The Modern Chach

Kanye videos... Heard 'em Say

2006-02-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

Continuing with the video posts, I am putting up the two versions of Kanye West's "Heard 'em Say" video. Thie first is the Michel Gondry version, which apparently was hated by Kanye and completely discarded. It lacks the typical Gondry magic, but it is a fun attempt nonetheless.

The second is a mostly animated video done up by Bill Plympton, and though this pairing is unusual, the storyline and song mesh with surprising success.

As for the song, it is really wonderful. There is something truly spectacular going on with this beat. Adam Levine does his best Stevie Wonder, and his voice blends seamlessly with the rolling piano Jon Brion supplies on the track.

Kanye West - Heard'em Say (Version Gondry) 34 Mb. Quicktime
Kanye West - Heard'em Say (Version Plympton) 11 Mb. wmv

VIDEO - Chemical Brothers feat. Kele from Bloc Party

2006-01-19T15:32:00.000-08:00

In an effort to help fill the world's iPods with cool videos and movies, I am going to try and post more interesting videos in the future. This mini freak-out clip is the most riveting I have seen all year.

Chemical Brothers feat. Kele - Believe (.mov)

Lennon and more...

2006-01-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

Look at me, what am I supposed to be?

Plastic Ono Band may not be eulogized with the same fervor as some Beatles recordings, however it remains one of the most bold, iconoclastic albums in rock and roll history. Lennon was reacting against everything possible on this LP, from Paul McCartney to his deceased mother, from God to the plush acoustics of Abbey Road, and he strips everything to its core. Lyrics were efficient, instrumentation was sparse, and Yoko's influence is (fortunately) almost totally absent.
Much time has been spent deconstructing the lyrics of the album, the fury and desperation that encircled Lennon, and three decades later, Plastic Ono Band continues to justify such attention. The one-word-title songs, "Mother," "Isolation," "Remember," "Love," and especially "God," represent songs that are not merely insular, they're self-absorbed in the best way. This album is therapy for Lennon, and his confessional words saturate so much that sometimes the listener squirms like an involuntary eavesdropper. John's best work is personal, not political, but the biting "Working Class Hero" is one of his greatest achievements. It focuses on one man and then expands, in the tradition of the song's clear predecessor, Bob Dylan. (In "God," Lennon sings, "I don't believe in Zimmerman." Really?)

As with most great music, how Lennon sings is just as important is what he is singing. Phil Spector produced Ono in conjunction with John and Yoko, but you'd never know it. Lennon's voice is seemingly effect-free, and the only immediately apparent sound manipulations are echo and reverb to add credence and tension. The lack of typical Spector kitchen-sink production methods is obvious - no dual guitar arrangements, certainly no layered orchestral affairs - suggest that Lennon held jurisdiction over the studio. Lennon was going back to his roots musically as well as emotionally on this album and his cathartic release translates into a classic.
http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php?f=33ba52fba5610f2e89fe6580

http://www.filefactory.com/get/v3/f2.php?f=a34d2832209b9827aa3ab57a

The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday (this album is a revelation)
http://rapidshare.de/files/10855560/The_Hold_Steady_-_Seperation_Sunday.zip.html

Kasier Chiefs - Employment hooks galore)
http://www.megaupload.com/pt/?d=39PSNQV6

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am Thats What I'm Not (rocks your face off)
http://www.megaupload.com/nl/?d=BM0WKDR8

Gang Starr - Step in the Arena (this album reminds me of a few things: 1) A trip to the outer banks, where my cousin introduced me to Guru and DJ Primo 2) skateboarding in DC at Freedom Plaza 3)me getting dumped in 8th grade by Miriam Rutledge and playing "Ex Girl to the Next Girl" and then like it was no biggie)
http://www.megaupload.com/nl/?d=36GXH6O5

One last little comment on James Frey. I managed to sneak a few minutes of his stammering ass on Larry King last night and let me say - his editor must have been brilliant because he surely is not. While stuttering through his pathetically vague and indecipherable explanation of why he was never honest about his OWN LIFE STORY in A Million Little Pieces, I was tempted to kick my own ass for wasting my time reading his book. At least I a) I didn't buy a copy, and b) didn't believe most of what I read in the first place.

On the other hand, I have purchased and read two of JT LeRoy's works and raved about them to friends only to read in NY Magazine that JT Leroy was an elaborate hoax. Now, I can't explain why, but I am not nearly as upset by this as I am about the Frey debacle. Leroy's writing was the most tortured, horrific, and disturbing material I ever put my hands on, and it was so cringe-inducing at times that I had to put it down and take a break during readings. Needless to say, I emotionally invested in his work. You would think that I would feel betrayed, but I don't. Maybe it is because there were four people working in concert to accomplish the hoax, rather than a lone gunman flying solo abed a carpet of lies... maybe it is because JT Leroy has always been such a mystery that it wasn't entirely a surprise that he in fact was a she from Brooklyn with no documented history of being a homeless teenage truck stop prostitute in West Virginia who experienced the most depraved forms of physical and sexual abuses... maybe it is just the 1.77 million copies of A Million Little Lies that Frey sold in 2005 that pisses me off so much. Frey is a worthless prick.

Janky Spanky = Great; Solitaire = Awful.

2006-01-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

Clinton Portis as "Coach Janky Spanky"

Allow me to preface this paragraph by warning that if you are not a 'Skins fam (or if you have any affection for the Cowboys), you must remove my page from your favorites list at this time and refrain from ever visiting this site again.

Clinton Portis has made quite a splash throughout the season by demonstrating his subtle improv talents during the Redskins press conferences each Thursday. Southeast Jerome, Dollah Bill, Ma Sweets, Sheriff Gonna Getcha... all characters in Portis’ growing repertoire. But the most recent addition to his catalogue - Coach Spanky Janky - is a deeply felt, layered examination of the uncharted, and often mysterious emotions of a scorned defensive coordinator. Maybe that is a strech, but he is f-ing hilarious in this role. While drawing up unorthodox "blitz packages", Coach Spanky Janky complains that he was never considered for Gregg Williams' job even though he took the Boy's and Girl's Club to the Super Bowl. A reporter asks a question about Portis' mom - and I swear this is true- he blows his whistle and says "Don't ask about Portis' mom, she's bad. She's tough. She's a tough one." He proceeds to illustrate what happened in Philly by drawing an "O" on his clipboard and giving the page a right hook. Not sure about you, but the tension is palpable in anticipation of this Thursday's press conference at Redskin Park.

Check out the video here: http://www.redskins.com/news/multimedia.jsp (go to view channels, and then "press conferences")

Solitaire is for losers.

This is not an opinion, this is a fact. I hate Solitaire with the passion. Please, give me frogger, an inflamed hemorrhoid, rusty thumb tack in my taint, anything; hell, I'd even rather do WORK than play Solitaire. Why do people continue to play this game??? Seriously, it's just not fun. What's the point? Who cares how many cards you can make disappear? You have to drag and drop these dainty cards on top of each other... who's the dipshit that thought up of this game? 99% of the people who play Solitaire only do so because they don't know how to do anything else on their computers. They might as well have bought a $1600 deck of cards. The next person I see playing Solitaire on my laptop when I come home is the person whose asshole I'm going to wear around my ankle after I put my foot up their ass (you know who you are). It's just pure shit.

At any given time, I can walk through my office and catch at least one work-deprived idiot playing Solitaire. These are also the same employees that run toward the elevator while I laugh and press the "CLOSE DOOR" button. What is everyone's fascination with this game? Throw it away. It's bullshit. Want to make the cards disappear faster? Here's a hint: click on the 'x' in the corner, asshole.

By the way, I have never learned to play Solitaire. Maybe I would like it if I tried, but I doubt it.

Eight albums/ performances.

2005-11-30T12:40:00.000-08:00

I've been slacking on the posts for the past week or so... busy with work.. blah, blah, blah... Here is a lil something to hold ya'll over till the next post.

Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (wma)

Trans Am - Liberation part 1
Part 2 (pw - zades)

Beulah - KCRW Session

Beulah - Peel Session

Modest Mouse - KVRX performance

The Beta Band - Three EPs (pw - burt)

Sufjan Stevens - A Very Sufjan Christmas (3 parts from Quintus)

Stars - Set Yourself on Fire

Patient just died in room 105.... Cirrhosis of the eye!!

2005-11-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst

The first time I listened to to cuts like "Earth People" and "Halfsharkalligatorhalfman" was in my buddy Ill Bill's Buick, sitting in the senior parking lot at T.C Williams High School. I remember the moment, because it almost immediately changed the way I listened to hip-hop. The standards were the same--verse, chorus, verse, with plenty of nasty skits in the middle--and there are electro-beat shades of his predecessors, such as Afrika Baambaata, but the wordplay and beat compositions were truly light years from most hip-hop.

Maybe it was that downtime at Creedmoor Mental Hospital, but after he tuned out following the breakup of the hardheaded seminal hip-hop group the Ultramagnetic MCs, something must have flipped Kool Keith's wig like a mescaline pizza. I can think of no other way to explain the mutant birth of Dr. Octagonecologyst. Literally assuming another personality on this record, Dr. Octagon--Kool Keith on the mike, with Dan "The Automater" Nakamura producing--transmits unearthly rhymes like tractor beams to your cranium. Then he squirms around in there, grabs some Vaseline from your medicine cabinet, and does a jig. If you can listen to this album and analyze it as anything more than a musical field trip to an insane asylum, I'll be impressed.

http://rapidshare.de/files/7628504/DR._Octagon_-_Dr._Octagonecologyst.zip.html

http://d.turboupload.com/d/152258/Dr._Octagon_-_part_2.zip.html

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - OST

If you haven't yet, go see this (great) film. In a paragraph or three, I may very well spoil it for you.

Given its subject matter, Michel Gondry's beautiful film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, has a particularly visual agenda, which makes great use of the medium's most important quality: its ability to collapse the distinction between linear and synchronic plot development. Charlie Kaufman has essentially written a film's film, which is fine-- wonderful, in fact-- but what storytelling role does Eternal Sunshine leave, then, for its soundtrack?

The answer here is not much of one. Jon Brion writes a perfectly ambient score: It's undistracting, yet contains interesting sounds and ideas for those who choose to be distracted by it. But with this balance comes a powerful dependence on Eternal Sunshine's visual elements. The value of listening to Brion's score by itself-- with the exception of his thematically tongue-in-cheek "Strings That Tie to You"-- is situated in the potency of its corresponding visual nostalgia. This seems to be the logical fate of most film scores, but in the case of Eternal Sunshine, Brion's insistence on certain themes popping in and out of his textures seems particularly appropriate, as the soundtrack's fluid matrix performatizes the cinematography's mind/body collapse: In the film, Brion's organi-synthgaze postlude "Phone Calls" plays after Joel decides not to try and save his first memory of Clementine, but just to enjoy it. Here, Brion's score meets Eternal Sunshine's oculophilia halfway, and fittingly comprises one of the film's most potent scenes.

By now I trust you've at least seen the trailers for Eternal Sunshine, and yes, the song that backs it (Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky") is present here, despite not finding time in the film itself. The Polyphonic Spree also contribute two heavy doses of equally sugary pop ("Light and Day" and "It's the Sun"), while Anaheim garage trio The Willowz offer two shameless, anonymous, but ultimately tolerable White Stripes rip-offs. Also present is Lata Mangeshkar's Indian spook "Wada Na Tod", which plays from the kitchen radio in Clementine's apartment in a moment of comic self-indictment: Clementine works at Barnes & Noble, which these days seems to pride itself on its peddling of "world" music releases. The song title means "Don't break your promise," and subtly hints at Clementine's final request of Joel-- that he meet her again.

And then there's the Beck track, a cover of The Korgis' "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime". Beck did a really fine job reworking the original, and here's why: The song appears at three critical junctures in Eternal Sunshine when Joel feels trapped by the bitterly ironic circumstances of his memory erasure. Beck's cover logically cannot encompass "love's multiple dimensions" in the same way as the original version, as it would make for an odd juxtaposition: From Joel's perspective, love has only one side, its unrequitedness and devastation. In these moments, love is hardly "a journey always worth taking."

Fittingly, Beck revoices all the chords to be decidedly less bright and colorful, and with this move, he changes the tone of the song's repetitive lyrics from their originally bittersweet positivity to a perfectly contradictory melancholy. When Beck sings, "Change your heart," we know very well that Joel does not have the power to change his own. This is the song's beautiful ironic tension, which is used to fantastic effect in the movie's final scene: Joel and Clementine's mutual emotional attraction ultimately gives way to reason. It's triumph of reason over human emotion, summed up perfectly by their laughter-- Gondry's final nod to Nietzsche, who said (roughly) that laughter signifies the death of an emotion. Beck's song starts here again: Joel and Clementine have finally learned, and what they've learned comprises the film's disarmingly icy pessimism.

http://rapidshare.de/files/5249614/eternal.rar.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/5256535/sunshine.rar.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/5233617/spotless.rar.html

More selections:

Various Artists - This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul

Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown
pw - dookie

Bonny "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness
pw- burt

Dj Shadow - The Private Repress
pw - www.illfrequency.org

Black Flag - Damaged
part 2

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine (original Brion-produced version)

Dakota Fanning is the Antichrist.

2005-11-09T12:59:00.000-08:00

It is an indisputable fact that Dakota Fanning is waaaay too famous. It is also indisputable that she is in cahoots with someone far more evil than your average Hollywood producer or manager…because not even devil underling Joe Simpson could develop such a prolific career out of seemingly nothing but a never-ending smile. This is going to be hard, but the world must know the truth: Dakota Fanning is the Antichrist.

Think of how many movie roles and TV guest star slots there are for thirty-three-year-old women. Now imagine what it would be like if 97% of those available roles went to Jennifer Aniston (although in the week leading up to the premiere of Derailed, it kind of seems like they already do). If that were the case, we'd all have to be brainwashed to keep watching... yet millions still tune in to each visual holocaust Dakota appears in.

Fanning is creepy in spades, but people never seem to get sick of her. With each appearance, impressionable children are drawn to the dark side. Fanning is the same size as a real kid, but her poise is eerily grown-up. Have you ever seen her on a talk show? Along with an occasional (rehearsed) story about her jacked-up teeth, she'll chat about her next "project", or how great it was to work with this actor or that director. If you close your eyes, it's easy to imagine that you're listening to some old showbiz hag rather than an innocent third-grader. I managed to catch the little devil on Regis not long ago; girlfriend's got bigger bags under her eyes than Yasmine Bleeth after a cocaine binge. She probably drinks coffee, and it is only a matter of time before she is photographed wearing massive sunglasses and chain-smoking poolside at the Chateau Marmot.

Further evidence of Dakota Fanning’s wickedness lies in her ability to destroy the reputations of actors who were previously respected by men as universally awesome.

Cases in Point:

#1) Robert DeNiro
DeNiro used to be a man’s man. He not only portrayed kick-ass characters like Jake LaMotta and Don Corleone, but he embodied a persona that was both mysterious and at the same time tough as nails. His default expression was a determined scowl, like he was prepared to introduce you to the business end of his shoe if you looked at him wrong. Then he starred alongside Fanning in Hide and Seek - now he is a full blown pussy and corporate shill.

#2) Kris Kristofferson
Somewhere between becoming a Rhodes Scholar, penning "Bobby McGee", performing with The Highwaymen, and slaying boatloads of vampires alongside Wesley Snipes in Blade, Kristofferson had firmly established himself as a man among boys. With his grizzled beard and growling voice he demonstrated the rugged manliness of a lumber jack, with a supreme intellect to boot. What hath become of the brutish Kristofferson? Well, he hammered the last nail in the coffin carrying his tough-guy image by joining little Dakota in Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story. He used to eat rocks and shit gun powder, now he’s nothing but a minion left in the wake of Fanning’s assault on real men.
#3) Tom Cruise
Sike…He’s always been a pussy.

With the help of Lucifer, she'll never age - like Jonathan Lipnicki after Jerry Maguire. That movie was out eight years ago and he still looks like a he could do a Life cereal commercial. Or maybe Fanning's natural hormones will turn her into a toothsome young thing, and transition her from Cat in the Hat pigtailed annoyance to low-rise jeans and crop toped media mogul Hilary Duff-level annoyance. Either way, the outlook is grim.

I know what you are thinking – “But Terry, she is so cute and just a child and therefore should be beyond reproach!!” For those detractors I have but one response:

Iron & Wine | Calexico - In the Reins

2005-11-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

In 2001, Sam Beam, who records under the name Iron & Wine, and Calexico's Joey Burns and Don Convertino kicked around the idea of collaborating on an album. They didn't find the time for the project until late 2004, when Beam packed up his guitar and followed the ribbons of road to Tuscon, Calexico's home base. There, he recorded In the Reins, with Burns and Convertino.

This is a country album. Not country as in "I lost my truck and my wife hates me because my girlfriend's a better hunter" or "I can't get over you till you get out from under him" country, it's country because it is so solidly grounded in rural life. The album brims with rural and natural images. Wide open skies, bridges, cicadas in the trees, birds on branches, and on "Red Dust"... well red dust.

In the Reins draws on the unique strengths of both bands. Sam Beam started his career alone in his bedroom with nothing but a four-track. There, he made lo-fi recordings of his songs and defined what would become his musical signature -telling stories filled with striking imagery and singing in hushed, cottony tones. On Our Endless Numbered Days, he used the evocative, and slightly macabre image of teeth in the grass, to suggest how death haunts our daily lives. His prowess for painting complex pictures continues on In the Reins.

Burns and Convertino's decision to name themselves after a border town was apt. They've become know for creatively blending indie rock with the sounds of the Southwest and Mexico. With their command of different musical traditions, Calexico weaves a rich sonic tapestry, and the multiple musical threads shimmer as a fitting backdrop for Beam's stories. The depth and richness of the music amplifies the depth and richness of Beam's lyrics with eloquence.

I left rural Georgia because wide open skies and drawn out days, while beautiful, often bled into boredom. I like the fast paced, man-made rhythms of the city, and living stacked in a row next to my neighbors. So I don't naturally gravitate toward albums that chime with enthusiasm for the American pastoral. Yet after just a couple listens, In the Reins had reeled me in.

I like this album because it's often poetic, but it is not innocent, and never naive. On one song it slyly revels in the pleasures of a first sexual adventure, on other songs, it rings equally with admirable emotions such as love and less admirable ones such as jealousy. It knows that the rural life is anything but the simple life, and it's enough to make this city boy pine for a dirt road, a cold quiet night, and a starry sky.

Iron & Wine Calexico - In the Reins - http://d.turboupload.com/d/133556/Iron__Wine_-_Calexico__In_the_Reins.zip.html

Note… Iron & Wine along with Calexico just announced a show at DC’s 9:30 Club on November 30th. Tickets are still available. http://www.930.com/

Neil Young - Acoustic Afternoon

2005-10-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

There are few musical artists who need the old canonization speech less than Neil Young. With his reputation preserved amongst us youngsters as the Godfather of Grunge (apparently based on little more than a predilection towards flannel), he's already known by all as the hip great-uncle amidst the Woodstock era's senile grandparents. Few have been able to maintain lyrical relevance for such an extended period, and none that I know of have grown in scope and melody to the degree Mr. Young has over his prolific career.

Acoustic Afternoon is a remarkable set of songs that focuses primarily on the popular classics in Young’s catalog (with wry humor, he refers to these as both “golden oldies” and “radio-whored”), but doesn’t ignore latter-day gems such as “Slowpoke” and “Pocahontas”. While the song selection is stellar, more fascinating is the engaging rapport between the artist and his audience. He readily takes requests, encourages crowd participation, explains (at length) the inspiration behind “Long may You Run”, and even asks someone to join him onstage and harmonize on “Too Far Gone”. Often quiet and always sweetly melodic, Neil Young's brief but immaculate performance feels like the perfect Sunday morning serenade.

Acoustic Afternoon - Part 1

Acoustic Afternoon - Part 2

Devendra Banhart, Eric B. & Rakim....

2005-10-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

Devendra Banhart - The Black Babies EP

If you have never listened to Devendra Banhart, you're likely to be startled by his beutiful and eerie acoustic melodies. His recordings are lo-fi and very intimate, creating an ethereal sound that many artists have attempted, but few succeed at mastering. The Black Babies EP is a collection of eight short songs, some of which appeared on Oh Me Oh My from the same label. He manages to develop a sound that is both complex and at the same time black in white in its simplicity. All songs are recorded on a four-track recorder and usually contain a high level of hiss. Banhart has claimed this is what happens when you don't know what you're doing, but it's apparent that this is his intent and it adds to the eccentric charm inherent on this EP.

In addition to the occassional crackle and whine, there are moments where you can hear a melange of murmurs eminating from the distant background, either by way of a passing car, a faint telephone ring, or what sounds like gunshots. The most important component of Black Babies, and all of Devendra's recordings, is the mellow and beautiful sound of his genre-defying voice.

Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full

On Paid in Full, the debut album by Eric B. and Rakim, the duo established themselves as a prominent force in a burgeoning NY hip-hop scene. Rakim, a rapper's rapper if there ever was one, is the Steven Segal of hip-hop (minus the gut, corny voice, and proclivity toward Native American garb): cool as steel, absolutely calm, absolutely deadly. His verbal assaults and rhythmic humor go hand-in-hand. He flows like Niagara Falls, stomping around the beat, galloping from one phrase to another, letting the words do the work. And as for Eric B... He comes up with some straightforward but effective backing tracks, favoring James Brown and 70's-era grooves, showcases his scratching prowess on a couple of nasty instrumentals, but all the while leaving room for the master to do his thing.

Finally... some more Clipse.

2005-10-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

Like far too many hip-hop acts, Malice and Pusha T - aka Clipse - vanished into obscurity after a spectacular debut. Judging by the dedicated following they earned with their ground-breaking Lord Willin', you'd think that their sophomore effort would be rushed to the shelves, but a series of industry miscues left the future uncertain. A messy merge with J Records led Arista to shuffle the duo to Jive/Zomba, an imprint historically unable to market gritty hip-hop (see Mobb Deep, Petey Pablo). For a hot second, it looked like the Brothers Thornton would sit idly while the supposedly-forthcoming LP Hell Hath No Fury marinated and lost relevance. These natives of Virginia Beach weren't about to let that happen. In an attempt to force Jive’s hand and get their contract voided, they grinded in the studio and cooked up a potent mixtape series - We Got It 4 Cheap. With the addition of two rumbling partners from Philly, Ab-Liva and Sandman, Clipse have evolved and flaunt a transcendent flow with the newly formed Re-Up Gang. Above all else, these deft lyricists are hustlers, and they’ll make their own breaks by whatever means necessary. As they say on “Run This Shit”, "Nigga, fuck Zomba/ I sell nose candy.../(you can call me) Willy Wonka".

Speaking of drugs… Pusha T and Malice will brag without apology that they have cornered the market, both on the Chesapeake cocaine trade and the rap game. On Lord Willin', Clipse established that they were premier drug-dealing soliloquists, using dexterous rhymes that turn hustler into hero. On We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2, their description of the production, purchase, and sale is unsurpassed… and the ingenuity of their punchlines is undeniably smooth. Reveling in moving weight might be indefensible, and some will be offended, but damn if it isn't fun to listen to. Pusha, whose luminous word selection and precise phraseology can be startling, takes Lil’ Kim’s nearly forgotten “Drugs” beat and gives us his double-edge sword reality on "The Ultimate Flow". His verse provides a rare glimpse into his vulnerability: “All these jewels, one should be humored and amused, but more often than not I find myself confused/ cruisin’ in that drop, but still I feel/ as if I’m nothin’ more than a hamster in the wheel.”

Some prankster on Amazon set the release date of “Hell Hath No Fury” for January 1, 2020. Jive/Zomba, take notice. More than just the Clipse diehards from VA are impatiently waiting for round two from this duo.

Clipse - I Got it 4 Cheap Vol. 2

Today's selections: Yeah Yeahs - Peel sessions, Wilco Live, The Streets, plenty more....

2005-10-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

Today marks the one year anniversary legendary Radio 1 broadcaster John Peel's passing. Here is his obituary, courtesy of Uncut:

Peel's impact upon British popular music of the last 30 years is simply immeasurable. In the 1960s he championed Jimi Hendrix, Cream and the psychedelic underground of Pink Floyd and Marc Bolan's Tyrannosaurus Rex. In the 1970s he was the only Radio 1 DJ brave enough to play The Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK" on air and became a fearless champion of punk rock. In the 1980s he proved crucial in furthering the careers of bands such as The Smiths, Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Jesus & Mary Chain and not least The Fall. Even into the ‘90s and beyond, he proved just as important in promoting hitherto unknown US groups such as Nirvana and The White Stripes.

Peel was born John Robert Parker Ravenscroft in Heartfield near Liverpool in 1939. In spite of his public schooling, Peel traded on his Scouse roots in the ‘60s by becoming a DJ in Dallas at the height of Beatlemania. During his time there, he was an eye witness to the JFK assassination. He resumed his broadcasting career in London when returning to the UK at the end of the ‘60s, presenting the BBC's Top Gear and seminal hippy show The Perfumed Garden. By the mid ‘70s, John Peel had become a staple of night time Radio 1, breaking new groups and providing a platform for all manner of uncommercial esoterica deemed inappropriate for daytime schedulers. From reggae and punk to techno, world music and hardcore thrash metal, Peel never flinched at the shock of the new. Rather he championed it and introduced successive generations to the sounds that would, literally, shape their lives.

Among the thousands of musicians to benefit from Peel's patronage is Mike Joyce, drummer with The Smiths who recorded 4 sessions for his programme between 1983 and '86 and twice topped his annual listeners' Festive 50 poll.
"Every band needs some form of stepping stone and Peel was ours," says a devastated Joyce. "He was an intrinsic part of our success. I was only thinking about him yesterday because I found a sticker I'd kept from his surprise 50th birthday party in 1989. ‘He's bald, he's fat, he's where it's at!'. And he was. I used to feel literally humbled in his presence, one of the few people whom you felt literally lost for words. How many people must have walked up to him and said "John, if it wasn't for you"? I mean without him, The Undertones, The Buzzcocks, every band I've ever liked. It's unthinkable."

"John Peel was timeless," states Joyce. "All he was interested in was the music. I only listened to his show last week and he was playing some stuff that sounded like people fighting. I thought ‘what the hell is this?'. But you just know that to somebody, somewhere, they're thinking ‘this is fantastic'. And that's what was so great about him. He cared only about the music and he never stopped. The only thing that was ever going to stop him was the grave. He was unique, he was uncompromising and if it wasn't for him, and his producer John Walters, bands like The Smiths would never have broken through. It's not that he'll be missed. He'll just never be replaced."

Someone else indebted to Peel is punk legend Siouxsie Sioux who only last week filled in for Peel as guest presenter on his programme. "This news is totally unexpected and devastating," says Siouxsie. "John championed Siouxsie & The Banshees and many more when no-one else would, givingus our chance to discover what it was like to be in a studio with those early sessions. I know for a fact that those sessions were instrumental in getting us signed and releasing ‘Hong Kong Garden' as our first single in 1978."

"I can't believe that it was only last week that I so enjoyed filling in for John whilst he was away," adds Siouxsie. "I was looking forward to reading his anecdotes of Peru in the paper when he got back and maybe doing it again for any of his next trips. You always knew that John said and played what he wanted, not what he was told to or ought to. A unique maverick of the radio has been lost and I feel so sad."

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - John Peel Session pw-rya

For more, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/johnpeelday/2005/

The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free

“It was supposed to be so easy…” Whether A Grand Don't Come For Free is a better, more important record than The Streets' 2003 debut Original Pirate Material, I'm not quite sure... though it's certainly more ambitious in concept. The latter served as a series of brilliant sketches, while the former aspires to a broader, more wide-ranging canvas. The term 'concept album' seems oddly quaint when used in conjunction with an album as contemporary sounding as this one, yet that's what A Grand Don't Come Easy plainly is. Essentially it offers two tales, one involving lost money, the other lamenting a girlfriend first discovered, then lost also. It doesn't sound like much of a comedy, but in the hands of Mick Skinner, what else could it possibly be? It's one aspect of his work -- the wry humor -- that marks Skinner down as a singularly British talent. Oddly, few great records I recall possess cringe-inducing moments in the way A Grand Don't Come Easy does. These moments are limited to Skinner's penchant for delivering rhymes in in-furi-atingly chi-ld-like patt-erns -- an occasional proclivity that seems wholly unnecessary given his more natural, more naturally effective flow. Perhaps it's the idiot standing up to the savant? Still, these moments seem utterly inconsequential when measured against the brilliant, utterly original vitality of the remainder. Beyond innovative music steps, Skinner's real art is one of observation. The most accurate comparison his work might draw is not with another album, but with a book -- Trainspotting. As with the more successful literature of Irvine Welsh, Skinner is delineating a British youth culture that few have been able to accurately transcribe. In doing so, he's making extremely complex storytelling appear deceptively simple. If you've ever tried writing a story that involves the ingestion and descriptive effects of drugs, you probably know how silly you end up sounding. Typically Skinner makes it work for him -- as witnessed here by "Blinded by the Light". A considerable part of Skinner's success is that he's completely unafraid. He's quite prepared to run the risk of sounding silly, which is why "Dry Your Eyes", a song which potentially has 'sappy mess' written all over it, is in fact beautiful and honest and touching. Like most good literature, it's honest to the point of cruelty... which, in a nutshell, is what makes The Streets such riveting listening.

Additional Selections:

Of Montreal- If He Is Protecting Our Nation, Then Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children?

Wilco - Live Sessions 2005

DangerDoom - The Mouse and the Mask

Damien Rice - O

Elliott Smith - Either/Or

Wolf Parade - Apologies to Queen Mary pw-AlienOnAcid.com
Part 2

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
Part 2

Final Katrina post...

2005-10-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

I went to college deep in the belly of the dirty south, and coming from the ethnically and racially diverse DC area, to say that I experienced a culture shock would be a drastic understatement.
My blood would boil when some fucktard in philosophy would argue creationism or some stupid hag at the bar would regurgitate what her grandmother taught her about Jews going to hell... but you have to pick your battles (in the former case, I waited till after class and bludgeoned him with my #2 pencil; the latter was set up with my intellectually naive friend James (not you James M., the other one).

After a year of debating, pleading, and arguing with every person who uttered a racial slur or intolerant comment, I gave up. A self-righteous Yankee wasn't going to mend too many bridges in the South, and my fragile ego wouldn't allow 50% of the campus to dislike me. Once I lifted my self-imposed burden it was much easier to accept people and make some lifelong friends.

Yet three years later and 600 miles north, I still find myself inundated with the same narrow-minded Jim Crowism that I thought was left behind in Georgia. With every tragedy, election, or political firestorm comes a flood (no pun intended) of email propaganda containing carefully designed assertions ripe for plausible deniability, and emotional declarations that appeal to the lowest common denominator.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, here is one that I have received no fewer than 6 times:

"What I have learned about Katrina"

*The hurricane only hit black family's property
*New Orleans was devastated and no other city was affected by the hurricane.
*Mississippi and Alabama each are reported to have a tree blown down.
*New Orleans has no white people.
*The hurricane blew a limb off a tree in the yard of an Alabama resident.
*When you are hungry after a hurricane steal a big screen TV.
*The hurricane did 23 billion dollars in improvements to New Orleans.
*New Orleans is now free of welfare, looters and gangs - and they are in your city.
*White folks don't make good news stories.
*Don't give thanks to the thousands that came to help rescue you, instead bitch because the government hasn't given you a debit card yet.
*Only black family members got separated in the hurricane rescue efforts.
*Ignore warnings to evacuate and the white folks will come get you and give you money for being stupid.

Somehow, some way, people I consider friends - many of whom proclaim to be “God-Fearing Christians” (BTW, why would you fear God? I thought he was supposed to be our friend) are spreading this crap around.

G.W. Bush, Tom “The Hammer” Delay, and apparently a bunch of white folks in the South would move heaven and earth to save the life of one woman in Florida to combat euthanasia (which it wasn’t anyway), but they’ll sit on their ass and not bat an eye as tens of thousands of poor men, women, children, babies, and elderly wither away in the New Orleans heat. These were vibrant, living AMERICANS without the means to escape their abandoned city. Surrounded by water, sewage, gasoline, and dead bodies, they seemingly had no one to turn to. Is this the culture of life that the “compassionate conservatives” claim to subscribe to? Truth be told, the same people that advertise their moral superiority would rather throw valuable time and resources toward one brain dead white women rather than focus energy on an immediate crisis that has enveloped a major US city filled with blacks. The culture of life wants a zero-tolerance for looters policy to sound imposing while children die of dehydration and bodies float in the streets.

They expect you to take care of yourself, and if you can't, then fuck you… you brought it on yourself. They want you to support your nation while some time this month the 17,000th American will be wounded, disfigured, mutilated and either returned to duty for another crack at making Iraqis happy or returned home to a lifetime subscription to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Monthly. We are bombarded with endless quasi-news about the disappearance of one white teenager in Aruba and her camera-whore of a mother, but when circumstances call for nuanced reporting, all points devolve into a blame game. It makes me want to make like Michael Douglas in “Falling Down” and go nutzo on them.

I know that some of my Republican friends--the reasonable ones—understand that not everyone was dealt the same hand at birth. Not everyone has a home, car, or family and friends they can rely on when the going gets tough. Unfortunately, far too many believe that they earned everything they have gotten in life (yeah, their parents might have given them a nudge, but they deserved it), and that no one, especially the government, should be allowed to take their hard-earned cash to help those in need. But that's their thing. Demonstrating overt elitism and feeling entitled actually works. It keeps the circle unbroken. If you saw Bush and Cheney casually, almost smugly, visiting the destroyed neighborhoods in Mississippi and New Orleans, you know the type of people I am talking about.

Visits to the dentist are no fun...

2005-10-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

As if I needed to remind anyone, going to the dentist sucks. After getting a cativity drilled and filled this morning, I am just now getting to a point where I can feel the right side of my face. Turns out that at some time today I was gnawing on tounge like it was beef jerky... shit hurts.

Although I like my dentist compared to some of the evil SOBs I have experienced in the past, he still incorporates some of the same tactics used by other jackass medical professionals... If something is uncomfortable or painful- it is somehow my fault. While impaling me with a six-inch needle, he tells me that the pain is intensified by my "strong jaw muscles". Sorry doc, but I could have sworn it was the bayonet you just used to attack my gums.

Now on to the music...

Helium - The Magic City
The second full album from this Boston-based trio is a rich, complex effort that keeps you coming back again and again, and it grows with every listen. Guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Mary Timony has a wealth of cool influences--from Krautrock and the Cars to the Velvets and vintage Pink Floyd--but all of them are filtered through her own distinctive personality, and married with lyrics that take an unromantic but nonetheless inspiring view of life in the modern world. Produced by Mitch Easter (Let's Active, R.E.M., Pavement), this is a lush, multi-layered disc full of such enticing touches as funky analog synths, cool overdriven guitar tones, Eastern percussion, and strings. The sound is almost as seductive as Timony herself.

The Magic City - Part 1

The Magic City - Part 2

Jenny Sweet smells like cabbage...

2005-10-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

Fo real...

Ghostface - "The Wonderful World of Wallabees"

2005-10-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

Ghostface (a.k.a. Ironman, a.k.a. Tony Starks, a.k.a. the Wally Champ, a.k.a. Pretty toney, ni Dennis Coles) is rap's voice of desperation. Born Dennis Coles, he was raised like a rumble fish on the streets of Staten Island, where an alias like Ghostface Killah isn't just for the stage, it's protection from the law, the gangsters, and Mom. It's a name that withdraws young Dennis Coles from the emotional chaos of growing up poor. You can hear that poverty scarred him, but he's a stronger man for it. He spits lyrics that sound desperate. He might be wailing, but he regrets the fact that he's going to have to kill you with the punch-line of his rhyme. He's not afraid to be seen crying at your funeral either. It's not personal. It's just the hot soul samples and hard beats and the fact that whatever you've seen in your life, Ghost has seen it twice. He's a ghost, he'll be here when you're dust. His collaborations with Raekwon, and the dozens of Wu-Tang Clan gems aside, Ghostface made classic solo albums in an industry that turns its back on anyone who boasts more than two albums before they're shot dead. In 2005, Ghostface Killah is older and better, and after (count 'em) four previous solo records, his fifth is a compilation of some of the more memorable masterpieces of an unfailing discography. "The Wonderful World of Wallabees" has a varied collection of the hardcore, bare-knuckled tracks such as "Daytona 500" and the stellar "Apollo Kids" to the quintessential Ghostface soul tracks "All That I Got Is You", and "Child's Play". Don't try to pretend you didn't get cher grind on in your college living room while listening to "Cherchez la Ghost" from Supreme Clientele. Watch him blow your face off with the graffiti-soul of "Malcolm", or the insane classic RZA-produced "poisonous Darts", and see if you can dispute that Ghost is the strongest of the clan.

Ghostface - "The Wonderful World of Wallabees"
Part 2 of "The Wonderful World"

Ghostface's claustrophobic rhymes have produced some of the most confusing verses to emerge from the hip-hop scene. Here are 10 that have left me dumbfounded:

10) "All rise meet the preacher this pro dueler been diagnosed
Diabetic kleptic i'm your host
Rock the vanilla suede British
Staten Island mall menace"

9) "You 14 karat gold slum computer wizard"

8) "Aiyyo, this rappin's like Ziti,
facin me real TV
Crash at high-speeds, strawberry, kiwi"

7) "Flower grabbed Tiff his man with the sideburns
hat fell off
We herd his wigworms"

6) "Scientific, my hand kissed it
Robotic let's think optimistic
You probably missed it, watch me dolly dick it
Scotty watty cop it to me, big microphone hippie"

5) "The fortune teller Tucker sleepin gas umbrella
A war where they're gunnin in the back of Armanbella"

4) "Gasoline CREAM wrapped in hospital bands
Model vans, Michael Davis, it's me against housin
Extraordinary pro-black, sold God creations to control thousands
Catch me at the flicks, Apollo rap Fredick Douglas"

3) "Smashed a fresh ball of wax ceasar
Flashy penthouse that overlooks the vista
Wally Moc' have tie, swimmin trunks
Three chunks of ice sit in Johnny Walker for advice"

2) "Wax janitor, black Jack Mulligan from Canada
Slam dance, tarantula style, youse a fan of the
Monopoly king, Slavic poetry
Carnegie Hall's off the hook, let's push through the armory"

1) "Aiyyo spiced out Calvin Coolidge, loungin with 7 duelers
The Great Adventures of Slick, lickin with 6 rugers
Rock those, big boy Bulotti's out of Woodridge
Porch for the biggest beer, season giraffe ribs
Rotissiere ropes, hickory scented mint scented glaze
Perfected find truth within self, let's smoke
All hail to my hands, 50 thou' appraisal
Dirty nose with the nasal drip, click flipped on fam
Dancin with Blanch and them bitches, flickin goose pictures
Kick down the ace of spades, snatch Jack riches
Olsive compulsive lies flies with my name on it
Dick made the cover now count, how many veins on it
Scooby snack jurassic plastic gas booby trap"

Seriously... wtf?

An open letter to my co-workers: Please don't talk to me on the shitter.

2005-09-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Coworkers:

I understand that the location of our job (right next to Starbuck's, which everyone effectively consumes at 8:45) causes a group of individuals to deposit our morning bodily waste at approximately the same time as each other, every single day, so as to be unencumbered during the course of normal business hours. Further, I understand that a men's room with only 3 toilet stalls is a woefully inadequate inventory to satisfy the needs of 125 male individuals who all must deposit said waste during the span of a brief half hour every day. Finally, I understand that the inability of our men's room to service everybody's bodily requirements simultaneously causes the unfortunate formation of long lines in the restroom foyer, alongside the sinks, between the entryway and the stalls.

HOWEVER, I do not understand your need to consistently force conversation upon me prior to, during, or immediately following the act of dropping the cosby kids off at the pool. Please refrain, in the future, from engaging in any act of this nature, limited, but not exclusive to, the following examples:

Case 1: Me, in line for the next available stall
Coworker #1 (in line behind me): "Oh man, this one's gonna be a doosie. I had some chili for dinner last night"
... this is completely unnecessary. Not only don't I want to talk to you while I'm quietly biding my time to drop my solid Sam Adams, I certainly don't need to hear that when you sit down in the stall next to me, the squishy, ploppy sound which is inevitably coming from you will be the result of chunky, partially digested kidney beans and ground beef coming out of your unholiest of holies.

Case 2: Me, on the pooper, (relatively) quiet and minding my own business while reading the sports page.
Coworker #2: "Hey John, is that you over there?" (uncomfortable silence)
Me: "um, no"
Coworker #2: "Oh, sorry. It sounded like John "
... first of all, what? How do you know what John sounds like on the john? Second, why do you care if your buddy John is the one sitting next to you while you're in there? Pick up a goddamn newspaper and keep to yourself.

Case #3: Me, exiting a stall, having finished my business, on my way to wash my hands.
Coworker #3 (next in line): "Thanks man"
... um, sure? You're welcome? Be sure to enjoy the uncomfortable warmth that my bare ass left on the toilet seat which will invariably remain until you sit down and realize you wish you were in a nice, isolated bathroom stall, where you wouldn't have to think about the bare (and possibly hairy) ass of the last guy who shat there.

My point is this: I enjoy the relative anonymity that a public restroom stall should provide to one while he or she is doing his or her business. I find it difficult to believe that we, as humans, feel the need to experience situations such as this communally, and as such, I have only request: Please don't talk to me in the john and leave me the fuck alone!

On that note, the selections for the day come from everyone's favorite six-man aussie DJ team, The Avalanches. I am posting four of the recordings I own, along with brief descriptions.

First up if the only officially-released full length LP, "Since I left You", which is a timeless classic due to it's sheer originality and the monumental difficulties they encountered while trying to get each of the 900 samples that had to be approved before release.
Part one - http://rapidshare.de/files/5684450/avalanches.zip.html
Part two - http://rapidshare.de/files/5684182/since_i_left_you.zip.html

Next up are 2 kick-ass live sets, one from the Breezeblock sessions from Radio 1 in England... I have the other breezeblocks somewhere, and if you are interested in it shoot me an email and I'll track them down.

Avalanches - Cornerstone Set: http://rapidshare.de/files/5684317/Avalanches_Live.mp3.html

Avalanches - Breezeblock Showcase (12th September 2000): http://rapidshare.de/files/5684440/Breezeblock_-_HOT_Avalanches.mp3.html

Set List:
The Avalanches - Since I Left You
Madonna - Holiday
Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
The Avalanches - Stay Another Season
The Avalanches - Two Hearts In 3/4 Time
De La Soul - A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays"
Blowfly - Rapp Dirty
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Baby Got Ya Money
Roy Ayres - Running Away
Kid Creole And The Coconuts - Stool Pigeon
The Avalanches - Close To You
Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic
Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Thomas Bangalter - Extra Dry
The Smiths - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Thomas Bangalter - Spinal Scratch
Madcatt Courtship - The Kitty Lounge
Men At Work - Down Under
De La Soul - Ring Ring Ring
The Avalanches - Electricity
A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation
Daft Punk - Oh Yeah
Detroit Grand Pubahs - Sandwiches
Hall & Oates - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
Fatboy Slim - Fatboy Slim Is Fucking In Heaven
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Jurassic 5 - Jayou
Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart
West Street Mob - Break Dance Electric Boogie (Junior Cartier Mix)
Gonzalez - Real Motherfuckin' Music
The Avalanches - Little Journey
The Avalanches - Diners Only
The Avalanches - A Different Feeling

And finally, the un-released GIMIX LP. There are two reasons why the disc will never find commercial release: sample clearance and the money required to gain it. Within the 46 minutes of Gimix , which is essentially a DJ mix with tweaked stretches of Since I Left You interwoven to stitch it all together, a laundry list of guilty pleasures, pop favorites, and rare grooves are melded into each other in imaginative and often hilarious ways. Strange bedfellows are the rule. The exuberant refrain from De la Soul 's "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'" pops up repeatedly throughout a block that takes in Blowfly 's "Rapp Dirty," Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Baby Got Ya Money," Kid Creole & the Coconuts' "Stool Pigeon," the Avalanches own "Close to You," the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Crosstown Traffic," Cyndi Lauper 's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," the Smiths' "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side," and Thomas Bangalter 's "Turbo." (Just as key: the synth guitar freakout of the latter syncs right up with the flute from Men at Work's "Down Under.") There's no doubt that it's a purist's nightmare. The Beatles , Michael Jackson , The Mickey Mouse Club, and Bob Dylan, whose "Like a Rolling Stone" glides right over Madonna 's "Holiday," each get thrown through the processor. It's too bad that the Avalanches don't have the funds to officially release mixes like this and have them pumped through every theme park and car wash on the planet.

The Avalanches - GIMIX - http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0EG55AUANAZXB1TL58FV48G13Y

Today's Selection: The Decemberists - Her Majesty the Decemberists

2005-09-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

This morning finds me in rough shape after a night of $1 pints and plenty of good-natured debauchery. Along with coffee and the BC powder I found in our compay's first aid kit, Her Majesty the Decemberists is helping me wage the war I am fighting against a stubborn hangover. As I searched for some medicine to soothe this bitch of a headache, it was amusing that of all the possible pain/headache cures on the market, our company has fucking BC Powders. I thought that stuff was only available in towns where NASCAR reigned supreme and people were able to confuse it with the crystal meth they just manufactured in their bathtubs.

But back to the music... The Decemberists are a brilliant quintet hailing from Portland, Oregon by way of Missoula, Montana. Colin Meloy, the band's lead singer, composes eloquent tunes that favor fanciful stories from somewhere back in time. The group's name actually comes from history, the Decembrists were Russian revolutionaries who led an unsuccessful uprising against the czar in 1825. Rather than write the personal and realist creative non-fiction often found in the indie scene, Meloy leans on things outside of his experience, such as the bond formed between soldiers in "The Soldiering Life", or a crew's journey around the South Pacific to deliver spices, rum and tea-leaves in "Shanty For The Arethusa" (I had to look Arethusa up- "A wood nymph who was changed into a fountain by Artemis"... who knew?).

"Los Angeles I'm Yours" is interesting not just because Meloy pairs the critical lyrics with a light-hearted tune, but because he throws classical, flowery language-- referencing "orphans and oligarchs" and verses like "Oh what a rush of ripe Ã©lan, Languor on divans, Dalliant and dainty"-- against post-modern Los Angeles.

IMHO, "Red Right Ankle" is the best of the bunch, and has essentially been on repeat as I write this entry. One the album's many gems, he employs a unique and fascinating wordplay, alternating between a metaphorical and anatomical use of the word "heart." Describing a girl's suitors, he sings, "Some had crawled their way into your heart/ To rend your ventricles apart." Anyone other than Colin Meloy would sound absurd using the word ventricles in a song, but he pulls it off with such confidence that it seems appropriate.

Meloy's melodies are so perfect and his words so substantial that it reminds you how much slack we cut most other bands. Too many singers mumble or screech as if they didn't trust or care about their words: Meloy declares his lyrics, lets his work live or die by them, and sets them deep in masterful pop surroundings.

Give it a listen, you won't be disappointed.

The Decemberists - Her Majesty the Decemberists

Bob Dylan - "Folksinger's Choice" with Cynthia Gooding... March 11, 1962

2005-09-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

Last night I caught the first installment of Martin Scorcese's documentary on Bob Dylan, "No Direction Home", and the images and sounds of a young Dylan immediately made me think of this classic bootleg.

Though listed in many publications as a March 11, 1962 performance, it was recorded in February of that year and the March date was a rebroadcast. What we actually hear is the unedited version of the studio session.

Dylan and host Cynthia Gooding chat between each of the 11 songs, and Gooding does a great job of allowing Dylan to expound on his 'alternative biography'. At her prodding, Mr. Dylan spins tall tales about his life around the carnival in his now famous enigmatic voice. Although he never reveals any elaborate details, Dylan somehow convinces the listener that there is a faint possibility his nomadic adventures actually occurred. Gooding clearly admires his astounding talent and at times seems overwhelmed, most notably by "Death of Emmitt Till" (this is the very first known performance of "Till").
Apparently, she had met Dylan on a number of occasions previously, going back to 1959 when they both attended a party after one of her concerts. Later, when she saw Dylan performing at the Folk City in New York, she commented:

" People listen ... he talks and he laughs and just when they are about to catch him in a lie, he takes out his harmonica and blows them down."

Some (like my co-workers) criticize this as being a poor vocal performance, or containing lackluster song selection/interpretation, but the historical significance is undeniable. In the science of dissecting Dylan's evolution, historians and documentarians are always looking for that "missing link." Well, this is one of the precious early stages in his evolution that has been captured, or fossilized, for all time. Dylan, at the tender age of 20, has soaked up so many pivotal influences and has reinterpreted them in his own unique and remarkable way that his genius is imminent. While watching "No Direction Home", a few of his contemporaries seem to still harbor jealousy for Dylan's talent. It is no wonder, considering they failed to develop their personal and distinctive voices, while Dylan was a seemingly immediate and singular virtuoso. The detractors were analogous to fundamentalist creationists ("this is the way these songs were written, and that is the way they must forever be sung, damn it!") while Dylan was a consummate evolutionary. This is absolutely essential listening.

Links to Dylan on "Folksinger's Choice":

Part 1
Part 2

Bill O'Reilly is a massive douche.

2005-09-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Holy shit. This further confirms what many of us have already known- Bill O'Reilly is a Grade-A, stinky, dripping douche. Last week, Bill reaffirmed his status as the world's largest pile of blubbering excrement by bullying the helpless victims of Katrina in a hate-spewing rant that can only be described as disturbing. Ok, it could also be summed up as vile, abhorrent, evil, abominable, despicable, spiteful, contemptuous, etc., but spending any more time on this prick would be stupid... but I am going to run that risk and continue.
Here's a short transcript of the more offensive portions of his tirade:

O'REILLY:

"Now, what's the real story? The real story is this: Ten percent of Americans, and 10 percent of any society, simply are so chaotic for whatever reason that they're never, ever going to be able to fend for themselves and make a living. They are either substance abusers, they're mentally ill, they're screwed up emotionally beyond -- they can't carry on a conversation, they're catatonic, schizophrenic, whatever it may be. No matter how much money you pour in, they're always going to be in that condition. It's not massive neglect, it's not; it's human nature.

Now, our government has a duty to provide a safety net so these people aren't living under bridges. But some of them are anyway, because all the entitlement money they get they spend on heroin or crack or alcohol. So they can't pay their rent because the money that they're given they spend on drugs and alcohol. So what do you do? Give them more money? They're not going to pay their rent, they're going to spend it on drugs and alcohol. And therefore, they're going to be out on the street with their hand out. Many, many, many of the poor in New Orleans are in that condition. They weren't going to leave no matter what you did. They were drug-addicted. They weren't going to get turned off from their source. They were thugs, whatever."

This blowhard needs to receive the severest of ass-kickings, or even better, get mouth-raped by a camel in heat. Being that I reside in the DC area, it wouldn't take much effort to provide copies of the above transcript to the 600 "thugs" who are making the DC stadium armory their temporary home. Just speculating, but this might inspire them to take a trip up to Bill's studio (1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036) and see if he stands by those asinine comments.

On his September 14 radio show, Bill O'Reilly said he wished that Hurricane Katrina had flooded the United Nations building in New York. King of the Douches then added, "And I wouldn't have rescued them." The UN is full of people working hard (albeit ineffectively at times) to promote respect for human rights, protect the environment, fight disease, and reduce poverty... yet in the wake of one of America's most destructive natural disasters, Massingal Boy decides that more death and hardship on innocent folks is just what the doctor ordered.

I hope Bill O'Reilly's face catches on fire so I can try and put it out with a wet brick.

50 Songs for our 50 States

2005-09-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

The inspiration for this list came from two influential compadres of mine - Sufjan Stevens and Steve Glass... aka Schmee, or the artist formerly know as Schmeeve.

Mr. Stevens has of course gained significant notoriety for his 50 states project, which every critic feels compelled to describe as "ambitious" within the first paragraph of their review of "Illinois" . I am no critic, but I am going to go ahead and agree that the prospect of composing an album for every state across this great land sounds daunting... and Sufjan is just the man to embrace the creative writing forces required to accomplish such a task. And what better pallate to draw inspiration from than the good ole US of A (ok, so Iowa might cause some problems down the line, but he could write 10 songs about the storied history of wrestling or something). Based on interviews, Sufjan has indicated that Rhode Island and the Garden State are next on the agenda. RI will consist of tunes that clock in at a minute or less, symbolizing it's stature as the smallest of the 50. Jersey's diverse crowd will be wowed by Sufjan's unique take on the state, using turnpike exits as creative fodder.

Here are a couple select listens:

KCRW live performance - great set full of songs from Illinois, Michigan, and Seven Swans

NPR "The Lord God Bird" - Sufjan was "commissioned" to pull a song together based on interviews with the Berkely, Arkansas community after the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was rediscovered.

Sufjan Stevens - Michigan: This is the album that first turned me on to Sufjan and the Ashmatic Kitty label. It is still my fave of the bunch.
Michigan Part 1 (.zip)
Michigan Part 2 (.zip)

Schmee gets credits for the simple act of asking me to compile a few songs that dealt with specific states... and I obviously took the task and ran away with it. .. or got carried away. Thanks for helping me waste valuable time at work Schmee.

Alas, the 50 States:

Alabama
Billie Holiday - "Stars Fell On Alabama"
Lynard Skynard "Sweet Home Alabama"
Blind Boys of Alabama - "I May Not Can See"
Neil Young - "Alabama"

Alaska
Dan Bern - "Alaska Highway"
Johnny Horton - "North To Alaska"
Michelle Shocked - "Anchorage"

Arizona
Public Enemy - "By The Time I Get To Arizona"
Wilco - "Hotel Arizona"
The Constantines - "Ariozona"

Arkansas
Sufjan Stevens - "The Great God Bird"
John Linnell - "Arkansas"
MC Solaar - "Arkansas"
Robert Johnson - "32-20 Blues"
Michelle Shocked - "Arkansas Traveler"

California
Momma's and the Poppa's - "California Dreamin'"
"The Beach Boys - "California"
Tupac feat. Dr. Dre - "California Love"
Luna - "California All The Way"
Phantom Planet - "Here We Come (California)"
Wilco & Billy Bragg - "California Stars"
Dead Kennedys - "California Uber Alles"
Mason Jennings - "California [Part II]"
Semisonic - "California"

Colorado
John Denver - "(Colorado) Rocky Mountain High"
The Flying Burrito Brothers - "Colorado"

Connecticut
Superchunk - "Connecticut"
Aerosmith - "I Live In Connecticut"

Delaware
The Dambuilders - "Delaware"

Florida
Muddy Waters - "Deep Down In Florida"
Whiskeytown - "Jacksonville"
Will Smith - "Miami"
Troubled Hubble - "Floribraska"
Butthole Surfers "Moving to Florida"

Georgia
Ray Charles - "Georgia On My Mind"
Whiskeytown - "Macon, Georgia, County Line"
Nat King Cole - "Sweet Georgia Brown"
Robbie Fulks - "Georgia Hard"
Blind Willie McTell "Statesboro Blues"
Ludacris & Jermaine Dupri - "Welcome to Atlanta"
Alan Jackson - "Chattahooche"
Alison Krauss & Union Station - "Oh, Atlanta"
Allman Brothers "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed"
Uncle Tupelo - "Chickamauga"

Focus on the City of Athens
R.E.M. - "Gardening at Night"
Pylon - "Crazy"
Of Montreal - "Wraith Pinned To The Mist (and other games)"
B52's - "Dance This Mess Around"
I Am The World Trade Center - "Can't Take The Heat"
B52's - "Love Shack"

Hawaii
The Ventures - "Hawaii Five-O"Haley Bonar - "Hawaii"

Idaho
B52's - "Private Idaho"
Built To Spill - "Twin Falls Idaho"

Illinois
John Linnell - "Illinois"
Sufjan Stevens - Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL

Focus on the City Of Chicago
Smashing Pumpkins - "Jackie Blue"
Robert Johnson - "Sweet Home Chicago"
Material Issue - "Valerie Loves Me"
Ryan Adams- "Dear Chicago"
Common Sense - "Orange Pineapple Juice"
Veruca Salt - "Seether"
Muddy Waters - "Baby, Please Don't Go"
Big Black - "Pete, King Of All Detectives"
The Redwalls - "Love Her"
Sufjan Stevens - "Chicago"
Kanye West - "My Way Home"
Chicago "Take Me Back To Chicago"

Indiana
Jackson Five - "Goin' Back To Indiana"
Jackson Five - "2300 Jackson Street"
The Music Man Soundtrack - "Gary, Indiana"

Iowa
John Linnell - "Iowa"
Dar Williams - "Iowa (Traveling III)"

Kansas
The Wedding Present - "Kansas"
The Get Up Kids - "Campfire Kansas"

Kentucky
Patsy Cline - "Blue Moon Of Kentucky"
Elvis Presley - "Kentucky Rain"

Louisiana
Muddy Waters - "Louisiana Blues"
John Lee Hooker - "Goin' To Louisiana"
Lucinda Williams - "Louisiana Man"
Lucinda Williams - "Lake Charles"

Maine
John Linnell - "Maine"
Okkervil River - "Maine Island Lovers"

Maryland
Mary Chapin Carpenter - "Down In Mary's Land"
The Modern Lovers - "Roadrunner"

Massachusetts
Juliana Hatfield - "Feelin' Massachusetts"

Focus on the City Of Boston
Pixies - "Monkey Gone To Heaven"
The Cars - "Dangerous Type"
Lemonheads - "Rudderless"
Aerosmith - "Train Kept A-Rollin'"
The Standells - "Dirty Water (Boston you're my home)

Michigan
Bruce - "In Michigan"
Kiss - "Detroit Rock City
John Linnell - "Michigan"
Sufjan Stevens - "Say Yes! To Michigan"

Focus on the City Of Detroit
Stevie Wonder - "Superstition"
Eminem - "8 Mile"
Martha & The Vandellas -"Heat Wave"
Kiss - "Detroit Rock City"
The White Stripes - "Hotel Yorba"
MC5 - "Kick Out the Jams"
Marvin Gaye - "Got To Give It Up Part One"
David Bowie - "Panic in Detroit"
Kid Rock - "Detroit Thang"
Gomez - "Detroit Swing 66"
Derrick May - "Strings of Life"

Minnesota
The Dandy Warhols - "Minnesoter"
The Push Stars - "Minnesota"
Gear Daddies - "Minnesota Polka"

Focus on the City Of Minneapolis/St. Paul
The Trashmen - "Surfin' Bird"
Prince - "Raspberry Beret"
Atmosphere - "Shhh"
Husker Du - "Love Is All Around"
Kid Dakota - "Ten Thousand Lakes"
The Jayhawks - "I'd Run Away"
Soul Asylum - "Sometime To Return"
The Suburbs - "Love Is The Law"
The Replacements - "Skyway"
Semisonic - "Sculpture Garden"
The Hang Ups - "The Entry"

Mississippi
Memphis Slim - "Mississippi Water"
The Doobie Brothers - "Black Water"
Robert Johnson - "Cross Road Blues"

Missouri
Low - "Missouri"
Muddy Waters - "Kansas City Here I Come"

Montana
Frank Zappa - "Montana"

Nebraska
Bruce Springsteen - "Nebraska"
Counting Crows - "Omaha"

Nevada
Mark Olson - "Walking Through Nevada"
The Jayhawks - "Nevada, California"
REM - "All the Way to Reno"

New Hampshire
Sonic Youth - "New Hampshire"
Matt Pond PA - "New Hampshire"

New Jersey
Red House Painters - "New Jersey"
Tom Waits - "Jersey Girl"
Bruce Springsteen - "Jersey Girl"
The Promise Ring - "Jersey Shore"
Bruce Springsteen - "Atlantic City"

New Mexico
Johnny Cash - "New Mexico"

New York
AK-Momo - "Return to New York"
Bob Dylan - "Talkin New York"

Focus on the City Of New York
Ryan Adams - "New York, New York"
Frank Sinatra - "New York, New York"
Velvet Underground - "I'm Waiting for the Man"
The Hold Steady - "How a Resurrection Really Feels"
Simon & Garfunkel - "The Only Living Boy In NY"
The Ramones - "I Wanna Be Sedated"
Bob Dylan - "Hard Times in New York Town"

North Carolina
Ryan Adams - "Oh My Sweet Carolina"
James Taylor - "In My Mind (I'm Going to Carolina)"

North Dakota
Lyle Lovett - "North Dakota"

Ohio
The Pretenders - "My City Was Gone"
Modest Mouse - "Ohio"
Jayhawks - "Somewhere In Ohio"
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - "Ohio"

Oklahoma
The Kinks - "Oklahoma, USA"

Oregon
Loretta Lynn - "Portland Oregon"

Pennsylvania
Bruce Springsteen - "Streets of Philadelphia"
Brian Setzer Orchestra - "Pennsylvania, 6-5000"
Poor Line Condition - "Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful"
Billy Joel - "Allentown"

Rhode Island
The Gazetteers - "Poor Little Rhode Island"
Kinski - "Rhode Island Freakout"
Blossom Dearie - "Rhode Island Is Famous For You"

South Carolina
Her Space Holiday - "From South Carolina"
Archers of Loaf - "South Carolina"

South Dakota
Bee Gees - "South Dakota Morning"
Chris Koza - "South South Dakota"

Tennessee
Johnny Cash - "Tennesse Stud"
Arrested Development - "Tennessee"
Whiskeytown - "Tennessee Square"
Ryan Adams - "Tennessee Sucks"
Robbie Fulks - "Coldwater, Tennessee"
Dolly Parton - "Rocky Top Tennessee"

Texas
Jimmie Rodgers - "Blue Yodel T for Texas"
Johnny Cash - "Tennessee Flat-Top Box"
Lyle Lovett - "That's Right, You're Not From Texas"
George Strait "All my Ex's Live in Texas"
George Strait - "Amarillo by Morning"
Willie Nelson - "Somewhere in Texas"

Focus on the City Of Austin
The Gourds - "Lower 48"
Alejandro Escovedo - "Rosalie"
Supersuckers - "Coattail Rider"
Nancy Griffith - "Boots Of Spanish Leather"
Single Frame - "I'll Lose Your Balance"

Utah
John Linnell - "Utah"
The Pixies - "Palace Of The Brine"

Vermont
Magnetic Fields - "Long Vermont Roads"
Cursive - "Vermont"

Virginia
Eddie From Ohio - "Old Dominion"
Iggy Pop - "Louie Louie"

Washington
Neko Case - "Thrice All American"

West Virginia
John Denver - "Take Me Home Country Roads"
Jason & the Scorchers - "Take Me Home Country Roads"

Wisconsin
Fonzie Space Satellite - "Wisco"
Lou and Peter Berryman - "Cheese, Beer & Snow"
Gear Daddies - "Dream Vacation"
Hanson - "Man From Milwaukee"
John Prine - "Milwaukee Here I Come"

Wyoming
The Ocean Blue - "Ticket to Wyoming"

Washington D.C.
Postal Service - "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight"

America
Yes - "America"
The Sweet - "4th Of July"
Ray Charles - "America, The Beautiful"
The Soviettes - "The Land of Clear Blue Radio"
Jimi Hendrix - "Star Spangled Banner"
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - "This Land Is Your Land"
Parlaiment Funkadelic - "One Nation Under A Groove"

Please email me with new submissions and I will keep the project growing....
Thanks,
- T