Only In America Could You Find A Way To Earn A Healthy Buck And Still Keep Your Attitude On Self-Destruct

I like how I can’t shake the image of a guy walking in a mall rapping to the Muzak when I hear “Rhymes Like Dimes” by MF Doom. Seriously, he sounds like he’s in JC Penney or something! And then at the end when another guy comes in starts shouting enthusiastically – “Mashed potatoes!!! Applesauce!!! Buttery…Biscuits!!!” – that just puts it over the top. What a wonderful, happy song.

Note:

I’ve decided to try out a ‘recommended songs’ section on the sidebar, for two reasons: First, I’ve found some good songs from other bloggers doing the same thing; and second, I realize that I don’t write about everything that I’m listening to and sometimes it’s just easier to throw a few titles on the sidebar than to actually write about them. It’s lazy, I know, but I’ve had a pretty bad case of writer’s block since this past weekend.

=Unity?

Radiohead fans keeping track of the new songs should note that the most recently debuted new song, “2+2=5” can be downloaded here. It’s a surprisingly normal rock song – it actually sounds a lot like the Pablo Honey-era Radiohead.

Also, this site has streaming audio and video of their Spanish festival set, which is mostly old songs but includes “A Punch Up At A Wedding” and “There, There”.

Oh, DVDs, Not VD! Sure, We Can Help You!

Would someone like to explain to me why the single-disc Criterion DVD of Rushmore has a list price of $39.95 and has an average sale price of $29.95, while the double disc Criterion edition DVD of The Royal Tenenbaums lists for $29.95 and is normally on sale for about $20? I’m guessing it has something to do with newer DVDs having lower list prices, or that they were aiming on selling a lot more copies of The Royal Tenenbaums.

Also, is it safe to assume that Lucasfilm will never release the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD in their original, non-late 90s special edition versions? Does George Lucas really have that much contempt for his audience?

What This Book Presupposes Is: Maybe He Didn’t?

Today is my birthday. As of 10 am, I have watched The Royal Tenenbaums twice – once through watching the film proper, the second time with Wes Anderson’s commentary. I am becoming quite sure that this is my favorite film.

I woke up far earlier than normal, I just couldn’t sleep well at all. The most aggravating thing about the sleep that I did get was that I was having painfully mundane dreams about reading the Wilson & Alroy Record Reviews website. I like the site a lot and find it very useful; but the writers tend to frequently get on my bad side by smugly dismissing a lot of things that I like, by seemingly judging music primarily based on technical musical merit, and deemphasizing emotional and intellectual aspects of music appreciation. Still, their passionate enthusiasm for the artists that they do love (ie Stevie Wonder, Prince, Joni Mitchell) is convincing; and they mostly review entire discographies which is my personal favorite way of reading a critique of an artist.

Easily The Best Line In X-Statix #1 By Peter Milligan and Michael Allred:

“Guys…if you can’t behave, I’m going to have to insist on separate shower arrangements.”

You sort of need the context.

Just How The Heck Did The Superman Of The Future Punch A Hole Through Time?

There’s an interesting Grant Morrison interview in Sequential Tart which does more than just hype The Filth and New X-Men – he actually spends most of his time talking about music and the relationship between different artistic mediums. I’m pretty happy to see that the man is rediscovering his Doom Patrol work, which remains my favorite thing that he’s done, barring the Kill Yr Boyfriend one-shot.

I just re-read a bunch of Doom Patrols and they were fucking brilliant. I’m a little ashamed that I would never dare end the X-Men on a full-page cliffhanger featuring a floating pyramid and a Satanic Noel Coward lookalike with a periscope in his head shouting the words ‘REVERTH MY BUTTOCKTH SERGEANT MAJOR!’

I especially like how Grant talks about Frank Miller, which echoes a lot of my feelings about that man’s work, though Grant is a lot more diplomatic than I am:

Dark Knight seems strange to me nowadays, I have to admit, not least for the pall of right-wing terror and repressed homo-erotic longing which hangs over every page. It’s a little raw to read now but I think it’s a great, honest work and deserves its place in the pantheon. It’s also one of the key American texts of the Reagan ’80s along with Rambo and American Psycho…I loved his Daredevil: Born Again and Robocop 2, but his work is otherwise not to my taste generally. All that hardboiled- noir-crotch-sweat does nothing for me.

I’ve Been Waiting, Anticipating

To answer a question I’ve been asked pretty frequently lately: Yeah, I’m glad that Matador are finally releasing Pavement’s Slow Century DVD. It not an intense feeling of joy, or anything – I was excited when they announced this over two years ago, so I feel a bit jaded about this by now. Trust me – when the thing comes out on October 22nd, I’ll be fucking ecstatic.

Matador is also releasing a special remastered edition of Slanted + Enchanted on that day too, which will include all of the b-sides from that record (such as “So Stark (You’re A Skyscraper)”, which I’m glad will finally see a wider release), the Watery Domestic EP, and some outtakes. I’m interested in hearing the outtakes, one of which is unreleased, though I suspect I might already have it. The thing that really bothers me is that this is a single disc set, which means all of this will be tacked on after “Our Singer”, ruining the conclusion of the album. I know I’m very anal about this sort of thing, but if part of the reason for this reissue is the idea that S+E is a brilliant, classic album; then why would you want to compromise part of why the album is so great to begin with? “Our Singer” is one of my favorite album-ending songs ever, and it’s sort of sad that some people will be buying this album for the first time and won’t get to just have the album end where it’s meant to end. I’ve got the same reservations about Watery Domestic, which I think works perfectly as a 4 song, 11 minute record. Maybe I’m just being silly – it’s not as though they are putting the original editions of either of those records out of print.

I’m also a bit suspicious about the remastering of the record – one of the things that makes S+E what it is is the *sound* of the recording. I don’t really want it to be changed, it’s fine as it is. Hopefully they won’t do anything too drastic to the mix, and just do some superficial cleaning-up; i.e. mastering the record to a louder volume and boosting the dynamic range. That wouldn’t bother me very much at all.

Fetish Speaks To Her

The new Kill Rock Stars compilation, Fields & Streams, arrived today as an early birthday gift. I haven’t listened to the first cd much, but there’s a few really great songs on cd2, most notably “That Girl” by Tender Trap. This song is so fun, so wonderfully pop – there’s no doubt that this song could’ve been a hit in the 80s, which is not to say that it’s just yet another retro-80s song. This song does for what would be affectionately referred to on Barbelith as “theory-bitching” what LCD Soundsystem’s “Losing My Edge” does for record geeks. Even more so than the LCD Soundsystem song, the lyrics of this song don’t seem too scathing – I don’t think the song is really mocking the girl being described in the lyrics, it seems more like a love letter to her. I need to get the album this song is from, and soon.

PS: When they sing “that girl, that girl thinks that Travis are boring and Le Tigre are smart”, I can’t help but think of Sophie, and that’s quite enough to endear a song to me.

I Cross The Room Like A Dancing Architect

Assuming that Scott Miller has indeed given up recording music for good, the new Loud Family live album From Ritual To Romance will be the final record of his career. The album was recorded on two different tours, one for Interbabe Concern and the other for Days For Days, which I think is the peak of the band’s career. I’m pretty happy with the tracklisting, which is heavy with my personal favorites: “Don’t Respond, She Can Tell”, “Sword Swallower”, “Such Little Nonbelievers”, “Sodium Laureth Sulfate”, “Spot The Setup”, “Deee-Pression”, and “Good, There Are No Lions In The Street”. Too bad they didn’t include “Inverness”, “Rosy Overdrive”, “Slit My Wrists”, or “Businessmen Are Okay”, though – then this would be an almost perfect introduction record for new fans.

The record works well as an obituary for Miller’s career, as it covers most of what was notable about his work – there’s the abundance of clever, brainy lyrics; there’s plenty of pop, there’s a lot of experimentation with sound and structure. Three of the strange interludes from the Days For Days record are represented on this record, as well as the peculiar use of vocoder on “Go Ahead, You’re Dying To” which reminds me hearing loud subway announcements while listening to a quiet, pretty song on a walkman.

I think that one of the things that makes Miller so difficult to sell is that most of his music is crisp, clear non-indie pop rock which turns off a lot of the people would normally be really into the more cerebral aspects of his music; and obviously the strange, obtuse experimental side of the band turns off most of the people who would want simplistic pop. I can’t help but believe that there’s a good number of people out there who would love Miller’s work, but will never get around to hearing the man thanks to his painful obscurity and a music press who are either completely indifferent or dismiss Miller as a has-been who peaked with his 80’s band Game Theory. Surely the fact that the entire Game Theory discography has been out of print since the early 90s doesn’t help matters any.

One of the highlights of the live album is a recording of the Pixies’ “Debaser” which is note-for-note faithful to the Doolittle album version of the original – that is, until Miller re-writes the lyrics of the second half of the song on the spot. The first time I heard this version, it felt exhilirating. It’s like listening to a genius at work, Miller never sounds so confident on this album as in this one minute as he hijacks the song and makes it his own. He sounds excited as if he’s getting away with something particularly scandelous. When he segues back to the chorus, gradually building up an impassioned finale of shouted “I am un chien Andulusian!”‘s, I can’t help but smile and love the guy even more than I already did.

Give the Loud Family a chance. This record is a great place to start.

60 Years Ago Today

There is an interesting article by John McDonough in today’s Wall Street Journal about how the American music industry came to a halt in the early 1940s. Unfortunately, I can’t link or cut/paste the article because the Wall Street Journal is only available to website subscribers online, and I only subscribe to the paper version. Here’s an excerpt:

James Caesar Perillo, the pugnacious head of the American Federation of Musicians, had a simple zero-sum view of the business: Recorded music took jobs from working musicians – and to make it right, the record industry must pay. Technically, his target was records played on the radio, not in the home. But the courts had made that distinction impractical in 1940, ruling that manufacturers had no right to restrict records’ use once they were sold. So with no way to kill half a goose, all records would be subject to Petrillo’s demands which called for the payment of 1/4 to 3/4 cent royalty on most retail discs. To the companies, the amount was less important than where it was to go – directly into a union “employment fund”. It became a matter of principal in the industry that it not be forced to make direct payments to the union.

Then someone found a loophole. If singers couldn’t record with Petrillo’s musicians, what was to stop them from recording with other singers? Suddenly, a procession of odd a cappella sides appeared. Crosby teamed with the Ken Derby Singers to record his famous “Sunday, Monday or Always” for Decca. That put the pressure on Sinatra, who record “Close To You” and eight others with his own chorale. Como hit the charts with an a cappella “Goodbye Sue”. But beneath their church-like choral tranquility beat a union-busting heart.

The article goes on to explain that Petrillo managed to halt all-vocal recording thanks to the number of arrangers, copyists and record executives who were members of the American Federation of Musicians. Decca was the first label to want to settle with the union, and broke off relations with the other two major labels, and was able to start recording again in 1943. A hundred other smaller labels followed, but the remaining large labels, Columbia and Victor, kept resisting the union. Artists on those label’s rosters starting bailing out of their contracts to get back to work with other labels. Eventually, this led to Columbia and Victor’s surrender.

McDonough notes that as a result of this industry collapse, entire genres suffered (most notably Big Band), and many important parts of music history (such as the birth of bebop) went unrecorded. Still, no matter how much Petrillo was able to achieve in the short term, he was unsuccessful in the longterm, as the record and radio industries returned to business as usual shortly after these events. There was no way for him to stop the technology that he feared, and McDonough draws a comparison with him and the RIAA. Interesting.

I’d Be Well Chuffed If I Could Do That

E. Randy Dupre has a very funny fake Amazon review for Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep. It’s well worth checking out.

Everything Is Everything, But You’re Still Missing

After having read about the new Bruce Springsteen record in virtually every magazine and newspaper that I’ve seen for a week, I decided to try out a few of the songs in spite of my general benign indifference for the man and his work.

“You’re Missing” is really good, it reminds me of one of my favorite Boss songs, “I’m On Fire”. Even though the song is pretty lush and glossy, it still manages to be sort of subtle. Though I’m a little suspicious to be hearing songs about 9/11, this song is probably about as good as it’s going to get for mainstream artists. The lyrics are about a widow mourning the death of her husband, it’s very straightfoward and admirably avoids being trite. It is sentimental, but I don’t think any song about grieving could successfully get around that.

“Into The Fire” is pretty over the top – it’s very Aging Boomer Rock. It’s got faux-Americana guitar (or is that a banjo?) on the verses, and then hits an extremely bombastic chorus with lots of back-up vocals. The lyrics are a lot cheesier than “You’re Missing”, and the whole song just sort of leaves me cold. I can imagine that this song could be redeemed by being stripped down to just Bruce and his guitar, but as it stands it’s just sort of tasteless. I do like when Bruce hits a high note when he sings “I need your kiiiiissssss” in the first verse, though.

The single “The Rising” is pretty typical of Bruce Springsteen, which is to say that it is huge, bombastic, and guaranteed to get 50 year old women dancing awkwardly in the cheap seats. I just can’t get into this song, and a lot of my criticisms for “Into The Fire” apply to this one too.

I like “Waiting On A Sunny Day”, which is like a hybrid of “Glory Days” and “Hungry Heart”. It’s the catchiest of the four songs I sampled, and would probably sound good on the radio. This is the kind of Bruce Springsteen that I like the most – whenever he gets too sentimental or too serious, I think he comes off as trying too hard. (Please note that this is personal, subjective opinion, Paul) Songs like “Waiting On A Sunny Day” seem a lot more natural for the guy. I guess I just prefer the guy when he’s being pop.

So, that’s two out of four that I like – it’s still not enough to inspire me to download the rest of them. My curiosity has been satisfied.

Something Very Bad Was About To Happen

There’s a pretty good thread on Barbelith right now about frightening recordings. I lifted the idea from a similar thread on People Talk Too Loud, and I’m happy that the Barbelith thread has developed into a more interesting (and detailed) discussion. Just when I was starting to lose interest in the Barbelith music forum, I get a nice surprise like this.

We Are Accidents Waiting To Happen

Though the new Radiohead songs are mostly quite good, I can imagine that the reviews for their next album will be largely negative. I’m sure that the more traditional arrangements will be seen as retrogressive by the artier fans who loved Kid A, and that the band’s continued refusal to be more accessable will still frustrate fans who are yearning for another OK Computer or The Bends. I’m sure that the band’s increasingly gloomy, slow, and droning sound will further irritate the people who dislike the band; especially since on several of the songs, Thom Yorke’s voice takes his penchant for droooooooniiiiiiiiing hiiiiiiiiiiiiis voiiiiiiice to a nearly self-parodying extreme. Unlike Kid A and Amnesiac, I doubt anyone will think will think of this album as being cool, and I think it will pare down the Radiohead audience to the faithful. All the same, I can imagine this record being some people’s favorite, and not at all in a contrarian way. Regardless of how I anticipate the reaction to these new songs, I think that this will probably end up being a fine album.

“There, There” – This is the song that the band has been opening all of its recent sets with, and is probably likely to be the first song on the next LP. I’m not sure why, but it sounds very late-80s to me. It’s got thudding, plodding percussion along with the regular drum kit – apparently, Ed O’Brien and Jonny Greenwood play additional percussion and drums on the song, with Thom Yorke playing the lone guitar. I’m sure that at least half of the reviews for this record will refer to the rhythm as being ‘tribal’. Ed O’Brien sings a lot of backing vocals, and the melody is generally pleasant. I’m fond of the extended outro with Thom’s awkward solo.

“Scatterbrain” – This song reminds me a lot of Sunny Day Real Estate, particularly their LP2/Pink Album. It’s a slow, mellow song with some really pretty guitar playing, and could pass for an OK Computer outtake. This song is one of my favorites from this batch – it’s very delicate and floaty, and sort of romantic.

“Sail To The Moon” is another spacey, romantic ballad song. I’m guessing that the recorded version will have some extra synths and/or strings in the background to make it sound even more ethereal. It’s sort of like a cross between “The Tourist” and “Pyramid Song”, but lacking in the tension of either of those songs. Like “Scatterbrain”, it sounds very romantic, I get a lot of beautiful night time images in my mind from hearing this song. I can imagine this being a lot of people’s favorite Radiohead song.

“Myxomatosis” – This one is a pretty vicious rocker, with heavily distorted guitars which make me think of heavy axes chopping at the air, or a very turbulent sea. Thom abandons his regular drone and speak-sings in a creepy snarl. The lyrics of this song a lot more narrative than usual, though Thom still clings to strange and absurd imagery, and the regular angst. The refrain sounds a bit like the breakdown parts of “The Bends”, though this song is probably a lot closer to “The National Anthem” in tone. It’s kind of catchy, I think it would be a good single for this record as it’s the only one I can imagine hearing on American rock radio.

“A Punch Up At A Wedding” – This is one of the more interesting songs from this batch, for sure. It’s built on a slightly cheesy synth drum beat, with Thom’s simple piano riff, with some wordless “nanonanonanonao…” chanting starting off the song before the pretty, droning melody with lyrics comes in. The song keeps building, getting more intense, but never quite explodes. I wish I could understand Thom’s lyrics, I’m interested in seeing what he came up for this one. It sort of reminds me of “Liquid Diamonds” from Tori Amos’ From The Choirgirl Hotel record.

“Up On The Ladder” is not that far off from “Myxomatosis” – it has the same sort of menacing, choppy guitar playing, and relies heavily on contrasting the spaces where the guitar is, and the backbeat behind it. This seems like one of the more accessable songs on the record. It’s a bit like a more sinister “I Might Be Wrong”.

“We Suck Young Blood” is a verrrrrrrrrry sloooooooooooow song which is like “Pyramid Song” re-written for a horror movie. Thom’s voice is especially pretty on the chorus, as it drones in a particular high pitch. There’s a really nice harmony vocal on the chorus too – it’s nice to hear the band utilizing Ed O’Brien’s vocals. He has a nice, pretty singing voice which works well along with Thom’s voice. Are they trying to out-Mogwai Mogwai with this title, by the way?

“Sit Down, Stand Up” is a bit like “Exit Music” in structure – it starts off slow and spare, but builds up to a big release in the second half of the song, with some really excellent fast, busy drumming from Phil Selway and wordless chanting from Thom. I’m not too keen on the first half, but the latter part of the song sounds great, really intense. Of all of the new songs, this is the one that sounds the most anguished, which is saying quite a lot, actually.

“Where I End and You Begin” is like a more up tempo “Everything In Its Right Place”. I know that I’ve compared a lot of these songs to previous Radiohead songs, but I think that’s justified – in some ways, this is Radiohead settling into re-working their old tunes into new ones. This song is most notable for Phil’s propulsive drumming and a nice scratchy guitar part that comes in about halfway through. This is one of the more promising songs, and will probably be a lot more impressive when it is recorded. It sounds like it’d be a great song to watch them perform live, it comes off as a lot more physical than the rest of these songs.

“Wolf At The Door” is notable for Thom’s sing-songy whine on the verses. I like how it sounds, but I also find it to be slightly grating. It’s slow and dark, and fits in well with “We Suck Young Blood” in that it sounds like it was deliberately meant to invoke horror films. I’m not too sure of how I feel about this song. I’m curious to see how it turns out after they record it in the studio.

“Go To Sleep” is easily my least favorite of this bunch – it just screams “I am a b-side” from the rooftops. It’s sort of dull, and Somnolence is pretty right on in describing it as a lame re-write of “The Trickster”.

Some Recent Downloads

Ugly Cassanova “Things I Don’t Remember” – I’m very impressed with this song, and with Isaac Brock’s progress as a songwriter. The melody and harmonies are really lovely, and balanced nicely with the surreal lyrics which feel twisted and a bit perverted rather than just tossed off and silly. There’s a lot of tension in this song – the lyrics and the way that Brock sings them have a very frustrated, annoyed tone; and the choppy one-note violin part and the break-down with all of the shrill voices swirling around make me think of a particularly painful migraine headache. Very well done, very evocative, and highly recommended.

Ladytron “True Mathematics” – Is that a sample of “Warm Leatherette”, or are they playing something remarkably close to it? Wearing their influences on their sleeves certainly works to Ladytron’s benefit, I think. I still think the best thing about this band is their vocals, which always sound deliberately alien and/or Eurotrash exotic. I’ve not heard the rest of the songs from the record this song is from, but this is a good sign. The 604 album is pretty good, but the only songs that really stuck with me are “He Took Her To A Movie”, “Commodore Rock”, and “Playgirl”, so I don’t have high hopes of this new record being very consistent.

Acid Mothers Temple “You’re Still Now Near Me Everytime” – My first impression of this song was that it was like a more passionate, sloppier My Bloody Valentine, but now I’m starting to think the song sounds like Bjork singing with a krautrock band. There’s something very pop about the singer’s voice, it feels sort of mis-matched with the music, but that’s what makes the song so special, I think. It’s a very beautiful song, and I’m glad that it’s sung in Japanese because I sort of prefer not having words get in the way of my experience with this song.

Scritti Politti “Messthetics” – I was very surprised when I heard this song, which I downloaded on a whim. All of the Scritti Politti songs which I’ve heard to date had been like a pretentious grad-school New Kids On The Block. This song sounds like a bunch of professional players playing a very deliberately messy song, with every bit fully arranged, the players in full control. Green Gartside sings a pretty pop melody over the top with lyrics about just what his band is doing – pretending to be sloppy and free as an aesthetic choice. After looking up the song on Google, I found this article, which convinces me that I really ought to spend some more time investigating this band, and that I should pull out and reevaluate my copy of Cupid & Psyche 85.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck Yooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuung Blooooooooooooooooooooooood

If you have any interest in hearing live recordings with mediocre sound of about 13 new Radiohead songs, I direct you to this site, which has recordings from this past week’s shows in Lisbon. I’ll write more about the songs later on, but my immediate impression is that if you’re only going to be able to download four of them, go for “Sail To The Moon”, “A Punch Up At The Wedding”, “We Suck Young Blood”, and “Myxomatosis”. Hardcore Radiohead bootleg fans should be overjoyed, since the band has resurrected two The Bends-era gems, “Lift” and “I Will”. That’s good news. Overall, the songs are a lot more traditionally arranged than most of Kid A and Amnesiac, which should please their more conservative fans. However, they aren’t much like anything from The Bends or OK Computer either. A lot of the songs are like a logical next step from Amnesiac songs like “You and Whose Army”, “Pyramid Song”, and “I Might Be Wrong”.

It’s Wu, Motherfuckers. Wu-Tang, Motherfuckers.

There’s a chance that the Barbelith Underground may be shutting down, and so I’m going to keep a copy of the Wu-Tang discography buying guide that I wrote in a thread on the site back in December here on Fluxblog. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, and so I don’t really want to lose it. I did make a few minor changes, wrote an updated caption for Iron Flag, and took back a few things that I don’t agree with anymore.

ESSENTIAL WU-TANG ALBUMS

Wu-Tang Clan

Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

This is the classic. I consider it the best hip hop LP ever, along with Biggie’s Ready To Die. I love this record so much that I don’t even know what to say about it. It’s a time, it’s a place, it’s a feeling. It’s nine very talented guys who are hungry and desperate to make you believe in them as much as they believe in themselves. Highlights: “7th Chamber”, “Can It Be All So Simple”, “C.R.E.A.M.”, “Shame On A Nigga”, “Bring The Ruckus”, and “M.E.T.H.O.D. Man”

Ghostface Killah

Supreme Clientele

The big Wu “comeback” album…this record has a power and magesty to it that will just knock you out, it’s like one long pimp strut of an album. Ghostface is at his best, his lyrics are like barrages of images and ideas, it seems like gibberish and nonsense, but it’s not. It’s just jam-packed and nonlinear. He’s the ultimate Wu MC, he embodies all of the best things about the Wu as lyricists, I think. This record is just amazing, and relentless. RZA, GZA, Method Man, Redman, Raekwon, U-God, etc all make great appearances too. Highlights: “Child’s Play” “Nutmeg” “Apollo Kids” “Buck 50” “The Grain”

GZA/The Genius

Liquid Swords

This record is hardcore Wu, it’s dark and grimey and melancholy, but with none of the sentimentality that Ghostface or Method Man are prone to indulge in. It sounds like it was recorded in black and white, out of focus, and under poor lighting conditions. Highlights: “Liquid Swords” “Swordsman” “Livin’ In The World Today” “Labels” “Duel of the Iron Mic”

Ol’ Dirty Bastard

Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version

ODB is like the hip hop Syd Barrett, a charismatic madman with a unique and inspired weirdness and a gift for odd phrasing. This record is so much fun, but in a filthy, bizarre sort of way. ODB has an ability to seem like a total loon, but also draw you into his insanity and soon you start to understand his internal logic. This record is fantastic from beginning to end, and there’s not much of anything quite like it. Highlights: “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” “Brooklyn Zoo” “Harlem World” “Don’t U Know” “Damage”

Raekwon The Chef

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

This is an amazingly influential record – multiple MC aliases, hip hop posses as mafia, the obsession with Cristal, etc…it all begins here. It’s dense, it’s dark, it only occasionally makes obvious sense. This is a great example of Wu lyrics feeling a bit like a half-filled in crossword puzzle, or a document with every few words blacked out. Top notch. Highlights: “Glaciers of Ice” “Ice Cream” “Heaven & Hell” “Incarcerated Scarfaces” “Criminology” “Wu Gambinos”

Wu-Tang Clan

The W

The Wu return shortly after Supreme Clientele with the second part of a one-two punch. This record has a strong feeling of melacholy throughout, save for the single “Gravel Pit” which is an ace party tune. It’s very dub, it’s a bit Memphis soul and a little bit Kingston raggae. It’s got a very spare sound to it, very fragile. On one track, you’ve got Ghostface nearly breaking down, mock crying while rhyming. Don’t listen to this if you’re in a good mood. Highlights: “I Can’t Go To Sleep” “Careful (Click, Click)”, “Hollow Bones” “The Jump Off”, “Jah World” “Gravel Pit”

Method Man & Redman

Blackout!

An old friend of mine insisted that this record sounds like 50’s rock and roll to him, and I can see the analogy he’s making in terms of vibe and feeling. This is fun, fun, fun album…the best party record affiliated with the Wu. Redman is a perfect rhyme partner for Method Man, their chemistry is undeniable. Highlights: “How High?” “Checka” “1,2,1,2” “Mi Casa” “Big Dogs” “Da Rockwilder” “Cereal Killer”

RECOMMENDED WU-TANG ALBUMS

Wu-Tang Clan

Iron Flag

Keeping it strong a year after The W, Iron Flag sounds like a deliberate attempt to re-capture the sound of 36 Chambers. It’s not unsuccessful, but it misses the mark slightly. The record has some very high points, though – “Rules” is a catchy number with Ghostface weighing in on 9/11 with a verse that is strangely diplomatic in spite of threatening the guys “behind the World Trade massacre”, and commanding “Mr. Bush” to ” sit down, I’m in charge of the war!”. There’s some minor innovation in the Wu sound on this record, mostly in the form of an increased emphasis on turntablism. Inspectah Deck dominates this record with a rhyme on nearly every track, and U-God shines on “Soul Power” and “Uzi (Pinky Ring)”, and Masta Killa steals “Iron Flag/The Glock” – in some ways, this is the Wu album where the more underrated Wu MCs are allowed to show off. The only major mis-step on this album is the dreadful, sloppy “Chrome Wheels” which is pretty much a weak Bobby Digital outtake stuck in the middle of a Wu album. Highlights: “Rules”, “Uzi (Pinky Ring)”, “Soul Power”, “In The Hood”, “Y’all Been Warned” “Iron Flag/The Glock”.

Wu-Tang Clan

Wu Tang Forever

This record could be one of the best Wu albums were it not soooooo looooong, and were there no filler tracks with no Wu members on them. The RZA does not produce the whole thing, and it’s painfully obvious which ones he did and didn’t do. The best tracks stand among the best and weirdest Wu tracks out there, and the rest range from mediocre to painful to hear. Highlights: “Reunited” “For Heaven’s Sake” “Triumph” “It’s Yourz” “Deadly Melody” “Cash Still Rules” “Dog Shit” “Duck Seazon” “A Better Tomorrow” “As High As Wu-Tang Get”

The RZA

Ghost Dog soundtrack (Japanese version)

This may be hard to come by, but it’s worth it: mostly RZA’s instrumental score for the film, there’s just a lot of really interesting stuff here…from RZA’s takes on different music genres (“Free Jazz”, “Funk”) to some vocal tracks not available in the US (“Wu World Order”).

Method Man

Tical 2000 : Judgement Day

Another fun record from Meth, but has waaaaaaaaaay too much filler and skits for its own good. This record could be trimmed down to a 12 song LP and be one of the strongest Wu records ever, but as it is, it’s diluted and in the middle of the pack. Highlights: “Torture” “Cradle Rock” “Retro Godfather” “Spazzola” “Elements”

Ghostface Killah

Ironman

Another great album from the 95/96 period. It is a bit like a lesser version of Cuban Linx, but certainly holds its own. This records is at its best when it’s sentimental, notably “All I’ve Got Is You”, which is a box-of-tissues worthy tearjerker. Also notable is the strange, psychedelic album closer, “Marvel”. Other highlights: “Camay” “Daytona” “260” “Wildflower”

Ghostface Killah

Bulletproof Wallets

Another solid LP from Ghostface, who is certainly the Wu MC least likely to release a weak record. If this record came after Ironman, I’d be more impressed, but after Supreme Clientele, this is a drop off, and is uneven and less remarkable by comparison. Still, there are some very solid songs here. Highlights: “Strawberries” “Theodore” “Maxine” “Street Chemistry”

MIDDLING OR VERY UNEVEN WU ALBUMS

RZA

RZA As Bobby Digital In Stereo

This record defines uneven.some of the finest and most interesting Wu tracks ever appear here, but get lost among some very uninspired tracks and skits. Too long for its own good, certainly. Still, very worthwhile for the brilliant “NYC Everything” Other highlights: “Kiss of the Black Widow” “HOLOCAUST” “B.O.B.B.Y.” “My Lovin’ Is Digi” and “Bobby Did It”

Method Man

Tical

Some people really love this LP, but I think it’s fairly dull (which is an odd adjective for Method Man, trust me) and a bit too murky. Some great songs here, though: “Release Yo Delf” “Meth Vs. Chef” “Stimulation” and “All I Need” (though the remix by Puffy with Mary J Blige is a lot better)

RZA

Ghost Dog soundtrack (US version)

Mostly a collection of tracks by Wu affiliates and proteges, this record has its ups and downs, but the Masta Killa solo tune “The Man” and RZA’s tune with Kool G Rap “Cakes” are top notch. The Wu Tang Clan song (“Fast Shadow”) here is pretty average, but does have a good verse by Ol Dirty.

Ol Dirty Bastard

Nigga Please

Now, I know some folks really love this LP, but I think it’s fairly throwaway… it’s an amusing novelty, but not that much more. “Got Your Money” steals the show, and is pure Neptunes magic. Other highlights: “I Want Pussy” “Good Morning Heartache” “All In Together Now”.

U-God

Golden Arms Redemption

Surprisingly good LP by one of the Wu underdog MCs. The LP isn’t really much to write home about, but it is solid, which counts for a lot. Highlights: “Bizarre” “Rumble” “Glide” “Shell Shock”

GZA/The Genius

Beneath The Surface

This record comes very close to being in the ‘not recommended’ category, but some decent tunes (“Crash Your Crew” “Beneath The Surface” “Breaker Breaker” “Swordplay”) salvage an otherwise depressingly bad album.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Inspectah Deck

Uncontrolled Substance

I still have not recovered from the disappointment of this album. You’d think “wow, Deck rules. His solo LP will be great!” but no, that’s not true. It’s just so boring and weak. “Movas and Shakas” is an excellent tune, but that is it. Sigh.

Raekwon

Immobilarity

RZA

Digital Bullet

Just don’t bother with these two – there’s really nothing nice to say about either of them.

If I Gave You A Party, Would You Come?

Sophie has asked for folks to come up with their own personalized fantasy festivals, and so I shall humor her. Note: I refuse to include defunct bands or deceased artists. I think that’s kind of lame. I always like to keep my fantasies grounded in reality.

I’d want to have Cecil Taylor play, because he’s one of my favorite piano players ever, and I still regret not having the money to go see him play at Lincoln Center earlier this year.

The Shimmer Kids Underpop Association are a natural choice, because I’ve never seen them live, they’ve never been on the East Coast, and are just way too good to be painfully obscure.

Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and whoever else they would want to have on stage with them is another obvious choice for me, for pretty much the same reason as the Shimmer Kids. I really resent that every band in NYC is getting press except for them, when they are unquestionably the best new band in the city, except for maybe the Walkmen. I’d have The Walkmen play the festival too.

I’d want The Danielson Famile and The Polyphonic Spree on the bill, cos I loved seeing them so much last month. I’d like to have The Flaming Lips play, and give them free reign to do whatever they want. I’d want to have Scott Miller play a solo set, and hope that he plays a lot of Loud Family songs.

I would like to have a Kitty-Yo all-stars performance, with Peaches, Gonzales, and Taylor Savvy performing all of their hits together and dancing after the sun went down.

I would have Jay-Z play a full set with The Roots, like on the MTV Unplugged LP. I’d have Beyonce Knowles do a set with the band she played with on the Tonight Show a few days ago. I’d have N.E.R.D. play, and bring out lots of special guests to do their Neptunes hits with them (ie, N.O.R.E., Clipse, Britney Spears, and Nelly).

I would have Prince headline, because it would be really cool to see Prince live, even if he just played a lot of songs from his last few albums. It’d be damn near transcendental if he played mostly 80s material – imagine a set with “Pop Life”, “Kiss”, “Darling Nikki”, “I Would Die 4 U”, “Cream”, “Controversy”, “Raspberry Beret”. People would just fucking lose it! It’d be amazing.

So there – off the top of my head, on July 25, 2002, that’s the festival I’ve come up with. If only it were real.

I Don’t Like Mel Gibson, But I Might Have To Suck It Up…

I had no interest in seeing Signs, and had a feeling it was probably awful, but Russell Fischer has picqued my interest after reading his review on Barbelith. I might go check this out now.

What Are We, In Slow Motion Here? What Are Ya, Hypnotized?

I really love the way that Seymour in the Ghost World movie always does that uptight “Jesus!” exclamation every time Enid says something sort of sexual or inappropriate. It’s so sweet and endearing.

Beautiful Fascists Fighting To Preserve The Status Quo!

Judging by Mark Millar’s comments in this Comicon interview, it seems that I may have jumped the gun a bit in reacting to what seemed like a rather tossed-off “Manhattan gets trashed” issue of The Ultimates. I say that hesitantly, though – Millar is pretty notorious for intending to one thing, and somehow doing just the opposite. Flyboy from Barbelith has a an interesting observation about this, which I will share with those of you who might not read that site:

As I’ve said elsewhere, one of the big problems with his run on The Authority was that Millar thinks he’s a radical/progressive/liberal and was thus writing a radical/progressive/liberal comic, but his instincts have always seemed to run the other way (aside from the content of his Authority, see the transphobic/homophobic comments Runce highlights in the interview). The Ultimates, which is openly about beautiful fascists fighting to preserve the status quo, and the relationships between them (you know, a bit like The West Wing), seems to work a lot better – it feels more natural, less forced, and the dialogue is Millar’s least clunky to date… Ultimates = definitely a very guilty, ethically dubious pleasure. Almost transgressive for some ‘lithers… fetishize the security forces!

A Gentle Devastation

There’s very little I can say about Wayne Coyne’s essays about Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, The Soft Bulletin, and Zaireeka! without veering off into hyperbole about how brilliant and inspiring I think Coyne is, without seeming like an awestruck fanboy. But I am in awe of this man, and I do think that he is one of the most wonderful and creative artists currently working today. Just go read them, okay?

The Kids Are Coming Up From Behind Me

After having read some analysis of the song in Badger and Technicolor’s blogs, I downloaded the LCD Soundsystem “Losing My Edge” song from Soulseek. For whatever reason, the lyrics don’t seem to interest/provoke me nearly as much as did either of them. The lyrics are all about record-collector culture, the lyrics namedrop a number of artists from record geek canon, the singer keeps claiming that he was there, that he’s losing his edge to the kids in France, London, and Brooklyn. It’s a pretty good parody of snobby elitists in mid-life crisis, but I don’t think it’s particularly cruel or cutting. It seems like a very loving caricature to me, that the singer clearly likes the music and culture being namechecked, and has some affection for the character in the song in spite of his implied criticism. The music is pretty good too – it’s a very nervous electro rock song, exactly the kind of music most fashionable for the kind of person being parodied in the song right now. The singer sounds sort of like the young David Byrne, but also a little bit like Stephen Malkmus on “Conduit For Sale!” from Slanted & Enchanted. It’s a pretty cool song, all in all. I can’t imagine very many people digging this song without in some way being a variation of the character in the song, though. But that’s intentional, right?

Treat My Body Like A Guitar

Wow!

That’s the most important thing that I have to say about Beyonce Knowles’ peformance of “Work It Out” on The Tonight Show.

This woman is a real talent, and I just sort of feel bad for anyone who can’t see that or won’t admit it. She was paying homage to Tina Turner visually and musically, in the best way – it was pretty obvious that she was giving credit where credit is due, but she was 100% Beyonce on stage. Her enthusiasm and passion for the song was abudantly obvious, the way she ran around the stage was surprisingly commanding for a person who very seldom performs in this way.

The song translated to a live band performance really well, which seems to be the case for a lot of Neptunes songs (for example, the performance of “I Just Want To Love U” on Jay-Z’s MTV Unplugged album, about half of the re-recorded N.E.R.D. LP), and makes me confident that the Neptunes’ plans to do most of their upcoming work with a full band is a good idea. The way Beyonce and the band played off each other was top-notch, and the looser sound the band played in emphasized the bassline and the horns in a way the recording does not. It was all energy, it was all soul. It was immediate, and just a little bit raw for all its professionalism. I’m really glad that I was able to tape this, because it’s probably one of my favorite live performances that I’ve ever seen on television.

Wow!

Ryan Schreiber Is The Most Uptight Man Alive

What is up with this ‘news’ article about Weezer’s Indie-shop only EP in Pitchfork today? Why is Schreiber making a big deal about this? Why is he so offended by the fact that Weezer appeals to and markets itself to a variety of different music fans? Why does he takes this all so personally? Can anybody possibly get more indie-snob than this guy?

About that EP: Weezer were asked to put together an EP by their label, cos Interscope were making special EPs for massive chain stores, and wanted to do something exclusive for independent record stores too. It’s a nice gesture, and it’s something that will make a good number of people go out of their way to get to an indie shop and put some money in their pockets. I don’t see what the problem is – this guy seems to think it’s some kind of sinister plot, that it’s about getting the ‘indie vote’. It’s not – they’re just doing a nice thing that they were asked to do. Lighten up, man. It’s just a single for “Keep Fishin'” with some live tracks tacked on. It’s pretty insignificant.

Ugh. It really bothers me that Schreiber has such a big audience for his disgusting simplistic indie-thug rants. This guy is so pointlessly bitter, I just can’t even begin to understand it.

Digging In The Dirt With A Shovel

This quote from an interview with Tom Clancy in this week’s Time Magazine strikes me as sort of depressing:

I don’t recommend writing as a form of employment, because it’s such miserable work. That’s how you tell a rookie: if they actually think the writing’s fun. I guess it is for the first one or two, but after that it just becomes miserable work, like digging in the dirt with a shovel. But it’s something you have to do. You can’t not do it.

I feel bad for the guy – obviously, writing isn’t a simple and easy thing, it takes a lot of effort and discipline. Still, judging by the guy’s output and his comments, I just start to wonder if he ever considered trying out different genres and writing styles. I can imagine writing several Tom Clancy books could be a very soul-draining experience – why didn’t he ever try to do something other than a Tom Clancy ™ book? It seems to me that though there is a small bit of universal truth in that quote, I think that Clancy is responsible for his misery far more than writing itself is.

You Don’t Feel Taken And You Don’t Feel Abused

I downloaded a copy of the new Spoon LP Kill The Moonlight last night – actually it’s a ‘rough mix’, which might account for why so much of it sounds so raw and natural, but also a little jarring and strange. My most immediate impression from listening to the record is that it’s even more minimal and skeletal than Girls Can Tell. The songs all come down to a basic rhythm, Britt Daniel’s Kurt Cobain-does-Motown voice, and some interesting bits of texture. Keyboards dominate the record, the guitars mostly are there to carry rhythm, and the drums and percussion are far less prominent than on Girls Can Tell. The way the drums were recorded on Girls Can Tell might be some of the best sounding recordings of percussion that I’ve ever heard. I have no idea what they did, but why more bands don’t record that way is beyond me. This record shares the natural, clean, musicians-playing-in-a-room sound, but occasionally veers off into a peculiar effect like the odd tremolo sound halfway through “Small Stakes”, or the distant mellotron strings on “Back To The Life”.

It’s a bit too early to pick favorites right now, but “Small Stakes”, a song doomed to hundreds of reviews which will compare it to Suicide, seems to be the early favorite for me. I can say this – part of the appeal of Girls Can Tell for me is that 6 of its 11 songs sounded like they really should have been massive radio hits in a perfect world. This record doesn’t really have any songs that sound like singles to me, which isn’t a good or bad thing. It’s just a difference.

(For those curious about which songs from Girls Can Tell I think should’ve been big radio hits, here are my picks: “Everything Hits At Once”, “Lines In The Suit”, “Anything You Want”, “Take The Fifth”, “The Fitted Shirt”, and “10:20 AM”.)

I Hate This Gravity That Makes Me So Weak

My copy of the The Shimmer Kids Underpop Assocation’s The Natural Riot arrived in the mail, thanks to the generosity of Mr. Josh Babcock, the leader of the band. I’ve listened to the record once through, plus a couple songs a few times through – I’m not ready to say anything about the record, I’m still taking it in. My immediate impression is that it’s a bit weirder than the last two records, and not as immediately catchy. The most striking song on my first listen is the instrumental “October Century”, which makes me think of radio signals from jazz stations audibly floating through deep space. It’s a very strange and beautiful song, layers of backmasked and live horns…I’ve never heard anything quite like this song. I wish it were longer than just three minutes.

There Has Never Been A Good Rock Album More Than 40 Minutes Long!

Do check out Your Guide To Spotting The North American Music Critic, a funny and very well observed article written by Nate Patrin, the man behind the Hipster Detritus blog. I’m trying to figure out which of those critic types I most resemble. You tell me.

God Made It Easier On Me

What would be the UK equivalent of myself getting into the Happy Mondays in 2002? Would it be like some UK kid in his early 20s discovering that they dig Pearl Jam or Jane’s Addiction? It is very hard for me to imagine what the Happy Mondays’ music sounds like to British ears at this point in history, but they don’t sound nearly as dated as I’ve been led to believe from reading the British rock press. “God’s Cop”, “24 Hour Party” and “Kinky Afro” all sound fairly fresh to my ears in spite of very obviously late 80s/early 90s production.

Let’s Boom Things Foward

Boom Selection is back, and they’re selling a 3 cd-rom set with 42 hours of music called ‘Nevermind The Bootlegs’, which includes a manifesto about ‘appropriationalist music’. The most interesting thing about the tracklisting is that they didn’t just limit themselves to bootlegged material, they are including non-licensed non-mixed official releases by several artists. They are brave bastards. I’ll be ordering my copy soon enough.

A World So Bitter Turns Sweet

I’ve been obsessed with “This Is My Room” by Jonathan Fire*Eater for a few months now. In addition to just sounding like pop bliss to my ears, a major part of my obession has been the song’s peculiar, often incomprehensible lyrics. Below, I’ve transcribed the lyrics to the best of my ability – can anyone out there give me a hand with figuring this out? I’d greatly appreciate any possible corrections that can be offered. I do not have the actual record, so I’m holding out hope that the lyrics may have been printed in the liner notes.

THIS IS MY ROOM

there are people in my eyes, they look for me in my eyes

there are people in my eyes, but they sleep all the time

everybody has a crutch, but man, they sleep so much

and I will hire the assassin just to kill the time

one of these days I will make this room mine

my chin on the sill, all the rain’s hanging still

please come home, this is a place unknown

the silence of the atoms that (are swimming?) in the air

between the taxi driver now, and his crying fare

there’s a breeze in the trees, I can paint what I see

by the (?) of the torch, moths on the porch

go flicker away, today was (a cain?)

so take me by the hand and walk me through the landscape

the sidewalks all glitter, and a world so bitter turns sweet

…it’s kinda cold!

there’s a place in the alley where my (family?) hit the ground tonight

I can wait, I can wait like a kid sleeping for Christmas

oh, the winter is (?)

Besides a few lines that I can’t make out, “This Is My Room” is particularly baffling to me cos it seems to have some kind of deliberate narrative structure that has been scrambled, and filled with some confusing lines which may have been throwaway lines, or perhaps parts of a puzzle that I just haven’t figured out yet. Whether I’m kidding myself or not, I’m fairly convinced that this song has an internal logic that I’m determined to figure out. The images of ‘orphan asylums’, painters, taxi drivers, the references to mothers, sons, and sisters – it’s all too specific to be accidental and purely stream-of-conciousness. The images seem deliberate, all there to set up a vivid picture of a scene, a time, a place. There seems to be some kind of story connecting all of the characters, places, and events, but the lyrics of the song seems out of chronlogical order, even though the lyrics remain in the present tense throughout the song. I have no idea what the character means when he sings about how “in another time, this could’ve been (his) room”, or that “one of these days (he) will make this room (his)”. What room? What about it? A room at the orphanage? A room with a new family? What?

Also, can anyone please tell me what Jonathan Fire*Eater vocalist/lyricist Stewart Lupton is up to these days? I obviously really love his lyrics and his voice, and I am very interested to hear what he’s been doing since JFE broke up and the other guys went off to form the Walkmen. Google has been pretty useless in finding out information about JFE and Lupton.

Everything All Of The Time

It’s been a while since I’ve listened to Radiohead, so I pulled out the I Might Be Wrong Live Recordings record this morning. The most striking song on the record has got to be the version of “Idioteque”, which is even more uneasy and nervous sounding than the Kid A version. This isn’t the best live version of the song that I’ve heard (or witnessed), but it doesn’t matter, it does the trick. Something about that droning keyboard sound in the song makes me recall every feeling of nausea that I’ve ever experienced; combined with the variety of percussive sounds, disorientation comes to mind. Once the ‘ice age coming’ part kicks in, the live drums sound like they are tumbling down a hill while Thom Yorke tries to outrun them with his voice.

It doesn’t really matter what Thom is singing in the song, the sound of his voice hits a very raw nerve with me. I know the feeling even if the words don’t match up with my life. I wish it were easier to understand what it is about Yorke’s voice that communicates so much to so many people – how his voice is able to get across so much unspoken subtext that his lyrics only vaguely touch on. I think this is why so many people always seem so clumsy when trying to articulate why they like or dislike the man’s music.

Sweet Little Back-Breaker

I know that making fun of Rob Liefeld is too easy, that it’s nothing but cheap shots – but still, come on…just look at this page from his newest comic. Look at the woman’s back on the top panel! Does Rob Liefeld really think that’s what a sexy woman would look like, or does he really have no idea how to draw anything other than deformed monstrosities like that?

Hulk Millar Does Manhattan

For me, Mark Millar comics are something of a guilty pleasure – though more and more, I’m not sure if I even get any real pleasure from his work. My fascination with his writing is becoming increasingly inexplicable, and might even border on self-abuse. First, the man writes a final Authority story arc which begins with promise (the superheroes get killed off by the G7 – interesting and sort of surprising), veers off into sadism and misogyny when he brings them back, and ends the story with a lame deux ex machina finale and a tasteless, delusional, self-congratulatory epilogue.

Now in his Authority 2.0, Marvel Comics’ The Ultimates, the man goes off and mindlessly destroys most of New York City in an issue-long fight scene. I think that I would be more willing to say “well, it’s just a big dumb action comic”, but Millar’s The Ultimates is so selfconcious in the way that it begs the reader to believe that the story is happening in a realistic, contemporary world that I think that he is unfairly trying to have it both ways. For example, there were no realistic repercussions of the events, no signs of death, the city was evacuated FAR too easily, it would never have been so fast. The issue’s events take place in a timeframe which would have to be less than 40 minutes. Impossible!

There’s a fairly recent event that is a pretty good template for what would happen in NYC was in a similar crisis, but Millar just ignores it in favor of having the Hulk throw Giant Man through a building, or having Iron Man blow up half of Grand Central Terminal, treating it all like a big laugh. With the exception of one throw away line, there is no acknowledgement of the human loss, or how the massive destruction of private and public property will effect real human beings. I would have thought that after September 11th people would think twice before doing this sort of thing in comics and movies, or at least make them portray them in sensitive, realistic terms. I guess I was wrong. Obviously, Millar is just trying to feed his fanboy constituency’s enormous hunger for disaster porn, and that this is a deliberately crass piece of entertainment. So – why am I supporting it with my money? I’m not sure. I think it’s time for me to stop, though.

Finally, a question: Why is Ultimates artist Bryan Hitch comfortable with drawing and releasing this issue of the Ultimates, but not the issue of the Authority that he scrapped cos it was about NYC under attack? That makes no sense. At least judging by what I have read, Hitch’s story apparently spent a lot of time with the Authority helping to rescue people. There certainly isn’t anything like that going on in The Ultimates.

What Costume Shall The Poor Girl Wear?

Stephen Malkmus will be curating/headling an All Tomorrow’s Parties event. That’s cool. What makes it fall into the “well, see there is a God, and He likes me” file is that it will be in the New York area. Yes! I’m very curious to see who Malkmus invites – I’m hoping that he deliberately goes for the most obscure music that he knows, and confuses audiences with a disturbing number of reformed 70’s Brit folk revivalists. “Pentagle who? Mellow Candle what?” It’d be really funny!

When People Stop Being Polite…

Dilettantism has a very intelligent, well-written post about MTV’s The Real World and its effect on the people who are casted on the show on his blog today. And oh look – Todd also wrote a wonderful post about Michael Jackson’s economic dilemma. Check it out.

We Will Pass Through Undetected

Listening to Sonic Youth’s Murray Street record this afternoon, I realized that even though I hadn’t conciously selected this album as my discman soundtrack for my exploration of Vinegar Hill, it was just about the most perfect record I could have chosen. I remember hearing “Disconnection Notice” on the street with all the old warehouses, noticing that I was enjoying that song more at that moment than I had previously. Listening to the album now, my visual memory recalls those low streets, the decay, the trash in the streets, the fences and walls, all baking in the afternoon sun. It makes a lot of sense. I knew from the first time I heard the album that it was an afternoon record, the music can’t help but bring to mind harsh sunlight and blue skies. Now the aimless, subdued melancholy of the record makes visual sense to me too. I’m starting to think that this might be my favorite record this year.

In related news: Amy Phillips’ poorly written and highly unprofessional review of the record in the Village Voice has yielded a number of irate letters to the editor, though there are a few positive reactions to the review as well. This vocal, polarized reaction probably just means she’ll be writing more terrible record reviews in the future. Sigh. This woman should NOT be employed to be a critic.

No More Of This “Selfless Hero” Bunk! It’s Time For ME!

I finally got around to buying a copy of Peter Bagge’s Megalomaniacal Spider-Man a couple days ago. It’s a lot of fun – Bagge gives us an irreverant ‘what if’ story in which Peter Parker learns that his Uncle Ben was actually a sleazy bastard, undermining his sense of morality, and causing him to lose the plot completely. He eventually quits the thankless life of fighting supervillains, discovers Ayn Rand (which I think is a nod to the fact that Spidey creator Steve Ditko is/was a zealous objectivist), and a decade later becomes a corporate media mogul. Bagge’s Peter Parker is a far right wing maniac, a sexist who taunts his left wing sweetheart Gwen Stacy, and tortures his ex-boss J Jonah Jameson (who is now in Parker’s employ). I’m being kind by not quoting any of the great one-liners and gags, you’ve really got to check this out. I’ve seen a lot of superhero parodies, but this is probably one of the most intelligent and savage ones I’ve ever encountered. Highly recommended.