much better in a club.

We then walked around a lot trying to catch a cab and then we found one and we got home and it was fun.

Update!

2006-08-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

Heh. OK, I went to Pitchfork Music Festival, several other great shows and read some books.

I am planning on writing a review of what I saw at Pitchy and posting some pictures but I've been lazy/busy/whatevs.

So, uhh, soon, eh.

Mellowdrone, Monsters are Waiting @ Modified

2006-08-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

modwheelmood opened the show; their set was kinda like their songs; they took a while to get going, had some cool bits in the middle, then they kinda trailed off. There were three guys in the band; all played with pedals a lot, sometimes doing only that. The songs I enjoyed the most where the ones where they used the electric guitar and actually used it and the guy playing bass really played it and such. Also they covered "Home" by Depeche Mode.

Monsters Are Waiting played second. One of the guys was one of the founding members of Eve 6. But they were good. Really. All three bands sounded well matched, atmospheric indie rock; the vocalist at times reminded me of Karen O or Emily Haines in her stage demeanor (but certainly not Karen's vocal style.) I dunno. They never really flat out rocked but they built some pretty damned good songs. Oh yeah, also they covered "I Wanna Be Adored" and pulled it off.

Mellowdrone sounded fuller, better and more together than either opener. They knew what they were doing and they did it well. Again rather atmospheric but they brought more of the rock. I don't know. I'm tired. I don't know what I'm saying. I liked them.

Saxon Shore, et al @ Modified

2006-07-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

I just saw Denison Witmer, Saxon Shore and then a few songs from From Monument to Masses.

Saxon Shore backed Mr. Witmer for 5 or so songs, otherwise it was just him and an acoustic. He finished with a cover of "Northern Sky" by Nick Drake.

Saxon Shore were really good. I honestly can't tell you what they played but it was fantastic. I love the light, floating melodies over the crescendoing guitars.

Tilly & the Wall, Now It's Overhead @ Modified

2006-07-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Tilly and the Wall/Now It's Overhead was good and all but damn sometimes I forget that the Modified doesn't really do the air conditioning bit. Plus I started to get the impression that the show was going to be well attended (which surprises me) from the high ticket price.

So yeah, it was sold out 15 people after me and it was hot and humid.

Tilly were very fun. They're good at keeping the audience in the game. Their music is fun and dancy and poppy. They were funny. I mean, they're not essential or deep, really; but they play their songs and I like them.

I really liked Now It's Overhead, too. They were louder and with more atmospheric type noises than I expected from the few songs I had listened to. I was not familar with them prior to the show.

The Black Angels and Hopewell @ Modified

2006-06-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

I went to the show because of various comments regarding the Black Angels, the coolness of the few songs I had heard and Hopewell's Mercury Rev connection.

I loved the show because Hopewell rocked the shitty out of the joint and the Black Angels were low-end cool and throbbing.

Hopewell sound nothing like the Rev and they rock and the guitars were awesome and the basslines were the best and yeah. Psychedelic space rock, I suppose. The best song was the unreleased "Monolith." It had these poppy bits in amongst all the riffage and Secret Machines-esque rocking.

The Black Angels had six people making sound up there and wow. Two different people played the drumkit (different times) and another one or two people played an extra floor tom (at times.) Most of the band played bass, most of the band played guitar, one person played some sort of keyboard they call a "drone machine" in the CD notes.

Fantastic show though due to the way the bands sound I would have reversed the bill.

Coachella 2006

2006-05-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hmm. Last year I rued out and only go through two thirds of the first day. The re-cap, that is. I stayed at the fest until the end... partially because I was right up front by Spoon and felt that it would've been rude to push my way out. Oh wel.

I've already gotten off track. This is why I am doing this. Right now I am posting Coachella 2006 via pictures. Yes, I actually had a camera this year. Some of the pictures were OK, even. The ones I like the most, though, are of the people I went and hung out with... though I'm not going to post those here. Yet. I always feel weird about posting pictures of other people. I may break through that, at some point, but not right now. Most of those pics have been distributed in other ways so whatever.

And the plan here is to update this and include lots of text, too. But in order to get something up I'm starting with the pictures. UPDATE (after starting): OK, I'm writing stuff. Sorry that it sucks. I'm saying that every band is good because, dammit, I liked almost everything I saw. Deal with it.

We camped behind and a bit over from the Coachella Stage (main stage.) On Saturday we walked all the way around the festival grounds and camping and much of parking (going East then South then West and North.) That night a few of the folks in my group learned that this was the long way around while I learned that if you look for Cat Power you can follow her out the artist exit. Anyway, despite the long walk I got that fine picture. But due to the length of the walk I missed the Section Quartet and/or Brother Ali.

The Mojave tent was rather dark for Rob Dickinson so the first decent pics I got were from the Platinum Pied Piper's set. I didn't have much in terms of expectations but I enjoyed their set, enough that I didn't leave real early (as planned) to see Hybrid.

I did leave a few minutes early so that I could catch a good portion of the set by the Walkmen. They were loud. I didn't stay but it was good enough that I'll probably check then out when they come to Phoenix in June.

I could barely squeeze my way into the Gobi Tent for Lady Sovereign. I stayed for a few songs and then decided upon finding shade.

This is the crowd spilling out of the Gobi while SOV was on. You can see her in that pic, sort of. Anyway I went to the Mojave for a few songs by Nine Black Alps... nothing special but there was room to move and shade.

After cooling off a bit I headed back to the Coachella Stage for the Duke Spirit. There weren't many people there watching so I got up close.

Most of the folks I saw there were the same people not paying attention to the Walkmen an hour earlier. The sound mix was a little off so I moved back a ways to see if it was better. It did, and what's more, I ran into a friend so we chilled on the grass watching the rest of the set.

Next up was Animal Collective; I didn't get any pictures of the band but I saw more friends so eventually there may be a few shots with the Outdoor Theatre in the background. Which would totally not be the reason to post them. Anyway, AC were, uhhh, interesting. I really liked the first song, the others... well, were interesting. Parts were really good but it was easy to get distracted so it was a fine excuse to chat with friends. We were back near the soundstage where it wasn't crowded at all so we weren't bothering anybody.

Near the end of the set we parted company and I went to the Mojave for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I took a few pics but 5:30 pm does not allow for get photos, especially when I was about three quarters of the way back.

I left CYHSY after 6 songs so as to not miss any of My Morning Jacket. I found my friend and we got a fairly good spot without being right up front. Not missing any of MMJ turned out to be a wonderful idea as they opened with "Anytime" and went on to play a stunning set. I had chills throughout my whole body by that first song, I was on the verge of tears due to the awesomeness as it went on. Between songs I could barely get anything out other than superlatives "oh my... amazing... wow."

I saw Sigur Ros with some friends from around the soundstage area. Perhaps I was not quite immersed enough in the sound to enjoy them as much as I did last time... or maybe it was the short set. I certainly have no complaints, though, as their last performance set a very high bar and I still had fun.

After Sigur Ros I found a friend and caught a few songs by Devendra Banhart (including one by the person he pulled up on stage.) I then made my way into the Mojave to catch the end of Ladytron. I saw them play "Destroy Everything You Touch" and "Seventeen" so I counted that as a plus and made a mental note to do better next time. I did better than 2003, though, where I only caught part of their last song.

While waiting for Cat Power I talked to two of the members of the Octopus Project and then ran into some friends and we stopped and waited. Her set was mostly culled from The Greatest with a few solo covers ("House of the Rising Sun" was amazing.) I liked it well enough and Chan seemed to be in a good mood. From what I heard this was her first show with the Memphis Rhythm Band backing her; I though they sounded great together, giving the music some weight as it tried to battle the thump from the Sahara tent next door.

After Cat Power I made my way into the Sahara tent putting in ear plugs for the first time all night. I caught most of the Audio Bullys' set but it didn't do much for me. After the ended we had about half an hour before Daft Punk. The one picture I took looks terrible and I haven't decided how to share the video I took (six short clips, the longest being about 75 seconds.) I was at the front tip of the sound booth, so dead centered and close up but with a rail nearby so I could keep my position. The tent was packed, the crowd was crazy and there was much jumping and dancing and cheering... by me. Daft Punk played for about 75 minutes (going until 12:20 am) doing a mostly continuous mix of their songs.

Sunday morning I got to watch this little ... umm... animal... transport dirt out of his undergound hole. I was tired.

OK, the rest of Sunday is just going to be pics for now. Bug me to write more later.

The Octopus Project

Theramin solo.

The Dears

Mates of State

Metric

Gnarls Barkley

Dungen

Monday morning.

Coachella

2006-04-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

I am getting ready to go to Coachella. I am happy about this.

This is my tentative way of approaching the festival, based on the set times:

Saturday

12:00 - 12:30 - Brother Ali. possibly leaving early to see
12:30 - 1:00 - Section Quartet. or wandering instead.
1:00 - 1:35 - Rob Dickinson
1:35 - 1:45 - chill. water. check merch.
1:45 - 2:00 - Platinum Pied Pipers, stay until 2:30 if it's great, otherwise, leaving early for
2:00 - 2:30 - Hybrid, leaving early for
2:30 - 2:50 - The Walkmen, stay until 3:15 if it's great, otherwise leaving early for
2:50 - 3:40 - Lady Sovereign
3:40 - 4:30 - the Duke Spirit
4:30 - 5:05 - most of Animal Collective, leaving early for
5:05 - 5:55 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
5:55 - 6:45 - My Morning Jacket
6:45 - 7:00 - either get dinner, check out the end of TV on the Radio, or get close for
7:00 - 7:50 - Sigur Ros
7:50 - 8:20 - end of Ladytron
8:20 - 8:45 - either get dinner, check out some of Franz, or get close for
8:45 - 9:35 - Cat Power
9:35 - 11:00 - game time decision. could go Depeche Mode and stay for a while, maybe leaving to check out Atmosphere. OR i could head to the Sahara Tent for Audio Bullys and good position for
11:00 - 12:00 - Daft Punk

Sunday

12:00 - 12:45 - The Octopus Project
12:45 - 1:10 - chill, get some water, check out merch, on the way to
1:10 - 1:50 - Youth Group, leaving early to see
1:50 - 2:15 - The Dears, leaving early to see
2:15 - 3:05 - Mates of State
3:05 - 3:30 - some of Amadou & Mariam, leaving early to see
3:30 - 4:10 - Ted Leo, leaving early to see
4:10 - 4:55 - Metric
4:55 - 5:15 - either stay and chill or try and get food and water
5:15 - 6:00 - Wolf Parade, leaving early
6:00 - 6:40 - game time decision between Sleater-Kinney and Bloc Party, possibly/probably leaving early to see
6:40 - 7:10 - Gnarls Barkley
7:10 - 7:15 - water, making way to
7:15 - 8:05 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
8:05 - 8:25 - laughing. probably making my way to
8:25 - 9:15 - Mogwai
9:15 - 10:20 - most of Massive Attack, possibly leaving early for
10:20 - 10:55 - Dungen
10:55 - 12:00 - most of Tool

Lots of very fast walking involved.

Last.fm

2006-04-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

Recently played tracks (and seriously, I've told them I am in Phoenix and not London or whereever it would be 6pm right now):

Weekly top artists (standard disclaimer about this not counting what I play with my Creative or in my car or whatnot):

Why am I posting this as a standard blog post rather than putting it in the sidebar or something? I don't know. I guess I don't know which I would post there. Nor do I want to fool around with the template enough to fit this in. It'll be somewhere in the new site, whenever that happens. Also I'm supposed to be leaving to drop off tax forms at some mail drop. But I'm sitting here, listening to Metric and babbling.

And yes, I was listening to Metric when I wrote this; the first chart there shows what I'm currently listening to... that is what I'm listening to when you look at it rather than when I post it. So, basically, it makes sense as a sidebar or something but not as a post signature or something. Though that would be cool. Ish.

Also I'll cut it down so it doesn't show a ridiculous number of songs/artists/whatever.

UPDATE: It only shows 5 for the artists and maybe that many for the songs. That isn't excessive, for a blog sidebar, now is it.

Saddle Creek

2006-04-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

Two Gallants came to Phoenix recently, played a fantastic show.

After that show I bought their latest album, What the Toll Tells, on vinyl. The best part was the following:

Free Digital Download with the purchase of this LP! Each LP comes with a code allowing you to download the full record one time only, so you can enjoy your LP on your portable MP3 player!

It does appear as if Saddle Creek recently started this (as have a few other similarly sized labels) but it makes me happy. Yeah, I could still buy the vinyl and then download the mp3s from whereever (or get them from whatever and then buy the vinyl) but it's always nice when the label approves, you know?

Anyway if I have a choice of what's going to just be sitting around I'd pick the big beautiful vinyl (with two bonus tracks) because it's the mp3s (on my computer, Creative or on the mp3 CD I burned) that are going to get used.

Gimmie Indie Rock

2006-04-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

The subheading says it all:

Herein, we will run tournaments that are utterly inconsequential, will fuel moderate bickering, and ultimately please nobody. Enjoy!

This is a user-voted tournament of 192 songs that were "gleaned from a survey of allmusic, Magnet top 60 albums of 95-05, Pitchfork's best albums/singles of various years and decades, and surveys of our friends and acquaintances." The idea took form during a similar tournament based on Rolling Stone's recent Top 500 songs of all time (I'll find the link to that, if such a a thing is still possible.)

It's fun because you get to make fun of bad songs. And rep for the good stuff. And wonder where the great stuff is. Seriously though, the lists are about as good as they could be (the brackets are all available now, here's the Southeast)... and the seedings... well, that's why we vote (in the comments, hopefully including hilarious and/or insightful commentary.)

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

2006-03-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

WOOHOO! I just finished my first book for 2006! It took me less than four months! Yay! And, just to clarify, I'm talking about reading, not writing. Ugh.

It was a good one, by Haruki Murakami. I'm not quite sure what to say about it so whatever.

And I'm not going to bother to update my queue until I actually get a good distance through another book... which one I do not yet know.

Haha

2006-03-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've forgotten to post for like two months.

In that time I have seen a bunch of shows, bought some music, seen the lineups for Coachella, Bonnaroo, Sasquatch, Pitchfork (partial) and Lollapalooza (partial.)

I have also gotten space on a local server (it's in the other room) from which I could host my blog if'n I wanted to. If I do that I'll be sure to point folks that-a-way.

I haven't really updated my queue partially because I haven't finished any books but also because I've only bought two books this year. I have finally broken through that need to buy books every couple weeks or so even though I have a huge pile to read. This is mostly attributable to the lack of reading.

I have given up on two books thus far this year, Triplanetary by E.E. Smith and The Age of Wire and String by Ben Marcus. Well, I'll finish the Marcus (just not real soon) but I am probably really done with the Smith.

I have been reading Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Murakami and it is going well... I'm about three-quarters done at this point.

I can listen to records now. Last Saturday I played what might well turn out to be the best game of Taboo my life will ever see. I ate some raisins.

Phoenix Symphony, Jan 12, 2006

2006-01-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

Program:
Sergei Prokofiev - Lieutenant Kije Suite
James MacMillan - Veni, veni Emmanuel
Antonin Dvorak - Symphony 7

Michael Christie, conductor
Colin Currie, percussion

The Prokofiev was a relatively late replacement for a Dvorak piece... I'm not a big fan of the Kije but whatever. The performance was fine but I can't think of anything to say about it.

James MacMillian's 1992 percussion concerto was quite interesting. Colin Currie started out playing a pair of gongs and moved on through a pair of pitched instruments (a marimba? virbrophone? I don't know) a trap-kit like set-up (played standing, though), ending with chimes. The best part was the third section (the piece is played without a break), Dance. The percussionist is at the trap-kit and the orchestra's accompaniment was very rhythmic... they just match so well. Throughout much of the rest of the piece I'm not sure how to describe the orchestral sound... somewhat minimalist and generically "modern" sounding.

After the intermission was the Dvorak symphony. The opening came off stilted, not as lyrical as I have normally heard that Allegro. As it went on, though, the playing slowly became more flowing. I read it as on purpose, as the tension in the opening movement was tighter than I have ever heard for that piece... and of course with all that tension the resolution was all the stronger.

The attendance was probably a little better than for the previous concerts but Symphony Hall still looked empty (or, rather, half full.) After last year's concerts at the Orpheum Theatre, though, Symphony Hall looks huge.

My Top 10 Albums of 2005

2006-01-15T23:57:00.000-07:00

OK, this is my 2005 round up. I am never happy with these lists but this year I made myself write something about each album I put in the top 10 so I have an additional element to be disappointed by. Ehh. Whatever, it should be more interesting when I look back on this late in the year... where I can try to understand what I was thinking. First I list my honorable mentions for 2005 in alphabetical order by band. The ranked list then follows. For each album I also included my favorite song from that album... though in many cases I am even less sure of my song choices than I am of my album choices. Offhand the one song not mentioned that really should be is "Anytime" by My Morning Jacket. I'm way late on the MMJ train; I like Z but I still find it rather uneven and to include it would open the door to many other albums I liked this year... but "Anytime" is one of my favorite songs of the year.

Can't Forget the Following (Band/Album/Favorite song on that album)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl - "Weight of the World"
Caribou - Milk of Human Kindness - "Barnowl"
the Decemberists - Picaresque - "The Mariner's Revenge Song"
Kathleen Edwards - Back to Me - "In State"
the Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir - "A Candymaker's Knife"
Tim Fite - Gone Ain't Gone - "Not A Hit Song"
Low - the Great Destroyer - "Death of a Salesmen"
Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration - "Black Forest (Lorelei)"
the Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree - "This Year"
the New Pornographers - Twin Cinema - "Sing Me Spanish Techno"
the Ravenonettes - Pretty in Black - "Somewhere In Texas"
Scout Niblett - Kidnapped by Neptune - "Fuck Treasure Island"
Sons & Daughters - The Repulsion Box - "Choked"
Stars - Set Yourself on Fire - "He Lied About Death"
the Sun - Blame it on the Youth - "Say Goodbye"

Top 10
10. Tullycraft - Disenchanted Hearts Unite -- Ridiculously fun and amazingly catchy. I can't say that this is my favorite Tullycraft but it is not their 4th best. This album is simply full of bouncy singles. Favorite: "Our Days in Kansas"
9. Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinois -- This is a light and beautiful pop record. It is full of simple, gorgeous musical lines and big, bright and happy choruses. Favorite: "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts"
8. Rogue Wave - Descend Like Vultures -- It's fully the Rogue Wave rather than just Zach and the approach is fuller as a result. Favorite: "You"
7. Sigur Ros - Takk -- It doesn't have the scope or design of ( ) but their music remains grand in scope and vision and beautiful in execution. Favorite: "Glosoli"
6. Electrelane - Axes -- At this point I've listened to it who knows how many times but my thoughts are still the same, this CD is fantastic. The basic sound is like a blend of Rock It to the Moon and The Power Out but in a way that transcends either album. And any fears that the sound was moving inextricably away from the post-rocky goodness of Rock It have been fully assuaged. Favorite: "These Pockets Are People"/"The Partisan".
5. the Kills - No Wow -- Jamie has gotten better, more adventurous. This is why a somewhat plodding song like "Dead Road 7" still works ridiculously well. And there are better songs such as "Love is a Deserter" and "I Hate the Way You Love." What really blew me away about this album, though, is how Alison sounds on the revelatory "Rodeo Town." I had no idea she could sing like that, she could pull of a song like that. I will listen to anything she records. Favorite: "Rodeo Town"
4. Why? - Elephant Eyelash -- I don't know what to say. Until I heard it I had no idea music could be made like this. A blend of genres (indie rock, hip hop, rap) and a tendancy towards sonic experimentation leads to glorious pop songs like "Gemini (Birthday Song)" and passionate, intense songs like "Act Five." Such a good record. Favorite: "Whispers Into the Other"
3. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods -- If S-K call it over now it'll do a disservice to this album. Their last album will be seen as an abberation - or worse, as an experiment that broke up the band (regardless of the reality.) An addtional album would also be beneficial for the live show; allow them to work old songs in with the new; to show that they fit together. Oh, and by the way, the songs on this album are just seering. Favorite: "Jumpers"
2. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy -- One listen and I was hooked. The music is strong but it is the lyrical richness that has kept me coming back. There are big and glorious rock songs and soft, tender pieces... and the imagery and themes in the words hold it all together. And the Black Sheep Boy Appendix EP is way good too. Favorite: "So Come Back, I Am Waiting"
1. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene -- I don't know how they did it but they topped You Forgot it in People. The singles are at first glance not singles but once you stick with them they are just so full, musically that they are a joy to behold. I'd name songs but I wouldn't stop. There isn't a misstep on this disc. Favorite: "Ibi Dreams of Pavement"

My Reading Queue - 2006

2006-01-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

I did this last January 1st and kept updating it throughout the year. I found it fairly intersting so I'm going to restart the queue and keep going. I am still going to try and refrain from not buying (or at least severely limiting the number of) new books because this backlog could easily last two years... but that is no longer going to be an explicit goal.

The only reason this list is shorter than what I had left at the end of 2005 is that I cut out the short story, play and poetry collections.

Currently in process:

Ben Marcus - The Age of Wire and String (January 11th, stalled for some time, though.)
I haven't started anything else just yet.

This is my backlog, currently with 48 books:

Acker, Kathy: Don Quixote - I've read two books by her (Empire of the Senseless; Blood and Guts in High School) and like both. I don't see her stuff used very often so I tend to pick it up when I do.
same: Great Expectations - (continued from above:) Hence two books from that same author where neither is exceedingly high in the queue. Other than alphabetically, that is.
same: In Memoriam to Identity - This is, however, high in the queue. Hmm, you know what? I'm gonna actually list my queue.
Barthleme, Donald: The Dead Father
same: The King
Burgess, Anthony: A Dead Man in Deptford
Celine, Louis-Ferdinand - Guignol's Band
Cervantes: Don Quixote - Bought at the same time as Acker's take-off. It's very long.
Conrad, Joseph: Lord Jim
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: The Idiot - I've come a long ways from reading only one chapter of Crime and Punishment for senior (high school) English.
Durrell, Lawrence: Mountolive
same: Clea
Eco, Umberto: Foucault's Pendulum - This was recommended to me (sort of) like 8 years ago when I jokingly wrote a rather paranoiac analysis of the lyrics of Dream Theater. This book isn't mine; a friend loaned it to me... uhh... a year ago (to the day.)
Egan, Greg: Permutation City
Faulkner, William: Soldiers' Pay - My favorite author, hands down.
same: The Reivers
same: The Hamlet
Fo, Dario: Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas - I think I have one or two remaining in a separate book of plays that I'll read before getting to this one.
Gates, David: Jernigan
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: The Sorrows of Young Werther - his plays are good.
Ionesco, Eugene: Killing Game - Of the books on this list this may be the one I've had the longest. I've read a lot of Ionesco, have not yet gotten to this one (duh.)
Heinlein, Robert: Assignment in Eternity
same: The Menace from Earth
Johnson, Denis: Resuscitation of a Hanged Man
same: The Name of the World
Jones, Terry: Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic
Joyce, James: Finnegan's Wake - I also have A Shorter Finnegan's Wake as edited by Anthony Burgess.
Lem, Stanislaw: The Star Diaries
Mamet, David: Wilson
Morgan, Richard: Altered Carbon
Nabokov, Vladimir: Bend Sinister
same: Ada
Niven, Larry and Jerry Pournelle - Lucifer's Hammer
O'Brien, Flann: The Third Policeman
Proust, Marcel: Swann's Way - I figured eventually I need to get to A la recherche du temps perdu ... but not in French.
Queneau, Raymond: Zazie in the Metro - Louis Malle directed a film adaptation of this book. I haven't seen any Malle. There, I've said it. As much as I'd like to end this little note on that I don't have any more Queneau in the queue so I need this space to say that Queneau is an odd one.
Rand, Ayn: Atlas Shrugged - OK, I hated We the Living but... I don't know how to finish that sentence.
Robinson, Kim Stanley: The Years of Rice and Salt - He has a newer one that I, surprisingly, have not yet bought (because I haven't started this one.)
Shaw, Bernard: Man and Superman - I haven't read any Shaw. There, I've admitted it.
Smith, E. E.: Triplanetary - Uhh. I read the first half this year. Then I stopped because, wow, this is old, dated and not very good. The scope is kinda cool... but it was kind of annoying.
Steinbeck, John: The Grapes of Wrath - I have, however, read Steinbeck. Just not this one.
Stephenson, Neal: The System of the World
Sturgeon, Theodore: The Cosmic Rape - I need to go back to Ellison's intro to Angry Candy (which was better than any of the shorts) and see what other sci-fi authors he lamented. The two Alfred Bester novels I read were necessary and I liked the first Strugeon novel I read. Here's another.
Welsh, Irvine: Filth
same: Marabou Stork Nightmares - Trainspotting was brilliant, I tried to start... I think this one. Several years ago. I need to try these again.
Woolf, Virginia: Jacob's Room - I bought this one to get The Waves (two novels in one volume.) Now I'm trying to figure out if I liked that one more than To the Lighthouse. Her prose is just gorgeous... Nabokov (when he tries for that sort of thing) and Faulkner are the only I know that are in the same class.
same: Orlando

The following is my actual ordered reading queue as I currently imagine it (this includes books not counted in the backlog):

Acker, Kathy: In Memoriam to Identity
Greer, James: Guided by Voices - A Brief History
Morgan, Richard: Altered Carbon
Durrell, Lawrence: Mountolive

Completed Books for 2006:
Count: 2 books, 600 pages. Updated April 12, 2006.

Murakami, Haruki: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Garland, Alex: The Coma - I have no real comments, actually. I liked how it started and it was quick enough that it wasn't a problem to finish.
???

What I will restate is that one of the purposes of this is to garner comments from folks, like "don't read that, you idiot, this book over here is much better" or "damn, I wanna read that. Or, I mean, don't read that it sucks. It sucks so much you should send it to me to make sure you don't accidentally crack it open" or "haha, you still haven't read Finnegan's Wake" so, uhh, have at it.

Year Ending

2005-12-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

I am not involved in selling product so I am going to continue not doing my Best of 2005 until it is 2006. This will, if nothing else, give me more time to listen to what I have yet to hear. And re-listen to what I got that didn't grab me the first time through.

I'm not doing a films list because I don't see enough of what I think I'll like to have much of an opinion on the matter.

What I will do now is revisit my 2004 list. I revisited my 2003 list last year... and didn't come up with much to say but, well, I think it's a decent idea anyway. Mainly because I hate making lists but when I see that I still like what I did last year I feel better about making one for this year.

I'll start with the honorable mentions:
Budget Sinatra (local): Either Way I Win; Devendra Banhart: Rejoicing in the Hands; Detachment Kit: Of This Blood; Dios: Dios; The Libertines: The Libertines; Mission of Burma: On/Off/On; DJ Shadow: In Tune and On Time [CD/DVD]; Sons and Daughters: Love the Cup; Squarepusher: Ultravisitor; Tilly & the Wall: Wild Like Children.

10. Mountain Goats: We Shall All Be Healed
9. Earlimart: Treble and Tremble
8. Sonic Youth: Sonic Nurse
7. The Sun: Did Your Mother Tell You? - I liked Love & Death but their second EP is better.
6. Wilco: A Ghost Is Born
5. Clinic: Winchester Cathedral - I wasn't so excited about this after downloading "Vertical Take Off In Egypt" from the website before the album came out... then again an instrumental was an odd choice as an introductory song.
4. Modest Mouse: Good News for People Who Like Bad News - Last year it was the White Stripes that made the list with their 4th best album (out of 4.) Who will it be next year?
3. Rilo Kiley: More Adventurous

2. Interpol: Antics - My favorite is "Take You on a Cruise." Usually.
1. Electrelane: The Power Out - I've talked about this album and this band a lot. 11 songs; 2 instrumentals, 1 in French, 1 in Spanish with lyrics taken from Juan Boscan and 1 in German with lyrics taken from Nietzsche... and this is a very reasonable progression from the first album which was almost entirely without vocals.

If I were to rework that now the Clinic would move up a spot or two and the Wilco might move another spot too... but that's about it. Well, I guess I'm less happy with my honorable mentions. I haven't listened to/watched that live DJ Shadow much. That Libertines album annoys me more than it entertains me now. And I've still listened to the other Squarepusher albums I own more than Ultravisitor (even counting just the time since that new one came out.)

Those may be replaced by the these albums I hadn't heard as of January 2005: Arcade Fire - Funeral, the Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat, Autolux - Future Perfect. They're all certainly honorable mention material... though for that matter I'm not convinced that they're not all Top 10 material.

Not coincidentally all three of these bands played Coachella in 2005.

Propagandhi

2005-12-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

12/10/05, the Clubhouse Music Venue, Tempe, AZ

First off, I was happily surprised to see a big line outside the venue as a drove up. I had half expected this show to be fairly empty. I'm not sure if it sold out (capacity is something near 800) but it was close. I can't recall a show there that was this packed - and they showed up early, too.

Toys That Kill opened, I liked them better than when they opened for the Suicide Machines a few months back but still nothing that really grabbed me.

Greg MacPherson played next. It started out with just Greg playing guitar and singing. This was compelling on it's own... then on the third song a second guitars slowly worked his way in. A drummer was added soon after. I'm not sure how to describe the music, heavy singer/songwriter punk doesn't seem to make much sense. I'd note a passing resemblance to the Mission of Burma that was playing during the set breaks but that might do more harm than good. I was close to picking up a CD but I refrained.

Contrary to my expectations this was completely a Propagandhi crowd. The venue was packed and the crowd went nuts as they started. The first two songs were new but still got big reactions... though nothing compared to everybody singing along to "Less Talk, More Rock" I must say, that's just nutty. The lyrics are complex and full of big words that flow oddly... and the crowd just nailed them.

The crowd was wild, the Clubhouse has an elongated front crowd area so they could never quite develop a circle pit but there was still plenty of attempts. It's fun working hard to stand up, pulling people off the ground, watching folks hold up shoes and hats during song breaks.

The encore break was rather odd; they stopped for a moment to work on a bass and then just walked off stage. After a couple minutes they came back for the much-requested "Fuck the Border" and two more songs.

I can no longer remember any order (and I know either the new album nor the early material) but I do know they played "Haillie Sellasse, Up Your Ass," "Apparently I'm A PC Facist (Because I Care About Both Human And Non-)" with "Nailing Descartes to the Wall/(Liquid) Meat Is Still Murder," "...And We Thought That Nation-States Were A Bad Idea" and "Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes" also.

Very good show, very fun. I could've used better sound and possibly less sweat from other folks and it's too bad neither Chris Hannah nor John Samson are involved anymore but who am I to complain?

Much

2005-12-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving happened. University of Arizona losing to Arizona State in the football did too. Attending was, however, still engaging.

After the game I saw the Phoenix Symphony. This was the second concert of my half-season; they did Kabalevsky's Colas Breugnon overture, Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto and, surprisingly, Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances. Some Prokofiev had been scheduled; I can't recall getting any information on the change. The Tchai was the highlight of the night (not surprising) and was a bit quicker overall than what we saw two years ago with Van Cliburn at the piano.

I failed to go to a couple shows for various reasons, finished the Left Hand of Darkness.

I also received, started and finished 33 1/3: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Kim Cooper. It is about that album by Neutral Milk Hotel... in a broad sense.

The most surprising thing was how exciting reading this book was. When I was alerted to the fact that this book was coming out I knew it was a good idea; everyone I know that owns this album would totally read a book on it... but the books in this series have been a little hit and miss, at least from what I've heard. Various reviews on OK Computer make it sound like it's a technical analysis of the music whereas the reactions seem very mixed to Unknown Pleasures, Harvest, the Velvet Underground and Nico and, well, Loveless and Endtroducing... aren't out yet. This book, however, is exactly what it should be.

It discusses what it took to get to the album much more than it touches on the album itself. This is a good thing, I think, as the one chapter devoted to track-by-track comments is probably my least favorite (but still interesting.)

Most of the people involved (Julian Koster, Scott Spillane, Jeremy Barnes, Laura Carter, Robert Schneider) except Jeff were interviewed and we hear from them quite a bit.

It concerns the history of the band from the early home recordings in Ruston, LA to later home recordings in New York, Athens and Denver (OK, fine the Denver recordings were the ones released on the CDs that we've been listening to for years but they were still fairly primitive.) It also discusses how things changed after the release of Aeroplane and what has happened since.

In other news I hopefully will remember to write something about the Propagandhi show tomorrow night at the Clubhouse and the Rogue Wave show next Thursday at Modified Arts.

Source

2005-11-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

One might find it odd that despite the title of this blog I have discussed neither anything Star Wars-related nor Paintball. This is basically because there's plenty of other Star Wars-discussion and, well, I don't play the paintball very often. I probably won't talk about either much if ever again but I figured I might as well explain what I'm talking about there.

Long, long ago on a camping trip that, well, really wasn't that far away, I mean, really, just north a couple hours. Not bad at all.

Ahem. This camping trip involved boredom. It was nice and sunny outside and there were fields and streams and trees and pine cones. We decided that this was the perfect opportunity to quantitatively test our force powers, taking our cue from how Obi Wan was training Luke on the Falcon in the original film. Some floating laser thing shot at Luke and he tried to deflect the laser blasts. Then he put on a helmet with an opaque blast shield and the thing shot at him again. This was our model. Sort of.

We gathered pine cones in paper grocery bags, fifty to a bag, selecting nice and uniform specimens. We each chose a nice hitting stick. And we found a blindfold. Thus: I'd stand there with a stick in my hand while fifty pine cones were thrown at me. Then, voluntarily, I was blindfolded so that fifty more pine cones could be thrown at me. You compare how many you hit the first time to how many you hit while blind.

Very little force power was demonstrated on that day, I can tell you that. We fell short of actually writing down our scores but it was fairly pathetic all around. It was all quite fun and not really that painful.

That is not, however, the end of the story. That would have left this blog titled Force Power Pine Cones... or, more likely, not been interesting enough to be recalled during that excruciating hour I spent trying to come up with something. So yes, there is more.

On a more recent camping trip (but still several years ago) my brother brought three paintball guns along. We (along with my younger sister) went off away from camp and tried to figure out what we could do. Paintball games are fun when they are massed groups attacking each other... duels are only fun for so long. Half an hour, if I recall correctly.

We tried skeet shooting with some frisbees... but that didn't work so well. We did end up finding a nice natural rock fortress which was just asking for a defender with the big gun to take pot shots at two attackers... but that's not why I'm here right now.

You see, we were trying to come up with games. We were trying to be creative. I wasn't being terribly critical with my ideas. We were being silly and having fun. I suggested that we test our force powers with the paintballs, much as before with pine cones.

After a lot of convincing my brother was pointing the big gun at me whilst I was standing there with a stick. This may seem odd considering I had been doing the convincing.

The first shot sailed well over my head, high and to the right. Seconds later I swung my stick to try and deflect it. My thoughts went like this: My brother is aiming at my head. My stick will not deflect any paintballs today. I can't quit now what with all the campaigning I did for this.

My brother asked if I was sure I still wanted to do this and I reassured him that yes, I did. The next shot was in tighter but still high and to the right. I pondered just holding my stick there for the next shot and claiming force powers. Instead, the next shot hit me in the neck. That was pretty much the end of that.

Update on Sony's Content Protection

2005-11-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

Yay! I can actually stick to my plans to not buy any more content-protected CDs (see my earlier comments... though they don't actually include me making such a claim... and I seemed to be confused [maybe] thinking that it was more than just Sony and subsidiaries)... for a while longer, at least, because Sony says they're going to stop making them.

If I see a Content Protected version of Harmonies for the Haunted by Stellastarr* I'm totally going to get it. New, even.

The tipping point wasn't, however, folks like me complaining about the inconvenience/legality issues; rather it was on the heels of stories on how the hidden files leave computers vulnerable.

Sony's announcement came one day after leading security companies disclosed that hackers were distributing malicious programs over the Internet that exploited the antipiracy technology's ability to avoid detection. Hackers discovered they can effectively render their programs invisible by using names for computer files similar to ones cloaked by the Sony technology.

It was fine

2005-11-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

I was going well for a few days. I had several things about which I wanted to write but I figured I'd spread out the good stuff. Just resulted in a loss of momentum, me getting bored with the things which concerned me at the time. Maybe this is a good thing.

I had planned on seeing Go Betty Go again at the Big Fish Pub in Tempe but I really didn't feel like it. I quite enjoy their new album and their last show was great... but... ehh. I wasn't into it. The show which the Stiletto Formal headlined the night before at the Marquee (I can't get over that, they - and 7 other local bands - sold out the Marquee!) was mostly boring. I liked Lydia and the Stiletto Formal were good though not great [the new songs sounded better than the EP material. I've heard 10 songs from them, now, by the way. One song had something to do with Ambrose Bierce (the title, anyway), the other title I didn't understand at all] but I got there at 6:30 and nothing good happened until about 10pm. Lydia were really good, though. If I wasn't in the mood I was by the end of the night I would've gotten a CD. This reminds me, I need to check their MySpace to see what I can hear from them. Or maybe their regular website has mp3s.

I did make the performace of Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem. It was in English. It was the version accompanied by two people playing a piano rather than an orchestra. It was at a church. I knew (or figured) all of these things going in but the latter bothered me and is probably the reason I didn't feel like going to Go Betty Go. Though maybe I should change that to "put on by a religious group" as it wouldn't've mattered where they did it... it still would've bugged me. The conductor - who gave a short summary of the message before they started singing - either doesn't understand what Brahms was doing or willfully misrepresented the composer's intentions. Yes, I understand Johannes still chose Biblical texts but he was working within the system, that's how we know who he was (well, that and he was damn good at writing music.)

I probably shouldn't've gone but there were other reasons it was good that I went. And I basically was able to keep my mouth shut. I, for example, refrained from pointing out that Brahms, too, was an atheist.

Hmm. I was going to go into a few other things but I'm not sure about them. This post has had some topic shifts anyway... but that which has been cut (all before hitting Publish Post)... I don't want to get into that right right now.

Blame It On

2005-10-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

When Blame It On the Youth came out a reviewer in the Phoenix New Times cried foul. I delayed buying the new disc... not because of this sort of backlash - or that I didn't expect the album to be good - but because I'm trying to cut back, thank you. This new disc was a bit of an unknown... and after the Content Protected mess I wasn't hopeful.

Then Rhapsody finally got the disc and I listened to it. It's good. It's very good. So now my wariness was turned to attempting to kick back at the backlash; and adventurousness, if you will. Plus I was happy that the plastic-wrap had a 3.5" diameter sticker on it warning you that this was a DVD. You didn't have to parse a sea of text to pick out the warnings... it fully dominated the front cover.

See, they did not release this on CD. At all. It's available on vinyl and on DVD. The DVD has 14 videos... as well as 14 .wav files... which are the same thing you'd find on a CD. If you have access to a computer with a DVD drive you can open up that folder and copy the .wav files to a computer. You can then play these files there, copy them to a compatible digital music player... or burn them to a blank CD. I burned them... then ripped mp3s for use on my Creative (it could've played the .wav files... but I didn't want to take up that much space.)

So I'm totally pleased. I have a good album and I have it on my Creative. I was able to use someone else's DVD-drive to get the files. And if I ever used a CD player I have my own copy ready to go (and it's burned from .wav files so it's far better quality than a CD burned from mp3s.)

And if I want to watch the videos they're there. It's not like they're going to be repeated endlessly on MTV. I've watched 4 or 5. They don't make me wish for a video for My Girlfriend's Best Friend... but they're interesting enough that I'll watch them all. And there are bands where I wish they'd do a video for every song.

So all this cost me, compared to a CD, is one blank CD, a bit of sharpie ink and a bit more time (which was a one time deal.) That's a reasonable price for 14 videos.

There's nothing wrong with Blame It On The Youth by the Sun.

Media

2005-10-25T17:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished Pitchfork's history of twee which includes lines like "There were points where cuteness felt like a caricature, and a pose: when girls went around carrying Strawberry Shortcake lunchboxes instead of purses, being twee seemed less like a rejection of cool and more like the creation of a new, worse form of it."

I recommend the whole thing, and not only because they talk about a fuckload of good bands.

I also find the review of Rehearsing My Choir quite interesting as well. I enjoy it more than their reviewer did (4.0/10)... but James DiGiovanna would probably say that my "natural body chemistry is more valium than methedrine."

The start of the glorious conclusion of the review on the Fiery Furnaces CD: "It's a spectacular experiment, groundbreaking and perverse, bloated with possibilities and prime for parsing. But its practical function is unclear."

I don't catch Pitchfork very often and it's usually not as good as these two bits. That being said I probably should read Pitchfork more often... keeping in mind the idea that paying attention to one music tastemaker - be it Rolling Stone, Pitchfork or Under the Radar - is silly.

EDIT: Apparently the Ho at My Indie World linked the same Twee As Fuck article and wrote about the Fiery Furnaces new album (though, unlike I wrote in his comments, didn't link the Pf review) in a post just after noon.

Brian O'Nolan

2005-10-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

I have been reading At Swim Two Birds by Flann O'Brien. It is quite delightful if rather slow. It is rather slow because it is rather incomprehensible... which is to say it is hard to say, exactly, what the plot of the book is. Things happen but any novel-encompassing design is clear.

There is a University student who doesn't seem to take his studies too seriously, a few of his friends and extended family, and then various characters in his writings... and those writings themselves are also full of stories and authors and characters. It plays off much like some of the work of Pirandello or Queaneau except that the language reminds one of, yes, Joyce and Beckett.

Extract from the text, demonstrating the foregoing: On occasion an owl or an awkward beetle or a small coterie of hedgehogs, attracted by the splendour of the light, would escort them for a part of the journey until the circumstances of their several destinations would divert them again into the wild treachery of gloom. Conclusion of the extract.

I am having much the same reaction to this as I did to Rainer Maria Rilke's The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge... I am intoxicated by the text but at the same time I wonder if it makes sense to continue reading.

Ha

2005-10-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

I was just at the Ticketmaster website checking on prices for the Red Wings/Coyotes game tonight. I submitted a search and the word verification was "forgery."

I am not, in fact, going. Ticketmaster only has lower bowl seats that are way expensive and even what I've seen from craigslist is more than I really wanna pay right now. If I had thought more seriously about this earlier... then I'd be locked in.

Oh well. My plan now for going to a hockey game this year is to pick an off-game, preferrably on a weeknight. If demand is low then the kind folks selling tickets outside the venue will be desperate, eh.

Rock on

2005-10-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

I caught the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra tonight at the recently renovated Symphony Hall.

The venue is still big and spacious with great sound but the interior is now all light wood which makes the concert space very bright which can be distracting. Other than that, however, their normal home is much better than the Orpheum where they played last season (and where I saw the Gerswhin program on the 30th.)

Scottsdale resident James DePreist conducted the orchestra. The setlist was as follows:

Gabriel Faure: Pelleas et Melisande Suite
Ernest Bloch: Schelomo (with special guest cellist Alisa Weilerstein)
[encore break]
Jean Sibelius: Symphony 1 in e

The Faure was, well, what one would expect. I'm not a big fan of French Impressionists whether we're talking painters (Monet) or composers (Debussy, Faure)... it's too pastel, fluffy, slight color variations for me. I like it all right and this piece is fine but, eh.

After the first piece (there was, by the way, no opening bands) Alisa came out with her cello and a hush went through the crowd, we knew they were going to pull out something special. I was kinda hoping for Dvorak's Cello Concerto and someone yelled out for some Bach sonatas (she wasn't going to do a solo, man) and another screamed for Some Red-Handed Slight Of Hand but these were nothing compared to a pair of idiots, one who was requesting All Right Now and the other for some Neil Young song (no cello, folks!)

Well, once she had sat down and started playing we (or atleast I) realized it was going to be Schelomo. I like the few Bloch pieces I've heard, this one was quite strong. It's not quite a cello concerto though it plays like an oddly structured one done as a single movement. The cello was fiery, the orchestra was lush, everything sounded good.

We clapped and clapped and I wasn't sure they were going to come back, many folks even filed out... but it looked like almost all of them came back when that clarinet solo started. Ahh, my heart jumped. I never thought in a million years that they'd play that early work. It ran a bit awkwardly at times and Sibelius certainly did have better symphonies (6, if you're wondering) but this has the cymbal crashes and fugues all in the right spots... and the brass, the brass sounded wonderful this evening. They played loud and powerful without blasting, without overblowing. The strings at times felt more tentative and less full than they needed to be but for the most part they held their own, for the sweeping, soaring bits that Sibelius is justly famous for they got the job done.

All in all it was a good show. The good news is they're coming back. I have tickets for their show the day after Thanksgiving but I may end up having to swap those for something else as that weekend may end up being full.

Things

2005-09-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

OK, I missed a few things. This I admit.

On 09/18/05 I finished Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. The story of this book is essentially a frame for a number of short stories (20 or so) written by various characters in the story. There are also bits of what I suppose I'll call poetry introducing many of the stories. The stories are generally good - and at the very least, very odd - but the frame is played to death... Chuck's value is not subtlety, is it. There are interesting things going on there but I'm not sure anyone wishing to absorb the value in this volume we miss much by merely reading the short stories.

That evening I saw the Decemberists at the Marquee Theater. Sons and Daughters opened... the vocals weren't terribly clear where I was (middle, and a bit closer to the sound booth than the stage) which is a shame as much of the joy that is S&D is the vocal interplay. They were still wonderful and played Choked, my favorite from the new album. Hmm, the whole setlist: Medicine, Broken Bones, Dance Me In, Red Receiver, Rama Lama, Start to End, Gone, Johnny Cash, Choked, Hunt, Fight (they only have the two main releases so it's easy to recognize everything.)

The Decemberists were next; they had, I believe, six people on stage, up from four last time I saw them. Chris Funk is back and Petra Haden has been playing with them (I am listening to The Who Sell Out as I type.)

They opened with, well, have a look: The Tain, We Both Go Down Together, The Bagman's Gambit, The Sporting Life, Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect, My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist, Eli The Barrow Boy, Angel, Won't You Call Me [cover], On the Bus Mall, 16 Military Wives, The Legionnaire's Lament, A Cautionary Song, [very short break], Mr Blue Sky [cover], The Chimbley Sweep.

So, yeah, The Tain. That was a trip live. Also interesting was the band "falling asleep" during The Chimbley Sweep, individually, each as they were introduced (it was a special kind of asleep where they were able to keep playing, some.) Then Colin got all but two to sit down... all to be awoken as the band started back up at "O lonely urchin" from Petra.

Then some stuff happened.

Then the past weekend I went to San Diego and saw the Kills. Also I saw my friends, one of whom recently moved there... and one who has lived there for some time. Also their cat Zeke.

I have recounted these events elsewhere so I'll just post the setlist: No Wow, Good Ones, I Hate the Way You Love, I Hate the Way You Love (part 2), Murdermile, Passion is Accurate, Kissy Kissy, Dead Road 7, Fried My Little Brains, Love Is a Deserter, [short break], Cat's Claw, Dropout Boogie.

Suffice it to say that this live performance was quite remarkable. And that if there were no vocals this time I would've thoroughly enjoyed the show... the vocals being audible just served to push this one over the top.

Also I went to a bookstore and bought items for reading (see elsewhere) for the first time since those disturbingly good places of books near the University of Chicago.

ArthurFest 2005 Day 2

2005-09-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

Sunday was about checking things out during the day and the headliners at night. Monday was about two very specific, very different artists... with set-times that scared me by being close.

First band of the day I caught was Dead Meadow. Another band described as a cross between Sabbath and Spacemen 3... heavy and drony... and wow, the sound was bad. It was all lows... and I don't think it was supposed to be. The songs sounded good enough but I was a little eager for it to end, partially because next up was The Olivia Tremor Control setting up for 40 minutes.

Will Cullen Hart was on stage left with Scott Spillane and his sousaphone and cornet (?) behind him. John Fernades was center with a bass, violin and clarinet, Bill Doss was stage right-center; behind them was Julian Koster with a host of instruments (banjo, accordian, plastic sheep, etc.) Stage right was Pete Erchick playing various keyboard instruments and in the back we had Eric Harris playing drums and running the reel-to-reel player. Once they got going, though, they were fantastic and fun. Julian was jumping up and down most of the time, everyone was singing and the music was... well, songs by the Olivia Tremor Control. I was right up in front (only the folks grabbing the barrier in front of me) but the sound was pretty good... except for when we missed a verse of Bill's vocals. They played wonderful and joyous songs... and while I could name a few now it'd so few as to make it less than productive.

Pretty much as soon as that ended I bolted to wait in the line for the Gallery Theater. I was only about 20th in line so I was OK. As sets ended they let folks out while the people holding the doors tried to count how many left so they knew how many they could let in. During sets I assume they manage the people shifts more immediately... but I dunno. I got in about ten minutes before Brad Laner took the stage and once he started playing I pretty much forgot about the concept of outside.

Brad sang - when there were vocals - played guitar - when there was guitar - and ran the laptop wtih drum machine and white noise generators... so everything took a little longer to develop than normal (which is quite a feat.) Behind Brad and his setup they played his movie, 30 minutes of oddly interesting images and shapes, usually kalaidascoped/mirrored/quater-mirrored/or whatever might be the correct term for that sort of visual effects. It was all very peaceful and soothing - since I love the showers of white noise - plus it was cool and dark... I came precariously close to falling asleep... though I very distinctly remember my face starting to glow as I realized he was starting One More. I can begin to describe how glorious it was to hear that bit of music... that was my song highlight of the weekend.

After that I ventured back outside so the folks getting eager to see Earth/Growing/Sun O))) could get in... but in the interest of sleep I'm gonna - temporarily - end this post here.

To be continued...

ArthurFest 2005 Day 1

2005-09-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

ArthurFest was held at Barnsdall Art Park... which is on a hill in Hollywood, CA, on September 4th and 5th. There were three stages, the Lawn Stage (mainstage, outside, with decent viewage from a drinking area with daytime shade), the Pine Stage (outside, in the entrance (columns and a raised concrete area) of some building, surrounded by trees which is nice for shade but bad for viewing) and the Barnsdall Gallery Theater (inside, limited to the 299 seats.) I rode out from Phoenix with some folks I had hitched a ride to Coachella with and we stayed at a parent's house in Mission Viejo (or something like that.)

I was expecting a small festival and I was still surprised by how few people were there. I've heard that they had a sold-out crowd of 2,000 each day; it was a small area so it certainly wasn't empty, empty, at least once it got dusky.

The first band I saw was Radar Brothers, they sounded much more mellow than I had expected. A very indie, almost Brit-pop feel. They were on the Lawn Stage, and, in fact, I didn't see more than a song or two from the other stages all day on Sunday (there wasn't a chance of me getting into the Gallery Theater to see Merzbow with the lines and other bands I wanted to see.)

After they finished up we wandered around the grounds to see if we had missed anything... finding that we really hadn't. There wasn't a central merch area but there was a booth selling ArthurFest T-shirts and make-your-own t-shirts (with patches and such) as well as various scattered inconstant, unstable other artist/label tables. We then decided that we should've stopped for food before coming in and set to choosing from the options at the three avaiable food booths. It was all expensive (even compared to other festival/venue prices) but my pita and humous was good enough.

While finishing eating we heard Wolfmother come on. They are an Australian heavy stoner/psych-rock group that sounded pretty strong if not terribly exciting. It was still worth moving closer for, though.

It was around this time that I ran into some friends from L.A. (I knew they were coming, but) and we moved to the shaded over-21 area by the Lawn stage for talking and cards and, well, a total lack of $7 beers. We were in a good place to hear the wanderings of Sunburned Hand of the Man... a band with a huge cast of characters that appeared (to the untrained eye) to be randomly noodling, though not in a jam-band sort of way... we're talking about a deeper haze, heavier sedation, and bursts that are louder and cooler. You couldn't always tell that they weren't just warming up... but when they hit it was pretty sweet.

Last time I saw Sleater-Kinney, the Black Keys opened for them. It was the same sequence here, with Sonic Youth closing out the night.

The Black Keys are a guitar/drums rocky blues band (wholly different from the White Stripes, who are a sometimes-bluesy rock band.) Their set was yummy. I'm no more familiar with them than I was back in 2003 so the main difference for me here was that Dan was longhaired and cleanshaven.

I knew S-K were going to focus on their new songs but I was surprised that they didn't even touch any of their "old material" (defined as anything before One Beat.) Corin had a bit of a sore throat and there were other sound issues (see below) but the songs still sounded strong. At times, though, the new heavy psych guitar and rocking aspects seemed just a touch embarassing, really. They've still written great songs (that do well with the more aggresive sound) but I've heard this sort of guitar done better before (a lot.) I dunno, I've never had a problem with the album so it could just be a live issue.

Setlist: The Fox, Wilderness, Jumpers, Far Away, Modern Girl, Rollercoaster, What's Mine Is Yours, Oh, Let's Call It Love, Entertain.

Just to be clear, though, I was still very happy to see them.

Sonic Youth closed out the night with the my favorite set of the festival, partially because it was a good 100 minutes long. Thurston wasn't quite as on as when I saw them at the Marquee in Phoenix but he was still a wonder to watch. Kim sounded a little rough (at least partially due to mic issues) but she was still a bundle of energy, bouncing and spinning around. The setlist included Rain On Tin, Drunken Butterfly, Schizophrenia, I Love You Golden Blue, Pattern Recognition (plus a couple other Sonic Nurse tracks) plus the ever-popular closer, "Teenage Riot plus 15 minutes of guitars being rubbed/struck/rested upon/bounced over available objects."

We were up in front (between the soundboard and the stage) for the last three sets which was good for watching facial expressions, interaction and the actual playing of the instruments... but it wasn't a good thing for the sound. Everything sounded boomy and the vocals were hard to hear to the point that most of the time I had to fill them in myself (in my head, that is.) At times it also sounded (or, rather, didn't sound) like the toms weren't miked. Note: I suspected but didn't test the notion that the sound with be much, much better back by/behind the soundboard until the following day during Spoon. Seeing what's going on up on stage is most of why I go to shows; pristine, predictable sound is available on CDs, you know.

A review of Monday to follow... eventually.

Content Protected

2005-09-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

I just figured it out. Yes, I'm a little slow. Sue me.

OK, the backstory: I bought Howl by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. This is the first album across which I've come which has non-trivial content protection. The CD had the above logo and some text alerting the consumer to this... but the back also has loads of other text so I missed it. Last time I went to a local CD shop these logos seemed to be on most every new release on any major label (including their subsidiaries.) Will it spread to indies? I don't know.

When the CD is put in a computer an application starts up which allows you listen to the CD, created up to 3 (total) back-ups (full copies... except for the ability to make more back-ups or digital music files) and rip digital music files. These digital music files, however, are of limited use. Most PC-based music players won't play them... and neither will most any digital music jukebox (read: iPod, Creative.)

I'll note that various folks are working to get it so these files will play in iPods (since they have most of the market) and probably some other digital music jukeboxes... but many will be left out to dry. But this doesn't matter anyway.

Now supposedly you can rip mp3s by first ripping their special digital music files, burning a CD from them and then ripping from that CD... but I'm not sure that this'll work (I haven't tried it but I don't expect those files to let me burn a CD.) This, however, doesn't matter. Even if that doesn't work someone will figure out how to make it work... or some version will be released somewhere without the content protection and mp3s will get out.

This may slow down piracy a little... but it won't stop it. That's not why this was done, though. This was done as a prosecutorial tool.

If I get caught with mp3s of Take Them On, On Their Own on my computer or Creative it doesn't matter; they have to prove that I acquired those mp3s illegally. If I get caught with mp3s of Howl on my computer, Creative or an mp3 CD then I can be prosecuted as there is no way to legally acquire mp3s of these songs.

Disclaimers, in no order whatsoever: I am not a lawyer. I don't work for any major labels so I don't actually know what they were thinking. There are court cases pending on numerous bits covered here. I'd figure they'd still have to have a warrant to search digital music jukeboxes and computers for offending files. I actually don't know what happened to all those high profile cases where RIAA or record companies or whoever sued folks who downloaded music. I realize I might could've been writing about ArthurFest rather than getting into this now... but that'll come later.

Fantasy Football

2005-08-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

This is some guy ranting about why he hates fantasy football (which he has never played... he states (though it'd be clear regardless.)) I have no real repsonse mainly because he's not attacking me or the way I play. I'm there socially (no, stop laughing.) Fantasy sports can provide an interesting frame for discussion... and collecting people can inspire comraderie as well... and since most of us (from the main league/set of leagues I'm in) are the sort that grew up scanning boxscores on a daily basis we'd be paying that much attention to the sports anyway. Then again, I've been living off my past in fantasy sports for years now... my interest in sporting events has declined precipitously. There was a big break back in '94 when I left for college and MLB went on strike... but I got back into baseball bigger starting with the '99 All-Star Game (Pedro's 6 consecutive strikeouts)... a year which also featured an NBA strike... and me losing access to student tickets at the U of A.)

The bit that forced me to link to it:

Point-spread bettors have been doing the same thing for decades, of course, watching a game not for who wins or loses, but for who covers and who doesn't. It's like tuning into NBC Nightly News not to find out what went on in the world that day, but to count the number of times Brian Williams uses the word "Pentagon.'' It elevates the irrelevant to a level of real importance.

Oh, I so want in on this.

I've played fantasy ultimate frisbee while watching tournaments but I've never really gone beyond sports. (Unless you count things like the Oscar's Pick 'em bit Yahoo! runs each year... but I'd call that an entirely differnet animal.)

I thought about a dead pool but then I realized it had nothing to do with Mission of Burma. Also I don't know anything about celebrities.

...but fantasy NewsCasters (or somesuch) would kick some serious ass.

-Link via Fark.

Two Down, Two to Go

2005-08-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

I read Justine a few months ago; I finished Balthazar this evening. Mountolive is currently scheduled for a December start-date, with Clea to follow several months after that. And at this point what I'd really want to do would be to just keep going through the cycle.

Justine is relatively straightforward, at least as a self-contained unit. It is written by a human narrator, from his point of view, on his experiences.

Balthazar is written from the point of view of the same guy after he showed the manuscript for Justine to his friend (Balthazar, even) and got back commentary. Some of the novel is quoted from Balthazar's interlinear (the notes) by some is the narrator retelling the story, relating new (to him) episodes... especially ones he was not privy to.

The flow is a little rough... though the book has some intensly lyrical passages as well. Part I (105 pp in the edition I have) was strong, Part II (75 pp) was long, Parts III and IV (65 pp combined) were quick and packed with wonderfulness.

Flashback

2005-08-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend the local independant radio station, 103.9 the Edge, had a 90's flashback weekend.

It was quite accurate: I didn't hear any At the Drive-In, Superchunk, Babes in Toyland, Silkworm, Dismemberment Plan, Les Savy Fav, Lush, etc.

That being said, I, of course, didn't expect to hear such bands... but the 90's flashback weekend was still less than exciting. They merely increased the frequency of the 90's songs that still get played.

A few back they did a random play weekend where, well, interstitial to the songs with which they normally saturate the airwaves they took randomized selections from a much, much broader playlist... even if, again, most of these songs can (or at least could) be found elsewhere on the radio. Still, it was nice hearing some weird Prince... even if I sat through most of Come On Feel The Noise before I realized that I was on the wrong station. It isn't that I would've enjoyed the song more were it being played on the Edge... it's just that I had less home that another station would be playing anything worthwhile. Plus I figured the song would end about 3 minutes before it did.

When I first started listening again to the radio regularly - when my Creative broke - I noted that The Edge had gotten a lot better. I still couldn't listen to it for more than an hour because I can barely make it through one song by the Killers, two is too much.

I am now fully sick of listening to the radio (after what, a couple months?) I don't need to hear (Sublime, RHCP, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Killers, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Audioslave) daily... much less multiple times per day. The scary thing is this is still the best rock radio station in town.

101.5 The Zone culls from a similar list except that they're more likely to play Linkin Park or Staind too. They also carry Stern which means there's just no music (or anything else worthwhile) in the morning.

93.3 KDKB is the rock station. Not as hard (overall) as KUPD and not as alternative (overall) as The Zone or The Edge and more classic than any of them. This station has been around forever and, IIRC, hasn't changed significantly.

100.7 KSLX has also been around for quite some time... which makes sense for a station that plays the classic rock. Their current artist of the month is Crosby, Stills and Nash.

97.9 KUPD is the hard rock station... playing... I don't know, MachineHead and Sevendust and Ra and Audioslave.

Those are ordered by likelihood I'll find a song I want to listen to... though recently when scanning I've been going from some point near the bottom of the list and moving up using the theory that since (a) it is most likely no station will be playing anything I particularly want to hear and (b) the best thing which could be played by KUPD would be better than the average on The Edge I don't have to worry about what could be playing elsewhere.

Also I listen to KBAQ about as much as the others combined. Or at least the non-Edge ones combined.

Lions

2005-08-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

I want to keep this updated but, really, there's nothing I want to write about.

My Creative is working great with the new 60GB harddrive. I do think it is using more battery power but I haven't had it run out on me yet despite almost constant use from around 7am to around 5pm.

I have a large painting project that I need to finish in the next 4 months or so. Start too. Large, in this case, meaning 4' by 5'. The largest one I've done previously is 3' by 2' and hanging above and to the right of my monitor. It should be no deal, really, except that I'm lazy and generally unwilling to work on such things if I don't have a good chunk of time... which will be a problem. I think at some point I need to just find a good free weekend and take a day or so off of work so I have a nice string of free time.

Results: Pixies Album Competition

2005-08-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

I've delayed long enough so I'll just get to it:

The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions is Surfer Rosa.

This is probably not shocking. The results, however, were clear and this result will be posted on the sidebar.

Thank you to those who participated. To those who didn't, find out more by following the links presented in the post on Pixies Track 15.

On to the analysis:

Total Points (average points per track)
Surfer Rosa: 101.4 (7.2)
Trompe Le Monde: 88 (5.9)
Doolittle: 87.6 (5.8)
Bossanova: 56 (4.0)

First Place Votes
Surfer Rosa: 13
Doolittle: 12
Trompe Le Monde: 7
Bossanova: 3

My personal rankings came out much the same as the overall rankings. One thing that struck me is that Trompe Le Monde doesn't get the first place love but it holds it's own overall. This makes sense to me; it's a great record full of solid, solid songs but it doesn't reach the highs of the first two albums. At least, that's my take.

Only two tracks got all available first place votes (after discounting COP votes, of course.) The top 9, ranked by average votes:

River Euphrates - 4.0
Bone Machine - 3.8
Broken Face - 3.7
Planet of Sound - 3.5
Monkey Gone to Heaven - 3.5
Cactus - 3.5
Oh My Golly! - 3.5
Hang Wire - 3.5
Motor to Roswell - 3.5

Gouge Away also got all available first place votes... but it only had one competitor.

Six songs got all last place votes:

Rock Music
Ana (3 votes)
All Over the World
There Goes My Gun
Stormy Weather
The Navajo Know (against only Gouge Away)

I will now offer, once again, a big thank you to all who participated.

*********************************************************
Also here are the Come On Pilgrim-including results:

Eric, voting the Come On Pilgrim song on top 7 of 8 times made it easy to convert your rankings to 4 album rankings. Converting mine was still straightforward but not at the cut and paste level.

Total Points (average points per track)
Surfer Rosa: 94 (6.7)
Doolittle: 79 (5.3)
Trompe Le Monde: 77 (5.1)
Come On Pilgrim: 65 (8.1)
Bossanova: 54 (3.9)

First Place Votes
Come On Pilgirm: 8
Surfer Rosa: 8
Doolittle: 8
Trompe Le Monde: 4
Bossanova: 2

Points from the first 8 tracks:
Come On Pilgrim: 65
Surfer Rosa: 60
Doolittle: 47
Trompe Le Monde: 41
Bossanova: 28

One track, I've Been Tired, got two fives (that is two first place votes within the first 8 tracks) while two tracks paired a 5 with a 2 (Caribou and Tame.) The other 5 fives all were paired with a four or a three.

Top 10 Pixies Songs

2005-08-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

This is my list. Also, it is unranked:

Bone Machine
Broken Face
Cactus
Gigantic
Is She Weird
I've Been Tired
Levitate Me
Planet of Sound
River Euphrates
Tame

This includes no tracks later than 8 and only one song each from Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde. One of those albums, however, surprised me in the Pixies Album Competition... the results of which are forthcoming.

Update

2005-07-31T16:57:00.000-07:00

First off I am not holding off on the Pixies Album Competition because I'm hoping for more participation. I don't do promotion... which means I'm not going to get much participation. I can live with that. Anyway, I just haven't gotten to it. Because...

I picked up my harddrive from the FedEx yesterday. They tried to deliver it on Friday but as no one was home they just left a note. I was on my way - after rushing out - Friday evening when I noticed they had Saturday hours so I went afterwork yesterday. The great thing was I had something to ship elsewhere but no box. The person helping me at the counter pointed out that the package I was picking up came in a box... a box which just happened to be slightly larger than what I was shipping. Beautiful, eh.

Currently my Creative has two tracks on it: "Reformat" by Les Savy Fav and "Into the Woods" by Silkworm. These were my test subjects; it works fine. Soon 7,000 or so others will follow.

This makes me exceedingly happy.

Display of Power

2005-07-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

When this blog started I had a link to Armed and Dangerous on my sidebar. I dropped it after a month or two because it had been two or three months since he had posted anything.

Then in July I found a quote and link in a post at Fancy Store-Bought Dirt. I went over and read the referenced post (and the other one that was up by that point) and promptly forgot about the blog. Well, it's certainly back up, with several rather interesting posts over the past two weeks.

I may disagree with this guy as much (if not more) than I agree with him... but it's still required reading. And maybe a reason to figure out how RSS feeds work, or, rather, how to work them.

Visitation

2005-07-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

I am back, eh. I'm certainly not up for relating the trip as a whole... and won't be, partially because that's just not what I'm doing here. I can, however, throw up a few comments.

I liked Chicago. I was happy that the Field Museum was right near Soldier Field because it'd be nice to see the latter while still having the former be the reason for the trip. Eventually, however, we realized that the throngs heading the same way as us (a) did not represent standard Saturday afternoon Chicago traffic and (b) were going to the other Field for a soccer match. As I ended up wandering around several bookstores near the University of Chicago and eating good pizza I'm fine with it (even though as a result my queue grew during the trip rather than diminished as expected.)

One of the bookstores was Powell's which probably is, in fact, related to the Oregon Powell's.

Interesting was the U of C Seminary Co-op, though not really in a good way. They had a fantastic selection of new books (Co-op: Borders = Borders: Target)... but I didn't buy anything. I had a number of great books I've been looking for in my hands but didn't pull the trigger because I didn't need them right then. Amazon.com (along with Powells.com and others) leaves such a store a curiosity to me. If this bookstore were near me I'm sure I'd buy plenty from them but I wasn't expected to find this bookstore and was travelling.

I suppose I could order from them rather than Amazon... but I want to encourage Amazon to carry the more obscure titles and I'd have to investigate the whole seminary nature of the enterprise.

Yeah, all I'm going to get through is Chicago - with barely a mention of Medici's - even though that accounted for about 6 hours of the trip. Overall it was a good trip but I'm glad to be home.

In non-trip related news, it seems like I haven't missed any of Flax's 192-song tournament. This is a good thing, though it looks like "I'm Waiting for the Man" wouldn't've needed my vote for it to score over "Love and Happiness" which is refreshing. You can read the original rules and participate in the fun too. I think I'll go over there now and try to actually get my votes in for the set brackets listed from last Thursday.

Pixies Track 15

2005-07-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release: The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions will be decided via ballots sent in for the competition described (sort of) in the following text.

Folks: the deadline is 11:59pm Wednesday, July 27th. This isn't a deadline deadline... all I'm saying is that any ballots in before then will certainly be counted. Any after that might or, in fact, might not be. Counted.

After the initial post about the Pixies Album Competition and an Update there have been fourteen other posts much like this one but with different texts: Pixies Track 1, Pixies Track 2, Pixies Track 3, Pixies Track 4, Pixies Track 5, Pixies Track 6, Pixies Track 7, Pixies Track 8, Pixies Track 9, Pixies Track 10, Pixies Track 11, Pixies Track 12, Pixies Track 13 and Pixies Track 14. These posts include slightly contradictory instructions written in my effortlessly bad grammar. Currently we're down to the last two songs as Surfer Rosa and Bossanova failed to show up. Come On Pilgrim checked out long, long ago. The single Bam Thwok... ha ha ha ha. I crack myself up.

Doolittle - Gouge Away
Trompe Le Monde - The Navajo Know

Will this be unanimous? I feel like it should, in fact, not be... but that's just my contrarian nature, right? I'd like to hear someone justify their off vote here... but I don't expect it. Nothing against Gouge Away, but....

Rankings may be left in the comments widget or, for more secrecy - though I'll still consider posting your commentary unless you tell me not to - or whatever you may email them to me at mountmccabe at gmail dot com with Pixies in the subject field.

NOTE: No, I didn't actually make it before midnight. Enjoy anyway.

Pixies Track 14

2005-07-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

Pixies Album Competition, take 14... or, rather, track 14: I'll list the track fourteens off the Pixies four albums. You are then to rank some or all of them. These rankings will count towards the determination of The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions. Feel free to rank other extraneous media (or, you know, whatever) as well. It won't screw up anything important. Feel much more free to include subtle and biting commentary.

Surfer Rosa - Brick Is Red
Doolittle - Silver
Bossanova - Havalina
Trompe Le Monde - Motorway to Roswell

Brick is Red isn't an instrumental, there's just no singing for the first half of the song. Havalina actually is an instrumental... except for the "Havalina"s. And some talk of Arizona. All this while TLM soldiers on.

Comments? Yeah, you've got comments. Send them to me via snail mail (ha!), email (mountmccabe at gmail dot com) or leave them here via the comments widget for all to peruse.

Pixies Track 13

2005-07-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hey! Been trying to tell you... that there's some Pixies songs listed below. No 13, baby. Track, that is. I'm gonna rank 'em. Eventaully. You may too. You may also rank, well, whatever else. The thirteenth at the table works though your fifteen stone first footer needs to go a few posts forward.

Surfer Rosa - I'm Amazed
Doolittle - Hey
Bossanova - Stormy Weather
Trompe Le Monde - Lovely Day

I'm Amazed starts with more dialog but then it goes into an odd little song. It is time for stormy weather. Say that over and over, getting faster as you go. Try and tell me Lovely Day doesn't (have parts that) sound like Head On. And this isn't just because I'm trying to go, uh, all night.

Submit rankings via the comments widget just below this or to my email... which is mountmccabe at something or other. I'd say "most things" but there are several I've not signed up for.

Pixies Track 12

2005-07-15T23:11:00.000-07:00

OK, it's actually like 11:35pm and I'm starting to regret... well, I dunno. The 15 seperate posts thing might not've been the best of ideas but... well, it's an idea. In case you got here by following some link and don't want to click through (or you happen to hit this page after this post is up but before Track 13's post is up and don't want to scroll down to see what's going on but do want to keep reading this to find out what's going on) then... ehh, keep reading. It'll make sense. It's about ranking these songs and anything else having to do with the number 12. It's more about making the funny and insightful comments I'm making because I'm trying to finish this because I want to sleep a few hours tonight and I still need to do other things before then.

Surfer Rosa - Vamos
Doolittle - There Goes My Gun
Bossanova - Hang Wire
Trompe Le Monde - Subbacultcha

Talk about deja vu. No, really. This isn't deja vu but we have seen a lot of this before... sort of. This competition has already seen a Vamos... though this one has a very different vocal performance and a lot of crazy soloing from Joey Santiago. We've seen There Goes My Girl... this is a essentially a recap of the chorus. Subbacultcha would've been here had I gone with the Purple Tape idea. Does the strong Hang Wire win by default? No? OK, fine.

Please offer your rankings of whatever via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which is mountmccabe at gmail dot com.

Pixies Track 11

2005-07-15T23:10:00.000-07:00

Pixies Album Competition, take 11... or, rather, track 11: I'll list the track elevens off the four albums. You are then offered the chance to rank as many of them - and whatever else that is 11th in some sequence - you wish. The end result will be tallied for a bunch of fun stats including the grand prize, The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions (only the relative rankings of songs from the four albums will be used here.) Feel significantly free to include loads of hilarious and biting commentary.

Surfer Rosa - "You Fucking Die"
Doolittle - No. 13 Baby
Bossanova - Blown Away
Trompe Le Monde - Distance Equals Rate Times Time

No, no, we were just goofing around. No, no, number 11, baby. I don't have anything to say about (not being) Blown Away. Yes, yes it does... even if Black Francis seems to get sleepy as the track goes on... plus Earlimart has covered this live.

Please offer your rankings via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which is... something.

Pixies Track 10

2005-07-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

They got a track they call, number 10. Oh my golly, what I wrote in Pixies Album Competition about what Surfer Rosa's entry for track 10 was incorrect... though I'll let you decide if that was purposeful or not. You can also guess what I'd say if you choose the wrong answer.... anyway, here are what the albums have to offer in their attempt to win the title of The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions.

Surfer Rosa - Oh My Golly!
Doolittle - La La Love You
Bossanova - The Happening
Trompe Le Monde - Space (I Believe In)

Where did his wood go? Whistling and people saying "I love you." A song you'd swear was actually on Trompe Le Monde if you didn't know better. Finally does anyone actually know a Jefrey?

Pixies Track 9

2005-07-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

We're done with Come On Pilgrim so this should go quicker now, yes? Heh.

Surfer Rosa - Tony's Theme
Doolittle - Crackity Jones
Bossanova - Down To The Well
Trompe Le Monde - Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons

A song about a superhero and another crazy, early, track. Bossanova offers one of it's hardest tracks and, well, TLM does what TLM does, another great, straightforward guitar song with strong melodies.

Please offer your rankings via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which is mountmccabe at gmail dot com.

Pixies Track 8

2005-07-15T23:07:00.000-07:00

Sitting here wishing on a cement floor, just wishing that I knew which Pixies album was the best. See, that's what this is about (not really: it's about hearing other perspectives on these songs, but that can't be ranked and tallied.) This being the Pixies Album Competition. There are rules and even an update where I introduced new factors (which'll easily factor out.)

If you happened to have missed the descriptions for the previous tracks... then... wow. I'm going to list five Pixies songs. Each is a track 8. Then you give me help, give me hell... I mean, rankings for these songs. And another track 8. Or, you know, whatever. Rankings are fun. And since only the four songs from the four full-lengths will count towards the deciding The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions... it's no skin off my back. Won't you please run over me?

Come On Pilgrim - Levitate Me
Surfer Rosa - Cactus
Doolittle - Mr. Grieves
Bossanova - Dig for Fire
Trompe Le Monde - Letter to Memphis

Are you looking for the mother lode? This is an exceptionally strong bracket for me. The David Bowie cover is cool. Dig For Fire might be my second favorite from Bossanova. The TLM song (LTM) is easily forgotten but it's got a great guitar sound. That's what I think. Do you have another opinion?

Oh well. Write your rankings on your dress and send it to me. Hey, if our places were reversed I'd send it right to you.
UPDATE: Email or the comments box will be fine, too. I suppose.

Pixies Track 7

2005-07-15T23:06:00.000-07:00

Pixies Album Competition, take seven... or, rather, track 7: I'll list the track sevens off the Pixies initial EP and four subsequent albums. You are then offer the chance to rank 'em, or at least those with which you are comfortable. The Come On Pilgrim tracks are more optional than the others - the whole ranking thing being optional - as they won't count towards deciding The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions - for that bit only the relative rankings of songs from the four albums will be used. Feel free to rank other random media (or, you know, whatever) in your comments. Feel so free to include copious amounts of hilarious and scathing commentary.

Come On Pilgrim - I've Been Tired
Surfer Rosa - Where Is My Mind?
Doolittle - Monkey Gone To Heaven
Bossanova - All Over the World
Trompe Le Monde - Palace of the Brine

The COP track is the one you should think of when you want a soft verse/explosive chorus model. The SR track is one of their most well known. The D track - about environmentalism, evolution, both and/or more - is more brilliant than good. The B track is the longest Pixies song at nearly five and a half minutes but it still never blows up. The TLM track is 4 minutes shorter and about sea monkeys.

Please offer your rankings via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which is mountmccabe at gmail dot com.

Placeholder

2005-07-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

OK, real-time has caught up with my falsified time stamps. This is my cue to say oh kiss the world, oh kiss the sky... I mean to say I need to leave for dinner.

Tracks 7 through 15 should be up late this evening, providing relief and distraction while finishing up packing (aka gathering clothes and other important items, putting them in portable carriers, taking them out because I forgot my shoes, etc.)

And here's the last part: I'm planning on getting rid of this post... but ehh.

Pixies Track 6

2005-07-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

Pixies Album Competition, take 6... or, rather, whatever: I'll list stuff. You then have the opportunity to do other stuff. The Come On Pilgrim tracks are more optional than the others - the whole thing is, of course, optional - as they won't count towards deciding The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions - for that bit only the relative rankings of songs from the 4 albums will be used. Feel free to rank other extraneous media (or, you know, whatever) in your comments. Also feel free to include tons of hilarious and biting commentary to make up for my current lack of inspiration.

Come On Pilgrim - Nimrod's Son
Surfer Rosa - River Euphrates
Doolittle - Dead
Bossanova - Ana
Trompe Le Monde - U-Mass

We have a much-maligned song from TLM (cf Thom Yorke's take on"it's educational!"), Black Francis singing from "out here on the Gaza strip," and several songs with lyrics consisting of quasi-biblical references and another quasi-(surf)-ballad from Bossanova.

Please offer your rankings via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which can be found in earlier posts.

Pixies Track 5

2005-07-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Pixies Album Competition, take 5... or, rather, track 5: I'll list the track fives off the Pixies initial EP and five subsequent albums. You are then offer the chance to rank as many of them as you can comfortably do so. The Come On Pilgrim tracks are more optional than the others - the whole thing is, of course, optional - as they won't count towards deciding The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Fivece Power Paintball and Other Diversions - for that bit only the relative rankings of songs from the five albums will be used. Feel five to rank other extraneous media (or, you know, whatever) in your comments. Feel even more five to include five tons of hilarious and biting commentary.

Come On Pilgrim - The Holiday Song
Surfer Rosa - Gigantic
Doolittle - Here Comes Your Man
Bossanova - Is She Weird
Trompe Le Monde - Head On

If Surfer Rosa and Bossanova (and Come On Pilgirm, I suppose) were allowed a bye I'm sure one would be used here. In my mind Kim Deal's Gigantic could take the others with Black Francis' arms tied behind his back... but I know some folks somewhere must like Here Comes Your Man and you gotta love a JAMC cover. Add on top of that my favorite song from Bossanova and the fact that I still have no idea what holiday that song is supposed to be for... and you have a tough track to win. Well, unless you're gigantic, like our big, big love.

Please offer your rankings via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which is mountmccabe at gmail dot com.

Pixies Track 4

2005-07-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

Pixies Album Competition, take 4... or, rather, track 4: I'll list the track fours off the Pixies initial EP and four subsequent albums. You are then offer the chance to rank as many of them as you can comfortably do so. The Come On Pilgrim tracks are more optional than the others - the whole thing is, of course, optional - as they won't count towards deciding The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions - for that bit only the relative rankings of songs from the four albums will be used. Feel free to rank other extraneous media (or, you know, whatever) in your comments. Feel even more free to include tons of hilarious and biting commentary.

Come On Pilgrim - Ed Is Dead
Surfer Rosa - Broken Face
Doolittle - I Bleed
Bossanova - Alison
Trompe Le Monde - The Sad Punk

Alison does not always come paired with Dig For Fire. Other than that, though, this is a pretty morbid group which I'll name extinction.

Please offer your rankings via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which is mountmccabe at gmail dot com.

Pixies Track 3

2005-07-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Pixies Album Competition, take 3... or, rather, track 3: I'll list the track threes off the Pixies initial EP and four subsequent albums. You are then offer the chance to rank as many of them as you can comfortably do so. The Come On Pilgrim tracks are more optional than the others - the whole thing is, of course, optional - as they won't count towards deciding The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions - for that monstrosity only the relative rankings of songs from the four albums will be used. Feel free to rank other extraneous media (or, you know, whatever) in your comments. Feel even more free to include lots of hilarious and biting commentary.

Come On Pilgrim - Isla de Encanta
Surfer Rosa - Something Against You
Doolittle - Wave of Mutilation
Bossanova - Velouria
Trompe Le Monde - Alec Eiffel

Black Francis singing in Spanish set to wild and chaotic (more so) Joey Santiago guitar against "Something Against You", and what was one of my early favorites (Wave of Mutilation), what might be considered an attempt at a ballad (Velouria) and a song I once thought included the lyrics "little lifeboat, little lifeboat" even though it didn't make no sense.

Please offer your rankings via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which is mountmccabe at gmail dot com.

Pixies Track 2

2005-07-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

Pixies Album Competition, take 2... or, rather, track 2: I'll list the track twos off the Pixies initial
EP and four subsequent albums. You are then instructed to rank as many of them as you can comfortably do so. The Come On Pilgrim tracks are more optional than the others - the whole thing is, of course, optional - as they won't count towards deciding The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions - for that I'm only using the relative rankings of songs from the four albums. Feel free to rank other extraneous media (or whatever) in your comments. Feel even more free to include hilarious and biting commentary.

Come On Pilgrim - Vamos
Surfer Rosa - Break My Body
Doolittle - Tame
Bossanova - Rock Music
Trompe Le Monde - Planet of Sound

COP offers a shorter version of a song found on Surfer Rosa (the only song found twice) and then four songs all within 10 seconds of two minutes long. Will Black Francis shouting "Tame" for a minute be enough to top the shouting climax to which Planet of Sound builds? Will everyone forget Break My Body and Rock Music even though they have as much strained shouting as the others?

Please offer your rankings via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which is mountmccabe at gmail dot com.

Pixies Track 1

2005-07-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Pixies Album Competition, take 1... or, rather, track 1: I'll list the track ones off the Pixies initial
EP and four subsequent albums. You rank as many of them as you can comfortably do so. The Come On Pilgrim tracks are more optional than the others - the whole thing is, of course, optional - as they won't count towards deciding The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions - for that I'm only using the relative rankings of songs from the four albums. Feel free to include extraneous media (or whatever) in your rankings. Feel even more free to include hilarious and biting commentary.

Come On Pilgrim - Caribou
Surfer Rosa - Bone Machine
Doolittle - Debaser
Bossanova - Cecilia Ann
Trompe Le Monde - Trompe Le Monde

Bossanova takesa non-standard route and opens with an instrumental... though it is an loud and aggressive song none-the-less. Will that be enough to make a dent against lots of Black Francis screaming? On a side note, you're so pretty when you're unfaithful to me.

Please offer your rankings via the comments widget below or to my email - with Pixies in the subject - which is mountmccabe at gmail dot com.

Update

2005-07-14T22:34:00.000-07:00

It was recommended that I include Come On Pilgrim into the competition. This has pluses and minuses... but I shall refrain from granting this EP full inclusion. I shall, however, allow votes for it. Hell,I shall encourage them. They shall not, however, count towards the official results.

Points are given for comparative rankings so it doesn't matter what extraneous material is included.

Therefore when voting please feel free to include the songs from Come On Pilgrim for the votes for tracks 1 through 8 - I'll even list the songs and cover them in the notes when posting. You can (also) include other collections of approximately fifteen as well - the 15 song live set on the Pixies DVD, tracks on Destruction by Definition, films directed by Stanley Kubrick, years of your life... whatever - ranking them against the Pixies tracks.

The plan, then, will be to report the Official final total, an overall total (including absolutely everything receiving points) and whatever else seems interesting.

Also in the interest of sleep the 15 ballot posts will not be up until later. They will, however, certainly be up before I leave for Chicago.

Pixies Album Competition

2005-07-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I am flying to Chicago. Not terribly long after arriving I shall be driving to Michigan. Several days after that I shall be driving to Ohio. Monday the 25th I shall be flying home from Cleveland.

This will most likely mean that there won't be any blogging 'round here until the 26th or even later. To keep visitors entertained, however, there shall be a competition.

Unfortunately you may not participate unless you are an album released by the Pixies. Come On Pilgrim... not so fast. Surfer Rosa, please stand up. I see Doolittle in the back; and yes, that's you, Bossanova, despite the fact that you're trying to avoid eye contact. I suspect Trompe Le Monde is ditching today... but you're in anyway. Death to the Pixies? Not a chance. That DVD? I don't even know how that would work (interactive menus vs Bone Machine... hmmm....)

I have recently proven an inability to comparatively rank the albums of the Pixies. I jokingly offered the time-tested method of cumulative track-to-track-to-track-to-track rankings... which, mentally, snowballed into this.

There will be 15 seperate posts, one for each album track. The first post (which probably won't be up until tomorrow) will list the four songs (Bone Machine, Debaser, Cecilia Ann, Trompe Le Monde) and a few flippant phrases where I hint at where I'm leaning but my personal votes will not go up until after I get back from my trip. At any rate this is where anyone who stops by is invited to offer their own rankings and/or witty remarks.

I am counting each CD track which means that Surfer Rosa's entry for track 10 is dialog and Bossanova offers instrumentals at both 1 and 14. After great internal debate I have decided to not allow either Surfer Rosa or Bossanova to position their empty which means that the only entries for track 15 are Gouge Away and The Navajo Know.

I will listen to each of the four tracks directly before finalizing my rankings; I recommend that you do so as well. I'll even offer a Rhapsody playlist shuffled just so. This is merely a recommendation, partially because I have no way of policing this (Coast Guard?) and will, of course, count any rankings I get via either the comments box or email (mountmccabe at gmail dot com - and as I often get oddly worded/structured messages please put the word "Pixies" in the subject so I don't try to parse your rankings as text.)

I will tally all rankings received by 11:59pm Wednesday, July 27th. Entries later than that might be included but no promises. Last place (on each ballot) gets one point, second to last gets two, third to last gets three and fourth to last get eight thousand five hundred and thiry seven. I mean four.

The album with the most points wins and will be proclaimed The Official Favorite Pixies Album of Force Power Paintball and Other Diversions (TOFPAoFPPaOD for short...er.)

ArthurFest 2005

2005-07-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

At a recent show some friends pointed me to ArthurFest put on by Arthur Magazine. This will be September 4 & 5 in the Los Angeles metropolitan area somewhere. The seven artists (of 31 currently listed as playing) I knew were enough to convince me that this would be worth the trip... especially since I know other people from Phoenix who are planning on going.

The show is going to be the following bands plus 16. The only artist I knew not represented below is Brad Laner; Rhapsody has neither Medicine nor Electric Company nor - wow... Rhapsody does have Lusk's album but I never knew Brad was in that band (with Greg Edwards of Failure and Autolux)... I'm going to have to hear me that album... and kick myself for not looking into them earlier (I always saw that album at used CD shops while looking for Lush or Luscious Jackson or... other Lus... bands.)

OK, that sentence was a mess. I appologize and will refrain from attempting to recover. The point is there's no Brad Laner... but I'm not sure what he's going to do anyway.

At any rate check out the following; I will be. I have done some research to figure out what songs to pick (well, for the first five I just kinda grabbed something recent-ish.) The line-up sounds very spacy, drony, nosiy... which means I'm stoked.

ArthurFest 2005:
1. Pattern Recognition - Sonic Youth
2. Jumpers - Sleater-Kinney
3. Have Love Will Travel - The Black Keys
4. He War - Cat Power
5. Fireplace - The Olivia Tremor Control
6. At Her Open Door - Dead Meadow
7. Let The Church Roll On - T-Model Ford
8. Antlers Of The Midnight Sun - Comets On Fire
9. The Manifestation - Six Organs Of Admittance
10. Dimension - Wolfmother
11. You May Be Blue - Vetiver
12. Onement - Growing
13. Seven Angels - Earth
14. The Fish - Radar Brothers
15. Enemy - Modey Lemon
16. Lavender Diamond-Emptiness Is A Conductor - Lavender Diamond

Note: Yes, today is an anomaly. I shall neither begin averaging several posts per day nor begin focusing on Rhapsodyblogging.

Sixty Minutes

2005-07-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd see how blogging of playlists via Rhapsody works. This one consists of artists I saw live in June (plus two from early July since I doubt I'll see any more shows.) Most non-local bands I saw are here, Tilly and the Wall, Matt Mays, Be Your Own Pet, Hot IQ and Enon are, off-hand, the only ones missing (they currently do not have songs available via Rhapsody.)

June 2005 Shows:
1. Dis-connect The Dots - Of Montreal
2. Arriving Somewhere But Not Here - Porcupine Tree
3. Independent Thief - Kathleen Edwards
4. Gone Darker - Electrelane
5. You Alone - Street Dogs
6. Give You Nothing - Bad Religion
7. Next Year - Jessica Fletchers
8. This May Hurt (A Little) - Dressy Bessy
9. The Early Years - Sparrow
10. Eat This City - Thunderbirds Are Now!
11. Southern Born Son I Imagine Alive For Real - The Double
12. First Few Desperate Hours - Mountain Goats
13. Go Away - Go Betty Go
14. Drummer boy - Scout Niblett

Drummer Boy

2005-07-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

Friday night was dinner with friends at Tasty Kabob and then a few doors down to Stinkweeds for Scout Niblett.

This was a late show, Wonderful Wednesday started at about 10pm; Scout Niblett came on around 10:40 and played for about 40 minutes.

I haven't been listening long enough to know, really, but text I've come across used Scout Niblett as a person's name; Emma used it more like Cat Power: "We are Scout Niblett." At any rate it was Emma playing guitar and singing (and playing the drum kit for Pom Pom) and Jason Kourkounis playing drums.

For those not familiar the music is a sort of agressive alt-folk full of quiet, almost precious but eerie sections dispersed with brutal attacks... at first glance it reminds one of early PJ Harvey. It's rather simple music with great emotional range.

My favorites were Pom Pom and the closer, Drummer Boy (from I Am, which is the album Rhapsody has.) The turnout was better than I expected for a record store show, 40-50 people. I was in a good position, standing behind a display of 7" singles... which I only barely refrained from flipping through. (Yes, my concentration level sucks even for something as compelling as a show this fantastic.)

The best news is that they are coming back to Phoenix on August 18th, playing at Modified.

For those not in Phoenix that show is part of a reasonably complete US tour beginning July 25th at Salt Lake City.

Carmody

2005-07-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

I picked up a recommendation to read something - I wanna say the Riverworld series - by Philip Jose Farmer sometime, somewhere. On one of my latest used book-buying binges I picked up Father to the Stars... not part of the series but it still looked interesting.

After I read the first "chapter," however, I realized that I was largely mistaken. Or, rather, various clues I took to mean that it was a bizzare and inventive form of quasi-novel were misread. It is, rather, a collection of five short stories published in the 50s and 60s focusing upon a John Carmody. The stories are relatively inventive if a bit simple. Carmody is, at times, a mildly interesting character... the further he moves along in his religious order the less interesting he gets.

When I first realized that they were short stories - after the second "chapter" was mostly unrelated to the first... and I looked more closely at the non-text parts of the book - I was surprised that the stories were presented in an order other than that in which they were published. After reading the earliest stories this made much more sense. the first story, "Attitudes," is neither representative nor terribly good; "Father" is long (90 pages) and not that interesting either.

As a side note, yes, not pay much attention to the back cover and front flaps and whatnot does makes me look pretty stupid... but I tend to prefer to not know anything about a book before I start it other than that I want to read it. The delay between putting a book on a want-list and actually reading it helps in this endeavor.

In this case not knowing much about the book backfired. The first story, "The Night of Light," was odd and compelling and worth reading; the others, however, were less adventurous and generally silly... nothing of the sort I'd read again or recommend.

Cassetteblogging

2005-06-29T21:45:00.000-07:00

I've previously mentioned that the car I recently aquired has a am/fm/cassette player. I'm sure I've mentioned that as the am/fm portion offers little of value to me I was stuck with my tape collection, which has had only minor growth since 1994.

This recently has meant listening to Yes and Def Leppard (there have been other bad influences as well) and trying to cope. This didn't work so well so a couple weeks ago I went to the one Zia in the Phoenix area that still has cassettes and picked up half a dozen. Three are stellar and will be played repeatedly; the other three are, well, better than REO Speedwagon and Joe Satriani (mostly because I've heared REO, etc more.) This half dozen was, certainly, the most diverse set of music I've ever purchased in one go.

At any rate I picked up seven more at Zia today so I figured this was as good a time as any to report back on the first group.

Billy Bragg: Talking with the Taxman About Poetry - I guess I figured it was $2 and my friend had talked up his collaboration with Wilco. Very British folk... not bad... but not entirely engaging either.

John Coltrane: Blue Train - This was instantly my favorite Coltrane album. Granted I'm not all that familiar with his catalog (not that I have to point that out) but I will wear this one out. Works well at the job, too.

Bob Dylan: Greatest Hits - I saw the Volume II today... but didn't pull that trigger. I knew many of these songs but none of them very well. The lyrics - especially from a fundamentals of poetry sense - are fantastic and some of the music is cool (see Subterranean Homesick Blues... and yes, I'm sorry (what) I (said should have) screwed up that (somewhat) informal QB thing since I was an ignorant dolt concerning Subterannean Homesick Alien and the source of that title) but... ehh. I either need to hear much more - albums, not greatest hits should be my rule - or less.

Public Enemy: He Got Game - There's no Copland here (not that that would be a bad thing), just to clarify things. I like Flavor Flav-featured songs here more than normal (read: some) and while there are some misses the standout tracks such as "He Got Game" and "All You Need Is Jesus" are plenty to carry the album. This was a good movie; I need to see it again.

the Replacements: Pleased to Meet Me - I knew 4 of these 11 from All For Nothing, and beyond those (all fantastic songs) we have "I.O.U." and "Never Mind." Some great straightforward rock that fills a large hole in my collection. This tape will also be played until it breaks.

Muddy Waters: King Bee - Classic Blues artist I never have really gotten to know. This one hasn't done much for me yet but it's good enough to listen to. From the AMG review: "Not the place to start a Muddy Waters collection, but a good one to add to the collection after you've absorbed the classics on Chess." Heh.

Of the seven I picked up I got one each from the three of the artists above you'd think I'd want more from - a little surprising given the small supply I had to select from - and three artists I already have CDs by and Come On Feel the Lemonheads.

10

2005-06-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

It looks like I've topped out at 10 shows for June. From my earlier list I added Kathleen Edwards but missed the Colorstore show on Friday to hang out with friends and the Architecture in Helsinki due to camping. Then there's the Rogue Wave/Helio Sequence show tonight... and Warped Tour going on right now... but I'm not going to go. I need to catch up on laundry, miscellaneous nonsense and, most importantly, sleep. And blogging.

Enon were OK, I'm not terribly familiar but they played enough stuff I recognized for that not to be the problem. Toko's keys monitor wasn't working so after the first three songs she played bass and didn't sing lead at all, which cuts down on their variety. Better, however, were the opening bands, Sparrow, from Vancouver, and Thunderbirds Are Now! from Detroit. The latter were upset (well) that Detroit had just lost to the Spurs but they lit the place up. They had not played Phoenix before and asked the crowd how many knew their music; I knew who they were but hadn't heard their music. Now I own both CDs they had for sale.

Last night marked the Moutain Goats return to Modified. Darnielle played an odd set, including fewer songs from The Sunset Tree than I expected - no "This Year", for example. This is due to the shortish set (only about 45 minutes) but it also made room for other tracks such as The Color in Your Cheeks... which I had assumed that I'd never hear live. There were other older songs I didn't recognize (such as "The Recognition Scene which somehow I knew was from Sweeden) and a pair of mellow songs from Tallahassee - the title track and Game Shows Touch Our Lives. The 4 or 5 unrecognized songs, rather than alienated me, impressed upon me even more forcefully how great of a songwriter John Darnielle is. I own his last four proper albums; I need to just keep going.

The first band to play was Tierra del Fuego, who played the Colorstore/Goodbye Blue Monday show at the Emerald Lounge. They are a local band that has only started playing though the members are from established locals including Rum Tenor and ...And Guppies Eat Their Young so they're not like a band just starting out. I tried to google their name... and got nothing of value even including "Phoenix." I added "Rum Tenor" and my blog was the second hit. Anyway, enough of this... they have an alt-country type sound and some fantastic songs. I'm looking forward to catching them again.

The second band was the Double from New York. I'm not sure how to describe them but were stellar. Very experimental, noisy guitar. The synths and the general sound made me think of Suicide (though one should not read too much into that.) I need to listen to their CD (their next one is due out on Matador in September) and see what I can say there.

Recovering

2005-06-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

I got home from work today at a reasonable time so I'm able to do more than sit on the chaise and half-watch the Pistons game.

This involves visiting the website for the Slow Singal Fade, an LA-based shoegazer-esque band that opened for Electrelane. All three bands that played that night at the Troubadour were excellent, I would've bought SSF's CD if they were still around after the show, I did buy the EP that Nashville-based Be Your Own Pet had for sale - very energetic art(y) punk - and, well, I already own all of the albums/singles Electrelane had for sale.

Getting sidetracked already I'll point out that I've recently had a good run of opening bands; Goodbye Blue Monday (from Thursday), the above plus Street Dogs - opened for BR on Sunday, they were good straight up punk though not quite CD worthy, and, as my friend noted, "a little too Boston" - and the two bands Sunday night (opening for Dressy Bessy): Hot IQ and The Jessica Fletchers, both good, fun psyche-pop bands, from Denver and Oslo, respectively. Hot IQ were advertised as sort of a cross between Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Thermals... which makes some sense even if it sort of oversells them.

I find it odd that I managed to stay in the second row of bodies and keep my glasses on the entire time at a Bad Religion show at the House of Blues Sunset Strip. I guess I was near enough to the front to miss the circle pit getting mostly pushing and the occasional crowd surfer.

The funniest part of the show was when Greg was talking about their recent show at the Hollywood Palladiam and how it was recorded for the upcoming DVD: It's going to be released in, uhh, August or September... err... I'll have to check with the label [walks over to Mr. Brett, they whisper back and forth a bit] The DVD is out September 20th. (I may be wrong on the date but that's not important.)

I would not have bought a car with an manual transmission if I lived in LA. Phoenix has neither the hills nor the traffic, much less that glorious juxtoposition of the two. Continuing along these lines I finally figured out why Highway driving usually yields better gas mileage than City driving: most "City" driving involves lots of lights and traffic jams. I don't see those in my driving (well, very rarely) so I couldn't understand why Highway driving - at higher than optimal speeds - wouldn't be worse.

Yes, I know many people in Phoenix have long commutes and that many have slow commutes but the options for avoiding these both more varied and more reasonable in Phoenix than in, say, LA.

Yes, I know LA has much more going on... but a good argument could be made that it's too much, and not merely because almost everything is a pain to get to. I live in southern Cave Creek and am 25-35 miles from downtown Phoenix or Tempe... but in the evenings travel is only 30-45 minutes.

I finished Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. I sort of had to rush through it - which was basically just budgeting the time; it was easy to read - so that I could finish it in time to leave it with my friend in Pasadena. I also returned The Confusion to him and received the newer novel by both Palahniuk and Stephenson in return. I have not yet updated my queue to include these developments.

I tried to leave Distress too but he had already gone there. In fact, at the BR show, after I pointed out that camera phones are the (poor quality) loophole around most "no camera" policies he asked what the security staff would do if they came across implanted corneal video recording devices (as a serious question, forgetting that something similar happened in Distress.)

I am just now getting a chance to listen to the CDs procured at Amoeba; this is one bad thing about not having a CD player in the car. Another is when your Creative breaks. Ugh.

90 Days

2005-06-20T23:08:00.000-07:00

I got my Creative about 120 days ago. It has a 90 day warranty. Guess what just stopped working? Being past warranty means Creative offers no support other than the simple FAQs posted on the website. This hopefully will turn out to be false (or atleast severely overstated) but I'm gonna have to wait to find out.

Fortunately it was fine for my trip to LA and back. Fortunately I have all the music on my computer harddrive.

Unfortunately I am now (at least temporarily) with tapes and radio both in my car and at work.

Ewan

2005-06-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

Wow. I just bought tickets for a rock show... for me and my parents. I mean, I have half-season tickets for the Phoenix Symphony with my parents, but that's a little different.

The White Stripes are coming to town a couple weeks after my father's birthday in August and I figured he'd want to go. It's at the Dodge Theater and we have seats seats so for this situation that can count as a good thing. Inviting my dad didn't occur to me when they played at Mesa Amp, an outdoor GA venue.

I'm not sure what he'll think of the new album - not sure what I think of the new album - but he's big on the other stuff, songs like Ball and Biscuit, Death Letter and Stop Breaking Down (yes, I know only one of those is actually Jack's song.)

It'll be, err, interesting.

Lap 1

2005-06-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

The Emerald Lounge is a dive bar - which is not to say that it's dirty and crawling with rats but that it's dark and empty. There are two rooms, a front room with a bar and a few booths then a back room with a jukebox, little tables and a small stage where bands play. The latter is, of course, why I go there. I don't mind that it's dark and sparse on the entertainments (no darts, pool tables or even a Golden Tee) but I don't like how quickly (and how often) it fills up with smoke.

Downtown Phoenix is a little closer to me but in Tempe they have no smoking in the bars.
I still smell like smoke this morning but I can breathe so I'm doing alright.

Anyway I caught the first of four consecutive shows last night; Colorstore with Goodbye Blue Monday and Tierra del Fuego. It was probably the most crowded I've seen the Emerald Lounge, though quite a few folks wandered out after Tierra del Fuego. (Not quite as extreme as the last show I saw there; I was shocked by how many people showed up for Curium, Blink, Half-Handed Cloud and Fatigo... but 50% were there for Curium (and left after they played) and another 40% were in the remaining three bands.)

GBM are from San Diego and are starting out on a three week tour that takes them as far as New York before looping back through Denver and Billings... which makes for a lot of driving. I was quite impressed by how strong they sounded, enough to buy their new CD and wish I had more cash on me. First impression the sound struck me as similar to early ATDI (biggest difference being the vocals), to make a rough, rough comparison.

Colorstore might've been off a little bit but part of that may be that they've been playing quite a bit of new music that they were working on during their break. Still a good show, though.

After showering and breakfast I shall be off to Hollywood for the next two laps, Electrelane and Bad Religion... after which I'm driving back to Phoenix for Father's Day/my older sister's birthday (hopefully bearing gifts from Amoeba) and Dressy Bessy.

Somewhere Else

2005-06-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

The Kathleen Edwards show was fantastic last night. I was a little wary while we were having pre-show dinner at the Sonaran Brewing Company around the corner, the recent sell-outs (including the Bad Religion show I'm going to in Hollywood this Saturday) had me nervous. There was no reason for it, though, as there was plenty of room in the parking lot and - in stark contrast to the Of Montreal show the previous Monday where there were under-21 folks packed shoulder to shoulder in the whole front area - they had chairs and little tables set up around the stage. The crowd might've been 100-150 (rather than ~350.)

Matt Mays opened with a 45 minute set; his inbetween song banter was around as entertaining as his songs... partially because I never quite got a feel for how serious he was being. It often came off (to me) as quite ridiculous but he certainly wasn't up there cracking up. The songs were good, too.

Kathleen Edwards played after a short break, starting out by announcing that two of her band members were at the bar; they had tried to set up the drum set but it took up half the stage so she fired them for the evening. Thus it was Kathleen, Jim and Colin playing for about 70 minutes (closing big with a Gram Parsons cover and "Back to Me") before a short encore break then came back for three more songs.

I just loved it; the two friends who came along loved it as well (enough to buy CDs, even.)

I would've bought a shirt (which would've been killer to wear to the BR show on Saturday) but the largest size they had was Large. Since they were American Apparel shirts I would've needed an XXL... because they run small and they shrink (even when washed in cold water and hung to dry.) And it's not like I'm all that big, I'm 6', 200#... which is above average for an American male but not but much (2', 20#?). Oh well. The shirts feel fine and the sweatshop free aspect is cool... but it'd be nice if they weren't terrible shirts.

Selling

2005-06-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

Two sold out shows in a row. I don't get it. The Greeley Estates pre-Warped Tour kickoff show yesterday night was cut off the same as the Of Montreal show on Monday. This may not be entirely correct as I don't know how they do capacity for an all-ages show in a venue with a cage.

The Clubhouse probably holds something like 700 people... but it is often split into an all-ages area from the stage to the bar and then a 21+ area which is about the same size. When I got in at 6:45pm the underage area was packed and there were maybe a dozen people scattered around the bar. As the night wore on the 21+ part filled up but it was never as packed as the front... even as underaged fans left.

All 7 bands playing were locals and people don't often stay after their band plays. I guess I have to admit to this but [a] I saw (all) 5 bands that played before the Stiletto Formal and [b] I had to pick up my brother to give him a ride to Phoenix. Granted, he wouldn't've minded if I took another hour or so but I was still trying to find a way to get tto the Colorstore show at Paper Heart.

The Stiletto Formal were great, they played five songs off their EP along with one brand new one... which increases the total number of songs I've heard from them to 8 (they played a different brand new one May 13th at Modified; that one was called something like "Give Me 50 CCs of Anything Strong") though they might've also played non-EP tracks the first time I saw them.

In State

2005-06-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

It's a good thing I had a ticket for the Of Montreal show; they actually had to turn people away. The show was sold out... and if I had shown around 8pm like I did - I left with about 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter of the Pistons-Heat game and listened to the end on the way to the show - without a ticket I probably would not have gotten in.

Tilly and the Wall didn't have any vinyl copies of their album with them; they're almost out entirely. Maybe a lot of other people figured that they'd spend their money on the vinyl since they already got the mp3s from the Team Love website which offers them for free.

I did, in fact, not go to the shows 06/07 - 06/10 which I stated I probably would not go to. I did, however, stop at Zia and pick up half a dozen cassettes to listen to in the car when I don't want to use the Creative. So far I absolutely love Pleased to Meet Me (I had heard the Replacements' All for Nothing comp but no actual albums) and I've also listened to King Bee by Muddy Waters. UP next, I think, is Dylan's greatest hits followed by some PE, Coltrane and Billy Bragg. Then it's back to the hits of the 80's and early 90's that is my tape collection - aka a lot of Bad Company, Satriani, Queen and Rush with a little Catherine Wheel and Alice in Chains.

One of the CDs I got at Zia - I had planned to avoid that section... which shows what a stupid planner I am - was Kathleen Edwards' latest, Back to Me. I listened to all of both of her albums on Rhapsody after reading Hanson write about her and picked this up to increase my listening possiblities before the show on Monday at the Rhythm Room... which means I heard about her just in time, eh.

This one thing I love about Rhapsody; I can actually hear songs, albums and artists folks refer to, be it Matt in his 500 Songs listings or people talking about random bands on the Coachella message board.

I still haven't figured out which show to go to tonight. I guess the Paper Heart is closer than the Clubhouse... ugh... I'm very ambivalent here.

Last Days of Disco

2005-06-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

I have no interesting frame for this at this time so this will go here as a placeholder. I will not be surprised if I either can't think of anything better or just plain forget about this opening statement. Anyway, the following are recent things going on and changes; the aggregate being uncharacteristically significant (though some listed are still minor):

I am back to working 7am - 3:30pm: I had worked 10:30am - 7pm since the start of the year; that schedule was my idea... and I was shocked when it lasted more than a few weeks. We were busy at work and this effectively made the lab I work in bigger by staggering shifts. I wholly got used to sleeping in until 9:30am... to the extent that if my alarm didn't go off I wouldn't wake until around 11am (which only happened twice.) I was never very good at waking up early and getting things done before work; I was good at staying up past 2am. Getting home at 7:30pm (or, more often, after 8 or even 9pm as I usually work OT) makes for a short "normal folks evening" but it was nice for shows that started at 8 or 9pm and went past midnight.
I got a new cell phone: I went from the default Nokia to a newer Samsung. OK, this one isn't all that exciting. My original service contract wasn't up until August but Sprint lets you get the same new signup discount on a phone if you wait 18 months... plus I got to change my plan to one where I'll save around $10 a month... which will pay for the phone upgrade in 8 months.
I am flying to Michigan in July: I technically am only flying to Illinois and Arizona... but most of the trip will be spent in Michigan. Almost all of the extended family lives in Michigan somewhere. The itinerary thus far: flying into Chicago (Saturday),taking either a train or a rental car to western Michigan ... and then slowly making our way to near North Canton, OH for a wedding on the following Saturday (and the rehersal dinner the night before.) The return flight is out of Cleveland on that Monday. Oddly the Detroit roundtrip flight was more expensive as well as more driving.
I traded in my Trooper and got a Civic: I utterly despise the car search process. My Trooper was a '93 and I had recently went over 160k, it had been a while since I had used it as a 4WD... and the projected repair budget to keep it running was unacceptable. I will get better gas mileage, my insurance should drop and... I lose my CD player. I'm back on cassettes for general commuting (short trip anyway) and my Creative with a tape adapter when I want something more. Hmm, let's go into this a little more: I hate looking for cars. There are either far, far too many options or far too few. I have never paid attention to cars, I can't tell make/model much of the time without seeing the bits on the back that give it away, I have never cared about car racing of any stripe... you could not call me a car lover. This is approximately the only area of my life where I'd love to have a product simply assigned to me by the government. I don't care about the differences between cars, I just want something that runs, isn't tiny and is efficient. I like that I got something so common, so generic, so boring. I am not a bumper/band sticker person so there probably won't be anything unique about the car. The only break in this is that the car is a forest green rather than silver/grey.
I am currently blogging about personal shit: I am much happier to have personal details be included not as an end unto themselves but because they come out naturally as a part of other discussions. Enough is revealed necessarily and incidentally; I want stuff about me to be implicit rather than explicit, generally. It won't happen again, I promise.

That's all to report currently.

June of 2005

2005-05-31T23:24:00.000-07:00

I got kind of lazy for the end of May, I went to Caribou but skipped Autechre the next evening and failed to see the Dresden Dolls three days in a row - two opening for NIN (I missed tickets going on sale and they were gone quite quick... and scalpage was around $100 each) followed by a headlining date with ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead and the (International) Noise Conspiracy opening. I don't care for the Dolls I've heard (most if not all of the album a couple different times scattered over a few months, all on Rhapsody) but they're supposed to be quite entertaining live. If I were to go to any of those shows, though, it would've been for the couplings.

At any rate June should be busier:

June 6: Of Montreal; Tilly & the Wall; Peachcake @ the Rhythm Room - I actually have a ticket for this show. This isn't nearly as shocking as the fact that I had a ticket for the Caribou show. I have never had a ticket for a show at the Modified (capacity ~150, I've only shown up and found it sold out once, circa February 2004 for Iron & Wine.)
June 11: either Colorstore @ Paper Heart (with Asleep in the Sea; Rum Tenor and others) or the Stiletto Formal @ the Clubhouse (Greeley Estates pre-Warped Tour kickoff show)... I don't know, I haven't seen Colorstore since December but it'll be a while before I'll be able to see the Stiletto Formal again.
June 12: Porcupine Tree @ Arizona Beach Club (nee Club Rio) - I really don't know their music but my friends do and are going so I'm considering it.
June 16: Colorstore with Goodbye Blue Monday @ Emerald Lounge. Wow, it just hit me that it doesn't matter that I no longer work my late schedule (10:30am-7pm) because I'm taking the 17th off! I was going to comment that I probably would not be able to make this show... but it's free and all I need to do the 17th is make Hollywood by around 7pm.
June 17: Electrelane @ Troubadour (Hollywood) - I drove to Tucson on a Friday last September, this Friday show is a bit of a longer drive away. Axes, however, is just fantastic.
June 18: Bad Religion @ House of Blues (Hollywood) - Last Chance to See! An alternative would be the cheaper Go-Betweens show... but I don't know them as well. I also might opt for something else entirely, I like BR live but I don't need to go to the show.
June 19: Dressy Bessy @ Modified - I do, however, need to go to this show.
June 23: Enon @ Modified - I didn't go last time around, this time... I dunno. I very easily could be ready for a break. I'm sure it'd be a great show, though.
June 24: Colorstore @ the Trunk Space - I've not been to this venue... OK, it is a Grand Avenue performace space/gallery... likely in the vein of the Paper Heart (see June 11)
June 25: Architechture in Helsinki @ Modified - I've heard some of their stuff via Rhapsody... and when it's good it's very good. I can this show as being very fun.
June 28: Mountain Goats @ Modified - I first saw Colorstore at Darnielle's last show at Modified back in 2003. That was a fantastic show.
June 29: Rogue Wave; Helio Sequence @ Modified - A distinct possiblity. I really liked Helio Sequence live the last time I saw them but decided that I wouldn't enjoy them on CD; I didn't take much notice of Rogue Wave last time I saw them (Mates of State headlined but Rogue Wave and Hawnay Troof got there late so Rogue Wave ended up playing last) but I've been taking notice of Out of the Shadow.

12 shows in a month would easily be a record for me but it would put me back on track for the year as the tally so far is a mere 15 (a festival is counted once each day, thus Coachella counted as 2 shows, the New Times Music Fest as 1.) I'm not counting Mars Volta (06/07) either of the Bright Eyes/Faint shows (06/08 & 06/09), Crystal Method (06/10), Kasabian (06/12), Hot Hot Heat (06/17, conflict) or Warped Tour (06/29, conflict)... mainly because while these shows might get the greenlight during a down month hitting 17 shows is not something I could manage.

July will be a lighter month, partially because I'm flying to Michigan to visit family and attend a wedding in Ohio. As a sidenote I'm not sure I should use the phrase "flying to Michigan" because the flying might be done to Chicago and then from Cleveland as this would save (at currently quoted prices) $60 in airline prices and around 150 miles of driving at the back end.

Oh, and the reason I started this, the only show July has schedule thus far is Scout Niblett @ Stinkweeds (Tempe location, unfortunately.)

Looking out further Coldplay, Oasis and the White Stripes are all coming... I may be able to justify the ticket price for the latter. Oh, and, somewhere around that time is Bumbershoot which I want to make it up for... but we'll see. I don't know if I'll be able to swing Michigan and Seattle in the same year.

And I break

2005-05-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

As of April 24th I had only bought 17 books in 2005, just under a book a week. I held out for the next month then broke down and went to Borders and got both Diary and Glass, Irony and God.

Then came today when I finally used my gift certificate to Bookmaster... getting another 8 queue books... meaning my average is now a book every five and a half days.

My average time for reading a book is just under 13 days - I've read 11.5 - so it's actually worse than purchasing two books for every one read.

The problem is that as of April 24th I was doing alright; I could even attribute the slight inbalance (17 books bought to 10 books read) mostly to having just picked up a four book series by Durrell. I then ran right through the Egan and the seeds of slackening off were sown. Thus I read Dawkins, Lowell, Sexton and the Brothers Grimm (that's just a link, not what I read) before getting back to the queue. Thus my appetites for purchasing new books were heightened.

And here comes a three day weekend where I find time to go to one of my favorite used bookstores (the two I might like better are much further away) which I had managed to avoid for near six months... and the result is an outburst like this. [Note: for the former I have not yet been to their new Phoenix Metropolitan Area location. I forget where it is but it is still further than either Bookmaster. When I think of Bookmans, however, I think of the University area one in Tucson, just as when I think of Bookmaster I think of the North Scottsdale location rather than their original South Scottsdale location (which is further from me.)]

See further details in the entry on My Queue.

I did, however, also buy two non-queue books; Modern Cosmology & Philosophy edited by John Leslie (cause it sounded interesting) and The Complete Poems and Translations of Christopher Marlowe which includes Hero and Leander, his two short poems and some translations of Ovid and Lucan, plus non-Marlowe works but related poetical works like Chapman's completion of H&L and various poems related to The Passionate Shepherd... almost all of which I've previously read online. I shall leave you with my favorite bit from H&L, beautifully wrought even if a bit silly:

It lies not in our power to love, or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fate.
When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should lose, the other win.
And one especially do we affect,
Of two gold ingots like in each respect.
The reason no man knows: let it suffice,
What we behold is censured by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight,
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?

Old Errata

2005-05-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

In order to keep the size of the errata section reasonable I shall move the comments here as they age and/or are replaced by newer notes. I would put this with my original announcement of my errata section but I figured I'd leave that one as is.

Displaced errata follow, they get older as you go down the page.

05/28/05: Tongue Tied is actually on Other Animals. I knew this but published the mistake anyway to ensure that I would have errata to report.

05/14/05: My approach in I Don't Know... Can You Swing a Sack of Door Knobs? was flawed. The law should determine what happens in such a case... and then those laws should be changed if we find out they'll lead to problems. Plus I've not yet updated the story.

05/14/05: I written maybe a third of my review of Coachella, I saw a Phoenix Symphony concert on Thursday and a Stiletto Formal show last night... and I use up my blogging time on putting together a comp no one will hear. Brilliant.

05/08/05: I just picked up on the fact that the newest errata should appear at the top of this list. Duh. I have reorded them accordingly.

05/08/05: The post 10 days was not "nice" as reported. It was merely long, disjointed and uninteresting.

05/08/05: The first time I published with the previous errata (re: Upcoming) I failed to include the lineitem tag. My most humble applogies are offered to any who caught it before this correction.

05/08/05: In the ambiguously titled Upcoming I failed to mention that there were other upcoming shows which I didn't plan on attending. Also I didn't go to that Rilo Kiley show and I probably will go to the (International) Noise Conspiracy show (Dresden Dolls headlining, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead in the middle.)

05/08/05: I failed to mention in At Crystal Palace that eventually I set up an archive of these errata. I will. Eventually.

05/08/05: Technoliberation should have an e with an accent above it. I don't know how to do that. Appologies are offered.

nee Manitoba

2005-05-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

The Russian Futurists opened the show at the Modified last night; it was four Candadians playing pop music on keys/synths. It was fairly straightforward but solid.

Next up came the Junior Boys... which, apparently to Phoenix audiences, is a band where one of the two members is always sick. If it was schtick then it was well done, the lead singer certainly seemed about ready to fall over, pale and sweating before they did anything (though every band commented on how hot it was, Modified being sans AC and the high being well over 100F for the day.) The crowd seemed engaged from the beginning, as the guy started out by saying that he couldn't completely cancel another show in Phoenix so he'd try to make it through one song. After the opener the crowd cheered like they were calling the Boys back for an encore. All in all they played about 6 songs, all to solid crowd reactions. The music was, again, a synthy sort of dance pop, two guys up on stage switching off between guitars and synths.

Fortunately they did not play Summer in Abaddon as bumper music a third time - I had gotten up at 6am for work and the Pinback was putting me to sleep. It's not bad stuff, just soporific. The bumper music this time did, however, include "Head On" by the Jesus and Mary Chain.

At any rate Caribou came on stage and tore through a set of songs from Up in Flames and the recently released The Milk of Human Kindness. The basic set up was two drummers (one being Dan) with a guitarist in the middle... but there were racks of synths, bits of percussion and additional guitars for all to play. There was a DVD playing, projecting odd animation and playing a pre-recorded backing track but most of the music was live. The drums were fierce and refrained from merely doubling each other much of the time.

As with any set without a strong vocal presence it was probably music much more appreciated by those familiar with the tracks beforehand; I can see how someone hearing this for the first time might be impressed and enjoy the music but still get bored after the first several songs.

Prism-sightedness

2005-05-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

"I remeber her sitting in front of multiple mirrors at the dressmaker's, being fitted for a shark-skin costume, and saying 'Look! five different pictures of the same subject. Now if I wrote I would try for a multi-dimensional effect in character, a sort of prism-sightedness. Why should not people show more than one profile at a time?'"

- from Justine

These fragments

2005-05-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

So Many Books links to an online version of the Waste Land as hypertext. You get the poem in one frame and Eliot's (and other's) notes in another - though there are several options for the second frame. This is much easier than flipping back and forth with the paper copy.

I still absolutely love this poem... but it has lost some stature in my mind since Eliot's solution was silly. We have made the world a waste land, let's go back to what failed us in the first place! In my mind Jimmy had a much better response in Ulysses... but I'm not going to go into all this right now.

Hmm, something like this would be just wonderful for Pale Fire as well... though two copies of an etext version would do the same trick (either would be slightly easier than two copies of the book.)

The Way Things Aught To Be, Disc 2

2005-05-14T17:02:00.000-07:00

Rules and information and the first disc are here, plus here is another 2-CD offering, from victoria at De Stijl. Speaking of which there must be an unspoken rule that one White Stripes song that has not yet been used must be included.

Also I'll note that I compiled these to be played as an 160 minute album. This wasn't a list of my favorite songs and it doesn't include all of my favorite bands because it was selected not only for release date but for length and songs that worked as singles (stop laughing, I'm serious) which is to say in a different context.

Disc 2 - 1:19:10

"See America Right" by the Mountain Goats (Tallahassee, 2002) - 1:54 - A lot of his songs could've been here, this one is short and starts the CD out well. This isn't the most representative song... but that's not the purpose here, right?
"Things I Don't Remember" by Ugly Cassanova (Sharpen Your Teeth, 2002) - 3:29 - I had to bring Isaac Brock back for another round.
"Jungle Telegraph" by Eels (Souljacker, 2002) - 3:40 - Again, not quite typical but it's fun and the approach to the title chorus is well done.
"Say Hello to the Angels" by Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights, 2002) - 4:28 - A lot of good options from their two albums; I'm taking this one for the driving bass guitar in the opening and the deep bass guitar in the outro.
"Brand New Colony" by the Postal Service (Give Up, 2002) - 4:12 - Because everything will change.
"Mall of America" by Desaparecidos (Read Music/Speak Spanish, 2002) - 2:41 - I have long been an "Bright Eyes is the other band by the guy from Desaparecidos" type of guy.
"Up the Bracket" by the Libertines (Up the Bracket, 2002) - 2:38 - At one point we could all dream that there'd be a new Clash in our lifetime... then their output started to get worse as well as less punk... oh, wait, there we go.
"Reason to Retreat" by the Gunshy (No Man's Blues, 2003) - 4:12 - I saw this guy by accident, I was in Tucson to see Electrelane and he was supposed to play at a different venue but that show was canceled so he played a half dozen or so songs at our show, just Matt Abrogast and his guitar (though some times he plays live with more of a band.) I bought a copy of every album he had to sell.
"Stupid" by the Long Winters (When I Pretend to Fall, 2003) - 4:04 - You have no idea how stupid I would feel if I left this off.
"Hitched" by the Kills (Keep On Your Mean Side, 2003) - 4:00 - The lyrics have the slow burning approach to the statement of the album title which I can't get enough of. I also love the loud, low dirty guitar and the laid back vocals. Alison sounds quite different here, eh.
"A.S.A. to Accuracy" by KaitO (Band Red, 2003) - 3:04 - And we pick up the pace. Nosiy, busy, weird vocals and guitar that's further out... all in service to an irresistable drive. Plus it's fantastic live. "Should I" almost fought it's way in.
"The List" by Metric (Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, 2003) - 2:52 - Softer and safer is the synthpop goodness of Metric. It indeed looks like a Camero.
"Plea From a Cat Named Virtue" by the Weakerthans (Reconstruction Site, 2003) - 3:48 - I thought this was just a funny title until I listened to the lyrics and realized that it actually is from the point of view of a cat.
"Out of Control" by Super Furry Animals (Phantom Power, 2003) - 2:43 - Louder, faster and shorter than Slow Life. Also if this wasn't here there'd be only one other song from a Welsh band.
"Burning the Cow" by Earlimart (Everyone Down Here, 2003) - 3:08 - It's what for dinner. I mean, come on, choke on dust. Err, I mean, a nice, simple, driving song.
"Art is Hard" by Cursive (The Ugly Organ, 2003) - 2:46 - Because "Burst and Bloom" was on an ep. I almost took "Some Red-Handed Slight of Hand" for the more driving use of the cello but we've got to recreate your misery. I mean that I've always liked this one best.
"Hall of Mirrors" by the Distillers (Coral Fang, 2003) - 3:49 - OK, I'll say it. Coral Fang is a better album than Sing Sing Death House. This track is a prime example of why I think this - the earlier album may be more visceral but the new material does more, is more ambitious. Hey, this is what I like in my punk. (Another bit that might illustrate this: an earlier cut of this album had the short Dismantle Me instead of, say, Drain the Blood.)
"This Deed" by Electrelane (The Power Out, 2004) - 3:24 - More bands need to sing songs with texts from Nietzsche (in the original German, even.) The best part here is that this is a typical song for Electrelane, with the vocals used as just another instrument (well, basically.)
"Circle of Fifths" by Clinic (Winchester Cathedral, 2004) - 3:24 - Clinic was another tough selection, shorter and faster tracks W.D.Y.Y.B. and Walking With Thee (for the other disc) were provisionally set but I decided to go with more of the glory that is Clinic.
"She Will Only Bring You Happiness" by McLusky (The Difference Between Me and You Is That I am Not On Fire, 2004) - 3:27 - I am not entirely sold on McLusky, something which this song choice I'm sure adequately demonstrates. A light fun song amidst an album (or several) of angular, aggressive and weird Welsh punk rock.
"Pill Cake" by the Detachment Kit (Of This Blood, 2004) - 1:39 - I went through about 3 other DK songs (including "The Illustrious Daniel Boone" which clocks in at 6:45) before going for this one.I'm not sure I'd call this song light... nor am I sure why I have latched on to it so strongly. It's weird, short and mostly vocals.
"Nights of the Living Dead" by Tilly and the Wall (Wild Like Children, 2004) - 3:55 - Where Tilly is two female and one male vocalist and the Wall is a fun indie pop backing band with a tap dancer instead of a drum kit.
"The Setup" by Mission of Burma (On Off On, 2004) - 3:08 - In this instance we're setting you up for the end.
"Keep Time" by the Thermals (Fuckin' A, 2004) - 2:45 - Let's close this set out on some hard driving indie punk from the Thermals; they don't give a fuck about what we say.

I'd appologize for saying how much I loved everything but this is what a best of means: collectively these 47 songs cut a broad swath through the best music of these 5 years. I can't help but gush when it's all this good (and when so much that is also amazing and wonderful was left out.)

The Way Things Aught To Be, Disc 1

2005-05-13T02:10:00.000-07:00

Meme courtesy of CDB at Thought for the Day, in a post from May 9th:

So, I was pondering, I made my best of the 1990s CDs, but what about the best of the first half of the 2000s (The Aughts, the DoubleO's, what the hell are we calling this decade anyway?) I humbly submit to you my 2-disc set, "The Way Things Aught To Be"

The Rules:
* All songs released on an album between 2000-2004
* No more than one song per artist, no matter how much you want to double up.
* Must fit on two standard 80 minute CDs.
* Beyond that, it's stuff I like, but also stuff I thought other people would know. I'm not trying to expand anyone's musical tastes here, if it happens, bully.

I followed these rules... except that I didn't bother with worrying about what other people would know. The chronology (by year) rule was stated explicitly but I have assumed it. Also it wasn't a rule that there could be no overlap of songs and a maximum overlap of 2 bands... it just turned out that way. While I'm at it I'll point out that Greg at Fraught! has already followed suit, also in two parts. The overlap here is 5 bands but still no songs. (Total overlap is 1 band.)

Disc 1 - 1:19:24

"Aeiral" by Discount (Crash Diagnostic, 2000) - 1:28 - Yes, I had to include two stunning vocal performances by Alison Mosshart. Most of their material is more straightforward J Church-like skate punk... but this is something entirely different, more jarring. And blissfully short.
"3rd Planet" by Modest Mouse (The Moon & Antarctica, 2000) - 3:58 - I liked the Mouse before this came out but it was this track that threw the hook in. And I absolutely love the lyrics.
"Commercial for Levi" by Placebo (Black Market Music, 2000) - 2:20 - Another song with just stunning lyrics. Any song that pleads "please don't die" is alright in my book.
"Algeria" by JJ72 (JJ72, 2000) - 3:21 - I could've picked most anything from either of their albums (can you guess that I'm eagerly awaiting their new album due sometime this year?) Soaring and aggressive BritPop courtesy of Ireland.
"Pattern Against User" by At the Drive-In (Relationship of Command, 2000) - 3:17 - And we are officially rocking.
"Bohemian Like You" by the Dandy Warhols (Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, 2000) - 3:31 - Yes, this is almost a radio-ready song but a little of that is allowed and there just isn't room for Godless.
"Milkshakes and Honey" by Sleater-Kinney (All Hands on the Bad One, 2000) - 2:55 - This one was a brutal choice with two fantastic eligible albums. I decided to essentially punt it and go with what I've always claimed to be my favorite from this one. I'm not sure exactly why I like this song this much but it is different and fun.
"Chartsengrafs" by Grandaddy (The Sophtware Slump, 2000) - 2:51 - This, despite being a fantastic song, almost got cut because of the 30 or so seconds of near dead air for an intro. The latest plan was switching to shorter songs for a couple other bands and replacing this with "Used to Know Her" by Vercua Salt... but the losses were too great. And Grandaddy deserves a song here.
"Thirteen Gliding Principles" by the Delgados (The Great Eastern, 2000) - 3:44 - Everything I loved about the Delgados with vocals from Alun and Emma.
"White Palms" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC, 2001) - 4:55 - The longest song that made the cut. I really enjoy how it fits between 9 and 11, with a slow but charging dirty guitar opening to it's beautiful fadeout leading into the peaceful portion of teh disc.
"Grace Cathedral Hill" by the Decemberists (Castaways and Cutouts, 2001) - 4:28 - Absolutely beautiful. The Decemberists have shorter songs - again two albums of goodness - but I have no regret about choosing this one.
"Fresh One" by Sodastream (The Hill for Company, 2001) - 3:41 - Better than any eligible Belle & Sebastian and the only Australian band represented.
"I Can't Wait" by the White Stripes (White Blood Cells, 2001) - 3:39 - Should I have included Hotel Yorba as it was both my introduction and early favorite? No as this is a much more complete song. Plus it works the volume back to a reasonable level.
"FYR" by Le Tigre (The Feminist Sweepstakes, 2001) - 2:39 - OK, fine, maybe I'm cheating by not counting the "joke" or whatever at the end... but it's not really part of the song, right? It's there for the flow of Feminist Sweepstakes, not my comp. So I can cut it, yes?
"Pills" by Les Savy Fav (Go Forth, 2001) - 3:29 - This is mindbogglingly good. I don't know what LSF are doing but they keep doing it. Aggressive and wild and brilliant. I cannot fail to mention the instrumental bridge at 0:45-0:56.
"Pressed in a Book" by the Shins (Oh, Inverted World, 2001) - 2:55 - I like Caring Is Creepy better but this one fits better... not that it's much of a sacrifice.
"Nite and Fog" by Mercury Rev (All Is Dream, 2001) - 3:58 - The Rev don't quite fit the bluprint for this CD set but... well, it'll give variety, yes? Also I didn't even really consider including something from Yoshimi as a replacement.
"Twee" by Tullycraft (Beat Surf Fun, 2002) - 3:23 - And we open 2002 with whimsical and nostalgic twee.
"The Get Away" by Pretty Girls Make Graves (Good Health, 2002) - 4:15 - There are songs that are both shorter and more aggressive but this is easily my favorite. I love the lyrics.
"Evergreen" by Angelica (The Seven Year Itch, 2002) - 4:04 - I almost relented and went to the 51 second Golden Lillies (with guest vocals by Kat Bjelland) but I just couldn't. This is my favorite Angelica song and if I were to knock out a ranked top 500 (or whatever) list Vegas would have even money on this coming out on top. Dual lead vocals and again, stunning lyrics. This is the song that got me to travel to Lancaster, UK to catch their final show.
"Everywhere with Helicoptor" by Guided by Voices (Universal Truths and Cycles, 2002) - 2:36 - An easy choice and not just because it is mercifully short. An easy slotting choice as well as I first saw GBV on their tour for this album in London on the same trip I saw Angelica.
"Lover I Don't Have to Love" by Bright Eyes (Lifted or the Story is the Soil, 2002) - 4:00 - Achingly beautiful song. I resisted Bright Eyes for a long time... but a downloaded version of this song along with "Waste of Paint" from Austin City Limits has won me over.
"I'm the Man Who Loves You" by Wilco (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2002) - 3:57 - This is a bit of a false victory as it's here because it's shorter than two better options (spanning both eligible CDs)... but this is still no slouch of song. It's still good enough to defend taking up near 4 minutes.

In the interest of sleeping tonight I need to hold off on releasing Disc 2 until..., well, hopefully Saturday afternoon. It is all but done (there is still some question on the order of the 2004 songs but they're all locked in) but I'm not up for completing the write-up at this time.

At Crystal Palace

2005-05-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

Inspired by a recent New York Times Op-ed piece The Latest Rumblings in the Blogosphere: Questions About Ethics - linked to in this post at Assymetrical Information - I have added an errata block to the top right portion of the mainpage.

As my countless errors pile up you, the reader, can attempt to keep track of them with the aid of that space.

I regret that I have but one top right corner to devote to errata to give to the reforming of the blogosphere.

UPDATE: I've found (after looking a little bit) more reaction to that Op-ed piece - at Althouse, and she links to (among others) this piece at Ideoblog which actually speaks positively about a code of ethics, plus a comment (and more links) at Instapundit, then there's this post at Swing State Project which has 22 links to comments on the piece - but I've yet to come across anyone else putting up an errata section or a related change. Suckers! I'm going to be respected and powerful!

Technoliberation

2005-05-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

I first heard about Greg Egan in an archived post, Libertarianism and the Hard SF Renaissance, at Armed and Dangerous. He mentioned Diaspora - which I have not yet acquired - but I just finished Distress.

The novel - from 1993 - starts in 2055 and concerns human relationships, theoretical physics and the (possible) destruction of the world served on a generous bed of biotech, anti-science cults and gender migration.

This is the sort of book it's best to catch while it's hot, while the science and technology - of which there is a lot - comes off as plausible and futuristic. The book is now 12 years old... and really all that's different now is that we do carry around electronic notebooks and been more talk of genomes and bioengineering. [I do not mean to imply that the shelf life here is abnormally short, I'm just commenting on one flaw with near-future sci-fi: one human can't know everything that's going to happen.]

The entire novel follows the point of view of Andrew Worth (a journalist, so this is fitting) as he finishes up one documentary project for a science education network and begins work on another. Beneath (and through) this main arc run the various plotlines, some mere red herrings, some elucidating the world Egan has created for his story, some essential to the thriller that develops.

As a thriller, however, it falls a little to the confusing side of exciting - though there are exciting passages. As a presentation of an almost-alien but familiar future (with no actual aliens) packed with futuristic tech it works quite well. It's not necessary to completely understand the (post) modern physics to know what is going on.

Oh well. I hope this has been wild and confusing enough to avoid giving much away but lucid enough to give one an idea of if they might like the book or not. I, for one, did, and am moving Diaspora up on my want list.

I doubt he wants cards

2005-05-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to Thomas Pynchon.

Coachella Review, part 2 - Middle of Day 1

2005-05-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Part 1 was published a couple days ago. Parts 3-12 to follow (I hope I don't drag this out that long.)

After the Kills I headed out to catch the end of Razorlight's set at the Outdoor Theater. It was nice leaving the Mojave; it wasn't hot enough outside that shade made up for the oven that the Mojave becomes. It actually wasn't that bad when I was inside... but upon leaving I was glad that I would not be going back until after dark.

My friend directed me to Razorlight earlier in the year; Rhapsody had their album and it was good, Libertines-esque (though less of the snarling punk, call Up All Night as somewhere inbetween Up the Bracket and the Libertines... on some scales) pop-punk (for want of a better term), good enough that I bought the album to increase the arenas in which I could listen to the album.

Their live show, however, didn't impress me. It was sort of interesting watching the lead singer screw around - climb speakers, pull folks from the VIP side-stage to dance on stage - but it took away from the music they were playing. That is to say that he couldn't sing normally whilst clowning around. Razorlight's music is not noisy or chaotic enough for this approach to work well. I don't know if he was playing rockstar ("this is how a rock show is supposed to end") just because of the festival, for the large crowd or if this was typical of their live performance.

I stayed at the Outdoor Theater and slowly made my way forward to get closer for Rilo Kiley. They came on a little late (~6:30 instead of 6:20) so I decided that I'd stick around for the full set rather than leave early to see all of Wilco.

Rilo Kiley played a good - if slightly tired - set from More Adventurous and the Execution of All Things, well, minus my favorites (Love and War, Spectacular Views, My Slumbering Heart, Paints Peeling... not to mention Science vs. Romance.) Interestingly Blakes lone song, Ripchord, probably was the highlight for me, his voice strained and passionate (yet still Blake.)

I got over to the Coachella Stage in time for Wilco's last four songs. The sun was well on it's way down and the air was beautiful for Hummingbirds, Jesus, etc., War on War and the closer, Spiders. Since I missed most of their set and was too far away to see much I couldn't really get into it... but that's alright for Wilco. The music came across strong and compelling.

Retroactively I wish I had left Rilo Kiley earlier (since they didn't play any of the great rockers or old songs I was hoping for) but there was no way of knowing what either band would do - and I'm very glad I didn't miss that version of Ripchord.

And anyway I probably could not have gotten much closer, many festival goers were already well into their positions waiting for Weezer, Bauhaus and Coldplay. My recounting of the rest of day one (including the start of sets for the first two of those bands) will follow... sometime. Hopefully soon as I'm starting to forget stuff.

Coachella Review, part 1

2005-05-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

I left work just before 4:30pm. This was, in fact, early, as I'm on a fun 10:30-7 schedule. I had announced my intentions to leave early and miss Monday to boot via our messaging system... weirded out several people in the process. Ahh, mission accomplished. At any rate this allowed me adequate time to go home, shower and gather up the things I had set out the previous day.

I had procured a ride with some folks I had met up with on the Coachella message board... though the car we had planned on taking was having transmission problems so it did not leave the driveway.... thus the other guy drove his Rodeo and we picked up two other people who didn't have a ride in order to offset the extra gas costs.

On the way over we listened, sort of, a mp3 mix tape of Coachella artists which varying number of us were unfamiliar with along with a few local band CDs. The discussion was wild and chaotic, mostly covering recent (and not so recent) shows, bands, comedians and whatnot. I got to my hotel in Palm Springs at around 1am... the other two people we picked up were dropped off to find a place to stay and the two I had talked to from the message board went to the condo where they were staying - which was only a half mile away from my hotel.

I was staying with some friends who had driven out from LA (though two of them had flown from Seattle first), two of which had been there last year and one of which had gone with me since 2001. We stayed at the Plaza Resort and Spa... though the name seems deceptive. Then again we didn't have much time to take advantage of... well, anything. We had a full kitchen but only used the refridgerator, various dishes, and something that made tea (that is, somebody heated water, somehow.)

We got up, got ready and headed to downtown Palm Springs for breakfast. We saw many folks who pretty much had to be in town for the festival and had a nice, relaxing breakfast.

We got to the Polo Fields around 2pm, made a note of which huge colored and numbered balloon we parked by (the balloons were wonderful, much improved over... nothing but a sea of cars) and made our way to the entrance. The line wasn't bad - though we wondered why so many people had brought cans of Full Throttle only to discard them unfinished or even unopened - and we were in before the Raveonettes started. I would've prefered to be in earlier to see Nic Armstrong and the Thieves (been listening to the album, it's quite good [very Beatlesesque blues rock]) and and the other earlier bands... but I'm sure my body appreciated a good, full, slow breakfast and that my feet appreciated the extra time sitting in the shade.

The Raveonettes played the Coachella Stage (check the map... which I can't find - this is the mainstage) and there were few enough people gathered that I was able to get reasonably close (closer than the soundstage.) This was the third time I'd seen them, basically once for each CD - I think we can count this as in support of Pretty In Black - and this was, by far, the furthest I been from them (though this was necessarily so, even if I had been "front row" the photographer's gap would've been enough.) I have a hard time reviewing their show now that I've heard the new album... though even the new songs were more noisy live. They played a good mix of songs from PIB and the Chain Gang of Love and even throwing in Do You Beleive Her? from the first EP. I had to drag myself away as M83 was calling me and they were about to start in the Gobi tent. As I headed off I was able to hear Little Animal and most of (their cover of) My Boyfriend's Back - the sound the Coachella Stage (and, it seem like, most everywhere) was turned up from previous years.

The Gobi tent is the smallest of the stages and I expected it to be packed. When I first got there I was barely under the tent and stayed mostly fully in the sun for the first several songs (mostly because as I'd slowly move up to get my head in the shade the Sun would rise a little higher to the point where I'd be out of the shade again.)

A side note: the crowds are always moving. People are always leaving sets to check out other aritsts or because they're hot, tired or hungry. New people are always showing up to stand on the outskirts or push their way through to the front. The flux is greatest just after a set ends and just as another is beginning but it doesn't stop when the music starts.

At any rate I'm very glad I got to the Gobi on time, I eventually got about halfway in. M83 were not quite the distorted wall of sound I expected, the sound was a little brighter and more upbeat. Anthony Gonzalez also did not play the shoegazer part, he was clearly enjoying the fact that his band was playing the wonderful music he wrote. He was, though silent, vibrant.

After M83 I headed to the Mojave for the Kills. I got there just after Ambulance finished so I got a position rather centered and near the front. I had seen the Kills previously at Modified Arts but the sound mix was off. I couldn't hear any vocals which meant all I got was guitar, drum machine and the visual of Jamie and Allison interacting. This was, however, enough to hook me. I picked up their EP at Zia soon afterwards and bought their first CD when it came out (and then their second when it came out a few months ago.)

The sound in the Mojave was great, the vocals were strong and the guitar was blistering.

Side note: I touched on the subject of favorite guitarists during a review of a Sonic Youth concert ( "this has nothing to do with technical skill and everything to do with making a good variety of different and interesting and otherwise pleasing sounds with the guitar.") This time around I came up with - along with Jamie - Thurston Moore, Dave Lake and Jason Pierce. Right now I'd probably throw Doug Martsch in and call it an official Top 5.

I am also becoming increasingly impressed by Allison as a vocalist. No Wow features her much more than Keep On Your Mean Side and her performance on songs like "Rodeo Town" and "Dead Road 7" just floor me.

Their live show was still very much about the interaction between the two members of the band. Someone commented that at this point they should be able to afford a drummer but I think that's missing the point - adding a human drummer would change the dynamic of the band and could kill the energy. As it stands they were both very into their performance - but not in a way that screwed up the music being played - and the crowd responded well. The amount of sexual tension, the fire, the passion was amazing to see. Partial, unordered, setlist: Cat's Claw, Kissy Kissy, No Wow, Dead Road 7, The Good Ones, I Hate the Way You Love (parts 1 and 2) and... well, I guess more. But that's all I can come up with right now. This was, for me, the best show of the day.

And, actually, at this point I'm going to end part 1 of my full review of Coachella 2005. I planned on writing on both days along with other random observations in one post... but it's not going to happen. I saw 8 more bands on Saturday. I didn't get home until 7am on Monday. There's a lot more to write about... but it will have to wait.

Note: D'oh. I was ready to post this at about 2am on 05/04/05 (that's the time stamp I'm going to give it - count this as an update - at 11pm the same day - if you wish) then I couldn't connect to anything so this wasn't posted. I cut and pasted the text (losing links) into Notepad... yet I must've missed the first several paragraphs. Thus the preceeding review is a reconstruction of the original up until I left the Raveonettes. Not that this matters all that much.

Not finished yet but...

2005-04-27T01:12:00.000-07:00

the following is my favorite bit from Greg Egan's Distress:

"No one grows up. That's one of the sickest lies they ever tell you. People change. People compromise. People get stranded in situations they don't want to be in... and they make the best of it. But don't try to tell me it's some sort of... glorious preordained ascent into emotional maturity. It's not."

Emphasis in original.

Niche Market Music

2005-04-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

The previous post, however, leads to comments like the following, found here:

“I feel like there has been created, in the past two to three years, an indie-yuppie establishment. Bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Iron and Wine, the Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, they are great bands, really great bands, with great albums, great songs, high quality. And to me, it’s just so fucking boring,” he says. “It’s like fancy-coffee-drinking, Volvo-riding music for kids. And kids should be listening to music that shakes them up more, makes them uncomfortable. … I don’t think we’re ever going to sign an indie rock band. … I want to sign stuff that is more immediate and shakes you up a bit.”

The guy who said is with Vice Records... which boasts bands like Bloc Party, Death from Above 1979 and the Stills... so it's a pot/kettle sort of deal (they do have more unique artists like Panthers and the Streets and then a few others that I haven't heard of) but I can hear what he could be saying anyway. Even though - to me - he chose some bad examples.

Death Cab used to be (at least) very unique... until they pulled a "cash in on our indie cred" sort of deal and moved closer to basic indie pop from their old slowcore.

Iron & Wine... well, maybe Sam Beam fits. Maybe not. Then again I still don't really know their second album, Our Endless Numbered Days even though it's over a year old (and it was a release day purchase.)

I don't know enough Arcade Fire to comment but if you believe the hype they are anything but boring. I generally don't, however. Or, atleast, I am remaining skeptical until I hear more. They are playing at Coachella this weekend... and I'd like to check them out if there's not a conflict.

Broken Social Scene is a massive side-project gone awry. They were included... well, I'm not sure why. Even the (indie scale) smash You Forgot it In People is weird enough that it makes me wonder if this guy's heard more than a song or two.

Or, rather, I think, after going through that, I understand the difference between Bloc Party and Iron & Wine: BP are high energy dance-punk and I&W are laid-back and acoustic. That's it. It isn't that Bloc Party are all that innovative or new, it's just that they're loud and energetic. Death From Above 1979 are still boring, just not in a "fancy-coffee-drinking, Volvo-riding" way.

The other interesting thing I see hear is one reason this all still counts as indie music: it's niche market music. I knock his music as being generic while defending the bands he knocks as boring. It's indie because it has limited appeal, it is limited use music.

That being said Bloc Party is also at Coachella this weekend and if the schedule is kind to them I'll probably check them out too. [There's no real incongruity here, though: Silent Alarm isn't bad and for all I know they put on a kickin' live show... and maybe I'm missing something. At any rate for a large venue a good high energy act is usually a better bet than a quiet acoustic one.]

More on All Killer, No Filler

2005-04-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

Any real "death of the album" lament should focus on consumers who prefer to listen to singles rather than albums, who want to listen only to what they already know, who skip the "bad" songs to get to the songs they've heard on the radio, TV or in movies. Who don't give the "filler" a decent chance.

I don't really mean to knock this method of whittiling down the massive amount of music available - it has to be done somehow - but I don't understand it.

iTunes, Rhapsody - like radio before them - make it easier to focus upon scattered singles rather than cohesive albums... but... but they also make it easier to hear more music - more new (to you) songs.

At any rate, by my personal reckoning, good bands are the ones where the "filler" tracks are merely the ones that aren't as immediate, songs that are just as - though in the best cases, more - rewarding even though they don't hit you as entertaining right off. Hell, the best bands tend to put out CDs that are all "filler" by this definition.

Does this make me an indie snob? Ehh, probably... but it's fundamentally an opportunity cost issue; I ignore X - who are played on the radio all the time - because I hear enough of them while around folks who like this sort of thing, whereas I never hear band Y unless I make an active choice to do so. Well, that and the fact that I value variety, what is unique and innovative over what is tried and true and done to death.

[Disclaimer: I didn't actually mean X. Or Y.]