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31.1.05
2004: The Year I Did Not Listen to Music III
Screw My G on up to B-Flat: Favorite Albums from 2004
I can’t even come up with 10 albums that deserve to be called favorites. So eight has to be enough. I told you I did not listen to music in 2004.
8. The Slow Wonder by A.C. Newman :: Listening to the songs on The Slow Wonder is like eating a Dagwood sandwich in slow motion. You can smell every aroma, taste every ingredient and feel every texture while enjoying the whole hoagie. By carefully layering every Chuck Berry riff, eerily Neko Case-like harmony vocal and rockin’ cello on this album, Newman makes each moment of music sound vital and fresh. As a result, the great songs on this pensive power-pop record are as great as and sound more diverse than the best songs released by Carl Newman’s other band The New Pornographers.
7. A Ghost Is Born by Wilco :: Wilco’s worst record since A.M. With songs of a piece, it documents the band harnessing its anti-Jay Bennett by expanding its sound and instrumental facility while stripping down. Cheesy album-title allusion alert: Like a Ghost, the record sounds live but also — the intent of “Less Than You Think” be damned — sometimes lifeless (boo!).
6. The College Dropout by Kanye West :: I went to college, and all I got was a lousy B.J. (That’s bachelor’s in journalism for all you snickering SpongeBobs and tittering Tinky Winkies out there.) Kanye West dropped out, produced hip-hop megahits for ghetto superstars and released a rap record that made him bigger than Jesus! Like the gospels, West’s record is soulful; unlike Mark, it could use an editor. Yet for the most part, West’s lyrics, beats and samples are as in-synch as those on The Chronic, 3 Feet High and Rising and Under Construction. And when he raps, all the cameos around him seem unnecessary*.
*Especially Jay-Z’s verses on “Never Let Me Down.” His 99 problems obviously distracted him so he couldn’t pay attention to the song, the album or West. Plus, he sounds like he's spitting into an empty Cristal bottle.
5. Funeral by The Arcade Fire :: Like a eulogy given by a regular family member who happens not to be a great orator, Funeral is full of passive voice, clichés and everyday revelations and aphorisms. But the universal subject matter and passion of the performances bring down the funeral home. Violins wail, tea kettles scream, lightning bolts crack and glow, hearts get torn up, Win Butler’s voice warbles and hoo!s. The songs grieve, build into a fury of battling emotions, and burst into small celebrations. Powerful enough to make Dick, Barry and Rob at Championship Vinyl add this record to their top-five-records-about-death lists.
4. Franz Ferdinand by Franz Ferdinand :: In 2003, Echoes enraptured everyone. It was supposed to be a dance-rock masterpiece. But which would your girlfriend rather listen to? The Rapture’s noisy Echoes or the funky and punky Franz Ferdinand? The latter ’cause it actually promotes both dancing and rocking. This debut is smug, sexual, sexy, self-conscious but not pretentious and packed with more hooks than a tackle box. Perfect to listen to during a pre-date shower, en route to pick up a girl, over drinks and then on the dancefloor.
3. From a Basement on the Hill by Elliott Smith :: The late Elliott Smith always delivered ugliness and pain in packages wrapped in the brilliant beauty of his music. On this posthumous release (originally intended to be his “White Album,” according to Spin — can you imagine?), the ugly gets uglier. His words are the most horrific since his smack-sick self-titled album, and he deliberately distorts and mars several tunes to match the lyrics. The grotesque result resembles blueprints to raze a condemned landmark with grosses and grosses of fireworks. And to paraphrase a Seinfeld episode, it’s breathtaking.
2. Good News for People Who Love Bad News by Modest Mouse :: One of the decade’s best singles, “Float On,” is the thesis statement. From introduction to conclusion, the rest of the album plainly confronts mortality and God. Modest Mouse gets an A for evolving, crossing over without dumbing down, honoring the misfit everyman and all along making uplifting music. All we get is good news.
1. Blueberry Boat by The Fiery Furnaces :: Fun with song fragments, a lot of alliteration and overdriven organ overload! Two siblings who seem to be their own best enemies dare their audience to withstand 76 mix-and-match minutes devoid of true pop songs. Listening to any given song on Blueberry Boat is like being in fifth grade and trying to solve a long math equation with lots of fractions but no common denominators. On one track, a lo-fi section about aspiring to repair typewriters flows into an upbeat segment about farmers and foul play that then turns into a contemporary tale of betrayal. The meandering tracks interrupt themselves; many of the songs are “A Quick One” epics. But every fragment creates tension and momentum and adheres to the next to form an art-, synth-, pop-, postmodern-, experimental-, junk-rock sorta concept album for ADD nation.
* * *
Length Matters
I write long sentences. Sorry about that.
* * *
31.1.05
29.1.05
You Know It's a Great Day When ...
The first words you hear are "butt raped by a large inmate."
I woke up to the end of "Date Rape" by Sublime this morning.
* * *
29.1.05
25.1.05
Bumper Sticker Blues
To all the jerks whose cars still proudly wear the Bush/Cheney '04 stickers: You won. It's official. We know. So quit gloating, grab a razor blade, and start scraping.
P.S.: Did you hear that the current supply of stem cells is tainted? And Bush needs $80 billion for war costs? And the White House projects this year's federal deficit will be $427 billion? And neocons want to take down Iran?
* * *
25.1.05
24.1.05
2004: The Year I Did Not Listen to Music II
Everything I Wish I Didn’t Know: Least-Favorite Singles from 2004
Few songs made me change the station more quickly than these:
10. “Vertigo” by U2 :: Unless it’s the snippet in the iPod commercial, I say, “Goodbye, goodbye.”
9. “Numb/Encore” by Linkin Park and Jay-Z :: After I heard this, I heard an unauthorized mash-up of Linkin Park and Jay-Z tracks that truly deserved an encore for actually mashing up the tracks instead of splicing them side by side and cashing in.
8. “Love Song” by 311 :: This Cure cover induced more cringes than Rob Schneider’s character in 50 First Dates.
7. “Pain” by Jimmy Eat World :: Allow me to defer to the lovable haters at Pitchfork.
6. “The Reason” by Hoobastank :: The reason Hoobastank stinks? This snoozy power ballad takes no risks.
5. “My Band” by D12 :: When the “My Band” video ended the first time I saw it, this novelty went stale. Extra penalties for calling itself a D12 hit when it’s really an Eminem song.
4. “Welcome Back” by Ma$e :: If this is all the mush-mouthed Puff Daddy protegé has to offer, then don’t call it a comeback. Instead, call it a goback as in: Go back to being a minister or whatever you did after “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems.”
3. “Yeah!” by Usher (feat. Lil Jon and Ludacris) :: No! Usher, you are not Justin Timberlake, who is not Michael Jackson. To Lil Jon and America: Sorry! I’m just not feeling the production. I need something more than finger cymbals and synths. OK?!
2. “Imagine” by A Perfect Circle :: How could James Iha allow this to happen? Not a fantastic song to begin with, “Imagine” remade leaves nothing to listeners’ imaginations. This song is deep! It’s dark! It’s a muddled dirge! It means … something! The following people are rolling in their graves: John Lennon, Phil Spector, Yoko Ono and Adrian.
1. “[Insert song title]” by Ashlee Simpson :: Pull the silver spoon out of your acid-refluxing throat and listen: Worse than Ticketmaster, the RIAA, Clear Channel and other forces of evil, you have disrespected your audience, your father, your band, your sister and everyone who turns on the radio or has to channel-surf past MTV. If you don’t love performing, if you don’t care enough about your art to strive to understand and communicate a little truth, if you need a few years to grow up, fine. Quit wasting your time and ours. Don’t be a musician.
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24.1.05
23.1.05
Leno's Next
Johnny Carson died.
Weird. I just read about him the other day.
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23.1.05
19.1.05
'Dying on the Banks of Embarcadero Skies' (Reposted)
Have I blogged about going to San Francisco? Don't remember. Anyway, with a little help from my dad and his free-flight voucher, I gave Kristin (and myself) a trip to the city by the bay for Christmas, her birthday (this Saturday) and Valentine's Day. We're going in March — just in time to stock up on some BALCO goodies before Opening Day of the baseball season.
I booked hotel reservations through Hotwire. We're staying at the Westin St. Francis right on Union Square.
I checked the Time Out guide I gave to Kristin. Our lodging apparently is luxurious. The hotel also apparently is a death trap. Time Out offered these tidbits:
• People tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford outside of it twice, I think. Al Jolson died there. And best of all, a proto-Hollywood sex scandal allegedly occurred there. Silent-movie star Fatty Arbuckle allegedly raped and killed a woman in the hotel. (Thanks to everyone's favorite history of American journalism instructor for keeping me awake during the lecture in which she mentioned the Arbuckle debacle.)
• The glass elevators zip up at a rate of about 1000 feet per minute. Originally, they lifted at about 2000 feet per minute. Engineers or mechanics or Otis guys or whoever lowered the rate so riders would not be scared.
In another life, this place must have been called the Bates Motel. The San Andreas Fault probably runs under it.
I'm pretty excited.
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19.1.05
18.1.05
Beatlebums' Blues
Resist not Universal Blues by The Redwalls.
* * *
Like a Fine Wine (Sans Factual Errors)
Sideways is a great movie because it feels like a novel.
It puts to good use some basic storytelling techniques and elements: in particular, foreshadowing, character foils (with a nod to John Knowles' A Separate Peace, which is known for its foils), plenty of exposition, rising action galore and a climax that seems perfectly obvious and obviously perfect once it hits. Together in this tidy, funny film, all these storytelling elements made me feel like a boy begging my parents to read me the story again, again, again.
* * *
Uncle and Aunt Transplant
I have an aunt who has donated and received kidney transplants. Her husband/my uncle donated one of his kidneys to her a few years ago. Since then, they have been pretty healthy and have participated in the U.S. Transplant Games on Team Illinois. The event is a nonprofit organ-donation Olympics sort of thing that recognizes and raises awareness of the importance of organ donation.
Anyway, my aunt alerted me to an easy way to help Team Illinois raise funds for future trips to the Games. If you plan to purchase something from Amazon, you can search for whatever you want via the special Amazon search bar on this page. Then, when you make the purchase, some of the money you spend goes to Team Illinois. You're not donating an organ, but Amazon is donating some money.
Tell them Every Sunday: Drag sent you, and while you're at it, tell my aunt and uncle that tonight, I used the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine they gave me for Christmas to make some turkey burgers, and it knocked me out.
* * *
P.S.
At least one more 2004 music list still to come. Eventually. I promise.
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18.1.05
10.1.05
2004: The Year I Did Not Listen to Music
Because I heard less new music in 2004 than in other years (blame baseball, TV and stinginess), I cannot justify calling my best-of lists best-of lists. Let’s call them favorite-from lists.
All Right, Already: Favorite Singles from 2004
(Eligible singles earned analog or Web radio play or were available for download outside of peer-to-peer sharing services.)
10. “New Health Rock” by TV on the Radio :: “Staring at the Sun” huffed and puffed and blew over like a house of cards because it tried to build up without sufficient percussion, the brick of rock music. “New Health Rock” has a backbone and a backbeat and makes me think I still could care about TV on the Radio.
09. “A Favor House Atlantic” by Coheed and Cambria :: A goth-emo-metal angstfest with androgynous vocals and hidden hooks? If it has all-out cathartic performances, sign me up.
08. “Overnight Celebrity” by Twista :: A slow jam on speed with Twista’s supadope rapid rapping, Kanye West’s sped-up sampling, smooth tickled ivories and the classic come-on “Let me be your manager.” Thank goodness someone is keeping alive the traditions of double entendre, blues boasting and seduction in popular song.
07. “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs :: The idiots at Interscope should have released this heartstopping tearjerker when Fever to Tell came out in 2003.
06. “Jesus Walks” by Kanye West :: (Called an audible in the fourth quarter of 2004 here.) “Jesus Walks” replaces “All Falls Down” on this list because it’s so subversive and conflicted. Is Kanye saintly or sinful? Is he another arrogant rapper or a humble servant of the/a Lord? Is he saving his listeners by sacrificing his career, or is he blaspheming by posing as both Pilate and a crucified Christ? Sometimes questions are more powerful than answers.
05. “American Idiot” by Green Day :: Makes every Green Day song since Dookie seem a thousand times poopier. Because Billy Joe and Co. gave up the brain stew and gave this anthem plenty of broadness and “My Generation” ferocity, it will sound just as fresh and timely in 2008. Though I’m sure the Green Day gents wish this song were already dated. I know I do.
04. “The Sound of Settling” by Death Cab for Cutie :: Ba, ba, this is a really catchy song. Ba, ba. Ba, ba.
03. “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand :: Take me out to the disco. Take me out with The Strokes. Buy me some tea and some skinny pants. I don’t care if I ever get back. For it’s root, root, root for Franz Ferdinand. If they’re assassinated, it’s a shame. For it’s one, two, three on my list of 2004 faves!
02. “Bam Thwok” by Pixies :: This is what it sounds like when pigs fly. My sister received an iPod mini for Christmas. Before I left Illinois, I helped her set up iTunes. I gave her 99 cents and forced her to download this explosion of giddy energy before anything else. It rocks that much.
01. “Float On” by Modest Mouse :: The ultimate split 7” of this decade would have “Do You Realize??” on one side, and on the opposite would be “Float On.” I first heard it while lying in bed listening to my clock radio on a sunny spring Saturday morning. My feet tapped under the sheets. The odd and colloquial lyrics, barked vocals and staccato and whammied guitar of old-school Modest Mouse remained. But Isaac Brock had taken on the universe and won. He grabbed the macro and made it micro and produced a song and message that could appeal to the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free. I leapt out of bed, threw open the vertical blinds and felt ready for the rest of the year. Probably the rest of my life. Every morning I heard it on the radio became a good day. On countless afternoons, I inserted the album into my car stereo after work. “Float On” would start as I turned onto the I-435 West entrance ramp. The song marching from the speakers made merging into rush-hour traffic the highlight of my day. All right, already, OK, don’t worry, even if things get heavy, “Float On” alleviates, energizes, inspires …
* * *
Mentions of Honor
Can you tell I listened to a lot of commercial rock radio this year? I haven’t heard Gwen Stefani’s single or “Goodies” (?) or anything else, really. Was it because Big Radio played a lot of indie rock, or was it because 2004 was a very low-brow year for me?
• “Golden” by My Morning Jacket
• “Naked as We Came” by Iron & Wine
• “Miracle Drug” by A.C. Newman
• “99 Problems” by Jay-Z
• “Change of Living” by The Only Children
• “Somebody Told Me” by The Killers
• “You’re Too Straight to Love Me” by oh my god
• “Theologians” by Wilco
• “Unmade Bed” by Sonic Youth
• “The Merry Widows of Joe Cain”/“Johnny” by The Pine Hill Haints and “South of the South” by Dave Dondero (split 7”)
* * *
10.1.05
8.1.05
Wave of Donation
An employee of my company set up the Wave Relief site with information about tsunami aid and charities.
* * *
Plane of Pain
What the?
* * *
A Sideways Stream of Kinseyness
Last night, I bought tickets to see Sideways with Kristin, but the only pair of open seats together was in the front row. The only time I watched a movie in the front row was winter break 1998 when my ex-ex-girlfriend, a bunch of other kids and I saw Patch Adams. I still am not sure whether being so close to the screen made the movie better or worse.
(Side note to Hollywood: DVD formats already include widescreen and fullscreen. Why not add widescreen-as-seen-from-the-front-row-of-a-theater? Such a format will sell as well as DVD copies of Patch Adams.)
We did not want to sit in the front row, so — Oh. Looks like someone already told this story.
Thoughts on the biopic Kinsey:
• I really liked that the filmmakers used Kinsey giving his own sexual history as the device that drove the narrative.
• It's nice to see Chris O'Donnell working. Last time I saw him in a movie, he was Val Kilmer's sidekick in Batman Forever. Or I guess he must have been George Clooney's sidekick (and one of the title characters!) in Batman & Robin, but who remembers that movie anyway? Even the soundtrack with that Smashing Pumpkins song sucked.
• John Lithgow reprises his role in Footloose.
• SPOILER ALERT! No one dies at the end. Nice touch.
• Biopics bother me. I don't trust them. I feel like I'm learning, but I don't know what is true and what is based on truth. Documentaries and biographies and news stories present parts of the truth and cannot tell the whole truth, but at least we can trust that everything happened. I think this is why I have gravitated toward documentaries in the past few years. Of course, because he basically makes movies about himself, you can't trust Michael Moore farther than you can throw him. And you can't throw him anywhere, so I guess you can't trust him. Seriously, I saw him on The Tonight Show last night, and he's bigger than Jay Leno's chin. Or maybe TV cameras add 150 lbs. The movie screen probably subtracts 150. These clichés are burying me. Or maybe the fast food he eats in the editing room puts on the pounds. I wonder whether he saw Super Size Me. Michael Moore probably would have made that movie if he were less chubby and less political. But did his politics really skew the truth in Fahrenheit 9/11? Everything on screen happened. Even if he and I weren't on the same side, I wouldn't have felt deceived, would I? Maybe just uncomfortable. I'm probably giving everyone too much credit. His movies should be called op-ed films, not documentaries. I can't stand talk radio or personality-obsessed cable news shows, but paradoxically, I like reading op-ed pages and what certain columnists say. I like knowing about real people and events. Yeah, the real is where it's at. Biopics should come with footnotes. Beautiful actors, special effects and footnotes. That'll work. It's weird to think that other movies don't do the American Splendor thing and let the actual subject — if living, of course — preside over the film. In a more ideal movie industry, such a technique would be more common than innovative. I guess the solution I have adopted is to rest my urge to learn and enjoy the story when I'm in the theater.
• Recommended.
Thanks to Paul for his Sideways recommendation. Next week, we'll have to buy tickets for Kinsey and go into the Sideways theater.
* * *
It's Official: I'm a Kansas Citian
Tonight, Kristin, Excelsior Springs native Æ and I go to Lawrence to see a "10th anniversary" Get Up Kids show that will be filmed and recorded for a live CD/DVD release. The gossip of the town: Is the band breaking up this year?
* * *
'People Who Died'
Funeral by The Arcade Fire and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers share some themes and create similar mood as well.
My brain has not experienced such thematic synergy between a book and album since I read The Catcher in the Rye while listening to OK Computer in 1997.
* * *
Dimebag Mailbag
Remember that "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott died when a crazed fan shot him during a concert last month? Well, a writer for The Pitch looked at the story from an interesting angle.
When I read it, I thought the writer misinterpreted a quote comparing Abbott's death to John Lennon's death when he wrote, "But the loftiest accolade came from Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, who called Abbott's murder 'as tragic and unbelievable as [John] Lennon getting killed.'"
To me, Portnoy acknowledges the similarities in the circumstances of the two musicians' deaths. I suspect, in his haste and in the interest of his story, the writer incorrectly assumed Portnoy was comparing Abbott to Lennon. Maybe I'm being too technical.
The story as a whole seems harsh and indulgent but not completely disrespectful. I understand the writer questions the fans' sudden "adoration" more than the guitarist's talent and legacy.
Needless to say, lots of letter-writing metal fans do not share my reading and want all sorts of nasty things to happen to the writer.
The whole cycle sort of makes metal fans and music writers look like insensitive, jumping-to-conclusions jerks.
* * *
8.1.05
5.1.05
'You're Listening to W-I-Don't-Have-to-Go-to-Work-Today'*
Because of an ice storm and wretched wintry weather in Wednesday's forecast, my company kept the office closed. So I slept in while poor Kristin toiled away at her gig.
*This line comes from the late-era John Hughes movie Uncle Buck starring the late John Candy. 'Tis a family favorite where I come from.
* * *
Cooperstown Cub
Ryne Sandberg, my favorite baseball player when I was a kid, was voted into the Hall of Fame. My dad, brother and I might go to the hall for the induction this summer.
* * *
5.1.05
2.1.05
For DJ Usurp, Hallowed Be Thy Name
Ooh and ahh at my Christmas gift to DJ Usurp.
* * *
2.1.05
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