we eat what we like

My 2008 listening tallies, via Last.fm:

2009-01-02T19:30:00.000-05:00

Top artists:

1. Nat Baldwin
2. Dirty Projectors
3. No Age
4. TV on the Radio
5. Deerhunter
6. Santogold
7. Parts & Labor
8. J.Period & Game Rebellion
9. Jaguar Love
10. Black Uhuru
11. Jesu
12. Scarlett Johansson
13. Skeletons
14. The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaye and Radioclit)
15. Pretty Girls Make Graves

Top Tracks:

1. Nat Baldwin - "Within Walls"
2. Nat Baldwin - "Lake Erie"
3. Blk Jks - "Mzabalazo"
4. Jaguar Love - "My Organ Sounds Like"
5. No Age - "Neck Escaper"
5. Crystal Castles - "Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs HEALTH)"
5. Black Moth Super Rainbow - "Zodiac Girls"
5. Scarlett Johansson - "Song for Jo"
9. Nat Baldwin - "De-attached" & "Dome Branches"
9. The Very Best - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"

The We Eat What We Like 2008 Year End Mix

2008-12-09T13:07:00.009-05:00

Click the tape to download my mix! Or just click here.

Based on what I've gathered from reading year end lists and year end list criticism thus far, the consensus opinion is that 2008 was largely a lackluster year for new music. Maybe it's nothing more than a down year after an incredible 2007. Or maybe we'll look back in a few years and see 2008 as the year that the 21st century "indie" bubble, and the critical consensus that accompanied it, finally burst. Or maybe there has been a lot of great music out this year, but I just haven't heard it, or I have heard it, but I've been reading too many negative nellies who've led me to believe it's not even good, much less great. Whatever the reason, I've been having some trouble organizing my favorite albums and songs into a reasonable format that I'd feel honest sharing. I have neither the desire nor ability to create some sort of ranked list, since I'm not hearing a clear upper tier. In the case of songs, compare this to last year, when it was pretty clear by the year's 4th quarter that MIA, LCD Soundsystem, and Panda Bear put out tracks that were going to be in just about everyone's top 5. MIA and LCD made mine, and with tracks that could ultimately prove to be some of the decade's best. Trying to get a feel for the possible consensus favorites this year, I turned to the song list on Pitchfork's reader poll, which I'm assuming largely telegraphs the songs that will make their way to the site's own year end list. Combing through the list, and limiting my purview to bands who could conceivably be tagged "indie", I found only 2 acts who put out songs that I could see as consensus favorites: Fleet Foxes ("White Winter Hymnal") and Vampire Weekend ("Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and/or "A-Punk" [I think]). These are certainly good songs, particularly the VW tracks (I'm iffy on Fleet Foxes), but it's also not at all unthinkable that, in a year's time, they could be entirely absent from the collective "indie" consciousness. In a tier just below VW and FF, I would put offerings from Beach House, No Age, and Deerhunter, but I could say the same for them. Considering the Pitchfork list as a whole, the only songs that I could really see placing highly on a majority of lists were selections by Beyonce, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne - certainly not indie acts, not even rock acts.

Of the three possibilities I offered above regarding my perception of 2008 as a disappointing year - and I think there is some truth to each - I think the main development we are seeing is the end of the indie/blog/Pitchfork (call it what you want) consensus of the past five or so years. Indie became too big to support itself convincingly as a single genre; the cycle of hype, the Brooklyn Vegan commenter mentality, and other assorted nonsense started to haunt the blogs; and Pitchfork is always creeping closer and closer to becoming "mainstream." (LOL THEY MADE A BOOK. OMG DID YOU SEE THEY HAD BEYONCE IN THEIR VIDEO LIST??) Meanwhile, indie bands are increasingly burrowing into sub-genre ghettos, making music that is accessible to fewer and fewer people, as if this is the avenue to authenticity in art. I acknowledge that that statement may be entirely unsubstantiated, but I level that charge (almost) wholly at LO-FI. I heard way too much self-consciously shitty sounding music this year (I see this as part of a larger decline in musicianship overall within the indie realm, part of why Nat Baldwin is my #1 fav of the year). Whatever charm I may have found in Times New Viking 8 months ago has completely worn off. Vivian Girls are boring poseurs. I really do enjoy No Age's music, but they need to get off of their "we're authentic we came from The Smell" kick. Etc. Don't we all read Hipster Runoff now? Don't we realize that thinking about authenticity in this way is absolutely ridiculous?

But then, this is all a matter of course. A popular genre takes hold, peaks, and begins to collapse under its own weight. It's cyclical, and nothing to particularly lament or be alarmed about. It's certainly been an interesting ride, and I think it may be even more interesting to see what happens next.

ANYway, linked in the image at the top of the post is how I decided to present some of my favorite songs of the year, in a 2008 Year End Mix (presented as one contiguous mp3, 192kbps). Full disclosure: I stole this idea entirely from Eric Harvey @ Marathon Packs, who's been doing it longer and undoubtedly much, much better. My mix is by no means inclusive of all of my favorites from the past year, but I think it's a pretty representative sample. I mentioned above that I was having trouble thinking of an honest way to present my favorite tracks, a ranked list would have felt completely arbitrary, and even an unranked list would have felt compulsory: like something I had to do, though I'd take little joy from its creation. I had a lot of fun putting this mix together; I think they're all great songs, if not necessarily as special as some of my favorites from years past, and I really enjoy listening to it, as I have many times already. Even if no one out there likes it nearly as much as I do, it's already been worth the effort.

Download: We Eat What We Like Year End Mix 2008

Click HERE to see the playlist.

BLK JKS on Al Jazeera

2008-12-02T11:28:00.003-05:00

BLK JKS were recently featured on "Playlist", a music program on Al Jazeera's English network.

From the video description:

The unique group Blk Jks are the first of their kind in South Africa: four young musicians from Tapango, Speriam, Zulu and Xhosa backgrounds, coming together to form South Africas first ever all-black rock band who effortlessly fuse traditional sounds into their music, as well as a sprinkling of dub and psychedelic.

(via blkjks.blogspot.com)

Myspacecore: An Introduction

2008-11-20T13:49:00.007-05:00

This video, for "FreaXXX" by Brokencyde, has been all over the internet today. First, like everyone else, I thought it was ridiculous and terrible. But then I realized that it's really the best video, the video we deserve. This is what suburban housing developments and American Apparel and Web 2.0 hath wrought. THIS IS WHAT YOUR KIDS/YOUNGER SIBLINGS ARE LISTENING TO. It's also what they look like.

This type of music (by which I mean music created by this these kinds of kids) is part of the first wide-ranging musical/subcultural style born and bred on the Web 2.0 internet. It may not all sound alike, or even belong to the same genre (see: the "hip-hop" of 3oh!3, the Xtian screamo of The Devil Wears Prada, and Brokencyde's cross-genre clusterfuck) but the uniting factors are image and background, not genre. These kids all look the same, have the same post-post-ironic sense of humor (which strangely revolves around ghetto tropes), come from the same kinds of boring suburban towns, and have access to the means to create and promote their music (affluent parents and Myspace, respectively). This is music in the post-genre future. This is Myspacecore.

Deastro

2008-11-18T09:00:00.006-05:00

Deastro - "The Shaded Forest"

The Killers wish they could write a song like this.

Deastro is the musical project of Detroit-based artist Randolph Chabot. "The Shaded Forest" was first released in 2007 on the album Young Planets, which was named Real Detroit's top local album for that year. In their review, Real Detroit compares Deastro to NES and The Postal Service, but I think those comparisons sell the band a bit short. While the electronic sounds and frenetic tempos of NES music are there, it lacks the annoying (my opinion) lo-fi electronic quality of true 8-bit composition. And as far as I can tell, the only similarity to The Postal Service is that both are synth-pop with male vocals. Where The Postal Service sees Ben Gibbard taking his typical maudlin, meaningful-core manner and applying it to the synth-pop format, Deastro opts for big, uptempo, arena-ready sounds that will please listeners long after the Indie-saddoe genre has withered away (hence the Killers reference above). Deastro appears ready to break out of the local Detroit scene, as the band has recently signed to Ghostly International, a label also home to Matthew Dear, School of Seven Bells, and Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities. "The Shaded Forest" will reappear on their debut full-length for Ghostly, Keepers, out today in digital format only.

\m/

2008-11-16T14:25:00.001-05:00

Thursday night I went to my first ever METAL SHOW, at the Ravari Room in Columbus, OH. I've never felt so tall in my life. (A lot of short guys at the metal show.)

The headliner was Baroness, whose 2007 release The Red Album fits into the sub-sub-genre of doom metal that I can actually stand. I like a lot of the musical aspects of doom, but I just can't get beyond bands who insist on growling, guttural vocals. The guys in Baroness yell, but it's just yelling; they don't feel the need to sound like Tuvan throat singers. However, this being my FIRST EVER METAL SHOW, I didn't realize how much the excessive volume would destroy the songs, robbing them of whatever musical variation exists on the studio recordings. I definitely expected it to be obscenely loud, but once live music reaches a certain volume in a small enough venue (maybe even in larger ones), the sound all bleeds together and everything sounds basically the same. In the case of Baroness, it was all chugging chords and anthemic vocals, the choruses being the only way I could even tell one song from the next. For the first song, I was about 3 people back from the stage, and luckily it turned out to be "The Birthing" (video below), my favorite of theirs. "Luckily," because after that assault on my ear-holes I had to move to the back of the club. After hearing a few of their other standouts, including the single, Wanderlust, I left before they had even finished playing. I'm already a bit hard of hearing, and I wasn't willing to sacrifice even more of that sense for 20 more minutes of indistinguishable guitar sounds.

Baroness, "The Birthing" (Live from DC9 in Washington, DC 12/2/07.)

Mzabalazo

2008-11-13T15:48:00.012-05:00

One of my favorite tracks over the past few months has been BLK JKS' "Mzabalazo." According to the band, the song is an "update of a classic apartheid era toyi toyi fight song when folks got it crackin in the streets." This recording, from a special Fader magazine 7", keeps those protest origins intact, as a squall of guitar noise and a brief instrumental intro soon give way to shouted call & response vocals. You can grab the track in mp3 form at the band's blog(or this direct download link).

If you're the type who likes to check things out before going all the way with a dl, watch this YouTube video to not only HEAR the song (in lo-fi YouTube sound), but also (sort of) see it spinning on a turntable.

In the video below, recorded April 2008 at Harriet's Alter Ego in Brooklyn, you can hear a version of the song more characteristic of the band's recent live performances, with the structure a bit more loose and open to variation than the studio version.

Check out BLK JKS' website, blkjks.blogspot.com, for more videos and mp3s.

2008-11-12T20:28:00.002-05:00

Benauwd from Jasper van Es on Vimeo.

World record for most bags on head. I can't wait to see this recreated in a music video for my favorite band.

(via today and tomorrow)

Learn to blog!

2008-11-12T17:34:00.010-05:00

This book reminds me of the time a few weeks ago when Colleen and I were at Barnes & Noble, and I saw a display of those binder inserts that are about things like the periodic table or grammar and editing tips, but there was also one about blogging. I bought it and put it in my blogging binder, where I like to collect interesting newspaper and magazine clippings. Sometimes I'll write a little something about one of them on some loose-leaf paper, and then make a "link" by stapling it to the clipping.

Blog Post - Worst Show

2008-11-07T19:21:00.005-05:00

Think I might start blogging again. Probably with less of a focus on music. Not sure yet. If you've been a subscriber for this long (Google Reader says I have 10!), please bear with me! If December comes and there have only been like 2 new posts, then I suppose you can delete away.

Last night I went to my first show in about 3 months. There hasn't been very much going on since I've moved to Columbus, very few recognizable bands outside of the lo-fi wave that's found some sort of a base here. So yesterday, when I saw that Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and Castanets would be playing the Summit, I figured I'd go check it out, even though Robinson's debut was a little too Bright Eyes-y for me, and, aside from name-recognition, I'm not very familiar with Castanets. As things turned out, the performances I saw left a lot to be desired.

MBAR's rhythm section couldn't make it, so he attempted to play his set with himself on acoustic, plus a keyboardist and an electric guitarist. They were clearly lost without the bass & drums, and ended up fumbling their way through 4 songs. It seems to me that, rather than trying to play the normal arrangements without the rhythm section (which I believe is what they did), or trying to rearrange around the missing parts on the fly, Miles should have just let the 2 present members chill while he played a solo acoustic set, which - if you've heard the songs - is almost definitely how they were initally composed. Instead, he chose to play an abbreviated set of poorly performed songs. Why?

By the time Castanets finally came on, the preceding scene had left me pretty deflated, so I probably wasn't in the best mindset to really pay attention to a group I wasn't very familiar with. They ended up sounding pretty good, but also played maybe 6 or 7 songs, and their songs aren't terribly long, so it was maybe a half hour set.

I don't mean my first blog post in forever to be a whine-fest, but I really really have never seen such a half-assed show. I'm sure these people are having a hard time financially, like the rest of us, I'm sure it's not too thrilling to be playing for a crowd of about 25 in Columbus, Ohio, but the lack of effort and professionalism displayed by both bands was pretty shocking. I've seen bands in crappier venues, more informal settings, but the apathy last night just blew me away.

I write all this to ultimately pose this question: Is this a trend? Have any of my 9ish readers been to a show lately where it seemed like the performers just did. not. care?

The more I think about it, the more I think it may just be a problem with Columbus itself. Fewer bands are coming here these days than when I last lived here 2 years ago, and the turnout last night supported those who make the decision to skip this town altogether. Any thoughts?

(I'm not even going to get into the gross midwestern college student brand of alt/hipster/scenester types that made up about 95% of those in attendance, but they didn't do much to improve my view of the situation. I will just say: there were AT LEAST five moustaches in the room; that means probably a quarter of the males in the paying audience were wearing ironic moustaches. Please.)

FIRST BLOG IN A WHILE/TOP 2 SONGS OF 2K8.5/OTHER THINGS

2008-07-13T22:48:00.005-04:00

A little over 2 months since the last blog post! There are a variety of reasons for this, the main one being I haven't had reliable internet access since mid-May.

TOP 2 TRACKS OF 2008 SO FAR

Jaguar Love, "My Organ Sounds Like..."

Made up of members from Pretty Girls Make Graves and Blood Brothers, Jaguar Love is carrying the torch for what might be (probably is) my favorite genre of rock music: early-aughts art punk in the vein of At The Drive-In, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Sparta (1st album - Wiretap Scars - only), and PGMG and Blood Brothers themselves (though the latter often tended to be a little too hXc/thrashy/screamy for me). This track (released in June on a self-titled 3 track sampler EP) gets everything just right, combining strengths of both earlier acts. It’s rumored to be the closing track on their debut album, due August 19.

Black Moth Super Rainbow, "Zodiac Girls"

Black Moth Super Rainbow’s music has generally been a lot more “Super Rainbow” than “Black Moth”. Last year’s Dandelion Gum was full of song titles about lollipops, roller discos, flowers, gum, and lyrical references to "summertime" in what seemed like half (or more) of the tracks. Meanwhile, the band’s darker side has only been apparent in their public image, as the members themselves go by odd pseudonyms like Tobacco, Power Pill Fist, and The Seven Fields of Aphelion, and much of the group's other background info is kept deliberately mysterious. With “Zodiac Girls”, the band flips the musical script and for once the sound jibes with band's cryptic presentation. This track is musically menacing, with a driving fuzz that isn't far removed from the predominant sound on Dandelion Gum, but is employed to far spookier effect. Tobacco’s lyrics add to the creepy vibe, as he sings "I know about your rainy days/I'm here when you melt away/I'll sing with my broken mouth/I'll sell your dead flowers now". Like on Dandelion Gum, the tile here perfectly captures the mood of the song, making me think of a band of murderous alternative females, sort of a Manson Family for the 2000s. Will Tobacco become the indie Rob Zombie and use this track as a basis for a mumble-core horror movie?!

Last bit of news: In a month and a half I'll be moving to Columbus, OH. I'll be sure to get super lo-fi and stuff and try to get back on the blog train.

ANDREW W.K.

2008-05-09T12:10:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I think that, in between boning celebrities and starlets, John Mayer wishes he went the W.K. route.

Video: Apollo Heights - "Shallow by Shallow"

2008-04-25T09:56:00.002-04:00

Today Apollo Heights released the video for "Shallow by Shallow", the first for a song from their 2007 debut, White Music for Black People. The track, with it's reverb-heavy guitars and thick drum sound, wouldn't have been out of place 15 years ago, which makes sense given the backgrounds of the band and producer.

Apollo Heights "Shallow by Shallow" Video 2008

2008-04-24T13:56:00.003-04:00

Vampire Weekend tricks me into posting their video by performing with a drumline on last night's Jimmy Kimmell Live.

I say: uninspired. If they were serious, they would've included a huge throwdown break in the middle. And I don't know why, but the song seems unbearably slow.
Also, why is the show's music set aspiring to be some venue that I'd never, ever, want to go to? [Via Pitchfork]

And, Idolator beat me to the punch in writing about yet another silly Slate music essay. Links: Idolator's post, the Slate piece in question, my post on last month's dumb Slate music essay.

The Veldt

2008-04-23T18:11:00.003-04:00

While digging for info on the critically slept-on Apollo Heights debut, White Music For Black People, I found out that band-leading twins Danny and Daniel (weird, I know) Chavis also fronted mid-90s shoegaze/dream-pop band The Veldt, whose Mercury-released Afrodisiac was produced by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins (who reunited with the the Chavises to produce the Apollo Heights album). Afrodisiac is out of print, but I was able to find an MP3 of "Soul in a Jar". I like it better than most of what I've heard from Apollo Heights, but more on that (maybe) later.

MP3: "Soul in a Jar"

Though out of print, plenty of copies of Afrodisiac are available from sellers on Amazon.

Some Relevant Items

2008-04-23T16:53:00.005-04:00

1 - "Falling Down", the first single from the upcoming Scarlett Johansson album premiered Monday on AOL's Spinner, and was yesterday (I think) released to the iTunes and Amazon MP3 stores for purchase. I like this track a lot, even more than title track "Anywhere I Lay My Head", my favorite of the songs I discussed previously. David Bowie is featured on backing vocals, and Scarlett's lead vocals are reminiscent of Sinead O'Connor and/or Annie Lennox. I was really into the singles from Lennox's Diva back in '92 ("Walking on Broken Glass" was the first and, I think, only song I ever called in to request on the radio), so I suppose it's only fitting that I would take a liking to this one.
There is a music Myspace set up for the album here.
1.2 - I like the latest iteration of Bowie's career, which seems to involve guest turns with young, currently relevant acts (TV on the Radio, Arcade Fire, Sitek/Johansson), allowing him to gracefully age as a legend without feeling the need to crank out an album every few years, as he did from '93 to '03. Compare that to Lou Reed, who's playing any corporate gig for hire, disappointing paying fans on a regular basis (I'm glad I didn't spend the $50+ it would have cost to see him in Northampton last Sunday), and guesting on overblown Killers b-sides.

2 - Interesting post at Boogie Woogie Flu, in which Ted Barron traces the "stark two chord template laid out in Lou Reed's 'Heroin'" to Peter Laughner's "Amphetamine", Wilco's "Misunderstood", and Josh Ritter's "Thin Blue Flame" (complete with MP3s of each). [Link]

3 - Pitchfork brings news that Dirty Projectors have signed to Domino, and plan to release an LP on the label in early 2009, as well as their last LP for Dead Oceans in fall 2009. It's said that the Dead Oceans release will be "an album expanding upon and inspired by the arrangements of Rise Above." I saw the band play some new songs in Boston late last month, all of which were similar in style and arrangement to Rise Above, but otherwise bore no relation the album's Black Flag concept. The sound struck me as already a little tired, so I'm hoping this means that Dave Longstreth will be taking yet another new direction on the Domino release, and using the songs I heard for the Dead Oceans album. If that's the case -- and if you're familiar with the band's history, you'll know that Lonstreth doesn't like to stick with any one sound/style for too long -- this is exciting news. [Link]

4 - An article posted on MTV.com last week (link) makes the case that, essentially, America(ns) is(are) "too dumb" for Robyn. This is similar to the Wired piece I posted earlier -- comparing the careers of Robyn and Britney Spears -- in which a message about the stupidity of Americans was at least implied, if not stated directly. I don't know exactly why, because I don't entirely disagree with the premise, but something about this type of coverage rubs me the wrong way. If the author of the MTV post is as hopeful for Robyn's U.S. career as he says, is insulting her prospective audience really the best way to get them interested in her music? There's a reason music critics have a reputation as elitist assholes. I have a feeling there will be more coverage of this ilk as her the release date for Robyn approaches.

Stars got to get high.

2008-04-18T21:10:00.002-04:00

Apparently.

Record Store Day

2008-04-18T11:10:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow is the first ever Record Store Day. As far as I can tell, two stores in the Pioneer Valley will be participating.

Turn It Up! in Northampton will be offering "discounts and special offers" all day.

Meanwhile, at 2pm at Newbury Comics in Amherst, you can see a solo acoustic performance from... wait for it... Aaron Lewis of Staind.

Record Store Day website.

2008-04-17T14:11:00.004-04:00

Take a look at this Wired story comparing a time-line of Robyn's career with that of Britney Spears'. I have a feeling that cultural differences have a lot more to do with their differing career arcs than a simple "Robyn is smart and awesome; Britney is totally crazy" explanation.

[Link]

Scarlett Johansson leaks/streams on Muxtape

2008-04-17T10:05:00.017-04:00

Someone has put together a Muxtape streaming 3 tracks from the forthcoming Scarlett Johansson album, Anywhere I Lay My Head. ~~Click here to check it out~~ [songs removed]. Despite the fact that seemingly everyone who considers him/herself a "fan of music" already hates it on premise alone, I think the premise -- Johansson singing Tom Waits covers, with production from TVotR's David Sitek -- is so weird that, regardless of quality, it's bound to at least be one of the most interesting releases of the year. I picked up the current issue of Vice yesterday and was surprised to see that their music reviewer, in the first review of the album I've seen so far, responded to it in pretty much the same way. He writes that Johansson doesn't always hit the notes, but Sitek's production buries her deep enough in the mix that the album is still listenable, and that the audacity of the project alone is reason to at least give it a listen.

Listening to the 3 tracks streaming at Muxtape, I'm a little disappointed. I'm hoping the album has some tracks in the style of more uptempo TVotR songs, but the preview songs all have a dreamy lullabye quality, and I think a whole album like that would put me to sleep for sure. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Update: You know what? I should probably listen to the songs more than once before I start talking about them. These songs are a little better than I initially thought. The only one that is overtly lullabye-esque is "I Wish I Was in New Orleans", the last track on the Muxtape, and apparently the only one I remembered when I started typing. The title track is pretty good, with a definite Celebration feel to it, which makes sense since Sitek produced their album, and the band's multi-instrumentalist Sean Antanaitis plays on this one. On the remaining track, "I Don't Want to Grow Up", ScarJo sort of talk-sings over a backing track that reminds me of 80s synth-pop in general, but doesn't recall any song in particular. Though I've changed my mind a little bit, I'll still be disappointed if "Anywhere I Lay My Head" is the best song on the album.

Also newsworthy is the fact that, as these streams have already been pulled by Imeem, Muxtape may be the new go-to source -- for the time being, anyway -- for providing unapproved streaming previews of unreleased albums.

Power Douglas - "Oblideration of King Alfred"

2008-04-15T12:00:00.007-04:00

As I mentioned yesterday, today is the release date for Power Douglas' debut full-length Pentecostal Fangbread. It looks like the only place you can get it so far is Amazon's download store (Amazon isn't listing a physical copy); click the album art to go there, where you can check out clips of the 9 songs on the record. Closing track "Pangea", which features Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio and Aku Orraca-Tetteh from Dragons of Zynth, was featured on Pitchfork yesterday, and is reviewed on Paper Thin Walls today.

I downloaded the record this morning, and I like what I've heard in the two listens I've given it so far. After hearing the TVotR-esque sound of "Pangea", I was surprised that a good portion of the album is made up of rap tracks. Check out "Oblideration of King Alfred" [sic], in which vocalist Furor Thin rhymes on top of fuzzed-over layers of Latin percussion, and a simple bassline undergirds the whole affair.

MP3 - "Oblideration of King Alfred"

2008-04-15T11:30:00.004-04:00

Get this you guys: In January, some guy registered www.weeatwhatwelike.com and set it up to have his tumblr routed there.

I suppose there is room enough for both of us on this internet.

2008-04-14T13:20:00.002-04:00

First-name sharer Alfred Soto on the presence of academics at the just-concluded 2008 EMP Pop Conference:

The decision to include more papers by academics injected an unwholesome amount of pedagogical oratory and jargon into several promising ideas (I never want to hear about "praxis," "teleological," and "heteronormative valences" in my presence again). In my experience, academics care little about audience reactions because the lecture format isn't particularly kind to the reception of ideas; it's just irrelevant. Also, academics have been taught to expunge their presentations of opinions, so their relation to the material they're presenting is often mystifying, often reflected in neutered prose. Pop music promises a utopian notion of community, and some of the presentations betrayed purely ascetic experiences that often clashed with the inchoate nature of the songs under discussion.

Link.

OH

2008-04-14T13:05:00.004-04:00

Check out WFMU's post on Columbus, OH bands. I'd never heard of most on the list.

toothpastefordinner.com
CNNMoney reports on Youngstown's radical approach to the city's long declining fortunes: a conscious effort to get smaller, rather than holding out hope for new growth.

And Defend Youngstown blog gets featured in NY Times.

Dragons of Zynth @ Iron Horse, Northampton, MA 4/12/08

2008-04-14T11:22:00.007-04:00

Saturday night, NYC born, Cleveland bred, and NYC returned twin brothers Aku and Akwetey Orraca-Tetteh brought the noisy future rock of their band Dragons of Zynth to the Iron Horse, where they opened for Saul Williams. If the name itself doesn't give it away, a listen to their debut album, Coronation Thieves, and a look at their Myspace makes it clear that the Dragons are carrying on a legacy that includes far out black artists like Yusef Lateef (under whom they studied musical theory), Sun Ra, George Clinton, and Afrika Bambaataa -- this is space age stuff for computer brains, with electronic beeps and mechanical fuzz on every track.

Aku Orraca-Tetteh

While the electro sounds can at times play a neutering role on the record, a protective film to keep the intensity of the music from fully reaching the listeners' ears, the live performances strip much of that away, allowing the tracks to achieve full sonic force. In what I initially thought was a mis-step, DOZ chose "Anna Mae" -- the critical favorite in Coronation Thieves reviews -- as their opener. A slow, dreamy love song awash in the aforementioned fuzz -- and by far their most subdued track -- I thought it would have been a better choice as a late-set come down. As it turned out, the song merely lulled the audience into a pleasant but unsuspecting security before the band pulled out "Get Off", Coronation Thieves' most dangerous rage-r. Beginning with a soft intro & verse not unlike "Anna Mae", "Get Off" doesn't bust out until the chorus, which brought an until-now quiet Aku out from behind his keyboard, gesticulating wildly while spitting the lyrics at a crowd suddenly brought to life. From this point on, Aku was the clear star of the show, working himself up into a similar state in similar parts of the remaining songs (including jumping into the crowd during #2 rager "Who Rize Above"). Unfortunately, therein lied the problem that became more and more clear to me with each song: DOZ essentially has two sonic formulas, that of "Anna Mae", with it's gentle fuzzy melody, and that of much of "Rize" and "Get Off"'s chorus, with Aku's fiery vocal performance. "Anna Mae" is the most critically beloved track because it's the most effectively realized use of their safe, soft, pop style, and "Get Off" is the album's best track because it's the best synthesis of that formula with the more dangerous one; the rest of the tracks just stand as not-quite-as-good attempts at the two (listen to "Anna Mae" followed by "Labor Day Lung", or "Get Off" followed by "Rize"). However, the magic of the first two songs was enough to leave me with a good impression of the show overall, and the performance on "Get Off" was probably the best performance of a single song I've seen so far this year. The audience (bigger than I expected for a Saul Williams show) responded very positively, somewhat surprising since I imagine the vast majority are unfamiliar with DOZ. Though I don't know how much of that was their east-coast liberal self-satisfaction with being present at a performance by Black People [I never really, completely believed in it until I lived here for a while, but east-coast liberal self-satisfaction exists just as much as the stereotypes would lead you to believe, and being present at a musical performance by Black People is definitely Something White People Like.]

Mp3: "Get Off"

Despite the samey-ness of their songs, Dragons of Zynth are still doing something different and far more interesting than most indie-rock blog bands, and it's odd that they don't seem to have collected as much buzz as plenty of their more boring peers. It's also encouraging to see that, despite well-publicized complaints to the contrary, there's a significant heavily black-including-and-influenced rock community out there. This morning, Pitchfork posted a new track by Power Douglas, that features TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe on vocals, and was co-written with Aku. Their new EP, Pentecostal Fangbread, is out tomorrow, and also features DOZ's Akwetey Orraca-Tetteh on guitar. You can pick it up (so to speak) at Amazon's download store.
Also check out former DOZ member Crunc Tesla:

And Apollo Heights, whose White Music for Black People was released last October, and I'm bummed I hadn't heard of it until now. Very good sounds. Why did this never even get a Pitchfork review?

2008-04-13T20:16:00.003-04:00

Article to check out @ NPR.org: "Five Modern Classical Pieces for Pop Listeners: 20th Century Classics You Should Get to Know," by Alex Ross. The pieces discussed therein (with audio excerpts):

Igor Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
Olivier Messiaen - Quartet for the End of Time
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Song of the Children
Morton Feldman - Rothko Chapel
Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians

This is a companion piece to an article Ross wrote for the site in November listing his Top 5 Pop Albums for Classical Listeners.

[Thanks to Mike Anderson for sharing this article on Facebook.]

Quick Post

2008-04-12T13:53:00.003-04:00

Tonight is the big Cleveland "Lottery League" show, for which members of several local bands were rearranged at random, resulting in 33 new bands for one show only. You can check out further explanations and coverage at I Rock Cleveland and Scene. Since I'm not able to see the show, the most interesting aspect to me is the names these one-off bands have come up with for themselves. My personal favs tend to be the punny and/or current events related, such as: Bourbon Outfitters, The Audacity of Dope, Good News for People with Credit Problems, and Stimulus Package.

Here's the gig poster, with the full slate of bands:

Deverndra

2008-04-10T11:43:00.003-04:00

Spotted at #3 in Google Hot Trends this morning: Devendra Barnhart. No correct spellings of his name were to be found anywhere else in the Top 100. All this because he was recently photographed on a matchy-matchy stroll with famous Harvard psych grad Natalie Portman.

In other music-related Google Trendspotting, Annie Lennox's appearance on American Idol last night led to enough searches for "Annie Lennox HIV positive" that it cracked the top 5 trends. Is she really HIV positive, or were Idol viewers just confused by the fact that she does a lot of HIV/AIDS awareness and charity work? I couldn't find any info to support the former, so my guess is the latter.

No comment on "misogynist" hovering around the top 10 all morning.

Evangelicals - The Evening Descends

2008-04-10T00:49:00.014-04:00

Spooky psych-pop with Jeff Buckley-esque lead vocals. (You see, I thought the singer was a woman, just like the first few (dozen?) times I heard "Last Goodbye".)

Horror-core?
Has anyone else listened to this one yet? It looks like I'm a bit late, as it was released in January, but I've been reading intriguing things about it just recently (I think they were SXSW related). I went in hoping to like it, and after a few tracks that recalled the swirling atmospherics Celebration and the wall-of-sound old-timeyness of Johnny Boy (yes, my referents are all post-20th century), I was optimistic. Midway through the album, though, the whole affair came to seem to be more about aesthetics and presentation than content. It's all a little too self-consciously spooky for me -- a bit too close thematically (and theatrically) to pop-punk gothic/horror groups like Alkaline Trio, AFI, or The Horrors. However, their far out sound and indie-friendliness definitely cast them as the Guy Maddin of the set.

Evangelicals Myspace

PS: I totally hit "publish post" way, way (like, a day) before I meant to, so I suppose I will leave this pretty much as is, since it's already out in RSS land.

2008-04-09T23:04:00.005-04:00

[Via Boing Boing] IFC and Nerve have compiled a list of "The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time." They have videos for most, so it's worth checking out if you're into comedy and/or questionable list-making. However, the entire endeavor is invalid due to its failure to include this:

Muxtaped

2008-03-29T12:22:00.009-04:00

Hey! I made a Muxtape for nobody to look at, just like I haven't looked at anyone else's, much less listened to them.

This is a themed mux, with most of the tracks relating to recent happenings. Here's the track list, with explanations:

Max Roach - "Driva' Man", from We Insist! (Freedom Now Suite)
Last Tuesday night, UMass hosted a tribute concert for Roach, who was a member of the music faculty during the 70s through 90s. Many university jazz ensembles participated, and there were some special guests, including:

Yusef Lateef - "First Gymnopedie", from Psychiemotus
Lateef is 88 years old; he was a little slow moving around on stage, but once he started playing he may as well have been 30 again. Lateef completed a PhD in education at UMass in 1975. Also present was Reggie Workman, who played bass on this album.

Nat Baldwin - "De-attached", from Most Valuable Player
Thursday night, Nat Baldwin performed at Hampshire College's Red Barn. It was the 3rd time I've seen Nat and his band live in the past 4 months, and it was by far the best. Previously, they always just stuck to album tracks, but this time they opened up the set to allow plenty of free playing. Baldwin's free-jazz inclinations should come as no surprise, as he spurned basketball scholarships to study at Wesleyan under:

Anthony Braxton - "Comp. 6 K", from The Complete Braxton
In May, Wesleyan will be featuring two nights of Braxton performances on the 7th and 8th. The 7th will feature Braxton playing with a small ensemble, while the concert on the 8th will largely consist of student ensembles playing Braxton compositions. Both concerts are free. (PUN?)

Dave Longstreth - "She Turns to Ash", from The Graceful-Fallen Mango
Tomorrow, Dirty Projectors will be playing at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, with openers No Kids. This is my favorite track from Longstreth's pre-Projectors album. Dig the repetition.

Triangle Forest - "Rockagon", from Hostile Takeover
Wednesday brings yet another AS220 appearance from Providence's favorite syhthy faux-Brit cheeze-poppers, who will be opening for:

HEALTH - "Crimewave", from HEALTH
I'm not sure if I like HEALTH, but I know I like quesadillas, so I will be there.

The Notwist - "On Planet Off", from The Devil, You + Me
This album just leaked last week. I don't want to promote leak culture but this is one of the only albums being released in the coming months that I have any interest at all in hearing (2 others I can think of: Scarlett Johansson, BSS presents Brendan Canning). I've only listened to it 2 times so far, but I like what I hear. Despite this being the band's first album in 6 years, the sound hasn't changed much at all. It's like I'm still sitting in my freshman dorm room, listening to Neon Golden on Winamp. I really like the kling-klangy beat on this track.

Odd Nosdam - "Forever Heavy (Remix)", from P S E
and
Rick Ross vs. Hercules and Love Affair - "Blind Speed (ABX Remix)", from The Hood Internet
This is a blog, after all.

J.C. Chasez - "Blowin' Me Up With Her Love", from Drumline Soundtrack
The Best Song.

WERE, Cleveland - "Indians Are on the Air", '60s era radio promo
Monday is Opening Day!

(Link)

2008-03-17T09:20:00.004-04:00

An article in today's NY Times asks whether "Starbucks has squandered its musical tastemaking cachet by offering more mainstream selections in its coffee shops." My immediate question upon reading that front page synopsis: who expects anything but the mainstream from Starbucks? The answer turns out not so much to be consumers, but people at the big music labels. And the word "mainstream" in this case has nothing to do with the style of music, but only with the names creating the music. To put it briefly: record labels are upset that Starbucks is now apparently focusing less on breaking new artists, and more on selling music from established artists, including those on its own Hear Music label. The typical sentiment from biz insiders looks something like this: "'I don’t have the sense that there is any longer a culture and purpose to their musical endeavors,' said Mr. Sonenberg, who has had a dispute with the company over its handling of a new band, Low Stars. 'It’s lost its sense of purpose.'"

The question that remains, and is for the most part left unaddressed in the article, is whether this has any real, negative effect on the consumer. Will the consumer even know, or care, what they're missing if they never hear the run of the mill acoustic folk pop of Low Stars? Starbucks is a mainstream vendor, period: mainstream coffee, mainstream atmosphere, mainstream music. Whatever "culture" or "purpose" industry types are worried the chain has lost has nothing to do with artistic value, but simply with the value the labels hope to create by having Starbucks play a role in breaking their next big act.

2008-03-14T11:43:00.007-04:00

Slate illustration that accompanies the article.

On Tuesdsay, William Weir, identified by Slate as "a writer living in New Haven," had a piece published in the online news magazine entitled "Words Words Words: Are excessive lyrics ruining pop music?" The article is a mess. It begins as a lament of the dwindling number of instrumental compositions that make the pop charts. This is reasonable enough, and well supported by the figures Weir provides: "From 1960 to 1974, 128 instrumentals reached the Top 20, while only 30 did from 1975 to 1990. And since? Five." However, by the second paragraph focus shifts from the lack of instrumental hits to the growing verbosity of those songs that do make the top of the charts:

While wordless pop has disappeared from commercial radio, pop music has become ever more long-winded. The year-end top 10 songs from 1960 to 1969 have an average word count of 176. For the 1970s, the figure jumps to 244. In 2007, the average climbed to 436. The top 10 for the week of Feb. 2, 2008, features six songs over the 500-word mark. Chris Brown and T-Pain use 742 words in their "Kiss Kiss."

Thus, according to Weir, the reason instrumentals have fallen out of favor is because pop hits now feature more words than ever. What? There are two arguments here that have been conflated into one: first, instrumental music is not as popular as it once was, and second, pop hits now have more words than ever. But correlation is not causation, as any writer living in New Haven should certainly be aware.

Regarding the decline in popularity of instrumental tracks, Weir makes a few good points:

I understand the appeal of the human voice, and I certainly can't begrudge anyone's joy at singing along in the car (unless I'm in it). But why such shabby treatment for the instrumental? Marketability. A band is practically faceless with no crooning front man. ... Here's another problem for the instrumental: Fancy a new song, but don't know the name? You can Google the chorus. But with no words to work with, you're reduced to humming the guitar part to friends and record-store clerks, hoping they'll recognize it. They won't. Music journalists also share some responsibility. Words are writers' friends—they're easier to critique than a musical phrase the reader can't hear (although hyperlinks change this a bit). Take Black Sabbath's "Iron Man": I can go on for quite a while about the title character's tragic circumstances, but it's the riff that raises the song to pioneering doom classic. For all of the riff's majestic awesomeness, though, I'm at a loss to describe it.

However, this is about all he gets. They're reasonable arguments, sure: MTV was certainly more interesting with a singer to focus on; in these days of music saturation, it is a lot easier to find (and most importantly, buy) a song if you can search for some words (just look at Google Trends for last night and this morning: searches for songs featured on last nights Don't Forget the Lyrics are near the top of the list); and I hate hacky, lyric-centric music criticism just about as much as Weir seems to. Unfortunately, Weir decides to spend the bulk of his time decrying the fact that song lyrics have a lot more words than they used to.

[The] Great American Songbook is a bible of pithiness. "Blue Moon," "Over the Rainbow," and "Embraceable You" all make their cases in fewer than 100 words. Will Smith, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, and Beyoncé all have songs called "Summertime" yielding word counts three to five times as high as Gershwin's tune of the same name. They all have a similar message: "The livin' is easy." But with only 92 words, Gershwin says it best by letting the melody become part of the story.

And then: "In Smith's "Summertime," he recalls hanging out in Philly parks, in Mercedes-Benzes, and at a place called "The Plateau," where everybody goes. All I picture are the Fresh Prince's summers. They sound fun, but I want my own." Does Weir not understand hip-hop?? I would imagine that rap, given the verbal necessity of the genre, is largely the reason for a lot of the numbers Weir provides on the steadily rising word total of pop songs. This is as bad, or worse, than Stereogum's infamous "hip-hop hates melody" comment. Here the claim would seem to be that hip-hop loves words. And that's bad because... it makes for impersonal music? Lost in Weir's analysis is the idea that the rising word total of pop songs could actually be a credit to the music's creators and listeners and a sign of increased sophistication, as they're now not only capable of writing and understanding, but are also desiring more complexity than we get in the lyrics to "Blue Moon".

Inevitably, Weir lays the majority of the blame for the rising lyrical word count on Bob Dylan. His conclusion:

Finally, there's Bob Dylan, the man perhaps most responsible for the word/music power imbalance. With the releases of "Wipe Out" and Lonnie Mack's "Memphis" in 1963, things looked bright for the rock instrumental. Then came The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and his 564-word "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall." That year, the New York Times likened his songs to "speeches delivered to guitar chording" and called him "an inspired poet." Two years later, the Times reported that everyone was copying him.

In Always Magic in the Air, Ken Emerson notes how threatened -- really, doomed -- the Brill Building and 1650 Broadway songwriters were by Dylan's growing popularity. However, most of those songwriters and lyricists saw the power in what Dylan was doing. They recognized it as something new and exciting, many of them were fans and admirers themselves. It would be foolish to think, though, that their admiration for Dylan's music led them to discredit their own short and sweet pop songs. As each has had its own era of pop chart dominance, each also has plenty of musical and cultural value of its own. It's a shame that Weir doesn't see it that way.

Charlie Parker's first recorded solo

2008-03-14T11:37:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday, Boogie Woogie Flu posted a vinyl rip of Charlie Parker's first recorded studio solo, on the 1941 track "Hootie Blues", by Jay McShann And His Orchestra. Check it out.

Getting Digital

2008-03-14T10:05:00.007-04:00

I imagine just about everyone is aware by now that "Kristen", the Emperor's Club call girl who met Eliot Spitzer in DC, is actually Ashley Alexandra Dupre, an aspiring R&B singer with a few songs on her Myspace. Now the Daily Intelligencer at New York Magazine is reporting that she has sold over 2 million digital downloads of her 2 songs through online music vendor Amie Street. Each song sells for 98 cents, and she gets a 70% cut of the total profit. The "total profit" as considered by Amie Street is likely less than the total 98 cent cost of the song, so it's unclear how much Dupre is actually receiving per download, but let's assume that it's at least 25 cents. Multiply that by 2 million+, and she's made over $500,000 on digital downloads, the majority of which have come this week. As shown in the graphic above, her songs are topping Amie Street's weekly (and even monthly) sales chart. I'm not sure where NYMag got the figures for actual number of tracks sold, since they don't appear readily available at Amie Street, but it would be interesting to see how her numbers this week compare to the top selling songs in the iTunes and Amazon stores.

SXSW Photo 2 - These New Puritans

2008-03-13T14:28:00.002-04:00

What is this guy wearing? It makes me think of Bradford Cox, but Bradford is a genius, so he can do all the gimmicky things he wants. This guy probably isn't, and Bradford wouldn't wear anything this dumb anyway. Fork writer Paul Thompson calls it "a menacing gold-feathered vest." Menacing? I know we're still mourning Gary Gygax, but this is a little too D&D twee for me. Regardless, dude is definitely focusing on the WRONG MEMBER.

BONUS:

I HOPE THEY'RE PLAYING "WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY KENNETH".

(Photographs courtesy of Pitchfork Media Inc.)

2 things that I like about No Age.

2008-03-13T12:28:00.006-04:00

I've been burnt out on new music/indie music/blog music lately, but No Age is one of the handful of that type of bands I've still been listening to. Here are two things that I like about No Age:

1) Drummer/vocalist Dean Sprunt's voice -- With No Age, Times New Viking, and probably some other bands I can't think of, the drummer/vocalist is coming back! Sprunt's vocals are especially notable for their nasal, bratty, Tom DeLonge-esque quality. On their last record, this tone was usually at least somewhat buried beneath the noise in the mix, just enough to cover up the obnoxiousness that would make them sound a little too mall-punk. But if you listen closely, it's there, and it screams SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (in a good way).

2) Guitarist Randy Randall's name -- In a lot of other bands, Randy Randall would seem like a jokey stage name, but in this case I'm assuming it's just what people have always called him. Each part of his name also carries a special association in my brain: Randy. Randall.

BONUS 3) Interview and concert footage from XLR8R

SXSW Photo 1 - Laura Barrett

2008-03-13T11:56:00.006-04:00

In which I judge SXSW bands based solely on photos posted on other blogs/websites. It's almost like I'm there!

~~It's Nona Mecklenberg!~~ It's Joanna Newsom for the Juno set! Did she grow up in Berkeley? Santa Cruz? Probably! Not only is she wearing quirky glasses, but she plays a quirky instrument: the kalimba (like a mbira, but with more keys). Isn't the thumb piano thing already Konono No. 1's territory? Can I be the first blogger to call cultural imperialism? I hope she hooks up with Vampire Weekend while they're all together in Austin.

(Photograph courtesy of Pitchfork Media Inc.)

Harshing My Buzz

2008-03-10T13:57:00.002-04:00

marriedtothesea.com

ALSO: Slate's Daniel Gross says Stagflation is back.

Baby Huey

2008-03-10T13:36:00.004-04:00

This album has dominated my listening for the past week or so; check it out:

"Running"

"Hard Times"

Baby Huey

Marion Cotillard

2008-03-04T14:02:00.005-05:00

Apparently in an interview a year or so ago, recent best-actress Marion Cotillard questioned the official accounts of 9/11 and the first moon landing. Of course, everyone who thinks celebrities' opinions are important and/or worthy of our scorn has been all over it, pulling no punches in letting us know how stupid and crazy they think she is. These are largely the same people and organizations who like to denigrate George W. Bush at every possible chance, and have long been cheering on Obama (to a lesser extent Clinton) while largely ignoring the GOP nominees, as they really aren't even relevant to progressive thinking people like us. However, they're willing to accept the official record - a record developed during the tenures of Bush and Rudy Giuliani - on 9/11? Cotillard says "I think we're lied to about a number of things." Are these journalists, bloggers, commentators, etc. saying they really, sincerely believe the official account of these events? If so, I'm willing to bet it's likely the only product of the Bush administration that they wholly, unquestioningly accept. To me, this isn't just about the discourse of entertainment media, but mass political discourse as well. Here we have the landmark national event of a generation, and we don't even allow ourselves to question it, never mind the fact that the story comes from an administration that has shown itself to be great fans of secrecy and underhanded dealings. Of course, Cotillard's statements do get more specific - and a little more far-fetched - as to why 9/11 may have occurred, but coverage of her remarks has generally been taking her to task over the mere act of questioning in addition to her more concrete statements. Jezebel's headline reads "Marion Cotillard: 911 Is A Joke." Did the blogger responsible for that headline really get that from the remarks Cotillard made in that interview? The fact that Cotillard is foreign and female likely has something to do with the bile her statements have provoked, but it's frightening and unfortunate when the most important political event of the past few decades is declared hands-off. When we let things like this happen, we're complicit in allowing for a culture of greater secrecy and less transparency in our government.

An Album Cover

2008-03-04T13:32:00.005-05:00

Flowers Forever, Flowers Forever (Team Love)

Infant nudity is a practically cliché - and definitely less than shocking - rock album-cover trope. My issue here is that perennial problem for the sports photographer at a basketball game: the pit shot. I can almost smell the fresh off the tour-bus b.o. wafting out towards me. Also, what's with the front-row attempt to recreate the logo of late Christian ska-sters Five Iron Frenzy?

Meet...

2008-03-04T12:03:00.008-05:00

Sarah Lipstate, the newest member of Parts & Labor. An avant-garde guitarist and general noisemaker (check out the double-neck bow action in the pic above) who's been recording/performing under the name Noveller, Lipstate's addition is the 2nd change (the 1st being new drummer Joe Wong) to the band's line-up since recording Mapmaker, one of my favorite albums of last year. Though I lament the loss of potential CF (I'll need to read his Public Enemy 33 1/3 book before rendering a final judgment) Christopher Weingarten behind the kit, I'm excited to hear the sounds the new members will add to BJ Warshaw and Dan Friel's already devastating squall. According to a post on P&L's Myspace blog, "We're now a four piece band trying to sound like a six piece instead of three piece band trying to sound like a five piece. Know what I mean?"

mp3: Parts & Labor, "Sugar Kane" (Sonic Youth cover, from 2004 tribute album Confuse Yr Idols)

Always Magic in the Air

2008-02-28T13:45:00.007-05:00

I've been away from the blog for a while (more on that later - maybe); I spent some of that time reading Always Magic in the Air, Ken Emerson's history of Brill Building-era songwriters. Reading the acknowledgments section, I get the impression this is the first book-length treatment of their collective story. The book reads as a pretty straight narrative of the careers the 7 or so songwriting teams Emerson chooses to focus on (Leiber/Stoller, Pomus/Schuman, Goffin/King, Bacharach/David, Sedaka/Greenfield, Mann/Weil, and Greenwich/Barry, if I remember correctly); my major disappointment is that he doesn't really do anything to challenge or question the orthodox view of that era of rock 'n' roll/pop music, or that group's role within it. It hews a little too closely to the general stereotypes of the era that permeate its depiction in popular film and television as well. In Emerson's defense, this could have more to do with the songs than with his writing, as the lyrical themes of these hits probably have a lot to do with the formation of these stereotypes in the first place. However, as it was largely a work of original scholarship, it makes a good foundational resource for others who may want to explore the topic in a more critical manner. At the very least, it led me to check out and appreciate some music that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. Check out a few tracks below (all links are zSHARE).

Ray Charles - "Lonely Avenue" (by Doc Pomus)
The Coasters - "Searchin'" (Leiber/Stoller) (original vinyl single from Boogie Woogie Flu, a blog featuring a lot of vintage vinyl rips)
The Drifters - "There Goes my Baby" (Leiber/Stoller)
Wilbert Harrison - "Kansas City" (Leiber/Stoller) (vinyl rip, also from Boogie Woogie Flu)
The Monkees - "Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)" (Goffin/King)

This find, from Moistworks, offers a great gimpse into the demo creation process discussed in Always Magic...
Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman - "Great to be Young and in Love" (Demo)

Things from other blogs

2008-02-20T09:55:00.009-05:00

From C-Notes, via I Rock Cleveland: After earlier canceling his appearance at a Dennis Kucinich fundraiser, Sean Penn showed up with Kucinich at the Beachland Ballroom for the Wussy/Ringworm show, appearing on stage to introduce Ringworm. The show was a fundraiser for WJCU, John Carroll University's radio station. If you want to check out this surreal affair, C-Notes says, "the concert will be broadcast free on YeboTV.com on Saturday, March 1. The show will run continuously from 7 a.m. to midnight."

Jess Harvell has been whiling away his remaining days as Idolator's senior editor by frequently updating his Tumblr. It's occasionally interesting stuff; who knew working for Denton Media could take such a toll on one's psyche? (Ok, probably plenty of people.) Blog angst! Anyway, yesterday he posted this link. It must be seen to be believed.

Finally, Raven Sings The Blues has a post today about Valley sludgefeasters Witch. I've seen them twice in Brattleboro over the past few months, and each time they've put on a good show, despite subpar venue sound that's rendered the vocals inaudible. On March 20th they're visiting Northampton for a sweet Spring Break gig at The Elevens.

Black Fire Percussion

2008-02-18T15:06:00.008-05:00

I'm a sucker for drumline videos, so when I saw this clip of Brooklyn's Black Fire Percussion featured on the front page of YouTube, I had to watch. The sling harnesses had me expecting something along the lines of the show band style of traditionally black colleges (usually seen on TV once a year, during the Grambling vs Southern game), but Black Fire's style is actually a great synthesis of that and corps style, with the showmanship of the former meeting the precision and challenging charts of the latter. I think these kids are only in high school; considering that, it's pretty impressive stuff.

Real Punks Don't Wear Black, pt. 1

2008-02-18T08:36:00.014-05:00

I'm about half way through Frank Kogan's Real Punks Don't Wear Black (see the new "currently reading" section in the sidebar). Here are some of my notes/thoughts on it so far.

"the massive attempt within PBS Indie Lonely Hearts Club to decide in advance the social effect and social meaning of our little endeavors ... seems to kill off any potentially interesting real effect. The music beneath the symbolic decoration dies" (p 145) I'm pretty sure I think most of the "PBS Indie Lonely Hearts Club" idea is crap (I don't think I can explain it yet), but this effect feels even more prominent now than it probably was in 1987. Vampire Weekend strikes me as the primary example. It's clear that the album became a test case on which everyone applied their critical chops. And I mean EVERYONE. I don't think I can name a critic and/or blog (w/in the group that I read, anyway) that DIDN'T have something to say about it. And every review was FAR MORE concerned with what it meant than with the music itself. Sure, there's valid reason for exploring such questions, but at a certain point it just got to be too much hand-wringing: could we just let it ride? see where the music takes us? The criticism around this album created so much more meaning than (I think) was present in the music itself; the music became unable to speak for itself, on its own terms. (I think this echoes a point previously made in PGWP - ie. the apparent backlash to the album (the backlash itself being the site of much meaning) was created/imagined by critics.)

Kogan's discussion of authenticity (p 55-60 in a meandering 50-or-so page essay) is probably the most interesting I've ever read related to music. Rather than discussing why we feel the need to be (or why we value the) "real", he asks why there is such a great fear of being/seeming inauthentic, an angle that is usually skirted, glossed over, or not even thought of in much other writing on this topic.

Does taste have (or need to have) an ideology? It emerges throughout that Kogan has some set of criteria (what exactly these might entail is vague) for what makes good and/or valuable music. Many of his taste judgments have an intellectual distance (I think he would disagree with me on this) from how the music sounds. Personally, how it sounds is the #1, often only, criteria by which I judge music. To over-think is often to begin to bring the music down (in the sense that it's possible to find something to dislike about pretty much everything); this is how the "guilty pleasure" mindset is made. Example: (I'll choose a song that it's quite possible no one will agree with) I think "For the Movies" by Buckcherry really has a fantastic pop hard-rock sound; while not quite anthemic, I think the chorus has a definite fist-pumping, sing along quality. Simply: it's a fun song. Per Kogan's thinking, the track is likely lyrically and musically unimaginative, unchallenging (in the rebellious, original punk sense of challenging, not the jazz/intellectual sense) and thus no good. There's no room for the visceral, immediate response, aside from the totally calculated Sex Pistols style visceral response. While completely ridiculous and dangerous in politics, isn't the immediate, unintellectual response at least part of the point in music? Let's Talk About Love gets at this same type of issue, better than I ever could. I think it's appropriate to leave room for all kinds of responses in your taste system. I like Battles for their sound and musical complexity; the second time I heard "Atlas" I was hooked, and the music is rewarding to explore more deeply. I can appreciate Antony and the Johnsons for their lyrical play with gender roles, but it's not music that I particularly enjoy listening to often, for me it provides greater value in the post-listen thinking than in the act of listening itself. And I can enjoy a song like "For the Movies", which (I agree) has no redeeming intellectual or artistic value. By ideologically limiting yourself, there's the potential to miss out on quite a bit.

I came into this book thinking that Kogan was at least somewhat anti-rockist (I didn't know much about him, but I knew him to be a champion of contemporary pop music), but what I've found is just rockism in different clothes. In discussing "why music of the '80s sucks" (1987) he seemingly can't find anything to like: the most recent band he cites approvingly is New York Dolls, and he's still judging bands by comparing them to Dylan. He says some nice things about Teena Marie, but he doesn't even like her on her own terms - as pop music - but because he sees her as one of the few '80s musicians carrying on the traditions (as he sees them) of rock and roll.

Since I still don't know much about Kogan aside from what I've read in his own words, I don't know if he tends to be highly regarded or not. Maybe there are plenty of people who feel as I do, and maybe these are familiar, well worn criticisms. However, the fact that he was able to get this vanity project published by an academic press (U of Georgia), and a (very) brief browse through a mostly positive discussion of the book on the ILM boards, lead me to believe that he has plenty of admirers. Since I'm only half way through, and the book looks at least somewhat chronological, maybe his positions will change later, and he'll refute all of this stuff himself (I doubt it though).

Jumpstylee

2008-02-16T16:49:00.005-05:00

Jess Harvell just posted this jumpstyle video, and it would be irresponsible of me not to share it, as it blew my mind. I'd never heard of jumpstyle, but it turns out that it's like DDR without the pad -- and thus greater freedom of movement. Watch these guys go! And then half way through they start kicking each other's feet! No surprise that this appears to be an invention/preoccupation of central and northern European kids (don't ask what I mean by that). I hope the music genre is also called "jumpstyle", because I really think that word should be getting as much use as possible.

Further MP3 deals @ Amazon

2008-02-16T14:32:00.007-05:00

Piggybacking on yesterday's post about "In C", there's plenty of similarly priced music available in Amazon's download store. I remember reading a blog post a year or so ago (I don't remember where) about the iTunes store selling many long Miles Davis tracks for $0.99, despite their policy that generally makes songs over 7 mins "album only". It looks like the same thing has happened to some tracks/albums on Amazon, like Riley's "In C" and "A Rainbow In Curved Air". The latter album has 2 tracks ("Rainbow" is ~19 mins. and "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band" is ~22) each selling for $0.99, with the full album download priced at $1.98.

I actually made this discovery after looking up On the Corner, which I'd seen earlier while browsing at Turn It Up!, but decided to hold off on purchasing. On Amazon, the two longer tracks are "album only", but as part of the full album download they're still priced at $0.99, making the entire 4 track, 55 min. album $3.96. At 6 tracks, Kind of Blue comes out to $5.94 (though the physical CD can be had for just $2 more)... and so on with much of his catalog. I haven't found any other artists yet whose albums are priced this way, but I imagine further searching in classical, jazz, and other typically long form genres would yield more good finds.

Note: I'm not necessarily advocating purchasing music from Amazon, but I was surprised that some of the album downloads were priced so low. There's certainly plenty to be said for supporting local music stores, not to mention the benefits of owning the physical albums rather than lossy, ethereal MP3s. Nonetheless, when I can find albums I've been looking for priced at <$5, I have a hard time saying no.

"In C" free @ Last.fm

2008-02-15T17:47:00.006-05:00

I was just about to post about how Amazon's MP3 store is selling the entirety (a single 42:03 track) of Terry Riley's historic minimalist composition "In C" for $0.99, when I saw that Last.fm has it for free download. While the version available at Amazon is apparently the original 1968 recording by SUNY Buffalo's State University Center of Creative and Performing Arts, it's unclear which version is available at Last.fm.

What The Internet is good for:

2008-02-13T10:55:00.002-05:00

Cory Snyder - Rifleman

Selling the Drama

2008-02-11T19:19:00.001-05:00

Today at Zoilus, Carl Wilson briefly discusses the connection he sees between will.i.am's Obama video "Yes We Can" and "speech-based composition in other genres, notably the work of Steve Reich." He then links to John Shaw, who goes into greater detail about the history of "the setting of speech to melody." I'm not going to try to summarize or rehash either of the posts here, but both provide a compelling alternate view of the song, removed from the knee-jerk snobbishness coming from much of the rest of the blogosphere (Idolator goes so far as to use scare quotes, suggesting that this doesn't/shouldn't count as "music"). You should read them.

Wilson's and Shaw's posts actually led me to watch the video for the first time. I'm not sure I'm sold, but their analyses at least provide a reason to pay closer attention to the song, and try to get beyond the parade of questionable celebrities. I'm curious how it would have been received if it had been released audio-only, since I'm pretty sure the visuals had quite a bit to do with turning people off.

Wilson also posted this video from a British documentary on Reich. I will repost is here because it is pretty sweet. This is part 2 of 6, all of which are available if you click through to the video's YouTube page. This portion features a clip from a performance of Terry Riley's "In C" and interview footage of Brian Eno discoursing on Reich.

Friday - YAHHH TRICK YAHHHHHHH

2008-02-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

Pitchfork

Who will be the first self-righteous blogger to complain about this?? First one to use the word "rape" wins my undying hate!

I call dibs on The Hater for part 1, though I definitely give her too much credit to think that she would go for part 2.

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Progress

Does anyone else find the extent to which Obama supporters have embraced Shepard Fairey's posters (in his trademark totalitarian-propaganda-inspired style) kind of creepy/unfortunate/maddening? I showed this picture to my 10:10 class, and one student actually thought the posters weren't in support of Obama, but some sort of backhanded satirical insult. I don't really "get" the fervent Obama support. I've been asking my classes today, hoping that there may be one such supporter who can explain it to me, but all I keep finding are reasons why NOT to support Hillary or McCain. Another student (a McCain supporter) suggested that this segment of the Obama camp is simply part of a "movement about being excited." I'm inclined to think she's right.

I find the will.i.am video similarly unnerving. Check out Elliott's thoughts on it here.

Colleen posted about recent election developments here.
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As I passed by the co-opted convenience store in the Student Union the other day, this song was playing. It's a good one.

Nat Baldwin

2008-02-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

Jeremy Leclair (alto sax), Brett Deschenes (trumpet), Nat Baldwin (double bass)

New Hampshire native Nat Baldwin has been a favorite since early December, when I saw him open for Dirty Projectors at the Middle East. A former member of that band, Baldwin's solo work is a unique brand of contrabass-centric chamber jazz, with vocals in the manner of a reined-in, gentler Dave Longstreth. Last week I made a trip south to Wesleyan University to catch him playing a free show (w/ Angel Deradoorian, Deertick, and Belly Boat), and afterward picked up his new album, Most Valuable Player (due on Broken Sparrow either later this month or in April, sources vary). On his past albums, the lively sound of his performances (augmented by saxophone, trumpet, guitar, and drums) was often lost in the recording process, but MVP, recorded and produced by Grizzly Bear member Christopher Taylor, fares somewhat better. Lead track "Lake Erie" has just begun to make the blog rounds, written up (poorly, imo) yesterday in the Forkcast, and posted today on My Old Kentucky Blog (which also brings word that he studied under legendary free-jazzist Anthony Braxton). Having grown up on the shores of our most disgusting great lake, I'm partial to this track, and I also think it has the best horn sound of any of his studio recordings thus far. Much of the album features Dave Longstreth on 12-string guitar; other standout tracks include "Dome Branches", "One Two Three", a new arrangement of "Enter The Light Out", and closer "Look She Said", in which he shows Braxton's influence on a very free bass solo.

A search for Nat Baldwin still only yields 3 hits on the hype machine, but I have a feeling that will change as his tour continues and MVP's release date approaches. I don't mean this to be a self-serving "I was in before the buzz" kind of post, but the indie-blog hype factory can be a cruel mistress, and I hope he's able to emerge unscathed.

Baldwin has already gained some recognition in the U.K., where "Only In My Dreams", from debut album Lights Out (2005), was featured in a commercial for Orange Telecom. Check out the clip:

Nat Baldwin's Myspace
Elsewhere: Elliott covered Nat Baldwin yesterday.

More Robyn

2008-02-07T17:35:00.000-05:00

First: Read Kelefa Sanneh's excellent review of Robyn in today's NY Times. [One note - I'm pretty sure the word "Nazi" has been censored on every album version of "Handle Me", from the initial 2005 Sweden release and last year's U.K. release, to the U.S. release scheduled for this April.]

Then: Check out Spin's coverage. Why didn't they talk to me and take my pic? Good question! Maybe I wasn't dressed New York enough for them??

Robyn blog attack

2008-02-06T15:16:00.001-05:00

The best of the horrible pictures I took (during "Show Me Love").

Everyone in the music blogosphere is posting about the Robyn show last night. I was also there. My thoughts:

I've never seen an audience so totally devoted to the performer. I think part of this has to do with the fact that she didn't attract a traditional indie-rock/blog band crowd, but it was still pretty remarkable.
Accounts differ, but this was either the first time she's ever performed live in the U.S., or the first time she's ever performed here with a live band. Either way, it was at least the first time she's performed here in 10 years.
Outside of the jam band circuit, having two drum kits & two drummers on stage is just about the awesomest thing anyone can do.
For the first 2-3 songs, she sang with a backing track of her own voice, and I was worried it was going to be Blonde Redhead redux, but after those it was all live, with occasional backing vocals from the keyboard player.
For me, one of the highlights was when she played the sweet Knife-style electro-drum fills in "Who's that Girl" (the album version of which is in fact produced by The Knife).
Setlist:
Cobrastyle
Crash and Burn Girl
Who's That Girl
Bum Like You
Handle Me
Keep This Fire Burning (from Don't Stop the Music [2002])
Konichiwa Bitches
Be Mine!
With Every Heartbeat

--Encore--

Show Me Love (from Robyn is Here [1998])
Jack U Off (Prince cover)
Be Mine! (ballad version)
The venue was ridiculous. There were restroom attendants. I peed, he turned on the water so I could wash my hands, and handed me a paper towel. I DID NOT TIP. It generally seemed to have the atmosphere of a dance club rather than a live music venue.
The opener, Drop the Lime (terrible name), was also ridiculous. I don't see how his "singing along to bass music" shtick could really fly outside of the Manhattan trust fund/prep school circuit, and he certainly appeared out of his element in front of the Robyn crowd. I saw people laughing at him, and not in a good way.
Out of all the tracks the house DJ played before and in between acts, the only one that got any kind of response from the audience was The Outfield's 1986 hit "Your Love". It reminded me of Slate critic Jody Rosen joking that Journey was the #1 band of 2007. I mentioned it in an Idolator comment, hoping that a real music writer/someone smarter than me might have something to say about it, but apparently no one was interested.

With Every Heartbeat:

Cobrastyle (not from last night, but too sweet to not post):

More recaps:
Fluxblog
her jazz

Flavor Theory: An Introduction

2008-02-04T11:59:00.000-05:00

Apparently, discoursing on the nature of flavors is seen as outré in some segments of the blogging population -- looked down upon as some sort of pseudo-intellectualism gleaned from reading Fast Food Nation. Let me state this upfront: I HAVE NEVER READ THIS BOOK. My knowledge of flavors comes squeezed from my own mind grapes, transmitted there by my taste buds. Maybe also some articles from Time or The New York Times or Morris Day and the Time. But be assured: I am a self taught flavor theorist. My flavor theorizations are pure and authentic. Unsullied by Eric Schlosser or required reading as part of my liberal arts education, I have known flavor theory for at least five years. To my knowledge, I am the first and only flavor theorist. Let us begin --

For years, various and sundry academics, intellectuals, journalists, pundits, grandparents, and vice presidents' wives have attempted to explain what they see as the decline of our culture and civilization (be it American or World). What is to blame? Guns? Movies? Video games? Gays? Rap music? The decline of prudence regarding the erotic act? Despite the best efforts of these self-appointed cultural saviors, the answer to each of these possibilities has always been no.

Caligula

I prefer to look at the question this way: What, if any, are the most significant changes in the most base elements of human existence since the dawn of civilization? Is life now more violent, or more grotesquely violent? Certainly not. It may be easier to kill people, and plenty more people to kill, but wars and violence are nothing new. Have you seen Apocalypto?? I haven't, but I have heard about it. Let's look at the necessities of day-to-day survival. Do we poo or pee differently? Certainly not, only in different places (toilets). Do we copulate differently? No. By the end of Rome, everything had already been done. Everything. They may not have had "marital aids" but those only speed up the process, the bodily mechanics are essentially the same. Is sleep any different? More comfortably maybe, but no. What is left but eating and drinking?

In pre-modern times, before they had flavor science, humans were limited to those flavors naturally occurring in nature, like meat, berries, dirt, and squash. New flavors could only be developed by combining existing flavors, or modifying the flavor source in some way (cooked meat tastes different than raw meat, and meat marinated in a fine raspberry vinaigrette and then cooked tastes different still). Never were they able to produce new flavors radically different from those found in nature.

But now we can. Go to the grocery store and look at all the flavors: Blue Razz? Cooler Ranch?? Hot 'n' spicy Cheetos??? These do not even make sense. Not only that, but many flavors are given the names of naturally occurring flavors, when their taste is in fact far removed from the source. Have you ever had a watermelon Jolly Rancher? Then you know that I am right. These flavors are unnatural, and there are far too many. Our flavor library has to have at least tripled in size, and it has likely grown beyond even that! From the first taste of one of these perversions, our minds have been radically altered. This is too much. We cannot handle it. Our equilibrium, our collective unconscious, our sense of being, or whatever else you prefer to refer to, is totally fucked. Flavors are the root of our end.

Cleveland HS Rockoff Finals

2008-02-02T12:10:00.000-05:00

Today is the final round (or "Final Exam", as they like to say) of the Cleveland High School Rockoff at the Cleveland House of Blues (previously mentioned here). While The Distractions unfortunately didn't make it to the finals, the band formerly known as Dr. Salt, now The Modern Electric, will be there representing my hometown and alma mater. Normally a four member group, the band will be performing as a two-piece - Garrett Komyati on guitar and regular bassist Matt Childers on drums - since the other members are no longer in high school and are thus ineligible. In the semi-final round they played a few original songs, plus an acoustic cover of Slade's "Come on Feel the Noise", and received some of the most positive reviews of any band in the tournament. The finals will be webcast live at Cleveland.com (direct link), with The Modern Electric set as the 2nd group to perform, around 3:20pm.

In other Rockoff news, The Distractions have posted a live recording (from last week's semi-finals) of their song "4th Time's a Charm" on their Myspace.

Dr. Salt/The Modern Electric - "Untitled" (mp3)

A clip from their semi-final set is about 3/4 of the way through this video.

From the Vault: Willoughby South Drumline - "2000 Cadence" (mp3 @ zShare)

2008-02-01T00:25:00.000-05:00

Pictures from Saturday night:

Last night a DJ saved my life.

Kelly Link, Ed Skoog, John Hodgman, Thurston Moore, Rachel Sherman

[Source: essentials; HT: Colleen]

The Distractions

2008-02-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today the Cleveland.com music blog, "Rockin'", posted a video update from last Sunday's High School Rock-Off semi-final round. Check out the video, and fast forward about 2/3 of the way through (to the group of dudes sitting on a couch) to see Willoughby's own skank-meisters, The Distractions. The one doing the talking is my brother.

One of only 39 bands called The Distractions.

2008-01-31T16:25:00.000-05:00

As previously mentioned, I went to this on Saturday night. There wasn't much worth reporting about; some of the readers were very bad, others were better, John Hodgman was pretty funny. The DJ played some Dinosaur Jr. tracks from You're Living All Over Me, and later played quite a bit of noise. I was curious what kind of stuff he'd play, considering the event was a "dance party", but he generally steered clear of any dance music. At one point, before John Hodgman spoke, I believe, he played a long stretch of noise that cleared out the room pretty well. He had some records for sale, so at the end of the night I bought one and had him sign the insert. I mentioned that I appreciated the noise, and he seemed a little disappointed that rest of the room didn't care for it. Here are some pics of the score:

Elliott posted a brief recap of the evening as well.

2008-01-28T23:03:00.000-05:00

The Hype Machine released their 2007 Music Blog Zeitgeist list today, compiled of data from the top 10 lists of 600 or so blogs. INCLUDING THIS ONE.

And Elliott's.

For some reason they only seem to have taken 9 of my top 10, because the Skeletons album is missing. OH WELL. That's life in the blogosphere, I guess!

Cleveland Death Ray

2008-01-27T08:33:00.000-05:00

From Modern Mechanix, a 1934 article about a Cleveland scientist's deadly invention. Cleveland Death Ray is the name of my next album. (Via Boing Boing)

2008-01-26T15:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I picked up Steve Reich’s Phases, a 5-disc Nonesuch retrospective of his phasing compositions of the ‘60s and ‘70s. When I looked it up on Amazon to see what other people had to say, I was surprised to see that – for a set of classic works – it was receiving some low ratings*. It turns out that the Nonesuch recordings are generally somewhat recent, from the 80s to early 2000s, and aren’t what many consider the “definitive” recordings of the pieces. Coincidentally or not, for these reviewers, definitive seems to be synonymous with “first”. It’s not that those were Reich’s own recordings and the Nonesuch versions are farmed out to various sub-par ensembles; many of the pieces, including “Music for 18 Musicians” and “Drumming”, are performed by Reich and his own group of musicians. Regardless, the reviewers dismiss these recordings as overproduced, criticizing things like mic placement and overall sound quality (too good); a common theme was that the recordings lack the immediacy and character of a live performance. To me, this sounded a lot like the griping generally heard from hard-line rock critics and fans. It was, of course, an appeal to authenticity. Since these tracks don’t recreate the feeling and sound of a live performance, they’re lacking. Never mind that the composer himself played on many of the recordings, and likely had a good deal of oversight during the recording process. In such a case, how are the new recordings any less authentic than the old? Particularly if they represent the artist’s evolving vision of the work.

Classical music presents an interesting contrast to rock music in that the pieces are written to be performed at different times, often by a variety of different ensembles. Pieces are generally written for live performance in front of an audience, rather than for recording. Classical music isn't designed to be consumed in the same manner as rock music - its variability is built in and assumed from the beginning. It's not a band writing a song for itself to perform, it's a composer writing a piece that could be performed by any number of ensembles. (It's interesting to note that in this sense, classical music bears more similarity to pop songwriting, ie. the Brill Building model, than it does to the traditional paradigms of rock music.) Thus, a recorded piece of classical music will always be lacking, and I think, as long as you keep this in perspective, it’s a reasonable attitude to take. These compositions are designed for live performance, to be heard in the concert hall, to be seen. Particularly for pieces like Reich’s phasing works, the dynamics and reverberations of a room can have a significant effect on the sounds created by the overlapping patterns. For an example, see my earlier post on “Clapping Music”. In the video, the sound is aided by the acoustics of the room, as well as the microphone of the video recorder, giving the sound a lo-fi quality that allows the single claps to occupy even more sonic space, filling out the sound beyond even the natural density created by the gradually shifting pattern. Compared to this, the studio recording off of his Early Works album sounds thin and precise, it is a little too perfect, but I don’t think this makes the recording any less essential.

The main problem that the detractors have is that they seem to expect the recorded pieces to be able to recreate the experience of the live performance – something they allege the original recordings were able to do. The short response to this is that nothing can recreate the live performance. Every live performance, no matter how perfect the ensemble’s performance, will be different. Every listen to a recording will be the same, even if the recording is of a live performance. By recording studio versions, the pieces are presented as a kind of blank slate – the piece performed as nothing more than the notes on the page, a perfect form that can never be replicated in a live setting. Just as such a perfect studio recording isn’t exactly ideal; I don’t think a live recording is either. Yes, a good live recording will capture the variables at work that day, that one moment in time, but once on record, those variables will never change, but even they will be degraded and altered by the recording process. Also, if you’ve only ever been exposed to one live recording of a piece, would you even be able to identify the variables as such? Is this any more true to the spirit of the piece than the perfect studio recording? Or are they both imperfect in their stasis when compared to the living sound of the live performance?

If we’re willing to acknowledge that a significant part of a piece of music’s beauty is found in its variable nature, to criticize a recording for lacking that variability is ultimately meaningless. It only serves to underscore the fact that the ideal setting for classical music is the live one. The only way to even begin to recreate the experience of variables that comes from the live performance is to listen to a variety of different recordings, noticing the differences in sound of all of them, in which case the studio recordings would have as much utility as any live recording. In this way, they serve their own purpose; these recordings are just as essential or definitive as any other.

*Some of the criticisms referred to below were found in reviews on the Amazon pages for the individual Nonesuch CDs, not the box set. However, these are the same recordings that are found in the set.

2008-01-25T13:27:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the first ever Festival 71 at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. Times New Viking is headlining the show, a collection of bands from the Cleveland and Columbus areas. If i was still in Ohio I would go. If you are there now, you should go.

Check out I Rock Cleveland for a complete list of bands and links to their Myspaces/websites.

Coincidentally, Pitchfork posted a Times New Viking Guest List today: take a look.

More info @ Beachland Ballroom.

Though I will not be there, I will be here:

John Hodgman's thoughts on the event can be found here. Check this space soon for a recap of the evening's happenings.

Scary Kids Scaring Me

2008-01-24T13:59:00.000-05:00

I don't understand this at all. The look, mostly. Something about these dudes really grates on me, but I'm not sure what/why. Their music isn't anything special or particularly deserving of scorn -- the song on their Myspace, "Lost in New York", sort of reminds me of Get Up Kids' "Ten Minutes" for the Mountain Dew Game Fuel generation, with some chugging metal chords thrown in at the beginning for the post-hardcore kids. Look at them though. Could they be more over the top or one-year-too-late-trendy? They're from Florida, which I guess explains something. So why can't I stand to look at them? Is it the irony? I'm not even sure that's the right word, but these guys look way too serious about their goofiness, exceedingly self-conscious about it, to the point that it seems contrived in a way that is completely indefensible. But I wondered -- Is their earnest goofiness really so different from the ~~earnest earnestness~~ whatever seen below?

Send Me Quavers

2008-01-21T12:51:00.001-05:00

Steve Reich (right) performing "Clapping Music"

Listening to Steve Reich's early minimalist compositions, I'm always amazed by the full, decidedly non-minimal sound he's able to create. "Clapping Music", written for nothing more than two pairs of hands, stands as the archetypal example. The piece begins with the players clapping a 12 beat (8 notes) pattern in unison, but the second player soon shifts his clapping by one beat; the two are still clapping the same pattern, but offset, no longer unison. The piece continues with the second player shifting in this manner - beat by beat - until finally the two are once again in unison. The outcomes of Reich's minimalism are so counterintuitive - the apparently simple idea to offset a pattern by one beat at a time over a series of phrases (an example of process music) ends up creating a soundscape that is both rhythmically and sonically complex. Stated in obvious, clichéd metaphor: with this piece Reich succeeds in building a wall of sound with his bare hands. His website hosts a Quicktime video of an early performance, featuring himself as the second player.

Steve Reich, "Clapping Music" (mp3 @ zShare)

Used CD Blitzkrieg

2008-01-12T16:22:00.000-05:00

Today I went to Record Den in Mentor, OH; I wasn't really expecting to get anything, but they ended up having one of the sweetest used CD selections I've ever seen. I picked up the Phil Spector Back to Mono (1958-1969) 3 CD (the Christmas album was missing) box set, along with Sonic Youth's Sister, Entertainment! by Gang of Four, and Robyn is Here, the late 90s teen-pop album by my #1 Swedish crush. A few of the things I passed up were Applause Cheer Boo Hiss by Land of Talk, Psychic Hearts by Thurston Moore, Goo and Washing Machine by Sonic Youth, The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1, and albums from forgotten mid-90s local bands Sons of Elvis and Paranoid Lovesick. Record Den also has huge selections of new CDs, new and used vinyl, and used cassettes. Score 1 for Cleveland's east suburbs having sweeter record stores than Northampton.

2008 will be the end of you.

2008-01-11T10:54:00.000-05:00

The Schwartz Brothers @ Hoople's, Cleveland, OH -- 1/10/2008

Glenn Schwartz, former guitarist of the James Gang, Pacific Gas & Electric, and the All Saved Freak Band, is one of those "lost" 70s guitarists whose past is likely now more myth than reality. My dad told me that Clapton, Hendrix, and Page all saw Schwartz play, and each agreed he was better than they were. Now more outsider-musician than rock legend, Glenn and his brother Gene, playing as the Schwartz Brothers, are the Thursday night house band at Hoople's, a bar on the west bank of Cleveland's Flats district. Due to Schwartz's history of religious salvation, abuse at the hands of a cult leader, and resulting mental illness, his blues sets are often erratic and unpredictable. In mid-2007, a Slate article on "The freaky origins of Christian rock" provided a short history of Schwartz's time in the All Saved Freak Band:

The All Saved Freak Band is a different kettle of fish—at once more powerful and more disturbing, and a reminder of how apocalyptic convictions, Christian or otherwise, can go sour. The band began when a drugged-out Chicago guitarist named Joe Markko moved to Ohio, where he met a fiery street pastor named Larry Hill. Convinced that the Chinese and/or Russians were coming, Hill set himself up as patriarch of an isolated survivalist Christian commune, replete with guns and goats. When he performed, Hill wore a wide Amish hat and a priest's habit, and he sang to hector and convert. But the band didn't really gel until Hill and Markko were joined by Glenn Schwartz, an incendiary blues shromper who had played guitar for the James Gang but had publicly renounced commercial rock. Living collectively, the band made a handful of intense and very strange records, including the Tolkien-inspired folk-rock rarity For Christians, Elves, and Lovers. In 1975, in response to Hill's authoritarian brutality, Schwartz's family attempted to kidnap and "deprogram" the guitarist. The attempt failed, and the band's third record was called Brainwashed.

Schwartz's lyrics are invariably apocalyptic; in last night's opener, the first words he said were "2008 will be the end of you." A minor earthquake had hit the Cleveland area a few days prior, and he pointed to this as a signal from God of the coming End. Later, he advised the audience that we'd "better get out quick, 'cause that chemical warfare, it's gonna make you sick." Early in the set he stopped the music and began to chastise/preach to the audience, referring to certain spectators as "lame brains" and "dummys", yelling at them for drinking beer "full of chemicals". He also told us that 1 out of every 2 people has cancer, and that there were 14 people with cancer in the room that night. Given his extreme fundamentalist views, his tirades are also often laced with invective against women; last night he warned us of the "females in power [who] don't even have the good sense to wear a dress ... women in pants is disgusting, it's disgusting." Later in the set he stopped again, this time relating his experiences as a medic in the Vietnam war, referring to Vietnamese soldiers as "slant-eyes" and "japs", then segueing into anecdotes about cancer-stricken relatives who had been saved through the power of prayer. At this point, the bartender had enough of the ranting, and turned the stereo on, leaving Prince to drown out Schwartz. Following a talking-to from the bartender, the 2nd set was largely uneventful, with Schwartz sticking to the music. Mental illness aside, Schwartz is an incredible guitarist in the blues-rock style, coaxing sounds without the aid of any pedals or effects. At one point early in the first set, he took out a comb and did his hair with his right hand while soloing on the guitar's neck with his left. Later, he jumped up on an automated bowling machine, surprisingly nimble for his 60+ years. As much curious spectacle as blistering blues guitar set, it was remarkable to see such talent survive in a man whose mind had left him long ago.

Gene Schwartz, Glenn Schwartz, and one of their revolving group of drummers.

American Splendor

2008-01-08T10:37:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Ohio for the next 9-or-so days. In honor of this homecoming, here's a selection of sweet bands who are either currently shredding-- or at least cut their shred-teeth -- in the 17th State. [Only Cleveland and Columbus bands; I don't know/care about Cincinnati.]

Cleveland

(Photo cred to Me)

My homeland. Given its self-proclaimed status as "The Birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll", and as a breeding ground for bands/artists like Pere Ubu, Dead Boys, Chrissie Hynde, The James Gang, The Raspberries, Nine Inch Nails, and Devo, the scene today is pretty barren. Endemic of a larger problem for the city itself, it seems that the bands that are any good leave the city, leaving behind those that are double-A level at best.

Three Cleveland-based bands getting a decent amount of critical attention and praise are Bears, Machine Go Boom, and This Moment in Black History.

Bears

Bears play capable, professional indie-pop -- they played at the 2007 New England Popfest here in Northampton. Their sound has a definite Oh, Inverted World feel... so it's pleasant enough, but also boring. Bears @ The Hype Machine (unfortunately includes every other band w/ "bears" in the name).

Machine Go Boom making like Frankie Yankovic

Machine Go Boom is a pretty mixed bag. Some tracks (see "Gentleman's Reply" and "Build Me a Ladder" on their Myspace) are charming lo-fi screamers, short blasts evocative of the region's rusted-out discontent. Other tracks are a little too twee, as titles like "Captain Obvious", "Cancer Boy", and "I'm in Love with Your Mom" might suggest. However, judging by the tracks streaming on their Myspace, it looks like their stronger offerings are the most recent ones, so they may be a band to watch. Machine Go Boom @ The Hype Machine.

This Moment in Black History

This Moment in Black History are probably the critical darlings of the Cleveland rock scene. A multi-racial group of hardcore noisemakers, they're one of the few local bands that effectively continue the legacy of the late 70s punk scene epitomized by Dead Boys. It's not really my style, but I'll probably check them out on Friday at the Beachland Ballroom; they have some pretty sweet merch, if I remember correctly. TMiBH @ The Hype Machine.

Skeleton Freak-Out

Heading up the Cleveland ex-pats are Skeletons & The Kings of all Cities. Now based in Queens, Skeleton leader Matt Mehlan formed the band, originally named just Skeletons, while attending Oberlin College. When I first saw them at the Grog Shop opening for TV on the Radio in March 2004, they seemed like kind of a joke band. The entire band dressed in the height of Spring 2004 hipster fashion, one member just stood next to a floor tom and smoked throughout the entire set, hitting the drum or shaking a tambourine every once in a while. In retrospect, it was likely a send-up of the type of hipster culture that had crammed the venue that night -- I'd say at least 75% of the audience was wearing Castro hats -- and it was pretty brilliant. Their 3rd album, and first with "The Kings of all Cities" was one of my favorites of 2007, with the lead track, "What they Said", also one of my favorite songs of the year.

Awesome colors: Dragons of Zynth

I don't know much about Brooklyn's Dragons of Zynth, but I know that at least one of the members is from Cleveland (their Myspace gives their location as "Cleveland, New York"), so they'll count for our purposes here. Their debut album, Coronation Thieves, was just released in late 2007, and they have previously worked with TV on the Radio and Antibalas. Showing this influence, much of the album sounds like a noisier take on the sonic palate of Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes. Dragons of Zynth @ The Hype Machine.

Hipster Trash: White Williams

Finally, White Williams is a guy from Cleveland who made a name touring with acts like Girl Talk and Dan Deacon. Much of his first album, Smoke, is extremely derivative of early Eno and Bowie. As such, it's nothing exciting, but would be nice enough background music at a place like Urban Outfitters (#4 on their Top 20 of 2007). White Williams @ The Hype Machine.

Columbus

Columbus: Birthplace of Wendy's AND White Castle

The most exciting Ohio-based rock right now is coming out of Columbus, urb to the suburb where I spent my undergraduate years.

Times New Viking: Notice that the guitarist is left-handed and plays a cream-colored Strat, just like a certain Christ figure.

Taking their cues from elder statesmen Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices of Dayton, Times New Viking is a noisy lo-fi joyfest, and Ohio's current #1 band. Present the Paisley Reich, their 2007 album, was met with positive reviews from all the right places, and 2008's Rip it Off will be their first for indie-major Matador, out January 22nd. On the 26th of this month, they will be playing with a number of other Cleveland and Columbus bands (not covered here) at Beachland Ballroom's 1st Annual Festival 71 (named for the highway that connects Cleveland and Columbus). Times New Viking @ The Hype Machine.

Psychedelic Polaroidshit

Though their name may suggest otherwise, Psychedelic Horseshit is a hippie killing rock machine. With a sound drenched in the same fuzzed-out noise as former Siltbreeze label-mates TNV, they take a looser approach to rock song writing. Self-described as "shit-gaze" or "practice rock", Psychedelic Horseshit's style draws heavily on the improvisation and spontaneity of a live show, with songs never being performed the same way twice. Psychedelic Horseshit @ The Hype Machine.

Bonus stuff:

Top OH Music Venues:
Beachland Ballroom, Collinwood, East Cleveland
The Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights
Little Brother's (now defunct), Columbus
Now that Little Brother's is gone, I don't know where bands play in Columbus these days.

Sweet Record Store:

Music Saves, Collinwood, East Cleveland

Radio Signals:
CD 101, 101.1 FM, Columbus - One of the last major-market independent radio stations.
WRUW, 91.1 FM, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland

Mid-90s Cleveland MP3s for the Heads:

Sons of Elvis, "Formaldehyde"
Dink, "Ohio" (CSNY Cover)

"A Stop at Willoughby", Twilight Zone Episode

We are tired of your abuse.

2008-01-08T01:13:00.000-05:00

On a foot-bridge, in or near Cleveland, Ohio, 12/30/2007:

Rise Above

(Source: Cleveland Angel's Flickr Photosream)

AM Gold

2008-01-07T13:26:00.000-05:00

First it was Arcade Fire and John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, now Yeasayer and America.

Yeasayer: Get a load of these hippie freaks.

For some reason, this song (Yeasayer, "2080") always reminds me of this (in style and spirit, if not necessarily in sound):

In my mind, the only appreciable difference in style - the part that makes Yeasayer's vision futuristic - is the yelling bridge that comes in about half way through the track. While Mad Max is destroying in Thunderdome, Yeasayer is a quasi-religious group of post-apocalyptic wasteland hippies, riding around in a converted, open-air Chevy Astro Van pulled by burros, eating the peyote that no doubt managed to survive the end times.

It's kind of disheartening to realize that songs that are getting all kinds of praise (at least on-line blog buzz praise) are just updates of corny songs from decades past.

Odds and Fri/Ends

2008-01-04T12:44:00.000-05:00

that dog.
Is it a Gordon-Moore? I'd like to meet it either way.

Friends' Blogs and things

Elliott has been writing at Biomusicosophy, a blog about life, music, and knowledge. Check out his year end lists, or his Straussian interpretation of I Am Legend.

Stephen's blog, All Things Go, is a collection of field recordings of buskers in Chicago. I haven't explored it too deeply yet, but the concept is intriguing. Totally Lomax.

Bryan has been contributing to music blog The Owl and the Bear for a few months now. Click the link to be taken directly to his pieces.

Colleen has revived Nine Times That Same Blog, writing about whatever she wants. She is a free-form renegade.

Idol8or

2008-01-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

Warning: This post is a little inside blog-ball. Continue if you're into that kind of thing.

Earlier this week I came across this old post by Chris Ott (music critic and former Pitchfork writer). Dated 9/16/2006, it's largely a reaction to the debut of Idolator, Gawker's entry into the music blog game. Ott writes:

Idolator's unsubstantiated and obnoxious "manifesto" is a pile of sub-MisShapes cooler-than-thou dogshit. "Online music criticism sucks, they're all dorky white kids, we're BADASS." This has turned everyone off, and I mean everyone. ... So far, the site reads like a piece of Chewels with no goo inside, Indieshite without the slanderous so-sue-me insider sneer (though I'm sure with some reputation-building, it will develop Gawker-level cachet). Maura's trying to even things out with nods to bands like Syrup USA and some other heartfelt digging, and if anyone has the ability to draw in readers from outside the narrow-minded hipster set it's her, but Idolator is obviously a job to its editors, at least for now, and that's a major incongruity with the divisive, overconfident contentiousness of that scene-shattering launch announcement.

The branded, jaded tone of the site—its Gawker quotient—is also 100% counter to the culture the entire pop music shouting match rose from, the fanzine. Idolator is a grotesque Baby Huey that has the potential to ruin a lot of slow-boiled friendships based on years of trust and good faith, to spoil the casual, party-hopping positivism of our younger, self-policed culture writers.

Now that Idolator is over a year old, it seems like as good an arbitrary time as any to reassess this criticism, particularly in light of two recent events. First, Idolator's editors made their only foray into 2007 year end list-making with their "Top 40 List of Awesomeness", and second, yesterday's post for their new intern search contained the most distilled version of their mission statement that there's been since Maura took over as Editor: "If you read Idolator, you know we're looking for someone with a gut-level love of music but a suspicious eye trained on all of the online hype and industry b.s. that comes with it in 2008." To begin with the latter statement, it clearly bears out Ott's early reading of the site. Even with the author of that derided "manifesto" gone, Idolator has remained clear in their suspicion of the online hype machine, largely composed of the "younger, self-policed culture writers" Ott refers to. While I obviously can't speak to the actual opinions of the Idolators, I imagine they're not completely opposed to the fanzine mentality, the "casual, party-hopping positivism," on its face. Rather, they are leery of the power and sway that the broad reach of the internet has given to that voice. Rather than the positive boosterism of a 2-4 issue a year fanzine - simply out to turn people on to some new bands - the breadth and communicative ability of the blogging world can make and/or break a band in a matter of weeks or months (see: Tapes 'n' Tapes, Birdmonster, Vampire Weekend, Black Kids, and plenty of others). Moreover, there's now real money involved (Stereogum is now a multi-million dollar venture), and if not money, then there's plenty of merch and other similar perks (the MOKB Zune imbroglio comes to mind). With nothing like editorial oversight, their casual, self-policed nature has allowed the world created by these blogs to spin out of control. In this case, I think Idolator's treatment of these issues is valid. Perhaps, given the passing of a year and three months or so, Chris Ott could agree that the milieu of the music blogging community is of a different nature than that of old cut-and-pasted-and-stapled paper fanzines.

Turning to Idolator's list of their 40 favorite songs of 2007, one could come away with the notion that their suspicion and cynicism regarding the indie rock hype machine has taken a reactionary turn. In this case, "Top 40" is an apt descriptor indeed (zing!). The majority, I'd say between 2/3 and 3/4, of the list is made up of chart-friendly radio pop. I don't want to get embroiled in some kind of rock vs. pop debate, since I think that "good" music is any music that you like (it's part of the idea behind this blog in the first place), but it's hard not to feel like the editors are pumping up their anti-indie (or "popist", for people who like to talk that way) bonafides in order to provide further evidence of their distance from the hype machine. That is to say, while I acknowledge that there's an abundance of over-hyped mediocre-or-worse crap clogging the indie pipelines, I think there's still enough good, interesting music out there to construct a list without turning to major label music with radio play and thousands of marketing dollars behind it. [Two possible responses to this criticism: 1) Why should radio-ready pop music be considered only a last resort when making a list of your favorite songs? 2) Many of the people reading Idolator are, either out of professional obligation or by choice, not paying much attention to this type of pop music, and thus, in a manner that queers the indie fanzine concept, the list serves to introduce many of them to music that they wouldn't have heard otherwise - in this case music that has already gained plenty of exposure through mainstream outlets. That Lloyd song was alright!] In this sense, I think Chris Ott's "Online music criticism sucks, they're all dorky white kids, we're BADASS," description still rings true. Their reactionary slant in regards to online music criticism is palpable. However, later in that paragraph he says of Maura: "if anyone has the ability to draw in readers from outside the narrow-minded hipster set it's her." The "Top 40 List of Awesomeness" serves as further proof, as the average Brooklyn Vegan commenter would likely do no more than scoff at the list, not giving it another thought.

All of this is to say that Idolator is a weird and interesting element in the current online music writing environment. The editors have staked out a crucial position, one so unique that it's only natural that they'd lose their footing at times, coming off as reactionary cranks when it is really only their love for music that has so concerned them with changing nature of the entire music business - from the recording industry at the top, to consumers and critics at the bottom - and their's is one of the few voices questioning this change in a reasoned, thoughtful manner on a daily basis. As that sentence may suggest, this is also a love letter. Reading Idolator turned me on to writing about music, and the elements surrounding it, more than Pitchfork or anything else I've ever read. I've been toying with the idea of applying for their internship position, but now I don't know, as this post would seem like a total ass kiss. Maybe I could delete this last bit.

Update: I just found a similarly-themed post at Eric Harvey's marathonpacks, dated 9/18/2006 (just 2 days after Ott's). It's pretty long, and I haven't yet had a chance to read it, but it's definitely worth a look.

Northampton Shred City

2008-01-03T19:43:00.001-05:00

The 'Forkcast has the premiere of Thurston Moore's video for "Fri/End", from his 2007 release Trees Outside The Academy - an album that was all over my year end lists. I figured I'd post it, since we're neighbors and stuff. It looks like it was filmed on location in the Pioneer Valley.

Bonus: Thurston and Coco in the video for Dinosaur Jr.'s "Been There All the Time", another Pioneer Valley shredfest.

Precious Reciprocity

2008-01-03T13:36:00.000-05:00

(Photo source: Dirty Projectors' Myspace)

The Dirty Projectors' "Two Young Sheeps" (link to mp3), off of their 2006 New Attitude EP, has been one of my favorite songs for the past month or so. An eight minute live recording, the song's guitar, key and vocal parts rely heavily on call and response structure. Along with the lo-fi sound quality, this gives the track a total funky Lagos feel.
In the wake of Sasha Frere-Jones's New Yorker article, criticizing indie-rock (a term I'd prefer not to use) for what he sees as its overwhelming whiteness (and the spate of responses it provoked), Dirty Projectors' use of African structures raises a different sort of questions about the relationship between music and race/ethnicity. As shown on their two most recent LPs - The Getty Address (2005) and Rise Above (2007) - Dirty Projectors' mastermind Dave Longstreth has a unique ability to craft songs and album concepts that play with notions of authenticity and the creative process. Here, he takes the form of traditional African music and uses it to create something artificial but not cheap; appropriating without being exploitative, the sound vividly evokes the loose, collective feeling of a blissed-out 3rd world jam.

Check out their Daytrotter session for 4 more songs.

Year 3000

2008-01-02T18:08:00.000-05:00

We live in public trailer from RADAR on Vimeo.

Radar online has the premiere of the (briefly NSFW) trailer for We Live in Public, an upcoming documentary about a group of 100 artists and volunteers who live in an sub-Manhattan bunker under constant video surveillance as part of some artistic-cum-social experiment. While the clip has a number of remarkable elements, from reminders of the heady days of the late 90s, when "cyberspace" presented a world of endless possibilities; to the muddled (to the point of incomprehensible) political overtones of the project; the most striking feature of the video is just how quaint it all seems. I don't know if its because 8 more years of reality TV have desensitized us to the entire premise, or because the inhabitants largely look to be the kind of "artistic" types whom it's impossible to take seriously anyway (think Elisa from the current season of Project Runway), but aside from general curiosity, the film doesn't seem nearly as interesting or compelling as it should. Wasn't there already a bad Matthew McConaughey movie about this? And at least that one seemed to have a clear idea of what it wanted to say. I'm all for raising more questions instead of providing answers, but the whole concept just seems like an already-dated mess.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

[Via Buzzfeed]

For the heads:

Jonas Brothers - Year 3000

Our Manifesto

2008-01-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

From 1992 to 2004, "We eat what we like" was the featured tagline in advertising for Kellogg's Apple Jacks cereal. The standard set-up for the commercials opened with a group of kids eating Apple Jacks, only to have their taste for the cereal questioned by an adult or dubious peer - due to the fact that it "doesn't taste like apples". Unwilling (or unable) to provide reason for their cereal preference, the kids either find a way around answering the question (such as shifting focus to a Dad's golf attire), or simply refuse to provide an answer beyond "we just do". The commercials close with a chorus of children's voices shouting, "We eat what we like!"

Apple Jacks Commercial, 1998
While it may be a bit Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism to suggest that advertising copywriters are often the most adept at capturing and distilling (or is it creating?) zeitgeist, the Apple Jacks tagline is a remarkably succinct, evocative portrait of late 20th century American consumer society. Part of a contemporary trend in advertising aimed at children, the theme/mission of these commercials is the empowerment of the child qua consumer. Unlike earlier advertising, (see 1988 Apple Jacks commercial) these commercials set the preferences of the child in direct opposition to those of the adult. Moreover, they offer no reason for this preference, save the "adults don't get it" angle. The message imparted is that the way to rebel, to differentiate yourself from your parents, is to want this product. The "Apple Jacks '94" commercial (see sidebar) lacks even this, offering no more than, "We eat what we like!" And why do we like it? Well, we just do.

A rallying cry for irrational choice, "We eat what we like" is now over 15 years old. Though no longer a part of Kellogg's advertising campaign, its ethos still exists in the child - now adult - consumers educated by its message. Through our choices, we make ourselves. Reason is an inconvenience. We are what we eat; we eat what we like.

Manliness

2007-12-31T16:53:00.000-05:00

Today at Slate, John Dickerson has a piece on "How Edwards tries to emasculate Obama". The article is a perfect example of one of my hobbyhorses: the role that discourses of gender and authenticity play in contemporary U.S. political campaigns and media coverage of the candidates. There will undoubtedly be many similarly themed articles in the coming year, and I'll try to post them whenever I come across one. In this instance, Dickerson relates the Edwards campaign's use of the word "nice" in describing Obama, arguing that it is an attempt to emasculate the candidate.

Edwards has been pitching himself as a fighter for quite some time ... but in the final week, he and his campaign are increasingly highlighting a secondary argument: that Obama is too nice to be one, too. Nice is an emasculating epithet that gains additional potency because the heart of Obama's message is about conciliation and bringing people together. "Senator Obama talks a nice talk," said Elizabeth Edwards on the Today Show, "but John is the real warrior in this race." Link

The subtext at play is that attacking a candidate's masculinity is in fact akin to attacking his authenticity. The connection of the feminine, or at least the non-masculine, with notions of artifice is as old as western civilization, as is the equation of masculine traits with the traits desirable in a political leader. Thus, in characterizing Obama as "nice", Edwards is calling his masculinity and authenticity both into question. Of course, Edwards hasn't always been made out to be the manliest candidate, either:

batter spreads

2007-12-31T14:33:00.000-05:00

Batter Blaster commercial

A post on Boing Boing just reminded me of this new space-age food product. Though the commercial is kind of jokey, Batter Blaster is real, and looks pretty awesome. It's currently only available on the west coast and at Meijer, a department store in the MI, IN, OH area. Remind me to tell Colleen to buy some while she's home. My favorite part about the commercial is how the "now" era is set to a track that is a total Stone Roses rip-off.

Stone Roses - Love Spreads

The we eat what we like guide to New Year's Eve

2007-12-31T14:13:00.001-05:00

(image: total we eat what we like original)

If you're like me, you're stuck in the Pioneer Valley with no NYE plans: Thurston and Kim haven't called, Mascis will probably be in bed by 7:30, and there aren't even any sweet local music & burrito venues. Here then, for your convenient perusal, are a few suggestions for ways to while away the hours, minutes, and seconds until the ball on top of the Hotel Northampton rises on 2008.

Fireworks!
At 6:15 there will be fireworks shooting off of the downtown parking garage. It's a salute to fireworks, Northampton style.

Watch all eight episodes of The Assistant, get nostalgic for four years ago.
Andy Dick's website has posted the entire one season run of The Assistant, a sort-of-fake-but-also-real reality show spoof that ran on MTV in 2004. While occasionally funny, the most interesting element is how innocent it seems compared to MTVs more recent run of reality programming. There are no groan-worthy double entendres, no contestants trying to give themselves away for sex, and while the show's situations and talking-head interviews may be contrived and/or scripted, they seem thousands of times more natural than those on Next or Parental Control. Unlike the cast of the Real World, the contestants - most in their early 20s - come across as extremely earnest, more eager to win the coveted position of "Personal Assistant to Andy Dick" than to play any of reality TV's archetypal characters.

8-Track Porn Party
Over the course of the year, the audio curio blog Dinosaur Gardens has posted a number of digital recordings taken from '70s era "adult 8-tracks". Lacking any visual element, stories with names like The Lustful Sexlife of a Perverted Nympho Housewife, Apartment #69, Suck and Screw Orgy, and Fornicating Female Freaks rely heavily on blue language, over the top imagery, and play-by-play narration. While I have trouble imagining how anyone could have found these erotic 35 years ago, the dated, actorly voices serve as unsettling reminders that these women are either grandmothers or dead by now.

So 2007
There is also a Radiohead webcast, if you're not completely over them already.

Favorite Albums of 2007

2007-12-29T14:27:00.000-05:00

20 - Liars - Liars
19 - Chikita Violenta - The Stars & Suns Sessions
18 - Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm
17 - Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy
16 - LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

15 - Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
14 - Kevin Drew - Spirit If...
13 - Panda Bear - Person Pitch
12 - Times New Viking - Presents the Paisley Reich
11 - Celebration - The Modern Tribe

10 - Deerhunter - Fluorescent Gray EP

I feel the same as Elliott regarding EPs; this album is only 4 songs, and they're all awesome. ALL KILLER NO FILLER.

http://www.myspace.com/deerhunter

http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com/

9 - Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

The distance from black metal to ambient new-age is closer than you think.

http://www.alcest-music.com/

8 - Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

On the list by virtue of how much I played it in the first half of the year. I think I let the backlash get to me a little bit - I still can't listen to "Keep the Car Running" without hearing John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band - but it would be a mistake to let the hate sully your enjoyment of the big, awe-inspiring sound and sweet neo-Gorey aesthetic.

http://www.arcadefire.com/

7 - Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities - Lucas

Brooklyn-by-way-of-Oberlin weirdos follow up the electro/Prince inflected Git by nestling comfortably into the new Brooklyn sound epitomized by artists like Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors.

http://www.ghostly.com/1.0/ghostly/gi58.shtml

6 - Aa - gAame

I like drums and yelling, particularly when the yelling doesn't even consist of recognizable words. This has a lot that.

http://www.myspace.com/alittlea

5 - St. Vincent - Marry Me

4 great songs and about 7 unnecessary ones, but they're pleasant enough to let the former carry the album.

http://www.ilovestvincent.com/

4 - Parts & Labor - Mapmaker

RIDICULOUS PUMMELING DRUMS. Colleen says this album sounds like the 90s. I don't know what that means. I don't think she does either.

http://www.partsandlabor.net/

3 - The National - Boxer

A set of capable rock songs evocative of (post)modern urban life, elevated by Bryan Devendorf's sweet, unexpected drumming.

http://www.americanmary.com/

2 - Battles - Mirrored

I don't think I can come up with anything new to say about this album. It's a pleasant surprise that it seems to have been received so well, even outside of the usual suspects (it made Time Magazine's list).

http://www.bttls.com/

1 - Dirty Projectors - Rise Above

I've still never listened to Black Flag's Damaged in it's entirety, and I'd never listened to a single song before hearing Rise Above, but it didn't matter. The "reimagination" concept certainly makes this a more intellectually interesting album, but it would be silly to say it has any effect on the listening experience, or the music itself. I've never particularly been a fan of lyrics as much as the overall sound of music: I don't care how great Bob Dylan's lyrics are, his music just doesn't appeal to me. By reappropriating the words of others, Dave Longstreth seems to have found a way around the problem of writing new lyrics (his last full-length consisted of his own lyrics from earlier albums combined with selections from Don Henley's lyrics), and he has the musical genius to back it up. In the hands of most others, the concept would likely have come off as trite and corny, but when paired with Longstreth's compositions, it sounds natural, organic, authentic. Is it really though? Does it matter?

http://www.myspace.com/dirtyprojectors

Favorite Songs of 2007

2007-12-10T15:56:00.000-05:00

Angels of Light

30 - Angels of Light, "We Are Him"
29 - The New Pornographers, "Mutiny I Promise You"
28 - Battles, "Leyendecker (DJ EMZ Remix Featuring Joell Ortiz)"
27 - Jens Lekman, "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
26 - Against Me!, "Thrash Unreal"

R. Kelly vs. Broken Social Scene

25 - R. Kelly vs. Broken Social Scene (ABX Remix), "I'm a Flirt (Shoreline)"
24 - Kevin Drew, "Farewell to the Pressure Kids"
23 - Thurston Moore, "Fri/End"
22 - Chikita Violenta, "Laydown"
21 - Black Moth Super Rainbow, "Sun Lips"

Panda Bear

20 - Panda Bear, "Comfy in Nautica"
19 - Sufjan Stevens, "In the Words of the Governor"
18 - St. Vincent, "Now, Now"
17 - Arcade Fire, "No Cars Go"
16 - Times New Viking, "Teenage Lust!"

Parts & Labor

15 - Parts & Labor, "Vision of Repair"
14 - Marnie Stern, "Every Single Line Means Something"
13 - Celebration, "Evergreen"
12 - Aa, "Manshake"
11 - Klaxons, "Golden Skans"

10 - LCD Soundsystem, "Someone Great"

LCD Soundsystem
http://fakepennycomics.com/blog/04%20Someone%20Great%201.mp3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaYsczkWti0

9 - Muscles, "Ice Cream"

Muscles
http://www.circlebar.org/hipster9/03%20Ice%20Cream.mp3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQE3KzJ_V20

8 - Fall Out Boy, "The Take Over, The Break's Over"

Fall Out Boy
http://www.myspace.com/falloutboy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zElEs8yw7fw

7 - St. Vincent, "The Apocalypse Song"

St. Vincent
http://www.minneapolisfuckingrocks.com/mp3/07%20-%20St.%20Vincent%20-%20The%20Apocalypse%20Song.mp3

6 - Grizzly Bear, "Little Brother (Electric)"

Grizzly Bear
http://www.ohmpark.com/promo/03%20Little%20Brother%20%28Electric%29.mp3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIL_G7EHeHQ

5 - Liars, "Houseclouds"

Liars
http://www.savefile.com/files/1174564

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzZVvM8Dyzs

4 - Dirty Projectors, "New New Attitude"

Dirty Projectors
http://www.daytrotter.com/download/311/id=383

3 - Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities, "What They Said"

Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5069687501b149/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN_HOCRZHjM

2 - M.I.A., "Paper Planes"

M.I.A.
http://filexoom.com/files/87357/11-m.i.a-paper_planes.mp3

1 - LCD Soundsystem, "All My Friends"

LCD Soundsystem
http://musicforants.com/music/12.5/05%20All%20My%20Friends.mp3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2V_ZT-nyOs

Favorite Live Shows of 2007

2007-12-09T16:02:00.000-05:00

Dirty Projectors @ Middle East, Cambridge, MA 12/5/2007

10 - My Brightest Diamond - Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, MA
9 - Damo Suzuki - AS220, Providence, RI
8 - The National - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton, MA - October 10
7 - Black Moth Super Rainbow - AS220, Providence, RI
6 - Deerhunter - AS220, Providence, RI
5 - Thurston Moore - Pleasant Street Theater, Northampton, MA
4 - Grizzly Bear - Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, MA - February 2
2 (tie) - Dirty Projectors - Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA - December 5
2 (tie) - Battles - AS220, Providence, RI - April 6
1 - Kevin Drew & Broken Social Scene Myspace Secret Show - TT The Bear's Place, Cambridge, MA - August 28

Most Disappointing Live Performances

2 - Blonde Redhead - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton, MA
1 - Cat Power - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton, MA

Best Performance, Non-music Category

Michael Showalter - Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, MA

Best Venue (also Best Burritos, Quesadillas, Butts, etc.)

AS220 - Providence, RI

Honorable Mentions:

Best Chubby Indie Guitar God on Drums
Witch - Tinder Box & The Loft, Brattleboro, VT (J Mascis!)

Best Opening Act
Nat Baldwin (opening for Dirty Projectors) - Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA

Who thought it was a good idea to have a hip-hop show in Western MA?
Clipse - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton, MA

Ubiquitous Providence Faux-British Accented Synth-Pop Revivalists
Triange Forest - AS220, Providence, RI

Wilkkomen

2006-09-24T21:29:00.000-04:00

Bienvenidos a We Eat What We Like!

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