Imaginary Brazilian Revolution

Supersize Me is Pointless . . .

2006-10-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

. . . mostly.

The central stunt of the film is pointless. You know, the one where director Morgan Spurlock eats nothing but McDonalds for 30 days? He can't ingest anything that he didn't buy at McDonalds and he has to eat every menu item at least once. As expected, he gains a lot of weight and feels like crap. Also, his liver shows signs of damage on par with a heavy drinking binge. I guess the conclusion we're supposed to come to is that McDonalds is evil. 'You already know that McDonalds food is not healthy, but look!' the film seems to be telling us, 'it's not just unhealthy, it's deadly poisonous. So the lawsuits filed against McDonalds by fat people should be decided in the plaintiffs' favor and McDonalds shouldn't be allowed to advertise to kids.'

Here's the problem: Spurlock doesn't just eat three daily meals at McDonalds. He seems to eat as much as he possibly can. He never reveals his daily menu or calorie count, I believe, because it would undermine his argument, such as it is. But it's clear from the footage that he not only eats Extra Value Meals, but he never seems to have a meal without a shake or sunday or some extra something. He could easily have done his experiment, eating only McDonalds menu items and having every menu item at least once and come in at around 2500 to 3000 calories per day average. If he had done this I guess he would've gained five pounds max and not had the liver damage or decreased sexual performance. So my point is this: I could do the exact same experiment that Spurlock does with McDonalds with grocery stores in an effort to condemn grocery stores and it would have the same value: none, except perhaps to illustrate the dangers of overeating in general. I could eat 5000 calories a day of food that I only buy at my local Superfresh and I would have the same problems as Spurlock had during his stunt. So is Superfresh evil? Should fat people be able to sue grocery stores for making them fat? No, obviously.

Another problem with the film: no argument is made to support the conclusion that the lawsuits against McDonalds have any validity, but we're apparently supposed to believe that they do anyway, something that, to me, is counterintuitive to say the least. Spurlock shows us that the lawsuits were dismissed because they couldn't show that McDonalds was responsible for the kids getting fat. He presents this as if it should be obvious to us that that was a bad decision. He doesn't tell us why the lawsuits have any validity or why they shouldn't have been dismissed. Demonstrating that McDonalds food is unhealthy does nothing to support this conclusion.

What did intrigue me about the film was Spurlock's research into lunch at public schools. Again, he doesn't really present any coherent argument that school lunch should be different, but just showing the junk that kids are being offered by the schools, or by the contractors that the schools hire, is shocking. And, now that I think about it, I could've had pizza for school lunch every day of the week in high school if I wanted to (more often, I had Burger King Whoppers off campus). It is disconcerting that our public schools are contributing to poor eating habits. I would like for school lunch to be an education in healthy eating habits. Kids should be taught how to put together a balanced, healthy meal. I could imagine a really great nationwide school lunch program that would teach health and nutrition to kids as they eat. That kind of thing might help stem the tide of weight problems that we're experiencing in this country.

My Poor Attention Span

2006-07-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

One of the principal jobs I want music to do for me is to stave off boredom. The first thing an album needs to do in order to accomplish this for me is to keep my attention. If it doesn't do that, I end up bored but with noise. I don't have much of an attention span, so sometimes my music has to do some heavy lifting. I think this goes a ways toward explaining my affinity for dynamic, weird, and sometimes ugly music.

Music that is a lot like a lot of other music that I've already heard doesn't usually do a good job of capturing my attention. I think this is related to that one nervous system process that I can't remember the name of . . . maybe adaptation. It's where a sensation stimulus stops eliciting a nervous response after a little while and so persistent stimuli are ignored. The nervous system "adapts" to these stimuli. This helps prevent a sensory overload and allows us to focus our conscious senses on new stimuli. It's because of the adaptation response that we don't "feel" our clothes on us all day long or why we stop consciously smelling an air freshener while it's actually still emiting odorants. And maybe it's why I don't "hear" music that's not very original.

New and strange sounds arrest the hearing sense because they are new and strange. Sometimes new and strange is all it takes for me to really get into an album. Some music just grabs your attention and won't let go. Ugly or abrasive sounds also accomplish this. I don't know what makes ugly music enjoyable and some just ugly, but ugliness is often a virtue.

The thing is, though, that the nervous system adapts to strange, abrasive, or ugly sounds. Persistently abrasive music only captures my attention for a little while. If music doesn't change or do anything, it doesn't mater how strange or abrasive it is, it won't take long for my mind to wander. That's why dynamics are at a premium. Music has to move and change, both within songs and between songs.

I will complete this post, as all posts should be completed, with lists. Tomorrow.

sdrawkcab gnivil era ew

2006-06-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

Imagine that all of your daydreams were ACTUALLY the future, and you were able to perceive it just through having lots and lots of hope. Therefore, you will do what it takes to center yourself on that ONE future, instead of the varied futures we sometimes mistakenly aim for, removing our eyes from the prize, so to speak. As we do this- believe in our dreams, I mean- we understand what it means to focus, to be aware of our surroundings, as all variables are crucial to the fruition of a successful future. Live your dreams backwards and they are sure to come true. Like a magnifying glass!

Quick Question

2006-05-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

...that just might turn into our longest thread yet. Is it Christian to petition against gay marriage?

A Rant About Poetry, for Those Who Care

2006-05-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

In every decade for the past two hundred years, every decade leading to this, there has been at least one poet to define the decade with simple, beautiful words. (Or in some cases, archaic, beautiful words.) The position of the poet in the world is to give some sort of definition to the general conciousness of the populace for their generation.

1900-1910- William Butler Yeats
1910-1920- Carl Sandburg
1920-1930- T.S. Eliot
1930-1940- Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas
1940-1950- William Carlos Williams
1950-1960- Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda
1960-1970- Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski
1970-1980- Seamus Heaney, Octavio Paz
1980-1990- John Berryman (yes, good poetry was written in the 80's.)
1990-2000- Robert Pinsky

Now we await the poet of our fading decade. Here we are, 6 years into the two thousands and nobody has stepped forward to create a relevant poetic ouerve to immortalize this time and place in the scroll of recorded history. Good time for some quotes:

"The poet must write as the interpreter of nature, and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations; as a being superior to time and place." --Dr. Johnson

"The money is everywhere and so are the businessmen. Poetry is everywhere, but where are the poets? What we need are poets!" --Fellini

Has our culture become so deadened to the over-publication of ideas, (i.e. THE BLOODY INTERNET) that we have lost touch with purity, with verse which defies mass consumption but rather serves as an underlying ideological backbone? Without a new poetry, without that commitment to the beauty of the idiom, we are doomed to get lost in this superficial, sound-byte culture.

Anybody aware of relevant verse being published? Where? Please help me. I'm getting depressed.

Statistics

2006-05-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Every time I read from Kulturblog or IBR, I begin to contemplate our Bright Eyes/Sufjan Stevens/White Stripes conversation. I can't help it. Just now, in an attempt to understand the ground I stand upon, I went through my iTunes library and counted the artists with the most 5 star songs. It turned out to be a mostly accurate representation of the way I've come to feel. Check it out:

#1- Radiohead- 43 Songs (from 5 albums)
#2 Wilco- 40 Songs (from 6 albums)
#3 Elliott Smith- 36 Songs (from 4 albums)
#4 Bright Eyes- 33 Songs (from 6 albums)
#5 Pearl Jam- 32 Songs (from 8 albums)

I would say that Wilco and Radiohead have definite staying power at the top of my list of favorite bands. That's generally a given. I'm sure you feel the same way Tom. (How many 5 Star songs do Opeth have Suz?) Elliott is of course one of my favorites and belongs in the same sphere as Wilco and Radiohead, as does Bright Eyes IMHO. Pearl Jam is the one exception to the lists accuracy. They're not my favorite, but I've been listening to them for so long and they have so much music that, well...you know how it is.

FYI:

Bob Dylan- 30 Songs
Tom Waits- 30 Songs
Counting Crows- 26 Songs
Smashing Pumpkins- 24 Songs
Neil Young- 18 Songs
The White Stripes- 17 Songs
Sufjan Stevens- 12 Songs

There are many, many bands that I wish had more music. I think if Trail of Dead had more albums, they could definitely be among the favorites. Blind Melon was going very strong until Shannon died. Neutral Milk Hotel could've been one of the best. I adore Tilly and the Wall.

So much good music, so few days to live.

Will pronouncing report "repor" ever stop being funny?

2006-05-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

I don't think so. I get a kick out of it every time Stephen Colbert says "Welcome to the Repor."

I also never get tired of his intro with the eagle flying around and him waving the flag, then him standing on a map of the U.S. while the camera circles around him and he follows it with his face but his feet stay in place, then the eagle screech. Why is that still funny?

Everything about that show has remained funny longer than I expected it too. I didn't think that that macho, self-certain, Bill O'Reilly persona that Colbert adopted would last long before it got old. But several months in I stll like it. And the interviews, while not always quite right, can still be great, especially if the guest is playing along and not doggedly trying to make any coherent arguments.

I think the best guest I've seen in terms of dishing it out and playing along, but in a subtle way, was the semi-anti-feminist author Caitlin Flanagan. I can't really remember the details of the interview but I remember that that vociferously liberal audience was thrown for a loop. They seemed really nervous, like they weren't sure that Colbert was winning (his way of winning is definitely unique, but like Jon Stewart, when he speaks with a conservative, he's out to win).

Another joke that I'm not sure will ever get old is at the end of every "Better Know a District" feature, he says, "Let's put it on the map," and you just see a tiny sparkle. I will always think that's funny.

I was thinking the other day that in twenty years or so I'll probably look back nostalgically at the days of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Jon Stewart will probably be doing lame jokes on the Late Show with Jon Stewart and I'll be lamenting the fact that he lost his personality when he left basic cable. Stephen Colbert will be doing lame comedy bits on the Late Show and I'll chuckle at the thought of him calling his old show the Repor.

My Lyrical Ineptitude, or Stephin Merritt is Gay?

2006-05-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

It should be obvious when a guy sings, "I thought you were my boyfriend," or, "I die when you walk by / so beautiful and strong," or

My evil twin would lie and steal
And he would stink of sex appeal
All men would writhe
Beneath his scythe
He’d send the pretty ones to me
And they would think that I was he
I’d hurt them and I’d go scot free

that he's gay. Not to me.

Last week Slate had an article about some silly music critics that were basically accusing Stephin Merritt of being racist because he doesn't like hip hop or Justin Timberlake. Here's how the Slate article starts:

Stephin Merritt is an unlikely cracker. The creative force behind the Magnetic Fields, Merritt is diminutive, gay, and painfully intellectual.

When I read that I was like, "Gay? Oh yeah--'I thought you were my boyfriend.' That makes sense." Point being, at the time I read that article I had listened to the Magnetic Fields album i half a dozen times or more. Not once when listening to those lyrics that I quote above did it cross my mind that this dude might be gay.

To my credit, I did notice that "I thought you were my boyfriend" isn't something that straight guys usually say, but I figured the "I" in the song was a fictional female character. As I listen to music, as often as not I figure that any given "I" is not the lyricist speaking for himself but speaking for a fictional someone else. I don't know how to tell the difference.

My ineptitude at understanding and interpreting lyrics extends beyond not noticing something as painfully obvious as Stephin Merritt's gayness. I had listened to an Elvis Costello best of album half a dozen times when I read somewhere that Costello was known for clever wordplay. The next time I listened to that album was the first time I recognized any clever wordplay. I probably have dozens of albums that I've listened to quite a lot about whose lyrical content I couldn't tell you the first thing.

There are a few reasons for this, I think. First: my life of school + married with children is such that I'm usually only able to listen to music while my mind is at least semi-occupied with something else. Very rarely can I just sit and relax and listen to an album and read the lyrics along with the music. Second: truth be told, I have a short attention span. Even when I try to listen attentively to the words I find my mind wandering. If an intro to a song is longer than ten seconds or so my mind becomes impatient and starts thinking about chromosome transmission, the pros and cons of feminism, or the qualities of a good hamburger. There have been so many times when halfway through a song I realize that I have no idea what it's about and I commit to really listening to the words. So I start it over and then about thirty seconds in I realize that my mind is wandering and I haven't heard a word. Then I start it over again. And again. And so on until I space for long enough to forget that I had committed to listening closely to the words. Third: I'm more of a music guy as opposed to a words guy. I usually need intriguing sounds and movement in the music to keep me interested. Now that I think about it, this second reason may be a byproduct of my lyrical slowness/short attention span rather than a cause. Either way, the music that really captivates me is dramatic, kinetic, dynamic, and sometimes ugly. I have a theory about why ugliness in music is often a virtue, but I've gone on long enough.

Death Penalty Movies

2006-04-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

I've been working my way through Krzysztof Kieslowski's series of ten one-hour films called The Decalogue. Last night I watched Decalogue 5. It was about this deplorable scumbag who murders a taxi driver for no reason and is sentenced to death.

Usually when I'm watching movies I assume that the filmmakers are taking a liberal stance on whatever issues they're dealing with, especially when the filmmakers are Europeans. So I expected the film to be an argument against capital punishment. But that wasn't necessarily the case in this film.

One central character, the scumbag's lawyer, does make the case that capital punishment is innefective as a deterrent and he is a sympathetic character, so when he agonizes about his client's impending execution, we agonize along with him. But the murderer is far from sympathetic. We see him commit a brutal murder, which is, to say the least, not endearing, and we also see him before the murder behaving with reckless disregard for the people around him. He drops a rock off of an overpass into traffic for no reason, he pushes down a man while he's urinating in the restroom, he scares an old lady's pidgeons away. Before he's even committed the murder we hate him. At least I did. His character becomes a bit more complicated when, as he is about to be hanged, he tells his lawyer about how he was indirectly responsible for his kid sister's death. He says that maybe things would've turned out differently if his little sister hadn't been killed. But this didn't engender any sympathy on my part. I still hated him and was fine with him being executed.

Dead Man Walking is another death penalty movie that I assumed was supposed to be an argument against capital punishment. The Sean Penn character is similar to the Decalogue murderer in that he is also undeniably a scumbag, although he does commit fewer acts of random evil and director Tim Robbins puts more effort into getting us to feel sympathy for this condemned. He didn't have a daddy; he was poor; he confesses at the last hour and shows remorse. But, again, I couldn't see this guy's death as a tragedy and I didn't see the film as making a coherent case against the death penalty.

So the question I've been asking myself is whether these filmmakers were trying to present an argument against capital punishment and I just don't see it, or if the films are meant more as Rorschach (ink blot) tests in that they want us to react to the executions that we witness and learn about ourselves from our reactions. I think that, whether intended or not, both of these films succeed as Rorschach tests. I learned that I'm totally OK with the execution of murderers. As I watched both of them die I felt no sadness or regret. I wasn't happy, but I was OK with it. The way I see it, if you take an innocent life you automatically forfeit your own right to life.

In the real world I'm somewhat ambivalent about capital punishment because of the very real possibility of people being executed for crimes they didn't commit. But in a film where we know that the condemned is guilty, I can't see his death as lamentable.

I suspect other people had different reactions to these films. To someone adamantly opposed to capital punishment, perhaps the execution scenes (both very well-acted, by the way, especially Penn) do represent a strong anti-capital punishment statement. Maybe they see injustice or barbarism where I don't.

I like Roy Orbison.

2006-04-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

I used to be anti-Orbison. I remember growing up seeing those infomercials hawking Roy Orbison collections and being repulsed by his motherly appearance with his big glasses and poofy hair. I also thought his voice was weird. I'd heard some of his songs a million times ("Only the Lonely," "Oh, Pretty Woman," etc.), so it's not like I wasn't giving him a chance just because he was goofy lookin'.

My anti-Orbisonism never mattered much. Nobody I knew was a fan. I never had conversations or arguments about the merits of his music or anything. Over time I've stopped being anti-anything really ('cept Jessica Simpson and the like), but any time Orbison was mentioned I knew I didn't like him.

Then, sometime last year, somebody I like name-checked Orbison. It was Low's Alan Sparhawk on NPR's Fresh Air. He said something to the effect that he was obsessed with the Roy Orbison song structure, where songs just build and build to the end of the song.

Also, over the past couple of years I've become more interested in pop songwriting. I used to kind of limit myself to relatively weird music (Radiohead, Bjork). I kind of (but not completely) shunned conventional pop music just because it was conventional. Then I fell in love with Wilco's A Ghost is Born. That album had some of the weird-ish stuff that I love, but it also had some great straight forward pop songs. Wilco songs like "Hummingbird" and "The Late Greats" reminded me of the pleasure of the pop hook and of a well-constructed pop song, no matter how conventional. Since then I've been enjoying a lot relatively conventional pop stuff like a lot of Wilco songs, Elliott Smith, The New Pornographers, the Magnetic Fields, Belle and Sebastian, et. al., and appreciating well-written pop songs.

Anyways, last week I up and decided to get some Orbison songs after someone at Kulturblog called him a national treasure or something like that. On Friday while I was driving around doing my gas checking thing I listened to "Only the Lonely," "Leah," "Dream Baby," "Running Scared," and a few others. And I liked it. Some songs, like "Leah" and "Running Scared," I liked quite a lot. I'm not crazy about the oldie aesthetic of some of the recordings, but the songs themselves are great.

This story has some lessons: 1) I am impressionable. If my opinion of someone can change just because someone I like likes them, I can't have any confidence in my ability to identify good music. 2) Sometimes were looking for a certain thing in music and just because a given artist doesn't provide that thing doesn't mean that they're no good and it doesn't mean that they won't do something for you later.

Fear of Prosperity

2006-04-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

I'm probably never going to be more than middle class or upper middle class. But relative to how I grew up that's rich. My family wasn't super poor. We never went hungry and we always had our home. Also, fortunately, we lived in a suburb with quality public schools and no crime or violence to speak of. So it's not like I've had huge obstacles to overcome on my way to an advanced degree (if I ever finish). But my parents struggled. I remember government cheese, food stamps, and not wanting to ask for new shoes because of the stress that the extra $15 expense would be. So I'm gonna feel pretty wealthy if I ever become financially secure. And that's what has motivated me to work hard. I fear poverty. But I also find that I fear wealth.

Something somebody said somewhere has me thinking about the downsides to wealth. I don't know for sure since I've never been wealthy but it seems to me that wealth can be downright pernicious. It can put people's moral compass completely out of whack so that they end up doing crazy things like wasting money that could be used to do good. Some of the things that some rich people do just make my head spin.

It's easy to point up at rich people and accuse them of immorally using their money, but then I, a poor student supporting a family with a stipend and student loans, think about the completely unnecessary things that I do with money (DSL, cable, golf, Netflix) and wonder if I'm any better than the rich guy who spends hundreds of dollars on things as ephemeral as 750 ml of a beverage and fish eggs. Probably not. Same sin, different magnitude.

So I guess I don't need to fear wealth because it would make me use money in irresponsible, immoral ways. I already do that. The bad thing is that I don't really want to stop. I don't feel to badly about it. Maybe I should.

I tell myself, and I really believe, that if I ever have extra money I won't use it in silly ways. I'll make sure my family is secure and then look outward to do the most good I can do. I won't buy ridiculous cars or expensive jewelry etc. But who knows? Maybe I would indulge in that kind of stuff.

But that's not what I fear the most. I fear wealth less for its effect on me than on my kids. I don't want them to feel entitled to anything. I want them to have to work for what they get, to learn to go without, to suffer a little bit. I want this because that's the experience that I had and I'm grateful for it, even if it was a bit painful at the time.

There may also be a shade of classism in my fear of wealth. I'm trying not to indulge these feelings because I think they're prideful and destructive, but I find that I hold people's wealth against them. As if their prosperity has robbed them of the character-building experiences that I and other less priviledged people had. My classist tendencies also manifest themselves in the pride that I take in being the son of a janitor. Why do I think this stuff matters? And why do I fear that my kids' growing up relatively priviledged would be to their detriment?

I don't know. But I think it's worth fighting these thoughts.

Gas Music

2006-04-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

One Friday a month I drive all around the Baltimore area writing down gas prices for a survey company in California. You may be familiar with my work. When CNN reports that gas prices have gone up or down or whatever they usually cite the survey to which I contribute, the Lundberg Survey. So that's why I'm special. But that's not the point. I like these Fridays because, although I'm in the car for about six hours and my butt gets sore and my knees get achy because my little Corolla wasn't built for well-nourished, genetically superior Americans, I get to listen to a lot of music very loudly. I don't have these opportunities often. My commute to the lab is only 15 to 20 min. so I don't spend a lot of time in the car alone. I listen to the iPod in the lab, but I have to turn it down a bit so that I'm not too anti-social. When I'm driving with the wife and kids it has to be nice music and not too loud. I usually get two or three new albums to listen to and then I listen to a bunch of other stuff. Here's what I listened to yesterday:

Six Organs of Admittance--School of the Flower (2005)

This is the first time I had heard this album. I didn't quite absorb it all, but I'm intrigued. It's light, kind of ambient/droney folkish stuff. I checked this album out because it was on the "Listeners Also Bought" list at the iTunes Akron/Family page. Have I mentioned that I love Akron/Family? Well I do.

Vetiver--Vetiver (2004)

Another new (to me) psych-alt-freak folk type thing. Devendra Banhart (who I don't like much) plays guitar. Nice, mellow acoustic folk.

The Magnetic Fields--i (2004)

I was dozing so I had to pull over and snooze a bit while this was playing so I didn't get a good listen but what I heard I liked. It wasn't the music that made me drowsy, by the way. It was a late night and early morning.

The Flaming Lips--At War With the Mystics (2006)

Annoying. Also brilliant. Also annoying. I think I'll write a proper review of this one.

Sufjan Stevens--Greetings From Michigan (2003)

Good. Not as good as the awesome Illinois. The songs here just kind of blend together. The sound is great, though.

Neko Case--Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006)

Good stuff. Her voice is great and the music is outstanding. I think Calexico is the backing band for several of the tracks and they add quite a lot.

Beth Orton--Comfort of Strangers (2006)

Good songs. She has a compelling voice and sings expressively. The album may be a bit long. Maybe a bit bland.

Cat Power--The Greatest (2006)

Kind of ditto Beth Orton. A prettier voice, but not too much energy.

Talking Heads--77 (1977)

I needed something spunky after all the controlled niceness. 77 did the trick. "No Compassion" and "Psycho Killer" are just awesome. The rest of the album is good too. I haven't decided on a favorite early Talking Heads album, but this one rivals Fear of Music and More Songs About Buildings and Food.

The Road Home

2006-04-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

This is a beautiful, simple love story directed by Zhang Yimou (Hero, etc.) and starring Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, etc.). It tells in one long flashback the story of a young woman in a poor Chinese village who becomes enchanted with the city gentleman who comes to help build a new schoolhouse and teach the children of the village. She takes every chance she can to observe the teacher and come close to him. Every day she waits on a hill by the path that he walks just to observe him from a distance; she walks the extra distance to the well by the schoolhouse, passing up a closer well, just so she can hear his voice as he teaches the children. When you think about it, her behavior is almost obsessive, but Ziyi is so enchanting and believable that everything she does seems natural and true. Besides, I think we all tend to get a little obsessive when we're in love/infatuated.

The film begins and ends with the teacher's son and widow making preparations for his funeral. These portions of the film are shot in black and white while the flashback which constitutes the majority of the film is in vivid color, which I found to be very effective at invoking the pervasive melancholy that accompanies death, especially as it is contrasted with the beauty and hope of the new love. The Road Home ends with a scene that made me think of that beautiful ending to It's a Wonderful Life where all the people who have been touched by George Bailey come together to give a little back. The deceased school teacher had touched so many lives so profoundly that these people felt compelled to express their appreciation with a simple, subdued, collective act of tribute, carrying and accompanying his casket on the titular road home so that he wouldn't forget his way. We regard this act of tribute from afar, as if it is so sacred and private that our immediate presence would be an intrusion.

This is a slow film. If you're not in the right mindset it might become boring. But I was captivated, first of all by Ziyi Zhang's always enchanting presence, and second by the truth and beauty illustrated on the screen.

A Call to Action

2006-04-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

Tyler has officially taken over as the sole administrator of "Imaginary Brazilian Revolution." Without my efforts recently, this blog would be obsolete. At least we have the mental explorations of a madman to keep us afloat, unreciprocated as they might be.

GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!! POST NEW STUFF ALREADY! If you can't make time for imaginary brazil's, what can you make time for? We're a family! Where's the communication? Let's do this! Enlighten me!

Hiroshima

2006-03-28T18:52:00.000-08:00

Another life-changing experience to report. This morning we watched a Japanese movie called Visitor Q, directed by Takashi Miike, who is also responsible for Audition and The Happiness of the Katakuri's. I thought Audition and THOTK were both pretty excellent movies; a little gruesome maybe, but certainly not horrifying or sickening. Well...okay, they were more than a little gruesome, but not ridiculously so. Let's say they both registered about a 7 on the disturbing scale, with Se7en being an 8 and A Clockwork Orange being a 10. That gives you an idea of the critical scale we're working with here. I consider myself something of a connoisseur/ aficionado of disturbing cinema. I appreciate the virtues of the grotesque and have always tried to pursue it actively. On the disturbing scale, out of 10 possible stars, Visitor Q was about a 16. I am not joking. This film went above and beyond disturbing. It was awful. Absolutely awful. It was shocking and provoking and horrible in every sense of the word. This morning we scraped the grime from the bottom of the cinematic barrel. We hit rock bottom. (My roommates and I, that is.) I won't elaborate on the plot or any events of the film because I do not wish to subject you to the horrors I have subjected myself to.

My life changed because I loved the movie. It was fantastic, life-altering, and I've decided that if I like to be disturbed that much, then I have a problem and need to seek some sort of professional help. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm calling a witchdoctor to exorcise me. Or maybe a hypnotist who can close the portals of my mind that enjoy such filth. Not a Japanese hypnotist though. I don't trust 'em any more. Not after this mornings horrible, horrible rollercoaster. From now on everybody's going to think I'm racist against Japanese people. I'm not. I'm just afraid of them. Freakin' sickos. Every last one of them.

Thinking About Music

2006-03-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

Hello ladies and gentlemen...

Sometimes we humans are lucky enough to find things that change us, things that alter the course of our existence. For example, the discovery of T.S. Eliot turned me quickly into a poetry junky. Stanley Kubrick or David Fincher or Terry Gilliam taught me the difference between a good film and a bad film, between a hack and an auteur.

Currently in my iTunes folder I have 188 bands. That seems like an awful lot of artists to me. I feel like talking about a few of them in this post, but one in particular, citing them as one of these afformentioned catalystic discoveries. Standing out, shining brilliantly before 188 competitors right now is...drumroll...The Magnetic Fields. I adore the hell out of this band. They are incredible! The peculiar thing about them is that they aren't necessarily groundbreaking, their music isn't terribly unique or experimental. For me though, it's been the same as discovering another Elliott Smith or Stars: just another artist/band who is extraordinarily good at doing what they do. The songs are typically tight, concise, and conventional, though they seem to utilize more instruments than your average indie-pop band. And could I speak kindly enough about Stephin Merritt's songwriting??? I don't think I could! The dude is brilliant. He's not a poet--he's a songwriter. There is a difference. While I am awfully fond of the poets, (Dylan, Oberst, Smith, Ol' Dirty Bastard, etc.) there is something spectacular about just being really good at writing verses to be sung. "I Don't Believe You," "All My Little Words," and "100,000 Fireflies" are all PERFECT examples of PERFECT songs. Now, I'm not sure how the discovery of The Magnetic Fields is going to spark an evolutionary change, but I'm sure that it will, or maybe it already has. In any case, if you haven't noticed, I really love them. So will you.

Also recommended are Stephin Merritt's side-projects The 6ths and The Gothic Archies.

Tom---how is your relationship with Bright Eyes these days? Do you listen to any other Saddle Creek artists? Cursive? Tilly and the Wall? The Faint? Son Ambulance? Azure Ray? Older Rilo Kiley? Just curious. Speaking of Rilo Kiley though...if you may be considering checking them out, "Three Hopeful Thoughts" is a good jumping-in song. Or "The Good That Won't Come Out." Or if you just want to fall in love with Jenny Lewis and let Rilo Kiley come later, "The Charging Sky" is such a beautiful song. "So my mom, she brushes her hair/and my dad starts growing Bob Dylan's beard." Tiz-ight.

Recently discovered was John Vanderslice. He produced The Sunset Tree and We Shall All Be Healed, (The Mountain Goats,) and apparently played several instruments on each album. I just got his album "Pixel Revolt" featuring the backing vocals of John Darnielle and also some incredible songwriting. "Dressed like that/you are the flag of a dangerous nation." Check him out. He's pretty rad.

Nine Black Alps have been getting alot of playtime lately. I heard the song "Intermission" and was sold.

And as a novelty I've been enjoying The Dresden Dolls. Sometimes I generalize and think of theatrical music-making as sort of gimmicky. The Decemberists are a pretty good band, but sometimes their gimmicks bother me. As a result I can't listen too much. I just think that the music is cheapened by being too thematic, too centralized in one idea. Maybe this thing with The Dresden Dolls will be short-lived, but I've been enjoying the showmanship for now.

(Okay, before anybody calls me on it...I realize that the whole concept of The 6ths is to be gimmicky. There are exceptions to every rule. Get off my back already. Geez.)

Other gimmicky bands:
The Fiery Furnaces...but that's okay
Animal Collective...that's okay too
Belle and Sebastian
uhhh....Bjork? Sometimes there is a fine line between art and marketing...has she ever crossed it? Could she really be so...weird?
Tom Waits...

You know what...this has been a revelatory post. I've changed my mind here, right before your very eyes. The mark of the artist is experimentation and exploration. While some artists are interested in exploring themselves and the way they tick, other artists are interested in exploring ideas, the way their ideas tick. Nevermind the whole gimmick nonsense. I could just go back and delete it, but that would deprive you all of something profound...a bildungsroman experience. Ironic how exploring my own reactions triggered a change of heart. I'm gonna log off and write an album about mutant butterflies attacking Salt Lake City. Peace!

High School in the Late 80's

2006-03-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

Lyman: As I've been exploring Rock/Pop music I've been curious about history. Not so much in the sense of who made what music and when, but how people have experienced music. Since you're so old and you came of age in an entirely different era from me--you: late 80's, me: early 90's; you: genX, me: genY, I guess (okay, I know we're only 6 years apart, but you were aware in the late 80's and I wasn't)--I'm going to interview you here, assuming you're willing. Of course you are. Let's get on with it then. Just go to the posts page and click the button to edit this one and type your answers underneath each question and republish. Then I'll hit you with more questions and so on.

Tom: Give me an overview of how you saw the world in the late 80's. Were you aware and concerned about things going on in the culture and in the world? Or were you just focused on chicks and money?

Lyman: It seemed that there were very few things that were of worry. The Reagan and Bush era was in full bloom and it seemed that Reagan could do no wrong in the eyes of Utahns. So, for me personally, girls and sports were all that mattered.

T: What was the social structure of your high school? You know, who was cool? What kinds of groups were there (mods, goths, F-dudes, etc.)? How did you fit into this structure? Did you have a label?

L: There were no goths or mods (by those names anyway). We had F-dudes, preppies, jocks and skaters. Every one of the groups we had thought they were the coolest. It seemed that people not associated with these groups tended to think the F-dudes as cool only because they seemed to be the rebels. In any other state, they may have just seemed stupid and slow, but in Utah where most kids were pretty sheltered, they were going against the norm. I can't really say that I fit into any one of these groups. I went through stages sort of like Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man. I went through a skater stage, but never really was very good so that didn't last long. I also went through a F-dude sort of stage. That is when I tried smoking and alcohol and listened to really crappy music (there are some songs from that period that I still enjoy, but for the most part the Big Hair Bands really were terrible.) I think I was mostly a jock just because I loved playing sports, but I was never really good enough to get the cockiness that is usually associated with jocks. I would need to talk to some of my friends from that era, but I don't think I ever had a specific label. In fact, I had friends from all the social groups. I forgot about one group that was started around that time, probably by people who didn't like any of the other labels. It was called the norms. They just wanted to be thought of as normal. I think I may have fit into this group as much as any, because I didn't really fit into any of the others.

T: Do I remember correctly that there was a kid who went by Soda-Pop? What was he? An F-dude? A punk?

L: Soda-Pop. Wow, now that brings back memories! He was actually a Breakdancer. Do you remember that? I heard a joke that went something to this effect: Do you know how breakdancing was invented? It was when kids started stealing hubcaps off of speeding cars. It really described it well I think. It was a few years late, like most trends to Utah back then. It was like nothing we had ever seen. It was so energetic and crazy. I actually see a lot of the dance moves nowadays and can definitely see the breakdance influence. Soda-Pop became the most popular kid in school instantly after a talent show where he showed off his killer moves, dude. After the trend ended, he had a hard time shedding his name. In fact I still can't remember his real name. He ended up getting me into skating a little several years later. In the end (of my experience with him anyway), he was a jerk. I caught him stealing one of dads little tape recorders and I know he also stole at least one bike from someone. I disassociated myself with him pretty quickly.

T: Were certain kinds of music associated with certain groups?

L: It seemed that is was the music you listened to more than anything that associated you with a particular group. Even more than your clothes and style. F-dudes listened to Heavy Metal (Metalica, Quiet Riot, AC/DC, Ozzy, ect.) Prepies to top 40 (Madonna, The Bengals, U2, INXS, ect.) Skaters seem to have been the group that explored the "weird" music more. The listened to I don't remember anymore, but some of them were like The Dead Kennedys, The Mighty Lemondrops, Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies. I'm pretty sure it was when I was hanging with them that I first heard Violent Femmes. Jocks and Norms were allowed more freedom with there music because there aren't many NFL players that sing. Jocks only limitation was that it had the be exciting. It had to "pump you up!"

Bug Sex and Me

2006-03-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

This morning I had to go to work at 7:00. When working the early at Harmons the grocer in your neighborhood, one can expect that the first two hours will be relatively slow. It's always nice to be scheduled with checkers who are reasonably cool because it gives you somebody to talk to and help the time pass. This morning I was working with a checker named Tiffany. I was telling her about a movie called "Microcosmos," which I watched yesterday. It's a French documentary about bugs. The only human dialogue in the entire film is at the very beginning when a little girl sings a really weird song about bugs, and at the end when an old woman reads a really weird poem about bugs. In between is the sound of fluttering wings, of pitter-pattering ant feet, and of classical music. We quietly behold the microcosm of the insects. This film, incidentally, contained the first, second, and third times I ever intimately watched bugs have sex with each other.

I told Tiffany about this film, and she asked the eternal question: "Why would you watch something like that? It's weird."

Why would I watch something like that? Furthermore, what would I find enjoyable about it? Why are 10 million Americans watching King Kong while Tyler watches amorous ladybugs?

"Why," asked Tiffany, "do you try so hard to be different?"

It's not often that I'm left quite speechless by a line of questioning, but this was a striking inquiry today. Indeed, why? Why anything? Why everything? Do I strive to be different? Do I partake of insect pornography just to be able to talk about it tomorrow? just to assert my uniqueness to the robots I perceive all about me?

The answer is ultimately no, that I don't view such things in order to assert individuality, (though I am a staunch individualist.) I think I have pinpointed my disease. It's my sick addiction. I am addicted to newness, I am addicted to ideas, and for some reason it's very difficult for me to embrace the formulaic.

Now I believe that all of these questions have something to do with the last post about conventionality in art, and namely, our boy Elliott Smith. I've listened religiously to Elliott for a long time, much more so lately. This, for me, is a complicated paradox, as we have identified him as a fairly traditional singer/songwriter type and my entire post is about my obsession with experimentation.

I'm in the middle of Persona right now, so I'm gonna cut this short and remain intellectually woven in this confusion. But maybe it's no paradox at all. I just love what I love and eff what anybody else thinks about it. Strange though.

Escaping Conventions: Akron/Family and Talk Talk [Now with a list!]

2006-03-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

You know when you watch a cheesy sitcom like Friends and you can see the jokes coming a mile away? The conventions of sitcom are so well defined and familiar that the machinations of joke setup and payoff are entirely too visible. When the punchline or payoff comes, even though it may sometimes be funny or clever, you feel that it was inevitable, which detracts significantly from the enjoyment. While there are some really clever and witty shows, like Seinfeld and The Simpsons, that work within the conventions of sitcom that are nevertheless a lot of fun to watch, they're still bound and limited by those conventions. Not everything is possible. And because not everything is possible, what does happen is not the best choice of all possibilities, but one choice out of a limited selection. Convention, therefore, can be oppressive, so much so that it stifles and limits the boundless human imagination.

Like sitcoms, popular music has well-defined and widely followed conventions in song structure, chord progression, tension/resolution dynamics, sounds and textures, etc. Which isnot actually a bad thing--some conventions are necessary in order for music to be palatable. Music devoid of convention is not all that fun to listen to (think free jazz). In fact, most of the music that I listen to and enjoy, even indie and alterative stuff that the average person would consider weird, is quite beholden to convention. Sometimes while I'm listening great stuff like Elliott Smith or Uncle Tupelo or Led Zeppelin, even though I really love the music, I still feel the oppression of convention. That's not to say that these artists are entirely conventional or boring; to the contrary, they are adventurous and inventive in many aspects. It's just that every once in a while I get the itch for more freedom and adventure.

Well these past couple of weeks that itch has been scratched by a couple of great albums: Akron/Family (2005) by Akron/Family and Laughing Stock (1991) by Talk Talk. Akron/Family is a lo-fi-ish, alternative-ish, folk-ish, band who released their first album last year. Listening to Akron/Family I get the sense that anything is possible. And they do some great things with the freedom that they afford themselves. They naturally transition from found sounds to rich string accompaniment to submarine/heart monitor beeping and other electronic and synth effects to everthing-including-the-kitchen-sink percussion; from almost painfully slow and quiet to big and lush; from no melody to infectious melody; from nice back porch folk to crazy dissonant noise. The songs go everywhere and do everthing. OK, not everywhere and everything, but they go exploring and do a lot of great stuff.

I can't believe that Laughing Stock came out of an 80's synth-pop band. It's a mostly subdued, meditative album without a cheezy synth line in sight. Nor a pop hook. Nor a catchy melody. Nor a pop song. The voice is pretty much just another instrument alongside the others. The songs have definite shapes, but they're not your typical shapes and they unfold rather slowly. The pleasure of this album isn't so much in the drama and movement of the songs, although there some of both, but in spending time in the musical place that each song builds and in the breathing room and freedom in that space. I don't have a lot of smart things to say about this album, but I haven't heard anything quite like it.

Since no post is complete without a list (except the posts that don't have lists), and since this post isn't long enough already, here are some lists. Keep in mind that I am a hack, so I may be way off base in everything I say and do.

Some Others that I Love Who Are Relatively "Out There":
Radiohead--especially KidA and Amnesiac
Bjork--unique in so many ways
Deerhoof--Once I stopped hating the vocals I started loving the vocals.
Loose Fur/Jim O'Rourke--I put these together because they seem like almost the same project.
My Bloody Valentine--I don't love them really, but I feel cool putting them on the list. They don't really make songs and they don't really sing but they create beautiful music.

Some Who Buck Convention But Don't Quite Do It For Me
Bjork--Medulla was painful.
The Fiery Furnaces--I like their spirit and their sound. It just doesn't quite come together for me. They lack discipline, I think.
Animal Collective--Great, inventive sounds and textures, but the songs are flat-ish and not too compelling. I go back and forth with these guys.
Mogwai--They bore me.

Some Who Are Fairly Conventional But Very Good
Andrew Bird
Bob Dylan--I know he was revolutionary and unconventional in his day, but to my ears he's traditional.
A lot of Neil Young
Elliott Smith
Magnolia Electric Co.
R.E.M.

Some Tweeners--They Do Both Pop/Rock Convention and Avant Experimentation
Wilco--"Heavy Metal Drummer" and "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" on the same album? Choppy, clunky improvized guitar solo and a big, cheesy riff in the same song ("Spiders (Kidsmoke)")? Only Wilco. This is one reason Wilco is such a lovable band. They have materail to satisfy all of one's multiple personalities.
The Flaming Lips--The songs are often of standard and simple structure, but they are adorned with so many bells and whistles. It's an irresistible combination of unique sounds and great songs.
The White Stripes--I like them best when they're rockin' like only the Stripes rock. Their traditional stuff can be good, but it doesn't quite keep my attention.

Dan Bejar, King of [Indie] Pop

2006-03-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

OK, I can't really defend that title, but it got your attention, no?

Dan Bejar is the brains behind and the voice of Destroyer. He's also part of the supergroup the New Pornographers. The reason I can't really call him the king of Pop is because the only work I've heard from him is on the latest Pornographers album, Twin Cinema, and Destroyer's new album, Destroyer's Rubies. But I can say that he stands head and shoulders above his peers.

Yesterday in the lab I listened to several indie/alternative pop albums: Twin Cinema, Oh, Inverted World! by the Shins, The Life Pursuit by Belle and Sebastian, and Set Yourself on Fire by Stars. These are all quality albums with great sounds, nice hooks, catchy tunes, well-written and well-performed all around. But they're not exceptionally adventurous or undpredictable. I enjoy the music a lot but I'm not extremely enthusiastic about it. Destroyer's Rubies, on the other hand, while fitting into the same category of these pop albums, is big and adventurous, and relatively unconstrained. I think I'm going to post a proper reveiw of Destroyer's Rubies, but I just wanted to get it out there that I think Destroyer is the head of the indie pop class.

The Bliss of the Absurd

2006-02-27T22:29:00.000-08:00

It's come to my attention lately that we are enchained by the labels of what we call reality. The area of study that has been instrumental in my theories of chaos is "string theory," the theory that all matter is eternal outward and inward, infinitely and infinitesmally. Check out the wikipedia about string theory, or check out http://www.msnbc.com/news/201650.asp?cp1=1. Basically, all matter is composed of things called super-strings, little pieces of matter a about one billion billion times smaller than a proton, far too small for silly human machinery to detect.

Tyler is in the process of recovering from a broken heart. I've been literally shattered this past few weeks due to the demise of a relationship that was quite lovely for quite some time. In the midst of this, I've discovered this theory. All matter, whether it be animal fecal matter or human eyeballs or refined plutonium, is composed of the same fundamental elements, and all of those elemental strings are only different because they are situated at different frequencies and vibrations. Initially this discovery, coincidentally with the break-up, created within me an existentialist. I was Sartre or Hegel for an entire day. At work, as a Customer Service Manager mind you, I spoke at length to customers and subordinate employees and co-equal middle management retards about the reality of our impending doom, about death stalking us at every meander of life. Whenever any problems arose, I would reply, "Does it really matter?" And it didn't. For an entire day it DID NOT matter. Customers were frightened. Associates, already acknowledging me as a fount of absurdity, were less startled but still concerned for my sanity. One associate even advised another, "Don't talk to Tyler today. He'll just talk about death." That really happened. The way I was thinking, if I am the same as everything else, nothing is really real, and imminent death makes life laughable and absurd.

But now, after a few days to reason out my personal philosophies concerning the discovery, I have decided that I *am* the same as everything else, nothing really is real, and imminent death indeed makes life laughable and absurd: how beautiful! If we're all going to die anyway, we may as well love ourselves, we may as well love life, we may as well love every person we meet. All we really have are these moments we perceive. Therefore, it is our duty to our own souls to treat every moment as if it is the most sacred moment we've ever had the opportunity to experience. It is our duty to treat every stranger as if they are the most sacred person we've ever encountered. And while it is true that everything is chaos, that we are composed of infinitesmal vibrating strings, and that there is nothing we are going to do to escape eventual death, it is also true that this specific coagulated mass of vibrating strings known by some as my hand, has been given its very own serving of divine energy, and has been given the divine mandate to manipulate the tiny strings around it into aesthetic splendour.

Note: My roommate just read my rant and called it "new agey." EFF THAT! It is not.

Four Things I Learned From the Olympics

2006-02-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

1) I still harbor a grudge for the Cold War. I want Russians to fail and I want Americans to be the ones to beat them.

2) I take personally the anti-American and even anti-Bush attitudes of Europeans, even if I don't care for Bush all that much myself. I rejoice in American victories over the snooty Europeans and I hate hate hate when Europeans beat Americans. I imagine that Italian speed skater who beat Davis and Hedrick in the 1500 m thinking, in a ridiculous pizzeria Italian accent, "Those-a fat-a lazy Americans think-a they can-a compete against-a a son of da Roman Empire? Fat-a chance." Pisses me off.

3) I don't have much of a problem with Asians or even Canadians beating Americans. I think it's because Americans are clearly superior to Asians and Canadians in every way that matters (math and science aptitude don't matter, in case you were wondering).

4) I love sports because you don't have to have good reasons, or any reasons at all, really, to dislike certain teams or athletes. Watching sports is like a little vacation from politeness and civility. I can rejoice without guilt when Slutskaya falls on her butt. Who cares that she has a sick mother and adorable chubby cheeks? She's Russian. It's ridiculous, I know. I was barely conscious at the end of the Cold War. But that's the beauty of sports: it doesn't matter. I can boo Dirk Nowitsky just because he's German (in fact, I did once). When the competition is over, of course, I go back to accepting people for who they are and not holding irrelevant characteristics against them. Except for the Dutch. There's something about those pot smoking, shroom eating, secularists that gets to me.

Opting Out

2006-02-25T22:26:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I get this strong desire to just opt out of the whole damned rigamaroll that is modern life. You know, like when Kramer tried to opt out of mail, but full scale. The most recent trigger for me was thinking about what a freakin' mess our system of health care is. I don't need to go into the details of how screwed up things are, but I'll just say that it is a source of great angst to me that the insurance and health care industries encroach so extensively into my life. It's like they've been allowed to levy a very heavy extra-governmental tax. And health insurance is nearly as compulsory as government taxes because, due to the insane cost of health care, if you opt out you run the risk of complete financial ruin should something unfortunate happen.

Health insurance was the trigger, but it's not my only source of angst. I also hate that I have to own a car, that I have to depend on people who want to kill me for fuel to heat and light my home, that the people that make the decisions that shape society are jackass aristocrats, that clocks are more important than the sun, and so on. So my dream is to just opt out of the whole dang thing and move somewhere near the equator to hunt and gather.

The problem is that, like Kramer discovered, there are goons with clubs that keep you in the system. Imminent financial ruin is the goon that keeps me paying health care tax year in and year out. There's also the internal goons of greed and materialism that loom large. And some of the goons even have some valid points, like the fact that there is happiness and fulfillment to be found in being part of society. I'll never escape, you know. I'll never have a solar panel and I'll never stop dancing for the man.

Oh well. At least I have Brazil.

~Breaking the Waves~

2006-02-25T19:26:00.000-08:00

When watching a few other Lars Von Trier movies, (Dancer in the Dark, Dogville,) I almost felt as though I was receiving some sort of punishment, like a higher power was striking me with divine discomfort, holding me personally responsible for the ugliness of the films, (for I truly enjoyed them both.) Breaking the Waves, to me, was much less shocking and exploitative than the others and with a much subtler delivery. It was released in 1996, several years earlier than the other two films, so maybe Von Trier just hadn't finely tuned his ability to provoke.
However, Breaking the Waves, with it's religious subtext and a pristine conscience toward faith and it's ability to counter the scowls of the worldly, was superior to the two later films.
The basic premise of the film is that a naive girl brought up in an orthodox village decides to marry an outsider with whom she falls in love. The simple girl, named Bess, and her newfound husband Jan discover the joys of intimate love and love-making. But in an industrial accident Jan is paralyzed, and Bess is left to take care of him. One day Jan requests that she begin making love to other men and telling him about her encounters, that he will be happier and his condition will improve if she complies.
A compelling attribute of Bess' faith is the way she prays. She delivers her part of the prayer in a small, childlike voice, and replies in the voice of God, patriarchal and strong. When she asks God about Jan's request, the powerful voice exclaims, "I have commanded that you honor your husband."
So Bess begins making uneasy love to men that she meets. Many of the scenes are difficult to watch because you feel terribly for her. Through her faith though she begins to see progress in Jan's condition. Her demeanor becomes like a professional prostitute as the movie runs on, seeing every man as an opportunity to help the condition of her beloved husband improve. But as she sees him growing stronger, the community around her begins to persecute her and deny her privileges, and children even begin throwing rocks at her and calling her "tart" and "whore." After a bad sexual encounter upon an oil tanker she stumbles up to the church and collapses. When the priest, the supposed example of Christianity, sees who it is who has fainted, he walks along as if he had never seen her.
It was a great movie Tom. It really was. 5 stars in my book. I'll tell you how it ends if you'd like. Let me know.
"Von Trier makes us wonder what kind of operas Nietzsche might've written."
--Roger Ebert

My Music for 2005

2006-02-24T23:14:00.000-08:00

After repeated recommendations, I have yet to check out Destroyer, (sorry Tom,) so Sufjan's Illinois is probably my pick for '05. While not every song on the album takes me to the higher plane I seek when listening to music, a few of them take me higher than *any* music has taken me in a long time. "Chicago" just might be the greatest song ever composed. "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." is an almost perfect example of what songwriting should be. "They are Night Zombies!" gracefully creates a hypnotic lull, enchanting me into an unspeakable world. Many of the songs on Illinois feel like a journey to a new continent never explored in music before. Almost perfect. As far as I can tell, the only 5 star album to be released in 2005.
(Note-- In Blender Magazine, Illinois ranked as the 37th best album of last year, unfortunately being beat out by the A-Team of the craft of songwriting, such as Shakira (ranked 19th) Mariah Carey (ranked 12th) and, of course, Coldplay. (8th) Way to go Blender!

4.5 Stars
Broken Social Scene- Broken Social Scene
Bright Eyes- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
The Mountain Goats- The Sunset Tree (almost 5)
Stars- Set Yourself on Fire
My Morning Jacket- Z
Bloc Party- Silent Alarm
Metric- Live It Out

4 Stars
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
The Go! Team- Thunder! Lightning! Strike!
The New Pornographers- Twin Cinema
Beck- Guero
Wilco- Kicking Television
Feist- Let It Die
Sigur Ros- Takk

3.5. Stars
The White Stripes- Get Behind Me Satan
Fiona Apple- Extraordinary Machine
The Decemberists- Picaresque

3 Stars
Gorillaz- Demon Days

2 Stars
Wolf Parade- Apologies to the Queen Mary
Devendra Banhart- Cripple Crow

Favorite Music of 2005

2006-02-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

This is a post in progress. I will update it 'til it's done.

Here are the albums from 2005 that I have listened to, listed in order of preference.

5 Stars
Low The Great Destroyer Alan Sparhawk's songwriting is varied and consistently impressive on this album. The straight-up(ish) rockers ("California," "Just Stand Back"), the slow builders ("Pissing," "Cue the Strings"), the dynamic loud/softers ("When I go Deaf," "Silver Rider") are sequenced in a way that makes for a really riveting listening experience--the sunny opening hook of "California" breaks through the minor key menace of "Monkey;" at the end of the album the loud, distorted guitar climax of "Pissing" is followed by the simple acoustic, "Death of a Salesman," which is followed by the relatively peppy "Walk Into the Sea" to close out the album. It's an enjoyable, intriguing ride start to finish. The Great Destroyer beats Illinois basically because it's more concise, and it avoids repeating itself. I go back and forth, though. Sometimes I think Illinois beats The Great Destroyer.
Sufjan Stevens Illinois What more can I say about this album that hasn't already been said? The drama! The pageantry! The horns and banjos! Irresistible.
Okkerivl River Black Sheep Boy Will Sheff sings the crap out of these songs (especially "For Real," one of my favorite songs in a long time). Like The Great Destroyer this album has a nice variety of songs sequenced in a way that keeps it interesting. The fuzzy keyboard, the horns, and the occasional strings, synth and electronic effects, and steel guitar blend into a rich, versatile sound that serves these songs very well.

4.5 Stars
Deerhoof The Runners Four I love the adventurousness and unpredictability of this album. Satomi Matsuzaki's voice hasn't gotten any less hideous, but it's an integral part of the Deerhoof sound, which is unsettling and shrill in all the right ways. The songs have gotten bigger and more complex, and more rewarding. I'm a sucker for manic noise, so a lot of these songs do the trick. "Running Thoughts" puts me in a trance.
Spoon Gimme Fiction The funnest Rock n' Roll record of the year. There's enough going on and enough weirdness to keep it from being conventional, which sets this album apart from the other rockers on this list like the White Stripes, the Black Keys, and Sleater-Kinney, but it's not too smart for it's own good. It's still a lot of fun. This album has some of the coolest jagged guitarwork I've heard (see "The Beast and Dragon Adored," and "My Mathematical Mind").
Wilco Kicking Television There are so many perfect moments on this album. Like near the end of Via Chicago when Tweedy quietly sings the melody while the band alternately bursts into chaotic noise and remains silent. Or like when Tweedy and Nels Cline go wild on the guitar near the end of Spiders. The choice and sequence of songs was great. The few country-tinged mid-tempo songs that they played were a nice respite from the aural assault of the surrounding material. Nels Cline's guitar adds a lot to the bands sound. I can't wait to see what he brings to the studio. Kicking Television's only flaws are that Tweedy's vocals on the up-tempo songs were kind of lackluster and I would have preferred that the album were a straight recording of one performance instead of selected songs from a few performances.

4 Stars
The Mountain Goats Sunset Tree "I am a babbling brooooook!" I was surprised by the sonic depth and variety of this album.
Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs Richly orchestrated pop. Well-crafted songs. Not quite on Par with Sufjan, but in a similar vein. Hands down, the best whistling of the year.
The Decemberists Picaresque Great songs. Great stories. Great characters. Great fun.
My Morning Jacket Z
Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary
The New Pornographers Twin Cinema
Stars Set Yourself On Fire
Magnolia Electric Co. What Comes After the Blues Jason Molina has the best voice for singing country since Jay Farrar. This album has several really beautiful down tempo alt.country tunes and a couple of Neil Young-esque rockers. The sound is not exactly novel and the songs don't do much that is too exciting, but this is well-excecuted and beautifully sung music. The album would have benefitted from one or two more high energy songs.
Animal Collective Feels Animal Collective put together a good bunch of novel noises and textures. The songs themselves don't move much, but the energy and inventiveness of the sounds make for an enjoyable listen.
Fiona Apple Extraordinary Machine

3.5 Stars
Death Cab For Cutie Plans
Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene
The Black Keys Rubber Factory
Sleater-Kinney The Woods
The Mars Volta Frances the Mute
Antony and the Johnsons I Am a Bird Now

3 Stars
The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan
Nickel Creek Why Should the Fire Die?

2.5 Stars
Neil Young Prairie Wind
The National Alligator
Devendra Banhart Cripple Crow

In Limbo
Eels Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clap Your Hands Say Yeah