Monday September 10, 2007
I didn’t watch the video music awards last night, but I have seen the return performance of a pop star. Of course everything is well calculated and the probability of unplanned missteps on the scale of last night at the awards show is unfathomable. At this point the question as to what happened to the art of lip syncing has become redundant. What is MTV foreshadowing or at least hinting at by showcasing such a visual disaster? Certainly it wasn’t a signal that music is creatively bankrupt, because that has been evident for a while. And no doubt MTV is well aware that after a couple of kids and numerous less than glamorous incidents (bad publicity that wasn’t good publicity) captured by the media, Ms. Spears has expired. So why did MTV choose to showcase the lady on their flagship awards show? Had the performance come off inspired and near perfect would it be nearly as important (if we pretend that this matter is important)? Not to mention MTV was supposedly attempting to breathe new life into an awards show that has fallen off the map the last several years, with a revamped formula of more performances and less awards time. Perhaps it is all the late night AM radio I’ve listened to lately, but I just have to wonder.
Monday August 20, 2007
I’m sitting here looking at the remnants of a week old late night Jenga game. I haven’t been here this last week and so now i’m waiting for the air conditioner to restore things. In the meantime, I am starting to acclimate to 89 degrees fahrenheit. I’ve been on the road a lot lately and it has given me a chance to listen to a ton of albums from the nineties. Anyway, there are many records that I used to really like, and hadn’t heard in years, but time does a lot to the old mind and the music didn’t do it for me anymore. It is interesting to see what holds up over time and what doesn’t. It was no surprise how many of the more esteemed indie records during the nineties fail miserably. One group that I just still think are undeniable are Ida who released several records with the best of which being on Simple Machines, one of my favorite indies back then. Ida just simply has some of the most powerful harmonies to match their incredibly touching music.
It was the tail end of an era anyway, meaning that since the internet came along indie rock has become a sham for the most part. It used to be that you had to be a music nerd who spent hours in record stores looking for specific albums, in order to even know about what was out there. Nowadays you don’t have to go anywhere, and backwards hat guy is just as likely to have heard many of the same bands as sensitive quasi-poet guy. Whatever, and who cares anyway… It is all a bit elitist, but somewhere in there is a message still that I’m too lazy to defend right now. I have to say that I can’t wait to get out to California in October, but right now a summer afternoon rain storm will do just fine.
check out Simple Machines:
Friday August 3, 2007
There are many cases of music stars staying around way pass their prime, to the point where they become caricatures of their former selves. In fact, I can think of at least a couple of rock giants who have been creative voids for the last thirty or so years, yet they still sell out every show, because in the sixties and early seventies that band was incredible. Still, those same acts have the nerve to insult us with new records here and there, with terrible songs, that prove how they are little more than a shadow masquerading as their former selves. Ah, but the coup de grace is when those same acts actually try to hoist those new songs on us at a concert we paid 150 dollars for a ticket.
Friday July 27, 2007
Adam Franklin of Swervedriver fame has a new record “Bolts of Melody” out on Hi-Speed Records. In August he will be playing some east coast dates.
No doubt, Swervedriver were influential, but at the same time underrated as a result of their peer group containing the “god like” My Bloody Valentine. While I certainly do appreciate the beautiful noise of My Bloody Valentine when they were at their finest, I always thought that Swervedriver were cooler. I’m getting off topic, but it begs the question “what would have happened if MBV had made another record?” By making Loveless his swan song, Kevin Shields certainly maximized the mystique around the record, and more importantly the band. Well, I shouldn’t complain, because at least he didn’t pull a Stone Roses and make an absolute perfect record, only to fall off and then insult us five years later with an embarrassment called “Second Coming.”
Adam Franklin tour dates:
08/21/2007 Allston, MA show at Great Scott
08/22/2007 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s
08/23/2007 New York City Show at Cake Shop
08/24/2007 Show in Philadelphia, PA at Johnny Brenda’s
08/25/2007 Show in Arlington, VA at IOTA Club
10/13/2007 Vintage Vinyl (St. Louis, MO) Free In-Store
http://www.hispeedsoul.com/
http://www.myspace.com/toshackhighway
Sunday July 15, 2007
I usually don’t get too wrapped up in the going ons of Avril Lavigne, but I found it humorous that the authorship of her songs is coming into question. In our weird age of “everything is possibly true except what is obviously true,” this comes along. It seems apparent that Avril Lavigne is as fabricated as Jessica, Britney, Christina, boy bands and all of their compadres. I think a lot of people have been fooled who think just because Avril brandishes a guitar and dresses more tomboy than slutty, she must be for real. I prefer the slutty look myself, but that is another matter entirely. Anyway, my theory is that a good 75 % of the artists that get solid exposure are put together, staged, contrived, and not at all what they seem. I’m talking about every kind of music. I mean how come everyone is so good looking and where are all the fat people? Does everyone you know look hot and in shape?
Most of this shit isn’t real. However, let us not be too judgemental, because who among us wouldn’t auction off our souls for the lavish lifestyles these people have. Trust me, most of us have sold our souls for much less. I mean given the choice, i’d much rather make millions singing “Skaterboi” than work in satellite cube world making beans. Wouldn’t you? Besides, even a good portion of what is called “indie” these days is bullshit. There is no difference anymore. Except well, i’d rather be a rich whore than a poor one.
Below you can see the article on yahoo which includes a song by song comparison with two of Avril’s songs:Avril
Saturday June 2, 2007
Being a beach lover I have to deal with being inundated constantly with the sounds of Bob Marley Legend, Jimmy Buffet, and whatever current fair of hip hop hits. It really doesn’t matter where I’m hanging out, I know what to expect. Frankly the hip hop doesn’t grate on me too much, because women love hip hop and hip hop makes them excited, and that makes me happy.
Thursday April 26, 2007
It is really starting to get hot out here. Yesterday, I came home and my new next door neighbor was blasting Alice Cooper. I like that a lot. It gives me hope that not everyone is awash in that crap I’m usually inundated with at 5 million annoying decibels and rattling speakers. Who knows, if I’m lucky next I might get some old Van Halen or something fun. Anyway, I started thinking about how much we lost when we all gained the capability of burning cds. Tape was out the window, and I mean the death of mix tapes. No way will anyone ever convince me that a burned comp cd is as good as a mix tape. I know it takes 5 minutes to burn a cd, but there is no passion there. The mix tape was passion incarnate. Pure emotion in 60 or 90 minute chromium dioxide, and maxell was my weapon of choice. When you made a mix tape for someone it was like you were writing a really personal letter. You had to sit there and sort and cue up songs and then you had to listen to them while they were transferred. Even if you were just making one for yourself it took time, love, and patience. The end result was like a journal entry detailing that particular time in your life. Mix cds lack character, don’t require much effort, and as an end result don’t say much at all. Better and faster isn’t always really better (and don’t get me started on ipods). Sometimes things in life move so fast we don’t realize what we are losing. Technology hasn’t saved us yet and it certainly hasn’t made us nicer people. Moreover, we all seem to work a lot more than people did in the past. I guess they call that progress. I’d rather not.
Check out this book by Rob Sheffield. I never knew him, but I remember him being around when I lived in Charlottesville, Va and worked at the Corner Parking Lot. It has nothing to do with my musing, but it is a good read.
Love is a Mix Tapehttp://www.amazon.com/Love-Mix-Tape-Life-Loss/dp/1400083028
Thursday April 5, 2007
Ever noticed how people with the best stereo equipment often have the worse taste in music? There must be some mathematical theorem like – the amount of money a person puts into their stereo is inversely proportional to the quality of their taste in music. Don’t get me wrong there are exceptions, but I’m going to say that the formula holds true for about eighty percent of cases involving home stereos. For car audio the formula must reach up somewhere into the high ninety percentiles. Having said that, I’ve always fantasized that one day I’ll have a nice home system. Maybe that means I have bad taste in music, but just haven’t achieved my full suck potential.
in the next episode: drum circles and patchouli, and why you shouldn’t
I didn’t watch the video music awards last night, but I have seen the return performance of a pop star. Of course everything is well calculated and the probability of unplanned missteps on the scale of last night at the awards show is unfathomable. At this point the question as to what happened to the art of lip syncing has become redundant. What is MTV foreshadowing or at least hinting at by showcasing such a visual disaster? Certainly it wasn’t a signal that music is creatively bankrupt, because that has been evident for a while. And no doubt MTV is well aware that after a couple of kids and numerous less than glamorous incidents (bad publicity that wasn’t good publicity) captured by the media, Ms. Spears has expired. So why did MTV choose to showcase the lady on their flagship awards show? Had the performance come off inspired and near perfect would it be nearly as important (if we pretend that this matter is important)? Not to mention MTV was supposedly attempting to breathe new life into an awards show that has fallen off the map the last several years, with a revamped formula of more performances and less awards time. Perhaps it is all the late night AM radio I’ve listened to lately, but I just have to wonder.
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