160 Rawk(!)views

Groovy...

2006-08-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

I normally like to link to the real music or the real video, but the best I have is a myspace page of The Slip and their excellent song "Even Rats." Stream the song, and flick your lighter.

I can imagine slowly walking through a crowd of bic-equipped long-haired Ramones fans settling down to a chillin song that makes your hands wave. I feel like falling asleep to this song, but in a good way, the same way I like to fall asleep to Joy Division's "Disorder"

At the end of the song I want to smile, eat popcorn, enjoy a sunrise, and enjoy the silent moments before my day starts.

The most fun 3 minutes on a treadmill

2006-08-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

Ok go's video for "Here It Goes Again" falls under surprisingly impressive and catchy. This is an example of where awesome and quirkiness blend together wonderfully and soothe my mind that thinks that music videos are stale.

This video features the quartet dancing on a set of treadmills in an odd and coordinated fashion. The fun combinations of a good ol' hand-clapping, chorus-jamming "have-fun" song combined with a simple, yet complex coordinated set of dance moves set to a wall with what looks like folded tin-foil spread across the back lends itself to a wonderfully great 3 minutes. What is also important to realize is that this is a music video with no cuts; looks like one full take people. There are several moments where one could imagine it to be multiple, but I like how how it looks now. I especially the move-matching-the-music moments at the 1:05 mark.

I've never enjoyed music at Nordstrom so much...

2006-08-15T23:06:00.000-07:00

While waiting at Nordstrom, I sat in a section accompanied by two large screen TVs, with a loop of perhaps 20 or so songs and videos, bookended by advertisements for BP/Nordstrom products. One of these colorful eccentric videos is a fun song by the Figurines, called "I Remember" The video consisted of frames spliced together of the band playing their instruments, from pre-strum jumping to post-strum, from pre-wail to post-croon, from the snare snap and the cymbal tap.

The fun simple style of the video accompanied by the puncturing drums -- I still envision the guitar being played in two frames and every strum in this song is played that way in my head.

Found the video on YouTube. I remember it being erratic, but not quite this border-line scary.

A tribute to those songs with the best lines beeped out...

2006-06-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

Recently I started enjoying the latest radio-played song by Panic at the Disco. I didn't fully enjoy this song until I listened to the album version. Th chorus of "I chime in with 'haven't you people ever heard of closing the GODDAMN door'" definitely feels more energized than the cleaner, G-rated, people-friendly version of the chorus.

I found the lyrics online and they really aren't that many lines in this song. I realized what made me like it was just the main chorus line and yelling out the goddamn part.

This made me think of what other song was played on the radio and had its key line pulled for profanity. I'm reminded of Something Corporate's "If you see Jordan." Its peak line is built up the whole song as the singer keeps saying that Jordan makes him sick, until finally yelling out "FUUUCK YOU JORDAN" in its place in the chorus. Classic, powerful, and beeped out.

Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff" had a similar set up, where not much of any merit (on any level) is uttered during the first 3 or so minutes of boredom. However, the final outrage of "BREAK YOUR FUCKING FACE TONIGHT" is unparalleled and unmatched; so much that it stays on my playlist for it's 20 seconds of glory. Its only shroud of merit is beeped out, and you can't quite understand how it was played on the radio at all without that.

Incubus' "Make Yourself" had a good line also; for shame that it never got popular enough to even get on the radio like the previous song did.

"So when I make me
I wont be paper-mache.
And if I fuck me....
I'll fuck me in my own way. "

Let's Pretend

2005-08-20T00:59:00.000-07:00

Cathy Davey- Clean and Neat

(copy and paste from the properties, but you knew that already.)

I suffered through this atrocity looking for lyrics to Cathy Davey's "Clean and Neat," but no luck. Not having a copy of the lyrics to read along to feels annoyingly incomplete, but I'll make do with the disclaimer that it's given me the chance to make my interpretation even more cross-eyed and solipsistic than usual.

The song opens with a line of percussion that sounds like someone stomping up a flight of stairs in flappy sandals, like an indignant entrance. But I like Davey most for her sweet encapsulation of a day's anxieties and petty little disppointments, and for her voice, which crashes through into willful exhilaration in spite of all that, as if she's jumping up and down during the song's coda, plugging her ears, shouting " la la la la la la la", wearing a sparkly tiara and cleats. There's almost a spiteful joy to the sound, in the airy, uncomplicated satisfaction of the undefeated. I suppose that's part of the title's irony; taking a problem, that's really just the problem of living, and wrapping it in under three minutes of tidy, nearly perfect pop that just barely fails to convince you she's got it all solved.

It's the kind of melody you could never dance to, but you'd be compelled to try, only to have your movements dissolve into happy, formless bouncing. That's its charm really.

I hope sex and drugs rust into my self

2005-07-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Gorillaz -- O Green World

Twanging guitars open up this funky new age song by the Gorillaz. I would rather not use new age to describe something I would not compare to Depeche Mode (which is what I am told to be the primal band of new age type), but the combined use of tech and real instruments push the definition.

Perhaps no real instruments are used; as I am under the impression that the Gorillaz music is really a new step in the motion of beautiful remixing (which is not to be compared to about 30% percent of current rap music, which is also NOT to be confused with sampling and such; again I digress).

The song plays in the background and I try to let my thoughts flow freely and next thing I know, the song is nearly done. Lets repeat shall we?

...

The opening 45 seconds is this odd rolling mix of sounds, each of which I am trying hard to hear, but I am relegated to absorb it as a whole. The techno hits bounce the feeling up and down. The 45 second hits and the guitar comes in with a raising voice. 2-D's desparing voice and Murdoc's bass rolls in, unifying with the guitar and the voice continuing. The snares hit again and this unison is complete with a beautiful mix of differing feelings but the result is still a great piece of music.

The Gorillaz's music really needs to be listened with an open mind and a willingness to accept what is given. Not that it is bad, but the varying degrees each song goes through may not be for the casual listener. Also, go to Gorillaz at Launch and check out the Feel Good Inc Video -- good stuff.

Imagination Ain't Kind

2005-05-31T23:20:00.000-07:00

If There's Anything You Want
Come On Back Cause It's All Still Here
I'll Be In The Back Room Drinking My Half Of The Beer

Spoon specializes in pared down rock songs, alternately yearning and disaffected, occasionally both.

Here, his weary, whiskey coated voice sings over a cheerful bouncing ball of a bassline, tossing cymbals, and heavy keyboards tagging along behind like regret. It's a sunny, wizened sort of disillusionment, the kind witnessed in wry, alcoholic television characters. It tugs at rusty heartstrings. It's a rained- in parade of a song.

Spoon- Anything You Want

Don't drown the thoughts you like

2005-05-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

My American Heart - Don't Sleep

I have been a fan of My American Heart, and I'm so glad their album is finally available (SOLD OUT! You're kidding me!)

Anyways, I realized there were a couple more songs on their purevolume site to download, and boo-yah here comes a great song.

My main complaint about this band is a sort of reliance on scream-rock to fill in the dull moments of the song. This song does nothing of the sort, where it sounds like wonderfully catchy and hard-rockin good time.

My American Heart has some other awesome songs, but I find myself liking only parts of them -- where some scream-rock bits takes the jamming to a different level that I do not personally enjoy.

My favorite part is where the singer finally says good bye:

****

And your lights go out; yeah, the air's so much easier to breathe...

and my last farewell to you might as well be said right here, right now...

****

Light cymbals introduce a guitar buildup that culminates in this pour of energy where the singer seems to be free.

The final chorus seems absolutely appropriate, and when the singer finally finishes, it really feels like he has found some closure:

****

don't sleep, don't sleep so sound tonight, because everything is fine without you.

2005-05-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

The Academy is embodies a punk rock energy without sounding "too punk." The guitar flows with more than punk repetition, and the rock harmony that is created fuses fairly well.

The album opens with a general call for “Attention,” where a steady drum and guitar synergy pump up the listener. In “The Phrase That Pays,” the singer croons about being deathly ill, then fires into a chorus about seizing the day. “Hold your head high heavy heart. So take a chance and make it big, cause it’s the last you’ll ever get. If we don’t take it, when will we make it?” “Checkmarks” hails as a powerfully energetic song, leading into a blasting chorus with a low-tone call of semi-desperation.

Listening to Dave Matthews May Give You Diabetes

2005-05-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

Elis Regina - Acuas de Marco

Because I don't understand any of the lyrics or know anything about Bossa Nova, let's play the song- image associations game, eyes closed.

Weightless conga lines, girls with bright red lipstick, dusk seen through old photographs, sinisterly intelligent felines. Making sharp turns in crowded Brazilian streets. Public displays of affection. Open cans of coffee. Dangerously high heels.