tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-365703782024-02-18T20:28:52.412-08:00World's Biggest Corporation<a href="http://worldsbiggestcorporation.blogspot.com/search/label/Music">Music</a> | <a href="http://worldsbiggestcorporation.blogspot.com/search/label/Brain%20Lab">Brain Lab</a> | <a href="http://worldsbiggestcorporation.blogspot.com/search/label/Other">Other</a>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-66187581685745795142008-10-10T21:21:00.000-07:002008-10-10T22:04:18.891-07:00Untimely Ript: It Makes A Mighty Crunch<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45f2kAV2U-M3qOivszerUVLMLSTSlaZfZ14ct-zyGCLjmBs9bvgkdcQdwRGWN_AEr1va6pqqeaB3_VzMT4R5Tqzm6cN-iG0Nt5zry0ZEL6gY9PH2fZ-mJfm_diTxU2Odd7YJx/s1600-h/littleghost.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45f2kAV2U-M3qOivszerUVLMLSTSlaZfZ14ct-zyGCLjmBs9bvgkdcQdwRGWN_AEr1va6pqqeaB3_VzMT4R5Tqzm6cN-iG0Nt5zry0ZEL6gY9PH2fZ-mJfm_diTxU2Odd7YJx/s320/littleghost.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255755920437919922" border="0" /></a><br />I had more fun at <a href="http://www.myspace.com/enonmusic"> Enon</a>'s Madison show this April than I have at most this year. The songs on <span style="font-style: italic;">Grass Geysers, Carbon Clouds</span> have a way of sounding urgent and tossed-off all at once. Sometimes it's satisfying and sometimes it feels incomplete in a way I can't really put my finger on. Ultimately, I'll come down on the side of liking it. Watching John Schmersal play guitar, twisting out such jagged sounds with such precision and rhyhtm, made the songs a lot easier to appreciate.<br /><br />Anyways, Schmersal said something about "JonBenet" when he introduced the songs "Little Ghost" and "Swab The Deck," the two songs on a 7" released by <a href="http://www.silver-rocket.org/english">Silver Rocket</a>, which turns out to be a label based in Prague, of all things. And yep, there's the murdered child-model herself, her vacant gaze captured in soft focus, right on the sleeve. Is there something sharp and menacing behind this, or is it a spontaneous piece of nastiness? The music raises the same questions.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stream: "Little Ghost"</span><br /><br /><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-08222290077914474 visible ontop" href="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=5560673-951"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-08222290077914474 visible ontop" href="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=5560673-951"></a><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="divplaylist" height="28" width="335"><param name="movie" value="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=5560673-951"><embed src="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=5560673-951" name="divplaylist" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="28" width="335"></embed></object>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-28376651370970428542008-10-08T23:32:00.000-07:002008-10-08T23:57:48.243-07:00Fusion: It's A MysteryEvery town's got crappy prog bands. I'm not saying anyone's actually seen them, except friends, relatives, and whoever happened to be at Splunkyfart's Tavern for Midori Mondays, that night they got booked by accident. It may not even be "prog" so much as "mish mash of stuff put together in a mildly complex and/or messy/arty way." Which the band would likely sum up as "fusion" or "prog" or "North American Gregorian Folk-Jangle Opera." I guess they're harmless. They're too boring for a larger audience, too embarrassing for anyone with any taste, maybe just right for a few lost listeners who'll move on. Also, there's sometimes a whole band of guys who look like total slobs backing a female lead singer in heels, which is always hysterical. Hysterical the way that only misery can be. A treat indeed.<br /><br />And hey, even bands that aren't crappy, or ambitious, or particularly unmarketable get described in terms of hybrids, if only so that derivative work (rock music, in a word) can sound fresh and energetic on paper: "What if Joni Mitchell had an all-night road rally with Def Leppard!!!" Complexity? Hybrids? Yeah, they can work, but they're just tools that should be driving something larger. It depends on the instinct behind them.<br /><br />The point is, it's better to make one thing work than make six things not work at once.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-82260200041612800002008-06-26T23:57:00.000-07:002008-06-27T00:02:25.569-07:00Completely Irrelevant On LP And Compact Disc"Everyone's a critic, but hey, we really respect your talent."<br />—Against Me!, "Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners"<br /><br />"Everybody is a star and hot shit is few and far between."<br />—The Roots, "Star/Pointro"Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-90601631430567032972008-06-23T05:46:00.000-07:002008-06-23T06:06:49.017-07:00Don't Say That, Johnny, Just Hear It<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5X3_EsnZTJAIXfLRvSVATRat-1Gqn-X4mlknZqL-z1ITUwDuepoPNbPD8nHUjbQ_ecAHPN_z-I9fKCIHeHHR7mKpaOot-6R_s8-HW947khQI6Jahz0fb79UXyDlznJUJo2bP/s1600-h/george-carlin-standing-mug.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5X3_EsnZTJAIXfLRvSVATRat-1Gqn-X4mlknZqL-z1ITUwDuepoPNbPD8nHUjbQ_ecAHPN_z-I9fKCIHeHHR7mKpaOot-6R_s8-HW947khQI6Jahz0fb79UXyDlznJUJo2bP/s320/george-carlin-standing-mug.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215058914638844498" border="0" /></a><br />Carlin had so many years of crusty brilliance ahead of him. He played in Madison not two years ago and still performed with that fucking scary sharpness, at times wicked, gracious, and cute, and he was still working up new material. I remember driving around with Matt listening to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Classic Gold</span> compilation, and how things from those albums, shit I can't always remember off the top of my head, just effortlessly pops out whenever Matt and I see each other. I remember watching the <span style="font-style: italic;">You Are All Diseased</span> special, and how my dad cringed when Carlin described a guy's armpits as smelling "like an anchovy's cunt."<br /><br />"If there is a God, may he strike this audience dead."<br /><br />God dammit. More on this later.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-88680878904510881062008-06-22T10:21:00.000-07:002008-06-22T10:33:09.903-07:00Someday, I'm Telling You, They'll Make A..."If they can make machines to save us labor,<br />someday they'll do our hearts the very same favor."<br />—The Dismemberment Plan, "Memory Machine"<br /><br />"The Electric Monk was a labour-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder. Dishwashers washed tedious dishes for you, thus saving you the bother of washing them yourself, video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe."<br />—Douglas Adams, <span style="font-style: italic;">Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency</span><br /><br />And while we're at it, both of these definitely came out before <span style="font-style: italic;">Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind</span>. Take that, Michel Gondry!Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-77190978366593307672008-06-21T13:06:00.001-07:002008-06-21T13:20:03.125-07:00Whatever It May Be..."...sure enough, we are slain by that stuff."<br />-Destroyer, "Streethawk I"<br /><br />"Send that stuff on down to me!"<br />-Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, "There She Goes, My Beautiful World"<br /><br />"If you need to know it, I never really understood that stuff."<br />-Elton John, "This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore"<br /><br />"That stuff"=rock-n-roll for "the intangible/general wackiness"?<br /><br />And while we're at it:<br /><br />"You gotta move to stay alive/ you do the very modern jive."<br />-Destroyer, "Streethawk I"<br /><br />"Oh, stewardess? I speak jive."<br />-<span style="font-style: italic;">Airplane!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-88996341361277237792008-04-12T23:55:00.000-07:002008-04-13T13:36:35.389-07:00Why Do Tourists Always Wanna Get So High?<span style="font-size:85%;">Or, You Said "No No No!"<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />(Cloud Cult, American Music Club, and The Forms, Friday, April 11, High Noon Saloon, Madison)</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLIRbW9UI8UqpyNhZNiqCwddykLk6f8pU4F4CaHqBY6vekLSf0WwzoFo4FVP8mmpF-wsixuwI9ak98UCZs66oKX8TFZEMtLzXxauTH-7JTS9xbDL_2QfHbLbxRxxse6LB1Wij/s1600-h/amcgolden.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLIRbW9UI8UqpyNhZNiqCwddykLk6f8pU4F4CaHqBY6vekLSf0WwzoFo4FVP8mmpF-wsixuwI9ak98UCZs66oKX8TFZEMtLzXxauTH-7JTS9xbDL_2QfHbLbxRxxse6LB1Wij/s400/amcgolden.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188621123420258402" border="0" /></a><br />I never expected to hear a phrase like "party foul!" used at an <a href="http://www.american-music-club.com/">American Music Club show</a>. It seemed about 80 percent of the crowd came only for co-headliners <a href="http://www.cloudcult.com/">Cloud Cult</a>, a band that deserves the popularity and grabs a nice chunk of the college crowd, especially here in Madison. It wasn't surprising that the Cloud Cult part of the bill seemed to be selling it a lot more than AMC, the senior band and also the one that takes a little more patience and nerdiness.<br /><br />Still, maybe these fans of <a href="http://www.cloudcult.com/craig.htm">Craig Minowa</a>'s songs would find some sympathy in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Eitzel">Mark Eitzel</a>. Minowa yearns for something greater within the great tragedy of his own life. Eitzel treats all that like a sorrowful burden, though not without humor or redemption. Both of them skin the experience clean and leave it dripping with wonders and terrors, and both apparently create a fine mood for making naive miscalculations. It'll take forever to really beat this into my head, but it's true: Most people don't come to a show like this to explore, even if they've come to see something that's already unusual. (Before I get deeper into this rant, I should note that both headliners played solid sets; openers <a href="http://www.theforms.org/">The Forms</a> put out a decent record last year, but I think they're still fumbling for a good live sound. None of the shit I'm about the nitpick about was enough to put a damper on the general awesomeness of the show itself.)<br /><br />Behaving well at a show isn't much different from behaving well anywhere else, but the people who aren't used to concerts always seem to make themselves conspicuous. Sorry if that's a snobola remark, but it's impossible not to notice that kind of thing. I am by far the most socially inept person I know, and I usually manage, so I think pretty much anyone else should be able to. I do have one theory about this: So many Americans, even modestly middle-class ones, get used to being waited upon and cleaned up after, everywhere from the five-star steakhouse to the crummy supermarket, that they've decided it's OK to act like slob-ass morons in public. Wherever they go, someone will have to smile and put up with their shitheadedry just to keep the wages and tips coming. ("Perhaps you would like me to <a href="http://imdb.com/character/ch0016906/quotes">wash your dick</a> for you... you little shit.") Answer my dumb questions, help me find stuff I could track down myself if I wasn't such a lazy swine, tolerate my Egg McMuffin breath and irrational temper, and <span style="font-style: italic;">thank me</span>—FUCKING THANK ME, YOU LUCKY PRODUCT OF MY EVER-FLOWING GENEROSITY WHICH HATH MADE THE EARTH BURST WITH GOODNESS—for <span style="font-style: italic;">paying your salary</span>. I am the Customer, auditioning for the role of Caligula.<br /><br />I've worked a few retail jobs (though not for very long, and my upbringing wasn't exactly blue-collar, in all honesty), and I grew up near Walt Disney World, so I'm not just laying this on college kids. This is for more or less everyone beyond puberty: Grow the fuck up, extend a little more graciousness, take more responsibility. It'll make your days a lot more satisfying. We've all been guilty of asshole-consumer behavior. Only we can redeem ourselves, and it isn't even that hard.<br /><br />During Cloud Cult's set, someone did indeed party-foul us. Actually, he just spilled a drink down the bar from us, a little thing that could happen to anyone, but when someone describes it as a "party foul," he's really saying, "In retrospect, I was asking for it, broseph!" It wasn't even a particularly messy crowd, but still: Until they get the specific thing they've paid for, the thing that's already won them over, folks can often come off antsy, ungrateful, and eventually, spiteful.<br /><br />Concerts are a social experience, so it's no surprise if a dozen jerks claim their spots right in front of the stage for a good view of one band and talk all through the other's set. "We're just gonna stand up here and act like dicks until the transcendental healing-rock comes up." There's always a dumbass or 50 in the crowd, so why bitch about it now? Because Cloud Cult really does seem determined to open up the best in people, against all odds and obstacles, be that war and famine or everyday chode-ness.<br /><br />If some Bob Marley fans or David Bowie fans or Broken Social Scene fans or New Pornographers fans out there want to be grumpy pricks, I can live with that, but to see Cloud Cult's insane and childlike hope lost on Cloud Cult fans? That's too damn sad. Idealism in itself deserves to be treated with skepticism. Idealism coupled with results deserves to rub off. And if people don't come to Cloud Cult for that, what the hell are they getting from it? This band could likely be cashing in a lot bigger, but instead insists on self-releasing its records to ensure the CDs and packaging are made from recycled material, and keeps on following inspiration that's earnest, unsettling, abstract, and often morbid. (Not to mention that it's put out some <a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51tGoGcoPgL._SS500_.jpg">stunningly ugly</a> record covers.)<br /><br />Not that this immediately translates into CC fans dorking out over a songwriter like Mark Eitzel. For all his rawness, he can be insular and frustrating, though I like that side of him, especially when the band starts the set with "Decibels And Little Pills," which you can stream from the Breakroom Blastbox on the right. How many people out there saw only a 49-year-old dude in a funny hat? I'm not sure, but at least one guy grumbled, "Get off the stage!" So, in effect, it's possible to go check out a group as eccentric as Cloud Cult and have absolutely no curiosity left over to spare on something else.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-86517492768339845352008-04-01T20:22:00.000-07:002008-04-06T11:03:38.899-07:00Month In Tunes Administration: I Will Admit I Almost Always Underestimate It<span style="font-style: italic;">In <a href="http://worldsbiggestcorporation.blogspot.com/search/label/Month%20In%20Tunes%20Administration">"Month In Tunes Administration,"</a> World's Biggest Corporation loads music onto USB sticks to be dropped in bulk upon villages in the developing world. Great for whittling, boiling, or experimental nutrition.</span><br /><br /><div><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMYswsoHAg_qLNadFORH3Mvdn3K13vtyT_wGQkzgNjrQnFCZ2scFlpCqeyuzGEBLecPt-OAP3V4L__DyYe8OtEbafxbX-dyOtD_KqAgKKImND5M2tmZEXDnzBYxl0A402e-V1/s400/retribution.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184484226391588210" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">March 2008</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div>As the year goes on, it gets slightly more exciting to have middle-of-the-road-to-mildly-odd white-guy indie-rock tastes. In all sincerity.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">DeVotchKa, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">A Mad And Faithful Telling</span> (Anti-):</span> <a href="http://hypem.com/search/devotchka%20transliterator/1/">"Translit</a><a href="http://hypem.com/search/devotchka%20transliterator/1/">erator"</a> wins <span style="font-weight: bold;">song of the month</span>, the blustery high point of this disc, and one where DeVotchKa gets so on top of its sounds that it gets harder to pick out the different bits. Gypsy, mariachi, romantic old movie scores may all figure in, but it's all swept together by Nick Urata, a much more powerful songwriter than I'd noticed before.<br /><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Retribution Gospel Choir, s/t (Caldo Verde):</span> It's the band Alan Sparhawk uses to get away from Low and rock out, but the best moments are still the frail and quiet ones, the gaps in the wonderful sludge. That said, watching him wrangle a huge, messy guitar sound was pretty much the best part of a month full of awesome shows.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Sun Kil Moon, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">April</span> (Caldo Verde): </span><span class="Apple-style-span">Maybe the best set of Mark Kozelek songs I've heard yet. But I feel like the jury will always be out on that, because his stuff has a way of blurring together, in a good way. For whatever reason, these songs do more to bring out the definition that's always under the lilt of his voice and pleasant haze of his guitar.</span><br /><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Jim White, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Transnormal Skiperoo</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"> (Luaka Bop): </span><span class="Apple-style-span">Jim White comes back to that bizarre, spirit-twisting intrigue, refreshed with a blast of serenity. Instead of just getting old, he captures the feeling of a new start with the benefit of hindsight.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9i_iGo6xksY&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9i_iGo6xksY&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><br /><br /></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Make A Rising, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Infinite Ellipse And Head With Open Fontanel </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">(High Two): </span><span class="Apple-style-span">When you unfold the CD booklet, it expands into the most obvious candidate for <span style="font-weight: bold;">album cover of the month</span>:<br /><br /><br /></span></div><div><div> <div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG0_0GBf8cDn-qopFx6vxujRufK_WMOQgmWsZWDdk2KGDfbdDMiJFsIKXx-aRxke3DtUHmspYlUXY19HC-LTs56rgdRKZfzPoUQ8inClsxPclhrGZud4CqPg-EzzqTRPYk0BwZ/s1600-h/make+a+rising.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG0_0GBf8cDn-qopFx6vxujRufK_WMOQgmWsZWDdk2KGDfbdDMiJFsIKXx-aRxke3DtUHmspYlUXY19HC-LTs56rgdRKZfzPoUQ8inClsxPclhrGZud4CqPg-EzzqTRPYk0BwZ/s400/make+a+rising.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186023976462171522" border="0" /></a></div> </div><br />During their show here, those two fish got stabbed by another fish. You could probably take it for granted now that more bands are layering on more instruments, opening up their song structures, and blending pop sweetness with weird abstraction, yet Make A Rising fills it with all these eerie crawlspaces, making for complicated music that never quite crowds out the wondrous and stretched-out hooks.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Destroyer, <span style="font-style: italic;">Trouble In Dreams</span> (Merge): </span>Less like <span style="font-style: italic;">Rubies</span>, more like <span style="font-style: italic;">Streethawk</span>, no complaints.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Random-ass discovery:</span> Of all things <a href="http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">The New York Times</span> has a songwriting blog called Measure for Measure</a>. Because songwriters are a breed of people who need yet more excuses to dwell on their own problems. At any rate, <a href="http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/author/abird/">Andrew Bird's contribution</a> is already pretty intriguing.<br /><br />Shows of the month: <a href="http://www.myspace.com/circlesofphiladelphia">Circles</a> with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/elvalienteband">El Valiente</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thecemeteryimprovementsociety">The Cemetery Improvment Society</a>; <a href="http://www.colonyofwatts.com/">Colony Of Watts</a> with <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=47723748">Zebras</a>; <a href="http://www.vaporrecords.com/catalog/a_jon_richman.html">Jonathan Richman</a>; <a href="http://runners-up.com/">The Runners-Up</a>; The Magnetic Fields; Ladyhawk; <a href="http://www.myspace.com/makearising">Make A Rising</a>; X; Retribution Gospel Choir; Black Mountain; Jens Lekman; The Weakerthans; Black Moth Super Rainbow; <a href="http://www.myspace.com/phosphorescent">Phosphorescent</a> with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/acatapultwestern">A Catapult Western</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/vidlibert">Vid Libert.</a><br /></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-19899232996860366312008-03-18T09:18:00.000-07:002008-03-18T09:23:47.966-07:00Like The Wind Needs The Trees<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtw_k6sQwZy2W0754K9zq0UQfETWYAF47kxcNxRRuj51wb18Rpc5ryLkEkAKe-0NO9FDJO_jgFog4eHS8uhduNqv4oozLbXzg7KGO5tpAS4RQJk_Eww39k1rqih8O0h-V7d4cM/s1600-h/merritt.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtw_k6sQwZy2W0754K9zq0UQfETWYAF47kxcNxRRuj51wb18Rpc5ryLkEkAKe-0NO9FDJO_jgFog4eHS8uhduNqv4oozLbXzg7KGO5tpAS4RQJk_Eww39k1rqih8O0h-V7d4cM/s400/merritt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5179117236654027314" border="0" /></a><br />I caught <a href="http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/">The Magnetic Fields</a> in Chicago this weekend and <a href="http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/and_ampersand_after_ampersand">blogged about it for <span style="font-style: italic;">A.V. Club</span></a><a href="http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/and_ampersand_after_ampersand"></a>. The show was awesome. Plus, not a week after <a href="http://worldsbiggestcorporation.blogspot.com/2008/03/to-sleep-perchance-to-be-bored-off-my.html">disturbing my slumber with a dull dream</a>, the Mekons more than made up for it, cosmically speaking, by sending Sally Timms to sit in with TMF for a fine rendition of The 6ths' "Give Me Back My Dreams."Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-18459698142742550172008-03-12T07:17:00.000-07:002008-03-15T04:03:27.273-07:00To Sleep, Perchance To Be Bored Off My Ass<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1vPiJuJ3TOlmIM7RNEy_MfQt6aUk_cT9QI7JK4cnWDpujKoa4FZLA9vEc4KE9dOmW_rZEGOwyJwuA6XqjKbws_tPKJb6AnYDThgXiksxrlh-OURgqUeQ944U_BA0XNBLCOzvc/s1600-h/mekons.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1vPiJuJ3TOlmIM7RNEy_MfQt6aUk_cT9QI7JK4cnWDpujKoa4FZLA9vEc4KE9dOmW_rZEGOwyJwuA6XqjKbws_tPKJb6AnYDThgXiksxrlh-OURgqUeQ944U_BA0XNBLCOzvc/s400/mekons.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177921212816142866" border="0" /></a><br />A dream triggered by a <a href="http://www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/band.php?id=14">Mekons</a> song should probably be a little more fucked-up and entertaining, but here's what I got a few nights ago:<br /><br />I approach a street corner and see a crowd of meek-looking grad students (in the dream, I know that they're grad students) belting out the Mekons song "The Building." In its original form, the song is just Jon Langford yelping into a mic and stomping his feet for about two minutes, and I'm never shocked to see the occasional obnoxious demonstration in Madison. (In the dream, I know I'm in Madison, I guess in the neighborhood near the office.) I figure it must be one of those "general comment on the way things are going in this country" kind of protests, like the "1984"s I occasionally see around town, scribbled on street signs by the most articulate person ever.<br /><br />As the chant breaks up, I round the corner and discover a huge party spilling out of someone's house. The people there tell me it's just a party for no particular reason. It's not particularly crazy or fun. I wander into a room at the back of the house and find a few people sitting on a couch watching the Eagles on TV. Some live video from their '90s reunion. Naturally, everyone in this room looks mega-bored. I sit down for a bit and meet a nice girl. When she leaves, she refuses to give me her number, but tells me to get in touch if I want to talk about "community projects." The end, at least as far as I care to remember. Considering all the weird imagery you could get from songs like "Prince Of Darkness," "Hard To Be Human," or, say, "Ghosts Of American Astronauts," it's a bit of a letdown.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-16196895675467074792008-03-08T13:25:00.000-08:002008-03-08T14:16:38.809-08:00Untimely Ript: Reprises And Rescues<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4hREsmAxv1jTxFwP8HHSM510976nllmpJ8hWMwh1ZnUj1zDI_iWAuOVwplO_GukL1MqE6kH0eDJlwzAf4ZmBVGqV0Oo_JbPpX9gMgM1xDWjg25_nYU07E_0XpldcnY6oMtxcw/s1600-h/mack.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4hREsmAxv1jTxFwP8HHSM510976nllmpJ8hWMwh1ZnUj1zDI_iWAuOVwplO_GukL1MqE6kH0eDJlwzAf4ZmBVGqV0Oo_JbPpX9gMgM1xDWjg25_nYU07E_0XpldcnY6oMtxcw/s320/mack.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175486627784274434" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Mack The Knife: Kurt Weill's Greatest Hits</span><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Performed by Boston Pops; Morton Gould And His Orchestra; Boston Symphony<br />RCA, 1973</span><br /><br /></span>Musicals have always seemed so stiff and dreadfully forced to me. In fact, I tend to hate them (unless they're as funny and warped as, say, <span style="font-style: italic;">Little Shop Of Horrors</span>), and would probably be more comfortable watching snuff films while resting my feet in a bucket of scorpions. I have never seen or heard Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's <span style="font-style: italic;">The Threepenny Opera</span>. On this instrumental tribute, it is a relief to hear musical-theater melodies that beg to be spun around with drunken romance and silly violence. On Side A's reprise of several <span style="font-style: italic;">Threepenny</span> numbers, 11 members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra still make it sound, well, a bit stiff, but not forced. More importantly, it's clear the music deserves to be rescued from the context of musical theater, if only for safekeeping.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stream/download: "Threepenny Finale"</span><br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,18,0" id="divmp3" height="28" width="325"><param name="movie" value="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=3919637-f45"><embed src="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=3919637-f45" name="divmp3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="28" width="325"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>Despite similar flaws, the Boston Pops' version of the title track preserves a mystery lost in, say, the cute-'n'-cocky <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBTITHA8twI">Bobby Darin version</a>. Alright, so the <a href="http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/whatwomenwant/macktheknife.htm">English-language lyrics</a> are worth keeping around, in all their excessive talk about "a body oozin' life" and "when that shark bites." It's just a bit, you know, stiff and forced when stapled onto this elegantly tawdry tune.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stream/download: "Mack The Knife"<br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,18,0" id="divmp3" height="28" width="325"><param name="movie" value="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=3979843-954"><embed src="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=3979843-954" name="divmp3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="28" width="325"></embed></object><br /></span><br />Along with vinyl packaging, we seem to have lost untold amounts of banal pomposity. Not just about the music—there's plenty of that in CD liner notes, after all. On the back of an LP sleeve, there's always room to spare for the babble of corporate audiophiles:<br /><br />"DYNAFLEX is the RCA trademark for a new development in record manufacturing that provides a smoother, quieter surface and improved ability to reproduce musical sound. This lightweight record also virtually eliminates warpage and turntable slippage."<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-4545624413650379882008-03-07T18:40:00.000-08:002008-03-07T21:23:16.895-08:00Month In Tunes Administration: So Relatively Fucked<span style="font-style: italic;">In <a href="http://worldsbiggestcorporation.blogspot.com/search/label/Month%20In%20Tunes%20Administration">"Month In Tunes Administration,"</a> World's Biggest Corporation will sample the music used in our FDA-condemned seasonal-affective disorder experiments.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV1sbqZmHdFCR0urMlXatCfz-Jo_mwYtTT48qZc9aSJS8clHspn-8KCgV_SFDyhETll2CiFvgysypLFdZ_WmN2VbburAij-7p3QGi9PeQgMej4-Q9O5-nQKsqflZKYZ8dIYoqN/s1600-h/spires.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV1sbqZmHdFCR0urMlXatCfz-Jo_mwYtTT48qZc9aSJS8clHspn-8KCgV_SFDyhETll2CiFvgysypLFdZ_WmN2VbburAij-7p3QGi9PeQgMej4-Q9O5-nQKsqflZKYZ8dIYoqN/s400/spires.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5170303778141240930" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">FEBRUARY 2008<br /><br /></span>A 30-degree day seems like a treat right now: Stupid people are less irritating; food tastes better; everyone's more attractive. Still, it's been hard to get excited about a whole lot of shit. In fact, the well-circulated "recorded in a lonely Wisconsin cabin" story behind <a href="http://www.virb.com/boniver">Bon Iver</a>'s <span style="font-style: italic;">For Emma, For Ever Ago</span> made it all the more tempting to retreat back into the album when Jagjaguwar formally released it this month. A mega-hyped indie record that sounds like the opposite of mindless chatter: That kind of balances out psychologically, right? So, anyways, February at least provided a few ideal records for being left the fuck alone to. Yay!<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Earth, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull</span> </span></span><span><span>(Southern Lord):</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span>This post is late because I got my hands on this pretty late in the month and deserved a few good, slow listens</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span><span>Seven instrumentals basking in open spaces and some amazingly patient playing.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span>Also, <span style="font-weight: bold;">album cover of the month</span> goes to <a href="http://arikroper.com/">Arik Roper</a>:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflZdjeaR2sAz2ZEnNEWseCo5HUjGrdkDFP2WIdmQK0rdvPVVLkwsODxHm7c4j3APj-GG3PjeBfzEUHCfr_rmqly63z5dc-Hd4F_7Zy3smjHM3nZSbAyUYOobZNmgiQtfW0kuK/s1600-h/Earth+bees.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflZdjeaR2sAz2ZEnNEWseCo5HUjGrdkDFP2WIdmQK0rdvPVVLkwsODxHm7c4j3APj-GG3PjeBfzEUHCfr_rmqly63z5dc-Hd4F_7Zy3smjHM3nZSbAyUYOobZNmgiQtfW0kuK/s400/Earth+bees.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5172716472133588210" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span>Promotional snack tie-in, anyone?<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spires That In The Sunset Rise, <span style="font-style: italic;">Curse The Traced Bird</span> </span><span>(Secret Eye): If Earth's latest recalls a gauzy sunset over a canyon, <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=36206558">Spires That In The Sunset Rise</a> recalls, say, a fever with a side of fleas. Ghastly, beautiful vocals scratch up against the sounds of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbira">mbira</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebab">spike fiddle</a>, and abused banjo. Eastern-folk sounds unravel into free-flowing disorientation.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Vid Libert, <span style="font-style: italic;">A Return To Mayaguez</span> </span><span>(s/r):</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a href="http://www.myspace.com/vidlibert">Vid Libert</a> is a Madison singer-songwriter. When he pokes his head out, he's arguably the best in town. Here's the intro from my local <span style="font-style: italic;">A.V. Club</span> feature on him:<br /><blockquote>Vid Libert’s new album, <span style="font-style: italic;">A Return To Mayaguez</span>, dips into an isolated seam between his own little world and the real one. Following up on 2005’s <span style="font-style: italic;">Mayaguez</span>, the Madison singer-songwriter filled his eight-track recorder with his own unassuming voice, drums, guitars, melodica, percussion, keys, toy instruments, and more, spacing it all out with a dub-inspired ear for warm layering and reverb. It’s a very good record, to borrow phrase from his song “Make No Mistake,” for getting through the day, whether Libert’s calmly philosophizing about fulfillment on “Maybe That’s Enough” or drifting through the glittery instrumental “Oh, Osho.” </blockquote><span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Headlights, <span style="font-style: italic;">Some Racing, Some Stopping</span></span><span> (Polyvinyl):</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span><a href="http://www.avclub.com/content/music/headlights">Reviewed here</a>.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span></span><span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Todd Barry, <span style="font-style: italic;">From Heaven</span> </span><span>(Comedy Central): </span>February got a crucial Valium-powered cheer-up from <a href="http://www.toddbarry.com/">Todd Barry</a>'s latest. It matched not only the pace of life, but also the graying snowbanks. "I challenge you comedically!" "No, honey! Not again! Remember when we went to that play and you wanted to challenge that actor theatrically? You got your ass handed to you!"<br /><span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">American Music Club, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Golden Age</span> </span><span>(Merge): February got a crucial Valium-powered cheer-up from American Music Club's latest. </span> It matched not only the pace of life, but also the graying snowbanks. "Will there be a band? God, I hope not!" <span style="font-weight: bold;">Song of the month:</span><a href="http://www.mergerecords.com/audio/amc/SanFrancisco.mp3"> MP3: "All The Lost Souls Welcome You To San Francisco"</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Random-ass surprise: </span>My friend <a href="http://www.makewavesmedia.org/works.html">Shelby</a> was kind enough to introduce me to the work of western-swing standby <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Wills">Bob Wills</a>. Despite his talents as a bandleader, it's hard not to giggle (and improvise along) when he cheers on his bandmates in that ridiculous Mickey Mouse voice (see "Quoted"). Also, hardly random, but I didn't get around to picking up <a href="http://www.myspace.com/stvincent">St. Vincent's</a> 2007 album, <span style="font-style: italic;">Marry Me</span>, until a few days ago. Same goes for <a href="http://www.whitedenim.com/pissedjeans/">Pissed Jeans</a>' second album, <span style="font-style: italic;">Hope For Men</span>:<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/o6uGXAMITRU"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/o6uGXAMITRU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shows of the month:</span><a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=23399248">The Blind Shake</a> (2/6, High Noon Saloon, Madison); <a href="http://www.myspace.com/themidwestbeat">The Midwest Beat</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/plexi3">Plexi 3</a> (2/9, Crystal Corner Bar, Madison); <a href="http://www.myspace.com/icarushimself">Icarus Himself</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/sleepingintheaviary">Sleeping In The Aviary</a> (2/16, Mother Fool's Coffeehouse, Madison); Say Hi (2/21, Project Lodge, Madison); Sleeping In The Aviary, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=10943035&Mytoken=20050404195430">The Dark Horse Project</a>, <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=45950448">The Scarring Party</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/crochetdmachete">Crochetd Machete</a>, and <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=164600144">The Cowboy And The Frenchman</a> (2/23, Project Lodge, Madison);<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.dubtrio.com/anothersoundisdying.html">Dub Trio</a> (2/25, High Noon Saloon, Madison); <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=47723748">Zebras</a> and <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=50137044">Czarbles</a> (2/28, Nottingham Co-op, Madison).Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-7240282605346839432008-02-29T14:34:00.001-08:002008-02-29T15:13:12.927-08:00Untimely Ript: Where They Pour Coca-Cola Just Like Vintage Wine<span style="font-style: italic;">"I wish that I could push a button and talk in the past and not the present tense..."</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsSv1qwFecFO-i6HdTOyhr_zlGW6dJq5adYlcKysToZB8n-xs2NzmFE_AgfYokUqyTSvfjt8TIhxAdn6Gxwt9-4ZO6SxOveDIUd9n1lZRkve5GDV8I8jmTEvnxcKh9lTr2MgsQ/s1600-h/King+Of+America.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsSv1qwFecFO-i6HdTOyhr_zlGW6dJq5adYlcKysToZB8n-xs2NzmFE_AgfYokUqyTSvfjt8TIhxAdn6Gxwt9-4ZO6SxOveDIUd9n1lZRkve5GDV8I8jmTEvnxcKh9lTr2MgsQ/s400/King+Of+America.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5172536521593820386" border="0" /></a><br />Welcome to <a href="http://worldsbiggestcorporation.blogspot.com/search/label/Untimely%20Ript">Untimely Ript</a>, WBC's little showcase for tunes jacked from just about any damn year. Everything will be lovingly yanked from vinyl and full of crackly goodness. I was initially planning to do this as a separate blog altogether, but then I realized I might as well put some more content on the shitty content-starved blog I already fucking have. Plus, if every annoying jackass in America started up a new blog every time he fell out of bed with some gimmicky new idea, there wouldn't be enough room on the Internet for all the world's over-enthusiastic music bloggers to share buckets of MP3s. Right?<br /><br />Don't expect a great deal of recent stuff, except perhaps the occasional cool 7". It isn't that vinyl is better, or that the past was better, or any of that crap. It's that what you get in the vinyl bins, especially at thrift stores and used-record places and street fairs and whatnot, makes for so many surprises. It's mediated in a strange, arbitrary, and unpredictable way, but not by distributors.<br /><br />But before getting into all that, I'll share the opening track from a record I really love, in a non-fleeting, non-kitschy way: "Brilliant Mistake," from Elvis Costello's <span style="font-style: italic;">King Of America</span>. It is one of his best albums. I tried to explain why in <a href="http://www.avclub.com/content/node/57342">this <span style="font-style: italic;">A.V. Club</span> piece</a>, so I'll leave it at that for now. It is also totally worth buying in non-crackly MP3 or CD format.<br /><br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="335" height="28" id="divplaylist"><param name="movie" value="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=3919662-a6b" /><embed src="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=3919662-a6b" width="335" height="28" name="divplaylist" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-29813639430954491052008-02-24T17:01:00.001-08:002008-02-24T17:23:42.073-08:00Unwanted Heaviness Bummers!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OnFDIiV6Tu0UFhI7xlgOFkQ7EQ8c0jcumtLqaa_IIoScJ61ASme4B9TbV3I37cFEKiw7nL0MuYTXSusIR1HnHQI0TcudcozlWXP4NwA-kuacWt8sUp-qosN5caAUZpY_HoUQ/s1600-h/EasyRider.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OnFDIiV6Tu0UFhI7xlgOFkQ7EQ8c0jcumtLqaa_IIoScJ61ASme4B9TbV3I37cFEKiw7nL0MuYTXSusIR1HnHQI0TcudcozlWXP4NwA-kuacWt8sUp-qosN5caAUZpY_HoUQ/s400/EasyRider.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5170721588264828530" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Every time you eat a steak, a hippie's hacky sack goes into the sewer." —Patton Oswalt</span><br /><br />Two instances, all in a Sunday afternoon's strolling:<br /><br />1. Browsing in a bookstore. There's a poetry reading going on in the middle of the place, and you kind of have to maneuver through the audience to get from section to section. Lots of middle-aged faces knotted up into dazed smiles that say, "Isn't poetry just delightful? Wow, what a wonderful world unfolds for me every time some other fellow steps up to the podium to declaim! Now if only I could track down a taste bud-sizzling bowl of farina..." Still, easy enough to ignore, until one fellow starts cranking up the discomfort, belting out some half-assed satirical rhyme about (I'm paraphrasing here) fossil fuel-burning Bush and his grand greedy schemes. Chuckles and claps after every zinger. The performance ends with a booming cry of "...American GREEEED!" So, there you have it. A little slice of intellectual life in America, and maybe a clue as to why the left seems just a little bit helpless against the reign of Fuckface. Since that encompasses half of my adolescence and all of my adult-ish life so far, I gotta wonder why I don't respond better to the blind anger and mockery it has inspired. Maybe because that shit starts to sound pretty damn dull and useless in its eighth fucking year?<br /><br />2. Catching up with my pal and his girlfriend in a shop around the corner. My friend, definitely better than I am at stirring up conversations with strangers, has the clerk on a roll about her book in progress. She's got a slightly challenging idea about sexism, gender, and, in short how men have it tough these days. At first I want to lump this in with the previous experience, but it's nice to see some actual effort going on in someone's head, and maybe a bit of modesty too. And then it's time to goof off for the rest of the afternoon. Yay!Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-58247965828441353432008-02-21T21:18:00.000-08:002008-02-21T21:52:53.901-08:00Assorted Shit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcRy5FPjeNNhH-qjThZUm1w74FK-gOWr7cnHTRqfh3bVXyLSGIuu4ms2aW4aINY4AtFILwledvSXKyMJ1jH8TCyOtZ6KACU35oiRRz5ZZfWOM6NpUHt6Y3J3MHsTqQcj-_PS85/s1600-h/david+cross.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcRy5FPjeNNhH-qjThZUm1w74FK-gOWr7cnHTRqfh3bVXyLSGIuu4ms2aW4aINY4AtFILwledvSXKyMJ1jH8TCyOtZ6KACU35oiRRz5ZZfWOM6NpUHt6Y3J3MHsTqQcj-_PS85/s320/david+cross.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169678173204905538" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here is an <span style="font-style: italic;">Arrested Development</span>-inspired band name: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0515247/quotes">Dad Likes Leather</a>. It is up for grabs. No need to thank me.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bet.com/OnTV/BETShows/helldate/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Hell Date</span></a>: This godless piece of teleshit isn't nearly tough enough on its victims. OK, the dwarf in the little devil suit popping out to deliver the news that, yep, "You're on <span style="font-style: italic;">Hell Date</span>!" is pretty fucked-up, but the meat of the date adds up to rather mild discomfort, at least when one considers the scope of human suffering. Seriously, has anyone on this show ever genuinely feared for his/her life? Better, more deeply fucked ideas to follow.<br /><br />I'm still not entirely clear what "lumberjack chic" is, but <span style="font-style: italic;">The Walrus</span> has compiled <a href="http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2008.03-online-exclusive-picture-gallery-canadian-designs">a gallery of expensive Canadian doo-dads</a>. I also don't know anything about photographing expensive doo-dads, but I believe that <a href="http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2008.03-online-exclusive-picture-gallery-canadian-designs/1/19/">particle-board backgrounds</a> class up everything.<br /><br />Readers of 2008, let me tell you a bit about yourselves. 45 percent of you believe in elves; at least three of you are reading this in sweaty socks that rise up too high and emphasize your calves, which is funny because your calves are flabby and do not need to be shown off <span style="font-style: italic;">or</span> further insulated; you represent five legally recognized counties; all of you were involved in extracurricular activities and/or sports in kindergarten; and you'll all get kick-ass reader-appreciation gifts if the current season of <span style="font-style: italic;">Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew </span>ever comes out on DVD.<br /><br />Once the USB turntable is all set up at WBC headquarters, we'll commence acquisition of audio for <a href="http://untimelyript.blogspot.com/">Untimely Ript</a>, a blog celebrating random garbage from the bog of forgotten vinyl. More crude stick-mutants and whatnot once outside logistical consultants finish work on our scanner.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-23726825634217824072008-02-01T16:55:00.000-08:002008-02-03T07:47:06.648-08:00Month In Tunes Administration: Now Is The Winter Of Our Psychedelic Indulgences<span style="font-style:italic;">In <a href="http://worldsbiggestcorporation.blogspot.com/search/label/Month%20In%20Tunes%20Administration">"Month In Tunes Administration,"</a> World's Biggest Corporation will sample the music we virally market to our own employees via disposable Zunes issued in our 2,000 break rooms across the globe.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlLZSOl2ngHEh1fqvO9f_FgujRzTslOFe_HpkY-D4uypYxghCf_5STS4tC-QIzTsUz0sGIdOi6FqGCB1v7pKPgX79xiK0QgNySKhNz9D7MhbT3KVkWYLld0yml0a2XYNNU6XF/s1600-h/black+mountain.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlLZSOl2ngHEh1fqvO9f_FgujRzTslOFe_HpkY-D4uypYxghCf_5STS4tC-QIzTsUz0sGIdOi6FqGCB1v7pKPgX79xiK0QgNySKhNz9D7MhbT3KVkWYLld0yml0a2XYNNU6XF/s400/black+mountain.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162215450460016354" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">JANUARY 2008</span><br /><br />We at World's Biggest Corporation didn't suck up a ton of records this month, due to the unexpected clusterfuckery of daily operations, the shit-ass Wisconsin weather, deteriorating attention spans, re-allocation of resources, and that pesky <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uco5Ed-5y2U">competition</a>.<br /><br />Hell, at one point early in the month, this place even had some guests: Louisville, KY band <a href="http://www.myspace.com/peoplenoise">People Noise</a> got caught in a bad pileup on the way into Madison, made it to the venue that night, and played a solid set for about, oh, 20 people. They crashed here while awaiting repairs and were very friendly, then made it out in time to bolt to a gig in Minneapolis. Last year's <span style="font-style:italic;">Ordinary Ghosts</span> is a fine debut, slathered in glistening keyboards and mega-fuzzed guitars. Currently, the band has to sample the keys live, but that somehow doesn't make things stiff or awkward.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Dead Meadow, <span style="font-style:italic;">Old Growth</span> </span>(Feb. 5, Matador): Who knows, maybe this one will fall to the side after a couple weeks. It's a battle between how blatantly this band reaches back to all manner of olden psychedelia and blues-rock, and how sweet and earthy it all sounds.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gTXf0Rtp98s&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gTXf0Rtp98s&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br />Which brings us to...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Black Mountain, <span style="font-style:italic;">In The Future</span></span> (Jagjaguwar): I won't even pretend that I've learned my way around this one yet, but I do think singer Amber Webber is one of the main reasons this record sticks. Whether she's on backing vocals or taking the lead, as on "Queens Will Play," she's got this frightening shudder in her voice--one of a few things that keep the band fresh as it stomps and riffs through some very familiar pleasures.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rhvE-D9osY8&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rhvE-D9osY8&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Drive-By Truckers, <span style="font-style:italic;">Brighter Than Creation's Dark </span></span>(New West): Another one that's gonna take a few months to sink in, or maybe all year. <a href="http://hypem.com/search/self-destructive%20zones/1/">"Self-Destructive Zones"</a> is gonna have to be WBC's <span style="font-weight:bold;">song of the month</span>. If it's got any competition, it's another highlight from this album, "The Righteous Path."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Magnetic Fields, <span style="font-style:italic;">Distortion</span></span> (Nonesuch): The Magnetic Fields' habit of packaging albums with gimmicks really strikes me as a form of self-deprecation. "Let's write a batch of solid pop songs and give them a vaguely country-ish feel (<span style="font-style:italic;">The Charm Of The Highway Strip</span>), make sure they all start with 'I' (<span style="font-style:italic;">I</span>), or just release 69 of them for no reason (<span style="font-style:italic;">69 Love Songs</span>)." This time, the band cheeses itself up with buckets of feedback and fuzz, arbitrarily paired with songwriting that, at heart, doesn't seem much different from anything else Stephin Merritt's ever done. "Old Fools" is just a step away from <span style="font-style:italic;">Highway Strip</span>'s "I Have The Moon," both unabashedly maudlin and affectionate songs. They're those moments where Merritt isn't afraid to lay down something universal, a little less disposable. If he weren't so self-conscious, kitschy, and clever, his body of work would make people cry themselves to death. (In a good way?) Hell, I know this is beside the point, but I'd almost like to see him do a completely humorless, gimmick-free record, just for the sake of experiment. At any rate, at least two songs on Distortion--"Please Stop Dancing" and "California Girls"--are new Magnetic Fields disposable-essentials, almost up there with "A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off" and "Two Characters In Search Of A Country Song."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Protest The Hero, <span style="font-style:italic;">Fortress</span> </span>(Vagrant): Imagine Dillinger Escape Plan backed up by a choir of magical horseys, and the mystical glitter-dust that implies, but rammed up against the staggering tightness of super-technical post-hardcore stuff. Weirdly enough, the most tricky-sounding shit here--the operatic vocals and classical-inspired guitar flurries on "Sequoia Throne"--adds a dreamy layer of lightness to the crunch and drudgery. Plus, it's really too bad this blog doesn't have a headwear-design award:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUowz1d4VL5UFFR_P5jtzBABgqjn7zaUDCyoqJVEAdPaPC5UyGcDjUAVOncmmXI8wxjcT0pFMFF8DfX7ynE51bab1Rdz1xYODEDdmrGo9rcysEz17W4JOqkSlgaVEAkxDePAx/s1600-h/PTH.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUowz1d4VL5UFFR_P5jtzBABgqjn7zaUDCyoqJVEAdPaPC5UyGcDjUAVOncmmXI8wxjcT0pFMFF8DfX7ynE51bab1Rdz1xYODEDdmrGo9rcysEz17W4JOqkSlgaVEAkxDePAx/s320/PTH.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162227875800403698" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Dub Trio, <span style="font-style:italic;">Another Sound Is Dying</span> <span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>(Ipecac): I still think <span style="font-style:italic;">New Heavy</span> is better and more well-rounded, but this new one is pretty gratifying, too, especially for those who favor the instrumental band's brutal, smart-assed side. Also, <span style="font-weight:bold;">album cover of the month</span> goes to <a href="http://www.unitdeltaplus.com/">Martin Kvamme</a>:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Gc4EHd9595a10GVQMdHB-U3B1e2l_iJHyOt-4xVfmYiLFFO5GcXqS_wisieRdTBqstUcwqoZa8eSjvXa0ujbnNIQgVqPDK41K9MGKHiqXzgjAKYRqUXNiWt2dKk7DGyiHlUP/s1600-h/Dub+Trio+another+sound.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Gc4EHd9595a10GVQMdHB-U3B1e2l_iJHyOt-4xVfmYiLFFO5GcXqS_wisieRdTBqstUcwqoZa8eSjvXa0ujbnNIQgVqPDK41K9MGKHiqXzgjAKYRqUXNiWt2dKk7DGyiHlUP/s400/Dub+Trio+another+sound.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162190165987544786" /></a><br /><br />Wow, I didn't know you could leave them in the microwave that long. I'm here all week, folks...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Future Of The Left, <span style="font-style:italic;">Curses</span></span> (Too Pure): The only record I heard this month that's snotty, bratty, and scary enough to excite me on that level.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hSAlo_FYc_w&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hSAlo_FYc_w&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br />...And it turns out they're a tad boring to look at. I guess I expected someone with more visible bones, and maybe some boils.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Vampire Weekend, s/t </span>(XL): <a href="http://www.avclub.com/content/music/vampire_weekend">Review here</a>. It's pleasantly underwhelming, I guess. VW's show in Madison this summer was fun as shit. Outdoors on a warm, breezy night on campus, with sailboats in the background--can't imagine a more ridiculously appropriate venue for it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Random-ass surprise: </span> The utterly perplexing, primal, and enticing Japan-funk of Yamasuki, as unearthed by <a href="http://soul-sides.com/2008/01/holy-grails-of-bizzarro.html">Soul Sides</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Shows of the month: </span> The Black-Eyed Snakes and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/decibully">Decibully</a> at the High Noon Saloon, Madison, 1/5; People Noise, High Noon Saloon, Madison, 1/6; The Walkmen and White Rabbits, 1/19 High Noon Saloon, Madison; <a href="http://www.myspace.com/elvalienteband">El Valiente</a>, 1/11, King Club, Madison; <a href="http://runners-up.com/">The Runners-Up</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/patchworknoise">Patchwork</a>, 1/17, High Noon Saloon, Madison; Editors, 1/29, Majestic Theatre, Madison.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-28270954827628906562008-01-26T13:05:00.000-08:002008-01-26T11:17:25.003-08:00Concept Restaurants Part 2<span style="font-style:italic;">(For the rest of our innovative food-service business plans, please see <a href="http://worldsbiggestcorporation.blogspot.com/2007/07/concept-restaurants.html">the first Concept Restaurants presentation</a>.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Escargot Escarmergency:</span> If you can buy plastic bottles of Perrier by the dozen from Costco, life's other fine luxuries ought to catch up, eh? On the way to the yacht, swing through our drive-thru window to pick up a steamin' platter of snails. Visit us soon, and you'll get those little critters in a commemorative-edition Super Bowl XLII escargot dish (also available at participating Exxon locations). It goes without saying that once this bastard's turning a profit, we'll be rolling out the mail-order wing.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">If it's your birthday:</span> Enjoy a complimentary appetizer-sized serving of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugu">fugu</a> poppers.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">853 Woodcrest Terrace:</span> The servers here are hardly servers at all, but nice, hospitable folks sharing the fruits of suburban life on the cusp of retirement. As they bustle about taking care of laundry and calling the kids (all grown up now), they'll occasionally turn to grab you a lemon bar or a beer from the fridge. If you're lucky, one of our hale and hearty "Pop" servers will reach into his special cabinet and share a jolt of that single malt he got for Christmas a couple years back. While the mild-mannered afternoon away with back issues of <span style="font-style:italic;">Reader's Digest</span>, the family's photo albums, and the reassuring hum of the refrigerator (they used to call it "the ice box," you know).<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">If it's your birthday:</span> It's awkward that you'd come hang with a stranger's parents on your goddamn birthday, but we'll do our best to cheer you up.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-17987797717812507102008-01-13T06:01:00.000-08:002008-01-13T06:08:47.851-08:00Troglodytes + Computers=This<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmsJ4_P5Xb63NEVIRUp7Nd4O7kTmOyNErqMvKqHCskv8v8HyRz0fNTqTt5Hv4e7YPYGYxeZHp5jOOXRma02cnUyMAKhlN9E0ntM8XIJcV8CwL3_MizUp1lPKZmeSZewi2qtCv/s1600-h/airmall.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmsJ4_P5Xb63NEVIRUp7Nd4O7kTmOyNErqMvKqHCskv8v8HyRz0fNTqTt5Hv4e7YPYGYxeZHp5jOOXRma02cnUyMAKhlN9E0ntM8XIJcV8CwL3_MizUp1lPKZmeSZewi2qtCv/s400/airmall.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5154961316464115266" /></a><br /><br />What better way to convey mankind's wonderment at technology than with an image of a woman in crosshairs, holding up a huge "@" like it's a prized golden pumpkin? This image shows up on the login page of the Baltimore airport's pay wi-fi system. And seriously, it's better than Magic Headache Elixir and Hand-Shoveled Irrigation System combined. Check this shit out, o ye mighty!<br /><br />Let us now weep for America's children, and the atrocious graphic design--no, shitty old-school <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_(software)">Paint</a> work--that gathers to brutalize their eyes. Not to mention all the horrid beige pantsuits they'll have to wear.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-71680468305720828422008-01-05T11:20:00.000-08:002008-01-05T12:49:35.503-08:00Peeling Off Your Jodhpurs: Year-End Music Addenda Part III hate making lists. It is now officially out of my system until November or so. In fact, this roundup of "other stuff I really liked in 2007" is still incomplete, and I can even name things that I've left out, but, well, fuck it.<br /><br /><a href="http://lessavyfav.com/">Les Savy Fav</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Let's Stay Friends</span> (Frenchkiss): Likable, explosive, sweet, and funny from start to finish. Would've been at least an honorable mention, had I bought it sooner. Plus, who knew that horseback riding could be so sexually charged?<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_l8zY1wisK4&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_l8zY1wisK4&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/wolvesinthethroneroom">Wolves In The Throne Room</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Two Hunters </span>(Southern Lord): You know you're a <span style="font-style:italic;">Slate</span> fan, and a relative metal novice, when you let that venerable web-mag tell you <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2177883/">what metal to buy</a>. Then again, <span style="font-style:italic;">Slate</span> rarely disappoints me, so why the hell not? And why is black metal so improbably soothing?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/thezincs">The Zincs</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Black Pompadour</span> (Thrill Jockey): It feels kind of detached at first (what with song titles like "Rice Scars" and all). The songs have a way of warming up after a while, and some, especially "Head East Kaspar," turn out to be quite comforting.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/busdriver">Busdriver</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">RoadKillOvercoat</span> (Anti): The sarcasm is going to drive some people away before they get in the door. But in any case, rap needs a brilliant spazz-clown with a sense of humor and brain-scrambling delivery. <br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bx8V41edZRg&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bx8V41edZRg&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/bearclaw">Bear Claw</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Slow Speed: Deep Owls</span> (Sickroom): Back in high school my friend Tony and I had an idea to start a band with two bass guitars. We had no idea that at least two awesome post-punk bands (Dianogah and Bear Claw) already had this covered. We still thought Dream Theater was cool. Sigh.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/ninanastasia">Nina Nastasia</a> And Jim White, <span style="font-style:italic;">You Follow Me </span>(Fat Cat): If I were one to neurotically obsess over past best-of lists, I'd declare myself a toad for not including this one. A toad, I say!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1oj_TmfHBYQ&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1oj_TmfHBYQ&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://chairkickers.com/">Low</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Drums And Guns</span>: See above. Sinners, never forget that Alan Sparhawk ate cake for you!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zmo7tyrtGW0&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zmo7tyrtGW0&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/saturdaylooksgoodtome">Saturday Looks Good To Me</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Fill Up The Room</span> (K Records): For such a mess of a band/collective/bedroom-pop project, SLGTM has proven remarkably consistent. "Make A Plan" and "Money In The Afterlife" count among Fred Thomas' best songs.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="373"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IUje0bgcp1g&rel=1&border=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IUje0bgcp1g&rel=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="373"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.batforlashes.com/">Bat For Lashes</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Fur And Gold</span> (Caroline): The mystery wears off after a few listens, but there's solid dark pop underneath. Plus, Natasha Khan actually pulls off the whole exotic-costume thing with some dignity intact. (Take that, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Juliette_Lewis_f6385647.jpg">Juliette Lewis</a>!) I actually watched people attempting to dance to this song at a club in Orlando recently. Good laughs.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n1wnOUH2jk8&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/n1wnOUH2jk8&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://myspace.com/figurinesdk">Figurines</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">When The Deer Wore Blue</span> (Control Group): Merits both sincere appreciation and genuine or sarcastic "AWWWWW!"s.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ocYRedWheDw&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ocYRedWheDw&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/bishopallen">Bishop Allen</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Broken String</span> (Dead Oceans): This album's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFcEUMGNNR8">main single</a> isn't its best song by far. The album glimpses at the band's very solid and agreeable songwriting—sometimes enjoyable enough, and sometimes close to greatness:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JumBggjmnPI&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JumBggjmnPI&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-53189743175907568902007-12-29T13:33:00.000-08:002007-12-29T13:43:21.678-08:00Wilford Brimley Not Included<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVDtyLFfweNdG831opoS6KMvLVDAmMxLMQOQsaxNY5Am7Bz3LcI8Prum8hCFL9Y0_QIXQ51xWJ2L0_uTl57jC97WfAlFBuI3ItMvkmzCzQb548h-nOu8ZkNYODyBZ3fnTsHBo/s1600-h/thing.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVDtyLFfweNdG831opoS6KMvLVDAmMxLMQOQsaxNY5Am7Bz3LcI8Prum8hCFL9Y0_QIXQ51xWJ2L0_uTl57jC97WfAlFBuI3ItMvkmzCzQb548h-nOu8ZkNYODyBZ3fnTsHBo/s400/thing.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149513253528354338" /></a><br /><br />John Carpenter's <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0084787/"><span style="font-style:italic;">The Thing</span></a> should eventually rank among history's finest horror movies. However, Ennio Morricone's score--a perfect companion to the movie's expanse of cold and foreboding--is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thing-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B0000014RQ/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1198963783&sr=1-1">a bitch to come by</a>. Luckily, some dude has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DHZLROS4QA&feature=related">posted some of the tracks on YouTube</a>. <br /><br />Enjoy it before disputes intervene!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1DHZLROS4QA&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1DHZLROS4QA&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-86896520236948465942007-12-24T13:18:00.000-08:002007-12-28T09:17:28.881-08:00The Certainly-Not-Unwanted Things: Year-End Music Addenda, Part 1Doing my second <a href="http://www.avclub.com/content/node/71126/5">best-of list </a> for <span style="font-style:italic;">The A.V. Club</span> made me neurotic. I stand by it and all, but it's also worth measuring a year's music by the stuff one leaves off lists like this. Case in point, my ballot includes a list of "stuff I haven't had enough time to chew on but would likely give an honorable mention if I had"--was that supposed to get past my editors? So, what the hell, here's a whole bunch of other stuff that'll be worth chewing on in the future.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dubtrio.com/">Dub Trio</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Cool Out And Coexist</span> (ROIR): It's dub, swampy instrumental metal, <a href="http://hypem.com/search/long%20blondes%20only%20lovers/1/"></a>and the surprisingly vast territory between the two.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tinariwen.com/">Tinariwen</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Aman Iman</span> (World Village): If it's <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4129404">NPR-approved</a> world music, it does more than just get those turtlenecks undulating and lumbar-supportive Audi seats rocking. Tinariwen, from Mali of all places, restores the blues to its primal, thumping state, yet the guitar work can also get tender and melodic.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/thelongblondes">The Long Blondes</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Someone To Drive You Home</span> (Rough Trade): This album is too fucking long--16 songs, just over an hour--but <a href="http://hypem.com/search/long%20blondes%20only%20lovers/1/">"Only Lovers Left Alive"</a> makes it worthwhile. It matches its obnoxious howling with the kind of wit that makes me wish I hadn't been such a lame high-schooler.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/therosebuds">The Rosebuds</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Night Of The Furies</span> (Merge): Generally consistent and lush, but the second song, "Cemetery Lawn," is so catchy it makes the rest of the album a bit frustrating by comparison.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/yourbaroness">Baroness</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Red Album</span> (Relapse): Just getting in my first proper listen as I write this. In short, a meaty, mighty metal group that broods and noodles like a fine post-punk band.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bb3ep6YW0JI&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bb3ep6YW0JI&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/johnathanrice">Johnathan Rice</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Further North</span> (Reprise): Different on every listen, depending on what you're looking for. At the very least, a singer-songwriter record with some flaws and a bitterly memorable opening track:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/961Vg71WSvo&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/961Vg71WSvo&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/maximopark">Maximo Park</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Our Earthly Pleasures</span> (Warp): A brash command of hooks and songs full of sneaky cleverness. Also, Paul Smith is a crazy dude in a hat onstage and a nice-enough, if excitable, guy in interviews.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cTo2y_YA8k4&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cTo2y_YA8k4&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br />More to follow.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-45948952680241475922007-12-24T11:14:00.000-08:002007-12-24T11:18:53.238-08:00"Lights, Please..."<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HWBwvwYVWNQ&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HWBwvwYVWNQ&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br />For some reason, I can't seem to find a clip of this <a href="http://www.familyguyquotes.com/episodes/a-very-special-family-guy-freakin-christmas-quotes.html">nugget</a>:<br /><br />Peter: As we all know, Christmas is that mystical time of year when the ghost of Jesus rises from the grave to feast on the flesh of the living! So we all sing Christmas Carols to lull him back to sleep.<br />Bob: Outrageous, how dare he say such blasphemy. I've got to do something.<br />Man #1: Bob, there's nothing you can do.<br />Bob: Well, I guess I'll just have to develop a sense of humor.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-84237127114429616692007-12-23T11:07:00.000-08:002007-12-23T11:46:53.399-08:00The Bataan Death Mall<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitTn3QcwuwLwZ8CdcgnnnKfUfdHLHVhotpirz0WpnvqU-e8euOLXc0xdTkXOEMF90QfrAm6Ud39Kfa8vgUG6YNrpxV9kC5zPDa912E2m62Zbv0DLqx-u212XL32_I4JzO1XaOq/s1600-h/arundel.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitTn3QcwuwLwZ8CdcgnnnKfUfdHLHVhotpirz0WpnvqU-e8euOLXc0xdTkXOEMF90QfrAm6Ud39Kfa8vgUG6YNrpxV9kC5zPDa912E2m62Zbv0DLqx-u212XL32_I4JzO1XaOq/s400/arundel.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5147253293276806674" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Arundel Mills Mall, Hanover, MD [Baltimore suburb]</span><br /><br />Shout it from the turrets of Medieval Times or the temple of the Egyptian-themed Muvico multiplex: In a just world, Maryland's <a href="http://www.simon.com/mall/mall_info.aspx?ID=1230">Arundel Mills Mall</a> would be visible from space. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundel_Mills">According to Wikipedia</a>, it is "the first enclosed mall to feature a Medieval Times." Sounds like society's got some catching up to do, folks! You can actually enter the MT from the mall, and while you're waiting for the tournament to begin, put away a draft of mead (note: more likely Michelob Ultra or something) at the bar. MT is the mall's southern bookend; at the northern extreme, behold the <a href="http://www.ddg-usa.com/projects/ENT_Muvico_Egyptian_24/Project.html">Muvico Egyptian 24</a>.<br /><br />Of course, Arundel Mills isn't the largest mall in America, and for all I know, plenty of malls far exceed it. It's most notable, though, for its particularly wearying floor plan, basically a very elongated oval, divided up into five "neighborhoods." Theme-wise, it already spans continents and centuries, and walking around it two or three times gives a person the same feeling. It must take quite a few trips around to get one's memory around the place; a point you remembered on the first trip around might seem to be just in front of you once more, but is in fact a few hundred yards ahead. The trek from FYE to Dairy Queen is particularly arduous, each storefront a bayonet prodding one ahead to a destination from which he'll have to move on again soon.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-29334952537776906462007-12-23T10:27:00.000-08:002007-12-23T10:50:30.575-08:00Exurbcakes: A Recipe<span style="font-style:italic;">Brain Lab query: "What happens when flavor imitates <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-12-01-exurbs-edit_x.htm">life</a>?"</span><br /><br />INGREDIENTS<br />-3 sq. ft. richly tanned leather<br />-10 lbs. wet stucco, preferably dyed a frosting-like shade of pink or yellow<br />-5 lbs. Starbucks Espresso Roast ("Starbucks Coffee: Roasted over burning SUV tires!")<br />-1 box Franzia Vintner Select White Zinfandel<br />-Assorted Elton John, Barry Manilow, Kenny G, and <span style="font-style:italic;">NOW!</span> compilation CDs<br />-1 pair pleated khaki shorts<br /><br />PREPARATION<br />-Combine stucco and espresso in a large cement truck; process mixture into a viscous paste.<br />-Shape mixture into uniform circles (1" diameter is ideal), wrap with strips of leather.<br />-Remove CDs from cases--the cases may later be used for a creative presentation--and crush discs up into little shards. Sprinkle atop cakes to taste.<br />-Place cakes on car roof; pick a sunny day to drive around doing errands for 9 hours, using only outdoor parking options.<br />-Smoke over shreds of khaki shorts for extra flavor.<br />-Serve with energy drinks, Ensure, or any of Pepsi's "Jazz"-variety colas.<br /><br />FURTHER READING<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/09/opinion/09brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">"Take A Ride To Exurbia": David Brooks, <span style="font-style:italic;">The New York Times</span>, Nov. 9, 2004</a>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36570378.post-28469723351552517202007-12-16T11:29:00.001-08:002007-12-16T11:59:39.228-08:00Finely Woven Filth: Or, Horny For Presents<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2cH3hrs5givAPeuo_OfOs9hKblHPI_EtUZSZQjTFLT3rfAw0EP9donxO4xwxvwc_buYvZbd7IPH1A-lNvwmGFqJrwUqXsPqERHuINDjuW34t8zOLBo92hQ2LV6WT84pUo2Xot/s1600-h/johnwaters.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2cH3hrs5givAPeuo_OfOs9hKblHPI_EtUZSZQjTFLT3rfAw0EP9donxO4xwxvwc_buYvZbd7IPH1A-lNvwmGFqJrwUqXsPqERHuINDjuW34t8zOLBo92hQ2LV6WT84pUo2Xot/s400/johnwaters.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144661276218703346" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">A John Waters Christmas + Lavender Diamond: Turner Ballroom, Milwaukee, 12/12/07</span><br /><br />[Sorry, no photos. Camera broke.]<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Connie Marble: Oh, I love you Raymond. I love you more than anything in this whole world. I love you more than my own filthiness, more than my own hair color. Oh God, I love you more than the sound of bones breaking, the sound of death rattle--even more than the sound of my own shit do I love you, Raymond.<br /><br />Raymond Marble: And I, Connie, also love you more than anything that I could ever imagine: more than my hair color, more than the sound of babies crying, of dogs dying--even more than the thought of original sin itself. I am yours, Connie, eternally united through an invisible core of finely woven filth, that even God himself could never ever break.</span><br /><br />Howdy from Baltimore!<br /><br />As I write this, I can't be too far from the sidewalk off which Divine ate dog shit for John Waters' camera (at the end of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069089/"><span style="font-style:italic;">Pink Flamingos</span></a>). Just a few days before flying out here, I caught one of B'more's finest on his Christmas tour. Beyond those amazing and transgressive films is a snappy showman who's up for <a href="http://www.avclub.com/content/node/58232">riffing about anything</a>. He's just a cool motherfucker, not merely a prankster behind a camera. As he mentions at that link, he's a big Ike and Tina Turner admirer, and arrived in Milwaukee just in time to announce <a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i00d3lO-44BBUMKh7kjWGOlTCHxA">Ike's death</a>. <br /><br />On his annual Christmas tour, he pops out for an hour of breathless rambles about the holidays and whatever else he gets around to, including his desire to land on the cover of <span style="font-style:italic;">Parade</span> magazine. He never lets up, never seems the least bit unsure of himself. Phrase of the night: "I'm horny for presents."<br /><br />Throughout Waters' performance, a scary fat drunk lady behind us kept yelling stuff, though not enough to really disrupt things. It's a John Waters thing, so a few mental defectives are bound to emerge. Most of what she said wasn't memorable, though I recall that at one point she called out for a <span style="font-style:italic;">Pink Flamingos</span> musical. During the Q&A portion of Waters' set, she started raving about her support for Dennis Kucinich: "HIS WIFE... HE HAS A GREAT... RED-HEADED WIFE..." Waters smoothed right through a brief exchange and went onto the next questioner, though the dumbass kept it up until the end.<br /><br />For some reason, Waters brought along the band Lavender Diamond for an opening set. For once, it was hard to blame people for talking through the songs. These are precious little morsels of quirky folk that probably sound great when it's late and quiet, but it clunked onstage. Wearing a billowing white dress, singer Becky Stark looked like a cloud trapped inside a K-Mart; the three dudes backing her had zero stage presence. Except for the drummer, who played his minimal beats with greatly exaggerated movements that made him look even more useless. Still, why not bring some surprises to a tour like this?<br /><br />Though a great filmmaker, Waters should do more of this speaking stuff. There's a killing to be made on the corporate banquet circuit, eh?Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05064803947948998298noreply@blogger.com0