The 15-Minute Hipster

Great Albums That Are Still Relevant Today

2007-04-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

I had a conversation recently with a co-worker and fellow music fan who had never listened to Elvis Costello, who is probably my favorite solo artist (with Ted Leo as a close runner for that title, who we're going to go see at Slim's tonight, thank you very much!). Of course, I was agog, but recognized that the "angry young man" Elvis Costello would have been releasing records when my friend was in diapers.

But then I realized, hey, Elvis Costello was before my time, too. When My Aim is True was released in 1977, I was three years old. When I got my first copy of Armed Forces, I was 15, a decade after it had been released.

Anyway a couple of days later I coincidentally ran across this little piece titled, "How Elvis Costello & the Attractions’ Armed Forces Changed My Life." One of the salient quotes: "'Green Shirt' sounds like it could have come out yesterday and appeared on a Wilco album. The cover art and sleeve seem fashionably fresh as anything out today." That made me realize that there are a lot of classic albums that everyone should have in their collection, but which would sound new and fresh even if they'd just been released today. So I started making a list of them. So if you're young and never had the benefit of an older sibling/friend to hand these down to you, here you go... the descriptions aren't mine, mostly stolen from Amazon.com or Wikipedia.

The Clash: London Calling (1979)
Bursting at the seams with creative energy, the Clash's stunning 1979 double album more than made up for the artistic and commercial disappointment of its predecessor, 1978's tried-too-hard Give 'Em Enough Rope. With ex-Mott the Hoople producer Guy Stevens harnessing their sound as never before, the band yielded what proved to be the best work of their career. Bouncing from hard rock (the apocalyptic vision of the title track) to rockabilly ("Brand New Cadillac") to reggae ("Rudy Can't Fail") to pop (the Top 40 hit "Train in Vain"), the Clash knocked down all musical walls and, in the process, ended the argument over punk's viability in the U.S. --Billy Altman

Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Armed Forces (1979)
Armed Forces was the last title in a trilogy of albums that rank with the greatest three-LP series in pop-rock history. In retrospect, it also now appears to be the one on which the young Costello's pop tendencies peaked, right before they began to "mature" and grow less accessible. "Accidents Will Happen" features a melody line as beautiful as any ever written; "Oliver's Army" easily competes with the best of Abba and Brian Wilson among pop masterpieces. This is also where Costello's early themes--most notably romantic rejection equated with the horrors of neo-Nazism and modern politics--came together most precisely (the album's working title was "Emotional Fascism"). --Bill Holdship

The Cure: Boys Don't Cry (1980)
When Robert Smith's long-running group made this debut (actually the resequenced American version of the British Three Imaginary Boys), they weren't the Goth-and-reverb, new wave heroes they later became; they were just a trio of disaffected kids who didn't like what was on the radio, because it wasn't smart enough or dark enough. Smith's lyrics are bleakly sarcastic (as when he spells out the title of "Fire in Cairo") and literate (the single "Killing an Arab," a nihilistic sketch based on a scene from Albert Camus's The Stranger). The band matches them with swift, tingling arrangements that dodge skillfully around rock's machismo and self-indulgence, even when Smith launches into the occasional gnarled little solo. --Douglas Wolk

Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Hailing from Manchester, England, Joy Division profoundly affected the alternative music scene. Arriving as punk music was waning, Joy Division's music inhabits an eerie, twilight world. Decay and alienation envelop singer Ian Curtis, whose cavernous, but dispassionate, voice belied the intensity he brought to bear. Rolling drum patterns, thudding bass lines and uncluttered synthesizer combine to create a dank, brooding atmosphere, chillingly supporting the songs' bleak lyrics. Yet listening to Unknown Pleasures is not a depressing experience. The group generate a terse excitement, emphasising individual strengths and avoiding unnecessary embellishment. Their sense of commitment is utterly convincing and few debut albums can boast such unremitting power.

Echo & The Bunnymen: Porcupine (1983)
Hungry for the success which this charismatic band craved, 1983's 'Porcupine' witnessed Echo And The Bunnymen successfully widening their appeal whilst maintaining an inventive streak. Beginning with two strident, confident singles ('The Cutter' and 'Back Of Love') their stall was set out early on. The dark psychedelia of 'My White Devil' and the doleful joys of 'Clay' are then followed by the ambitious title track centrepiece; here Ian McCulloch's vocals run the full gamut of emotions as tears, menace and anger cast their shadow over a background of haunting violins and Will Sergeant's demonic guitar chords. -- leonardslair.co.uk

The Smiths: The Smiths (1984)
Musically, this album kicked a hole through the lip-glossed synth-pop that dominated the early-'80s music scene. Still cloaked in the lingering influences of New Romantic new wave and Clash-like punk, this album, like most great rock debuts, represents the group at its most raw and stark. But the core elements of the Smiths' sound, rooted in Morrissey's subtly off-key, morose crooning and nearly freeform lyrical arrangements floating over guitarist Johnny Marr's plucky, concise guitar riffs, are well-established here. The rhythm section displayed a similar relationship: Andy Rourke's mobile bass lines seemed almost to disregard any supportive undertones they could have lent to Mike Joyce's straight-ahead, no nonsense drum patterns. All the tugging and pulling worked brilliantly, cementing the sound that made the Smiths a landmark band of the 1980s. --Beth Bessmer

Talking Heads: Remain in Light (1980)
Way back in 1980, the original wave of Talking Heads fans were pleasantly stunned to hear Remain in Light, produced and co-written by Brian Eno, on which Byrne and company are joined by guitar god Adrian Belew, and funk legends Bernie Worrell (keyboards) and Steven Scales (percussion), among others, for a fuller, funkier sound nobody imagined they had in them. The first three songs are long, layered, full-body dance parties, with incessantly repeated phrases (musical and lyrical), and increasingly catchy melodic hooks that won't let go for days. "Once in a Lifetime" was the big hit, but the rockingest track is the third, "The Great Curve," after which the songs get more linear and subdued. It's still great stuff, right through to the especially Eno-like droner, "The Overload," but the second half is maybe better to sleep to than dance to. Which is fine: after the exuberance of the first three songs, you'll need a little nap. --Dan Leone

Roxy Music: Avalon (1982)
Hipper students of 1980s pop might pretend that Joy Division and the Smiths had a monopoly on melancholia, but for the older, more suave brooders, nothing could match the stylized desolation of Roxy Music's last album. Avalon was recorded in the wake of the band's hit version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy." Although that song isn't on Avalon, its tortured shadow looms large over "While My Heart Is Still Beating," the title track, and the unlikely Balearic anthem "More Than This." If time has been kind to Bryan Ferry's crumpled Armani chic, it hasn't exactly been vicious to his back catalog: Avalon sounds even more sumptuous now that the CD age has caught up with Rhett Davis's pristine production. --Peter Paphides

The Jam: Sound Affects (1980)
Often regarded as The Jam's finest hour, despite the feeble title pun, Sound Affects shows Weller's writing reaching a new maturity. He was reading heavily, mainly poetry, and the line about 'the tranquility of solitude' in That's Entertainment is a reference to Shelley, his preferred poet of choice. Musically, Weller was keen to move away from the Jam's punky early sound, and Sound Affects benefits from a wider sonic palette than it's predecessors. --Stuart Maconie

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Living With the Living (2007)

The Riches - Jump on the Bandwagon

2007-04-12T03:28:00.000-07:00

As Tim Goodman says in his column, "If you haven't been following "The Riches," now is your chance."

FX is airing all five episodes of the show on Friday night. Goodman says everything I would say about the show here, especially my favorite nitpick -- why not put Doug in a job that's a lot easier to BS your way through? And one where you do not have to have a state license to do it (more easily traceable)?

It's still a great show, and Eddie Izzard is so good... actually so is everyone. Even the kids. Set your TiVos.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Winterpills - The Light Divides (2007)

New Long Winters Links

2007-04-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

My favorite band, The Long Winters, have been getting a lot of press lately. I'm not really sure why (although of course they deserve it), since their last album came out a year ago, but I can see how it could be a sleeper hit. Plus, they tour tirelessly, so I'm sure they generate attention whenever they come to town.

Anyway none of these links were really worth posting individually but I thought I'd throw them all together in one post.

First of all there's about a 15 minute video podcast interview with John Roderick on The Merlin Show (that being Merlin Mann of 43 Folders fame) here. It's not that entertaining, but a not-that-entertaining John Roderick is still a lot more entertaining than most people.

Second, there was the best write-up about the band that I've seen in awhile, where John describes his own music in the most succinct and accurate way I've ever heard it described by anyone -- "I write about the feelings that most of us have, the vague sense that we might be really (messing) up except that no one else seems to be noticing.": link

Third, there's an actual in-depth two-page article on the band here from a St. Louis newspaper, which features the sad but true comment, "It's one of the ways in which we kind of sabotage ourselves with the MP3 generation. You're not gonna really get any of our songs until you listen to 'em five times, and that's maybe more of a commitment than most people are willing to put into it."

Now here's the rest:
A short write-up worth reading from the Village Voice: link
A nice article from the Salt Lake Tribune: link
More about the problems with complexity from Chartattack: link
A show review that was going just fine until the reviewer called "Cinnamon" "Counting Crows-ish" (uh... wha???): link

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Portastatic - Be Still Please (2006)

James Murphy Interview

2007-04-04T01:47:00.000-07:00

This article is a very thought-provoking read for any music lover, even those who aren't fans of James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem or DFA:

The Village Voice: Status Ain't Hood

The interview covers a lot of great thoughts about the experience of being a musician, his perspective on music at 37, the business, etc. He's a very interesting guy.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love (2007)

Hammertime

2007-04-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

Why are you reading this drivel when you could be reading the thoughts (and viewing the pictures!) of the one, the only, MC Hammer? Yes, that's right, MC Hammer has a blog: http://mchammer.blogspot.com/

The best part clearly is that he signs off each post with "Hammertime."

Indeed, it is.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Living with the Living (2007)

WOXY Lives Even More, in Blog Form

2007-03-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

Remember how the always-awesome WOXY died, and then came back to life? Well, now they also have a blog called The Futurist.

They even have some Ted Leo MP3s you can download from his in-studio performance. Woo hoo!

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Fink - Biscuits for Breakfast (2006)

Voxtrot News + Download

2007-03-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

Exciting news from Voxtrot -- they also announced they'll be playing the Great American Music Hall on May 30:

"Next, we're excited to announce that our first full-length record is complete! We recorded it with the amazing Victor Van Vugt (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Luna) in Austin and NYC. The record is 11 tracks long, eponymously titled Voxtrot, and will be released worldwide on May 22nd via The Beggars Group/Playlouder. The first single from the record is called "Blood Red Blood" and will be released in Europe on May 14th on 7-inch/download formats.

You can catch a sneak peak of Voxtrot by heading over to our Myspace page to hear a track from it called "Kid Gloves". We've also added "Kid Gloves" to www.voxtrot.net as a free MP3 download."

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Mo' Living EP (2007)

Tomorrow is Shutdown Day!

2007-03-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

Don't forget!

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)

Eat at a Wolfgang Puck Restaurant Tonight!

2007-03-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

In honor of the most awesome vegan around releasing a fantabulous new album this week,* Wolfgang Puck made the announcement that from now on, his more than one hundred restaurants, take-out eateries and catering venues will serve animal products raised/killed/caught according to various policies designed to reduce cruelty: Link.

The policies include only serving eggs laid by free-roaming hens and veal that has not been caged, and not serving foie gras at all. Some conservation-minded changes are also being made, such as only serving sustainable seafood and offering more vegetarian choices. Here's the whole press release in the form of a YouTube video created by Wolfgang's PR agency:

This is great news. If you're going to kill animals for food, there is absolutely no reason to torture them beforehand. And Wolfgang Puck is influential enough to (hopefully) start a trend.

Show your support by having dinner at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant tonight! I'm going to! By the way, his "fast casual" Wolfgang Puck Express places are really tasty. We used to have lunch there all the time when I worked nearby (at 170 O'Farrell near the Powell Street mall). Or treat yourself to Postrio on Union Square.

Go Wolfgang!

*I made that up. I doubt Wolfgang Puck has ever heard of Ted Leo. But wouldn't that be nifty?

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Living With the Living (2007)

Off-Topic: The Other Side of Tort Reform

2007-03-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get frustrated with debates about tort reform because so often people are ready to completely dismiss the importance of our legal system with snap judgments like, "Nobody deserves to get a multi-million dollar award for getting burned by spilled coffee!" and "Health care costs are so out of control because of all the lawsuits!"

I don't dismiss these points, but they tend to miss the larger picture, one that I think is well-illustrated in this week's egregious actions by Menu Foods. Understanding that it happened because animals are not meaningfully protected by the legal system and the potential for liability lawsuits is the key to understanding the complexity of the tort reform debate.

We (well, at least not I) no longer live in an agrarian society where we see the food we eat growing on a farm, we see how it is processed, and we are a part of that process. Almost everything we eat comes from far away, grown by people we don't know, and is processed in big factories where we have no idea what goes on. As a result, buying food at the grocery store and putting it in our mouths every day is an act of trust. We have to trust that whoever is making and processing our food is doing so safely, because it would be impractical to conduct elaborate safety tests on everything before we eat it.

But the marketplace is competitive. Food producers want to save money wherever they can, so they can increase profits or market share by selling at a lower cost. Saving money often translates into doing things less carefully, eliminating seemingly unnecessary steps, hiring fewer workers so that the ones they have may no longer be able to take that extra minute to double-check things.

From purely an efficiency standpoint, this makes sense. The likelihood that poison, disease pathogens, or foreign bodies would get into the food is generally pretty remote if the system works as it should. Because cats and dogs are not protected by our legal system in any meaningful way (and, as a consequence, neither are the owners, who suffer significant loss as they are forced to powerlessly watch their loved one suffer and die), for pet food producers like Menu Foods, the thinking can stop there. It's a remote possibility, so there's no need to spend extra money that could otherwise be saved by taking steps such as redundant safety testing that would prevent the occurrence.

Here's where I get to my point. Imagine if the dozens of animals killed by Menu Foods were instead human children. There would be hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in liability. Menu Foods would be forced into bankruptcy. The punishment in terms of tort liability would far outweigh any fines imposed by the FDA and other governmental agencies.

Knowing that this result would have been a possibility, Menu Foods (like all companies that produce human food) would have spent those extra dollars on safety instead of cutting costs. Because when you introduce the threat of unlimited tort liability, a rational actor would spend more to reduce that threat even though the possibility of its occurrence is remote -- because the result is so extreme.

For the consumer, knowing that companies have assessed this possibility and are forced to spend more than they would otherwise prefer on safety enables us to trust them to sell us safe food at the supermarket. The system works.

I'm not saying that there aren't other systems in place (such as government oversight) that encourage responsible behavior on the part of these companies, but in a free market society, making extra safety spending an economically rational act (because it is an attempt to avoid significant, unlimited liability) bridges the gap that arises from the reality that government inspectors can't catch every safety violation. In my view, that's worth some wasted dollars on judgments that appear outsized. I imagine that those people currently mourning the deaths of their beloved pet -- and knowing that they really have no recourse against Menu Foods, despite the egregiousness of its conduct -- would agree.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)

I Can Has Cheezburger?

2007-03-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

What are Sundays for if not for looking at funny cat pictures with captions?

If you're a fan of the "I'm in your base killin your d00dz" style of meme humor (picture + caption that's a variation on a common theme + intentional internet-common misspellings), and also a fan of cat pictures, you will love a site I recently discovered called I Can Has Cheezburger?

The title was inspired by this pic:

The pics are mostly cats but occasionally other animals, for example:

Anyway I love it. Totally check it out.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Apostle of Hustle - Folkloric Feel (2004)

Last.fm and iSproggler

2007-03-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

I've previously written multiple posts about various music recommendation services, most of which consist of (1) a little application that launches whenever iTunes launches, and automatically records your listening habits and uploads them to the service, (2) some sort of analysis of your listening patterns, whether via internal algorithms or comparisons with others' listening patterns and (3) an end result that recommends bands/music you may not have heard of but that you might like based on the analysis in (2).

It's a great idea, especially given the type of music I like, which isn't really played on the radio (at least in the Bay Area -- we have a couple of mainstream "alternative rock" stations but both of them suck). But there's always been the inherent limitation that the data is recorded via iTunes on one's home PC, and even though when I listen to music at home I generally play it through the PC, I'm not at home that much. 90% of the time, I listen to music on my iPod while out and about or while in my office on my Bose Sound Dock.

Enter Last.fm and iSproggler. iSproggler is a free, third-party app that pulls data for upload to music recommendation service Last.fm everytime you sync your iPod. Now, Last.fm can get the full picture of what I'm listening to and, presumably, give me more accurate recommendations.

So far, this hasn't exactly been the case -- Last.fm only recommends music of which I have already heard. But I have to cut them some slack, one of my major hobbies is listening to and learning about new music. For the average joe, I think the recommender would be a great way to learn about new bands. And to give them credit, most of what the engine recommends to me is stuff that I already like. So if I hadn't already heard of their recommendations, they would be pretty right-on. Plus, you can play tracks from each of their recommendations via a stand-alone player.

I guess the bottom line is that I really like Last.fm when used in conjunction with iSproggler. It has a lot of social networking features (I think soooooomebody saw all that money being thrown at MySpace!) that aren't really my thing but could be useful to some (you can recommend music to your friends or groups you belong to, for example). But I think it's worth checking out. Just my two cents.

P.S. I know that services like this are yet another layer of armor for the growing monopoly that Apple has on this market, being that they make people even more dependent on iTunes (most of these services work only with iTunes), but I'm willing to put up with this because they are so useful even though I think Apple is evil.

And I can't pretend not to be part of the machine -- I sucked it up and bought another new iPod this week. The most recent one crapped out after only a year and a half (crashes constantly, dock is screwed up, still under my Best Buy warranty but I'm going to get it fixed up and give it to my friend who wants it). I'm just too tied to iTunes and the library that I have built with it. And I'm the first one to admit that the iPod, despite its fragility and short life-span, is still the best MP3 device on the market so far. It'll be a Zune NEXT TIME.... really.....

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position (2007)

She's At the End / She is Starting to Cry

2007-03-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I had had it when I heard The The's "This is the Day" in a commercial for Dockers.

Then I thought I had really had it when I heard Modern English's generation-defining "I Melt With You" in a car commercial.

But this is really it. This is enough to make me want to smash a hammer through my TV and truly give it all up for good. I am at the absolute end of my rope.

I just heard "Blister in the Sun" in a FUCKING WENDY'S COMMERCIAL.

"Blister in the Sun"! Possibly the most instantly recognizable, repeatedly-replayed song of my youth that everyone could sing along to at a party, no matter whether they were Violent Femmes fans or listened to alternative music at all.

"Blister in the Sun"... co-opted to sell some disgusting, greasy pseudo-food.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.

Nothing will ever be the same again.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (2007)

Conan is Coming to Town!

2007-03-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! If I don't get tickets to the live taping, I may have to kill someone and steal theirs.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (2007)

Video of Long Winters Show

2007-03-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

Nick at Albondigas was kind enough to post a video of The Long Winters doing "Ultimatum" at the Saturday show here: link.

See my previous post here for the full audio experience (well, as close as you can currently get without being there) of the greatness that is a Long Winters live performance!

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Teddybears - Soft Machine (2006)

Upcoming Shows

2007-03-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

Sir Mix-A-Lot and the Hoodoo Gurus each get a double (WTF?)... also it makes me very sad that The Walkmen are *opening* for the Kaiser Chiefs.

Mar. 14 - Clipse at the Mezzanine
Mar. 15 - Bobby Bare Jr. w/ Dr. Dog at Cafe du Nord
Mar. 16 - Sir Mix-A-Lot at the Red Devil Lounge
Mar. 16 - The Ditty Bops at the Swedish Hall (above Cafe du Nord)
Mar. 19 - Thomas Dolby at the Red Devil Lounge
Mar. 22 - The Bravery at Popscene
Mar. 23 - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone w/Page France and the Headlights at Cafe du Nord
Mar. 23 - Badly Drawn Boy at the Great American Music Hall
Mar. 23 - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone w/Page France
Mar. 23 - Sondre Lerche at the Fillmore
Mar. 26 - The Tragically Hip at the Fillmore
Mar. 27 - Veruca Salt at the Red Devil Lounge
Mar. 28-29 - TV on the Radio w/the Noisettes at the Fillmore
Mar. 30 - Son Volt w/Magnolia Electric Co. at the Fillmore
Mar. 30 - Ratatat at Bimbo's
Mar. 31 - Hoodoo Gurus at Cafe du Nord

Apr. 2 - Lily Allen w/The Bird and the Bee at the Fillmore
Apr. 3 - De La Soul at the Red Devil Lounge
Apr. 5 - Teddybears at Popscene
Apr. 6 - Mew w/Oh No! Oh My! at the Fillmore
Apr. 7 - The Frames w/the Submarines at the Fillmore
Apr. 7 - The Killers at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Apr. 9 - Muse at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Apr. 10 - Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 at Slim's
Apr. 14 - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists w/The Don'ts at Slim's
Apr. 15 - Wolfmother at the Warfield
Apr. 15 - Saves the Day at Slim's
Apr. 16-17 - The Shins w/Viva Voce at the Warfield
Apr. 23 - Placebo at the Fillmore
Apr. 23 - The Books at the Great American Music Hall
Apr. 23-24 - Blonde Redhead w/The Annuals at Bimbo's
Apr. 24 - Mute Math w/Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Apr. 25 - Junior Boys at the Mezzanine
Apr. 25-26 - The Decemberists at the Warfield
Apr. 26 - Klaxons at Popscene
Apr. 27 - Kaiser Chiefs w/the Walkmen at the Warfield

May 1 - Andrew Bird w/Apostle of Hustle at the Fillmore
May 1 - Cocorosie at Bimbo's
May 1 - Explosions in the Sky at Slim's
May 3 - Elvis Costello and the Impostors at the Warfield
May 15-16 - Peter Bjorn & John at Bimbo's
May 18 - Ben Gibbard, David Bazan and Johnathan Rice at the Fillmore

June 27 - The National at Bimbo's

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Postmarks - s/t (2007)

Long Winters Documentary

2007-03-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to see that somebody is making a documentary about my favorite band, The Long Winters! Check it out: link

I love John Roderick's quote from the 10-minute preview: "To this day I've never really written a song that has much of a happy ending."

From the site:

"The Long Winters are a swirling vortex of incredible songwriting and musicianship, with a healthy dose of utter rock star demystification.

"To begin to tell the story of The Long Winters, you really have to start with the story of their frontman, John Roderick.

"After reaching local fame in the Western State Hurricanes, the band's break-up during the peak of their popularity was a catalyst for John's five month walk from London to Istanbul. Returning bearded and emaciated, he vowed never to play music again.

"But John had some unfinished business, and after recording the album The Worst You Can Do Is Harm, forming The Long Winters became that business.

"This film will tell a compelling story of self-destruction and resignation, of ambition and second chances, and of burned bridges and taking the long way around."

LATER: We saw them last night at the Independent and as always, they were amazing, so tight and energetic, incredibly friendly and nice when they hung out after the show, and a huge treat to see live. John doesn't like to do encores because "it's a convention" (I so agree) so instead they just played straight through a solid two hours. Anyone who might be reading this and is on the fence about their music as recorded owes it to themselves to check out the show if the band comes to town, because it will make you a believer!

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder (2007)

Upcoming Releases

2007-03-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Come on March 20!

March 20
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Living With the Living
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Low - Drums and Guns
The Ponys - Turn the Lights Out

March 27
Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob

April
The Clientele - God Save the Clientele

April 10
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
Blonde Redhead - 23
Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
CocoRosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn
Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
Menomena - Wet and Rusting EP

April 24
Midnight Movies - Lion the Girl
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Dntel - Dumb Luck
Electric Soft Parade - No Need To Be Downhearted
Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters

May 1
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
Dungen - Tito Bitar
Feist - The Reminder

May 8
Bjork - Volta
Elliot Smith - New Moon (???)
Lavender Diamond - Imagine Our Love
Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures
Page France - And the Family Telephone
Sea and Cake - Everybody

May 15
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

May 22
The National - Boxer
Voxtrot - Voxtrot (LP)
The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon

June 2007
Bob Mould - TBD

June 19
Rocky Votolato - The Brag & Cuss

September 2007
Chris Walla - It's Unsustainable

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
!!! - Myth Takes (2007)

The Arcade Fire

2007-03-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

I generally really agree with Stylus Magazine's reviews, but I thought this one in particular said everything that I wanted to say about Neon Bible:

The Arcade Fire: Neon Bible Review

That said, what is it about Bruce Springsteen being the new black? First every reviewer was comparing The Killers' Sam's Town to Springsteen, now it's The Arcade Fire. I'm not saying that Born to Run-era Bruce isn't something special (despite the downhill slide that culminated with Born in the U.S.A., ahem), but are these comparisons really apt? Or is he just the easy-to-make comparison of the moment?

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Postmarks - s/t (2007)

Stream the New Arcade Fire Album

2007-02-25T19:00:00.000-08:00

NME has the link up... you have to log in but then you can stream the whole album for free:

The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Also, if you missed their kickass performance on SNL Saturday night, now I'm starting to understand why people treat talk about their live performances like it's some sort of religious experience:

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (2007)

BeeThere

2007-02-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

From Postsecret. You can see the Golden Gate Bridge too. :)

Thanks to Boing Boing I found this website called BeeThere... the premise is that you upload your iTunes library list and it generates a list of upcoming shows for artists in your collection and, if you select this option, related artists as well. I haven't quite gotten it to work yet (it keeps giving me all kinds of artists that I know I've never heard of, even though I did not select related artists), but it's worth a look.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Rocky Votolato - Makers (2006)

Great Live Recording of the Long Winters

2007-02-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

For a long time I felt like I couldn't claim that my favorite band was The Long Winters because they only had two full-length albums out, and that did not seem like enough of a basis. But since Putting the Days to Bed (which, by the way, you can still stream in full here) came out, I am free to shout it loud and proud. But anyway, part of the Long Winters' charm is seeing them perform live. That's why I was so pleased that someone posted a pretty good recording of a recent show they played in Barcelona:

The Long Winters Live at Sala Apolo on 2007-02-19

It's not as good as being there, but you can experience some of the real joy that John Roderick seems to get out of performing for a live audience, plus all of his little quips that make him such an entertaining musician. A big thanks to Daniel Barrero for recording it and to the band and the venue for letting him do so.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Long Winters Live at Sala Apolo on 2007-02-19

Very Last Chance to See Pretty Girls Make Graves

2007-02-21T20:25:00.000-08:00

This Sunday, tickets go on sale for what one assumes will be the last Pretty Girls Make Graves show in the Bay Area, at the Great American Music Hall June 4.

I saw them open for Interpol once... they were some good stuff. Too bad they will be gone forever after this tour.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara (2007)

Rob Corddry on Your Computer!

2007-02-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

Fox sure knows how to build buzz. Everybody loves Rob ~~Cordry~~ ~~Corduroy~~ Corddry, right? His new show, The Winner, doesn't premiere until March 4th but you can already watch the first four episodes right here on your computer! How awesome is that?

I've still got some work to do so am making myself wait to watch them but I wanted to post it for any readers out there who actually got a three-day weekend...

UPDATE: I'm only 4 minutes in now but (1) why do TV producers continue to RUIN potentially good shows with laugh tracks and (2) I liked this show better the first time it was around and was called "Get a Life." Man, that episode where he battles the Paperboy 3000 was freakin' hilarious.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (2007)

Here Are the Rules for Selling Music for Ads

2007-02-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I feel like this blog is veering into the direction of being exclusively about music I love spotted in television commercials. The truth of the matter is, a couple of friends and I have started e-mailing each other whenever we hear one, so it's a topic that's been on my mind a lot (even though I don't watch a lot of TV live -- as opposed to Tivo'd -- and therefore don't see a lot of commercials). It also doesn't help that now I'm not just squarely in the "target market" age, but am also about the same age as people now writing the TV commercials. So the odds are a lot greater that the people trying to think of a great tune to use might also remember loving "This is The Day" when they were younger, for example.

Anyway, my friend recently reported hearing "Something to Talk About" by Badly Drawn Boy in a commercial for Hummer. I'm not even a huge BDB fan, but that just made my skin crawl.

Here's the thing... I know that artists have to support themselves and their families. I know that allowing the use of their music in commercials can gain them broader exposure -- especially for artists who don't get a lot of radio airplay (side note: do people even listen to the radio anymore? A topic for another post). Simplistically shouting "sellout!" is for teenagers.

I also understand that artists may not necessarily have control over who uses their music, it may be left to management or the labels (or other rights holders). Posts to this Badly Drawn Boy forum suggest Damon Gough may not have even been aware that his song was being used in the ad, especially since it's not airing in the UK.

But I also think that none of this absolves artists of at least taking some responsibility if they choose to license their music for ads.

First, they have to acknowledge that it's a choice for which fans bear the cost. Loving music is an emotional investment. "This is The Day" was my favorite song when I was a teenager and helped me get through some difficult times. That emotional investment is cheapened when the same song is used for something worthless, like selling unattractive cotton pants. Artists need to give this loss the weight it deserves and not treat it dismissively. Kevin Barnes was apparently irritated when some people were chanting "steak, steak" at an Of Montreal show. Yes it was a stupid thing to do, but brushing off the fans' reaction with "sometimes you have to suck a little dick to get by" minimizes the loss suffered by fans who previously felt a connection with "Wraith Pinned to the Mist" and lost something because of Barnes' choice.

Second, and this is really just an offshoot of the point above, artists should consider the subject matter of the song, and the context in which it will be used in the ad, when deciding whether to license it. Again, putting "This is The Day" -- a song about finally being able to put a painful past behind oneself -- in a Dockers commercial was obviously a poor choice. Using Andrew W.K.'s "It's Time to Party" -- a song about, uh, partying -- in an ad for Coors beer could not represent a more ideal pairing.

Third, artists should demonstrate at least some degree of social responsibility. The entire purpose of advertisements is to sell things. If you allow your music to be used in a commercial, you are helping in the effort to sell more of whatever is being advertised. It's one thing to license your song to help sell generic clothing, cellphone service, or iPods. But there is a short list of things that just do so much damage, and are so devoid of redeeming value, that the fact that they are for sale in the first place is somewhat apalling. Things like unecessarily giant vehicles that use disproportionately high amounts of oil and beef. Do you really want to help Outback Steakhouse and Hummer (and GM) sell more of these items? Even if you turn over licensing authority to managers, you can't say "please check with me before selling the rights to certain companies"? Show a little responsibility, please.

If artists followed these three simple rules, I think hearing their music in commercials would leave less of a bad taste in our collective mouths. Making some money on licensing is not a bad thing in and of itself, it just needs to be done properly.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Portastatic - Be Still Please (2006)

TV On the Radio - "Province"

2007-02-18T11:35:00.000-08:00

I really like this new video for the TV on the Radio song "Province" because it goes so well with the lyrics, but at the same time I would have been completely mystified by why it features a 1960s stewardess if 'boards hadn't explained that she is supposed to be an army officer:

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Minus 5 - s/t (2006)

If Jeff Mangum is Gone, Maybe That's Okay

2007-02-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

I was listening to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and it made me wonder, again, what ever happened to Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel? I know people have been wondering that for some time, but it's been quite a while now since he produced anything significant.

I mean, I know he's alive, he's a person, he hasn't dropped off the face of the earth. But what happened? Everyone assumes the obvious answer: You write a stunning, critically-acclaimed album about Anne Frank and the Holocaust that is considered by many (however vehemently argued by those who disagree) to be among the greatest albums of its generation -- how do you top that? A lot of people think "Holland, 1945" might have been the best song to come out of the 1990s. At any rate, if listening to the way Mangum crams unspoken volumes about the complexity of the human experience into the grammatical hole between the 3rd and 4th lines of the chorus ("Now we must pick up every piece/Of the life we used to love/Just to keep ourselves at least/Enough to carry on") doesn't make you feel something, you might not have a soul. That's a tough act to follow.

There was a 2002 Pitchfork interview where Mangum says of new music he had recently written, "I decided it's shit and put it aside. I go through this all the time, though. I'll have all this crap written and I think it's just shit so I'll discard it, and then I'll play a few things for friends and they'll say, "Oh, that's fine," and I'll say, "Oh, really? What about this? This one's really fucked up-- just tell me if it sucks..." And they'll say, "No, it's good!" And then I'm like, "God! I've got half a record done!"

So what happened to the other half? I tried to do some digging on the Interwebs. I found a great 2003 article, "Have You Seen Jeff Mangum?" where the author articulates the ridiculousness of Mangum's half-explanation that he stopped writing because it couldn't really solve anything:

"What Mangum doesn't seem to realize is that, with Aeroplane, he did just that. Ending suffering was never possible; it was the moments in which Aeroplane lessened it that remain profound achievements of artistic faith."

I couldn't have said it better. And it makes me wonder, will Mangum become my generation's J.D. Salinger? Will we (the public) ever hear from him again?

Is it better to just leave the world with a beacon of creative achievement to remember you by than to dilute its meaning with a blur of lesser follow-ups? In "Oh Comely" Magnum writes, derisively, "Chasing the only meaningful memory you thought you had left/With some pretty bright and bubbly terrible scene."

Maybe he's right. Maybe this is the way it's supposed to be. I think I'm okay with that.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Well now I'm listening to Night Ripper by Girl Talk, it's been awhile since I started the post...

Modern English Commercial

2007-02-10T22:46:00.000-08:00

Seriously, people?

It was one thing to have that Of Montreal song on the Outback Steakhouse commercial. But a song as integral to my teen years as Modern English's "I Melt With You" re-recorded for a GMC SUV commercial? Are you kidding me?

Something is wrong with our society if we live in a world that permits this madness. It has to stop.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Law & Order on the teevee

Almost

2007-01-31T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm almost thinking about putting some effort into this blog. Not quite there yet, though.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away (2007)

Upcoming Releases

2007-01-19T21:26:00.000-08:00

What's the deal, Modest Mouse? I remember back when that album had a release date of December 19, 2006. Now I can't even find an exact date. I'm getting very impatient, especially after those MP3s from their live show of some new songs hit the web and they made me think Johnny Marr might be better than ever. You can hear part of "Dashboard" on this episode of All Songs Considered, at least.

[UPDATE: FINALLY!]

January 23
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Menomena - Friend and Foe
Animal Collective - People EP
The Earlies - The Enemy Chorus
The Bird and the Bee - s/t
Six Parts Seven - Casually Smashed to Pieces

January 30
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder
Youth Group - Casino Twilight Dogs
Beirut - Lon Gisland EP

"Early-ish next year"
The Thrills - TBD

February 6
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
Apostle of Hustle - National Anthem of Nowhere

March 6
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
!!! - Myth Takes
Air - Pocket Symphony
Bright Eyes - Four Winds EP

March 13
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

March 20
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Living With the Living
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Low - Drums and Guns
The Ponys - Turn the Lights Out

March 27
Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob

April 2007
The Clientele - God Save the Clientele

April 10
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
Blonde Redhead - 23

April 24
Midnight Movies - Lion the Girl

May 1
Dungen - s/t

May 15
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

June 2007
Bob Mould - TBD

September 2007
Chris Walla - It's Unsustainable

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - Some Loud Thunder (2007)

John Mayer

2006-12-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

John Mayer's music doesn't suit my taste but I can't dislike the guy because every single time I see him or read a quote from him, it makes me love him. Including the post below on his website, regarding his song being used on last night's episode of "The Office." The pictures of the Dundie for "Tallest Music Dude" are terrific:

"That's Dundie Winner John Mayer"

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
James Figurine - Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake (2006)

Neave.tv

2006-12-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

Dear lord, this is so incredibly addictive... don't say I didn't warn you:

Neave.tv

By the way, I had never seen the video for the Decemberists' "Los Angeles I'm Yours" before, it's very cool: http://www.neave.tv/#decemberists_yours

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Annuals - Be He Me (2006)

Easy LP-to-CD Converter

2006-12-13T17:28:00.000-08:00

This is one of those things that potentially doesn't work nearly as well as it claims, and I have no idea if it works, but if it does.... SO cool.

It's basically a machine that allows you to record your LPs to CD the same way you used to be able to record LPs to cassette for mixtapin' and the like, allowing you to pause between songs and change records, for example, only record certain songs, and to save each song as a discrete data file on the CD.

Granted, you can do this already by hooking up your turntable to a computer using an audio cable and recording in something like SoundForge, then manually chopping up the large file into one for each song, but that's a pain in the ass. It's so much of a pain in the ass that I still haven't done it despite a years-long desire to tackle the project.

So if you've got a spare four hundred bucks to blow on this thing and want to try it out, please do let me know how it fares.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - The River in Reverse (2006)

DRM Sinking iTunes Store (Finally)?

2006-12-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

Engadget had a piece today on the fact that iTunes sales are collapsing, and notes that "since January, the monthly revenue going into Apple's iTMS has fallen by '65-percent,' with the average transaction size falling '17-percent.'" It got me thinking about an explanation for this phenomenon.

Engadget posits the reason as being that "It's no secret that folks looking to pick up some new tunes would like to avoid DRM at all costs." I don't think that is necessarily true (as I will explain momentarily), but I do believe that a growing awareness of DRM is what's driving the iTunes' store decline in popularity (and lack thereof is what fueled its initial success).

Of course, the music-savvy among us have long been aware of the major problems with DRM -- I've often pointed out that nobody I know has ever bought music from the iTunes store, and neither have I. But the reality is that I think the average consumer just doesn't "get" why DRM is such a problem. Check out this recent post where the author reports that "Many people wrote in asking about DRM – what it is, how it works, and what means for them." "What it is"? Seriously? It's sort of like how nobody knows anyone who watches "The King of Queens" yet it gets huge ratings -- there's this vast, silent majority of Wal-Mart shoppers out there, and they are the people who are now changing the market for iTunes downloads.

So in other words, initial iTunes purchasers didn't know or care what DRM is. But now that they've been experiencing it in the context of their iTunes store purchases, they are learning first-hand what it's all about and are deciding not to make additional purchases. I'll bet the reason this has happened over time can be due to two main factors:

1) At first, people were excited about the iTunes store and downloaded a bunch of music. They didn't understand what DRM was or why they should care about it, they just wanted that Mariah Carey song. For awhile, the DRM did not impact them.

2) Now, enough time has passed that they and their spouse have changed jobs, their home computers have been replaced or they have added additional computers/external hard drives, and they have reached the limit on the number of times they can move or backup those files (for which they paid good hard cash) without going through the hassle of figuring out how to de-authorize and re-authorize computers. Not being an iTunes purchaser I've never done this, and I imagine it's pretty easy, but for whatever reason most people are terrified of doing even the simplest computer-related tasks and they likely just give up or don't bother finding out how to do it. I don't blame them -- when I want to hear an album, I want to press play. Period.

3) New MP3 players such as the Zune have been getting a lot of press, and more people are figuring out that an iPod isn't the only portable music player that exists. But then they hear that none of the music (again, for which they have paid good hard cash for) from the iTunes store can be played on anything other than an iPod. "WTF?" you can hear them collectively exclaiming. "I *have* to buy another iPod or lose all this music I've bought?"

Now that it's become an inconvenient part of their own personal experience, they are being forced to understand the impact of the iTunes store's DRM and it's role in Apple's scheme to use it to arm-twist consumers into continuing to replace their iPods with more iPods, instead of competing products. And they are starting to care, or at least forego purchasing additional DRM-locked files.

This would also suggest why music vendors such as eMusic and smaller players (like Download Punk) are finding a growing niche market among people who want to buy downloadable music files but aren't willing to pay money for those that contain DRM.

Whatever the reason, I'm glad to see that more people are eschewing the iTunes store. The faster the erosion of Apple's monopoly, the better for us consumers.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent Jens (2005)

Must... Buy... Now

2006-12-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

This is awesome! What a great Christmas gift! I remember when we used to bring our boombox to the beach with us as teenagers and you'd pretty much wear out the entire set of nine bazillion 'D' batteries it took in one day (especially if you used the tape player!).

Buy it for forty buxx here: Link
(Stolen from Gizmodo)

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Aterciopelados - Oye (2006)

Search Referrer Logs Funtime

2006-12-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

Google: pas/cal outback jingle
Close but no cigar! It was an Of Montreal song that Outback stole (and totally bastardized).

Yahoo: what kind of pants does albert hammond jr. wear
None, he wears overalls exclusively.

Google: inaudible ringtone
Seriously? I'm still getting hits for this? It's like when you go to the suburban midwest and everyone at the mall is wearing fashions that went out of style like three years ago.

Google: nick sigmon
He's a horrible, horrible person, and I'm glad I'm helping keep that information alive for people who apparently have come across him and Googled his name. If you are an employer, don't hire him unless you want a future serial killer on your hands.

Google: If You Walk Away, I'll Walk Away
This is another one I get so often than I think it must be associated with something else and not just a Bright Eyes lyric.

Google: christmas play for youth 15 minutes
Shortest Christmas play ever...

Google: Wendi McClendon-Covey
followed four minutes later by...
Google: Wendi McClendon-Covey nude
"Goddamn it, all these pics are of her with CLOTHES on." Regular readers of this blog know that for some reason, this is one of the all-time favorite search hits. I am pretty sure I only mentioned her once too, and it had nothing to do with nudity.

Google: ian curtis film
Yahoo: joy division jude law
Dude, I KNOW. I'm going to die of old age before I ever see that movie.

Google: how to make purple stuff
Mix red stuff and blue stuff. I knew that learning the "color wheel" would come in handy one day!

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Hidden Cameras - Awoo (2006)

Vagrant 2-for-$15 Deal

2006-12-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

Speaking of my favorite album of 2006, Vagrant Records is running a special deal where you can buy it, along with any other album, for a total of $15. Additional CDs are only $7.50 each. The selections include the Futureheads' excellent News & Tributes and Two Thousand by French Kicks:

Link

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Magnetic Fields - The Charm of the Highway Strip (1993)

All Songs Considered's Best of 2006

2006-12-05T15:19:00.000-08:00

In its annual countdown of best albums of the year (dictated by listener votes), NPR's All Songs Considered named the Decemberists' The Crane Wife as number one. You can listen to the very interesting and lively discussion below, even though they completely missed the mark on my favorite album of the year, the Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6557143&ft=1&f=1039

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
NPR still

Bound Stems - Appreciation Night

2006-12-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

I go through tons of promos, so it's rare when one really grabs me and ends up on endless repeat rather than tossed into the "eh" pile. Bound Stems' September release Appreciation Night has recently landed itself in the realm of the former. There's something about it that I really like -- so I was surprised to do some poking around on the internet and not see a whole lot written about it yet.

I thought this Austinist review summed up the record well, and this Popmatters review does it even better.

Anyway I would highly recommend checking out a couple of the tracks you can download from their label's website here and an additional one on their myspace page here. If you like those I don't think you will regret picking up the album.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Closer on the teevee

Gift Card Thievery Warning

2006-12-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

My mother is so good at sending me bogus "the crooks are out to get you!" e-mails that I was surprised to check snopes.com and find that this is real. What's more, they list about a million other ways that gift cards can be drained of their value unbeknownst to the holder:

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/sales/giftcard.asp

A gift card is a crappy gift anyway. It just says, "I don't care enough to shop for something you would actually enjoy but I feel like this is marginally less tacky than handing you a check." (It isn't). With all these ways their value can be stolen, why bother?

If you do want to buy them, Snopes at least lists some things you can do to protect yourself, such as looking for cards that require a PIN number and have it obscured with scratch-off stuff.

what I'm listening to right this very minute: The Stills - Without Feathers (2006)

Crumbelievable, Part 2

2006-12-03T13:18:00.000-08:00

In the vein of my recent rant regarding Kohl's and Outback Steakhouse, Retrocrush has compiled a great list of "crumbelievably" cringe-inducing uses of old songs in television commercials, complete with YouTube links:
http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2006/popsongads/index.html.

The Kohl's ad is in there too. I think my vote for most egregious has to go to Maxwell House. It's one thing to take a song as it is and use it as the soundtrack to your commercial, but changing the song itself is sort of like murdering someone and making a suit out of their skin a la Silence of the Lambs.

By the way, they didn't include the Outback Steakhouse one, so I decided to find it on YouTube. So terrible:

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Stiff Little Fingers - Tin Soldiers [Live] (1999)

Upcoming Shows

2006-12-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

Dec. 3 - Imogen Heap w/Magnet at the Warfield
Dec. 4 - The Duhks at the Independent
Dec. 4-5 - Aimee Mann at Bimbo's
Dec. 5 - The Faint w/ Ratatat at Mezzanine
Dec. 5 - Amy Millan at the Independent
Dec. 5 - …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead at the Fillmore
Dec. 6 - Wolfmother w/Silversun Pickups at the Fillmore
Dec. 6 - Jonathan Richman at the Great American Music Hall
Dec. 6 - Scissor Sisters w/Soul Asylum at Bimbo's 365 Club
Dec. 7 - The Aquabats at Slim's
Dec. 8 - The Killers, Modest Mouse, the Raconteurs, the Shins, Silversun Pickups at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Dec. 8 - Lily Allen at the Mighty
Dec. 8-9 - Los Lobos w/Calexico
Dec. 10 - The New Cars w/Persephone's Bees at the Fillmore
Dec. 13 - The Pink Mountaintops at the Independent
Dec. 14 - Dressy Bessy at Slim's
Dec. 15 - Devotchka w/ Eric Bachmann at the Fillmore
Dec. 16 - Throwing Muses at the Great American Music Hall
Dec. 16-17 - Rancid at the Warfield
Dec. 19-20 - Joanna Newsom at the Great American Music Hall
Dec. 21 - Silversun Pickups at the Mighty
Dec. 22 - The Vandals at Slim's
Dec. 28 - Violent Femmes at the Fillmore
Dec. 29-31 - My Morning Jacket at the Fillmore
Dec. 29-30 - Two Gallants w/Vetiver at Bimbo's
Dec. 30 - Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven at the Independent
Dec. 30 - Gnarls Barkley w/Flaming Lips at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Dec. 30 - Every Move a Picture and some other bands at Mezzanine
Dec. 31 - Hepcat at Slim's
Dec. 31 - Blonde Redhead at Mezzanine

Jan. 5 - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at Bimbo's 365 Club
Jan. 5 - Oranger at the Great American Music Hall
Jan. 22 - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton at the Great American Music Hall
Jan. 24 - Bowling for Soup at Slim's
Jan. 30-Feb. 1 - NOFX at Slim's
Jan. 30 - Deerhoof at the Great American Music Hall
Jan. 31 - Dar Williams at Bimbo's 365 Club

Feb. 1 - NOFX at Slim's
Feb. 2-3 - Of Montreal at the Great American Music Hall
Feb. 13-14 - Los Amigos Invisibles at the Independent

Mar. 1 - Snow Patrol at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Mar. 2 - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists at the Great American Music Hall (Noise Pop Festival)

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Annuals - Be He Me (2006)

Upcoming Releases

2006-12-02T18:36:00.000-08:00

December 19
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

January 2007
PAS/CAL - Citizen's Army Uniform

January 23
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
Menomena - Friend and Foe
Animal Collective - People EP
The Earlies - The Enemy Chorus

January 30
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - TBD
Youth Group - Casino Twilight Dogs

"Early-ish next year"
The Thrills - TBD

"February/March 2007"
The Arcade Fire - TBD

February 6
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder

March 2007
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - TBD
Chris Walla - It's Unsustainable
Satellite Party - s/t
Midnight Movies - Lion the Girl
Les Savy Fav - TBD

March 6
!!! - Myth Takes
Air - Pocket Symphony

March 20
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Low - Drums and Guns
The Ponys - Turn the Lights Out
I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends

April 2007
The Clientele - God Save the Clientele

June 2007
Bob Mould - TBD

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Bound Stems - Appreciation Night (2006)

Married to the Sea

2006-11-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows about Married to the Sea, right? I talked to somebody today who had never heard of it. Well just in case, you can thank me later:

Link: marriedtothesea.com

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Slaying Since 1996 (Suicide Squeeze Records Compilation)

"Christmas Magic" Video

2006-11-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

Oh. My. God.

I wasn't expecting much from a Christmas-themed song and video done by Lindsay Lohan's sister, Aliana Lohan, but this is truly breathtaking.

These are the ACTUAL LYRICS and not a parody:

"Every year December comes smiling faces on everyone
There’s magic in the air spending time with family putting up the Christmas tree
Lights are going up everywhere strangers and friends every boy and girl
Spreading joy around the world

That’s Christmas magic...It makes the world come together
Things get better...magic (makes things happen)
Its Christmas magic...All those who don’t get along
Forget who’s right or wrong...Its magic (makes things happen)
That’s magic...That’s magic

People think of others first looking for good things and not the worst
Giving gifts to show that they care there’s excitement in our soul
Its the same thing for young and old its a time that we all share

A magical time for all the boys and girls
Shared by all around the world

The reason the season blessings sent from heaven
The peace and the giving jingle bells are ringing
The cheers and the laughter nothing else could matter
The love and the gladness...(around the world)"

A MAGICAL TIME FOR ALL THE BOYS AND GIRLS!!!! It was like she just wrote down every Christmas cliche on slips of paper, and pulled them one by one out of a jar, and read them to music.

I'd further point out that Christmas certainly isn't celebrated "by all around the world," but there's so much wrong here that it's making my head explode.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Aimee Mann - Lost in Space (2002)

SellaBand

2006-11-27T14:21:00.000-08:00

I recently read about the website SellaBand in this article in Wired magazine (which, incidentally, has gotten a LOT better since it was revamped).

As the Wired article explains, the concept is that unsigned bands can share their music with potential fans via the site, and those potential fans can buy the right to a future CD for $10. Once 5,000 people sign up for any particular band, the total $50,000 goes to record the band's first CD, and the initial purchasers each get a copy of the CD sent to them. Presumably they then go evangelize about it.

Sellaband makes money by keeping the rights to the masters for a year and gets a percentage of the publishing in perpetuity.

I agree with Wired that there are some issues here, but I'm not as cynical about it as Wired. As it is, most bands sign to a label by promising a cut of future revenue in exchange for an advance up front. There's not much difference here, except that Sellaband isn't putting up the money for the advance, it's letting fans bear that risk (while, notably, not getting any of the return in the form of a chance to make big bucks off future sales). But in exchange, "believers" are getting involved with music in a way that one assumes has value to them -- wouldn't it be fun to say that you helped get one of your favorite bands off the ground? And after all, it's only $10 (which you can get back if the $50,000 goal is not attained).

Mostly I just like that SellaBand is thinking about the music industry, and how to promote and sell music, in a different way. It begs the question of whether the model is sustainable -- how many breakout artists selling substantial amounts of CDs need to emerge in order to underwrite SellaBand's costs? -- but it's certainly a step in the right direction.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Etiquette (2006)

My Rant About Skinny Jeans

2006-11-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

NOTE: Someone else linked to the post below with the presumptuous re-titling, "Disappointing Realization That Skinny Jeans Should Only Be Worn By Skinny People." I just wanted to clarify that the following post is not at all a disappointing realization that skinny jeans should only be worn by skinny people. Like most people, I certainly would have already made that realization the last time(s) skinny jeans were trendy, and more importantly, my rant is about the fact that they are unattractive, period.

I feel like I am reasonably accomodating when fashions change. I can be resistant at first (I remember, a few summers back, insisting that I would *never* put on a pair of those ridiculous capri pants), but then I'll force myself to try on a few versions of a new style, find a cheap version at H&M, for example, and wear it around the house on the weekend. Eventually I get used to it and it graduates to normal wear status. Then I start filling my closet with other versions.

But skinny jeans are the exception. I must have tried on 15 pairs by now, and I cannot find a pair that does not make me want to gag when I look in the mirror.

Now, I recognize that skinny jeans should be worn by skinny people. Nobody wants to see this:

I'm not skinny, but I'm not overweight either. Being a runner, my legs are even less skinny than the rest of me. But I think it is not outside the realm of possibility that I can wear these things.

Is it just a mental block? Do I need to just suck it up and buy a pair even if I think they look terrible? Will I get used to them like everything else?

I'd give up on trying to be fashionable entirely, but I am so encouraged by the way America has, thus far, so valiantly resisted the bubble skirt. And it makes me want to live to fight another day.

I think I need to take the "we lost the battle but won the war" approach. Skinny jeans won this round. I need to accept defeat and just buy a pair. But all is not lost. Every time I look in the mirror and think, "bootcut just looks SO much better!" I'll remind myself that other battles may still be won. Together, America, we CAN defeat the slouchy boot!

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Bound Stems - Appreciation Night (2006)

Do the Mel Gibson!

2006-11-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

I think Mel Gibson has started an interesting new trend... today we get *both* Michael Richards and Rupert Murdoch apologizing for their ridiculous behavior, as if that should just make it all better. I guess at least they're apologizing in the first place. And it makes for entertaining watchins!

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Housemartins - Now That's What I Call Quite Good (1992)

Where I Lose My Patience With Profiteers

2006-11-20T02:10:00.000-08:00

I've been getting really sick of the new for-profit music blog Idolator recently, but a post today was sort of the straw that broke the camel's back, and I realized that the profits are what's really the problem here.

The particular post that put me over the edge was essentially, "Hey, we're hearing about this new band called Robbers on High Street." The first comment says it all: "How did a post from 2004 get to the front page?" EXACTLY.

This is on top of several other posts where the authors clearly had no idea what they were talking about. For example, after the week's biggest buzz surrounded Modest Mouse's first shows in L.A. with legendary Smiths guitarist* Johnny Marr as a bandmember, Idolator had a post that featured a picture of the old Modest Mouse lineup and a couple of MP3s from the show, with no mention of why they were significant (because the author had no idea).

But all this made me realize the problem: Idolator is a for-profit, ad-supported blog by wanna-be bigtime media player Gawker Media. That means that, whereas most music blogs are run by hobbyists who love music and post about it because they just can't get enough, Idolators' posts are written by people who are paid to do it, and they need to write a certain number of posts per day to keep their jobs. That necessarily means they'll sometimes have to post even though they don't have anything to say -- or the background knowledge upon which to base it. Whereas I'm sure the authors do have an interest in music, it's not necessarily at the same level of interest as someone who takes time out of their busy lives to post to their own blogs without getting paid.

I feel like I also have to point out that I am an adult. I am not a college kid railing against everyone who "sells out" or tries to make a business out of something with potential. But the result in this instance is poor and poorly-researched content, and that's where I've got a problem. If Gawker insists on keeping Idolator around, I hope they at least step up to the plate a bit. Get some people who actually know something about music and are on top of what's happening in the industry. There's room for a well-run operation here, Idolator's just not it.

*And less legendarily as guitarist for The The, which I am compelled to mention because they were so tragically underappreciated!

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Bloc Party - s/t (2005)

Larry King, Crazy Old Man

2006-11-18T23:56:00.000-08:00

I recently started learning to play the harmonica again. See the thing is, I bought this harmonica when I was about 18, before there was an Internet that people used regularly. I tried to teach myself how to play, because I am generally able to hear something and play it by ear, but there were a lot of things that confused me, such as why some notes were missing, and I didn't have a way to figure it out, and I got frustrated and gave up.

Fast forward to a recent time when I felt like playing music again. "I should buy a piano!" I thought (I can play the piano reasonably well). Then I looked up how much one cost, even used. Combine that with the fact that we are planning to sell this house relatively soon and find one on a larger lot, and the purchase of a piano seemed unreasonable. "But wait, I have that harmonica somewhere..."

This time around, I was able to get it out and Google "how to play the harmonica". I found a ton of resources including this very useful site. Within less than five minutes, I was practicing some rudimentary tunes. It was a 180-degree turnaround from my first harmonica attempt. (By the way, the reason some notes are missing is that breathing in produces a different note than breathing out.)

So there's that, and just the general statement I often make to Husband, which is, "OMG what did we do before you could just think of a question like, 'I wonder what the most expensive piano ever sold was?' and walk over and Google it and get the answer immediately? Do you ever stop thinking about how insane that is? Remember how when we got married in Southern California in 1996 I had to acquire a phone book for that area in order to look up photographers, etc. because it was before the days when you could just look up their website?"

Anyway the point of all this is that I truly can't believe this Larry King tidbit:

Larry King is afraid of the Internet

"KING: I’ve never done it, never gone searching.

BARR: Oh, my God! It just opens up the whole universe. It’s so awesome. You would love it.

KING: No, I wouldn’t.

BARR: Anything you want to know.

KING: The wife loves it. I wouldn’t love it. What do you punch little buttons and things?

BARR: You just click on this thing. The thing is you got to be able to read, so you have to have strong glasses when you’ve over 50 and then you just scroll down and click. It’s not that hard. I can show you how to do it.

KING: No, thanks."

It makes me think of when my Grandpa was alive and we got him a computer so he could e-mail, and he was open to the concept but just never could really wrap his brain around the idea of a mouse -- that you move it around and the movements are translated to the screen. He just couldn't get it. But at least he was trying.

I hope and pray that when I am a crotchety old woman that I don't just sit around, completely oblivious to the amazing things happening around me. Please, please, please.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (2006)

Hot Chip at the Mezzanine

2006-11-18T02:14:00.000-08:00

Now I know what it's like to have a near-death experience.

I didn't get to see Hot Chip when they came around in 2005 because I think I was either studying for the Bar Exam or we were out of town or something. So of course I was definitely going to be there when I found out they were playing the Mezzanine tonight.

But Husband's friend was DJ-ing and said he would put us on the guest list. Then yesterday, it turned out there was some sort of problem with that, so we went to buy tickets, but they were already sold out! I was apoplectic. Of course, I was an idiot for not just buying the tickets in the first place, I mean they were $12 freakin dollars apiece. I was going to miss the show because I tried to save $24. That's the rate my firm charges for 0.1 hours of my time. SIX MINUTES, people. And it was going to cost me the chance to see Hot Chip at all! How could I be so stupid?

I had just resigned myself to working late in order to punish myself, when all of a sudden Husband IM'd me at about 3pm -- he had a co-worker who was willing to sell him her tickets! HOORAY! It was like Dr. Chase and Dr. Foreman had tried every test they could think of and had finally given up and told my family I was going to die, but then suddenly Dr. House had an epiphany and realized I had Chagas disease and could be cured with a simple course of antibiotics. A second chance! I had been saved!

And it was all worth it, because Hot Chip rocked the dance floor. They are absolutely fantastic live. I do hope they come back soon. When they played "Over and Over" as the last song, the crowd went absolutely apeshit.

(By the way, opening band Born Ruffians was not too shabby despite looking like they were about 17 years old. I couldn't decide if they were trying to be the Futureheads or the Proclaimers, but either way, it showed promise.)

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The ringing in my ears

Lists Part II

2006-11-14T20:33:00.000-08:00

A follow-up to my previous posts complaining about "Best xx albums of xx" lists -- if you really want to make your list a monument to stupidity, be sure to include "best-ofs" by dead people as actual albums, and include Garth Brooks anywhere:

Time Posts a Completely Irrelevant List of Some Randomly-Chosen Albums From the Past Century

Also, love that the majority are from the 1960s and 1970s. Hey aging Baby Boomers pretending you're still relevant, please cut it out.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Magnetic Fields - i (2004)

Dear Bloc Party,

2006-11-14T09:24:00.000-08:00

Let this be a lesson to you.

When you pull bullshit stunts like scheduling a tour where you go from Seattle, Washington to San Jose without ONE FREAKIN STOP in San Francisco or the East Bay, apparently erroneously believing that you can just call San Jose your "Bay Area stop" and check it off the list, even though San Jose is like an hour-plus drive away and probably doesn't have a single decent venue, and if it does it's certainly not the San Jose Pavilion......... well then the Fates are going to smite you by giving one of your members a collapsed lung so that you have to cancel the whole tour.

Keep this in mind when you reschedule, please.

Love,
Me

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
James Figurine - Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake (2006)

Feasting on the Corpse of Tower Records

2006-11-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

Like little vultures, we headed on down to our local Tower Records yesterday to check out the "going out of business" clearance sale.

My first thought when I started shopping was, "Oh my god, THIS is why they went out of business!" -- the CDs were originally priced as high as $17! When was the last time you *ever* spent $17 for a regular CD that was not an import? That meant that even at the "going out of business" price of 30% off, I was paying about as much as I normally do on Amazon.com -- $10-14.

Additionally, their selection sucked. Three of the four albums I had planned to buy weren't even in stock (and not because the CDs had already been picked over, they didn't even have dividers marked for these particular artists).

But it got me thinking, why did Tower really go bankrupt? So I surfed around on the Interwebs and scoped out some of the theories:

By not selling digital downloads. That's sort of a silly argument. To sell digital downloads, you first need to acquire the rights to sell them (something the rights holders have been very reluctant to hand out), and there's no indication Tower had the opportunity or technology to get in that position.

Other stores (read: Wal-Mart) were using music as a loss leader to get people in the door. This is one of the more interesting arguments I've heard, but how many people really buy music at Wal-Mart? We've successfully fended off Wal-Marts around here, but we've got Best Buy, and they have such a poor selection that they rarely have anything I'm looking for. But maybe I'm just out of the mainstream, maybe there's a big enough majority (sadly) of Garth Brooks fans flocking to buy his latest CD at Wal-Mart that it made a difference.

The rise of the Internet caused people to research music on their own and obviated the value-add of record store clerks. Again, maybe I'm out of the mainstream but before the Internet I learned about music from my friends, magazines, the radio, and going to shows. I am pretty sure I have never gotten a record store clerk's opinion on anything.

It's the Internet's fault. At first I didn't buy this argument, as I still don't know anyone who regularly buys digital downloads from the iTunes store except, for example, that one girl in H.R. who has 10 tunes in her library and just can't get enough of that "My Humps" song. But then I thought about how many records a month I buy from Amazon and Insound, versus how many I've bought at bricks-and-mortar stores. The few times I've even tried the latter (because I suddenly decide I want it NOW), most of the time they don't even have what I want in stock.

Corporate overspending and reluctance to close unprofitable stores (scroll down to comment 19). I don't have any insight into Tower corporate so I can't speculate, but that would have to be an awful lot of spending. Add in overreaching global expansion to the reluctance to close problem stores, however, and that certainly could be a problem.

I'm sure it was a confluence of factors that doomed our friend Tower... but my money's on the Amazon/Insound factor.

A side note -- OMG they were still selling cassettes??

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Neverending White Lights - Goodbye Friends of the Heavenly Bodies (2005)

GetDataBack Rulz!

2006-11-11T13:34:00.000-08:00

See if you can tell where this story is going.

1. I have a ginormous iTunes library, and have spent hours upon hours on my giant project of digitizing ALL the CDs we have collected over the past 15-20 years. I'm about a third of the way done.

2. Because of all the invested time, I am extremely meticulous about not losing the data, and have a two-drive system where all the music is stored on one external 400GB drive, and is backed up in full on a second external drive. I have backup software called Memeo that works great for keeping the backup up-to-date.

3. I notice that external hard drives tend to last about 2 years. I replaced the primary drive a couple of months ago, so when the backup drive died last week, I thought it would be safe to wait for one I found a good deal on but was backordered for 2 weeks.

4. While I was waiting for that drive to ship, yep, you guessed it, the primary drive became corrupted and unreadable. I have reason to think the people who clean our house may have jostled it during their cleaning while we were at work, but I'll try to put that thought out of my head because it makes me want to beat them to death.

After copious freaking out, I got a program called GetDataBack. You can download it here. It cost $69 and was able to recover *everything* and copy it onto a new drive that I bought.

Before you pay for a license to use the software, you can download a demo version that scans your drive and lets you see what can be recovered, so you don't have to waste your money if your drive is completely dead.

$69 is definitely worth it given the many, many hours I have spent inserting CDs one at a time and importing them to the iTunes library. Note that you need a new drive to copy the files to (it can't repair/rewrite them on the same drive).

Of course, the real lesson is that if you have a backup drive and it ever dies, put everything else in your life on hold while you run out and buy a replacement immediately and don't be a cheapass idiot like me who waits 2 weeks to save $100 on a backordered clearance item.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Hold Steady - Boys & Girls in America (2006)

The Dogs Join the Internet Meme

2006-11-11T12:41:00.000-08:00

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Official LOST Audio Podcast

Albums I am Enjoying Thus Far in 2006

2006-11-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

In light of my recent complaints about lists, here is yet another crappy list. But emphatically not a "best of...," just an un-ordered list of 2006 albums I find myself enjoying -- an exercise that will hopefully purge me of the need to do any sort of year-end nonsense.

I gotta say that despite it being a cliche choice, I think Boys and Girls in America has been my favorite album of the year so far, hopefully not just because I remember what it was like to be a disaffected teenager living in whitebread suburbia in the same era as Craig Finn. I don't understand why that record is apparently rather polarizing -- I can see why their past work wasn't for everyone, but I think this release holds a different and universal appeal. It can be appreciated on a casual level even though not everyone will "get" it in a more significant way.

Fudging a bit with the U.S./U.K. release dates, I know. Links are to reviews I might have written.

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Hot Chip - The Warning
The Long Winters - Putting the Days to Bed
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love
The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
The Minus Five - s/t
The Delays - You See Colours
Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth

Other options that I liked, but not enough to call "favorites" for the year -- if I were making a "Top xx of 2006" list, they would be in the bottom half:

Islands - Return to the Sea
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I am Dreaming
The Futureheads - News & Tributes
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
The Killers - Sam's Town
Golden Smog - Another Fine Day
Psapp - The Only Thing I Ever Wanted
Wilderness - Vessel States
Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country

Albums that I like after a few listens and might have made the list but I still haven't spent enough time listening to them yet to make a decision:

Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 - Ole Tarantula
Sloan - Never Hear the End of It
Cold War Kids - Robbers & Thieves
Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
M. Ward - Post-War
Califone - Roots & Crowns
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
The Stills - Without Feathers
Bobby Bare Jr. - The Longest Meow
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Broom
Lady Sovereign - Public Warning

I sort of wanted to create a list of "albums I disliked," because some are obvious by their omission, but I hate to be negative and most of the releases that other people have been fond of this year -- Grizzly Bear and the Thermals are good examples -- are not necessarily lacking in merit but just not my taste.

What's really sad is how many I originally had on this list until I actually looked up the release dates (New Pornographers, Wolf Parade, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)... man my life is passing me by awfully quickly! Time for a vacation!

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Buzzcocks - A Different Kind of Tension (1979)

A Real-World Example of Why You'll Pry My CDs from my Cold, Dead Hands

2006-11-10T09:58:00.000-08:00

I was recently working on a deal where digital music products were involved. A guy I was talking to mentioned his surprise at a recent survey that found that 95% of the music people collectively have in their iTunes libraries in not purchased through the iTunes store. I was like, duh, who uses the iTunes store? Nobody I know. I buy CDs and import them. He was agog/confused.

About a week ago, the external hard drive I use to back up my primary external hard drive (and which has all of my music files on it) died. Thinking myself clever, I found a very good deal on one from Best Buy and ordered it even though it was back-ordered for two weeks. I figured I could live without a backup for two weeks.

Then the primary drive (that I only bought about 3 months ago) may have died. It happened late last night and I still have to try some things (the problem may lie with my computer itself, fingers crossed), but I have accepted the fact that it may be dead forever, with no backup.

Of course my immediate reaction was to plug in my iPod, switch it to hard-drive mode, and copy all of the songs that were on it back to the main computer. But because an iPod only holds 60GB, there is a bunch of music that I had "unchecked" in iTunes so as not to add it to the iPod, and lives only on the dead hard drive(s).

But all is not lost! Because almost all of that 50GB or so of music was stuff I had spent hours upon hours (sniff) importing from our CD archive, in my grand project to digitize all of our 3000 or so CDs. It's extremely frustrating to think that all that time spent importing the original CDs has been lost, but all I have to do is re-do it. And the thousands of dollars I spent on that content hasn't gone down the toilet. Re-importing the CDs is free.

But imagine another universe where I had purchased all that stuff through the iTunes store. Gone, daddy, gone, despite the extreme care I generally take in keeping a fail-over drive and software that automatically keeps it up-to-date with the primary drive. How many people don't even backup their primary drive? Probably almost all of them. How pissed off are they going to be when their computer or drive dies and all that money they spent at the iTunes store evaporates into thin air?

Apparently Microsoft's Zune Marketplace is going to let you re-download the content for free if this happens. But do you really want to trust Microsoft to keep that option open for the rest of your life?

I'll stick with my CDs, thank you very much.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)

Upcoming Shows

2006-11-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

Nov. 9 - Islands at the Great American Music Hall
Nov. 9 - Tahiti 80 at Cafe du Nord
Nov. 10 - The Beautiful South at the Fillmore
Nov. 10 - Xiu Xiu at the Great American Music Hall
Nov. 10 - Minus the Bear w/The Velvet Teen at Bimbo's
Nov. 14 - The Damned at Slim's
Nov. 14 - Lady Sovereign at Mezzanine
Nov. 15 - Frank Black at the Fillmore
Nov. 17 - Hot Chip at Mezzanine
Nov. 17-18 - Super Diamond at Bimbo's
Nov. 18 - The Slits at Mezzanine
Nov. 21 - Thomas Dolby at the Red Devil Lounge
Nov. 21 - The Pernice Brothers at Cafe du Nord
Nov. 21 - The Album Leaf at the Independent
Nov. 21-22 - Mates of State at the Great American Music Hall
Nov. 24-25 - The Lemonheads at the Independent
Nov. 24 - Prodigy at the Fillmore
Nov. 26 - Cat Power at the Fillmore (an early and a late show)
Nov. 29 - The Hidden Cameras at the Independent
Nov. 29-30 - Ozomatli at the Fillmore

Dec. 1 - The Dears at the Independent
Dec. 2 - "Wall of Voodoo w/Stan Ridgway," at Slim's, and I'm not really sure what that means, except that maybe Wall of Voodoo has been touring without him in the past??
Dec. 2 - The Plimsouls at the Red Devil Lounge
Dec. 3 - Imogen Heap w/Magnet at the Warfield
Dec. 4 - The Duhks at the Independent
Dec. 4-5 - Aimee Mann at Bimbo's
Dec. 5 - Amy Millan at the Independent
Dec. 5 - …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead at the Fillmore
Dec. 6 - Wolfmother w/Silversun Pickups at the Fillmore
Dec. 6 - Jonathan Richman at the Great American Music Hall
Dec. 7 - The Aquabats at Slim's
Dec. 8 - The Killers, Modest Mouse, the Raconteurs, the Shins, Silversun Pickups at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Dec. 10 - The New Cars w/Persephone's Bees at the Fillmore
Dec. 13 - The Pink Mountaintops at the Independent
Dec. 15 - Devotchka w/ Eric Bachmann at the Fillmore
Dec. 16 - Throwing Muses at the Great American Music Hall
Dec. 16-17 - Rancid at the Warfield
Dec. 19-20 - Joanna Newsom at the Great American Music Hall
Dec. 28 - Violent Femmes at the Fillmore
Dec. 29-31 - My Morning Jacket at the Fillmore
Dec. 29 - Two Gallants at Bimbo's
Dec. 30 - Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven at the Independent
Dec. 30 - Gnarls Barkley w/Flaming Lips at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Dec. 31 - Hepcat at Slim's

Jan. 22 - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton at the Great American Music Hall
Feb. 1 - NOFX at Slim's
Feb. 13-14 - Los Amigos Invisibles at the Independent

Mar. 1 - Snow Patrol at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Format - Dog Problems (2006)

Two Points About the Prestige

2006-11-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

We recently saw the movie The Prestige, and although it was good, I felt the necessity to make two public announcements about it:

1) There are two scenes in which a bird is violently killed (and you see it). I really wish that instead of putting all kinds of energy into rating movies so that (God forbid) someone doesn't accidentally hear the word fuck, they had to post some sort of warning if an animal is hurt, because that shit is really upsetting (and usually unnecessary for the plot).

2) The movie hints at, but never explains, the historical reasons behind a certain important plot point, which I just happened to know about but which I don't think is common knowledge. So if you are going to see this movie, do yourself a favor and read this short article (or plenty of others) on Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and the battle over AC/DC. Read it even if you're not going to see the movie, because it's interesting. And also people should know that although Edison invented some nice things, he was also evil.

3) And a bonus point... Christian Bale... always SO HOT.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Stills - Without Feathers (2006)

A Rant About Lists, in List Form

2006-11-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

A Large-Hearted Boy post recently included a link to this one guy's pick of Top albums of the 1990s (forgive the web design, the page was created, aptly, in 1999).

This reminds me why I both crave and abhor "top xx of xx" lists. I encourage them, because they represent the beginning of the creation of a canon, which I consider a necessity for learning about any art form. Of course, people should always be encouraged to think outside the canon, but how else is anyone going to have an entry point for learning about music? If I didn't live through the 1930s, for example, I would need to know what the touchstones are for the most important and groundbreaking music of that era, because it's only after I understand the framework that I can (1) venture beyond it and (2) begin to think critically about the framework itself.

But at the same time, I get annoyed because especially when it comes to modern music, so many of these lists are being done poorly. For example, the list above explicitly limits itself to albums the author happened to listen to and like. Obviously one can't have an opinion about music one has never heard, but it also suggests that he wasn't going out of his way to track down other likely candidates and (more problematically) felt comfortable venturing to create a broad list without an understanding of the big picture. It's like trying to draw a map of the whole county when you've only driven the main road from one town to the next one over.

I don't intend to pick on this particular author, I'm merely using him as one example of the large number of people who insist on going through this exercise, which is ultimately pointless if one's goal is to be part of the authoritative discourse attempting to reach consensus on a canon.

I was glad to see Pitchfork's recent attempt to put together the "Top 100 albums" of various decades. This was a step in the right direction, as it presumably pulled together various opinions from the staff, all of whom have listened to a wide variety of music. But at the same time, it's my impression that they let many 20-something staff members have a say, many of whom by definition never heard, for example, the 1980s albums, at the time they were originally released.

And that's an essential part of the equation that I am troubled to see treated somewhat dismissively. Originality for its time, and effect on the contemporaneous general public and music aficionados alike, matters. Whether or not you like Nevermind, it was an important album for its time. If that same album were made today, it would have (I would bet) a significantly diminished stature. Context is not the only thing, but I would argue it's one of the more important things.

One can argue that a great album is timeless, and that's true. But a very good album can be made great by being ahead of its time and spawning entirely new schools of musical thought that never would have existed otherwise.

All of this comes down to what I would like to see as a set of Rules of Lists:

Although the influence of personal taste is unavoidable, limit its influence to the best of your ability. There are plenty of artists to whom I love to listen, but I recognize that their music is not particularly original or "great" from a historical standpoint (see, e.g., Barcelona).

Recognize the limits created by your personal taste (part 2 of above). For example, there are plenty of genres in which I have no interest and to which I rarely listen. Therefore, I would never purport to create a "Best Albums of the 1990s" list, for example, because it would necessarily be limited in this respect. Try circumscribing the scope of the list as appropriate, such as "Top 100 electronica-influenced albums of xx time frame."

Don't try to circumvent #2 by tokenizing genres. This would be the equivalent of me creating a universal "best of" list and throwing in It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back because it's one of maybe five rap albums I own. If you can't take a comprehensive view of a genre based on actual knowledge, leave it out.

Remember the importance of context, as described above. If you weren't alive and knowledgeable about music at the time of the album's release, you can't really have an opinion on what it was like to hear the album when it was new and what it sounded like in the context of everything that had come before. You can approximate this knowledge by learning about the musical and cultural milieu of the time, but you must also recognize the limits of this approach.

At the same time, context isn't everything. While both Unknown Pleasures and Closer were strong albums, I would argue that their status as classics is at least partly due to the fact that they will always be viewed in light of the potentially truly great albums that should have followed but never did. Does that mean they aren't still great on their own? It's a judgment one has to make.

Don't knock commercial successes. While it's true that by definition, commercially successful releases will hit the lowest common denominator (which, sadly, is extremely low), that doesn't necessarily obviate quality. Look at the Beatles. Or the Rolling Stones, while they were still alive.

Don't ever try to compile a list of the best albums of all time. It's pointless, the scope is too huge and the results will inevitably just be silly.

No showing off. Don't throw obscure crap in there just so you can impress everyone by liking an album nobody else has heard of, unless it would belong on the list even if it was a Billboard #1 hit.

Alright, that's the end of my rant. Next post: The 20 Best Albums Ever Recorded!

LATER: What perfect timing. Check out this truly awful list.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
James Figurine - Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake (2006)

Someone at NPR Loves Me

2006-11-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

NPR, like me, loves The Long Winters, and so I was so pleased to hear this in-studio performance-slash-interview with John Roderick:

The Long Winters: Songs Unfolding as Stories

It's about 15 minutes long and the band plays "Teaspoon," "Honest," and "Fire Island, AK." When you click on "Listen," Windows Media Player will launch and play the piece (so you presumably must have it installed).

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
+/- - Let's Build a Fire (2006)

Digitizing Back Catalogs

2006-10-31T10:28:00.000-08:00

I've written before about my fear that the digital music "revolution" may result in a reduction in availability of old music, particularly that which is no longer in print on CD (case in point, Operation Ivy's Energy).

That's why I was so pleased to hear this NPR piece about people collecting recordings from back-catalogs for digital distribution:
Music Downloads Drive a Back-Catalog Business Opportunity

It's definitely worth a listen.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Oxford Collapse - Remember the Night Parties (2006)

Yes It's Really a Post About Kevin Federline

2006-10-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

I truly try to give everyone a fair chance. There's always room for improvement. So when I saw that Kevin Federline's album was available for streaming, in its entirety, from AOL, I just had to see if it was as awful as everyone has expected (Link).

Now, I am admittedly not the target audience here. And to be honest, it really doesn't sound any different than all the mainstream commercial hip-hop I hear when I'm shopping at that one low-rent mall.

But what really bugs me is K-Fed's attitude. He characterizes himself as "America's Most Hated" and goes on and on ad inifinitum about some giant perceived conspiracy to keep him down. The pervasive theme of the album is how awesome he is for standing up to his detractors and having the guts to carry forth his art to the hidden throngs who are clamoring for his music (yes, they exist! K-Fed assures us that "I'm not the outcast like they label me"). He sketches himself in almost heroic proportions for staying strong in the face of all the "haters" who are nursing their unjustified grudges against him.

Um, really? Or is it more like people just don't think he's that interesting or talented, and find his continuing insistence that he is either somewhat amusing?

I think the bottom line about the album is that it includes lyrics such as, "Dudes hate K-Fed, Girls love K-Fed," "I'm in a league of my own" and "Don't hate cause I'm a superstar." When he uses the word "telekinesis," there's even a slight pause afterward so you can appreciate his impressive vocabulary. At the end of the day, do I really need to say more?

The title, Playing With Fire, is a boring cliche -- perhaps the most brilliantly apt portion of the entire record.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Something else in about 15 seconds

Phantom Tracks?

2006-10-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

Can somebody help me here? When I imported the new Rapture album, and later TV on the Radio, to my iTunes library, each of them came up with like 20 silent tracks stuck in the middle, each about 15 seconds long. Annoying, but I figured it was some multimedia files or something that iTunes got confused about.

Well, today I had some extra time so I figured I'd try putting one of the CDs in the computer to figure out exactly what those files were. And I was completely stumped! All I see are a tracklist of .cda files. I can't seem to get any of them to play with Windows Media Player or any other application. It's a modern writable DVD/CD drive.

Now my curiosity is really getting to me. I've tried multiple Google searches trying to find some other reference to this problem, and apparently it's just me. However, I learned that it's not just some problem specific to my computer when I visited the TV on the Radio website and saw that Return to Cookie Mountain did indeed have the tracks numbered the same way it came up for me:

Title
1 I Was A Lover 4:21
2 Hours 3:55
3 Province 4:37
4 Playhouses 5:11
5 Wolf Like Me 4:39
6 A Method 4:26
7 Let The Devil In 4:27
8 Dirtywhirl 4:16
9 Blues From Down Here 5:17
10 Tonight 6:53
11 Wash The Day Away 8:08
27 Snakes And Martyrs 4:08
28 Hours 4:24
29 Things You Can Do

(With tracks 12-26 being the "phantom" tracks.)

Anyone out there have an explanation? It's driving me bonkers.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love (2006)

A Comic and Lookout Stuff

2006-10-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Ah, memoirs of my youth... if you own a copy of Despite Everything: The Cometbus Omnibus and you get the joke below, you will probably greatly enjoy Mitch Clem's Nothing Nice to Say.

I'm totally ordering that t-shirt.

While we're on the topic of that era, I recently found out that Operation Ivy is yet another band that rescinded their masters from Lookout Records, and no label has picked up distribution for Energy, which means if you only have an old warped vinyl copy of this record you should pick up a used copy of the CD (or any leftover new copies) post-haste (here, for example), before it is gone forever. Because, let's be honest, a life where you can never again listen to "Sound System" is not worth living.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Wedding Present - Seamonsters (1991)

Where I Visit my Favorite Labels' Sites For the First Time in a While

2006-10-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

Although I'm only an unofficial member of the Barsuk Mafia, I am glad to see that the label is offering "Barsuk Radio," a little streaming player of music from its bands, all of which are at least good if not amazing*: Link (in the top left corner)

Saddle Creek Records has posted a sampler for download via BitTorrent teasing its upcoming releases: Link

Absolutely Kosher is now doing a podcast: Link. So is Secretly Canadian: Link

Merge needs to step it up and is still only at the blogging stage: Link

In other news, Matador needs to update their damn website.

*Except one, but I'll keep my mouth shut as to which one.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
My Brightest Diamond - Bring me the Workhorse (2006)

Upcoming Releases

2006-10-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to hear that +/- album... and very curious about the Walkmen...

October 24
Bright Eyes - Noise Floor
+/- - Let's Build a Fire
Aimee Mann - One More Drifter in the Snow
Arctic Monkeys - Leave Before the Lights Come On
Josef K - Entomology
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Broom
The Walkmen - Pussycats Starring the Walkmen (Harry Nilsson covers)
Ordinary Boys - How To Get Everything You Ever Wanted In Ten Easy Steps

October 31
Lady Sovereign - Public Warning

"We are planning for a November 2006 release"
PAS/CAL - Citizen's Army Uniform

November 7
Voxtrot - Your Biggest Fan EP
Isobel Campbell - Milkwhite Sheets

November 14
...And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead - So Divided
Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) - An Other Cup
Joanna Newsom - Ys

November 21
Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas
Swan Lake - Beast Moans

December 19
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

January 23
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
Youth Group - Casino Twilight Dogs
Menomena - Friend and Foe

January 30
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - TBD

February 6
Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Ghostfinger - These Colors Run (2005)

Why Bob Boilen Will Save Us All

2006-10-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

I've written before in passing about how much I love Bob Boilen and his fantastic NPR podcast, All Songs Considered. As an illustration of how good I think it is, of all the music-related podcasts I've sampled, it's the *only* one I listen to consistently. For that reason I thought I should devote an entire post just to Bob. I don't think he'd mind my calling him Bob.

First of all, based on his descriptions of what he was exposed to as a teenager I think he's in his late 40s or early 50s, and has been involved with music since his first job at a record store when he was 17. You can read more about his background in this article. But the point is, unlike most people who lose interest in music once they become an adult and don't want to invest time in it anymore, Bob kept listening. So he has the perspective of someone who has had a lifetime of exposure to different sounds, and also has all kinds of great stories on top of it.

But unlike the "Losing My Edge" character, when Bob interjects something about a 1978 Cramps show he attended, it's never to impress the listener, it's just a means of sharing -- so that you can feel a little of the fondness with which he recalls the memory. And he's got a million great memories.

That's what makes him (and his podcast) so terrific: He's excited about music, and he obviously gets real joy from sharing that excitement with other people who feel the same way. He realizes that music is important, and something to be taken seriously, and that (despite the cliche) sometimes the right song really can change your life. It's infectious, and when he plays something new he really likes, it makes me want to like it too. A lot of the time, I do.

Of course that's the most important thing about a music podcast -- he introduces me to new music that I like. But what makes All Songs Considered truly unique is that that introduction comes from an extremely knowledgeable, likable, down-to-earth guy who loves music and loves sharing it with other people.

From a recent podcast where Matt Ward joined him in the studio:

BB: My favorite cover of yours is probably "Sweethearts on Parade," which -- [to producer] do you have the Louis version of that song by chance?
MW: It's on Butter and Egg Man.
BB: I have Butter and Egg Man downstairs in my office... I'll tell you what, let's play a little of your version of "Sweethearts on Parade," and I will run downstairs, get the Butter and Egg Man CD, and then we'll play that.

Somebody who's willing to put their show on hold and run down a flight of stairs to hear just the right piece of music -- that's somebody I want in my life, even if only in podcast form.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Annuals - Be He Me (2006)

The End of an Era

2006-10-19T04:13:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Chronicle has asked readers to share their fondest memory of Tower Records, now that it's passing off into the great beyond.

For me, I remember how Husband worked there for many years during high school and college, and how his finds there built up most of the base of the CD collection we have now.

We used to get to attend special in-store shows at the original Hollywood store on Sunset that were just for employees and their guests. I met Frank Black at one of them and he signed my CD "To my best friend in all of L.A. county," which became probably my favorite autographed item.

Once we all moved to the Bay Area, my best friend worked at the Emeryville location, and so did her husband, that's where they met.

Lots of fond memories. R.I.P. Tower.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Ghostfinger - These Colors Run (2005)

Attack on Two Gallants & Fans

2006-10-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Given that they're from right here in San Francisco, I thought I should give a shout-out to the Saddle Creek band Two Gallants, who were apparently attacked by a crazed Houston police officer at Walter's in Houston during a performance.

The whole story is here with more detail on the Two Gallants website.

I guess that's just the sort of thing they do in Texas. San Francisco's got its problems, but there's a reason they call it "Big Heart City." Come on home, guys!

At the very least, I hope the whole thing gets you some press and turns some new people on to your new album.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Harvey Danger - Little by Little (2005)

Team9 Mashups

2006-10-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Team9 mashups can be hit-or-miss but there are a few available for download from the website that I am really digging right now... definitely check them out:

"Beck vs Michael Jackcon vs ACDC- Screaming Pro
Becks single 'E-pro' with Micheal J***sons 'Scream' and the riff from TNT by ACDC (as featured on partybens sixx mixx,indie 105 & XFMs remix)

Gnarls Barkley vs Prince - crazy times
I remember when, I remember I remember when this song was really quite fresh and FM radio hadnt got their dirty mits on it. Here is Gnarls Barkleys 'Crazy' with the purple ones 'Sign o the times'. Party Ben and Mcsleazy gave this one a few spins

The Flaming Lips vs Marvin Gaye - Whats going on, yeah
How great are The Flaming Lips. Thats not a question really. The wonderful 'Yeah Yeah Yeah song' with Marvin Gayes 'Whats going on' over the top. As usual, some cheap squelchy synths and tinny beats fill the track out a little"

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Sloan - Never Hear the End of it (2006)

Great LCD Soundsystem Video

2006-10-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

Everything James Murphy does is just so effing slick. This video for "Daft Punk is Playing at my House" is the best video I've seen in awhile. It won't make much sense if you've never watched levels on a soundboard, but they did slip a few shots of one in there if you are observant (or also, if you've never seen the "Around the World" video, but you can watch that here). Click on the picture:

A couple of other nifty new videos I discovered today when I visited boardsmag.com for the first time in awhile:

Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
Hot Chip - Colours

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Sloan - Never Hear the End of it (2006)

The Long Winters at Cafe du Nord

2006-10-14T02:31:00.000-07:00

Last night was a pretty amazing experience! We saw my favorite band, the Long Winters, at Cafe du Nord, and here's what happened:

1. The Cafe du Nord only holds about 300 people, so of course it was sold out and packed, but I was right in front of the stage (which is only about knee-high and 10 feet deep). So basically, each of the band members was 4-6 feet from me.

2. They played 20 songs (not counting impromptu renditions of "Let it Be" and "Born on a Bayou" -- John does a great John Fogerty impression!) and were awesome.

3. I had exchanged e-mails with John Roderick a few weeks ago and he offered to play a special request for me. And he did, and announced that it was by my special request. So I basically had my favorite song from my favorite band played for me, right in front of me.

4. After "It's a Departure," which requires a kazoo, Jonathan Rothman threw the light plastic kazoo into the audience and it accidentally smacked my husband in the head and drew blood. Free kazoo!

5. After the show, when the band members hung out, they were all very solicitous and nice about the kazoo incident. Jonathan swore off throwing kazoos into the audience, but I emphasized that this seemed like an unnecessary precaution. I talked to each of them and John Roderick even spoke with to us at length and gave me a Long Winters t-shirt. I took a picture with him and thanked him for playing my request. They were all incredibly wonderful people and thanked me for being right up in front and so enthusiastic, and didn't seem to mind that we were bugging them while they were trying to visit with their friends.

Anyway here are my pictures:

This was the set list. Note that they played every single song on the new album except for "The Sky is Open." The list might be slightly out of order:

1. Fire Island, AK
2. Teaspoon
3. Carparts
4. Hindsight
5. New Girl
6. Honest
7. Scent of Lime
8. Stupid
(sitting down to the piano...)
9. Delicate Hands
10. Blue Diamonds
(back to guitar...)
11. Pushover
("we've never played a show without playing this...")
12. Cinnamon
("this one is by special request..." for ME!!)
13. Scared Straight
14. Its a Departure
15. Seven
16. Rich Wife
("here's a song we almost forgot how to play...")
17. Prom Night at Hater High
(sitting down to finish the set with "a bunch of slow, sad songs")
18. Ultimatum
19. Clouds
20. The Commander Thinks Aloud

They are going on tour in Europe shortly but promised to come back to San Francisco in the spring. BTW, for the uninitiated, here is a great article from Paste on the new Long Winters album: Link

One last thing. I was recently party to a Stereogum discussion about people who pretend to be enthusiastic fans of a band and are really just their friends/family/PR shill. I hope that it would be insulting to suggest the Long Winters are at a sufficently nascent stage to draw this charge, but just to be clear, I have posted about them repeatedly because they are an amazing band who is deserving of worldwide acclaim. Although I wish I could say John Roderick is my friend/family member, he isn't, nor do I have any other ties to the band. I'm not a PR person. My irritatingly enthusiastic opinions are entirely genuine.

Upcoming Shows

2006-10-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

Oct. 16 - Ladytron at the Fillmore
Oct. 16 - Badly Drawn Boy at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 17 - The Hold Steady at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 17 - Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians at the Fillmore
Oct. 19 - Mew at Popscene
Oct. 19-20 - The Decemberists at the Warfield
Oct. 19-21 - Yo La Tengo at the Fillmore
Oct. 20 - Beirut at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 23 - Cursive w/the Thermals and Chin Up Chin Up at the Fillmore
Oct. 23 - Juana Molina at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 23 - The Be Good Tanyas at the Independent
Oct. 24 - The Twilight Singers at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 24 - She Wants Revenge w/Placebo at the Warfield (no, that order is not a typo)
Oct. 25 - Gomez at the Warfield
Oct. 26 - The Kooks at Popscene
Oct. 29 - Regina Spektor at the Fillmore
Oct. 30 - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins at the Fillmore
Oct. 30-31 - Tricky at the Independent
Oct. 30-31 - Bonnie Prince Billy at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 31 - The Cramps w/the Groovie Ghoulies at the Fillmore

Nov. 2 - Voxtrot at Popscene
Nov. 2 - OK Go at the Great American Music Hall
Nov. 2 - Brazilian Girls at the Warfield
Nov. 3 - Mouse on Mars at the Independent
Nov. 4 - Voxtrot at the Great American Music Hall
Nov. 4 - Say Anything at Slim's
Nov. 4 - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts w/Eagles of Death Metal
Nov. 6 - Sia at the Fillmore
Nov. 9 - Islands at the Great American Music Hall
Nov. 10 - The Beautiful South at the Fillmore
Nov. 10 - Xiu Xiu at the Great American Music Hall
Nov. 10 - Minus the Bear w/The Velvet Teen at Bimbo's
Nov. 14 - The Damned at Slim's
Nov. 15 - Frank Black at the Fillmore
Nov. 17-18 - Super Diamond at Bimbo's
Nov. 21 - The Album Leaf at the Independent
Nov. 21-22 - Mates of State at the Great American Music Hall
Nov. 24-24 - The Lemonheads at the Independent
Nov. 24 - Prodigy at the Fillmore
Nov. 26 - Cat Power at the Fillmore (an early and a late show)
Nov. 29 - The Hidden Cameras at the Independent
Nov. 29-30 - Ozomatli at the Fillmore

Dec. 2 - “Wall of Voodoo w/Stan Ridgway,” at Slim's, and I'm not really sure what that means, except that maybe Wall of Voodoo has been touring without him in the past??
Dec. 3 - Imogen Heap w/Magnet at the Warfield
Dec. 5 - Amy Millan at the Independent
Dec. 5 - …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead at the Fillmore
Dec. 6 - Wolfmother w/Silversun Pickups at the Fillmore
Dec. 7 - The Aquabats at Slim's
Dec. 10 - The New Cars w/Persephone's Bees
Dec. 16 - Rancid at the Warfield
Dec. 31 - Hepcat at Slim's

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife (2006)

Free Concert Tickets

2006-10-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

Music for America is sponsoring a program where you can get free entrance to performance by bands like The Long Winters, TV on the Radio, Rogue Wave, and the Decemberists by volunteering to help register voters at the venue:

http://www.musicforamerica.org/music/shows

By the way -- the bands provide the free tickets, so props to those guys for making their contributions to a worthy cause.

Seriously, people, not voting is pathetic. And don't complain that it takes too much time because you can vote absentee by mail (which is what I always do). There was a story in the paper this morning about how Stephen Bing is donating $40 million to the Yes on Prop 87 campaign (which would use oil company drilling fees to fund alternative energy projects). FORTY MILLION DOLLARS! And all we're asking you to do is mark up a ballot and put it in the mail. Come on.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Kinky - Reina (2006)

Upcoming Releases

2006-09-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

So much good stuff hitting stores Tuesday...

October 3
The Killers - Sam's Town
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Beck - The Information
The Dears - Gang of Losers
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Lady Sovereign - Public Warning
Thunderbirds Are Now! - Make History

October 10
Portastatic - Be Still Please
Albert Hammond Jr. - Yours to Keep
Sparta - Threes
Clinic - Visitations
Califone - Roots & Crowns
Cold War Kids - Robbers and Cowards
These Arms are Snakes - Easter

October 17
Badly Drawn Boy - Born in the U.K.
Goldfrapp - We are Glitter
Squarepusher - Hello Everything

October 24
Bright Eyes - Noise Floor
+/- - Let's Build a Fire
Aimee Mann - One More Drifter in the Snow
Arctic Monkeys - Leave Before the Lights Come On
Josef K - Entomology
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Broom
The Walkmen - Pussycats Starring the Walkmen (Harry Nilsson covers)

November 7
Voxtrot - Your Biggest Fan EP
PAS/CAL - Dear Sir EP

November 14
...And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead - So Divided
Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) - An Other Cup

November 21
Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas

December 19
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

"January 2007"
PAS/CAL - Citizen's Army Uniform

January 23
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
Youth Group - Casino Twilight Dogs

February 6
Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (2006)

Sam's Town

2006-09-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm actually *surprised* at how good the new Killers album is. I've got it on pre-order from Amazon (only $9.72!) but was excited to be able to listen to it ahead of time. I loved Hot Fuss, but I tried not to get my hopes up too much. But I think Sam's Town is absolutely terrific. I'll be interested to see if others agree.

I still don't quite understand how these guys found such mainstream appeal. Generally, the majority of the public has pretty poor taste, and let's face it, the whole 'if Ian Curtis grew up in Las Vegas' thing could have gone either way. But notwithstanding Brandon Flowers' ego, I'm happy for them in their well-deserved success.

I do, however, wish they weren't so popular with the really young kids, which is also somewhat perplexing because the lyrics are generally rather adult and probably go right over most of their heads. But that's only because it means I'll probably never be able to see them live unless they play a 21-and-over show. I don't necessarily avoid *all* all-ages shows, but there are some acts that you just know are going to attract a lot of heavily-made-up 15-year-old girls with mommies in tow - and that includes the Oct. 8 show at the Warfield.

So anyway, I give huge thanks to the Killers for not letting me down. I think I may actually end up liking this album *more* than Hot Fuss. We'll see.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (streaming here)

The Dark Side of Popularity

2006-09-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

I've never been one of those people who reject music that reaches mainstream popularity, (a) because it's just stupid, and (b) because I'd be absolutely thrilled if everyone else liked what I like. To not have to go shopping in the mall with my big noise-cancelling headphones on to block out the Top 40 garbage they blast at you... no I do NOT want to be forced to listen to the Pussycat Dolls against my will.

Nevertheless, I have come to realize that there is a dark, VERY DARK side to liking music that other people come to appreciate.

Exhibit 1: We were watching TV the other night and I left the room momentarily only to hear Husband frantically shouting, "OH MY GOD ARE YOU HEARING THIS???" It was a commercial for Kohl's, yes, Kohl's, with a bastardized, Muzak-y version of "In a Big Country." It was horrible. HORRIBLE. I am boycotting Kohl's until the end of time.

Exhibit 2: Then last night, we were watching "Law & Order," and 38 minutes in (for those of you with Tivos) there was an Outback Steakhouse commercial that I swear to god was a straight rip-off of Of Montreal's "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)." The lyrics were different, but the tune was exactly the same.

A sad, sad state of affairs. It's one thing to use a song, as-is, in a commercial, but to change them around to make them appealing to Joe Redneck who has never even heard of these artists is just wrong. Blech.

Oh by the way, one of my favorite recently-discovered blogs: Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
M. Ward - Post-War (2006)

On Not Falling Into the Gap

2006-09-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Audrey Hepburn must be rolling over in her grave. After the first ten thousand times I saw that Gap commercial I was ready to poke my own eyes out with a fork.

Seriously, why would her family authorize that? Did it not seem as bad when you weren't being forced to watch it EVERY TEN MINUTES??

Not that I needed additional reasons not to shop at the Gap, such as having even the tiniest sense of personal style, but between those awful commercials and being bombarded by the ten trillion "SKINNY! BLACK! PANTS!!!!" billboards at my subway stop, I hereby vow never to set foot in another Gap ever again.

BTW, yes I have a Tivo, but I'm often doing stuff around the house while I'm watching TV so I just let the commercials run.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Nothing, watching Colbert!

Super Mario Wedding Cake

2006-09-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

Super (Mario) Cake
Originally uploaded by alt text.

OK, this is pretty much the most awesome wedding cake I've ever seen.

Zach Braff, Bollywood Craziness, Rant

2006-09-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

I just thought this article was funny, especially since I came across it literally minutes after pulling the lastest issue of Paste from the mailbox and cringing at seeing him on the cover:

"Why I Hate Zach Braff"

And if all your friends haven't sent you this already:

Finally, you know what really pisses me off? When I forget to buy tickets to a show at Slim's and all they have left are the stupid dinner/show tickets, because who wants to pay $40 to eat dinner at Slim's where I'm sure the food is crappy anyway? Sorry Phoenix, I guess I'll be missing the show Sunday. Have fun, everybody else.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Hoodoo Gurus - Blow Your Cool! (1987)

Name Your Band

2006-09-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Husband and I have sort of a running list of names we would give our band if we had any musical talent whatsoever. I think his favorite is "Flanders to God." Anyway it's NOTHING compared to this amazing site I ran across recently:

Band Name Fodder

What's amazing is how many of them are actually very clever. You'd think with a list that long, it would be mostly filler. But no! There are so many good ones. I'm always partial to non-sequiturs such as Twilight of the Condiments, but there are also plenty of great "traditional"-style names such as the Rhetorical Devices and the Mudflap Girls.

Reminds me of my favorite Ben Gibbard quote about the name Death Cab for Cutie: "'I was a fan of the non sequitur,' Gibbard says with a trace of self-loathing. 'The problem is it doesn't roll off the tongue very well. You have to say it 15 times. If we pull up in a truck stop and someone asks, 'What band are you?,' I just say Slayer."

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love

New Long Winters Dates

2006-09-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

At the utterly fabulous Long Winters show last Friday at the Fillmore, where they opened for Feist, John Roderick mentioned they'd be playing at Cafe du Nord next month. Hooray! I get to see my favorite band *TWICE* in as many months! So I've been checking the website regularly to see what the exact date was, and wanted to note that they've posted several new dates. Of course, I already got my tickets to the Oct. 13 show.

04 Oct 2006
TORONTO, CANADA
[ Lee's Palace ]
with Menomena, What Made Milwaukee Famous

05 Oct 2006
DETROIT, MI
[ Magic Stick ]
with Menomena, What Made Milwaukee Famous

06 Oct 2006
CHICAGO, IL
[ Subterranean ]
with Menomena, What Made Milwaukee Famous

07 Oct 2006
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
[ Triple Rock ]
with Menomena, What Made Milwaukee Famous

09 Oct 2006
DENVER, CO
[ Larimer Lounge ]
with What Made Milwuakee Famous

12 Oct 2006
LOS ANGELES, CA
[ Spaceland ]
with Oakley Hall, What Made Milwuakee Famous

13 Oct 2006
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
[ Cafe du Nord ]
with What Made Milwaukee Famous

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
What Made Milwaukee Famous - Trying to Never Catch Up (2006)

NOBODY USES MY F#$%*&ING TOILETS

2006-09-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

I love Ian McCulloch, but this is just too weird...

Echo And The Bunnymen singer charged with assault
Ian McCulloch accused of attacking fans

Echo & The Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch has been charged with attacking two fans during a backstage dispute after a concert.

On Wednesday (September 6) a court heard that the frontman was accused of attacking Gary Duncan and his girlfriend Juliet Sebley following a show at Glasgow Barrowlands on October 23 last year.

According to BBC News, Duncan told Glasgow District Court that after the show, he and girlfriend had heard there was a possibility they could go backstage to use the toilets.

The fans spotted McCulloch and asked him if they could use the toilets. Duncan and Sebley went into separate cubicles and soon afterwards heard "fierce roaring and threatening language" from outside.

Duncan said McCulloch was: "threatening to kick the doors in of the toilets if we didn't get out".

Read the rest...

And in other strange news, The Delays are apparently HUGE in South America...

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Nina Gordon - Bleeding Heart Graffiti (2006)

Upcoming Releases

2006-09-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

So many good releases coming up... but boy that new Shins album is a long way off!

September 12
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio
Everclear - Welcome to the Drama Club
Xiu Xiu - The Air Force
M. Ward - TBA

September 19
Bonnie Prince Billy - The Letting Go
The Zutons - Tired of Hanging Around

September 26
My Morning Jacket - Double Live Album
The Lemonheads - s/t

October 3
The Killers - Sam's Town
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Beck - The Information
The Dears - Gang of Losers

October 10
Albert Hammond Jr. - Yours to Keep
Sparta - Threes
Clinic - Visitations

October 24
Bright Eyes - Noise Floor

"We are planning for a November 2006 release"
PAS/CAL - Citizen's Army Uniform

November 7
Voxtrot - Your Biggest Fan EP

November 14
Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) - An Other Cup

January 23
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Nothing, the season premiere of House is starting!

R.I.P. Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T04:12:00.000-07:00

You were kinda silly, but anybody who brings attention to wildlife and helps remind people that wild animals are interesting, exciting, and worthy of protection is a friend of mine.

R.I.P. What a bummer.

The Case Against "Renting" Music Part 2, or "Trust Me, I'm a Lawyer"

2006-09-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

About a million years ago I posted this regarding why I think the spread of "streaming" music services, such as Rhapsody and Napster, is problematic.

The essence of my argument was that when you are only "renting" the music rather than owning it, the service can take away your access to it at any time, and it's gone forever. Not like owning the CD, which no one is going to come into your house and grab from your hands.

Reader mgrooves, who works for Rhapsody, posted a comment that included the point "Subscription services want to offer as much music as possible, and speaking from personal experience, we would never take down music once it's available. It's not an issue of our 'wanting' to offer music; we need to. It wouldn't make sense to take it away unless a label or artist made us."

I was too lazy to respond to this fully at the time, and since I am pretty sure mgrooves is not an attorney (and I am), I thought I should finally get around to explaining the forces at work here.

To vastly simplify things, imagine a bar owner buys a CD and puts it in his jukebox. Anyone can come up and play the song on the jukebox. The music label that issued the CD can't force the bar owner to return the CD at some future date, and can't force him to take it out of the jukebox (although there are limitations on so-called performance rights that I won't get into here).

In contrast, a streaming service like Rhapsody does not "buy" a song for placement in its virtual jukebox. Instead, it purchases licensing rights from the record label, which essentially gives it the right to include the song among its available tracks for the term of the license (usually a couple of years, although I have no idea what Rhapsody's typical terms are), subject to certain limitations.

That means the license will eventually expire and be subject to re-negotiation, and at that point, things may have changed. On the label's side, the company may have decided that it does not want to license its music to streaming services anymore because it believes this cuts into album revenue. New management may have taken over, the label may have been acquired, it may have gone bankrupt and is now being operated by its creditors. There are a million reasons why a label may decide not to renew the license even though it thought it was a good idea just a couple of years earlier.

On Rhapsody's side, there are also reasons why it may choose to make previously-available music unavailable. Maybe Rhapsody's management's original goal was to get as much music on the service to lure users at its inception, but maybe next year the economy will tank, maybe (parent company) Real will face business problems, or for other reasons may require that Rhapsody cut costs to stay in operation. Now, whereas the previous goal was to license as much music as possible, Rhapsody's management may look at ways it can trim costs. Maybe it will go to Matador and say, "We know we currently license your entire catalog for $X. That license expires in two months. We'd like to talk about licensing the majority of your catalog, but not Interpol and the New Pornographers (on whom you put a premium price) for a smaller fee. What do you say?"

Of course, there is a critical threshhold at which Rhapsody needs to have enough music to keep subscribers happy. If not enough music that subscribers like is available, they won't continue subscribing. But if Rhapsody just goes around licensing all the music it can, it runs into the law of diminishing returns -- is the incremental cost of renewing the license to that 1981 Bow Wow Wow album really worth the additional subscriber dollars it will bring in? So it must try and meet the threshhold of licensing just enough music to keep just enough subscribers happy that the company will perform according to its business plan. But what if your favorite album falls below that threshhold? What if, under pressure to cut costs, Rhapsody decides that 1982's Nothing to Fear by Oingo Boingo isn't listened to by enough subscribers to make its licensing costs worthwhile, and decide that that's a good place to cut costs? What if that's your favorite album and your only access to it was on Rhapsody? What if now, you can't buy it, because it's out of print (I'll actually bet it is)?

Don't get me wrong, I use Rhapsody and find it useful for trying out new music (although they are often slow to add new buzz bands), and I'll even plug mgrooves' Rhapsody marketing blog highlighting music available on the service. But when I find something I like, I go out and buy the CD. I use it as a supplement to, not a replacement for, my existing collection.

The key takeaway here is that a license is not the same as ownership, either for you or for your favorite streaming service. A license is a temporary right to play any given track, and that license is eventually going to expire, and there's no guarantee that either you or your streaming service will be able to continue to secure those rights.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Hot Chip - The Warning (2006)

Dear Jeremy Piven,

2006-08-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

You know I am totally obsessed with Ari Gold. O B S E S S E D. So how is it that you can play someone so awesome on TV and yet turn around and be a total schmuck in real life? I mean, come on. First you go around hanging out with Lindsay Lohan and generally acting like a jackass. Let's not even talk about the hat.

Then you show up at the Emmys with your mother as a date, looking ridiculous and, might I add, sweaty. And an ascot? Really?

I know it's conventional wisdom that you should just "Be yourself," but maybe you're the exception to the rule. Maybe you should start playing Ari Gold all the time, in your real life. Think about it.

Congrats on the Emmy, though.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Kinky - s/t (2002)

The Secret Eighth Sign of the Apocalypse

2006-08-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

From Reuters:

Elton John vows to make hip hop record (link)

After 40 years of performing rock music, pop ballads and movie soundtracks, Elton John is looking to cross over to yet another musical genre -- hip hop.

"I want to bring my songs and melodies to hip hop beats -- a bit like 'No Diggity' by Blackstreet," John said in excerpts of an interview posted on Rolling Stone's Web site on Friday.

John told the music magazine he would like to work with producer Dr. Dre and a variety of artists, although he had yet to contact them.

"I want to work with Pharrell (Williams), Timbaland, Snoop (Dogg), Kanye (West), Eminem and just see what happens. It may be a disaster, it could be fantastic, but you don't know until you try," he said.

John is one of rock-n-roll's most prolific singer/songwriters and is known for flamboyant costumes and spectacular piano playing. His hits include "Your Song," "Rocket Man" and "Candle in the Wind."

The 59-year-old musician's next album, "The Captain and the Kid" is expected to be released in the fall.

He soared to stardom in the 1970s and has maintained a legendary status, branching into writing songs for movies like "The Lion King" and Broadway plays like "Aida."

But, hip hop?

Actually, John performed the song "Stan" with Eminem on 2001's telecast of the Grammys, the music industry's top awards, and the pair brought the house down.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Weezer - Pinkerton (1997)

I am Absolutely Speechless

2006-08-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the story. I couldn't have said it any better than Stereogum.

From the comments: "Question: How long before Jesus Christ opens for Fallout Boy?"

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)

What's With All the Gross Food?

2006-08-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

Are we on some sort of disgusting food streak? Because I find it hard to believe that this is not a joke, although the site looks very legit: Pickle Juice Sport

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Sloan - A Sides Win (Singles 1992-2005)

Grossest Food Ever

2006-08-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

OMG!!!!!!!!! It's weird enough that there's a market for clam juice... but CLAM JUICE FLAVORED CHIPS? So.... gross.... head is... exploding

Sadness.

2006-08-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

Man, you know what makes me really depressed? I saw the very hilarious "Snakes on a Plane" spoof below, but when you scroll down to the comments section on its the Youtube page, Husband noticed that a number of the commenters clearly are too young to even remember AYBABTU and aren't understanding the reference. JEEEEZUS. That makes me feel old. And sad for the youth of today, because without the shared cultural background of famous internet memes, what is your life really worth?

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Kasabian - Empire (2006)

Upcoming Shows

2006-08-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of this scheduling-more-than-one-good-show-on-the-same-night B.S. Here's what we need to do: Both bands play the same venue. Before showtime, they engage in some sort of fight with a mutually selected weapon. Whoever wins/survives gets to be the headliner. They could even be required to hold the fight onstage for extra entertainment value.

I think Badly Drawn Boy might be in for some trouble though. And even though I don't think Snow Patrol look that tough, *I* could probably beat down Ben Kweller.

Oh and Dear Warfield, Please please please do not make the Killers an all-ages show. I can't deal with another repeat of the Franz Ferdinand show crawling with heavily-made-up 14-year-olds and their mothers. No joke. Thanks.

Aug. 20 - Cracker at the Independent
Aug. 20 - The Church at the Great American Music Hall
Aug. 22 - The Clientele at Cafe du Nord
Aug. 22 - Oh No! Oh My! at the Independent
Aug. 23 - Soul Asylum at the Great American Music Hall
Aug. 24 - Wolf Parade w/Frog Eyes at the Fillmore
Aug. 24 - The Samples at the Independent
Aug. 25 - Fischerspooner at the Mezzanine
Aug. 29-30 - Zero 7 at the Fillmore
Aug. 29 - Cat Power at the Great American Music Hall
Aug. 31 - Razorlight at Popscene

Sept. 1 - Sparta, the Silversun Pickups and Communique at Popscene
Sept. 5 - Deerhoof at the Great American Music Hall
Sept. 6 - CocoRosie at the Great American Music Hall
Sept. 8 - THE LONG WINTERS!! opening for Feist at the Fillmore
Sept. 12 - Golden Smog "featuring: Dan Murphy, Gary Louris, Marc Perlman and Kraig Jarret Johnson" (is that their nice way of saying no Jeff Tweedy??) at the Fillmore
Sept. 14 - Tortoise at the Great American Music Hall
Sept. 18-20 - Human League at the Red Devil Lounge
Sept. 20 - Mission of Burma w/50 Foot Wave at the Great American Music Hall
Sept. 22 - Andrew Bird at the Great American Music Hall
Sept. 23 - Phoenix at Slim's
Sept. 24 - Snow Patrol at the Warfield
Sept. 24 - Ben Kweller at the Fillmore
Sept. 28 - Nellie McKay at Bimbo's
Sept. 28 - Viva Voce at the Rickshaw Stop
Sept. 29 - M. Ward at the Fillmore
Sept. 29 - Birdmonster at Slim's

Oct. 4 - Band of Horses w/Chad VanGaalen at the Fillmore
Oct. 5 - Billy Bragg at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 5 - The Stills at the Independent
Oct. 5 - The Dears at Popscene
Oct. 8 - The Killers at the Warfield
Oct. 9-10 - The Pogues at the Fillmore
Oct. 12 - The National at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 12 - Lily Allen at Popscene
Oct. 13 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at the Warfield
Oct. 13 - Kasabian at the Independent
Oct. 16 - Ladytron at the Fillmore
Oct. 16 - Badly Drawn Boy at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 17 - The Hold Steady at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 19 - The Decemberists at the Warfield
Oct. 20 - Beirut at the Great American Music Hall
Oct. 24 - She Wants Revenge at the Warfield
Oct. 30-31 - Tricky at the Independent

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Kasabian - Empire (2006)

Things Each Not Important Enough to Have Their Own Post

2006-08-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

Honestly, by the time the Ian Curtis movie finally comes out, I'm not even going to care anymore.

I will be interested to see if Snakes on a Plane actually does well at the box office. The hype wave crested a little early there, and I think that being amused by the idea of it doesn't necessarily translate into actually wanting to see the movie (for me, anyway).

Is it really lame that I'm excited about a new Lemonheads album? It's OK, I already know the answer is yes.

Why is Goldfrapp's "Strict Machine" in like forty different commercials right now? And by forty I mean at least two (some cellphone commercial and the promos for Nip/Tuck).

Speaking of, Nip/Tuck is still on TV? The wheels came off that thing at least a season and a half ago.

You know how, for some reason, people care that that dumb Youtube girl is some sort of viral marketing thing (which you can't even debate, she's a terrible actress and I'm pretty sure most home-schooled girls with strict parents don't have a professional makeup artist coming in and doing them up every day)? Well anyway, wouldn't it be great if it was a marketing thing by some religious homeschooling organization to try and convince everyone that they're "just like you and me"?

Or maybe it's a Snakes on a Plane tie-in.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Jim Noir - Tower of Love (2006)

Dog Police

2006-08-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

Most people could just watch it without any more information. I got the link from Retrocrush.

But I had to know more. How could you not? This comprehensive page just provided the information that the video was directed by Jill Mulharon, for a band that was just trying to "break in" (the band was also called "The Dog Police"). Apparently this was in 1984. I was only 10 years old then and not yet watching MTV, and apparently they didn't play the song on KROQ which was what my mom listened to in the car. (Tangent: The earliest song I can remember hearing on the radio was "Our House" by Madness.)

An NPR page on the history of MTV noted that "For many years, it not only aired videos on its flagship channel, but also found room on its playlist for underground music -- even clips by the unsigned likes of Dog Police."

This page purportedly performed a poll on which 1980s music people would like to see re-released and notes, "One of the big singles surprises is the inclusion of a song which never made it to vinyl. Back in the early 1980's, MTV would conduct searches for the best new band in a contest called the Basement Tapes. The act which won the contest would then win money and recording time in a studio, along with a record deal. One act which made the finals (but couldn't quite generate enough votes to win) was Dog Police. Their song, also called "Dog Police", managed to get enough votes to crack the top 10 singles list."

So it was a video but never released in music format? Anyway, entertaining watching.

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
The Rogue Traders - Here Come the Drums (2005)

grrrrr.

2006-08-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

OK Go on Treadmills

2006-08-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

I really like OK Go -- for their music -- so it makes me a little sad to see them making it all about the choreography gimmicks... but this really is incredibly clever:

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
Hot Chip - The Warning (2006)

Things I Think About While at the Gym, or Why You Shouldn't Let Your Children Write to Magazines

2006-08-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

Why is everyone just now noticing that Mel Gibson is crazy? The guy was outed as a wackjob Christian supremacist years ago. And hello, most of those people are anti-semitic. I mean, drunken tirades are always fun to watch, but stop being so shocked, people.

Musicians: Please, I beg of you, cut it out with the long, pretentious, spoken-word album intros. I'm looking at you, DJ Shadow and Bright Eyes. Punchy one liners, like "If there's nothing left to burn, you've got to set yourself on fire," when read by your Shakespeare-actor dad, can be effective, but careful with execution.

I wish Ari Gold was my best friend. But Jeremy Piven, not so much.

I may have to be out of town on business such that I will miss the Wolf Parade show at the Fillmore, in which case I will have to kill someone.

Because one of the TVs at my gym is always tuned to VH1, I am forced to acknowledege it exists, and I'm getting really sick of the way they hype their "You Oughta Know" bands. You definitely ought not know The Fray. In fact you'd be much better off if you didn't.

If you are on the fence about buying a Mini Cooper, definitely go for it. I am SO in love with mine. Gotta get an S-model though, the "regular" doesn't have enough horse power.

BEST LETTER TO THE EDITOR EVER, printed in the current issue of Filter: "First of all, I want to say that I love your magazine. It is very interesting and I read it often. I think you should write a review for the Postal Service's new album titled Give Up. They are a new indie/soft rock/electronica band with original music and inspiring lyrics. They are widely known and a lot of people listen to them and I think you should write a review for this band's great new album. Sincerely, Robert Gallagher"

what I'm listening to right this very minute:
DJ Shadow - The Outsider (2006)