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It is a cold, dark, rainy day here in New York – I’ve been listening to one of my custom-made Sonic Youth cds, which to me is the ideal soundtrack to days like this. It feels perfect… this is the tracklisting, for those who may be curious.

Teenage Riot/ Bull in the Heather/ 100%/ Eric’s Trip/ Dirty Boots/ Shadow of a Doubt/ Kotton Krown/ I Dreamed I Dream/ Brother James/ The Burning Spear/ Schizophrenia/ French Tickler/ Saucer-Like/ Candle/ Free City Rhymes/ White Kross/ Expressway To Yr Skull

In other news: The New Barbelith is here. Bask in the soft white glow…

“Cabbage Alley” by The Meters Soul funk euphoria. Happy good times. Happy glowy. Just a bunch of killer sunshine hooks, lyrics be damned (and fuck full sentences, too). One of the best piano riffs in the whole wide world. Grin from ear to ear.

“Number One” by Playgroup Sexy disco. “I’m the kind of cat who always gets his bird”. Super simple bassline, like the Pixies gone all funky. When you dance to this song, you put yr hands up over yr head.

“Young Scene” by Keith Mansfield You can only do the most silly dances to this song – like, you know that one where you pretend you are a submarine? That would be perfect for this. Instrumental orchestral funk. Just over a minute long. Yes!

“Problemmes D’amour” by Alexander Robotnick His name is Alexander fucking ROBOTNICK!. It’s electro disco, it has lots of shouted French lyrics, girls cooing along, and lots and lots of synth squiggles… and his name is Alexander ROBOTNICK!

“Let’s Go Swimming (version 3)” by Arthur Russell It was written to be a “futuristic summer record” back in the early 80s, and it really does feel like it’s from the future… It sounds like the song is simulating what swimming and being underwater is like, while remaining danceable. It’s maybe a bit like dancing on the ocean floor…

Rizla has an in-depth report about his All Tomorrow’s Parties LA adventure here on Barbelith. Lucky bastard. At least I can think “well, at least he missed The Jicks while he was there”…that’s slightly comforting.

Oh yes, I do love that feeling, the one that comes when I hear a song for the first time and know immediately that I love it deeply – that I can’t imagine how I ever went without it. I got this feeling listening to “Launderette” by Vivien Goldman today. I think it’s still to soon for me to try to explain why I love this so much – it’s not quite like anything else I’ve ever heard, but has echoes of many, many songs that I love…there’s certainly a lot of The Slits in this song… It’s got one of the best basslines that I’ve ever heard. No question about that… the lyrics, the vocal delivery, the guitars and light percussion – this song is ideal!

Anyone out there who would like to recommend similar songs, please do tell me about them in the guestbook…

In my travels today, I went to Other Music, and saw the new Disco Not Disco Volume 2 compilation from Strut… I just don’t have the cash at the moment to buy a copy. It’s painful. I want it so badly.

I wrote down the titles…I’m downloading a few tracks from it on Audiogalaxy but over half of it is unavailable, which is good, because I really do want to get a real copy. The original Disco Not Disco compilation is probably one of the finest compilation releases that I’ve ever heard. It changed my life. For real.

In today’s Pitchfork: Jicks hit the studio. Obviously, I’m really quite excited about this…. “Crimson Alligator” and “Memory Pulls” are already two of my favorite Malk songs ever at this point, just in the unfinished live-version form that I know them… The silly Pitchfork journalist didn’t consult his fact checking cuz, apparently…”The Oyster” and “Crimson Alligator” are the same song!

I’ve been listening to “One Mic” by Nas on repeat for a while now. I’m amazed by the song – I certainly didn’t expect anything off of the new Nas record to be any good, much less as powerful as this. Like most everyone else, I’d counted him out; and was maybe a bit overeager to let Jay-Z’s assessment in “Takeover” be etched in stone.

Anyway, the song burns with this slow, quiet intensity, with a few bursts of drama as the narrative takes off… Nas never sounds angry in these parts of the song – he sounds strident. He sounds passionate, realistically so. If he’s faking it, then he’s a fabulous and understated actor. The music feels so perfect, so wee-hours-quiet, the dog and sirens sound effects aren’t cheesy, they work just right. It’s a very early 90’s east coast sound – and obviously, along with the Wu and Biggie, Nas defined that sound. I imagine some people could see him as reverting to formula, but I think it’s more like an artist recognizing his own strengths.

This song is probably the most subtle single I’ve heard on the radio or seen on MTV in ages.

For all the NXM geeks: Frank Quitely.com is up and running.

I’ve been watching a lot of music videos on Sputnik7 lately, there’s a number of good videos in their archives. I was immediately drawn to the Clinic video for “Distortions” – I’m very impressed by how it is made out of electronically distorted images, is mostly abstract, but does reflect some of the lyrics quite literally. Very nice. They also have “Walking With Thee” and “The Second Line”, both of which I’d already seen.

Other videos of note include Yo La Tengo‘s classic clips for “From A Hotel 6” and the hilarious “Sugar Cube” video featuring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, the incredibly cute video for “You’re No Rock N Roll Fun” by Sleater-Kinney, the Michel Gondry-directed video for “Fell In Love With A Girl” by The White Stripes, and the new video for “Cocoon” by Bjork.

Also, they’ve got “Spit On A Stranger”, “Cut Yr Hair”, and “Shady Lane” by the Pavemen. Too bad they don’t have “Carrot Rope” or “Gold Soundz”, though…

Langley Schools/outsider music, The Breeders, Mingus, The Jerry Springer Opera and fucking Moby are in this week’s New York Times Magazine.

I guess tonight’s SNL was okay… It seemed more “live” than usual, mostly due to Sir Ian McKellen radiating an enthusiasm that doesn’t show in many other hosts. He was obviously quite excited about Kylie Minogue – even sitting on the side of the stage and bopping around during “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”.

McKellen also intentionally put his homosexuality on spotlight in references throughout the show, which was nice, but I suspect he might have also been trying to let the American audience know that he was gay at all. I honestly wasn’t aware of that fact, and I suspect most of the country wasn’t either…

The best bit – during Weekend Update, McKellen did an impression of Dame Maggie Smith. At the end of that portion of the sketch, he kissed Jimmy Fallon full on the lips. Pausing for a moment after the kiss, Jimmy smirks, and boyishly exclaims “Maggie Smith should shave!” Another pause, and…”Does this mean I’ve just been knighted? Or have I been queened? (giggles)”. Jimmy Fallon is adorable. He just makes you want to pinch his cheeks and muss up his hair…

Also –

Frank Quitely : New X-Men as Will Ferrell : current season of SNL

Yo La Tengo’s WFMU call-in covers set just ended – it’s been really fun. A partial list of what they played – nearly everything is in here, save for the handful that I didn’t know, and didn’t catch the titles…

The Kinks “Johnny Thunder”

ESG “You’re No Good”

Patti Smith “Dancing Barefoot”

The Ramones “Rockaway Beach”

T-Rex “20th Century Boy”

w/ DJ Hova – Rod Stewart “Do You Think I’m Sexy?”

Three Dog Night “Old Fashioned Love Song”

The Monkees “Pleasant Valley Sunday”

The Stooges “Search and Destroy”

“Meet The Mets”

The Rutles “Cheese and Onions”

Tiffany “I Think We’re Alone Now”

w/ a little girl on vocals on the telephone – The Ramones “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You”

Big Star “September Gurls”

Prince “When Doves Cry”

Four Tops “Build Me Up Buttercup” (excellent!)

Bacchmann Turner Overdrive “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” (also excellent!)

Cheap Trick “I Want You To Want Me”

a big medley including a big chunk of Sonic Youth “Schizophrenia”

If I had the enough spare cash to offer up the $60 it would take to get YLT to play a song for me, I think I would choose one of these four songs – I’d probably just pick my choice out of a hat :

Pavement “Rattled By La Rush”

Jandek “European Jewel (Incomplete)”

Destiny’s Child “Bootylicious”

Michael Jackson “Man In The Mirror”

There’s always next year…

A review of Peter Milligan and Michael Allred’s X-Force is in today’s New York Times…

The heroes, as drawn by Mike Allred and inked by Laura Allred in bright, primary colors, are stiffly posed with few facial expressions (frowning anger, teary woundedness) — a parody of bad comic-book art whose ugliness becomes astute when combined with Milligan’s merciless view of humanity.

Yikes! I wonder how much his opinion of the art would change if the writer knew that the art was not meant to be a parody…

Nevertheless, it’s a very positive review, and will likely expose the comic to a lot of people who may really enjoy it and might not have otherwise know about it.

“Just because yr portly and balding and tend to offend people, that doesn’t mean you have to sit around at home every night. Get out there, meet some drunks!”

A new Jim Treacher comic is online…

Preview pages from New X-Men #124 are online. “What is this world of liars?!?” Classic! I want that slogan on a t-shirt…

I’ve been waiting, ant-ic-ip-ating for a Pavement bootleg mix, and I finally get it in the form of “Fateful Pavement” by Dsico. It’s “Silent Kid” with the vocals from “Bills, Bills, Bills” by Destiny’s Child – it almost works. The audio mix is a bit off, the vocals need to be higher in the mix. There’s a few sloppy transitions, and the ending is a bit rough; but the melody suits the riffs really well, even though it would be a lot better if they were sung live, a bit modified to match up more precisely. I’m happy – Beyonce harmonizing with SM!

The part with the lyric “you trifling, good for nothing type of brother/ oh silly me, why haven’t I found another/ a baller” is just fucking magical, I think…

On one hand, this site about defaced Britney Spears posters in the NYC subway system is really fabulous. On the other, I’m disappointed that the one that I contributed to (it was on the F line at 14th St) isn’t represented/immortalized. I wrote something to the effect of “Did you know that her body is made of a space-age super-resin?” on her breasts. Sigh. Oh well.

Russell has an excellent write-up about the first Alien film on his blog. My favorite part:

It’s harmonious, really, in a way that few mainstream films are now; no standout shots, no ridiculous music, nothing that has any aim but to immerse the viewer in that ship. I watched the new Star Wars trailer the morning before I saw Alien and the utter insignificance of Lucas’ current output aside, the contrast between the two is striking. Why spend eighty million dollars on crap digital sets, leaving your actors (good actors, some of them) in the lurch and you with a bagful of uninspired performaces when you could spend a little more and build sets like those in Alien, where your actors couldn’t help but act? If any of the cast of Alien ever forgot what they were supposed to be doing, all they have to do is look, and it’s right there. Sad. Think of all the craftsmen that built sets for Scott that are getting less and less work now. On the Titus DVD, there’s a behind-the-scenes bit where Julie Taymor talks about all the old Italian craftsmen who worked on her film, and the fact that no one is interested in learning those crafts anymore. These guys are masters – incredible artists, and they can’t get new apprentices because people like Lucas are hiring computer monkeys. Look at the sets in the new Star Wars films and look at those in Titus. There’s not an inch of goddamned comparison. It makes me so sad to think about it – doesn’t anyone ever fucking learn? When those crafts are gone, they are GONE. Knowledge dies, and when it does it goes quietly, right out the back door so softly that you never sense it. The ability to produce sets like those in Alien is a craft that’s dying; creating perfect little worlds out of wood and metal and plaster will be impossible at some point, and I just can’t believe that no one seems to notice.

Yo La Tengo will be performing their annual call-in covers show on WFMU tomorrow.

The annual Yo La Tengo covers-fest happens on Saturday, March 16th from 5-7pm, with Hova and Gaylord Fields. Once again, Ira, Georgia, James and their pal Bruce support the freeform radio cause by playing live on WFMU’s airwaves. Pledgers get to call in and put in their request for any cover song at all! Listen, pledge, view it on the webcam! (Not necessarilly in that order…)

Ooooh! A new Spoon LP is forthcoming. Sweet!