the Diving Bell & the Butterfly I watched this movie for the first time last night. I say first time because I know it's something I will watch many more times. It is easily one of the most beautiful, unique and creative movies I've seen in some time. I can call it a Michel Gondry film based in reality. Director Julian Schnabel is an artist first. He has made two other films, each a biography of artists. Basquiat and Before Night Falls. Here in Le Scaphandre et le Papillon(Original title in French) he tells the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a high society editor of Elle magazine, who suffered a stroke at the age of 43 -leaving him completely paralyzed save his left eye. A couple of speech/communication therapists devise a way to communicate and with blinking, he is able to hold true to his publishing deal he worked out before the stroke. It's quite an inspirational (and unbelievable) story, shot beautifully. I recommend it to everyone.
I've been an on and off fan of ...and you will know us by the Trail of Dead since I first heard their Madonna album in the late 90's. I still enjoy their 'breakout' album Source Tags & Codes but recently I found a copy of their last album So Divided for $3 and I got it. I have been meaning to get it since it came out in 2006. IT IS TERRIBLE. At the end of 2007 singer/songwriter for the band Conrad Keeley came out with tirade after tirade about the big music biz (since his band signed with Interscope in the early 2000's). After hearing this album it makes him look like an even bigger whiny jerk. Did those big, bad record executives make you put out an album of radio ready alt pop? Did you sacrifice your good songmaking for big label dollars -and then turn around and bite that hand? Sure seems like it.
This has to be one of the worst albums by a good band. I think I'd rather listen to the second Clap Your Hands Say Yeah than this piece of junk. Good work Trail of Dead. yikes.
I go through waves of really loving Dirty Projectors, followed by getting a little too annoyed and losing my patients with the music they make. For the past few days I have fallen back in love with their album Rise Above. It's such a great/original concept and visualization. How could you not be impressed. Pitchfork posted this today and it's effing beautiful. I never thought a reinterpretation of Black Flag could sound this good:
Pitchfork has given this album a 7.7 My review: The Last Shadow Puppets The Age of the Understatement 8.9/10 Arctic Monkey-boy Alex Turner and friend Miles Kane (of a UK group called the Rascals) have formed a side project called the Last Shadow Puppets. Their mod- throwback 1960's cinematic soundtrack could score any/every James Bond rip-off movie from the mid-to-late 70's. Seriously inspired by Ennio Morricone, this album - along with its vintage spy guitar licks contains the string section to the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett. That along with a lot of other guests and producers have concocted fast paced, enjoyable record that sounds a lot more complex than your usual thrown-together side project. Full review: the age of the understatement Even the video for their first single looks like it cost a pretty penny.
I've always been a fan of cinematic music. Listening to this album makes me feel like I'm watching the coolest 70's noir spy movie that was ever made.
As of Monday, April 21st - I am technically unemployed. The Ad agency I have been working for since October lost a few accounts they were banking on, and therefor let go of 40% of its workforce, including yours truly. The people and workplace I will miss the most. Everyone in the office was great and the location was ideal. My actual job position could have been better, but it had plenty of down time allowing me to do some freelance writing as well as writing of my own.
I will be collecting unemployment for the first time in my life (which I had to sign up for online and will be getting a 'gift card' for payment... weird).
I have to get something to cover the medical costs of my household. Stacey was covered by my insurance... so now I'll be looking for some work.
I've been into the Dodo's FRENCHKISS debut record: visitor for a while now. I've also been appreciating Pitchfork TV since it debut earlier this month. Here's a clip of the best of both worlds! Dodo's great song Fools from their awesome album (first under the Dodo's moniker... they used to be called DodoBirds and have an album called Beware Of The Maniacs - and Pitchfork TV::::
Due to numbers, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to have an original sound in the music world, specifically indie music. A reviewer's need to classify music into a marginalized 'sound' created the crossbred genres of music "Freak-Folk", "Post-Rock", "DancePunk" etc. More and more, bands are all starting to sound the same in any given category. Early on (and by early I'm referring to seven years ago, bands like the Rapture, !!!, the Faint (and soon Bloc Party) started the DancePunk revolution with quickly (within five years) burnt itself out. Reason being, it was infusing punk beliefs with disco musical effects - two genres that were created more or less as a revolt of what was popular at the time... disco a little less than punk, but still...
In the music scene today you will hear bands using disco beats with a horn or string section and they'll sound like their obviously trying to do too much.
Enter Foals The band expanding on the sound of Minus the Bear mixed with Franz Ferdinand This is Math/Dance/Punk -and it works. It's different than Battles since there is a singer using just his voice (no synthesized effect or pedals) and it sounds good.
Foals:
Minus The Bear:
They sound a bit alike, minus the lame us voice/accent of Minus the Bear. Something about a Brit voice makes you want to dance... 'eh?
I just started using Muxtape, which is a pretty good way of sharing music. You upload songs into a streaming playlist. You can't download any music from there, but you can play it from the site. It's pretty great, but there are a few things I don't understand. 1) You can only make one mix(mux)tape. 2) It asks that every song you upload has been given permission to be used on the site. (what?) 3) only 12 songs per mix? I guess that's okay. 4) I have no idea how to find the muxes I made... yet.
There is a supply room in my office that is painted yellow. It's not just ordinary yellow, it's "Post-it Note Yellow". To prove that, I stuck a bunch of post its on the wall and found it was true. The color matched exactly - all you can see is shadows.
Everyone liked it so much we thought we should post them up permanently (with double-sided tape). I took 4 days of off-time work to complete, but now we have an official Post-it room.
This morning I spent an hour in our new space and met with a contractor. There is a lot of work ahead of us. We have an empty shell of a building - cement floor, 4 walls and one high ceiling... and we want to build it out and turn it into a theater in 4 or 5 months. yikes.
I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I did find this drawing online: This drawing is the design for Vanport Square, which is the complex in which our building resides. Our space is the left, glass walls in the drawing. In real life it looks pretty close to the drawing.
I feel bad. I realize this is my own personal blog and I use it as a place to express my own opinions. I also realize that my opinions are not always the most gracious and kind opinions one can read online... I also know I don't try to make anything here too anonymous. It's pretty easy to find this blog just by searching my name, if you know me and/or are interested...but that's kind of what the internet is there for. Never the less, I want to make a few things clear.
I enjoy the office that I work in. Everyone in my office is very kind and genuine and has given me the opportunity to work in one of the best environments I have ever worked in.
Me judging anyone's personal taste in music (not just those I work with) is just me going back to my old ways of being the music snob I've always been. It's never meant as a personal attack in any regard. My taste in music has a pretty wide range of 'so great that nobody has ever heard of it yet' to 'really?'.
My previous tirade about Wilco being lame is just my stupid opinion about a band who has gotten lots of critical accolades for making Alternative music. I appreciate what Wilco has done for the music scene. Jeff Tweedy is a very funny and giving person. He is a monologist at every years' Second City 24 Hour improv marathon. He always auctions off a private performance (which is always the one item that raises the most money for the charity marathon). In the pre-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot years I would talk up Wilco and their fanbase. I was living in Chicago. Once they released that album and started getting attention from the mainstream press - I was all about it. I haven't yet seen the documentary about the band at that time (I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (2002), but I have heard that it's a wonderful documentary.
Here is my "a lot of my best friends are black" statement, but it's true. In 2002 I started writing with someone I admired. I looked up to him in the Chicago improv scene because he had been around and had accomplished a lot. Pat McKenna is his name and he's currently a director for Second City BizCo in Chicago. The way I remember us getting to know each other was our common appreciation for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. He knew me as the indie music kid in the improv scene and one day we struck up a conversation about the new Wilco album. From there (and I'm not sure how, exactly) we began meeting once a week to write and critique sketches. We never had an end goal (though I wish we had) we met almost once a week for the entire summer. He helped me write one of my favorite short stories that I hope to some day make into a short film.
I suppose I'm digressing, but what I mean with this post is - Everyone is free to enjoy any music they want. My opinions about any music are just that: My opinions. I honestly don't feel like my opinions about music are better than anyone elses and I certainly don't mean any personal offense to anyone in my writing about anything on this blog.
If you look in my musical catalog I've got plenty to be ashamed of (ironically or not) David Hasselhoff's greatest hits Nat King Cole George Michael's greatest hits Wham! the Anniversary - Your Majesty (one of my favorite albums) Doobie Brothers the Faint JJ Fad (there's nothing more pathetic than a 30 year old white boy who actually enjoys an all girl rap group from Compton who's only alum was released in 1988) Luscious Jackson I fucking LOVE the song One Bad Apple by The Osmonds (not ironically)
I can't play any musical instrument to save my life. My sister started my fascination with music. At an early age she introduced me to Duran Duran, then Prince, then Depeche Mode and Nitzer Ebb... from there I sprouted my own ears and learned to appreciate music. Anything I say against any band is not meant to be a personal attack against anyone (even the band). Everyone is free to appreciate any music they want.
I'm sorry if I have offended anyone with anything that I've written here.
I loved Wolf Parade the first time I saw them live (Schuba's in Chicago... tiny venue) the next time I saw them was at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland (huge) and the show wasn't as good. They played a lot of material in that second show - and any time a band plays new material before an album is released it makes it harder for fans to enjoy... especially when they're playing those new songs for 5 thousand people in a huge venue that has terrible sound.
I am looking forward to the new (untitled) wolf parade album for sure.
That has to be one of the most hideous album covers in recent memory. Islands are back with Arm's Way, the sophomore album from the band who released their debut Return to the Sea almost exactly two years ago. Their sound has expanded and aged well. Arm's Way, apart from the album cover - is a beautiful and complex record.
Innnother news - The Neutrino audience is slowly dying down. I guess that happens when you close a show, then reopen it a month later. Enthusiasm seems to be lagging as well. Two more. Hopefully we can get through them without too much drama.
I find myself at work being forced to listen to the music on a random playlist. While I'm free to add music to the playlist (which I do almost more than everyone else) I am forced to listen to the music other people enjoy. I try to be fair and add music that will not annoy my coworkers. Some of it tests the boundaries, but most of it is safe. I am attempting to compile a list of specific songs (or bands) that take all motivation out of me because of how lame the music they create is. The top of that list is Wilco. I used to not mind the song Heavy Metal Drummer, but it seems lately even that makes me think of interesting ways of killing myself. Second on the list is any solo Jeff Tweedy stuff. At times, it's worse than Wilco and I didn't know he has so much shit recorded for the superfans that live in my office. Third - Tom Petty. Anything after the Running Down the Dream album, whatever the hell that was called. Since then he has become the middle-aged man's dream of lame music. Forth - the goddamn Fruit Bats Jesus fucking Christ, this band has one sound and all their lame songs are that one sound. We have two albums by this band in our soundsystem, so their are over twenty of the same song by these Lame Captains. Ugh. Fifth - Gigolo Aunts Come On. Gigolo Aunts? Really? I saw them open for somebody in High School. Even then I knew they were lame. They haven't gotten any better with age.
Man Man Rabbit Habits Anti Records April 8, 2008 9.2/10
Pitchfork gave it an 8 and says it's not as good as their previous effort Six Demon Bag. I disagree. While I enjoy both albums very much, the poppier appeal of Rabbit Habits makes this a more successful and enjoyable album. Man Man is Philadelphia band of maniacs who create circus side-show music led by Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart. They're not afraid to take weird chances and get a little dirty. On Rabbit Habits, the sound is a little more polished (as polished as a dirty circus can get). The band seems to know what it does best and it's safe to assume they have tried to do that as best they can. From the opening Mister Jung Stuffed, Man Man kicks it off in high gear. Singer Honus Honus claims "I've been locked down way too long" in the first song - and it sounds like it. He lets himself go and gets nutso all over this record. The Ballad of Butter Beans is a cartoonish race scored by a wooden xylophone and falsetto back up singers. It is vivid in its sounds. Another unique highlight (featuring more falsetto back up singers) is the song Harpoon Fever (Queepeg's Playhouse). The use of a single key on a piano has never sounded better. This album is a step into the more acceptable world of radio friendly music for Man Man, but why not attempt to get more recognition for all the hard work your band has been doing for six years? I'm sure this will be in my top 10 albums come the end of 2008.
Candie Payne - I Wish I Could Have Love You More This is a poppier version of what I was expecting from the new Portishead album. Candie Payne give you 50% 60's pop and 50% mystery girl. I have had this album for two days and I already know I'm in love with it.
I just read on their myspace page that The Teeth have broken up. For two years I have been a huge fan of this Philly band. Everyone I introduced them to had never heard of them... which is unfortunate because they make some of the most creative, crazy, fun and enjoyable music around. I reviewed their last album for lost at sea here: You're My Lover Now
I'm sorry to hear that I'll never see you again. bye Teeth.
It finally happened last night at Neutrino. In total it was our 8th show in the theater and I guess I've been expecting something disastrous to happen sooner or later. It's always the second show (sophomore slump) that's terrible. It's too bad to - as I had a friend as a guest star playing with us last night. From the beginning the one of the decks I was using wasn't playing the tapes correctly. I have a pre show slideshow I play (like movie trivia) for the audience, and one of the two decks was playing that tape with lines on it. It worked fine from the other deck, so I knew it wasn't the tape. Once the show started - the deck was playing everything fine. The show went smoothly up until the final scene. I put the final scene tape into the 'bad deck' (which again, had been working fine since the initial slip up at the beginning of the show) and the deck read "Error 9-2099" and shut itself off. Having only one minute and thirty seconds to figure out what the hell to do - I turned the deck back on and pressed the eject button... No dice. The deck read the same error message. I then shut it off and turned it back on myself and was able to get the tape out (just as the previous scene was ending) but it looked like this:
(except it was a DV tape, not a VHS tape). I couldn't do anything. I tried to 'rewind' the mini DV tape by hand - to no avail. Luckily the improvisors acted out the final scene on the stage - so the audience got some sense of closure for the movies. I felt terrible. This show is such a learning experience.
The Wilco fandom has started up again in my office. The only word I can use to describe the music Wilco makes is LAME. It's passable for alt/country/slightly-twangy rock... but it's so lame. It's the soundtrack for middle-aged hipsters the world (or at least the country) over.
I was just punished - having to listen to a song on their Summer Teeth album called. ELT. ELT, in case you're not aware - stands for Every Little Thing.
Every. Little. Thing. about Wilco annoys me.
These aging hipsters are sure TCBing their way to the top of all the aging hipsters in America. Wah and Hoo.
There are a few bands I like to consider my favorites. While my taste in music generally stays under the 'indie rock' umbrella - I do venture out and enjoy some amazing hip hop music (De La Soul) and some crazy dancey music (Coconut Monkey Rocket) but for the most part I keep it safe with the indie rock. I just found out that one of the dreamy indie pop bands that I consider to by one of my most favorites is also a favorite of Radiohead... considering Radiohead asked them to open a few of their American Tour dates with them.
Good job, Grizzly Bear. The world is now, officially your oyster.
I guess it's destiny. I now know my title in life. First - from a Neutrino Project show in 2005: and second, from my trip to Paris in January. We hung out at an Irish bar in Paris.
