Author Archive

Isn’t The Whole Thing Just Clever As All Hell?!

This is just repulsive. First, I really can’t stand it when personal diatribes better suited to blog entries or message board rants are sold off as legitimate music journalism. It’s a sickening lack of professionalism, there’s nothing resembling intelligent commentary in this Matos piece, it’s nothing more than undiluted bile and misdirected anger. Now, it’s fine to express these things, to get them off of one’s chest – but to pass this off as a piece of journalism is disgusting. It reveals a serious dearth of talent and ideas, and offers nothing more to the reader than cheap shock. It’s reactionary bullshit designed to elicit angry letters-to-the-editor. What bothers me even more is that Matos presumes to know Chan Marshall, to understand her motivations, when it seems entirely plausible that he’s doing little more than projecting his own odious qualities onto her in some kind of sideways autocritique. Surely this statement can be taken with a probable “pot-kettle-black” grain of salt, but you know what? This is a blog entry. I don’t think blogs are subject to the same level of journalistic standards that I believe published journalism should be held up to. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I really do think that arts and entertainment journalism should be written with the same seriousness and professionalism as hard news and analysis.

At any rate, it’s insulting and just yet another piece of hack music ‘criticism’ that’s being pushed on us by crap magazines and weeklies who fancy themselves rebellious bad boys; the journalistic equivalent of small-market shock jocks and their cookie-cutter ‘zoo crews’. Every one of these guys fancies themselves the next Lester Bangs or Robert Christgau the same way the shock jocks delude themselves into thinking they’re the new Howard Stern. It’s very depressing.

The Broccoli Of Authenticity

If you haven’t read it yet, last week’s New York Times Magazine had a feature-length article about Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst which has to be the most appallingly awful piece of journalism I’ve ever seen published by the Times. Seriously, we’re talking about a sub-Pitchfork level of writing; full of baffling purple prose, a total lack of objectivity, and piss-poor fact checking. It’s so dreadful, that it crosses over into the realm of comedy at some points.

The most unintentionally hilarious bit comes from a fan who explains his powerful reaction to Oberst’s music:

”I’ve never seen anyone in music be so tormented,” Oda said. ”The song about the coughing, shaking fit on the bathroom floor — I don’t know if I’m sounding teenaged, but when you are drunk and passed out on your bathroom floor and screaming out loud and no one can hear you because your apartment’s lonely and cold, it’s the perfect music.”

That quote is almost too good to be true – it seems almost like something out of a Christopher Guest movie.

Even more funny is Analog Roam’s commentary about the article, particularly the bit in which he wonders how Oberst and Dylan would rate in bed by the standards of the article’s writer:

So tell us, Pagan Kennedy — how do you think they would compare in the sack? Oh, I know. Dylan would be too rough. He wouldn’t cover you in rose petals first. He wouldn’t care enough about your feeeeelings. But Connor Oberst — now there’s a lover. So shy. So sensitive. He would weep before, during, and after the act, his orgasm culminating in a great pained sob and an animal bleat. How hot is that?

He Will Kill For You

Cat Power’s You Are Free is not a perfect album. There’s maybe three or four too many songs, about five of them sound about the same and drone on a bit, but that doesn’t matter too much. There are eight songs on this record which are either just jaw-droppingly beautiful, or otherwise brilliant. For the most part, I’m not sure if I can put my thoughts about those songs into coherant words just yet, because like the best of Cat Power’s previous material (or the best of music, in general), it’s all about the feeling. It’s abstract, it’s nonlinear, it’s pure emotion. It’s the whole “dancing about architecture” thing, and I’m not going to frustrate myself by trying to give this any kind of proper review. It’s still too early for me anyway – I don’t think I ever fully understood what power Moon Pix had over me til maybe a year after I’d bought a copy.

Jody Beth Rosen did write a very smart and interesting observation about the song “He War” the other day, and I think she’s pretty much on target there. The more I hear that song, the more I realize that it reminds me a lot of “Get Up” by Sleater-Kinney in terms of structure and feeling, which is a great thing since Sleater-Kinney have apparently abandoned that kind of song in spite of the fact that The Hot Rock is easily their finest record.

Half Puff Daddy, Half Thomas Edison

By all means, check out the new Friends Of Tom website, the only web page for the ‘fun club’ of The Best Show On WFMU with Tom Scharpling. The show itself is keeping up the level of quality reestablished last week by bringing back Cory from Mother 13 AND Radio Hut in this past Tuesday’s episode. Later on in the episode, Tom ‘brings it’ by becoming Doc Shock, WFMU’s first shock jock. Of course, this is just another version of The Best Show EXTREME, but I don’t mind – I’d rather that the show be funny recycling older characters and schticks than limp along nearly devoid of humor as it had for the past few months.

More From The Book Of Changes

Here’s some more interesting quotes taken from interviews conducted by Kristine McKenna.

“My big disappointment in life was realizing there aren’t that many gifted, brilliant people. When I first came to New York and went to screenings, I’d see these well dressed, handsome people, and I’d think, “My god, they must know so much.” Then, when I’d attach names to those people I’d repeatedly find myself thinking “That’s the schmuck who writes that awful stuff!” When I was a kid I thought there were lots of brilliant people who wrote dull stuff because they were corrupt, and it took me a long time to realize that most of them just couldn’t write much better. God knows there are a lot of them who are corrupt and write what editors and advertisers want them to write, but there are also a great many who can’t do better.”

– Pauline Kael, 1982

“A message is a load of crap. I don’t know what I want to say to people. I get ideas and I want to put them on film because they thrill me. You may say that people look for meaning in everything, but they don’t. They’ve got life going on around them and they don’t look for meaning there, yet they expect to find meaning when they go to a movie. I don’t know why people expect art to make sense when they accept the fact that life doesn’t make sense.”

– David Lynch, 1986 (on the set of ‘Blue Velvet’)

What was the biggest obstacle you’ve overcome in your life?

“But I haven’t trusted that. And in overcoming that disbelief and realizing that I am attractive, I’ve also come to sympathize with people who are born physically beautiful and must struggle to achieve a sense of “inner beauty”, to use an extremely hackneyed phrase. When I finally accepted that I had to work, entertain, be a goon, draw blood, and bare my soul to get people’s attention, I suddenly became aware of an ability to judge other people’s true worth. It was as if I’d been using the wrong terms of reference for myself, and thereby, for everyone else as well. I am truly able to say with my hand on my heart that I am now able to look at beautiful women without being confused about their value. That makes me happy, because my wife happens to be beautiful, and I’ve finally realized that that’s just a lucky break for her. What’s lucky for me is that I’m now able to look past that and see the great person that she is. My illusion about physical beauty was a huge obstacle and it was almost Freudian in character, because it was locked in the way I idealized my mother when I was a child. I’ve been able to overcome it with the help of therapy.”

-Pete Townshend, 1986

Eno On Originality

Here’s a great quote from an interview with Brian Eno, taken from The Book Of Changes by Kristine McKenna:

Why is the notion of originality so valued in the creative arena?

It’s a red herring, the originality thing. People are original all the time, and some people choose to regard it as important, while others dismiss it as an aberration. One of the things that’s interesting about nearly all ethnic music is that it doesn’t pivot on the idea of newness. In raggae, for instance, you hear the same riffs year after year in a shifting context. The idea there is to use a thing for as long as it still means something. The idea in the high culture of the west is to drop something as soon as you can no longer claim it as only yours. As soon as other people are onto it you have to drop it and go elsewhere, and that’s such a stupidly childish attitude.

I’m Not That Hot New Chick

I highly recommend getting a copy of the new Cat Power song being offered up on the Matador MP3 page. It’s got an awkward title, “He War”, but it’s a great little song in the vein of “Cross Bones Style” or “Nude As The News”, ie a full band electric arrangement, vaguely rocking. I especially like the piano, and the lead guitar bit just before the song ends. It sort of reminds me of some of the Barbara Manning songs that I like, specifically “Mark E. Smith and Brix” from Lately I Keep Scissors.

The House Music Will Blare And Turn Your Ears Into A Medicinal Jelly

A big public ‘Thank You!’ to Tim O Thompson for the heads up about the Stephen Malkmus gig at the Warsaw on December 7th. That may have slipped right by me were it not for him noting it on his blog, so God bless him. Please note that Ticketmaster does not have tickets yet (maybe they won’t, I don’t know how this is), but you can order them through Insound, with a slightly more reasonable service charge than you’d have to shell out were you purchasing them from Ticketmaster. I’m obviously quite psyched to be seeing my (de facto) favorite band again, but I’m sort of annoyed that I have to see Endless Boogie open – I’ve seen them as a warm up act for the Jicks and GBV before, and they’re fucking terrible. They play really bad bar rock, and I swear to you, you can sing “Taking Care Of Business” over every song they’ve got. Yuck.

“It Was So Worth Those Two Nights In Jail, Throwing That Motorcycle At His Head…”

After several weeks nearly devoid of inspiration and humor, Jon Wurster made his triumphant return to the Best Show On WFMU this past Tuesday. (Advance to the 23 minute mark for the skit to begin.) The new character, Ron Templeton, is classic Wurster – a pathetic, creepy weasal who starts off as a liar, then plots a criminal conspiracy against Tom, and finally spirals off into delusion and homicidal threats. It may be somewhat formulaic, but it’s easily the funniest thing on The Best Show since Wurster’s performance as corporate rock loser Cory, from the band Mother 13, way back in July. Hopefully this is a sign that the Best Show is back on track – the past few months have been depressingly awful, I was beginning to lose hope in the show. I was starting to think that Tom was deliberately making the show obnoxious by beating the characters of “Petey”, “Philly Boy Roy”, and “Kevin” into the ground; and stuffing the show up with filler like “Smash Or Trash”, the search for the new call screener, and any appearances by “Officer Tom”. I dearly hope that that is all behind us now.

“This is not a play, this is scary time!”

Not A Lot To Say, So…More Recommended Songs Without Explanations!

Eve “Satisfaction”

MC Paul Barman “Cock Mobster”

Zero Zero “D Minus”

The Creepers “Baby’s On Fire”

Ladytron “He Took Her To A Movie”

Muddy Waters “Tomcat”

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead “Source Tags And Codes”

Eminem “Infinite”

Slick Rick “Teenage Love”

…and the four songs Jody has up today are quite good too.

DUDE, ARE YOU ON CRACK?

This is horribly depressing, even if you have no sympathy for the worst kind of hipster. Crack is such a damaging drug that it’s just so hard to imagine that any sane person would do it IRONICALLY. There’s just no fucking irony about that stuff, man. I suppose this is social Darwinism in effect…

(Link found via our friends at The Minor Fall, The Major Lift)

Sopranos Spoilers…But Don’t Worry. I Don’t Actually Say Who It Is.

That was one hell of an episode of The Sopranos tonight. It left me with this horrible, sick feeling inside for most of the episode, and a half hour later I still feel about the same. I knew right away from when that stovetop burner go on that something horrible was going to happen, but I never saw that coming. I can’t believe that guy is dead now. He was easily one of my favorites, the bastard that he was. That second half of the episode, with them disposing of the body – I still feel nervous, paranoid, and disturbed. Absolutely brilliant storytelling, on every level. I’m still sort of shaking my head, in a state of shock. It’s good to see that I’m not alone.

Recommended Songs With No Explanations

Har Mar Superstar “Power Lunch”

Anita Ward “Ring My Bell (disco version)”

Go Home Productions “I’m A Slave 4 Daft Britney”

Josie Cotton “School Is In”

Celi Bee “Superman”

Missy Elliot “Bring The Pain”

The Yummy Fur “Documentary Of A Kid”

The Clean “Whatever I Do It’s…”

The Rolling Stones “Moonlight Mile”

Fun Company “Zambezi”

Nathaniel Mayer and the Fabulous Twilights “Village Of Love”

The Clovers “Lovey Dovey”

Len Barry “1, 2, 3”

Taylor Savvy w/ Mignon “She’s Got It”

Peaches “Cassanova”

The Only Thing We Have In Common Is That None Of Them Can Tell The Difference Between Us

Joan Of Arc are going to have a new record out in February! When I saw this news item I was thrilled because they’d apparently broken up in early 2001, but once I heard those two new MP3s on the site, my enthusiasm dipped quite a bit. “Perfect Need And Perfect Completion” barely even registers for me, it’s so quietly bland and dull. “The Infinite Blessed Yes” starts out about the same way, but the ending with what sounds like free jazz horn samples is sublime, and closer to what I want from Joan Of Arc. Of course, Joan Of Arc aren’t a consistent band by any stretch – each record from Live In Chicago 1999 on has a few songs which are jaw-droppingly brilliant in the middle of record which is otherwise pretty terrible. So, here’s hoping that these two songs are the dross this time around, because if they are, it is the best dross to date. All I ask is for one more song as great as “Me And America (or) The United Colours Of The Gap”, “Me (Plural)”, “Ne Mosquitos Pass”, or “As Black Pants Make Cats Hairs Appear”. Please don’t let me down, Kinsellas.

Deeper Into Movies

Flyboy says: Hey, and you saw Donnie Darko! Isn’t it great?

Flux says: Yes, I still have it here. I’m probably going to watch it again tonight. I really loved it. I’ve seen it twice now – and I’ve gone through most of the extras on the DVD.

Flyboy says: There’s so much to notice… I saw it for the 2nd time on Sunday

Flux says: I didn’t feel that I’d properly watched the movie til the second time. the first time, I was mostly trying to figure out where the movie was going. I remember how amazed I was with the ending, how it went above and beyond every expectation I had.

Flyboy says: Yes. It’s uplifting in the best, least saccharine way. I also think it’s tailor-made for a very specific generation.

Flux says: Right.

Flyboy says: People have pointed out the obvious references to films like ET but I think it goes beyond that in the way it references those movies… it’s quite subtle. The clothes, the way the family talk/interact.

Flux says: There’s a lot of political and social commentary in there too – that really ridiculous cringe-inducing naive know-it-all kind of conservatism in some of the characters, especially Mrs. Farmer. I really love all the bits with Patrick Swayze and her.

Flyboy says: “You’re right… I am troubled, and I am confused… but I think you’re the fucking antichrist.” That’s a punch-the-air moment.

Flux says: My favorite scene is probably the one with the FEAR —- LOVE line in class.

Flyboy says: “Vote Dukakis!”

Flux says: Ah! I love that scene with Donnie’s dad grumbling under his breath watching Dukakis on tv. There’s a lot to love in that movie. Little things like that scene with Donnie’s friends talking about Smurfette, which is just brilliant. I like how upset and stressed Donnie gets when he’s trying to explain how ridiculous their Smurfette theory is. He’s genuinely flustered.

Flyboy says: Yeah, I like the way his friends are assholes but you sorta see that they’re not total assholes, just teenagers – much like his dad isn’t just some republican asshole… I watched that film again, and I thought “hey, I like his sister”. Then I twigged, “that’s Maggie Gyllenhaal. as in the girl who’s in that film with James Spader… whoo-hoo!”

Flux says: Yes. Has Secretary opened in the UK yet?

Flyboy says: No. I have no idea when it’ll be out here.

Flux says: When it does, you’ve got to see it. You’ll be into it. Todd and I seem to feel the same way about the movie…just go in bearing in mind that the last half hour of the film betrays the first hour, and you’ll be alright.

Flyboy says: So I hear.

Flux says: But that first hour is fantastic.

Flyboy says: But jeez, I just watched some really crap brit comedy in which bdsm is yet again scary/wrong/sick/humourous, so…

Flux says: Right. I can already predict what your frustrations will be with the movie… You should probably see Bowling For Columbine when it’s out in the UK too.

It’s also quite good, but with some annoying flaws.

Flyboy says: Yeah, Michael Moore bugs me sometimes. Sometimes he doesn’t, but sometimes he does.

Flux says: Right. I think you’ll probably feel about the same as I did.

Flyboy says: Isn’t he LaurenceLBIMG’s idea of what all lefty liberals are like?

Flux says: Yeah, I think so. Moore is a really bad representative, I hate that he’s Mr. Liberal in American culture.

Flyboy says: He’s tolerated because he’s not too dangerous, I’d say if I was a conspiracy theorist…

Flux says: Moore acts very smug most of the time, he tends to be very lazy in his rhetoric, he’s prone to going for low blows and bully tactics.

Flyboy says: Yeah, he’s been on tv talk things here, and he’s a terrible panelist, he interrupts people all the time

Flux says: He’s very rude, yeah. I think Moore is the kind of guy that Conservatives secretly like because he’s exactly the kind of Liberal buffoon they want to argue, cos he’s not much of a challenge.

Flyboy says: We have a guy a bit like him, Mark Thomas. he’s smarter, I think, but falls into the same trap.

Flux says: On the plus side, he can be funny, he’s not an idiot, there’s a lot of good things in his documentaries.

Flyboy says: It’s telling that the ‘serious’ but essentially establishment tv shows get Thomas Friedman on one side, and to oppose him they get Thomas or Moore, not, say, Chomsky.

Flux says: The thing is, Moore’s stuff is always set up so that smug lefties can get a cheap laugh out of their opposition and feel great about their ideals. I don’t think it challenges people who generally agree with him to think very much at all. Most of Bowling For Columbine is made so that if you’re even slightly liberal, you’ll just nod your head and agree a lot and then laugh at the silly rednecks.

Flyboy says: I can imagine.

Flux says: There are some seriously cringe-inducing sequences in this film, the most egregious example would be the finale with Moore interviewing Charlton Heston, which starts off well enough before Moore impatiently goes for Heston’s jugular in a sloppy and unprofessional way. I think if Moore were a better interviewer, he actually could have gotten much more out of Heston, and we could have either understood his perspective better, or he could have let his own words reveal the flaws of his argument. No, instead we get Moore pulling out a picture of a little girl who was killed in Michigan, which is just lame, lame, lame. What the hell was Moore thinking? Did he expect anything more than what happened, Heston ending the interview? God, what else was Heston supposed to do? At that point, Moore had effectively ended any kind of serious, reasonable, and respectful debate. It was cynical and crass – it was done so Moore had a big finale scene for his movie where he stands down the big bad guy and shows that unlike this Stupid White Man, he CARES about poor black girls. It was cheap grandstanding, and very transparently so.

A Note To The Readers

Would anyone mind sending me some information on the easiest, cheapest (preferably free) method of hosting a few MP3s to post on this blog every few days? A lot of other blogs I read have been doing this lately, and it’s a nice added bonus that I’d like to get in on.

A Note To Miguel, In Specific

Miguel, you’re absolutely right – the intro to Los Gatos “La Chica Del Paraguas” does sound a LOT like a garage rock version of Radiohead’s “Just”. And God bless you for introducing me to Los Gatos. They’re one of the best 60s garage bands I’ve ever heard.

Gift Or A Curse?

I still haven’t heard the new Jay-Z yet, and probably won’t for a week maybe. I can’t seem to get “’03 Bonnie and Clyde” out of my head though, which I must emphasize IS NOT A GOOD THING. It just loops around all day long, and it’s there when I wake up, it’s beginning to really grate on me. Jay’s verses are fine, it’s that chorus and obnoxious faux-Santana Cinemax soft porn guitar that bug me. Thing is, I really do want to like the song. I want to like Beyonce, I want to like Jay-Z, I enjoy so much of their previous material that growing to dislike one of their songs bothers this very loyal part of me that wants everyone’s artistic hot streaks to last forever. I’ve heard two more songs from The Blueprint 2, and I can’t say I like those songs much more. Jay-Z’s song with Lenny Kravitz is brought down by Kravitz’s flaws – ie, lame retro 70s rawk riffs, a typically weak Lenny chorus. I’ve got an mp3 of “Hovi Baby”, which I just don’t like very much, mostly because the backing track sounds like really bad 80s arcade video game music. Based on these three songs, I can’t begin to understand how this is a real sequel to The Blueprint, because in so many ways it’s the opposite of that record. The Blueprint is notable for its lack of guests (barring that one extraneous song with Eminem), its concision, and its musical cohesion – the whole thing save for the Eminem track is all Motown redux, these three songs are all over the place and there’s nothing to suggest that these are the three oddballs on a two disc set. My gut feeling is that we’ve got another Wu-Tang Forever on our hands, and I’m nervous about hearing this thing and hating it. Anyone want to write me and tell me what they think of it? I’d appreciate it. Especially if your name is Fred Solinger.

Is It Getting Better, Or Do You Feel The Same?

I think Chris Conroy is mostly right on the money in his analysis of the new U2 Best Of 1990-2000 collection, and that’s not just because he’s agreeing with me about that awful remix of “Numb”. I’m not sure if I share the same distaste for the new version of “Discotheque”, though I can’t say I’ve ever felt a particular affection for any version of that song that I’ve heard. I especially think Conroy nails it in this paragraph:

Why have they chosen to alienate every potential buyer? Fans want the band to release an album that accurately portrays them; the general public wants an album of appealing songs. Neither camp gets everything they want, which is, of course, how life is — but the bizarre thing is, they both easily could have! The single remix of “Elevation” and the radio edit of “Walk On” would have both fit onto this compilation right now, without deleting anything from the current tracklisting — the CD only runs 71-something minutes at the present moment, and 80 minutes are possible. Presumably the band want to keep catalogue sales for ATYCLB high by leaving it tantalizingly unanthologized; but (a.) they could’ve had the same effect by leaving the singles off The Best Of… entirely, and (b.) they’ve instead alienated customers by leaving them cheated by a technicality. The public affection for those songs won’t be as strong 10 years from now, when the next Best Of is released, as it is at this moment. (And of course, the question of sales figures reveals another curious decision — they’re putting the album on sale the same week as new releases from Jay-Z, who has trounced them in opening week sales before, and Justin Timberlake, practically guaranteeing themselves a #3-or-lower chart position.)

Me, I think they should’ve just save all four of those All That You Can’t Leave Behind hits for the next compilation, and not have forced themselves into such an awkward position of having those newer songs (along with the two new singles) sound so out of place among the more sophisticated 90s material, and having pretty much everyone scratch their heads wondering where “Walk On” and “Elevation” are. Chris’ ideal tracklisting is fine, in spite of inexplicably leaving out the enormous hit “Even Better Than The Real Thing” (this is a HITS album, right?); I obviously like the running order I’ve written in his response section a lot more. The thing is, most anyone could’ve come up with a more logical tracklisting that what the band did. It’s just ridiculous – in trying to rewrite their history, they make that era look a lot more uncommercial than it really was.

Won’t You Please Let Me Raunch You Cuz I’m Just A Boy With Not Much To Do

Courtesy of Vic, here is a Sonic Youth.com message board thread about ‘free love’ which just makes me guffaw in disbelief. It starts off pretty wacky, but then it really goes off into the deep end with this:

I don’t think AIDS is the thing that everyone should be afraid of. I believe the government puts out all of these fucking romance movies and romance sitcoms to make people believe that there’s something great about it, as someone said earlier.

You see, it’s a lot easier to control couples, as opposed to independent individuals. Remember the time you tried calling your best friend to get together and see a movie, but they worryingly declined because his/her partner was “upset with them.” Yeah. People in relationships are so involved in them that they don’t concentrate on anything else (ie MAKING THEMSELVES HAPPY) it’s much easier to think that someone else is responsible for your life, that way you don’t ever have to take any blame.

It’s off the charts, isn’t it? I didn’t realize that there were so many dumb SY fans…

Recommended Songs With No Explanations

Pharoah Sanders “The Gathering”

The Rolling Stones “Jigsaw Puzzle”

Minus The Bear “Spritz!!! Spritz!!!”

The Walkmen “Look Out The Window”

Justin Timberlake “Senorita”

Kylie Minogue “Burning Up”

David Bowie “TVC-15”

Archers Of Loaf “Acromegaly”

Imperial Teen “Our Time”

The Groundhogs “Strange Town”

Los Gatos “Corriendo en la Oscuridad”

You’re Not Qualified, You’re Not What I Employ!

I just saw Imperial Teen. It was a fun show, but very brief, only a half hour of songs. They didn’t play “The Beginning”, but they didn’t have all that much time to play a song like that, I guess. I really wish that I had the time and money to see them play tonight or one of the next few days, but it’s just not going to work out. Patty Schemel, who used to be the drummer for Hole, was filling on drums today, and apparently all of this current tour because Lynn Perko had to take some time off. I was very happy with what they did play, which was pretty much all songs that I really like a lot. Setlist: Ivanka/ You’re One / Sugar / Yoo Hoo / Baby / Million Dollar Man / Waterboy

The Music They Were Playing Really Blew My Mind

I’ve come to really love Kylie’s newest singles, “Love At First Sight” and “Come Into My World”, particularly the single remix of the former and the Fischerspooner remix of the latter. “Love At First Sight” is so deliriously happy and bouncey, I get so sucked up into it that I have to be really careful of where I listen to it on my headphones, because the chances of me looking really ridiculous while listening to the song is so high. This song is everything I could want from perky radio disco – it’s just perfect top to bottom. The album version is about 30% less perky and the beat drops out over a couple verses, and is generally inferior to the single mix I have, but it’s still pretty great.

The Fischerspooner reworking of “Come Into My World” is superior to the album version is just about every conceivable way – it’s very intense, and actually sort of rocks, it’s kind of like the best Nine Inch Nails songs (think: “Closer”, “Heresy”, “Into The Void”, “The Perfect Drug”), or Garbage if they were any good. I doubt this will be a hit in the US, it’s just a bit too dark for pop radio as it is right now; but it’s an amazing record and I highly recommend it, particularly if you liked “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” a lot or if you are a sullen stalker type. I haven’t heard any recent singles sound as convincingly desperate and creepy as when the song just explodes into fits of robotic sexual panting, heavily distorted keyboards which sound like overdriven guitars (or vice versa?) and Kylie repeating over and over, “I need your looooooove”. Great stuff.

We Played A Show And No One Came, We Came And Played It Just The Same

I actually bought a cd today, which is becoming increasingly rare (though in all honesty, that’s mostly because I have less and less money to spend, not so much because I’m spoiled by SoulSeek). I found a copy of a live Imperial Teen album that had just been released on the Digital Club Network label, something I didn’t even realize existed. I couldn’t say no to the record considering its low price tag, its excellent tracklisting, and the money burning a hole in my wallet. It’s a great setlist, very well chosen – it’s good to see that they are a band that seems to agree with me on which songs are its best, because there’s just too many bands out there who don’t seem to know what their own strengths are, the way I see it. The only thing I’d change about the setlist of this show would be that I would trade “Baloon” for “Water Boy”, but that’s a minor quibble. It was very good timing that I found this today because I just found out that tomorrow they will be playing a free show at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square, and I can finally see them live with a minimum of hassle. I’m hoping they play a similar setlist, or at least just play “The Beginning”. Oh, the joy it would bring me if they played “The Beginning”…

Every Minute Neverending Unrelenting All Around Us Without Pausing Endless Endless

I downloaded a few of the songs off the new Elf Power covers album, not so much because I particularly like Elf Power (they’ve never been one of my favorite Elephant 6 groups), but because as it turns out, Elf Power and I happen to share a few all-time favorite songs and I wanted to hear their take on them.

I’m not too thrilled with their version of Sonic Youth’s “Kotton Krown”, which they’ve remade as a chirpy twee pop ditty, with a particularly annoying female harmony vocal. I guess it’s okay if you like this sort of thing, but it grates on me and I can’t get over why they would cover the song but remove the beautiful main guitar riff and the best verse of the song. “New York City is forever kitty / I’m wasted in time and you’re never ready” – come on! That part of the song melts me to goo every time. Did they cut that verse because it was too provincial or something? Bah.

The version of the Buzzcock’s “Why Can’t I Touch It?” is better, and is very faithful to the original. Perhaps a little too faithful though; it sounds at best like a talented Buzzcocks tribute band, or the real thing on an uninspired take. Still, I love this song so much that even a second rate performance of the song is a joy to hear. A lot of people talk about the Buzzcocks, but I never see much talk about “Why Can’t I Touch It?” and “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays”, which baffles me because that’s got to be one of the best a-side/b-side singles of all time, certainly the best of that band’s career.

Finally, the song that gives the Elf Power album its title, the Tall Dwarfs’ “Nothing’s Gonna Happen”, is more what I want to hear from a cover of a song that I love – it’s urgent, faithful but not rote, it captures the essence of the original while retaining the personality of the band playing the song. This version is totally convincing, it hits me right in the gut, especially when he nails the “b! c! d! e! f! g! h! I think nothing’s gonna happen!” climax. If you love the Tall Dwarfs original, find this version. If you haven’t heard either, get on it.

Meeting People Is Easy

During Kim Gordon’s commentary on the ‘video’ for “Perfume-V” on the Slow Century DVD, she talks about how she was very nervous about meeting Stephen Malkmus, that she was convinced that he was going to be too smart and cool for her. This just blows me away, because I’ve always thought of Kim Gordon as being one of the most intimidating and standoffish characters in indie rock – to think that she’d be so cowed by Malkmus is kind of astounding, really. I did get to meet Malkmus once – I was introduced, said hello, shook his hand, and quietly/nervously kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t so scary, but I certainly was too afraid to attempt to communicate with the guy. I think I am a lot more nervous about the prospect of meeting Gordon – I’m sure she’s a very nice lady, but I don’t think I would know what to say at all. The only things I can think of to talk to some of my favorite musicians about are all extremely geeky trivia questions, and most people really hate being asked that kind of stuff. Especially since a lot of my questions are about why people chose NOT to do things – “Stephen, why did you re-write ‘The Hexx’ for Terror Twilight?”, “Bono, what’s up with that awful Mike Hedges mix of “Numb”?”, “Lee, why don’t you sing on more Sonic Youth songs?”. It’s hard to work questions like that into conversations without seeming insulting…

Recommended Songs With No Explanations

The Fall “Repetition”

Wire “I Don’t Understand”

(bootleg mix) Nine Inch Nails (“Closer”) Vs. The Beegees (“Stayin’ Alive”)

Tages “I Read You Like An Open Book”

Easybeats “Sorry”

The Scissor Girls “New Tactical Plan”

(not to be confused with The Scissor Sisters, they of the very good electro “Comfortably Numb” cover)

Jonathan Fire*Eater “Everybody Plays The Mime”

Shampoo “Viva La Megababes”

Oneida “Number Nine”

Helium “I’m Going To Get You, I Mean It”

Don’t Read This If Yr Allergic To Undiluted Geekiness

Former NXM penciller Ethan Van Sciver is teasing us with clues (and probable red herrings) as to which NXM cast member will die by the end of the Riot At Xavier’s storyline over on Barbelith. My gut instinct is that Xavier himself is getting the ax, but there’s a strong case to be made for Jean’s umpteenth demise. I’m not buying Ethan’s hint that Henry might get killed, though. That may just be because I like Henry more than the other characters – wishful thinking.

What I’ve Learned The Past Few Weeks

That one should never order anything to be sent via Media Mail, no matter how much money it will save you. I’m currently on day 19 of waiting for a book that I ordered via Half.com. It’s aggravating, and not worth the small amount of money that I saved. Also, if you have any sense of courtesy for the people that you may be sending packages to, never use Media Mail, because it’s just not a very nice thing to do to someone.

It’ll Be A Good High This Year

As it turns out, the “K-Rock” guy from the Slow Century dvd is Rian Murphy. I had sort of guessed that it was either him or Dan Koretsky, since the humor of that bit was so similar to the jokes in the “Cut Your Hair” and “Painted Soldiers” commentary, but I wasn’t confident in the guess not being too familiar with Drag City and there being no credit listed anywhere. Thanks to Tim O Thompson for the heads up. Tim also mentioned that Lance Bangs at some point on one of the Matador bulletin boards stated that there were technical problems with “U R A Light” and “Summer Babe” from that Seattle show, which explains why those two songs are absent from that setlist. Still no explanation for the double shot of “Date With IKEA”, though. Not that I mind two “Date With IKEA”s all that much, since I’ve come to like that song more than I ever had before lately.

I Ripped The Pea Out Of The Pod

Don’t be fooled by Matador’s claims that Slow Century contains two full concerts – it doesn’t even contain one. I had thought that the Seattle set was complete, but alas, I’ve found the full audio of the show (not from the DVD source, but an audience recording) which reveals that “U R A Light” and “Summer Babe” were cut from the running order, they were just after “Stereo” in the setlist. Now, I can completely understand why “Summer Babe” was cut – the version at the Manchester show is superior, and even that is made redundant by the 1992 performance that’s in the documentary. “U R A Light”‘s absence really bothers me, it’s one of the best songs from Terror Twilight, and this version of the song is pretty damn great. My only guess is that there may have been problems with the film during the song, something like that – after all, why cut that song and have two versions of “Date With IKEA”? Or, if you’re going to cut a Terror Twilight song, why not the limp version of “Major Leagues” from that show?