Do you know how some bands are sponsored by different corporate products? Julian Casablancas is seen in Converse All-stars as part of their hip indie marketing campaign and Beyonce is seen shopping with her American Express to help the credit card company be the card of choice for divas. Well, anyway, if you didn’t know about that, it happens just about as much as Lebron James hawking the latest athletic soda pop.
I heard through the grapevine that Dr. Dog wasn’t too into the whole corporate sponsorship game, but I figured if they were, Weber should sponsor them. Yes, Weber charcoal grills. The American standard for backyard barbecues is, without a doubt, the perfect corporate spouse for these Philadelphian songwriters. Even if they didn’t use Dr. Dog in any advertising campaign, they should just package a copy of Fate with all BBQ grills sold so people have the perfect tunes to play on their back porch while they grill up some kebabs and call their friend to pick up some ice on his/her way over. That is the beauty of this album. It is a full score for the off-Broadway production of a summertime Sunday somewhere behind some row homes. Or the soundtrack for a poolside belly flop getting the hamburger buns wet in the backyard of a suburban horseshoe pit. Or it is the glorious companion to a beachfront bonfire with bikinied tan lines and a flat volleyball.
I’ve grilled two steaks while listening to Fate, and they were delicious.
Just tuned into the news to hear of McCain's VP candidate. I feel like my interest and knowledge in politics may not be cemented in solid ground, but Sarah Palin made me think a bit.
I'm sure the professionals will beat this into the ground the next few days, but there are two main thoughts that I wanted to share:
1. Experience. Hasn't McCain and everyone else been dogging Obama for a lack of experience? Isn't a big topic in the campaign that we need experienced leaders atop the government? If so, why choose a first term senator for your running-mate? It seems like a contradiction to what has been slammed in Obama's face. It also makes for an interesting dichotomy between the Repub. ticket and the Dem. ticket. You have an old white experienced senator running with a young wild card maverick.
2. Oil. It seems like grabbing the governor of Alaska has to do with oil reserves. I read a bit about Palin and she does not believe global warming is man-made and thinks we can drill in Alaska without major environmental damage. She knows more about this than me, but it's disappointing (to me) to tackle an energy crisis by drudging oil out of the ground rather than research alternative energies. I love the idea of renewable energy and all the recent advancements are so inspiring for the evolution of humankind.
erghh.... political blogging.... yecchhh....rrrrr....need help.....yoooouuuuutuube:
So I need to share these awesome photos of piller-town I took this morning. The cocoons started showing up on Tuesday and for the first time I thought I would unseal the homemade terrarium and try to sneak a peek straight on. I snapped some photos in attempt to capture the silky-smoothness of the green cocoons, but not sure if it worked. You may notice what looks like some specs of dirt or grains of sand on the cocoons, but those, in fact, are glistening bits of fairy dust. Well, maybe not fairy dust, but some sort of glistening byproduct of the metamorphosis. its quite striking.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
So Sunday evening I transferred the caterpillars into an empty cranberry juice container. It was the closest thing I could find to a terrarium, and felt like there was ample space for the caterpillars to form cocoons on its roof. I placed some fresh leaves for the little 'pillers to eat. During the transfer, I thought to myself, "man, I'm probably just killing these miniature monsters... I should just let them free. The world is a beautiful place, and none of the lord's creatures should be forced to view it from inside a cage." After that thought, I sealed the container up with some saran wrap, punched some holes in it and poured some coffee... it was going to be an exciting night
I did some caterpillar research and realized that some entomologists keep their bugs in windowsills. This works for me, as well as the cat: so I threw the bugs in the windowsill and Maebe and I waited for them to start the party. A little after 10, I had completely forgotten about the caterpillars asa great show was marathoning on the television. Anyway, I watched Mr. Octupus achieve such great things, then fell asleep on the ground.
The next day I awoke and carried about my day. I saw the spinto boys and we updated the website (getting closer to the release date! ha cha cha) and practiced some tunes. It was a pretty exciting day, but little did I know my excitement hadn't come close to its peak. I came home, made my way to the caterpillars, and found this: Can you tell what that is dangling atop the cranberry juice jug? A collection of cocoons clinging to the ceiling. Oh man, 24 or so hours since they made a home in the cranberry juice, and they were already wrapped in silk and disguised as juicy little bean pods. I thought about plucking one, placing it in a salad bowl and seeing if I could trick someone into eating it, but realized that would be cruel to the caterpillar. Anyway, I figure I need to keep a close watch as once those cocoons start to crack open, I need to make sure the butterflies can get out.
I'll keep the dozen or so of you here on the blog updated as to what goes down the next couple of days. After all, it's the little things in life we need to find pleasure in.
While prancing in nature yesterday, I found a stockpile of wild caterpillars spying from the underside of the gardenias. They were plump and healthy and perfectly content to swallow whole leaves in their oblong bellies before culminating in their cozy cocooned coma.
I thought it would be best for these cattys if I picked them and dropped them in a mason jar to study. I rinsed the remnants of tomato juice from the mason jar and lined the bottom with some caterpillar food and then poked some holes into a lid so they would have a dry roof to their home.
Now I have a few goals for my caterpillars. Mainly, I hope they survive. With the lush catering I have provided, they will undoubtedly have enough food, but I wonder if they are not unlike the great white shark or the ancient samurai who would rather die than live a life of captivity.
My second goal is that I can watch them develop into beautiful butterflies. A little bird told me that the appearance of the caterpillar may be similar to the monarch caterpillar which, as we all know, is quite the eye-catching butterfly. Let's hope we get that far with them. I'll be sure to keep you all connected with my fleshy adopted offspring here on the ol' web journal.
My third goal is that they carry me atop their wings into the butterfly cloud village only heard of in ancient Iroquoian myth. Once there they will place me upon a bed made of peeled peach fuzz and tell me all the stories of the great father butterfly through a network of arranged iridescent wings.
all of these are small achievable goals, which are the type of goals I like to set for myself.
Sorry to all you Kooks fans out there. Don't let my opinion of the band effect yours, but I wrote this email for the folks at Daytrotter and I don't think it will be seeing the light of day there, so figured I might as well post it here. I can't stand this band. They are the mushiest middle of the road goobers I have ever heard and it was even more frustrating to open for them for a few days in 2006 and watch thousands of fans drool over their music and just about ignore the spinto band. Anyway, I have trouble writing about music I don't like, so let me know if this is worthwhile:
"I want this album to be big, I've got an ego – I want the album to do well. I want our singles to come on the radio and for people to have their heads blown off by them." Luke Pritchard to the NME
This album is no good. I've never written a record review for an album I didn't like and I am having some trouble with this. What do I know? Who am I to judge? Music is so much and so varying. Everyone has differing tastes in music and a multi-million people will probably disagree with me, but the new Kooks record, like the old one, is overwhelmingly indigestible.
Perhaps I am biased of the band… Perhaps I am jealous of their success… Perhaps I am disgusted by their image of fashionably tattered hair and tiny legs stuffed into women's jeans… Perhaps I think the chorus "Do you wanna/do you wanna/do you wanna make love to me/I know you wanna/I know you wanna/I know you wanna make love to me" is about as stupid as you can get… All and all I don't know what about this band makes me want to tell them to take a long walk off a short pier, but I think the sooner they sink from the spotlight, the better.
Luke Pritchard is not this generation's Bob Dylan, and someone needs to tell him that. If Pritchard grew pumpkins instead of writing songs, he would grow those lopsided little pumpkins that cost a dollar and sit on dining room table centerpieces, but he would still enlist his little pumpkins in the giant pumpkin contest at the local fair, titling them Pritchard's Puffy Pumpkins, then he would file a complaint with the voting committee when he did not win best in show. "I don't understand why these little pumpkins are here," people would say. "Please tell me why a funny shaped little pumpkin belongs in the same category as a giant pumpkin, they aren't even that colorful, they look like they were grown in a swamp…" This is the difference between the farming trade and the music trade I suppose.
The new album, entitled Konk, joins the old record in the middle of the road. I will say that I started bobbing my head and tapping my foot to the pleasantly simple Mr. Maker for it's 3 minute contribution, unfortunately the next song, Do You Wanna, makes me want to replace the CD in the player with anything, even a DVD- which won't even work. I'm writing this review and no longer listening to the album, I can't anymore. Instead, I'm turning on the TV and watching the news and they are warning me of pollen levels this spring. They are also warning me of middle of the road bands with arena-sized egos. They are warning me of people that try a bit too hard not to smile when photographed and make claims that they have hundreds of songs waiting to be recorded, then release an album of 12 of the most unrecognizable songs you wouldn't even want your dorky neighbor listening to while he sips a glass of red wine on his front porch and reads some sort of right-wing news magazine.
I feel as though I haven't been this critical of a band (publicly) in a long time. However, I'd like to ask the Kooks' audience what is so enjoyable here? Is it the stereotypicality? The redundancy? The lyrical egotism? I suppose the Kooks offer up safe music. They stay within the boundaries of what works musically, offer up enough hooks to find radio playtime and provide an image of rock and roll that most people admire. Who knows? If their talent grew nearly as high as their egos, perhaps they would be captivating.
So, Jared Leto's band, 30 second to mars, is grabbing headlines regarding some pretty interesting legal matters. Having spent some (brief) times as a member of the Virgin/EMI family in the UK, and being manhandled by their legal team when we were dropped (or made redundant as I like to say), I am pretty drawn to 30 seconds to Mars's story here. I'll past Leto's words in here, then comment after:
To our Friends and Fans,
Despite rumors to the contrary, 30 Seconds to Mars is NOT calling it quits. We are incredibly happy, healthy and very much together here, in Los Angeles, recording our new record. Besides this ridiculously overblown lawsuit (courtesy of Virgin/EMI), we are having one of the most inspiring, wonderful and exciting times that we've experienced to date. (More on that later...)
Beyond this distraction, we are so incredibly grateful to all of you around the world that have supported us so passionately. We would never consider stopping this just yet. These past few phenomenal years have been beyond imaginable and we owe every single bit of it to you. Thank you all for that!
So, as you may have heard we are being sued by our former record company for the ridiculously oversized, totally unrealistic and pretty silly (but slightly clever) sum of $30,000,000. Insane? Yea that's what we said too.
A little history...
We had been signed to our record contract for 9 years. Basically, under California law, where we live and signed our deal, one cannot be bound to a contract for more than 7 years. This is widely known by all the record companies and has been for years. In fact, so aware of it are they that they desperately try to make deals outside of California whenever possible. It is a law that protects people from lengthy, unfair, career-spanning contracts. This law also gave us the legal right to explore other possible opportunities.
Yes we have been sued by EMI. But NOT for failing to deliver music or for 'quitting'. We have been sued by the corporation quite simply because roughly 45 days ago we exercised our legal right to terminate our old, out of date contract, which, according to the law is null and void.
We terminated for a number of reasons, which we won't go into here (we'd rather not air any dirty laundry) but basically our representatives could not get EMI to agree to make a fair and reasonable deal.
A few things to note...
If you think the fact that we have sold in excess of 2 million records and have never been paid a penny is pretty unbelievable, well, so do we. And the fact that EMI informed us that not only aren't they going to pay us AT ALL but that we are still 1.4 million dollars in debt to them is even crazier. That the next record we make will be used to pay off that old supposed debt just makes you start wondering what is going on. Shouldn't a record company be able to turn a profit from selling that many records? Or, at the very least, break even? We think so.
That, and other issues, like the new regime at EMI firing most of the people we know and love, wanting to place advertisements on our website, EMI owning 100 percent of the masters of our record...forever, and basically having a revolving door of regimes at the company made it easy to not want to continue as is.
As the result of this takeover - and the firing of over 2000 employees - we have lost many of the people that were near and dear to us at Virgin/EMI and crucial to the success of 30 Seconds to Mars. A few of the great ones are still there, but it is hardly the same company we have known. After more than 5 regime changes in 9 years you'd think we would be used to the inconsistency, but the team that took the journey together for A Beautiful Lie was a very very special group of people and it's a huge loss that so many of them are gone. (Quick fact: There is not a single employee at Virgin Records who was working at the company when we signed.)
FYI Virgin/EMI was not required to make this lawsuit public or to list such an egregiously and stupendously large amount of mullah. In fact, they were not required to set any price even close to this. We did not want to take this public, but we felt it best to explain our point of view to you, our friends and fans, in hope that you can better understand our point of view.
We would always do our best to avoid a fight, but sometimes it's important to stand up for what you believe in. We hope that by doing what's right we can help to change things for the better, for ourselves and possibly others.
P.S. We will always remain grateful to the people at Virgin/EMI who were so integral to our success. And we hope that, above all, we can find a resolution to this in as civil and kind a way as possible.
There are certainly more important things out there in the world to spend time and energy on.
To be continued...
Jared Leto 30 Seconds to Mars ____________________
It seems as though the whole situation is pretty hairy. I can see 30 seconds to Mars desperately wanting to escape a buckling label, and I can see Virgin/EMI looking at a movie star's band as an easy paycheck if you can keep them from enforcing an obscure and silly California law. So, depending on whose shoes you are standing in, both parties seem to have valid arguments.
I find it much easier to stand in Leto's shoes, but he does bug me with this little bit of misinformation in his post: "If you think the fact that we have sold in excess of 2 million records and have never been paid a penny is pretty unbelievable, well, so do we." With the stakes of the lawsuit being $30 million, I'm guessing that 30 seconds to Mars has a substantial record advance and tour support to blame for their "never being paid a penny."
What really should be taken from this is the fact that the music industry is really off its rocker. The whole speech is painfully redundant for me, but as everyone knows, the business model is (almost?) as screwed up as that of mortgage firms. Models that helped turn acts in the past into huge hits might as well be shredded in the ol' paper shredder if you want to make money these days. It does blow my mind that a band can sell 2 million records and accrue that much debt to their label, but at the same time I just remind myself that everything is fucked.
I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve heard the name Ra Ra Riot. I wish I could take credit for that. I wish I could run into your bedroom with a copy of The Rhumb Line in hand and say, “Dude… you most certainly must listen to this… stat!” We would listen, jump on the bed, and pretend your stuffed animals were Kristi Yamaguchi. Unfortunately though, Ra Ra Riot has been featured around music venues and blogs for a few years now. Between the release of a praised EP and the death of their original drummer, John Pike, the Syracuse New York band has been quite discussed.
So… heck ya! We finally hold in our hands their full-length debut album. It is summer time and I can hear this and that chirping and singing outside of my window. Inside of my window The Rhumb Line bellows like noontime at the church yard. It is so many things packaged into a rock n roll record. It is a melodic tongue twisting collection of stories to be told to sleepy children. It is a symphonic race car carrying pizzas that need to be delivered in the next 25 minutes or else. It is a tribute to a friend who left before his time, but is tapping his feet diligently from above. Most of all — it is fun. It is more fun than a water slide to a twelve-year-old. It is probably more fun than a barn-raising party to the farmer’s daughter. It is much more fun than what you are listening to right now. The drums are driving and the bass and guitar play off those drums here and there, only to synch up and explode over and over again with a string section adding quite a bit of character to the whole shape.
I don’t want you to think you are receiving the latest dance-rock mindless yippity-dee album of the moment though. Ra Ra Riot have something all their own here. To utilize geometry — if fun is the X axis, then creativity and orchestration are the y axis and the z axis and Ra Ra Riot have built a giant cube that is about to swallow us all as it floats through the sky, pushing aside clouds and huge stacks of graph paper. To tell you the truth, I’m not even sure if that is an accurate metaphor. Would it work if the shape was more of a huge exclamation point? The more I think of the album, the more I think of an exclamation point flying about like a hawk. It soars through the air then lands on a bearded man’s arm and shrieks towards the woods. The bearded man, inspired by the mountainous melody lines his exclamation point exclaims, moves to the mountains with a discman, a pair of headphones and his exclamation point. There, he lassos the headphone cord around the exclamation points dot and swings beneath it as it bellows from above…
I asked for another opinion of the album;
“Fun, this is hardly just fun Jon,” says my girlfriend. “This is heavy and poetic and shouldn’t be simplified to just fun. I mean, come on.” She is probably right. I should have never asked. She is usually right; there is more to this album than there is to a game of Twister. It is powerful, meaningful, and dramatic. I need to rewrite this whole album review. We listen again… this time, a little later at night we are standing, tapping, swaying, humming along—- she adds, “It is fun though.”
Last night at the Whip, my parents began debating about this song:
Anyway, My parents were trying to figure out whether or not Loudon Wainwright wrote the song. We all assumed he did, it sounds just like one of his songs (except maybe the topic of him being a loving father which his daughter may disagree with). My mom had heard otherwise though. No one believed her, and we all started shouting in the restaurant. Turns out she was right though.
So i've been stressing today for some reason about the pending spinto tour dates. Seems to be approaching swiftly and there is so much to prepare before we jump over to Belgium to kick it off. I can't wait to return to the UK (especially Glasgow, they always throw down) to see some sweaty teenagers pump fists with us and then converse with an accent you hope to understand. At the same time there is a lot of work to do before we kick it off. Shouldn't be too much of a problem with everyone pumped the way they are. Anyway, here is whats ahead:
September Monday 22 Brussels Tuesday 23 Amsterdam Wednesday 24 Paris Thursday 25 London Saturday 27 Norwich Sunday 28 Oxford Monday 29 Glasgow Tuesday 30 Liverpool October Wednesday 1 Stoke Friday 3 Bristol Saturday 4 Leeds Sunday 5 Manchester Monday 6 York Tuesday 7 London Wednesday 8 Cambridge Thursday 9 Nottingham Friday 10 Birmingham
after these dates, we have a few planned for the US:
So we had the privelege of spending some time with Nik Freitas as we supported Rilo Kiley. I really like his album, and wrote a few words about it:
Have you ever driven way too long in a car? Maybe you were on your way home from college and you hit Baltimore and DC right at rush hour, or some big truck overheated 40 miles into your drive to the beach or you had a wedding to attend that you didn’t feel like buying airfare for. Everyone has been alone in a car for too long, it becomes maddening. As your back starts sweating and gripping the wheel causes your knuckles to ache and all you can think about is the accumulation of miles behind and the stack of miles still ahead. The good thing though is on most occasions you arrive at your destination and the drive is done. You can forget about the car for a few days as you sleep in your own bed, or sit on the beach digging the bikinis, or flirt with a bridesmaid. When I first met Nik Freitas he was coming off a 15-hour drive from San Diego to Colorado Springs. He was chilled out, as he always seems to be, and dipping some corn chips in some salsa. He said the drive was pretty rough, but he was glad to be performing that night. I saw him in a similar state day after day for the next week as he tacked on 6-hour drive after 6-hour drive trying to keep up with the Rilo Kiley bus and the Spinto Band van carrying six musicians/drivers. Nik was flying solo in his Kia station wagon packed with a couple guitars and an electric piano.
Nik was doing these drive-you-crazy drives day after day in order to bring his music to an audience. It was a dedicated and passionate move that made each performance all the more lovely. On one of the last shows, I picked up a copy of his latest album, Sun Down, as it was about time to do so. I’ve been digging it ever since. Have I used the verb dig twice in two paragraphs? I must be on Freitas-overload. I blame Sun Down. The album is filled with the type of songs you want to hear when you are over-stressed in an airport or giving it your best shot to enjoy the last beer in the cooler and the last chance for comfortable weather for a few months. You dig?
Sun Down was written, recorded and performed by Nik in his garage studio in Eagle Rock, California. To briefly go back to the story of Nik driving miles and miles to play shows across the Midwest — his journey makes sense when you discover he is the only force creating this lush complete album. His dedication and enthusiasm carries through my speakers into my eardrums and taps on my consciousness with a tack hammer. It sounds like Morse code… beep-bee-bee-beep-what have you accomplished today? The world is asking to be conquered. It only takes one man to bee-beep-bee-bee-beep… It is a toast to commitment. Not the commitment between a husband and wife, but maybe that kind of commitment to, I was thinking more of the commitment shown when a baseball player perfects his game so he can strike out his rival baseball player to earn the last out of a championship. So cheers Nik, keep writing songs, recording them, then playing them for us with the type of work ethic that makes those steel forgers in Pittsburgh look like a bunch of sleeping puppy dogs.
So, in my last post, I linked Jon Moses's name to this youtube video which has been getting laughs from quite a few over here in Chadds Ford this past weekend. However, what I should have linked all-y'all to is this page. It has a collection of Jon's comics that rivals Charlie for laughs.
We are hoping Jon revamps the spintoband website with as much twisted imagination as he has placed in this Vancouver newspaper. Ahoy!
So I am going to save my anti-Phelps post for a few more days as he continues to rack up the bad interviews as well as the golds...
Instead, I figure I may post about a fun weekend of music making. Good buds Albie, Jon M., Phil D, Cheston, and DLP all met up at Nick's house with an array of spintos to help score the work in progress that is Albert and Jon's Beast Pageant.
We had met up earlier in the summer to record a few songs for the movie that focused on Jon's songs featuring acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukuleles and foot stomps. It was a great weekend back in June. I was excited we were going to go at it again.
This past weekend we tried something a bit different though. The acoustic guitars were replaced by synthesizers and the acoustic guitar became an electric guitar played with a violin bow, recorded through an amplified megaphone taped to a didgeridoo. The vibe was a bit different, but it was still super cool.
Albert said the film has two distinct parts, one part is soundtracked by the synthesizers, one by the acoustic instruments.
A highlight of the session for me was when Albert and Jon were discussing how the music we were recording was giving them ideas for new scenes or shots or bits to the movie. It was a giant organic tree growing in front of us. The creative process of the Beast Pageant intertwines all bits that will eventually create the various sensations of the movie. It is a beautiful thing. At first, the script writing inspired the music, now the music is inspiring new aspects of the script.
I know most films do not have the luxury of evolving their artwork as they move forward. They are restricted by budgets and timetables, but the Beast Pageant's organic style is a fairly intriguing way of making a film. Albert and Jon are working diligently on a project that they expect to take years to complete. The project is slowly coming to life as they develop film and listen to songs and it should be fun to see, as the project grows, how it becomes its own beast.
So I am back to committing a few minutes a day to posting here. I have a real hard time bloggin' for whatever reason. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I have narrowed down a few options as to why I always stray from my interest in this site. In typical blog-o-fashion, I will develop a list:
1. The word BLOG- It's a gross word. If you notice over on the Spinto Band blog, we do our best to refer to the site as a web-journal. No one wants to be engulfed by a blob, and similarly, no one wants to be devoured by a blog. I can't think of a word (besides log) that can be derived from blog and is a tiny bit pleasant. Blah, blob, blerghh, blubber, bleak, butt-crack-- none of them.
2. Who's reading this?- So I have a Google Analytics chart explaining that there are really only about 2 people that ever check in on this blog, but still- who am I writing to? What do they want to hear? are they even relevant to the blog writing process? Do they want me to use proper grammer.... or can I overflow the page with ellipses? These sort of questions build up as a large weight on the delete key of the laptop keyboard and cause me to erase a lot of thoughts.
3. A voice- I spent a lot of time in various college writing courses attempting to develop a voice. It's important in all writing whether it be critical, creative, or cookbooks. However, on this page, I can't really figure out enough to really lock in that voice and get going. Perhaps I need to just loosen up a little bit and be a bit more honest and carefree in my posting. Perhaps I need to disregard any attempts to critique music and culture as I have never been much of a critical person. Perhaps I need to stop worrying about people criticizing me. Or perhaps I need to be more concerned with all those things. It doesn't really matter, but I think I should be consistent and am leaning toward being as honest as possible- or at least creating a voice that makes readers think I am being honest- no no- honesty, real honesty. but what if honesty interferes with the creativity of the whole thing? shabang! silly overthinking needs to be tossed out that's for sure... or should I think more? self analyze and drag on forever. or should I....
4. commitment- Often times I just go to bed instead of typing for 25 minutes to make a post. I feel like I need to block out 25 minutes a day just to post something... anything. Take for instance, the drunk history post. One of the best things about the blogs I follow is finding out cool youtube videos. So just post something like that if I am uninspired and sleepy.
Anyway, I am again growing impatient with my self analyzation. Thank you for sticking with me as I work at this whole project... If you don't see a post for a few days, I apologize... I will keep trying hard.
Well, I fear this journal is becoming more of an assemblage of internet sites I get a kick out of rather than music commentary, but for the time being, I'll keep collecting this type of stuff as I procrastinate other writing.
There are four videos there (make sure to watch em all) and they are all hilarious. The ongoing (I hope) series is called Drunk History, and is some funny stuff. My favorite Bluth, Michael Cera, is featured in the first episode and my buddy Trevor's favorite fatty, Jack Black, plays a great Ben Franklin.
It reminds me of the Yacht Rock series (which I should post up here) because it is a great concept that is well executed. It seems like there are a ton of great concepts that are poorly executed or vice versa in the internet video world (treasure of the cisne?) and I love it when someone pulls it off. I still convince myself there is a DIY vibe to the whole process even though all the best ones are surely funded by some sort of entrepeneur here or there.
so enjoy drunk history and I'll make a bit more of an effort to throw some content up here.
is this the real deal? I saw this on the facebook scrabulous high scores and my jaw dropped. I'm pretty sure there is only one Z in Scrabble, so I don't know what this guy is trying to pull.
either way, I need to start using squalificheremo more often in sentences.
-As an Italian pizza chef, I think I am squalificheremo from the competition.
-I understand that squalificheremo is in my blood. First my father's false starts, then my brother's drug enhancing, but I promise, I will not be squalificheremoed.
Since writing this review for Daytrotter, I caught the Pixies documentary, loudQUIETloud on Sundance all about their reunion tour. In just about every scene featuring the Deal twins, one (if not both) of the sisters is puffing on a coffin nail. It makes me wonder how long the vocal harmonies will hold up. Regardless, here are my garbled thoughts on Mountain Battles:
Some years are not as good as others.
I have a laundry list of three hundred different yes or no questions that help me decide whether or not it will be a good year. Are the Phillies going to win some baseball games? Am I going to be able to add to my savings account? Will the Breeders be coming out with a new album? Will we elect a better president?
So far 2008 is looking like a good year. The Deal sisters are on the scene with Mountain Battles, their latest collection of pile-driving slow jams and smooth seductive rock jams. And once again we will all have another reason to get stoned and listen to music.
The best parts of a Breeders’ album for me are the different tones and sounds heard through your stereo speakers. It is as if they are calling out to the young listeners, “Please young ones, listen on a set of speakers that are not referred to as buds… Please hear our music uncompressed and alive with your parents warning you to turn down that stereo or they will ground you for the rest of your young lives! Is that too much to ask?” The sounds produced on Mountain Battles don’t leave you confused — yes, that’s a guitar and a bass and a drum kit and another awesome guitar and some people singing — there aren’t too many didgeridoos or Theremins or other obscure instruments, but the album manages to get these fundamental rock instruments to sound so engaged in what they are attempting to accomplish it makes my ears perk up a bit. I don’t pay attention to tone too often, but to tackle it to a tee is too terrific to toss aside. I imagine the sisters Deal in the studio as if they were furniture makers attempting to craft a throne for the new queen of Ohio — master craftsmen whittling each detail as if it were the keystone of the project. It becomes quite engrossing.
Besides all that jazz about tone and detailing the throne, Mountain Battles rocks as well. You can throw up the ol’ devil horns and bang your head around for a good bit of it, but as we all know, those sorts of actions are best accomplished in a time machine — which isn’t such a bad metaphor for this record. Mountain Battles is to a time machine as Ray Allen in a Celtics jersey is to Shawn Kemp in NBA Jam. Makes sense to me.
So besides all that jazz about rockin’ out and nostalgia and then that other jazz about tone and whittling, I recommend the new Breeders CD to most of you. I do not recommend the new Breeders CD to squares, stiffs, or anyone who disliked their previous albums.
So I've been reading a bit about the latest Apple announcement and it has nothing to do with a new gadget.
The iTunes store has come out of the closet, and is admitting to be the juggernaut everyone knew it was. let's throw a party.
As much as I should just keep my nose out of Business section of the paper, the fact that Apple and iTunes are the number 1 music retailer in the world troubles me. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I'll attempt to explain:
- the record stores: the first big problemo we have here is the fact that record shops are doing less business than comic shops. Not that I really think that's anything to pucker up about, but I just want to give a shout out to the record store. The appeal of a good record shop is like no other. It should be a staple on any main street in any town. Nowadays though, the only ones staying open are becoming novelty shops that sell as much Kiss action figures as they do any new release. Youngsters need record shops. Business may not permit it, and if that's the way the cookie shall crumble, I'm not going to complain as much as just be a bit bummed out. Leafing through albums and overhearing tips at shops all over the country has been a truly pleasant past time for me that potentially rivals the joy my girlfriend gets from shopping for clothes and what not. It's upsetting to sense teenagers around the country being weened off record shops in order to create a more prolific user profile on a website that doesn't really give two shits what they are buying as long as they buy it. I don't mean to sound like some Nick Hornby/John Cusack oversized-sweater wearing whoo-hah, but iTunes is denying music lovers of a valuable consumer experience.
-the big biz: The big-wigs over at Apple know what they are doing. As their market share increases, they toss around more and more weight in order to max their cash. They have the ability to disallow labels or artists placement on their site unless they are paying top dollar to Apple and that deducts money from the rest of the players (and most importantly the musicians). Now, I don't want to sound like I am an expert in this at all, but I remember hearing that labels hate dealing with Apple for this very reason. They end up making less off iTunes sales than other sales, but since iTunes possesses such traffic, it would be silly not to conduct business with them. This upsets me a bit. On one hand, I remember when Apple was a failing business, and it is a bit of a charming success story to see them rise from the ashes to strangle the money right out of our wallets, but on the other hand- come on guys- do you really deserve much more of the pie than anyone else on the team?
the internet in general- So, I'm already regretting writing this far about this whole silly little press release, so I'm going to hurry up and make one last point before I become too befuddled and decide to delete the whole dang thing. The internet is a glorious thing, there is no denying the instant access to all sorts of information and the ability to communicate with people all over the world about everything and anything... HOWEVER- let's accept it's cultural impact here and suggest that potentially there are some scares to all this one-click-culture. I mentioned that you can communicate with people, but you certainly can't communicate entirely with them.... you can't hold hands and share ice cream cones with your buddy on the Stone Temple Pilots fan message board. You can't find out the most ticklish spots on your online date messenger flirt-friend. You can't stand over a burger topped grill and complain about the heat with erratic hand gestures to the guy you are thinking of starting up a business through email. All that's a bit scary. Not too scary, but a bit. The more lines we draw between all y'all the less likely we are to get the truth. Fuck- I don't even feel right writing a blog anymore.
Anyway. think what you will, don't let me sway you. iTunes is certainly more likely to get into heaven than the torrent sites and file sharing programs we all have bookmarked... sometimes I just wish they would be a little less annoying. I feel like Steve Jobs is sitting behind me about to flick my ear and mess up my hair. Fuck off Steve Jobs, go buy a sports franchise and chill.
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