Alternate Tuning

The New Bollocks

2006-02-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

More feminist muso-musings from me in this month's column. Magneta Lane continues to fascinate me and I haven't even heard the new album yet.

New Reviews, New Magazine

2006-02-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

The new Chord is out now, and it contains my first writing for the magazine. I've got reviews in on the new No-Neck Blues Band, Minus Five, and Ladies albums (which you can read on line), and a small feature with Jel (which you can't).

I have no reason for sharing this, except that it's fun for me, and all three albums I reviewed are quality.

I'm so tired...

2006-02-22T12:22:00.000-05:00

...that only Sly Stone can rescue me.

I can't believe this is actually working, but it is.

NP: "I Want to Take You Higher"

Byron Hurt on PopMatters

2006-02-17T16:27:00.000-05:00

You've likely never heard of documentary filmmaker Byron Hurt, but he's doing important work. You should check out his interview with PopMatters today, especially if you care about hip-hop or gender issues.

Another Missed Single

2006-02-10T11:44:00.000-05:00

While reading these thoughts on Poplicks today, I realized I missed a single I absolutely would have voted for:

16. The Legendary K.O.: George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People
Awesome to see a fuggin' MP3 rank this high. I think it would have been higher had more people heard it.

I wonder how many people just didn't think of this one. I heard and sent the link to everyone I thought would like it. Oliver Wang quotes a P&J commenter on the topic:

The government left an entire stadium full of black people to die. And it was broadcast on national TV so we could all watch. And we only get one rap song? And it's an MP3? (Christopher Weingarten)

I missed that one, but it's an awesome take.

Here's the track in question for anyone who hasn't heard it (or hasn't heard it in a while):

http://s48.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0P62ART426SMK1PDBC6IDU29BN

The State of Music Criticism Is...

2006-02-09T16:03:00.000-05:00

...pretty much the same as the state of all other forms of media.

But maybe it's in danger of becoming useless, and if so, Tiny Mix Tapes has a good essay up on its usefulness. Actually that's not at all what the essay's about, but that's how I'd like to see it used, and that description gets me around saying phrases like "contemporary critical paradigms," which I was tempted to do.

This article, by sponge, is actually a belated response to a disastrous one published last summer at Cokemachineglow. The TMT article does a good job handling most of my complaints, but a few remain. The biggest problem with Amir Nezar's article (among many) is his general smugness. To stick with his "Crossfire" theme, he's the Tucker Carlson in this operation:

When I’ve called out reviewers in other publications for making baseless assertions I have honest-to-god heard a response that goes, “Well, experiencing music is a subjective thing,” and I have responded every time with the question, “Is Britney Spears a great music artist?”

A more interesting question would be whether or not Britney Spears's music is good, because it is, after all, possible to have little repsect for Brit's talents and still think that "Toxic" has impressive production. It's also possible to enter such a discussion without being either a complete relativist or a smirker.

Nezar also fails at living up to his own standards. He writes, "Reviews from even reputable online publications often spend in excess of 60% of the review detailing years of history before even beginning to get to evaluation." Really? You've got measured data on this? And you also have a sampling of people who think these reviews are good?

And, don't forget: you think the only job of a critic is to determine if something is good or bad?

Nezar also uses plenty of "those instances" and "most often" phrases without specific examples. If his basic point is that poorly-done reviews aren't good, then, yeah, but he seems to be getting at a general state of affairs without pinning anyone or anyplace down.

One last thing, I want to thank sponge at TMT for pointing out the flaw in this dichotomy: "Music criticism ought to be first concerned with the objective fact, the music itself, and secondly whether or not its relation to other things (history, tradition, cliché, etc.) makes it better or worse."

It seems like a convenient time to remind everyone to be reading Fire Joe Morgan in case you ever decide to use or not use stats in your writing.

Hear Music Here

2006-02-09T11:48:00.000-05:00

It's been long enough now that I've forgotten what I originally meant to post, so here are some loose ideas in the hopes that someone else has thoughts on this:

The Starbucks Hear Music stuff seems odd to me -- not the selling of CDs in the stores, which is a perfect economic venture, especially given the constant advertisement for those very CDs that the coffeeshops provide on their soundsystem anyway, but the pick-and-burn kiosks, where you can select from 1000s of songs and burn your own CD to pick up at the counter.

The idea of sorting through music at a computer screen seems anti-thetical to the reasons I'd go to a coffeeshop. Browsing and sampling music doesn't have nearly the same feel as sitting in a comfy chair with a newspaper or a novel. It also seems that the people who'd be interested in doing this -- young people without computers at home -- probably aren't the typical Starbucks clientele.

But then I went to one of the test-run shops, this one in San Antonio. My first day there confirmed my theory: no one was using the kiosks. A waiter that night told me that usually they're full, so maybe I was in too early (8:30am). The rest of the week (my boss loves Starbucks, so we have breakfast there everyday on business trips), they were packed. The audience: people old enough to be at a loss with iTunes, etc, but young enough to be into just barely un-hip music.

Starbucks was pushing Kanye, Death Cab, and...Madeleine Peyroux (an unlikely star, but perfectly suited to the latte crowd). Peyroux, as well as the lesser known soul stars being played throughout the morning seem like wise choices for acts that someone would hear on the radio and think they want some of those songs without actually being willing to spring for a full album (although you can, right there, if you want).

And apparently people go there specifically to burn CDs, which is what confuses me. Maybe I'm making assumptions about how prevalent CD-burners are (aren't CD-R drives standard now) or how easy the generation ahead of mine finds iTunes, etc. to use. It just strikes me as really odd to leave the comfort of your house to sit on a little stool and mix yourself up a CD. And the functionality isn't that great -- mainly because too many tracks are available to hear, but not to purchase (although, again, the CDs are right there). Then again, I'm about half a misanthrope, so maybe "being out" is its own reward.

Too Little Magic Bus

2006-02-06T12:12:00.000-05:00

I'm reveling in last night's Steelers win, but I'm still trying to figure out why, in 13 seasons, did I not once hear "Magic Bus" after Jerome Bettis monster-mashed someone.

I'm Back - Can I Go to Sleep Now?

2006-01-26T23:21:00.000-05:00

Missed me? I'm back, as frazzled as ever, but with thoughts to come on Starbucks and explaining a genre to someone who have no terms in common with.

Kanye and the Arcade Fire

2006-01-16T14:56:00.000-05:00

1. Kanye West -- The College Dropout
I've said pretty much everything I have to say about this album on either PopMatters or Stylus, having blurbed it too many times during 2004. Everything I said then still stands, and it boils down to "this record is awesome."

2. Arcade Fire -- Funeral
This one's a personal classic and still gets me every time, especially the opener, "Tunnels" (although I could do without the numbered neighborhood titles). It's not just an emotional burst unlike anything else from 2004 -- which it is -- but it's a very carefully-written and -executed burst. I'm willing to be labeled a lemming-like indie-boy or whatever for loving this one, but that's fine (and at least a quarter of that label, if not more, is true).

Countdown finished, and the big lesson is that I must not spend very much time listening to music I actually like (even if I spend very little listening to music I dislike). Maybe I need to be less concerned with keeping up with every act I might want to listen to, write on, or have interviewed, and more time just rocking for myself. Yeah, but I probably won't.

The other, less useful lesson is that my opinions stayed relatively the same after a year, not that that's a long time. I expected more change in my thinking, but almost nothing occured near the top, and the stuff at the bottom had more to do with number of listens than with anything else.

I'm also glad to see that a proportionate number of fine lyricists made it. As I've changed to spend less time with any one particular record, I feel like I'm being more drawn to exciting music and unusual formal structures, whereas I used to go more for lyric-writing. Now I don't even know the words to lots of songs I like. Some of that change is growth, is de-emphasizing one area of music that I had previously put too much import on, but some of it is just change, and I'm glad to see I'm still getting to some of what is a ... more basic? ... love for me. Coincidentally (at least consciously), I'm listening to Smog's A River Ain't Too Much to Love in the car today. I don't think it would have cracked my top 20 had I paid more attention last year, but I'm curious to see how I'll feel about it after I know the words better (and of course that self-reflexive curiosity will probably affect how much I learn the lyrics as well as how I respond to them).

3 - 6

2006-01-13T13:28:00.000-05:00

03. The Streets - A Grand Don’t Come for Free
I'm a sucker for concept albums. I don't listen to this disc as much as I do some of the other albums on my top 10, in part because I like to hear it best when I can take it all in at once, but that doesn't mean Skinner's irregular vocals don't lead to some classic numbers especially "Fit But Don't You Know It." Tops Original Pirate Material, which makes me think looking back over this list that 2004 was a good year for artists not only avoiding the over-hyped sophomore slump, but actually making follow-ups that beat already respected debuts/breakout albums.

04. John Vanderslice - Cellar Door
One of the most perfectly-produced rock albums I own, which alone would make it deserve some credit, but song after song is fantastic, even when he sets Byron to music (usually the rocker using old poems is a bad idea, but here, and on Time Travel Is Lonely Vanderslice makes it work. This is the type of albm -- no, actually the album -- I sometimes push on people. This is my definition of songwriting skill and album-making craft.

05. Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Critics say this one's boring. They're impatient. It's beautiful, smart, poetic, cohesive, full of imagery, and moving. None of that = boring.

6 - 8

2006-01-12T12:21:00.000-05:00

06. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
Haha -- so it wasn't a mistake when I had Boy in Da Corner down the list. I had forgotten how into this I was when it came out. I still listen to it on occasion, but it doesn't quite excite me like it first did. Even so, it's a top 10 disc. I also associate it with a great vacation I had in the fall of 2004, just to a cabin in the woods. I'm pretty sure it was playing when we first reached the site, and it gets special sentimental points, too.

07. Madvillain - Madvillainy
Ranked this high for pure weirdness if nothing else. Highly entertaining, even if when (sometimes especially when) Doom has nothing at all to say. Even the superhero interludes work, cliched as they've become, making it a record that makes me want to listen to the future of rap and the history of radio all at once.

08. Jim White - Drill a Hole in that Substrate and Tell Me What You See
One of my favorite contemporary songwriters, and this album's his best work by a step-and-a-half. "Static on the Radio" is a song that never, ever, ever gets old, and can instantly set the mood of a room. And even though it's the opener and the album's best song (often a bad combination), this disc never suffers for it. And White's an extremely nice guy. Actually, he's one of several just in my top 10, none of whom I had any contact with until after this list was out, which makes me happy that nice guys don't always finish last.

9 - 12 (in which they start to get good)

2006-01-11T15:23:00.000-05:00

09. Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed
This disc was my introduction to Darnielle and it sent me scurrying for back catalogue. Even though Tallahassee comes close, I didn't think he'd top this album. Until this year, of course.

10. Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
This was some of my pre-Christmas music, and I like it even more now that then, I think, and I some point should probably write on Cave's re-consideration of the Orpheus myth, maybe alongside a reading of Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Get ready for love, indeed, when love's this menacing and this loaded, and still this beautiful and divine.

11. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
I wish his next album would be more like this one, although it seems unlikely. Maybe it's because it's sandwiched in his discography between two baroquefolk albums, but the bareness of this album really carries an impact. It feels more ... honest ... to me, and not in an "authenticity" sense, just that this feels... well, it just feels more to me.

12. Devotchka - How It Ends
I pulled this one out a while back for Mike Powell, and I'm glad I did because that reminded me how good, and how interesting this is, blending its Eastern European, Iberian, and southwest US influences with rock 'n' roll. Not knowing what I have from 1 - 8 on the list (ostensibly), #12 seems like a good spot for this one.

PopMatters News

2006-01-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

Big news: PopMatters announces its new book imprint.

13 - 16

2006-01-10T10:19:00.000-05:00

13. Ghostface - Pretty Toney
Like Kilgour's album, this one sent me on a (far more short-lived) quest to track down Wu-Tang solo albums. This is one of the better ones, and "Run" is classic single.

14. David Kilgour - Frozen Orange
I'm pretty sure this was the album that set me down my path of Flying Nun love. For a few months after I heard this, I was buying as much of that label's catalog as I could afford and that I could get my hands on. Kilgour's the king, and this is a worthy album, even if it doesn't match up to the pop-rock genius of A Feather in the Engine.

15. Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks
Wow, I've completely forgotten about this gorgeous album. It also means maybe my Glass pick wasn't tokenist. I'm always wandering about the edge of classical, but never quite getting into it (in part because it seems like a massive undertaking). In 2004, Messiaen also got some considerable airplay in my world, but Quartet for the End of Time wasn't quite eligible for my year-end list.

16. Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
Not as good as EP and, in retrospect, more impressive than enjoyable. After one listen to this I put it away forever until a friend adamantly convinced me to give it a real listen. I had missed out, but it doesn't warrant a #16 placement. It was Stylus's album of the year, which somehow felt appropriate.

17 - 20

2006-01-09T16:08:00.000-05:00

17. Nels Cline Singers - The Giant Pin
His other stuff, especially his live work with Wilco, continues to entertain me as well as this one. I doubt I'll ever get around to it, but he's actually interesting enough that I should track down much more of his work (with any group) and give myself an education.

18. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner
Really? Surely I meant Showtime. That's easily the one I prefer. Unless my opinion was different a year ago or I picked this based on its grime-y importance, I think this is a mistake.

19. Wovenhand - Consider the Birds
Dark, scary, and honest. Even when in praise music, Wovenhand keeps the spiritual tied to the physical, primarily by evoking a Flannery O'Connor landscape. That tension -- which sounds like a man re-considering his conversion -- keeps this one interesting.

20. Apostle of Hustle - Folkloric Feel
I remember thinking the indie/electro/Cuban fusion was as fun as it was original, and I still kind of feel that way, but I don't think I ever took this one to heart. Every time I hear it, I enjoy it, but it's not a desert-island-type for me.

21 - 24

2006-01-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

21. The Von Bondies - Pawn Shoppe Heart
The overlooked Detroit garage band. Too basic to get the credit they deserve, the Bondies will likely be remembered more for the beating Jack White gave one of them than for their music, which I listen to more than the Stripes. If nothing else, check the hidden Otis Redding cover, which just screams.

22. Liz Janes - Poison & Snakes
I'm surprised to see this ranked higher than Castanets, whom I've definitely listened to more often and more intently. Janes does a great job blending sounds on this album and is a great example of my interest in formal experimentation within traditional genres. In my world, 2004 was apparently a great year for freakfolk and Asthmatic Kitty.

23. Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral
Meh. Impressive in its way, but it seems like something that just caught me the right way at the time, and I've pretty much kept it shelved for 2005.

24. Castanets - Cathedral
My respect for Ray Raposa's craft has continued to grow. This album was a real grower, and continues to be. This year's follow-up, First Light's Freeze hit me more immediately but faded more quickly (though I really want to spend more time with it). Spooky, spiritual, and affecting, a nice twist on folk and hymn-singing.

25 - 28

2006-01-07T19:54:00.000-05:00

25. The Velvet Teen - Elysium
The first real WTF pick on my list. It's a bit overdone, but at the time, it was great for the long drives I was making on a somewhat regular basis. Not a bad album my any means, but just not as good as anything else on the list.

26. Wiley - Treddin’ on Thin Ice
I don't think this compares favorably with Dizzee or some of the stuff on Run the Road, but the manic beats and arcade effects do it for me.

27. The Ponys - Laced with Romance
Two albums now, and no one except me and Derek Miller seem to be paying attention. This one's much rawer than the follow-up, and slightly better, but not so much so that the craft in the second album is forgettable.

28. The Walkmen - Bows and Arrows
Still good, and one I find myself often using as a reference point when doing reviews. It doesn't always make it into the article, but it does sometimes make me think, "I've heard this before, and better."

29-32

2006-01-06T14:44:00.000-05:00

29. Jason Forrest - The Unrelenting Songs of the 1979 Post Disco Crash
Just a blast, and "10 Years After" is the all-time best use of a Who sample, so it's got that going for it, which is nice.

30. Salim Nourallah - Polaroid
My respect for this guy keeps growing. It's a straightforward pop album, but just so well-crafted. I thought he might be a one-albums sort, but this year's Beautiful Noise was even better, cracking my top 10 in the best year for music since I've been reviewing.

31. Philip Glass - Fog of War
Tokenist? Maybe, but token classical soundtrack? It's just a lovely album that made my list before I had even seen the film and could match every thing up.

32. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
A nice try, but it does fall a little short. It's got a handful of really memorable, affecting songs, but not a stellar sustained album, in part due to the 12 minute, ahem, experimental piece. I had rather listened to these songs as performed on the Kicking Television live album.

Four More From Oh-Four

2006-01-05T10:25:00.000-05:00

33. Augie March - Strange Bird
Formalist pop. Augie March, why have I cast you aside for bigger adventures?

34. Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
I'm really having a hard time remembering why this made the list. It's a good record, but Xiu Xiu's never fully won me over. I just got the live record to see what that does for me.

35. Joanna Newsom - Milk-Eyed Mender
Still a gorgeous record, and it would be even if she didn't have that strange voice and if she played, like, the banjo or something less unusual than the harp. It wouldn't have cracked my top 40, though, if that had been the case.

36. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
I like this one less after listening more to the new one, which missed out on my top 20. I'm still interested in experimental folk, but moreso in experimenting within folk traditions, rather than expanding the sonic palette, as they say. That's why the new Otis Taylor is so successful in my mind.

The recurring theme, apparently, is how little I listen to my favorite records from last year, which is kind of sad. It's due primarily, like most music writers, to listening to too much new stuff. For awhile I was listening to all of every promo I got, and that's stopped, but I still am too interested in too much music to turn most of it off. I probably listen to 6-8 albums per day, and several of those are new releases, and several are new-to-me acquisitions. So in the accumulation of breadth, not enough is taken to heart, maybe. Of course, how many of those albums do you really get anyway?

Still, even that's not enough to make me think I'm doing something wrong. I love my gigs, if only I had more time to actually write...

American Idiot and Smile

2006-01-04T12:18:00.000-05:00

37. Green Day - American Idiot
This one has yet to wear on me, despite its massive airplay. I was a bit shocked to like it, but it's still a good listen. Maybe a bit of the right album for the right time, but I won't say zeitgeist if you won't.

38. Brian Wilson - Smile
Great orchestration, production, etc. I never listen to it anymore, even though I've recently decided I need to own more Beach Boys records.

Best Albums of 2004 (Reissued)

2006-01-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

I'm going to go back over my top 40 picks from last year, with no re-listens and give my first response to seeing them on the list. I'm just curious how it plays out a year later.

To start:

39. Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
I've only listened to this once or twice in 2005. I liked it, and liked the other Dungen stuff that's floating around, but somehow always forget about it. I'm not sure it would make my list again.

40. Jean Grae - This Week
I should have ranked this one much higher -- I just hadn't heard it enough times. This one didn't sink in until this past summer, when I listened to it walking around the neighborhood and on my trolley rides. Intense, smart, and unsual.

Best Single I Forgot About Until Literally Less Than a Minute After I Had Submitted My P&J POll

2005-12-22T15:39:00.000-05:00

And the unfortunate award goes to:

"Black Stacey" by Saul Williams, a smart, entertaining, and moving track that is the only song I can think of off the top of my head that deals with skin-color prejudice within a black community (surely there are more).

Is David Banner more sensitive than Kelley Polar?

2005-12-21T10:26:00.000-05:00

I don't know, but I'll help you decide in this installment of Never Mind the Bollocks.

All About Me

2005-12-16T12:43:00.000-05:00

Through some quirk of scheduling, I think I've managed to have more writing up at once than ever before: a review of the latest Paul Weller album, an interview with the people who put out a recent Johnny Cash box, and my re-visiting of Philip Roth's My Life As a Man. Still in circulation: yesterday's review of the new Who live DVD and my contribution to the OSF gift guide.

Song Title of the Year Award

2005-12-12T10:28:00.000-05:00

Sufjan Stevens and David Crowder both made valiant efforts at this one, but each fell a little short (and I probably wouldn't encourage Sufjan anyway). So the winner of the 2005 Song Title of the Year award is:

Luke Doucet, for "if i drop names of exotic towns that you'll never see, in the songs that i write, it's that that's all i have when i miss my girl & you're
taking yours home tonight".

The punctuation might be a bit troubling, but it's a great sentiment, and one of the few songs I know in which the title and the entire lyrics are exactly the same.

Because Everyone Will Buy Sheet Music for That One Rad Riff

2005-12-11T19:47:00.000-05:00

I understand the importance of sales of scores, but free tab sites aren't preventing anyone from picking up that Jethro Tull anthology of sheet music simply so they can learn to play the intro to "Aqualung" more quickly. And at the very least, site owners don't need to be jailed, you nitwits. More here.

For fans of classical music; Bedford, PA; or Wrong Note Media

2005-12-09T10:45:00.000-05:00

I just received this announcement from good friend, sometime-collaborator, and excellent composer Todd Goodman:

I wanted to write and let you all know that a work of mine called "Sketches of Home" for string orchestra was selected by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to include on a concert on March 4, 2006. The concert is at Heinz Hall for the performing arts in downtown Pittsburgh and is free to the public. This concert is a new program started by the PSO last year where they read/perform three of the top student collegiate composers of Pittsburgh. "Sketches of Home" was commissioned and premiered this March by Nick Palmer and the Altoona Symphony Orchestra, of which I am there resident composer. I am writing now so you can mark your calendars for this (hopefully not, *wink*) once in a lifetime event. So, if you are near Pittsburgh and want to hear one of the world's greatest orchestra play a piece of mine, please plan on coming. If you have any questions send me an email.

Actually, if you have any questions you can email me or just leave a comment.

Who Am I? Who Who Who Who

2005-12-07T12:58:00.000-05:00

border=0 align=bottom> My top result for the SelectSmart.com selector,
Who Are You? ,
is Pete Townshend

No surprise there, or in the ranking of my next three: Entwistle, Moon, Daltrey.

In related news, I've got a review up of the newest, surprisingly worthwhile Townshend comp here.

UPDATE: Huh. That's a kinda ridiculous looking graphic they gave me, isn't it? I'm pleading laziness/busyness and not changing it anyway.

The End Begins in a Basement

2005-12-01T11:16:00.000-05:00

Adrien's started his year-end wrap-up at Basement Galaxy. Last year (even before I had met Adrien), it was a daily read for me, and this year should be just as good. If nothing else, his passion for such an array of music should keep the countdown and accompanying analysis interesting. Plus, there are daily mp3s.

I agree almost exactly with his recount of the year: great start, dull summer, strong finish. At one point in May or June I was even complaining that nothing was coming out I wanted to hear, which fortunately gave me the opportunity to pick up lots of back catalog stuff I had been missing out on, and which allowed my newfound love of Ray Charles to develop.

The biggest surprise to me this year is my discovery that I can actually like some types of country music. It took me long enough, and enough treading of the alt waters, but my ears are accepting this days. Pretty much, if it's on CMT, I'm still not likely to enjoy it, but people like Robbie Fulks led to Willie Nelson and I'm glad that I'm not as much a hater as I used to be.

I'm also reminded that I need to start my 2005 meaningless awards for made-up categories, which lasted only for two or three categories last year before travel, work, etc. disrupted them. Stay tuned -- I'll try harder this December. In the meantime, suggest names for the awards. The Tunies? The Alternaties? See, I'm bad with names...

In case anyone still reads this site...

2005-11-29T15:16:00.000-05:00

...despite my repeated absences, here's one article that explains a little of where I've been:

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1993

Still to come, round two of my "Never Mind the Bollocks" column and round two of "Your Broken Life." In the meantime, I'll try put some of my more flippant yet staggeringly insightful thoughts up here.

It's That Time Again

2005-11-17T16:46:00.000-05:00

I'm here to fix Your Broken Life, but I need questions. You know you're puzzled, so let me put you right.

Wondering where I've been of late? Doing stuff like reviewing Wilco and the Mars Volta. There's plenty more on the way, too...

The Music in Me

2005-11-07T14:28:00.000-05:00

We've got a new special section up at PopMatters today, called "The Music in Me." I'm pretty pleased with the way it ended up. My contributions were more grit and grunt than thought. We'll have articles up every day this week for it, but you can start your reading here.

In Which I Get Political

2005-11-03T13:07:00.000-05:00

The big news: my new column on PopMatters starts today. It's feminist music stuff, and I'm very excited to be doing it. I'm also proud of the column's title.

In Which I Get All Personal

2005-11-01T11:53:00.000-05:00

My Soulseeking article is up at Stylus today. It's about a baby and my always teetering existential issues. A little bit of Holocaust and the Who thrown in for good measure.

I've also got three reviews up at PopMatters in the past few days: Akron/Family and Angels of Light, Otis Taylor, and Rogue Wave. They're all good albums, but the first two really stand out. The Taylor's essential for blues fans -- it's his best album yet, if you're trusting someone who hasn't heard all of them. The A/F//AofL album (how's that for a legible abbreviation) has one of the year's finest moments, the closing section of "Raising the Sparks."

Pick of the Week (10/31/05)

2005-10-31T09:42:00.000-05:00

Oliver Nelson -- Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse) 1961

Nothing Halloween for the week, unless you'd accept some bad pun about how scary good this one is. It's the best jazz album I've heard in a very long time, varied between pieces but wholly consisten, and containing the kind of playing by Dolphy that makes you wish there was more flute in all genres.

Your Broken Life

2005-10-28T10:08:00.000-05:00

I haven't been blogging much, but I've been writing a ton. The results are starting to show up, and I'm excited to announce the debut of my new, non-music column at Olympian Shadow Farm:

Your Broken Life

So go for a read, and if you don't like it, I'll explain to you why you're wrong.

We're Here to Pump! You Up.

2005-10-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

Hans and Franz would appreciate this article, but I'm not sure if I'm more unsettled by the fact that it needs to exist or amused by the sidebar:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4359874.stm

Pick of the Week (10/17/05)

2005-10-17T22:10:00.000-05:00

Emperor X -- Central Hug/Friendarmy/Fractaldunes (Discos Mariscos) 2004

Proof that indie rock can still be done like it used to be done while sounding new and not like the indie that it's hip to deny.

So it detects cancer, but can I hear "Hey Ya" again?

2005-10-14T11:37:00.000-05:00

This story needs no commentary.

Blood and Thunder

2005-10-14T09:22:00.000-05:00

Adrien Begrand kicks off his new, sure-to-be-a-classic metal column on PopMatters today. Get caught up on all the doom and mayhem (and incredible artistry) you've been missing out on.

New Releases This Week

2005-10-13T14:36:00.000-05:00

Barr -- Beyond Reinforced Jewelcase (Kill Rock Stars) 2.5/5
Christopher Bissonette -- Periphery (Kranky) 3/5
Bloc Party -- Silent Alarm Remixed (Vice)
The Castanets -- First Light's Freeze (Secretly Canadian) 4/5
Celebration -- Celebration (4AD) 3/5
The Clientele -- Strange Geometry (Merge) 3.5/5
Constantines -- Tournament of Hearts (Sub Pop)
Dangerdoom -- The Mouse & the Mask (Epitaph) 3/5
Deerhoof -- The Runners Four (Kill Rock Stars) [review forthcoming]
Explosions in the Sky -- How Strange, Innocence (Secretly Canadian)
Great Lake Swimmers -- Bodies and Minds (Secretly Canadian)
Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim -- Ceasefire (Riverboat/World Music Network) 4/5
The Long Winters -- Ultimatum EP (Barsuk) 3.5/5
Magnolia Electric Co. -- Hard to Love a Man EP (Secretly Canadian) 3/5
Matt Pond PA -- Several Arrows Later (Altitude)
Paul Weller -- As Is Now (Yep Roc)
Xiu Xiu -- Life and Live (Xeng)

How Do I Tell the Dead Kennedys They're Awesome?

2005-10-07T09:29:00.000-05:00

Not so much for the music, but for pulling out of their tour because Coors is a sponsor. Following a press release, Rock and Rap reports East Bay Ray as saying, "Because we were not alerted to the ultra conservative, right-wing sponsor for this event, we could not see a reason to go ahead and perform at this show in good conscience. Dead Kennedys want nothing to do with this event or Coors and I am disgusted that they are now sponsoring punk shows, something they are politically at odds with."

Besides the fact that they make piss-water beer, you should avoid Coors because they're essentially Corporate Evil. The twins and general depiction of women is relatively forgettable in the world of advertising, but I'm also not sure they're down with lefties, gay, trees, punks, Jews, or water (except the fantastical Rocky Mountain variety). Learn more at: http://www.corporations.org/coors.

I used to like Killians, but haven't knowingly had a Coors product in years.

More on being blocks away from and not attending a Rolling Stones show later today...

They Also Shoot Canoes

2005-10-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

Rarely has reading something made me so interested in seeing a band play. Check out Lee Henderson's take on They Shoot Horses Don't They:

http://www.popmatters.com/music/nowhearthis/they-shoot-horses-051006.shtml

If you're too busy (right now) to read, here's the money moment:

"The drummer, Julia, is a skinny girl with a ghost's dedication to rhythm; pounding and pounding and pounding. Death's own posthumous army trots on skeleton horses to this rhythm. I'm telling you. This is the drums of the war of the afterlife of bananas. She conjures devils in yellow skins with pale intentions. She makes you slip on the scary."

In other live news, the pre-Stones-concert partying started last night (not that the house across the street needs an excuse), but the rain has started this morning. Could be trouble in Cville...

New Releases This Week

2005-10-05T09:45:00.000-05:00

Fiona Apple -- Extraordinary Machine (Epic)
Broken Social Scene -- Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts)
Cream -- Royal Albert Hall, London, May 2-3-5-6 (Reprise)
The Deadly Snakes -- Procella (In the Red) 3.5/5
Dwele -- Some Kinda... (Virgin)
Brian Eno -- The Pearl (Astralwerks)
The Fall -- Heads Roll (Narnack)
Kirk Franklin -- Hero (Jive)
Franz Ferdinand -- You Could Have It So Much Better...with (Epic) 3/5
Paula Frazer -- Leave the Sad Things Behind (Birdman)
The Go! Team -- Thunder, Lightning, Strike [US edition] (Columbia) 3/5
Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom -- Days of Mars (DFA/Astralwerks) 1.5/5
Jana Hunter -- Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom (Gnomonsong)
Liz Janes and Create(!) -- Liz Janes and Create(!) EP (Secretly Canadian) 3.5/5
Jimmy Eat World -- Stay on My Side Tonight EP (Interscope) 3/5
Kiss Me Deadly -- Misty Medley (Alien 8/Southern) 3/5
KRS-One -- The Lost Album (Koch)
Let Go -- Let Go (The Militia Group)
The Magic Numbers -- The Magic Numbers (Capitol) 3/5
Metric -- Live It Out (Last Gang) 3/5
My Morning Jacket -- Z (RCA)
O.A.R. -- Stories of a Stranger (Lava/Atlantic) 2.5/5
The Occasion -- Cannery Hours (Say Hey) 2.5/5
Liz Phair -- Somebody's Miracle (Capitol)
Tiger Saw -- Sing! (Kimchee)
Tokyo Rose -- New American Saint (SideCho)
Trife da God w/ Ghostface -- 718: Stapleton to Somalia (Koch) 3/5
Twista -- The Day After (Atlantic)
V/A -- One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found (Rhino)
We Are Wolves -- We Are Wolves (Fat Possum) 3.5/5

Pick of the Week (10/3/05)

2005-10-03T16:11:00.000-05:00

I've been extremely busy with the writing, editing, and traveling, and don't have the slightest thought on this week's pick (unless it's to say something boring about how awesome Ray Charles is and how I figured this out way after everyone else). Instead, my pick's going to be something to read, Stylus's "Top 50 Movies of the New Millenium." I've seen the list (pre-rankings), and I think the ongoing feature should make for a fun read -- less snark than you'd expect in one of these things, and entertainment's actually going to count for something.

Scientific Studies

2005-09-30T13:33:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Coolfer for the raw data.

He points out this IceRocket graph that shows bloggers mention Switchfoot more often that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I suspect that means a) Switchfoot has more fans; b) Switchfoot sells more records; c) Snark-bloggers aren't as important as they think.

I did my own study in this vein. It turns out that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is blogged about 53.74 times per day, whole "Clap Your Hands Say" is used over 73 times per day. My conclusion: people like making fun of the band's name, perverting it by changing that final word.

A third, and probably inaccurate, study reveals that very few people are blogging about me.

I Need Help, You Need Help

2005-09-28T15:19:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to spill all the beans on it, but I'm going to be doing an advice column. Want advice on anything, or your more philosophical questions answered? Email them to me, and if I use your question, you'll get, like, a heartfelt thanks or something.

I assure you that your questions will be treated with the utmost seriousness.

New Releases This Week

2005-09-27T20:41:00.000-05:00

I missed last week's new releases. The winner: Nada Surf. Now on to this week:

The Band -- A Musical History [box set] (Capitol)
Jello Biafra and the Melvins -- Sieg Howdy (Alternative Tentacles)
Big Star -- In Space (Rykodisc)
Blackalicious -- The Craft (Anti) 3.5/5
Junior Brown -- The Austin Experience (Telarc)
Calla -- Collisions (Beggars Banquet) 3.5/5
The Detroit Cobras -- Baby (Bloodshot) 3.5/5
DJ Jazzy Jeff -- The Soul Mixtape (Groovin)
Grandaddy -- Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla EP (V2) 3.5/5
Morcheeba -- The Antidote (Echo) 3/5
Robert Pollard -- Music for Bubble EP (Fading Captain)
Supergrass -- Road to Rouen (Capitol)
Various Artists -- Children of Nuggets (Rhino)
Gretchen Wilson -- All Jacked Up (Epic)
Wolf Parade -- Apologies to the Queen Mary (Sub Pop)
Neil Young -- Prairie Wind (Reprise)

Ted Leo Covers the Beatles

2005-09-23T07:50:00.000-05:00

It's a perfect match. Ted Leo throws just enough of his sound into an otherwise true cover to make this version of "I'm Looking Through You" work. Here's a stream:

http://mfile.akamai.com/2851/wma/razntie.download.akamai.com/2851/rubbersoul/looking_through_you.wma

The track's a preview of an upcoming album called This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute To The Beatles' Rubber Soul on Razor & Tie. Tracklist:

1. Drive My Car - The Donnas
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) - The Fiery Furnaces
3. You Won't See Me - Dar Williams
4. Nowhere Man - Low
5. Think For Yourself - Yonder Mountain String Band
6. The Word - Mindy Smith
7. Michelle - Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
8. What Goes On - Sufjan Stevens
9. Girl - Rhett Miller
10. I'm Looking Through You - Ted Leo
11. In My Life - Ben Lee
12. Wait - Ben Kweller (featuring Albert Hammond Jr.)
13. If I Needed Someone - Nellie McKay
14. Run For Your Life - Cowboy Junkies

Pick of the Week (9/19/05)

2005-09-19T11:57:00.000-05:00

Willie Nelson -- Red Headed Stranger (Columbia) 1975

It's a classic concept album, and one that put a giant whole in my wall of prejudice against country music. Mostly dark, but with moments of humor and an element of hope. Hater or not, "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" should undo you.

Concerts A/K and whatnot

2005-09-17T19:13:00.000-05:00

My thoughts on Akron/Family's live show are up:

http://popmatters.com/music/concerts/a/akron-family-050907.shtml

But now I'm off to see Blackalicious. My thoughts on that will be on the Stylus Turntable in the next few days.

New Releases This Week

2005-09-14T15:14:00.000-05:00

Biggest list ever:

Devendra Banhart -- Cripple Crow (XL Recordings) 3.5/5
Bloc Party -- Silent Alarm Remixed (Dim Mak)
Brakes -- Give Blood (Rough Trade) 2/5
Cave In -- Perfect Pitch Black (Hydra Head) 3/5
Dandy Warhols -- Odditorium or Warlords of Mars (Capitol)
Steve Dawson -- Sweet Is the Anchor (Undertow) 2.5/5
Diamond Nights -- Popsicle (Kemado)
The Double -- Loose in the Air (Matador) 3/5
Freakwater -- Thinking of You (Thrill Jockey)
Annie Hayden -- The Enemy of Love (Merge)
Iron and Wine/Calexico -- In the Reins EP (Touch and Go) 3.5/5
B.B. King -- 80 (Geffen)
Lake Trout -- Not Them, You (Palm Pictures) 2.5/5
The Like -- Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? (Geffen) 3/5
Little Brother -- The Minstrel Show (Atlantic)
Paul McCartney -- Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard (Capitol)
Charlie Sexton -- Cruel and Gentle Things (Back Porch)
Nada Surf -- The Weight Is a Gift (Barsuk) 3/5
Sam Champion -- Slow Rewind (Razor & Tie) 2.5/5
Sister Gertrude Morgan -- King Britt Presents (Ropeadope) 3.5/5
Neon Blonde -- Chandeliers in the Savannah (Dim Mak) 3/5
Ohmega Watts -- The Find (Ubiquity)
OOIOO -- Gold and Green (Thrill Jockey)
Opeth -- Ghost Reveries (Roadrunner)
Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic -- Ensemble The Eleventh Hour (ECM)
Princess Superstar -- My Machine (!K7) 4.5/5
Bonnie Raitt -- Souls Alike (Capitol) 3/5
Sigur Rós -- Takk... (Geffen)
Stellastarr* -- Harmonies for the Haunted (RCA)
Stiffed -- Burned Again (Outlook) 3/5
Super Furry Animals -- Love Kraft (XL Recordings)
Vandermark 5 -- The Color of Memory (Atavistic)
xbxrx -- Sixth in Sixes (Polyvinyl)

All those records, and Princess Superstar trounces them all (even the ones I haven't heard).

Today It must be 1970

2005-09-13T09:36:00.000-05:00

Because this is for real:

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2442

Highlights:

As such, they tend to oppose policies backed by their feminist peers who campaign for women in military combat roles, pay equity between men and women and ending gender discrimination in the workplace.

[So they're *pro*-dicrimination and -pay inequity?]

"Of course they're not for women at all," she said, referring to the programs. "They're just for their own intolerant, radical feminist and usually lesbian beliefs."

[Ah, the '70s stereotype of feminist as hairy dyke]

What's so aggravating is the factual inaccuracy of much NeW's argument. I understand someone not being a feminist, but shouldn't you at least take the time to learn what that actually is before launching out against? Okay, you're a conservative, but does that necessitate hate, vindictiveness, and head-burying? No one on any position has gotten intellectually strong without an honest attempt to understand the other side.

Yes, there are intolerant feminists, too, you don't need to point that out to me. I just haven't read an article on them in a while.

(For the record, I have a strong conservative past.)

Pick of the Week (9/12/05)

2005-09-12T15:03:00.000-05:00

Elbow -- Cast of Thousands (V2) 2003

Picked this week in honor of their new release, which I think comes out, at least internationally tomorrow.

Cast of Thousands is the only album I ever heard one time (streaming through, I don't know, NME's website) and immediately fell so in love with it that I had to order the import (since the US release was months away). The album opens with as strong a three-song sequence as anything this decade. The band made a great artistic decision by following those beautiful tracks with "Snooks (Progress Report)." The noise on that track grounds the album and gives it a corporeality. Its placement here also allows the track to sound better than it otherwise would, and it's that kind of attentiveness that propels a collection of great songs into the status of a great album. Plus, it's got the most gorgeous, collective singalong I can think of.

This is on constant loop in my head

2005-09-09T10:39:00.000-05:00

The Legendary K.O. mixes up Kanye with Kanye. Your very own copy is here.

Akron/Family Values

2005-09-08T08:26:00.000-05:00

I'm doing a review on last night's Akron/Family show so I can't say much here, but these guys are beyond (in all meanings of the word) anything else I've seen live. They're so good they inspire hyperbole.

New Releases This Week

2005-09-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

Black Dice -- Broken Ear Record (DFA/Astralwerks) 3/5
Kate Campbell -- Blues and Lamentations (Large River) 3/5
daKAH -- Unfinished Symphony/Remixes (KUFALA)
The Divorce -- The Gifted Program (Made in Mexico) 2.5/5
Frontier Index -- Frontier Index (Rainbow Quartz) 4/5
Jose Gonzalez -- Veneer (Parasol/Hidden Agenda) 3/5
Richard Hawley -- Coles Corner (Mute)
Mad Science Fair -- For a Better Tomorrow (Parasol) 3/5
James McMurtry -- Childish Things (Compadre) 3/5
The Morning After Girls -- The Morning After Girls (Rainbow Quartz)
Mt. Eerie -- Singers and The Drums from No Flashlight (Secretly Canadian)
North Mississippi Allstars -- Electric Blue Watermelon (ATO)
The Rolling Stones -- A Bigger Bang (Virgin)
Space Mtn -- A Drawing of a Memory of a Photograph of You (Aeronaut) 3/5
Richard Swift -- The Collection Vol. 1 (Secretly Canadian)
Viva K -- Viva K (Stinky) 2.5/5

In a week in which I mumble that most things are average, Frontier Index stands out even more.

Today's Writing Award

2005-09-07T08:07:00.000-05:00

Today's writing award goes to Thomas Friedman:

"These are people so much better at inflicting pain than feeling it, so much better at taking things apart than putting them together, so much better at defending 'intelligent design' as a theology than practicing it as a policy."

What does this have to do with music? Nothing. So there.

Worst Music Article Ever.

2005-09-06T14:02:00.000-05:00

I don't think I even need to comment on this dim-witted tripe:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168551,00.html

Pick of the Week (9/5/05)

2005-09-06T10:42:00.000-05:00

Junior Kimbrough -- All Night Long (Fat Possum) 1997

It's coincidental but fitting that I put this pick up just after Burnside's passing. Kimbrough was the other key figure in Fat Possum's blues resurrection. This album is the only one of his I have, and it fully lived up to the glowing recommendation with which I was given it. If you don't know Fat Possum Records, you could do worse than to start here.

In other blues news, the new Otis Taylor is a jaw-dropper.

Thank You For Talkin' To Us, Kanye

2005-09-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

I think John Darnielle is saying it most succinctly:

Musical Donations

2005-09-02T13:41:00.000-05:00

I've posted a couple places on the Stylus Turntable where you can donate through music sources if that's your thing (and it's sometimes mine). Here are two more:

Conscious Alliance is related to the festival and jam band scene, and uses music and art to try to feed the hungry. They're going to be focusing on Katrina relief for a bit.

The John Entwistle Foundation is collecting money to go directly to individual victims.

I'm sure there are tons of places to donate; these are just what have cropped up in my wanderings.

RIP RL

2005-09-01T13:42:00.000-05:00

Just found out that R.L. Burnside has passed away. The news is up at Fat Possum.

Burnside was a fantastic musician with a bluesman's life, and he continued to be innovative (including his melding of blues and sampling) and a touring force late in life. Check out Wish I Were in Heaven Sitting Down as a good starting point.

New Releases This Week

2005-08-30T13:29:00.000-05:00

Eric Clapton -- Back Home (Reprise)
The Coral -- The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)
Death Cab for Cutie -- Plans (Atlantic)
Bob Dylan -- No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series Vol. 7) (Columbia/Legacy)
Hackensaw Boys -- Love What You Do (Nettwerk)
OK Go -- Oh No (Capitol)
Opeth -- Ghost Reveries (Roadrunner)
Sonny Rollins -- Without a Song (The 9/11 Concert) (Milestone/Concord)
Marty Stuart -- Soul's Chapel (Universal South)
Kanye West -- Late Registration (Roc-A-Fella) 3.5/5

I Thought This Was All in the Past

2005-08-28T21:02:00.000-05:00

Suge Knight is shot:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-VMAs-Knight-Shot.html?hp&ex=1125288000&en=1b0ee40b1d5279d5&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Nice little commentary in the last few lines.

Attention: The CD is NOT Dying

2005-08-26T13:00:00.000-05:00

Contrary to this story, which is actually thinly-veiled PR for the Sun, people still listen to CDs, and will for some time.

For the record, I've had the Sun album for a while but have yet to listen to it, mainly because I can't hear it in my office, or my study at home, or in my car, or in my bedroom, and using the DVD player in the living room means taking over the family space, which I don't often do. DVD-only -- not so much the way to go. CD + DVD video, much better. Although soon I'll have a DVD player on my computer, I still won't sit there watching videos.

A Colossal Interview

2005-08-26T11:25:00.000-05:00

David Marchese had the chance to really talk with Sonny Rollins recently, and he turned it into yet another great feature. He's aided by Rollins's forthrightness, accessibility, and humility. It's great to see one of jazz's biggest names taking the time to give such a good interview to a young journalist. And check the sidebar for some titles you might have missed (I've never listened to any of them).

[Yes, I know the title of this blog entry is awesome.]

New Releases This Week

2005-08-24T14:17:00.000-05:00

Great week:

American Princes -- Little Spaces (Yep Roc) 3/5
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Howl (RCA) 3/5
Boris with Merzbow -- Sun Baked Snow Cave (Hydra Head)
David Allan Coe -- Penitentiary Blues (Shout Factory) 4/5
Criteria -- When We Break (Saddle Creek) 2.5/5
Friends of Dean Martinez -- Live at Club 2 (Aero)
Gabin -- Mr. Freedom 3.5/5
I Am Kloot -- Gods and Monsters (Echo) 3/5
John Wilkes Booze -- Telescopic Eyes Glance the Future Sick (Kill Rock Stars) 3.5/5
Khanate -- Capture & Release (Hydra Head) 3.5/5
New Pornographers -- Twin Cinema (Matador) 4/5
Portastatic -- Bright Ideas (Merge) 3.5/5
Rogue Wave -- 10:1 EP (Sub Pop)
Syd Matters -- Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles / A Whisper and a Sigh (V2) 3.5/5 for both albums
Otis Taylor -- Below the Fold (Telarc)
Tenement Halls -- Knitting Needles & Bicycle Bells (Merge)
John Vanderslice -- Pixel Revolt (Barsuk) 3.5/5
Various Artists -- Total 6 (Kompakt)
Zox -- The Wait (Armo) 3/5

Notes: The New Pornographers have made the best album Carl Newman's done. John Vanderslice's isn't as good as his last one, but any time one of my favorites has a releae it's exciting. Zox has made the biggest improvement between albums I've ever seen. I hated their debut, but this one's actually decent, and I understand they're extremely hard-working. Best of the lot: David Allan Coe.

Pick of the Week (8/22/05)

2005-08-23T09:18:00.000-05:00

Silver Jews -- American Water (Drag City) 1998

It's the type of album that makes you want to buy the rest of the band's catalog even while you realize that you won't tire of listening to this one. This is the only one I have by them, but it's enough to put Berman on my list of lyricists to pay attention to.

Ringbits

2005-08-19T12:57:00.000-05:00

The most surprising thing about Ringbits is that it took this long. The company licensed Google's search engine to set up a service that finds the ringtones you're looking for. I haven't used it, so I can't vouch for its effectiveness, but it seems like it would be better than trying to construct your own searches.

One day I'll get a cellphone...

The Serious and the Funny

2005-08-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

Going far from my usual tastes and geography, I ended up interviewing a Serbian metal band for PopMatters, in what turned out to be an enlightening talk from someone in a world so different from mine:

http://popmatters.com/music/interviews/alogia-050818.shtml

On the lighter side, every time my dog hears Spoon's "Stay Don't Go," she goes into Concerned Alert Mode because of the rhythmic panting sound. (And let me know if you know what that sound is I'm talking about -- I can't identify it.)

Apparently I'm a Payola Watchdog

2005-08-16T12:25:00.000-05:00

I don't know why this angers me so much, especially given that I've ranted about it twice on the Stylus blog, but here's another article defending the practice of payola. I'll try to keep my response brief...

One view is that radio stations should be faithful to listeners and make choices based only on their DJs’ honest musical appreciation. But how do they know what gangsta rap track is top quality? Payola helps them learn, because record companies will tend to value airtime the most for releases for which they have the highest expectations of future sales.

Hmmm...Maybe the DJs should be allowed to listen to the music and decide. My feeling is that author Thomas Hazlett is furthered removed from gangsta rap than most of the DJs who are spinning, what?, N.W.A. The idea of letting record companies choose which is the "best" is also problematic. Sales [or sales desired/expected] DOES NOT EQUAL GOOD. Everyone repeat that until you've got it. Something can sell 10,000 copies or 10 million copies and be good.

In music, bribery stratagems can be amusing but compact disc buyers are not much scandalised by corporate marketing indiscretions.

This falls into the "If no one cares, it isn't bad" category of flawless logic. I don't like so much.

American regulators are once again flailing at payola in music, where it poses no great threat to society, while ignoring influence-peddling in news and information, where the corruption of public discussion is of potentially grave consequence.

American regulators are flailing at a whole bunch of stuff that doesn't matter, as the recent spate of news coverage on legislative pork will attest. That doesn't mean we don't have the time or resources to fight payola and "influence-peddling in news and information." Btw, whatever happened to Judith Miller -- isn't she still in the news? Aren't people talking about this?

As Mr Stanton was keenly aware, market competition – not government prosecutors – will draw the lines that matter.

This falls into the "If it's capitalist, it must be good" category of flawless logic. People can't buy what they never hear! Isn't that the point?? My goodness, I've had enough, pro-giant-corporation unthinking for the day, and enough writing on the music industry that's more concerned with industry than with music. I don't know why it makes me so angry, but it does.

New Releases This Week

2005-08-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

American Minor -- American Minor (Red Ink/Jive) 2.5/5
Bill Frisell -- East/West (Nonesuch)
Gang Gang Dance -- Hillulah EP (Secretly Canadian)
Madness -- The Dangerman Sessions Vol. 1 (V2)
Mt. Eerie -- No Flashlight (Secretly Canadian)
Salim Nourallah -- Beautiful Noise (Western Vinyl) 4.5/5
Oxes -- Oxes EP (Secretly Canadian)
Pras -- Win Lose or Draw (Universal Motown)
The Ramones -- Weird Tales of the Ramones (Rhino)

Pick of the Week (8/15/05)

2005-08-15T08:10:00.000-05:00

Denison Witmer - Philadelphia Songs (Burnt Toast Vinyl) 2002

Witmer dwells in territory that's usually too AOR-songwritery for my tastes, but he makes it work. This album, not surprisingly, reveals a talent for using place in music.

Where I've Been

2005-08-07T11:51:00.000-05:00

Been missing me? I'm on a paternity break -- the new baby girl came Aug. 2.

You can still get your same old fix at a brand-new venue, Hoosier Logic, recently started up by PopMatters critic Matt Gonzales. I've got a review of the unexpectedly good new album from John Wilkes Booze.

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Bananas?

2005-08-01T08:10:00.000-05:00

Orange Juice has a compilation out, and that's good, but did we need so many "Orange" bands mucking around at once? I count:

Oranges Band
Oranger
Orange Park
Orange Peels

with recent or forthcoming albums.

Do a quick search at AMG. Who'd have thought there'd be so many of these people...

Willie Nelson Covers Nirvana

2005-07-29T10:04:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to get into Willie Nelson (largely based on the strength of Crazy: The Demo Sessions, and I love this too-brief cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

It's from The Andrew Denton Breakfast Show Musical Challenge 2: Even More Challenged!. The basic concept: a DJ asks artists to do covers of songs he finds to be the opposite of their usual style.

Is It Really Necessary to Attack Payola's Defense?

2005-07-28T13:42:00.000-05:00

I've given my thoughts on this one to the Stylus blog.

Yappin to the Captain 'Cos the Flip-Flops Happened

2005-07-27T10:48:00.000-05:00

I can't quite articulate it yet, but news stories like this one on the controversial wearing of flip-flops to the White House strike me as exactly the reason a sustained, critical examination of pop culture is necessary. It irritates me to no end that public space is taken up with worries of old rich white people (those chosen to be interviewed) who are offended that college kids didn't choose "appropriate" footwear to visit the president (when they were being honored). I'm not even sure where I want to start: maybe by explaining that flip-flops (at least the kinds worn in the picture) are now shoes, not just beachwear. No one looks ridiculous, and, while the footwear has been traditionally less classy than other styles, it's no more inherently offensive than, say, open-toed sandals. The CNN news story interviewed employees of an NYC shoe boutique about it, and they were all appalled. Eff them, I say.

What else is going on in the White House these days? I kinda forget, since the media's happily presenting me with its continuing Soma-brand news. Assuming the role of mass entertainment, these kind of uncritical stories lull us away from the world instead of, as both news and art do at their best, bringing us more into it, or at least putting the events of the world into sharper relief.

So why am I talking about this here other than to vent? Any tie to music, the usual subject of my writing? Today's Pop Playground at Stylus initiates a series on "The Problem with Indie." Josh Love's written a solid essay, detailing one of indie's problems without dropping to an indie-sucks mentality. The reader comments, however, radically miss the point; in criticizing Josh for both his big words and his movement past a "hey, this is just music" attitude, the commenters imply that music isn't something to be taken seriously (whether it takes itself that way or not).

The issue at stake, to me, isn't whether or not pop = easy/fun/whatever or whether Big Star was or wasn't pop (is that even a legitimate questions?). My concern is how the music we relate to affects our lives, our culture, etc., and vice versa. The role of fun in an individual experience and in a culture at large means something. Obviously every experience doesn't need to be aggressively analyzed and contextualized and blah blah, but nothing's ever too little to be looked at, if we can find something in it or use it to explain something we need to say.

Flip-flops, pop music, indie fuxxors, all of it. Please don't tell me "It's just rock/shoes/an escape/teenagers/etc -- don't fuss over it." Yes, I will fuss.

**sidenote: yeah, the flip-flop story bothers me extra because I've got a thing against dress codes -- like proper grammar, they serve to [insert generic liberal intellectual phrase here, eg "reinfoce the existing power structures"].

New Releases This Week

2005-07-26T14:37:00.000-05:00

Natasha Bedingfield -- Unwritten (Epic)
Fruit Bats -- Spelled in Bones (Sub Pop)
Jan Martens Frustration -- Jan Martens Frustration (Hidden Agenda)
Jim Yoshii Pile-Up -- Picks Us Apart (Absolutely Kosher) 2.5/5
Mazarin -- We're Already There (I & Ear) 2.5/5
Moonbabies -- War on Sound (Hidden Agenda) 3.5/5
Bob Mould -- Body of Song (Yep Roc) 3.5/5
Brian Setzer -- Rockabilly Riot Volume One: A Tribute to Sun Records (Surfdog)
Denison Witmer -- Are You a Dreamer? (The Militia Group) 3.5/5

Hear Me Sounding Baffled for 40 Minutes

2005-07-25T12:21:00.000-05:00

My first appearance on a Stycast is available here. Stylus writer Mike Powell was in town last week so I made a guest appearance on his "Easter Everywhere" series, mostly talking about how I don't know how to talk about music.

Pick of the Week (7/25/05)

2005-07-25T10:16:00.000-05:00

Trashcan Sinatras -- Weightlifting (Spin Art) 2004

Another selection of gorgeous pop from the "Why doesn't everyone know about this" category.

The OC's Mixed-Up

2005-07-22T13:34:00.000-05:00

I'm in Flak again, this time on the most recent (relatively speaking) mix from The OC.

I Know I Can't Dance

2005-07-21T09:19:00.000-05:00

So You Think You Can Dance? offers a show surprisingly different from Idol, despite trying to use the same formula.

The biggest difference: there's no hope of an unskilled person with heart winning here -- good-bye even faux-democracy. One rightly-booted contestant argued that the show would end up being about rich white kids with training. She's off-base in the requirements of race and money, but not about training. While a church-choir singer like Fantasia could succeed on Idol, most of the successful dancers on the show have been taught. One of the requirements is to quickly learn a routine, which is much easier if you've got a background. The speed with which some amazing breakdancers got cut showed how little talent matters up against skill in this contest.

The laughers: much less interest here on the disasters, which was actually kind of nice, even if it makes for less appealing tv (says the hater in me).

The judges: three boring people without nearly the personality of Randy, Paula, or Simon. The low moment came when the fake-Simon told one competitor that he didn't dance "masculine" enough to proceed. It seems like dance would be one area you could avoid the strictures of gender norms...

I'm curious to see how this show does in the ratings. I suspect the average tv viewer (me) doesn't know enough about dance to have an opinion on lines, form, etc. Without the bite of sharp and clever insights and no engaging characters, I'm not sure this idea can carry a season.

And while I'm glad someone danced to M.I.A., I'm just confused if I don't hear the theme from Fame anytime I see a dance student.

Clap Your Hands Say Here Come the Hype and Backlash

2005-07-19T10:16:00.000-05:00

The Clap Your Hands Say Yeah phenomenon seems tailor-made for a case-study in hype and backlash, if anyone's looking to do some groundbreaking journal article on that.
Hype too often gets credited as starting from a flashpoint, where I think it generally comes about through, if not some sort of collective semi-conscious, at least a broad base. The first review of CYHSY I saw was at Stylus, but other online magazines had there reviews up within days, too quick to feel that Stylus broke the band (not an argument I'd make -- the underground conversation had been happening). So possibly the hype is the result of an insular community managing to get its press machine running on several fronts at once. And, yeah, the Pitchfork factor is still high (see Insound's recent sale dedicate to PFM's Best New Music).

The backlash, predictably is beginning. So far I've only seen it in private conversations and on message boards, but the press side should be hitting soon enough (although CYHSY may still need to get a little bigger). I'm having a hard time understanding what's driving either side, though.

The self-titled debut is good enough, but it's really only got three standout tracks ("The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth," "In This Home on Ice," and "Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood"), and I'd have sworn "In This Home" was a cover of that '80s song I can't quite get in my head ("and we danced...all...night" or something). The album doesn't warrant the hate, although I understand the disdain for Ounsworth's vocals, but it is custom-made for it. The opening track is horrendous, the second one is dull, and the album doesn't really take off until the halfway point. If you come into it ready to hate, you'll find grounds for it and be done with the disc before you even get to the good stuff.

So backlash = dislike of hype + slow start to album.

But why the hype to start with? Are the music critics propping this album up just jonesing for David Byrne to be 21 again? (Yeah, you'll get the Byrne/Talking Heads comparison in almost every review you read and while those types of comparisons are generally pretty useless, this one's right on target, at least on CYHSY's poppier numbers.) Everyone seems to be having fun with this disc, but no one's really gotten into what essential need it speaks to.

For more fun and something with a more unique niche to fill, check out Art Brut's Bang Bang Rock 'n' Roll. Hopefully I'll have a full post up on it soon.

New Releases This Week (slowest week ever)

2005-07-19T08:26:00.000-05:00

Iggy Pop -- A Million in Prizes: The Anthology (Virgin) 3/5
Uncle Earl -- She Waits for Night (Rounder)*
Various Artists -- NYC Subway - Songs from the Underground (Headset Productions)

*one of Uncle Earl's members is Abigail Washburn, who has a solo album just about to come out, Song of the Traveling Daughter. Appalachian mountain music mixed with a dash of Chinese folk that's definitely worth a listen, and has piqued my interest in Uncle Earl, whom I've never heard.

Pick of the Week (7/18/05)

2005-07-18T09:56:00.000-05:00

The Spinanes -- Manos (Sub Pop) 1993

"Lovely" is how you describe the clarinet-playing of a kid you have nothing better to say about, but I'm redeeming the word in this case to apply it to the Spinanes' guitar-pop. This album falls into the "Why Doesn't Everyone Have This?" category.

Out of the Blue and into the Black (Metal)

2005-07-15T13:29:00.000-05:00

I got an email out of nowhere from one of my best high school friends last week. We'd completely lost touch, but he managed to track me down through the Stylus staff page. Anyhow, here's what he's doing now:

http://www.myspace.com/sangraalband

My friend's Jason B., pictured to the far left of the screen.

It's not music I'm competent (or unbiased enough) to comment on, but what a fun thing to discover. In any case, here's an extra google hit for Sangraal, and good luck guys!

(yeah, anyone want t-shirts, cds, etc., I'll get 'em to you).

New Releases This Week

2005-07-13T15:09:00.000-05:00

Hard-Fi -- Cash Machine (Vice) 2.5/5
Kinski -- Alpine Static (Sub Pop)
Metalux -- Victim of Space (Kill Rock Stars) 2.5/5
Mixel Pixel -- Contact Kid (Kanine)
The Most Serene Republic -- Underwater Cinematographer (Arts & Crafts) 3.5/5
Röyksopp -- The Understanding (Astralwerks) 3/5
Son Volt -- Okemah and the Melody of Riot (Transmit Sound/Legacy)
Wolf Parade -- Wolf Parade EP (Sub Pop)
Xiu Xiu -- La Forêt (Kill Rock Stars)

They're Looking Great for 2008

2005-07-12T09:10:00.000-05:00

The date needs to be changed, but I know this ticket would get some support:

Pick of the Week 7/11/05

2005-07-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

John Prine -- John Prine (Atlantic) 1971

Countryish singer-songwriter shows brains and humor, and gives us a song especially relevant for this moment in US history: "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore."

Help?

2005-07-09T21:44:00.000-05:00

Anyone have any idea how to fix this layout problem (or is it only on my computer)? I've tried 4 different templates and they all show up with the sidebar and main page staggered. All ideas welcome, effective help will receive some sort of undetermined and valueless (not priceless) reward...

SecondSpin

2005-07-09T13:27:00.000-05:00

You might notice I've dropped the SecondSpin link from the left-hand column (or the overhead one, assuming my blog still looks so ridiculous and possibly incurable). I did so because they've managed to initially botch my first two sales to them, not crediting me for music I've sold, and crediting me for less-expensive albums I've never heard of. I'm just now working this out with their customer support, but it's very discouraging that it's happened on my only two attempts to sell. Anyone ever use secondspin.com and want to share their experiences? I had only heard good things, but now I'm suspicious...

Two Steps to an Awesome Review

2005-07-07T14:23:00.000-05:00

1) Listen to an album only once.

2) Talk about zombies.

Here's proof.

New Releases This Week

2005-07-06T13:33:00.000-05:00

The Album -- Leaf Seal Beach EP (Better Looking) 2.5/5
Missy Elliott -- The Cookbook (Atlantic)
The Juan Maclean -- Less Than Human (Astralwerks) 4/5
Paul Metzger -- Improvisations on Modified Banjo and Guitar (Secretly Canadian)
Sufjan Stevens -- Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty) 4/5
Wilderness -- Wilderness (Secretly Canadian)

Marc Caro Nails Live 8 Coverage

2005-07-05T09:09:00.000-05:00

Here's a great take on MTV's coverage of Live 8:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ericzorn/weblog/archives/2005/07/i_dont_want_my.html

Top quote: "If MTV were honest, it would have billed the event as Pre-Digested 8, because the network was maddeningly averse to showing most of the bands live. It was as if MTV were auditioning to get the TV rights to the next Olympics."

How to Package Music

2005-07-04T11:04:00.000-05:00

I just got the new collection You Ain't Talkin' to Me: Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music, and it serves as a lesson to all compilation makers in how to make something that people will buy rather than download. It comes in a little textured box with three individually packaged discs. The music's accompanied by a 30-some page booklet with fantastic pictures and an essay on Poole's playing, his biography, and the relevant related artists (the music, wisely, contains Poole's influences and inheritors as well as originals he covered and songs he made relatively famous later picked up by others). The packaging on this set's so exquisite that it's senseless to download the songs, because you need the liner notes, and you'll want the box.

In Which the Author Makes a Confession and Gets a Rhetorical Beat-Down

2005-07-01T10:03:00.000-05:00

Today, I admit what I like:

http://popmatters.com/tv/features/american-idol/index.shtml

Everyone else has far better points and less parade-making writing, but I'm sticking with me.

Some highlights:

"But unlike that under the table double-dealing from years past, there is nary a mafia figure or coked-up programming director in sight." -- Bill Gibron

"Reality-television achievement has become the second lottery, where hard work and talent are trumped by self-exploitation and displays of creativity so oatmeal gray that even Goldilocks herself would cry, 'This porridge is just shit.'" -- Terry Sawyer

"Heading down the road to see the carpet rolled out for American Idol's finale was one of the most quintessentially American moments in my life, more so than seeing a Hummer with a 'no blood for oil' bumper sticker." -- Jodie Janella Horn

" Both American Idol, and our presidential elections function as celebrations of voting for its own sake, showcasing our ersatz democracy in which you, the wise viewer/citizen, are endlessly applauded for 'exercising one's rights' by choosing among the limited options offered without questioning why they are so pathetically inadequate in the first place." -- Rob Horning

Huey Lewis on Wine and Cheese

2005-06-30T15:06:00.000-05:00

The rarely informative, always entertaining Aidin Vaziri talks to Huey Lewis:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/06/19/PKGJNCEQOH1.DTL&type=printable

Q: How many millions of albums did you sell?

A: Oh, gosh. I don't know. Look it up. Do you think I'm tacky enough to tell you how many records we sold? You go ahead and tell them.

Q: Facts and I don't really get along.

A: Well, that's a hell of an admission.