I think I'm safe. I will publicly doubt that anything earth-shatteringly good will come out in the next few weeks. So here goes, the ten best albums of 2007, according to Me.
1) Panda Bear Person Pitch
2) Future of the Left Curses
3) Arcade Fire Neon Bible
4) Radiohead In Rainbows
5) The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
6) Wilco Sky Blue Sky
7) Deerhoof Friend Opportunity
8) Deer Tick War Elephant
9) The National Boxer
10) Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
25 Best Songs of the year:
1) Panda Bear "Comfy in Nautica"
2) Frog Eyes "Bushels"
3) Arcade Fire "Intervention"
4) The Besnard Lakes "Disaster"
5) Spoon "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb"
6) Future of the Left "Real Men Hunt in Packs"
7) Bright Eyes "When the Brakeman Turns My Way"
8) Okkervil River "John Allyn Smith Sails"
9) Deerhoof "Galaxian"
10) Panda Bear "Bros"
11) Future of the Left "adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood"
12) Radiohead "Videotape"
13) Wilco "You Are My Face"
14) The National "Fake Empire"
15) Thurston Moore "Frozen Gtr"
16) Arcade Fire "Keep the Car Running"
17) Bruce Springsteen "Radio Nowhere"
18) Beirut "Elephant Gun"
19) Boris with Michio Kurihara "Starship Narrator"
20) Bright Eyes "Lime Tree"
21) Radiohead "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"
22) Spoon "Black Like Me"
23) Deer Tick "Ashamed"
24) Wilco "What Light"
25) The Besnard Lakes "Because Tonight"
5 Most Disappointing Albums:
1) Devendra Banhart Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
2) Bright Eyes Cassadega
3) The Twilight Sad Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters
4) Okkervil River The Stage Names
5) Frog Eyes Tears of the Valedictorian
Showing posts with label Musical Enthusiasm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musical Enthusiasm. Show all posts
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Current Favorites
I wrote a couple of music reviews that Fidel Castro said are the shizzinit. So why not put them on Current Favorites since they won't be seen anywhere else.
Music
Dolorean You Can't Win
Are you wearing out your Wilco albums? Have you always preferred your Neil Young “Helpless”? Then Portland, OR band Dolorean want to be your drinking buddy. On their third proper album, You Can’t Win, lead singer and songwriter Al James explores just that idea, “You can’t win”, to a resigned and heartbreaking end.
While their sound isn’t terribly original, it has a haunting quality. It’s heavily indebted to the aforementioned Neil Young and Wilco. James’ voice lacks a lot of the dynamism of a Young or Tweedy however, and it never moves away from their most melancholy elements.
That’s not to say that You Can’t Win is a bad album. On the contrary. Opening with the title track, a keyboard drone slowly moves to the forefront as James repeats “You can’t win” like a mantra. From here, Dolorean doesn’t stray far from a folksy feel. Piano on “We Winter Wrens” conjures up a countrified Counting Crows and shows a brief glimpse of whimsical melody. However, James’ voice never goes above a disheartened mumble, tempering the track’s attempts at building momentum.
This often suits James, such as on the standout track “Beachcomber Blues”, which aches with each refrain. But just as often, James sounds like he’s about to fall asleep at the mic. James doesn’t have an optimistic bone in his body. Whereas similar acts like Jason Collett are defined by an undaunted optimism, Dolorean leave no room for that sort of thing. You Can’t Win has no rousing rockers.
This could hurt the disc a lot more, except that You Can’t Win creates perfect atmosphere. And in this atmosphere, the lyrics come to the forefront. James is a talented writer, and nowhere is it more apparent than on “What a Bottle Can Do”. While sticking to a familiar theme of drinking to forgot a lost love, the song avoids cliché. It celebrates getting rid of thought, be it through drinking or less destructive means.
In the end, the album feels like a quiet walk on brisk autumn day. As James sings in “What a Bottle Can Do”, “I’ve grown quite fond of what one bottle can do.” In a sense, the album replicates that feeling well. It’s a numb feeling that doesn’t feel bad or good. But it can be beautiful. You Can’t Win makes itself a perfect companion for a melancholy day when winning seems just out of reach.
7/10
Suggested Tracks: “Beachcomber Blues”, “Buffalo Gal”, “What One Bottle Can Do”
Nurse & Soldier Marginalia
Boasting a band name that sounds like a kinky game played by bored couples, “Nurse & Soldier” drop Marginalia. A band with this name should conjure up some Harlequin scene with some romantic, pre-WWI type of connotation to it. However, “kinky” is a more apt description of what Marginalia isn’t.
Strange, then, that much of Marginalia music reminds the listener of Tricky’s classic Maxinquaye, which is hyper-sexed in a so wrong it’s right sort of way. Beyond sharing a romantically linked man-woman duo (Oneida front man Bobby Matador and Erica Fletcher are the Soldier and Nurse respectively), the two albums are so divorced from a grounded reality that it leads the listener to start thinking in new ways.
To say they hold much more in common, would be stretching things farther than they should really go. First of all, Maxinquaye is a much better album, and to suggest that Marginalia plays in its league would be far too generous. However, while I’m selling Nurse & Soldier’s effort short, I don’t mean to. It’s still an interesting album.
Most interesting is the album’s notable lack of percussion. This functions to create the aforementioned schism from grounded reality, notably on tracks like “Green Tea” and “North of Baltimore”. Both employ an organ drone, but “North of Baltimore” gets better results, letting Fletcher’s vocals float over the proceedings. While the drums find their way into some songs, it’s to add a dose of conventionality, such as in “Lies and Alterations”, which, while serviceable on their own, function to bring down the atmosphere of the overall album.
When Nurse & Soldier remain atmospheric they stay strong. However, only with very rare occasion do they create something coherent. “Green Tea” is notable for being interesting but never actually going anywhere, ultimately frustrating. Only on “In the Dark” and “North of Baltimore” do Nurse & Soldier really bring it all together. In most cases, like “Imaginary Friend”, they’re content to just let distorted guitar wash over the listener. It’s effective, if not completely compelling.
While this is interesting, it would be nice if Nurse & Soldier grounded themselves with something. Maxinquaye had sex to connect it to the ground. Nurse & Soldier, like idle thoughts that flit from the minds attention before proper time can be given to them, comes and goes before they have much of an impact. It’s fun listening for awhile, but nothing will hook you in for later.
7/10
Suggested Track: "North of Baltimore", "In Yr Corner", "Lies and Alterations"
Movies
I was happy to see Martin Scorcese win an Oscar. Well, I didn't see it, I heard about it. But, hey the guy deserves it, and The Departed was a hell of a film to win it for.
Some movies I saw recently.
Chinatown - While I almost fell asleep during it, this is more of an idictment of my job than of the movie. Highly recommended. 8/10
Marie Antoinette - A good movie. It humanizes the French royals to an extent that is very impressive. The use of modern music was a good move. Bonus points for using The Strokes' "What Ever Happened" in the movie. One of my favorite songs ever. The girlfriend seemed extremely conflicted and was apparently having some sort of existential crisis. I on the other hand was not nearly so affected. 7/10
Books
Natsume Soseki Kokoro - I had to read this for my East Asia class. It's a quick read and deceptively simple. But there's a wealth of stuff in their. According to the experts, its about loneliness. I guess I get that, but I thought it had a Goodbye to All That, "The Times They Are A' Changin'" type of vibe to it. It's the best book I've read in awhile. 8/10
Music
Dolorean You Can't Win
Are you wearing out your Wilco albums? Have you always preferred your Neil Young “Helpless”? Then Portland, OR band Dolorean want to be your drinking buddy. On their third proper album, You Can’t Win, lead singer and songwriter Al James explores just that idea, “You can’t win”, to a resigned and heartbreaking end.
While their sound isn’t terribly original, it has a haunting quality. It’s heavily indebted to the aforementioned Neil Young and Wilco. James’ voice lacks a lot of the dynamism of a Young or Tweedy however, and it never moves away from their most melancholy elements.
That’s not to say that You Can’t Win is a bad album. On the contrary. Opening with the title track, a keyboard drone slowly moves to the forefront as James repeats “You can’t win” like a mantra. From here, Dolorean doesn’t stray far from a folksy feel. Piano on “We Winter Wrens” conjures up a countrified Counting Crows and shows a brief glimpse of whimsical melody. However, James’ voice never goes above a disheartened mumble, tempering the track’s attempts at building momentum.
This often suits James, such as on the standout track “Beachcomber Blues”, which aches with each refrain. But just as often, James sounds like he’s about to fall asleep at the mic. James doesn’t have an optimistic bone in his body. Whereas similar acts like Jason Collett are defined by an undaunted optimism, Dolorean leave no room for that sort of thing. You Can’t Win has no rousing rockers.
This could hurt the disc a lot more, except that You Can’t Win creates perfect atmosphere. And in this atmosphere, the lyrics come to the forefront. James is a talented writer, and nowhere is it more apparent than on “What a Bottle Can Do”. While sticking to a familiar theme of drinking to forgot a lost love, the song avoids cliché. It celebrates getting rid of thought, be it through drinking or less destructive means.
In the end, the album feels like a quiet walk on brisk autumn day. As James sings in “What a Bottle Can Do”, “I’ve grown quite fond of what one bottle can do.” In a sense, the album replicates that feeling well. It’s a numb feeling that doesn’t feel bad or good. But it can be beautiful. You Can’t Win makes itself a perfect companion for a melancholy day when winning seems just out of reach.
7/10
Suggested Tracks: “Beachcomber Blues”, “Buffalo Gal”, “What One Bottle Can Do”
Nurse & Soldier Marginalia
Boasting a band name that sounds like a kinky game played by bored couples, “Nurse & Soldier” drop Marginalia. A band with this name should conjure up some Harlequin scene with some romantic, pre-WWI type of connotation to it. However, “kinky” is a more apt description of what Marginalia isn’t.
Strange, then, that much of Marginalia music reminds the listener of Tricky’s classic Maxinquaye, which is hyper-sexed in a so wrong it’s right sort of way. Beyond sharing a romantically linked man-woman duo (Oneida front man Bobby Matador and Erica Fletcher are the Soldier and Nurse respectively), the two albums are so divorced from a grounded reality that it leads the listener to start thinking in new ways.
To say they hold much more in common, would be stretching things farther than they should really go. First of all, Maxinquaye is a much better album, and to suggest that Marginalia plays in its league would be far too generous. However, while I’m selling Nurse & Soldier’s effort short, I don’t mean to. It’s still an interesting album.
Most interesting is the album’s notable lack of percussion. This functions to create the aforementioned schism from grounded reality, notably on tracks like “Green Tea” and “North of Baltimore”. Both employ an organ drone, but “North of Baltimore” gets better results, letting Fletcher’s vocals float over the proceedings. While the drums find their way into some songs, it’s to add a dose of conventionality, such as in “Lies and Alterations”, which, while serviceable on their own, function to bring down the atmosphere of the overall album.
When Nurse & Soldier remain atmospheric they stay strong. However, only with very rare occasion do they create something coherent. “Green Tea” is notable for being interesting but never actually going anywhere, ultimately frustrating. Only on “In the Dark” and “North of Baltimore” do Nurse & Soldier really bring it all together. In most cases, like “Imaginary Friend”, they’re content to just let distorted guitar wash over the listener. It’s effective, if not completely compelling.
While this is interesting, it would be nice if Nurse & Soldier grounded themselves with something. Maxinquaye had sex to connect it to the ground. Nurse & Soldier, like idle thoughts that flit from the minds attention before proper time can be given to them, comes and goes before they have much of an impact. It’s fun listening for awhile, but nothing will hook you in for later.
7/10
Suggested Track: "North of Baltimore", "In Yr Corner", "Lies and Alterations"
Movies
I was happy to see Martin Scorcese win an Oscar. Well, I didn't see it, I heard about it. But, hey the guy deserves it, and The Departed was a hell of a film to win it for.
Some movies I saw recently.
Chinatown - While I almost fell asleep during it, this is more of an idictment of my job than of the movie. Highly recommended. 8/10
Marie Antoinette - A good movie. It humanizes the French royals to an extent that is very impressive. The use of modern music was a good move. Bonus points for using The Strokes' "What Ever Happened" in the movie. One of my favorite songs ever. The girlfriend seemed extremely conflicted and was apparently having some sort of existential crisis. I on the other hand was not nearly so affected. 7/10
Books
Natsume Soseki Kokoro - I had to read this for my East Asia class. It's a quick read and deceptively simple. But there's a wealth of stuff in their. According to the experts, its about loneliness. I guess I get that, but I thought it had a Goodbye to All That, "The Times They Are A' Changin'" type of vibe to it. It's the best book I've read in awhile. 8/10
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Current Favorites
So Fidel emailed me the other day, saying he appreciated the extremely non-gay Valentine I sent. Let's just say I don't spare anything for my favorite dictator. Anyways, he also said that even better than a valentine would be a Current Favorites. And who am I to refuse?
I've been listening to a bit of new music, but nothing is terribly great. I picked up The Broken West's I Can't Go On, I'll Go On and I'll recommend it. Nothing terribly interesting to be said about it by moi. 7/10 on that one. Check out "So It Goes" and "Down in the Valley" for the hot trax.
Now I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Boris and Michio Kurihara's album Rainbow. Now, I haven't listened to the whole thing, since I'm not in the habit of hunting down albums only available in Japan. But there are scraps available, like here. "Starship Narrator" is the best thing available there. I'm a sucker for hot shit guitar, and this one has it in spades. The song is a 9/10.
I also picked up Nurse & Soldier's Marginalia which is a strong effort. I might post a full review later, but I'd say it's a high 6/10.
I haven't been watching many movies...but, oh well.
But I did start reading again. And while the book I'm reading is for a class, I still say it counts. It's called Kokoro, it's Japanese, and at about the 3/4 mark, it's very good. It seems to be coinciding with a Japan kick, so that helps it go down smooth.
Until next time...Konichiwa Bitches!
I've been listening to a bit of new music, but nothing is terribly great. I picked up The Broken West's I Can't Go On, I'll Go On and I'll recommend it. Nothing terribly interesting to be said about it by moi. 7/10 on that one. Check out "So It Goes" and "Down in the Valley" for the hot trax.
Now I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Boris and Michio Kurihara's album Rainbow. Now, I haven't listened to the whole thing, since I'm not in the habit of hunting down albums only available in Japan. But there are scraps available, like here. "Starship Narrator" is the best thing available there. I'm a sucker for hot shit guitar, and this one has it in spades. The song is a 9/10.
I also picked up Nurse & Soldier's Marginalia which is a strong effort. I might post a full review later, but I'd say it's a high 6/10.
I haven't been watching many movies...but, oh well.
But I did start reading again. And while the book I'm reading is for a class, I still say it counts. It's called Kokoro, it's Japanese, and at about the 3/4 mark, it's very good. It seems to be coinciding with a Japan kick, so that helps it go down smooth.
Until next time...Konichiwa Bitches!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Current Favorites
Music
Well, the Pazz & Jop poll came out. How did my top five fare?
1) The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America ended up at #4 on the poll. This sort of sums up how I feel about the album. Yeah it was a great album, but not a Great album. It doesn't really deserve number one (and in a less off year, they would have probably not been my number one). #4 seems just right.
2) Sonic Youth Rather Ripped ended up #12. This is my favorite Sonic Youth album since Daydream Nation. This is a top five album, but it seems that many critics tempered their enthusiasm for this record. I'll admit that it loses a little steam by the end, but this has always been a problem for Sonic Youth. Only Daydream Nation remains vital through the whole disc. But they can put together stretches better than anyone. And I can't think of a better three song stretch than "Reena", "Incinerate", and "Do You Believe in Rapture".
3) Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood found its way to #8. There's been plenty of time to digest this album, and it only gets better with time. Case's enigmatic storytelling just gets more interesting with each listen, and that voice just tempers any frustration. If the year lasted another two months, it might have gotten even higher.
4) Jason Collett Idols of Exile was not ranked! Even High School Musical got a vote. So this album was not really on the radar this year. Which is too bad. Collett wrote some fine music and as a lyricist, he managed to be more interesting to me than the new Bob Dylan.
5) Beirut Gulag Orkestar ended up #74. Good for it...to be honest, I've cooled a little bit towards this album. While initially the foriegn sound exhilerated and demanded repeat listenings, it revealed itself to be two (maybe three) songs strong, and "Postcards From Italy" wears thin after too many listens. However, the Lon Gisland EP looks like Beirut might be going in a more interesting direction. One can hope...
As for this year's music, I've been digesting The Broken West's I Can't Go On, I'll Go On. It's got some catchy stuff and it's pretty easy to get into, but it's a bit disposable. Nothing's reeled me in yet. But I've said that before and eaten my words. So I'll give it a little time.
Well until next time, lick it up mutt, that's all you're getting for today...
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Current Favorites
Yeah, it's been awhile since I fired off a current favorites. But the NY Times said my boy Castro was looking frisky in a recent appearance with Hugo Chavez, so I figured I'd commemorate the occasion with a Current Favorites.
Music
Deerhoof Friend Opportunity
Being a bit obsessive about music, I monitor the “Top 25 Most Played Songs” feature on iTunes more than I probably should. That being said, this past week something unprecedented happened. Deerhoof’s “Galaxist” dropped like a bomb shot all the way up to number two. I played the thing 21 times in the past week. There’s something to be said for a song that can do that. The last one to ever reach that level of play was Spoon’s “Sister Jack”. There’s something about certain songs that just lend themselves to being played over and over. That something is being catchy and short. And if I were to use two words to describe Deerhoof’s Friend Opportunity it would be catchy and short.
Friend Opportunity is catchy in that quirky way to be sure, but it doesn’t take much effort to fall into its trap. Sure its unconventional, but the thing is loaded with hooks. It abounds with little vocal quirks that you keep humming to yourself no matter how absurd they sound. (Case in point, I was singing the part of the silly “Kidz Are So Small” that goes “If I were man and you a dog I’d throw a stick for you” and my special lady friend said “Oh well thank you!”. These are moments that will likely happen to you when you start humming things from Friend Opportunity. And hum you shall).
Friend Opportunity also lingers for only a short period. Clocking in at just over 36 minutes and keeping the majority of its songs around the 3 minute mark, Friend Opportunity makes the most of your attention span. Interestingly, the least interesting track, “Look Away”, closes out the album for an unwelcome 11:45 seconds. If you don’t pay attention, it’s like it’s not even there.
Is Friend Opportunity going to reorient everything you ever believed about music? No, but it will probably give you about 7 songs that will stay in your head and make you smile. 8/10
Suggested Tracks: “Galaxist”, “+81”, “Matchbook Seeks Maniac”
Movies
The last two movies I watched seem to be overwhelmingly pretentious...but, well, let's face it, I'm a little pretentious. Just ask my special lady friend...
Me, You, and Everyone We Know - A movie that's weirdness might make someone think it's more special than it really is. It has things that seem like they should be shocking, but end up feeling kind of innocent. Overall, it's a feel good movie disguised as something arty. Not that this is a bad thing. It ends up being quite satisfying overall, and it's quirkiness gives it a little extra charm you couldn't find in a typical romantic comedy. 7/10
The Motorcycle Diaries - Typically I feel pretty ambivilent towards biopics. No matter how well made they are, I always feel a bit dissatisfied afterwards. I usually like a little more of a story to something besides, "this is a great person's life". In addition, there's the annoyance factor of knowing something about their lives and seeing it happen on screen that always makes it seem a little forced. I once watched that Elvis biopic on CBS a couple years ago, and I couldn't get over how forced the whole recording session scene felt. It was if the director was trying to say "THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! WATCH!!!" This always seems to happen during these types of things, I suppose, because some of those moments just don't seem real as they've been turned into legend. It seems that a filmmaker has to be ridiculously subtle in those sorts of instances...which, to be honest, not many filmakers have the ability to do.
Somehow, someway, The Motorcycle Diaries is able to keep these moments to a minimum. It makes a movie that's less about Che Guevera than a movie that happens to have Che Guevera in it. Perhaps it benefits from takling only a portion of his life (especially a portion that is fairly unfamiliar to American audiences). Perhaps I was unable to pick up on cringe-worthy subtleties since I don't speak Spanish that I pick up on in English language movies. But regardless, there was only one really forced exchange. Where young Che 'learns' of Communism from a mention by some indiginous people. Um, forced maybe? But compare that to say, Ray, which made me cringe every fifteen minutes or so...
8/10
That's all for now...I quit reading books...
Music
Deerhoof Friend Opportunity
Being a bit obsessive about music, I monitor the “Top 25 Most Played Songs” feature on iTunes more than I probably should. That being said, this past week something unprecedented happened. Deerhoof’s “Galaxist” dropped like a bomb shot all the way up to number two. I played the thing 21 times in the past week. There’s something to be said for a song that can do that. The last one to ever reach that level of play was Spoon’s “Sister Jack”. There’s something about certain songs that just lend themselves to being played over and over. That something is being catchy and short. And if I were to use two words to describe Deerhoof’s Friend Opportunity it would be catchy and short.
Friend Opportunity is catchy in that quirky way to be sure, but it doesn’t take much effort to fall into its trap. Sure its unconventional, but the thing is loaded with hooks. It abounds with little vocal quirks that you keep humming to yourself no matter how absurd they sound. (Case in point, I was singing the part of the silly “Kidz Are So Small” that goes “If I were man and you a dog I’d throw a stick for you” and my special lady friend said “Oh well thank you!”. These are moments that will likely happen to you when you start humming things from Friend Opportunity. And hum you shall).
Friend Opportunity also lingers for only a short period. Clocking in at just over 36 minutes and keeping the majority of its songs around the 3 minute mark, Friend Opportunity makes the most of your attention span. Interestingly, the least interesting track, “Look Away”, closes out the album for an unwelcome 11:45 seconds. If you don’t pay attention, it’s like it’s not even there.
Is Friend Opportunity going to reorient everything you ever believed about music? No, but it will probably give you about 7 songs that will stay in your head and make you smile. 8/10
Suggested Tracks: “Galaxist”, “+81”, “Matchbook Seeks Maniac”
Movies
The last two movies I watched seem to be overwhelmingly pretentious...but, well, let's face it, I'm a little pretentious. Just ask my special lady friend...
Me, You, and Everyone We Know - A movie that's weirdness might make someone think it's more special than it really is. It has things that seem like they should be shocking, but end up feeling kind of innocent. Overall, it's a feel good movie disguised as something arty. Not that this is a bad thing. It ends up being quite satisfying overall, and it's quirkiness gives it a little extra charm you couldn't find in a typical romantic comedy. 7/10
The Motorcycle Diaries - Typically I feel pretty ambivilent towards biopics. No matter how well made they are, I always feel a bit dissatisfied afterwards. I usually like a little more of a story to something besides, "this is a great person's life". In addition, there's the annoyance factor of knowing something about their lives and seeing it happen on screen that always makes it seem a little forced. I once watched that Elvis biopic on CBS a couple years ago, and I couldn't get over how forced the whole recording session scene felt. It was if the director was trying to say "THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! WATCH!!!" This always seems to happen during these types of things, I suppose, because some of those moments just don't seem real as they've been turned into legend. It seems that a filmmaker has to be ridiculously subtle in those sorts of instances...which, to be honest, not many filmakers have the ability to do.
Somehow, someway, The Motorcycle Diaries is able to keep these moments to a minimum. It makes a movie that's less about Che Guevera than a movie that happens to have Che Guevera in it. Perhaps it benefits from takling only a portion of his life (especially a portion that is fairly unfamiliar to American audiences). Perhaps I was unable to pick up on cringe-worthy subtleties since I don't speak Spanish that I pick up on in English language movies. But regardless, there was only one really forced exchange. Where young Che 'learns' of Communism from a mention by some indiginous people. Um, forced maybe? But compare that to say, Ray, which made me cringe every fifteen minutes or so...
8/10
That's all for now...I quit reading books...
Friday, January 05, 2007
Current Favorites, 2006 Edition
I've read two or three articles hating on end of year retrospectives. I don't understand this...I love end of year retrospectives. I'm a nostalgic person I suppose...so poo on you naysayers. It's a bit belated but here is the Unencumbered Enthusiasm Year in Review.
Best Songs of the Year:
5) "Bitter Tea" The Fiery Furnaces - The schizophrenic nature of the double F's can sometimes be frustrating, but then they hit on something that is so brilliant in the short burst setting that they use, that it makes the song. That refrain is just brilliant.
4) "We All Lose One Another" Jason Collet - In the short bursts of time that I was able to listen to music on my trip to Toronto this summer, I listened to this song. It's a song built for car rides, watching the landscape speed by. It's a nostalgic person's wet dream...
3) "The Needle Has Landed" Neko Case - This soundtracked my super trip from Flagstaff, AZ to Winona, MN this spring. It connected, I suppose, because of the line about the Greyhound Station popped up and got stuck in my head whilst waiting at the Greyhound Station in Flagstaff waiting for the bus to take me to Phoenix.
2) "Incinerate" Sonic Youth - My favorite SY songs since "Teenage Riot". The guitars make the song, and the work just seems better and more mind blowing with each listen.
1) "Stuck Between Stations" The Hold Steady - What a triumph...I saw this for the first time when I went to a Hold Steady show in Baltimore. I knew they had a new best song when Finn shouted, "We drink and we dry up and now we crumple in the dust". Then as the guitar responded, you tell Finn dug it just as much as the rest of us. I don't think The Hold Steady can top this one.
Top Albums:
To be honest, I didn't really listen to that much new music this year, so my sample size is pretty limited. But here's a top five anyway:
5) Beirut Gulag Orkestar
4) Jason Collett Idols of Exile
3) Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
2) Sonic Youth Rather Ripped
1) The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America
Most disappointing album of the year:
Beck The Information I just kept trying to like this album, but the fact remains...it's boring...
As for movies...um, I could give you a top five list, but I can only think of two very good movies from 2006:
2) Scoop - Ridiculously entertaining movie...just because Woody Allen isn't making "Annie Hall" anymore, doesn't mean he's making crap. This was my favorite movie of the year until the best movie of the year came out:
1) The Departed - Best movie I've seen in quite some time. Just plain amazing. If this doesn't win Best Picture...I mean...seriously, what else could possibly win best picture?
Well, there you go...best music, best movies...fun times for everyone!
Best Songs of the Year:
5) "Bitter Tea" The Fiery Furnaces - The schizophrenic nature of the double F's can sometimes be frustrating, but then they hit on something that is so brilliant in the short burst setting that they use, that it makes the song. That refrain is just brilliant.
4) "We All Lose One Another" Jason Collet - In the short bursts of time that I was able to listen to music on my trip to Toronto this summer, I listened to this song. It's a song built for car rides, watching the landscape speed by. It's a nostalgic person's wet dream...
3) "The Needle Has Landed" Neko Case - This soundtracked my super trip from Flagstaff, AZ to Winona, MN this spring. It connected, I suppose, because of the line about the Greyhound Station popped up and got stuck in my head whilst waiting at the Greyhound Station in Flagstaff waiting for the bus to take me to Phoenix.
2) "Incinerate" Sonic Youth - My favorite SY songs since "Teenage Riot". The guitars make the song, and the work just seems better and more mind blowing with each listen.
1) "Stuck Between Stations" The Hold Steady - What a triumph...I saw this for the first time when I went to a Hold Steady show in Baltimore. I knew they had a new best song when Finn shouted, "We drink and we dry up and now we crumple in the dust". Then as the guitar responded, you tell Finn dug it just as much as the rest of us. I don't think The Hold Steady can top this one.
Top Albums:
To be honest, I didn't really listen to that much new music this year, so my sample size is pretty limited. But here's a top five anyway:
5) Beirut Gulag Orkestar
4) Jason Collett Idols of Exile
3) Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
2) Sonic Youth Rather Ripped
1) The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America
Most disappointing album of the year:
Beck The Information I just kept trying to like this album, but the fact remains...it's boring...
As for movies...um, I could give you a top five list, but I can only think of two very good movies from 2006:
2) Scoop - Ridiculously entertaining movie...just because Woody Allen isn't making "Annie Hall" anymore, doesn't mean he's making crap. This was my favorite movie of the year until the best movie of the year came out:
1) The Departed - Best movie I've seen in quite some time. Just plain amazing. If this doesn't win Best Picture...I mean...seriously, what else could possibly win best picture?
Well, there you go...best music, best movies...fun times for everyone!
Monday, October 09, 2006
Current Favorites
Now that I'm back in Wisconsin, I have a little bit of time to write up a nice little Current Favorites. The problem being that I didn't really watch many movies or read much. I did get two new albums while I was on vacation, but I haven't gotten a chance to listen to them much. But I'll try to give a half assed opinion on them.
Of course, that doesn't mean this Current Favorites isn't special. Of course not monsieurs and madames! You will get reviews of Florida and Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC tourist attractions. Fantastic!
Music
Whilst on vacation, I found time to pick up the new Beck album and The Hold Steady album. The Beck album, The Information on its first listen was pretty dissappointing. I think the word for it was blah...But I'll give it more of a chance. I didn't like Guero much, but it worked it's way up from "awful" to get full on "mediocre" status.
As for The Hold Steady, it's obvious their still pumping out interesting music. When I went and saw The Hold Steady in Baltimore on October 2, I was worried because I felt like the new songs were inferior to their earlier work. But on my computer speakers, they're sounding better and better. What I don't like is that Craig Finn's pulled back on his vocal stylings to make them a bit more conventional. I liked how Finn's singing was a character in and of itself. But the sacrifice pays off on some songs, like "First Night" and the absolutely phenomenal "Stuck Between Stations", though it hurts songs like "Chips Ahoy!". I'm still getting to know the album, but my initial feeling is that it's not as good as Almost Killed Me or Separation Sunday but it's a direction the band had to take, and is going to pay off.
Travel
Miami - There are times when I'm in a place, and it just makes me think, "Wow, they specifically designed this place for _______." Miami was specifically designed for my sister, or at least South Beach is...shopping galore, beautiful beach right on hand, and she could get herself a scooter so that she wouldn't have to walk too much. That being said, while Miami was not specifically designed for me, there was plenty to enjoy. South Beach is highly recommended, as is a trip to a Marlins game if you get the chance. 7/10
Key West - I'm not sure if I know anyone that Key West is specifically designed for, but that's because I'm not big with the Jimmy Buffet crowd. However, Duval Street was a fun walk, plus I went parasailing, a highly recommended activity. 7/10
Washington DC - For a history nerd, there are quite a few cool things to be found here. I'm sure it's even cooler for politics nerds. The monuments are a must, as well as the Holocaust museum, which takes a lot longer than we thought it would, but it was worth it. The only problem is that we didn't have enough time to do everything, especially since almost everything is closed at five. Once that happens, the scene kind of dies. 8/10
Presidential Housing - I took the opportunity to visit Mt. Vernon and Monticello while in the area. Both are excellent ways of humanizing the founding fathers. If you only have time for one, I'd go with Mt. Vernon, there's just so much more there. However, the Monticello house tour is a bit nicer (mostly because the house itself is just nicer). Mt. Vernon gets an 8/10, Monticello a high 7/10.
Baltimore - I can't really give a review of the city itself, as I didn't spend that much time there. I went there to see The Hold Stead at the Ottobar, which wasn't the best venue in the world, but The Hold Steady played it well. Still felt they put on a better show in Madison, however. 7/10
On this manic Monday...Current Favorites is still here...later folks.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
ZT in DC
Sorry about the lack of posting and the lack of features. I wasn't able to get on the internet until now. As the title implies, I'm in the nation's captial (well, actually I'm in College Park, MD right now...but I'm just a short metro ride away from DC...). I'm soaking up the sights, saw the capital yesterday, the Washington Monument, the Supreme Court, The Library of Congress, and the National Archives.
Some of the cooler things I saw at these places were:
1) The Gutenberg Bible (at the Library of Congress).
2) Declaration of Independence
3) Magna Carta
Then I headed up to Baltimore and caught The Hold Steady concert last night. It was super fantastic. The Ann was less than enthused as she was missing the Packer game...and I don't think she likes the Hold Steady. But I had fun, sang along a little, got to hear some of the new stuff...
As for today, I think it's off to Mt. Vernon where I'll get to know a little more about the original GW. We'll get back to the old format next week.
Some of the cooler things I saw at these places were:
1) The Gutenberg Bible (at the Library of Congress).
2) Declaration of Independence
3) Magna Carta
Then I headed up to Baltimore and caught The Hold Steady concert last night. It was super fantastic. The Ann was less than enthused as she was missing the Packer game...and I don't think she likes the Hold Steady. But I had fun, sang along a little, got to hear some of the new stuff...
As for today, I think it's off to Mt. Vernon where I'll get to know a little more about the original GW. We'll get back to the old format next week.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Current Favorites
After he held up a copy of Noam Chomsky’s book, I was a bit remorseful due to the fact that Hugo Chavez and I hadn’t kept better relations. Perhaps then, Unencumbered Enthusiasm would be on the world’s mind. But alas, I don’t write left wing literature, I write fantastic literature…or at least my mother says so (hi mom!). And no one can account for Mr. Chavez’s taste (though he did say I was his numba one blogga).
So what else can a poor ZT do, ‘cept keep writing Current Favorites for the fans? Well, not much else…I mean, there’s only so much you can do on a three hour car ride…without further ado…
Music:
The Fiery Furnaces Blueberry Boat – I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun listening to an album. Blueberry Boat uncovers surprises with each listen, and always finds a way to stay interesting through its 76 minute runtime. Which is saying something, ZT hates albums that gas on far too long. I usually put the cap at about 55 minutes with little exception. But Blueberry Boat never feels this long. In fact, when it’s over, I’m ready for more. That being said, the only thing missing from Blueberry Boat is an emotional punch that would make it a truly memorable, pantheon level album. Which is the central problem of the whole thing: Blueberry Boat’s gimmicky nature makes for fun listening, but also undermines its gravitas. Which means it’s a great album, but not a Great album. 9/10 (Top 3 Tracks: “My Dog Was Lost But Now Is Found”, “Paw Paw Tree”, “Chief Inspector Blancheflower”)
Movies:
Snakes on a Plane: One of the more ridiculous movies ever made…and everything I ever hoped a movie called “Snakes on a Plane” could be and more. That being said, I will only see this movie once…the most solid 6/10, ever.
Books:
ZT’s was recommended “Lupus: The First Year” but he has been unable to get it at the book store, so I’ll probably buy it from Amazon.
And remember, all of you are a 10/10…
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The Krogman 25
Top Artists
1) Fiery Furnaces (47 plays)
2) Outkast (39 plays)
3) Beck (19 plays)
4) The Decemberists (13 plays)
5) Neutral Milk Hotel (12 plays)
Top Songs
1) “Bitter Tea” – The Fiery Furnaces (6 plays)
2) “Benton Harbor Blues” – The Fiery Furnaces (5 plays)
3) “Tropical
4) “Collarbone” – Fujiya & Miyagi (4 plays)
5) “Quay Cur” – The Fiery Furnaces (4 plays)
Top Albums
1) Blueberry Boat – The Fiery Furnaces
2) Aquemini – Outkast
3) In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel
4) Stankonia – Outkast
5) Mutations – Beck
The Krogman 25
1) “Positive Jam” – The Hold Steady (45 plays + 1) LW (1)
2) “Jesus, ect.” – Wilco (44 plays) LW (2)
3) “Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” – Broken Social Scene (43 plays + 2) LW (3)
4) “Looks Just Like the Sun” – Broken Social Scene (41 plays + 1) LW (5)
5) “The Swish” – The Hold Steady (41 plays +1) LW (6)
6) “Multitude of Casualties” – The Hold Steady (41 plays + 1) LW (7)
7) “Sister Jack” – Spoon (41 plays) LW (4)
8) “Cattle and the Creeping Things” – The Hold Steady (39 plays) LW (8)
9) “Certain Songs” – The Hold Steady (38 plays) LW (9)
10) “Ashes of American Flags” – Wilco (38 plays + 3) LW (14)
11) “Shampoo Suicide” – Broken Social Scene (36 plays + 0) LW (10)
12) “Barfruit Blues” – The Hold Steady (36 plays + 1) LW (12)
13) “My Mathematical Mind” – Spoon (36 plays) LW (11)
14) “Fit But You Know It” – The Streets (35 plays) LW (13)
15) “Casimir Pulaski Day” – Sufjan Stevens (35 plays +2) LW (20)
16) “Cause = Time” – Broken Social Scene (34 plays) LW (15)
17) “Crazy” – Gnarls Barkley (34 plays) LW (16)
18) “Heavy Metal Drummer” – Wilco (34 plays) LW (17)
19) “Shine a Light” – Wolf Parade (34 plays) LW (18)
20) “I’ll Believe In Anything” – Wolf Parade (34 plays) LW (19)
21) “The Way We Get By” – Spoon (32 plays) LW (21)
22) “It Was Supposed to Be So Easy” – The Streets (32 plays) LW (22)
23) “Poor Places” – Wilco (32 plays) LW (23)
24) “Outlaw Blues” – Bob Dylan (31 plays) LW (24)
25) “Paper Thin Walls” – Modest Mouse (31 plays) LW (-)
Some stats for the week:
21% were Fiery Furnaces songs.
17% were hip hop songs.
5% were from the Krogman 25.
2% were by John Mayer
Monday, September 18, 2006
Current Favorites
Well, I've failed you. I didn't finish Life on the Mississippi, nor have I listened to my brand spankin' new Fiery Furnaces (in 2004!) album nearly enough. So, what does that leave for Current Favorites? Why it's only the best movie of 2006! So you know, there's something to look forward to...
Aside from that...Hugo Chavez was a bit ticked about not getting much of a mention in his extra special edition of Current Favorites. Due to some unfortunate bickering, Unencumbered Enthusiasm will not be available in Venezuela, at least for now. I'm hard at work making a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies that should smooth things over. So hold steady Venezuela, as my third favorite South American country, I promise not to fail you now (too bad you can't actually read that encouraging statement...sigh...politics make me sad).
But it's time to turn that frown upside down...without further ado...
Music:
As I mentioned earlier, I finally picked up The Fiery Furnaes' Blueberry Boat. Prior to purchasing the album, I was able to aquire "Quay Cur", "Straight Street", "Paw Paw Tree", and "Chief Inspector Blancheflower" through dubious and shadowy means (muahahahaha!). Now I'm encountering the problem where I sort of look forward to those songs and cling to those songs because I know them. But once I get past that, I hope to find a few wonderful new treats in there. A couple songs I'm really enjoying that I gained by purchasing the album are "Chris Michaels" and "Blueberry Boat". A full, actual review will be coming, I hope, next week. Who knows, it's been so long since I've actually reviewed an album.
Movies:
Scoop: Full disclosure #1 - I like Woody Allen quite a bit. Full disclosure #2 - I was probably in the perfect mood for goofy humor. That being said, Scoop was, without a doubt, my favorite film of 2006. It's a story about an American college student (Scarlett Johansson) who ends up in London visiting a friend. She's trying to get an interview for her school newspaper, but then stumbles upon a news tip about a serial killer who just happens to be one of London's most elligable bachelors. Woody Allen plays her magician/comrade in arms. Allen is at his goofiest, and Johansson plays along admirably. To be honest, it was a nice respite from the Owen Wilson, Steve Carrell, Will Farrell dominated comedy of recent years. Which isn't to say I don't like it, just that it's nice to see something different once in awhile (and a little less manic). After it was all over, Ann and I walked out with a big grin on our faces. Scoop doesn't try that hard, but somehow comes out a fantastic winner. 9/10
Breakfast at Tiffany's: When you have a three movie stretch in which you make your girlfriend watch Miami Vice, The Usual Suspects, and Momento, payback will be swift. But Breakfast at Tiffany's was actually quite enjoyable to watch. Aside from the unfortunate Mickey Rooney as the stereotype gone horribly wrong, the movie stays funny and enjoyable throughout. 8/10
Under the Tuscan Sun: See the previous...except this movie wasn't that good. I'm sure it's heartwarming for...oh, middle aged women, but not for twenty something males. There really isn't anything about it that can have it clear that hurdle, except that it's vaguely pleasent. Production quality is the only thing keeping this from the Lifetime Network. 5/10
Books:
So my mom is the only person recommending a book to me? C'mon people, get off your ass and get me some reading material!
Until next week...remember, all of you are a 10/10
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Top Ten Albums Mix Tape
Well, now that I've finished Top Ten Albums, I figured I'd give it one more spot on this blog and make a playlist for y'all. I kept it under 80 minutes so it's wired for sound and down with burning. Neeways, thar she blows:
1) "Thunder Road"- Bruce Springsteen: Best opening song ever
2) "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" - Modest Mouse: Not my favorite, but I'm in the mood for it right now.
3) "Hotwax" - Beck: Would be number two, but "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" goes into this song ridiculously well. Best, Beck, Ever...
4) "Gratitude" - The Beastie Boys: The video for this song might be the coolest "Band playing in an exotic locale without much else going on" type video ever.
5) "Idioteque" - Radiohead: So what if this list is more obvious than "According to Jim"
6) "Ashes of American Flags" - Wilco: It's hard to tell in Florida, but I think it's getting colder...this song will be in style again soon.
7) "Like A Rolling Stone" - Bob Dylan: Second best opening song ever...fortunately it works down here as well.
8) "Another Travellin' Song" - Bright Eyes: What better place for the next Bob Dylan! Har har har...
9) "Multitude of Casualties" - The Hold Steady: This is the first Hold Steady song I ever heard, and it's still my favorite.
10) "Novacane" - Beck: When I saw Beck up in the Twin Cities a couple years ago, he opened with "Novacane"...perfect concert opener.
11) "Wild Packs of Family Dogs" - Modest Mouse: This song is great in its own right, but it just has to be here for...
12) "Paper Thin Walls" - Modest Mouse: Listening to one without the other is just kinda weird.
13) "Exit Music (For a Film)" - Radiohead: I'm still waiting for the movie that has the balls to actually use this as its exit music.
14) "It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" - Bob Dylan: If you read the Bob Dylan post, you'll understand why this one was included.
15) "Something's Got to Give" - The Beastie Boys: This is the exact moment that the Beasties started turning into non-violent Tibet lovers. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing...but I present it here because it grooves and for it's historic importance.
16) "Where It's At" - Beck: First Beck song I heard (being aware it was Beck, I'm pretty sure I heard "Loser" before that). Started the whole thing...how could it not be on here?
17) "Poison Oak" - Bright Eyes: Best false ending of all time.
18) "Jungleland" - Bruce Springsteen: How could it be that the Boss has both the greatest opening and closing tracks of all time...on one album? Damn he's good.
Get it here
1) "Thunder Road"- Bruce Springsteen: Best opening song ever
2) "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" - Modest Mouse: Not my favorite, but I'm in the mood for it right now.
3) "Hotwax" - Beck: Would be number two, but "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" goes into this song ridiculously well. Best, Beck, Ever...
4) "Gratitude" - The Beastie Boys: The video for this song might be the coolest "Band playing in an exotic locale without much else going on" type video ever.
5) "Idioteque" - Radiohead: So what if this list is more obvious than "According to Jim"
6) "Ashes of American Flags" - Wilco: It's hard to tell in Florida, but I think it's getting colder...this song will be in style again soon.
7) "Like A Rolling Stone" - Bob Dylan: Second best opening song ever...fortunately it works down here as well.
8) "Another Travellin' Song" - Bright Eyes: What better place for the next Bob Dylan! Har har har...
9) "Multitude of Casualties" - The Hold Steady: This is the first Hold Steady song I ever heard, and it's still my favorite.
10) "Novacane" - Beck: When I saw Beck up in the Twin Cities a couple years ago, he opened with "Novacane"...perfect concert opener.
11) "Wild Packs of Family Dogs" - Modest Mouse: This song is great in its own right, but it just has to be here for...
12) "Paper Thin Walls" - Modest Mouse: Listening to one without the other is just kinda weird.
13) "Exit Music (For a Film)" - Radiohead: I'm still waiting for the movie that has the balls to actually use this as its exit music.
14) "It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" - Bob Dylan: If you read the Bob Dylan post, you'll understand why this one was included.
15) "Something's Got to Give" - The Beastie Boys: This is the exact moment that the Beasties started turning into non-violent Tibet lovers. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing...but I present it here because it grooves and for it's historic importance.
16) "Where It's At" - Beck: First Beck song I heard (being aware it was Beck, I'm pretty sure I heard "Loser" before that). Started the whole thing...how could it not be on here?
17) "Poison Oak" - Bright Eyes: Best false ending of all time.
18) "Jungleland" - Bruce Springsteen: How could it be that the Boss has both the greatest opening and closing tracks of all time...on one album? Damn he's good.
Get it here
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
The Krogman 25
The Krogman 25
Top 5 Artists:
1) The Fiery Furnaces (46 plays)
2) Beck (40 plays)
3) Wilco (9 plays)
4) Tricky (7 plays)
5) Nirvana (6 plays)
2) Beck Mutations
3) Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
4) Tricky Maxinquaye
5) Nirvana Unplugged
1) The Fiery Furnaces “Tropical Iceland” (12 plays)
2) The Fiery Furnaces “Paw Paw Tree” (11 plays)
3) The Fiery Furnaces “Straight Street” (9 plays)
4) The Fiery Furnaces “Quay Cur” (5 plays)
5) The Fiery Furnaces “Benton Harbor Blues” (5 plays)
1) Positive Jam – The Hold Steady (44 plays + 2) LW (1)
2) Jesus, ect. – Wilco (44 plays + 2) LW (2)
3) Anthems For a Seventeen-Year Old Girl – Broken Social Scene (41 plays + 2) LW 4
4) Sister Jack – Spoon (41 plays + 0) LW (3)
5) Looks Just Like the Sun – Broken Social Scene (40 plays + 3) LW (7)
6) The Swish – The Hold Steady (40 plays + 2) LW (5)
7) Multitude of Casualties – The Hold Steady (40 plays + 2) LW (6)
8) Cattle and the Creeping Things – The Hold Steady (39 plays + 3) LW (9)
9) Certain Songs – The Hold Steady (38 plays + 2) LW (8)
10) Shampoo Suicide – Broken Social Scene (36 plays + 3) LW (14)
11) My Mathematical Mind – Spoon (36 plays + 0) LW (10)
12) Barfruit Blues – The Hold Steady (35 plays + 3) LW (18)
13) Fit But You Know It – The Streets (35 plays +1) LW (11)
14) Ashes of American Flags – Wilco (35 plays +2) LW (16)
15) Cause = Time – Broken Social Scene (34 plays + 2) LW (17)
16) Crazy – Gnarls Barkley (34 plays + 1) LW (15)
17) Heavy Metal Drummer – Wilco (34 plays + 2) LW (21)
18) Shine a Light – Wolf Parade (34 plays + 0) LW (13)
19) I’ll Believe in Anything – Wolf Parade (34 plays + 0) LW (13)
20) Casimir Pulaski Day – Sufjan Stevens (33 plays + 2) LW (23)
21) The Way We Get By – Spoon (32 plays + 0) LW (19)
22) It Was Supposed to be So Easy – The Streets (32 plays + 0) LW (20)
23) Poor Places – Wilco (32 plays + 1) LW (24)
24) Outlaw Blues – Bob Dylan (31 plays + 0) LW (22)
25) Hornets! Hornets! – The Hold Steady (30 plays) LW (-)
Monday, September 11, 2006
Current Favorites
Music:
So it's been alluded at, but now it's time...I've finally found a new band to talk about (at least in my world, they've been around for a while now). And that's The Fiery Furnaces. What happened here was that I was looking through my Windows Media Player at old songs I downloaded in my file sharing days but never really listened to. And I came across three Fiery Furnaces songs, "Straight Street", "Paw Paw Tree" and "Tropical Iceland". I listened the first time, and it was enough to get me to listen a second time...then by the third time I was hooked. So hooked I dove into the muck of mp3 blogs to try and find some more. I've got about seven Fiery Furnaces songs now, and I'm itching for more. I'm itching to add some songs to my collection...this is very exciting. For most of Saturday and Sunday, I didn't listen to much of anything else (except for some Odelay to get in the mood to write my Top Ten Albums yesterday). I love the long tracks that change but then come back to a theme. Makes me thinks of one my favorite Who songs, "A Quick One (While He's Away)". The Fiery Furnaces, sort of like their name, exude controlled energy. Now I'm hooked, and there might be a couple CD purchases in my near future. Needless to say, I'm extactic about this development.
Movies:
Miami Vice: Well, this one didn't take long to make it to the dollar theatre, so I'm nothing but happy about that. It was an enjoyable movie, and I found myself not really wanting it to end. This is normally a good sign that the atmosphere is working. I fell into the world the movie with ease. However, the movie has serious shortcoming in regards to character development. First of all, the movie focuses on Colin Farrell, who is a terrible actor, rather than Jamie Foxx, who is a good actor. But overall, the movie is satisfying enough, but not as great as it could be...7/10
The Usual Suspects: Ann wanted to see this movie, and I wouldn't pass up another opportunity to see it. And she actually liked this one, so I feel better after the Rocky debacle. 10/10
Books:
AHHH, Life on the Mississippi is so long...or I'm just not in a reading mood. Who knows...but I guarentee I'll have a review by next week.
So it's been alluded at, but now it's time...I've finally found a new band to talk about (at least in my world, they've been around for a while now). And that's The Fiery Furnaces. What happened here was that I was looking through my Windows Media Player at old songs I downloaded in my file sharing days but never really listened to. And I came across three Fiery Furnaces songs, "Straight Street", "Paw Paw Tree" and "Tropical Iceland". I listened the first time, and it was enough to get me to listen a second time...then by the third time I was hooked. So hooked I dove into the muck of mp3 blogs to try and find some more. I've got about seven Fiery Furnaces songs now, and I'm itching for more. I'm itching to add some songs to my collection...this is very exciting. For most of Saturday and Sunday, I didn't listen to much of anything else (except for some Odelay to get in the mood to write my Top Ten Albums yesterday). I love the long tracks that change but then come back to a theme. Makes me thinks of one my favorite Who songs, "A Quick One (While He's Away)". The Fiery Furnaces, sort of like their name, exude controlled energy. Now I'm hooked, and there might be a couple CD purchases in my near future. Needless to say, I'm extactic about this development.
Movies:
Miami Vice: Well, this one didn't take long to make it to the dollar theatre, so I'm nothing but happy about that. It was an enjoyable movie, and I found myself not really wanting it to end. This is normally a good sign that the atmosphere is working. I fell into the world the movie with ease. However, the movie has serious shortcoming in regards to character development. First of all, the movie focuses on Colin Farrell, who is a terrible actor, rather than Jamie Foxx, who is a good actor. But overall, the movie is satisfying enough, but not as great as it could be...7/10
The Usual Suspects: Ann wanted to see this movie, and I wouldn't pass up another opportunity to see it. And she actually liked this one, so I feel better after the Rocky debacle. 10/10
Books:
AHHH, Life on the Mississippi is so long...or I'm just not in a reading mood. Who knows...but I guarentee I'll have a review by next week.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Top Ten Albums
Well, it's been fun. Overall, this was my favorite portion of the blog to write. It gave me an excuse to listen to my favorite albums again and think about why they mean so much to me. But it's time to get to the very last one. As promised, I'd do an extra special "Number One Album" edition. If you've been paying attention, you know that my favorite album of all time is...well why don't we just look at that list again:
1) Beck Odelay
2) Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3) Radiohead Kid A
4) Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
5) Radiohead OK Computer
6) Beastie Boys Check Your Head
7) Bruce Springsteen Born to Run
8) Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
9) Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
10) The Hold Steady Separation Sunday
When I was making this list, there were some hard decisions involved. I mean, the line between number ten and number eleven (Paul's Boutique) was razor thin. And any one of those top three could have been number one, placing itself in this very late, but very reverent spot right now. I thought about it more than I should, and to be honest, I almost made a mistake and put Yankee Hotel Foxtrot first. But as I was about to do it, I thought..."Wait, you're not seriously going to put Odelay second are you?" And that sealed the deal. So for today we have...
Beck Odelay
I think the first time I heard anything from Odelay was on MTV once when I was in a hotel room. I'm not sure...there's all these moments from my childhood in hotel rooms that are one big blur. There's one of Jim Gatner hitting a home run, one of me playing at an indoor mini golf course, and one of me hearing "Where It's At" the first time. I think my memory is in havoc in that regard because I've always had trouble sleeping in hotel rooms.
I do remember seeing the album at my local library. The Portage County Public Library had a rather scattered assortment of CD's and cassettes available for checkout. This was my first method of getting free music. It was pretty flippin' sweet actually, because I could borrow a CD or tape for a couple weeks, and then make a cassette copy of it while I had it, and then rock it on my indestructable walkman (seriously, this thing is still operating. I got it for my birthday in sixth grade! I dropped it so many times, I even split it in half once and patched it up myself. It stilled purred like a kitten. It never ate a tape! This has to be my most successful electronic device ever). I got Odelay one day and I never turned back. Once I had it taped, I had it sitting in my walkman just about every day of the week. Also, around this time, I had a paper route, which lent itself to walkman listening rather well. It also lends itself to pondering important things, like:
"Is Beck the coolest man alive?"
"Can anyone make music better than this?"
"I think I'd like more country if it all sounded like 'Sissyneck'"
"Turntables are cool...I want to do something with turntables..."
"When will I be able to see Beck in concert?"
"I wish I had the internet so I could look up Beck on it"
"Eh...maybe rap isn't crap...is it?
And along those sorts of lines, on and on and some other things.
So when I fianally got some green from the paper delivery gig, I soon splurged on the actual CD...of my very own!!!
And so it's been since then. There's lots of CDs I got back then that I've changed my opinion on or don't really listen to anymore. There's a lucky few that I've found new ways to appreciate, as well as ones that I learned to appreciate because I wasn't quite ready for them yet. But Odelay, I listened to so exhaustively that I think there was little new to glean over the years. I had entirely digested it...but that didn't diminish it. I never got tired of it, and I've probably listened to at least once or twice every month since I've been in eighth grade. Sometimes, I go on a kick and I'm listening to it just about every day. Ask my girlfriend, I can nearly recite every word to every song without hearing the song. This is the only album I can say that about. And I've been looking for an album like this my entire life. My entire musical listening existence has been trying to top Odelay, to find something that could become as much a part of my life as that one album.
One album on this list gave me a bit of hope in this regard, that being Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. However, it didn't quite have the wings I was hoping it would. And so Odelay remains, untouched after almost ten years.
But why? What about this album makes it so great? I said last week that this is the album where Beck put it all together. His cut and paste sample happy genre hopping mish mashing was the perfect foil for scattershot word play lyrics. It was a collage that didn't just paste a bunch of stuff together, but wove it into the fabric of the canvas, mixed it into the paint, and seeped into the glue. It sounds like the sounds are all coming out of a well worn and beloved acoustic guitar, slapped on crackly vinyl. Beck wasn't just channeling hip hop, country, lounge, folk, rock, metal or any other meaningless label, he actually was all those things simultaniously.
Which is a pretty hard thing to do, and it's not suprising that he's never been able to do it again. Beck is at his best now when he's focused on something, and when he tries to go all Odelay on us again, like he did with Guero, it sounds stale. And I have a theory as to why Odelay can't possibly be topped or even replicated to much satisfaction. I don't think Beck really had any idea what he was doing at the time. If you listen to early Beck, it's all so schizophrenic, and it seems like he's just playing what comes to him. There's a line in the song "Thunder Peel" (available on Stereopathetic Soulmanure) that goes, " "It's a cold out special/when she stole my passion/it's an everlastin'/that's a ghetto blastin". And this really sums up what was important to Beck when he made Odelay. Just blast that shit...and say things like, "Now I'm rollin' in sweat/with a loaf of cold bread/and a TACO in my JEANS!" There's nothing calculated about it, but he'd spent so much time being so many things, that for this one special moment, he was all those things at the same time. And at the end, "Ramshackle" laments the end of the day. Everything's been poured out and the whole thing is disassembled; the whole thing lies in pieces. All we're left with now are the pieces, beautiful and interesting in their own right...but we'll always be reminded of what they created.
1) Beck Odelay
2) Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3) Radiohead Kid A
4) Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
5) Radiohead OK Computer
6) Beastie Boys Check Your Head
7) Bruce Springsteen Born to Run
8) Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
9) Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
10) The Hold Steady Separation Sunday
When I was making this list, there were some hard decisions involved. I mean, the line between number ten and number eleven (Paul's Boutique) was razor thin. And any one of those top three could have been number one, placing itself in this very late, but very reverent spot right now. I thought about it more than I should, and to be honest, I almost made a mistake and put Yankee Hotel Foxtrot first. But as I was about to do it, I thought..."Wait, you're not seriously going to put Odelay second are you?" And that sealed the deal. So for today we have...
Beck Odelay
I think the first time I heard anything from Odelay was on MTV once when I was in a hotel room. I'm not sure...there's all these moments from my childhood in hotel rooms that are one big blur. There's one of Jim Gatner hitting a home run, one of me playing at an indoor mini golf course, and one of me hearing "Where It's At" the first time. I think my memory is in havoc in that regard because I've always had trouble sleeping in hotel rooms.
I do remember seeing the album at my local library. The Portage County Public Library had a rather scattered assortment of CD's and cassettes available for checkout. This was my first method of getting free music. It was pretty flippin' sweet actually, because I could borrow a CD or tape for a couple weeks, and then make a cassette copy of it while I had it, and then rock it on my indestructable walkman (seriously, this thing is still operating. I got it for my birthday in sixth grade! I dropped it so many times, I even split it in half once and patched it up myself. It stilled purred like a kitten. It never ate a tape! This has to be my most successful electronic device ever). I got Odelay one day and I never turned back. Once I had it taped, I had it sitting in my walkman just about every day of the week. Also, around this time, I had a paper route, which lent itself to walkman listening rather well. It also lends itself to pondering important things, like:
"Is Beck the coolest man alive?"
"Can anyone make music better than this?"
"I think I'd like more country if it all sounded like 'Sissyneck'"
"Turntables are cool...I want to do something with turntables..."
"When will I be able to see Beck in concert?"
"I wish I had the internet so I could look up Beck on it"
"Eh...maybe rap isn't crap...is it?
And along those sorts of lines, on and on and some other things.
So when I fianally got some green from the paper delivery gig, I soon splurged on the actual CD...of my very own!!!
And so it's been since then. There's lots of CDs I got back then that I've changed my opinion on or don't really listen to anymore. There's a lucky few that I've found new ways to appreciate, as well as ones that I learned to appreciate because I wasn't quite ready for them yet. But Odelay, I listened to so exhaustively that I think there was little new to glean over the years. I had entirely digested it...but that didn't diminish it. I never got tired of it, and I've probably listened to at least once or twice every month since I've been in eighth grade. Sometimes, I go on a kick and I'm listening to it just about every day. Ask my girlfriend, I can nearly recite every word to every song without hearing the song. This is the only album I can say that about. And I've been looking for an album like this my entire life. My entire musical listening existence has been trying to top Odelay, to find something that could become as much a part of my life as that one album.
One album on this list gave me a bit of hope in this regard, that being Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. However, it didn't quite have the wings I was hoping it would. And so Odelay remains, untouched after almost ten years.
But why? What about this album makes it so great? I said last week that this is the album where Beck put it all together. His cut and paste sample happy genre hopping mish mashing was the perfect foil for scattershot word play lyrics. It was a collage that didn't just paste a bunch of stuff together, but wove it into the fabric of the canvas, mixed it into the paint, and seeped into the glue. It sounds like the sounds are all coming out of a well worn and beloved acoustic guitar, slapped on crackly vinyl. Beck wasn't just channeling hip hop, country, lounge, folk, rock, metal or any other meaningless label, he actually was all those things simultaniously.
Which is a pretty hard thing to do, and it's not suprising that he's never been able to do it again. Beck is at his best now when he's focused on something, and when he tries to go all Odelay on us again, like he did with Guero, it sounds stale. And I have a theory as to why Odelay can't possibly be topped or even replicated to much satisfaction. I don't think Beck really had any idea what he was doing at the time. If you listen to early Beck, it's all so schizophrenic, and it seems like he's just playing what comes to him. There's a line in the song "Thunder Peel" (available on Stereopathetic Soulmanure) that goes, " "It's a cold out special/when she stole my passion/it's an everlastin'/that's a ghetto blastin". And this really sums up what was important to Beck when he made Odelay. Just blast that shit...and say things like, "Now I'm rollin' in sweat/with a loaf of cold bread/and a TACO in my JEANS!" There's nothing calculated about it, but he'd spent so much time being so many things, that for this one special moment, he was all those things at the same time. And at the end, "Ramshackle" laments the end of the day. Everything's been poured out and the whole thing is disassembled; the whole thing lies in pieces. All we're left with now are the pieces, beautiful and interesting in their own right...but we'll always be reminded of what they created.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Current Favorites
Seems Current Favorites has been making the Latin American rounds. My inbox is full of requests from leaders hoping to get in on ZT's opinions on music, movies and books. Normally I just can't grant these requests. This is Fidel's space. But this is an extra special week, because Castro told me specifically to let someone else into the game. And that someone is Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Once the formality of Mr. Chavez signing a statement affirming that I'm his numba one blogga was out of the way, he couldn't stop calling me up and asking about the damn thing. So enjoy a special Venezuelan edition of Current Favorites.
Music:
As I've said far too many times, I haven't been unearthing anything I like. Now, this probably has to do with the fact that I haven't been digging. Or it could just be that music sucks lately. The former is probably true. So what does that leave for you? Reviews of really old albums. Nice!
Outkast Aquemini Funny story...this is probably the first album I ever recommended to someone. It was my sophomore year in high school in my rather tight-knit French class. Anyway, there was this girl, I think her name was Kim, she'd been with me in French class since 7th grade. She was talking about some rap music and asked if I'd heard it. I said no, but that she should listen to Aquemini. Then about a week or so later on a bus trip to Festival of Nations in St. Paul, MN, she turned to me and pointed to her CD player and said, "I'm listening to that Outkast, it kicks ass." Another story about this album. I used to play intramural basketball. Now I'm terrible at basketball, but it was fun. Anyway, one night before gametime, I was trying to get pumped up the way I normally did, with some music. What I needed was some hip hop. Owing to the fact that I only owned about three hip hop albums, I turned to Aquemini and the opening track, "Return of tha G". I went on to have a career game (6 points). It became a bit of a tradition for me to listen to "Return of tha G" all the way to the gym before intramural games. So Outkast is on the very short list of songs that remind me of being active. Other than that, it's Outkast's best album. Don't even bring Stankonia to my attention. I know all about Stankonia. And Aquemini is better. 10/10
Movies:
John Tucker Must Die This might be the lowest rating I've given something on this site. I'm not sure, I'll have to check again. You may wonder why on earth I thought this could be good. And the thing is, I didn't. But first, Ann thought it might, on a good day and if the theatre was being pumped with nitrous oxide, be funny...and second, a dollar theater was prominently involved. There's always the possibility that one of the movies I go see at the dollar theater entirely because it's at a dollar theater will turn out well. This happened with RV and Sahara. John Tucker Must Die wasn't the most awful movie I've ever seen. There were a couple moments where I did laugh. So it gets some points for that. However, it loses points for the cringe-worthy acting. It also loses points for taking a concept that could potentially have been fantastic...you know if the title was taken a bit more literally. 4/10
Rocky I rewatched this movie because I felt like Ann should see it, and I hadn't seen it in about ten years. Well, I'll just confirm yet again that it's a fantastic movie. However, Ann didn't find it nearly as good. It wasn't as bad as when she said that George Bailey should have just killed himself in It's A Wonderful Life (Merry Christmas!!!), but it was close. I don't even want to talk about it anymore...9/10
Books:
So Life on the Mississippi is over 400 pages, and I'm reading it as fast as I can so I can write a review for it. I'll just say that the first half of the book is a 10/10...oh the expectation. So instead, I'll say what books I've been thinking about reading once I finish Life on the Mississippi.
1) The World is Flat Thomas Friedman
2) Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol
3) The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn Mark Twain
4) Some more Hemingway short stories
5) The Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty Buster Olney
Of course, I always like to get some recommendations. So go ahead, tell me what I should read! To be honest, I'm kind of looking for something written in the last half century. So there's your guidelines. Recommend away!
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Top Ten Albums
Ah, it’s been such a long time since a Top Ten Album has graced this space. So long since I yakked long winded about some fantastic work of musical achievement. It was wrong of me to let this space go fallow, and now here’s your amends mes amis. Yes, there were two that never got the Unencumbered treatment. I must rectify this. And I will begin today. First, since most of you lost your memory due to that horrific farming a couple months back, I’ll repost those chosen ten once again…
1) Beck Odelay
2) Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3) Radiohead Kid A
4) Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
5) Radiohead OK Computer
6) Beastie Boys Check Your Head
7) Bruce Springsteen Born to Run
8) Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
9) Bright Eyes I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
10) The Hold Steady Separation Sunday
Also to remind those that were in that farming accident, the two that haven’t been Unencumbered are the Beasties and Beck. Now, Beck will get his time next week, but this week it’s the Beastie’s turn. So without further ado…
Beastie Boys Check Your Head
I’ve survived multiple musical obsessions. They’ve come and gone: Huey Lewis, Beck, Bob Dylan, and even a low level Hold Steady obsession as I’m writing this. But I’m going to have to give props to the Beastie Boys as my most durable musical obsession. I believe it lasted from about tenth grade through my freshman year in college. It remained in fits and starts, but it was always there. There are a couple reasons for this. One is that the Beastie Boys were about the coolest people on that list. And they were white rappers. Let that sink in a minute. Second is that they had a remarkably consistent output from Licensed to Ill through Hello Nasty, with only minor signs of age cropping up around Ill Communication. And finally, they always brought something new to the table, not only with each release, but every time you listened to an album.
The hard part is deciding which Beastie Boys album is their finest. In the case of Beck, you can point to Odelay as the point where everything came together. For Radiohead, Kid A wins because its genius is staggering. But the Beastie Boys never made something of “genius” and they never really brought everything together because that would be a Herculean task. When I think of the Beastie Boys, I think of a room that’s so hopelessly disorganized, but with the Beasties sitting at the desk in front able to find anything your looking for inside. You can’t bring it all together, but you can pick some amazing stuff out of it, blend it together, and suddenly you’re walking home with something unbelievably awesome.
So what we have is five proper LPs from the Beastie Boys prime. One, Licensed to Ill is legendary, but shows it’s inexperience. Two more come from times when the pickins started to look a bit lean, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty. So that leaves their twin masterpieces, when the Boys were frisky enough to seem youthful, but experienced enough to know where to put all that energy. All there is left to do is ask yourself, “Do I like Paul’s Boutique or Check Your Head better.” It’s like an extremely unimportant coin flip.
As you can see, Check Your Head won out. As you can’t see, it wasn’t by a whole lot, since that list doesn’t go to eleven. And really, it’s like a coin flip to me. But here at UE I like to analyze the hell out of a coin flip. And luckily the Beasties provide us with innumerable nuances to latch onto.
Here’s the thing about Check Your Head. This is when the Beastie Boys picked up some instruments. As much as I love the sample happy cut and paste style of Paul’s Boutique firmly steeped in studio trickery, I love how Check Your Head combines that aspect with a more organic sound. It’s like having my cake and eating it too. And you don’t even have to ask if I love cake, all you got to look at is my waistline…
So is that all there is? They picked up a guitar and all of a sudden it’s better? Well, that can’t be it, because, get this, up until about two years ago, if you asked me what my favorite Beastie Boys album was, you’d hear me say Paul’s Boutique. What the real key is that Check Your Head exists entirely in that mode of a twenty one year who’s basically a dumbass, but is started to become conscious of his own dumbassitude. In other words, capable of the ridiculous braggadocio of “The Maestro”, but conscious enough to sing “Something’s Gotta Give.” Plus, there’s the positive side effect that a person of this age has impeccably good music taste, and can write something as groove-a-licious as “Gratitude”. So what it really comes down to is the attitude of the album.
Who know, maybe when I’m thirty, I’ll start digging To The Five Burroughs
1) Beck Odelay
2) Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3) Radiohead Kid A
4) Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
5) Radiohead OK Computer
6) Beastie Boys Check Your Head
7) Bruce Springsteen Born to Run
8) Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
9) Bright Eyes I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
10) The Hold Steady Separation Sunday
Also to remind those that were in that farming accident, the two that haven’t been Unencumbered are the Beasties and Beck. Now, Beck will get his time next week, but this week it’s the Beastie’s turn. So without further ado…
Beastie Boys Check Your Head
I’ve survived multiple musical obsessions. They’ve come and gone: Huey Lewis, Beck, Bob Dylan, and even a low level Hold Steady obsession as I’m writing this. But I’m going to have to give props to the Beastie Boys as my most durable musical obsession. I believe it lasted from about tenth grade through my freshman year in college. It remained in fits and starts, but it was always there. There are a couple reasons for this. One is that the Beastie Boys were about the coolest people on that list. And they were white rappers. Let that sink in a minute. Second is that they had a remarkably consistent output from Licensed to Ill through Hello Nasty, with only minor signs of age cropping up around Ill Communication. And finally, they always brought something new to the table, not only with each release, but every time you listened to an album.
The hard part is deciding which Beastie Boys album is their finest. In the case of Beck, you can point to Odelay as the point where everything came together. For Radiohead, Kid A wins because its genius is staggering. But the Beastie Boys never made something of “genius” and they never really brought everything together because that would be a Herculean task. When I think of the Beastie Boys, I think of a room that’s so hopelessly disorganized, but with the Beasties sitting at the desk in front able to find anything your looking for inside. You can’t bring it all together, but you can pick some amazing stuff out of it, blend it together, and suddenly you’re walking home with something unbelievably awesome.
So what we have is five proper LPs from the Beastie Boys prime. One, Licensed to Ill is legendary, but shows it’s inexperience. Two more come from times when the pickins started to look a bit lean, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty. So that leaves their twin masterpieces, when the Boys were frisky enough to seem youthful, but experienced enough to know where to put all that energy. All there is left to do is ask yourself, “Do I like Paul’s Boutique or Check Your Head better.” It’s like an extremely unimportant coin flip.
As you can see, Check Your Head won out. As you can’t see, it wasn’t by a whole lot, since that list doesn’t go to eleven. And really, it’s like a coin flip to me. But here at UE I like to analyze the hell out of a coin flip. And luckily the Beasties provide us with innumerable nuances to latch onto.
Here’s the thing about Check Your Head. This is when the Beastie Boys picked up some instruments. As much as I love the sample happy cut and paste style of Paul’s Boutique firmly steeped in studio trickery, I love how Check Your Head combines that aspect with a more organic sound. It’s like having my cake and eating it too. And you don’t even have to ask if I love cake, all you got to look at is my waistline…
So is that all there is? They picked up a guitar and all of a sudden it’s better? Well, that can’t be it, because, get this, up until about two years ago, if you asked me what my favorite Beastie Boys album was, you’d hear me say Paul’s Boutique. What the real key is that Check Your Head exists entirely in that mode of a twenty one year who’s basically a dumbass, but is started to become conscious of his own dumbassitude. In other words, capable of the ridiculous braggadocio of “The Maestro”, but conscious enough to sing “Something’s Gotta Give.” Plus, there’s the positive side effect that a person of this age has impeccably good music taste, and can write something as groove-a-licious as “Gratitude”. So what it really comes down to is the attitude of the album.
Who know, maybe when I’m thirty, I’ll start digging To The Five Burroughs
Monday, August 28, 2006
Current Favorites
Monsieur Castro is busy installing his new refridgerator, but he sends his regards, and a vote of making fun of me for the amount of Jane Austin movies I've seen recently...I'm way behind on movies I suppose. I've seen quite a few lately, but I haven't talked about them. As far as music is concerned, I'm in a new music discovery drought. To be honest, the last new album I've listened to in its entirety is Jason Collet's Idols of Exiles. I think that was released in February. Yikes! My year end list is looking pretty parched right now...
But these things are just encumbering my enthusiasm...and that's worse than anything...so I'm breaking out with a current favorites.
Music
Like I said, it's a desert right now. What have I been listening to? Erm...this and that. Most of it is Neutral Milk Hotel or Broken Social Scene. Oh, and the Beastie Boys kick is still in full effect. But I did get on the internet long enough to download a couple tracks by Oakley Hall. They can be found here. The highlight there is "All the Way Down", which has one of those irresistable riffs that always gets me. The other songs are above average.
One advantage of not being able to listen to new music very often is that it allows a little more digging in my library. One horrible victim of neglect has been Outkast, but that's being rectified a little. If you have't done it in awhile, dig out Aquemini. Listen to "Return of tha G", get that head bobbing then wrap yourself around "Spottiottiedogalicious". I had sort of forgotten how brilliant that whole album is.
Also on the headbobbing front, I've been groovin' DJ Shadows Preemptive Strike. The beat on "Organ Donor" just blows me away. It's ridiculous.
And finally, a headbobbing rennaissance would not be complete without a mention of Tricky's Maxinquaye. Many a neck has been sprained listening to "Hell is Round the Corner". Count your humble narrator lucky, as he has no insurance if he grooves too hard...
Movies
Too many movies to list here right now...but I'll give some of the hightlights:
The Devil Wears Prada: I've been seeing a lot of chick movies lately, perhaps my punishment for a over a month of almost non-stop baseball in May and June...but this one was quite enjoyable. To be honest, I'm not a huge Anne Hathaway fan, maybe it's her voice...I don't know. It's not like she's a bad actress, just something about her would make me think twice about seeing a movie she's headlining. And this makes me feel guilty, because there's absolutely no reason for this, which in a way makes me like her a little less. It's a vicious cycle...but the movie's sharp writing, good pace, and typically good performance from Meryl Streep makes it quite enjoyable. Even for you fellas. 7/10
My Super Ex-Girlfriend: I had absolutely no interest in seeing this, but one, it cost a dollar, and two, Ann really wanted to see it. So, we went and saw it and it was thoroughly okay. Enough laugh out loud moments to keep it interesting, but something was lacking. I can't put my finger on what was wrong, maybe the whole premise was a bit flawed. I also spent a good deal of the movie feeling really bad for Uma Thurman's character. 6/10
A Prairie Home Companion: I grew up listening to A Prairie Home Companion, and ever so often I like to go to the website and listen to a few "Tales From Lake Wobegone". The movie was immensely satisfying for any fan of the show. And Ann, who's only heard the show once liked it quite a bit. The scenes of the actual show are fantastic, and it was cool to see running characters from the show like Guy Noir and Dusty and Lefty brought to life. The movie also maintained the show's mix of dry and silly humor. Recommended if you for some unknown reason miss cold, upper midwestern winters...8/10
Sense & Sensibility: When we started making our Netflix queue, Ann requested some sort of Jane Austin movie with Hugh Grant. I was pretty sure this fit the bill. It had everything I often like in a movie...slow development, Hugh Grant, British accents (I wish I was joking...Fidel is laughing his ass off right now). Now, I didn't like this movie as much as Ann, but it ended up being quite enjoyable. Now if it had involved a duel, it would have been a 9/10, but as it stands, it's simply a 7/10.
I think that's quite enough for now...
Books
As for the literature, I've been reading more lately, but the book I chose to read is over 400 pages long. But I did finish The Naked Olympics by Tony Perrottet which I mentioned earlier. As far as history books go, it was incredibly readable, Perrottet is a pretty good writer. I actually would have liked it if it wasn't as short and a bit more in depth. But then it might have become a bit tedious. Overall, a good overview of the ancient Olympics...7/10
Coming hopefully soon is Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. It's looking to get a good rating so far. Short chapters, witty writing, the Mississippi River...it's like this book was designed specifically for me...
Ta for now!
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Mucho Media
In the midst of paging through a magazine simply because Beck was sitting on the cover (oddly enough, it was "Wired"), I found a little article about Pitchfork. It said something along the lines that while its actual readership is quite small, its influence as a tastemaker is quite high. Now, nothing about that seemed terribly revolutionary...in fact, all in all it seemed like a pretty crappy article.
But then something hit me...Pitchfork's readership is actually quite low. Wired did not include any actual statistics (part of the problem making it a shitty article overall). Now, how can something be a tastemaker with no real readers? Wouldn't this have been something Wired might have wanted to tackle (the answer is heavens no!). So I will do it for them...
There's a couple things at work here. One is that Pitchfork's role as tastemaker is more niche oriented. One of my professors, during the 2002 election when asked who would win the Minnesota Senate race, between Norm Coleman and Walter Mondale (who had replaced the sadly deceased Paul Wellstone) replied "Walter Mondale, no doubt." He was wrong, because he'd gotten all of his feeling for political sentiments in one spot. He said he'd been spending too much time on Huff Street (where the University, some coffee shops and your humble ZT resided) and not enough time on Mankato Avenue (where you can find a Wal-Mart, dilapitaded liquor stores and townie bars). There's a tendancy to think that things that affect your group of friends effects others more than they do. The fact is most people just listen to music on the radio. More people like Mariah Carrey than like Art Brut and the next Britney Spears album will outsell the next Broken Social Scene album...no matter what Pitchfork says.
Another factor that is exaggerating the effect of Pitchfork is that there's so many outlets just to talk about it. Think about it, hundreds of blogs to give an outlet for people to say "Pitchfork said this" and then everyone can bitch and moan about it. But that's not the whole story. There is no greater amplifier for media than other media. The Wired article was basicly media talking about media. This amplifies Pitchfork's name (if not it's impact). There's just so much media out there, that somewhere along the line, Pitchfork's going to get mentioned, and it will just build and build. It's like a million little speakers making little bits of noise. Eventually it's just going to get ridiculously loud.
However, Pitchfork has a lot of impact among people who are into music. And the effect goes beyond people who read it. I read Pitchfork on most days, but I don't personally know anyone else that does. However, I've discovered music through the sight. And one that has caught on with people who don't read Pitchfork among my friends is The Hold Steady. I never would have heard of them without Pitchfork probably...and none of my friends would have heard of them without me reading Pitchfork. And I'm sure this is what happens with all those little phenomenons that rise out of a good review.
Wired, if your looking for someone to make your articles actually informative...well, email me at ZTKrogman@gmail.com
But then something hit me...Pitchfork's readership is actually quite low. Wired did not include any actual statistics (part of the problem making it a shitty article overall). Now, how can something be a tastemaker with no real readers? Wouldn't this have been something Wired might have wanted to tackle (the answer is heavens no!). So I will do it for them...
There's a couple things at work here. One is that Pitchfork's role as tastemaker is more niche oriented. One of my professors, during the 2002 election when asked who would win the Minnesota Senate race, between Norm Coleman and Walter Mondale (who had replaced the sadly deceased Paul Wellstone) replied "Walter Mondale, no doubt." He was wrong, because he'd gotten all of his feeling for political sentiments in one spot. He said he'd been spending too much time on Huff Street (where the University, some coffee shops and your humble ZT resided) and not enough time on Mankato Avenue (where you can find a Wal-Mart, dilapitaded liquor stores and townie bars). There's a tendancy to think that things that affect your group of friends effects others more than they do. The fact is most people just listen to music on the radio. More people like Mariah Carrey than like Art Brut and the next Britney Spears album will outsell the next Broken Social Scene album...no matter what Pitchfork says.
Another factor that is exaggerating the effect of Pitchfork is that there's so many outlets just to talk about it. Think about it, hundreds of blogs to give an outlet for people to say "Pitchfork said this" and then everyone can bitch and moan about it. But that's not the whole story. There is no greater amplifier for media than other media. The Wired article was basicly media talking about media. This amplifies Pitchfork's name (if not it's impact). There's just so much media out there, that somewhere along the line, Pitchfork's going to get mentioned, and it will just build and build. It's like a million little speakers making little bits of noise. Eventually it's just going to get ridiculously loud.
However, Pitchfork has a lot of impact among people who are into music. And the effect goes beyond people who read it. I read Pitchfork on most days, but I don't personally know anyone else that does. However, I've discovered music through the sight. And one that has caught on with people who don't read Pitchfork among my friends is The Hold Steady. I never would have heard of them without Pitchfork probably...and none of my friends would have heard of them without me reading Pitchfork. And I'm sure this is what happens with all those little phenomenons that rise out of a good review.
Wired, if your looking for someone to make your articles actually informative...well, email me at ZTKrogman@gmail.com
Monday, August 21, 2006
The Krogman 25
Oh my, it's been awhile, but I think it's time to get back into the old routine...so without further ado...
1) Positive Jam - The Hold Steady (42 plays)
2) Jesus, ect. - Wilco (42 plays)
3) Sister Jack - Spoon (41 plays)
4) Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl - Broken Social Scene (39 plays)
5) The Swish - The Hold Steady (38 plays)
6) Multitude of Casualties - The Hold Steady (38 plays)
7) Looks Just Like the Sun - Broken Social Scene (37 plays)
8) Certain Songs - The Hold Steady (36 plays)
9) Cattle and the Creeping Things - The Hold Steady (36 plays)
10) My Mathematical Mind - Spoon (36 plays)
11) Fit But You Know It - The Streets (34 plays)
12) Shine a Light - Wolf Parade (34 plays)
13) I'll Believe In Anything - Wolf Parade (34 plays)
14) Shampoo Suicide - Broken Social Scene (33 plays)
15) Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (33 plays)
16) Ashes of American Flags (33 plays)
17) Cause = Time - Broken Social Scene (32 plays)
18) Barfruit Blues - The Hold Steady (32 plays)
19) The Way We Get By - Spoon (32 plays)
20) It Was Supposed to Be So Easy - The Streets (32 plays)
21) Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco (32 plays)
22) Outlaw Blues - Bob Dylan (31 plays)
23) Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens (31 plays)
24) Poor Places - Wilco (31 plays)
25) Paper Thin Walls - Modest Mouse (29 plays)
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