obviate media.

The lack of inebriation leaves me with answers that are all too correct. Blissfull resistance leaves me with a warmth that is all to familiar. Paranoid delusions push through the consistent path I once followed. I try to find the biggest Bad-est vocabulary through which I can express myself. For some reason I feel that the more complex and indecipherable my language is the more complex and motivated it must be. The illusion that there is no matter that matters is what draws me to the unknown. I continue to disappoint myself with not the assumptions I've made but the fact that they are never correct. In the rare even that my emotions and motivations have been correct, I soon lost track of where they were leading me, rendering them pointless. I feel that none of this makes sense, and maybe I am only posting for the sake of nothing better to do.

Posted by Andy S. at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

“When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.”
-Jacques Cousteau

Fucking college.
FUCKING college.

I had "That Moment."

"Holy shit. I don't want to be a teacher. I want to act. I've ALWAYS wanted to act. I'm wasting my parents money. What am I doing here?"
-Andy Wyslotsky, after 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'

Everybody gave me advice. It would all be alright. Hey man, it happens to everybody!

What does everyone do?
No one ever says that part.

They forget about it. Go back to school, mediocre jobs, and live, WISHING for something they just can't quite grasp.

I'm kicking that thought to the proverbial curb.


California, here I come. Summer of 2008 will see me, packin' my traveling gear (because, hey, I was born a ramblin man.), and hauling ass too L.A.
All aspiring actors do it, and if I don't get a job, I'll have a life lesson.
And a degree to fall back on.

Live your dreams. Reach for the stars! BE all you can MOTHER FUCKING BE!


...and then come on home.

Merci, Jacques.

Posted by Andy Dubbya at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Let [the child] believe that he is always in control, though it is always you [the teacher] who really controls. There is no subjugation so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom, for in that way one captures volition itself. The poor baby, knowing nothing, able to do nothing, having learned nothing, is he not at your mercy? Can you not arrange everything in the world which surrounds him? Can you not influence him as you wish? His work, his play, his pleasures, his pains, are not all these in your hands and without his knowing? Doubtless he out to do only what he wants; but he ought to want to do only what you want him to do; he out not to take a step which you have not foreseen; he ought not to open his mouth without your knowing what he will say."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "emille"

This depresses the hell out of me. Of course we are all out of the point of developing in which we are sheltered from every waking existence other than what those who guard us wish. But, can are we capable of seeing these "outside forces" for what they really are? Or are we just products of our [teachers.] Babies until the end of our misguided lives. Even if we were liberated and given free will from an early age. The philosophy behind freedom is in itself a manifestation of predecessors who set that example. Although the concept can very well be understood by those who do not own its birth, can we really accept it without the correct direction given before we are able to take it for what it is?

Nothing is our own, nothing is given without return.
We have no original direction, no framework from
which we can build a car and drive away. A stand
still is all that we posess. The understanding of our
limitations is the only vessel we have been given
to advance.

Posted by Andy S. at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'd like to draw attention to the cliche and tired topic of the media's influence on pop culture. Although I find it true that the standard of achievement has fallen far below what it once was, I feel that the media is hardly to blame for this erosion of artistic creativity.

Tossing aside the fact that ones culture and childhood greatly affect their sense of perception, I'd like to look at what really is driving these advertisers toward a social kingdom topped with gold encrusted rims and skeet infested walls. While there is a call for a counter-strike within the underground "scene", both sides vary indirectly with no other motivation than the status quo. It's a given that art is not measurable in any way shape or form. But, there will always be forms that relate to the public better than others.

It's the medias and big business's job to distribute the most called for to its customers (supply and demand). It's true that big business tends to change its representatives in order to BETTER APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC. Their motivation is to appeal to the most common aesthetic. So while the direction is still focused on money, money would not be made without the support of the consumer. If the lemmings continue to take that leap, they will continue to spread this disease of decaying quality. Advertising and marketing is a business.

Art included or not, the goal of a business is to make money. Don't blame the media for encouraging the ever lasting display of hocus pocus, blame yourself and those around you.

Posted by Andy S. at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

I was to be born with a hole in my heart.
oh! woe is me, a hole in my heart!
Does it exist?
Does it does it does it?

I pump blood to my hands
pump blood to my feet
here, you can feel my heart beat.
look! my cheeks, they blush when you smile this way.
Would the blood reach my face if there was a leak?
Surely a hole implies a leak! A flowing, streaming jet of a leak!

But I am still growing red in the face
and I am still alive.

Posted by Matt at 2:46 AM | Permalink | Comments

"I'm the worst student ever."

Yes, ladies and gentlement, that is a direct quote from yours truly. Dated about... two minutes ago. I have tried and tried, but there is just one thing that I cannot bring myself to do: classwork.

I can't stand studying, practicing, reading texts or writing music. I have no problem spending my time with SAI activities, shopping (for pretty much anything), exercising, eating and messing around on my computer. Oh, and I can't leave out watching my roommate Katie's TV series DVDs. At the moment, we're on season one of The O.C.

Now don't get me wrong.. I still love LSU. I enjoy orchestra immensely, and I can't wait to learn more about mass communications and publicity. But when it comes to music theory, oceanography and oboe literature, I honestly couldn't care less.

I am simply burnt out on things I don't need. My friend Katrina informed me that I am experiencing the 'Sophomore Slump'. Its basis? No one cares about their gen ed's. We've all been here a year, and are itching to either get more in depth with our majors or get into the real world.

Last night at dinner, Katie and I talked about how we just want to meet the wealthy Mr. Rights of our dreams, be neighbors, and shop, work out, and vacation together. It sounds simple enough, but most things do while sipping sweet tea and scarfing down burritos.

I know that my schedule will become more focused next year, as the general requirements dwindle away. The problem is that I'm bored now. My jaded attitude toward school is turning toward LSU and slowly (and easily) toward Baton Rouge. I am counting down the days until my Fall Break, during which I will be home.

I've really been trying to buckle down and get on track. But I admit that I am weak and find it hard to resist the charm of walking the LSU lakes, Target, baking and an entire series' season in two days.

Oh, in case anyone is curious, there are nine days until break.

Posted by Anonymous at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

It's Sunday.. You know what time it is...

1. Heavens - Gardens -

*This conversation didn't actually take place. But come on, it's not too far from the truth...*
IdiotSummer05: omg omg matt skiba and josiah steinbeck omg omg
BH3H: shut up

2. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (Danger Mouse Remix) - Megahot producer Danger takes a shot at a classic cut from Nas's classic 1994 disc, Illmatic. The sample from "Human Nature" is replaced by mellow keys and the results are astounding.

***NOTE: Al Verik informs me that the song is actually a mash of "It Ain't Hard To Tell" and "Roads" by Portishead***

3. John Mayer - Kid A - This sounds infinitely better than it looks. I'm serious.

4. Iron & Wine - Waitin' For A Superman (Flaming Lips Cover) - Sam Beam has the innate ability to immediately make any song he covers his. The only other person I can think that's ever accomplished that is Johnny Cash. That's pretty good company.

5. Scissor Sisters - Lights - Pitchfork probably did a track review on this already, but whatever. I'm sort of on the fence with the Scissor Sisters. I like a few of their songs, and then the rest just falls flat. Regardless, their second disc is a lot better than their first - and the hook on this track is so..damn..catchy.

Posted by Brendan at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments

Bill Wynn turned me onto a hip new album by the world's favorite Buddhist. I have to say I was incredibly surprised by what I heard when I Googled this tune.

Ladies and gentlemen, a sample of Steven Seagal's 2005 album, Songs from the Crystal Cave.

Steven Seagal - Girl, It's Alright

Posted by Andy Dubbya at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

Everyone who has a mind
and knows the evil and corruption-
leaves

The only ones left are the ones who want to be the ones with minds
or the ones who don't know they don't have one.

No one who matters stays!
Why didn't they stay?!
Look at what is left without the knowledgeable!
Look at what is left for the future knowledgeable!

But... I suppose they will just leave as well.

Our children have been groomed for a life of powerlessness and blindness.
If the ones with sight cannot be counted on to see...
then they are letting their same oppressors continue to destroy youth
and love
and freeminds.

But what can I do? I only wish I had a mind.

Posted by Matt at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

Urbana= COLD AS FUCK.

We went from 70+ degrees, to weather in the 40's this week.

Naturally, I had to completely change all the music I was listening to.

Rooney is cool, "I'm going to the beach, gonna chill with my hombres," music, but it just doesn't fit the fall weather. I spent an entire busride, (and believe me, they're long) flipping through the good ole' Pod, trying to find something to fit the weather.

The Lawrence Arms- "Greatest Story Ever Told"

This album COMPLETELY fits the weather.

"autumn night,
stay soft and cool
come morning light
i'll be gone
step tears and tired of watching
they're filing out the big top doors
i'm buried in the smell of circus
those dark clouds are rolling in
drunken mouth (kitchen smile)
please summon me softly to sleep"
(Drunk Mouth Kitchen Smile)

"On With the Show" explodes in after the "Intro", giving you exactly what you've come to expect from The Lawrence Arms- Chicago beer belly despair rock. Ripping chords and furious drum work, with Brendan Kelly's UBER raspy voiced lyrics getting you pumped for the rest of the album.

The following track, "Raw and Searing Flesh" is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Chris McCaughan sticks with his woebegone (i.e. melancholy) vocals, and delivers the song in the finest manner possible.

Take your iPod (face it, most of us have them), sit outside with a cup of coffee, and just relax while listening to the boys from Chicago. You won't be disappointed.

The Lawrence Arms - The Ramblin' Boys Of Pleasure (mp3)

Posted by Andy Dubbya at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

Marianne Faithfull - Broken English (1979) - To this generation, she's known as that creepy voice tacked onto the end of "The Memory Remains" by Metallica. To another generation, she's Mick Jagger's ex and a formidable singer in her own right. On her 1979 record, Faithfull's Joni Mitchell-esque voice is missing as years of drug abuse ravaged her vocal chords as as she adopts a gravelly, smoky tone. The title track wouldn't be out of place on a Police record and her reinvention of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" is required listening.



Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor (2006) - Lupe was already turning heads last year with his verse on Kanye West's "Touch The Sky", and many (including myself) were anxious to hear a debut. After many delays (and several leaked versions of the album), Lupe comes running out the gate with the smash "Kick, Push", his ode to skateboarding.. The dramatic guitar intro on "Pressure" (featuring Jay-Z) is irresistable. Kanye provides the beat for "Cool", and in a move that may turn heads for Kanye fans (and build anticipation for his upcoming Graduation), he doesn't sample anything for the beat. The record seems to sprawl a bit, but overall it's an enjoyable listening experience. He's definately an artist to watch. I'm excited to see what he comes up with next.


Phil Spector - Back To Mono (1958-1969) (1991) - With all of his legal troubles lately, it's easy to look past Phil Spector's impact on the recording industry. This 60 song box set is a collection of the hits Spector has produced from the late fifties to the late sixties. Although it does not include any of his famed later period productions, the set perfectly shows the best of Spector's "Wall of Sound" technique. With hits by the Righteous Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner included, this set is something you need to hear. Who could forget the Ronettes, who have over a dozen tracks on the set. I've been listening to "Be My Baby" on repeat all week.

Posted by Brendan at 2:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

Face my fuck
with a fatherly luck
And carried by a priest-driven ambulance
fueled by holy bottles and steam
They keep driving-driving childish screams
To be delivered by air
But not to my doorstep
Just higher and higher
where the pressure really begins,
it's not as free as they thought
And it's not pillows or clouds or fogs or smogs
that squeeze the suffocation onto the fatherless
Just their own damn lungs.

Posted by Matt at 1:18 AM | Permalink | Comments

Bit of an epiphany.

I was coming upstairs from FREE LAUNDRY DAY, which is possibly the closest I will ever come to a feeding frenzy on the Great Barrier Reef. I see a woman standing by the door to my building, and she's holding it open talking to some guy.

In my mind is one thought.

"Don't close that door. I don't want to have to card in. I hate pulling out my [EXPLETIVE DELETED] keycard, and keying into that [EXPLETIVE DELETED] door."

As I come around the corner, she's still holding the door open. I walk past, into my building, and toss a "Thanks." her way. after I get in my building, I just feel the need to turn around and see if she came in behind me. I turn, and see that she's closed the door.

She waited all that time, held the door, and ended up not coming in herself.

What if, for some strange reason, her holding that door was the sole purpose of her existence?

I mean, she may go on to do great things, but what if holding that door put a domino reaction into effect that will change the course of history, affecting millions of lives in the process?

I don't even do drugs, and I came up with this [EXPLETIVE DELETED]. Weird. Think about it. Do something nice for someone.

Posted by Andy Dubbya at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments

They're going to arrest me.
And I already know what the papers will say:
Distressed-depressed-drug using-deliquent
caught aiding Terrorism.
I just Tried Tearing Tyranical Towers
down and out.

I want to live without them caring
I want to create without them staring
You know we're just giving ourselves
to them?
You know you just gave up?

I always thought you were a fighter.

What happened to you fighter you no longer fight
or stand.
or shout.
or strike down those who rope us
to the bed
with our own sheets
my wrists can't breathe
and my mind can't speak

Maybe you never flew over the nest
the ones who claim they saw are nuts.

I think maybe everyone was wrong.
We're all just fucking crazy.
No one saw a thing.

Posted by Matt at 2:02 AM | Permalink | Comments

I have finally gotten my hands on a copy of Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. I love Ken Kesey... LOVE him, but I'm not sure anymore how I feel about what he actually did within the psychedelic movement. And whether his outlook and mindset, outside of writing, influenced anything of importance. I DO NOT consider the Haight-Ashbury acid craze important.

Anyone can take some drugs and notice something different. Anyone can take drugs, in general. This doesn't make you an educated individual. The only reason many acid heads and other drug enthusiasts think critically, is because they take the time to educate themselves and question everything. You have to work at education, drugs or not.

The psychedelic craze was all about "opening your mind" and trying to hold up beatnik ideals. Beatniks with drugs (other than bud) that still called themselves beatniks. We know them as hippies. So cool, right? Or were they just pseudo-intellectual fucks who dropped acid, smoked bud, and claimed they were working for change, politically and mentally? Yes, there was a mental revival, and there was political change, but how many actually knew what they stood for?

I find it funny that actual beatniks, Kerouac for example, were not impressed at all with the new generations of "beats." No one likes someone imitating them, no matter how many times they hear that goddamn "imitation is the highest form of flattery" saying. These people latched onto a movement, which many knew nothing of. They changed the message, but called it the same cause. They forced an image upon themselves and basically bragged about their newfound "hipness."

Laugh at the masses because they don't know what you've found on drugs and opening your mind. Mock the creators of what you stand for because they aren't keeping up with the trends. No one knows as much as you do. Chameleon, hippy, hipster... what's the fucking difference?

Posted by Matt at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments

BH3H: hey duder
Sevet13: hey man
BH3H: whats up
BH3H: i posted a new thing
BH3H: i think youll dig one of the songs up for d/l
Sevet13: yeah the songs right?
BH3H: yeah
Sevet13: i was pretty pumped about the beck and elliott smith songs cuz i haven't heard them before
Sevet13: the i'm from barcelona one isn't bad
Sevet13: i don't know if i can get into them though
BH3H: its a little ridic
BH3H: but i like it its agood pop song
Sevet13: i just feel like they're trying to exploit the "indie/emo/nerd" look thing that's getting oh so popular
Sevet13: and they aren't even trying
Sevet13: they just have to make something slightly goofy
Sevet13: it's like the samething as architecture in helsinki
Sevet13: just crazy weird pop
BH3H: i like AIH
Sevet13: that's good because it's supposed to be good
Sevet13: they're all right
Sevet13: but you're missing the point
Sevet13: i wasn't making fun of them or saying i didn't like them
Sevet13: let's face it... .they're big because they're in a scene that will boost a band up just because they sound a little weird and they want weird
BH3H: i can see that
Sevet13: people want anything that they can look at and relate to
Sevet13: and everyone WANTS to be able to relate to weird/nerd
Sevet13: because that's what the style is at this point
Sevet13: that's what it's cool to be
Sevet13: because folks think that those are the smart interesting people now
Sevet13: and that's why everything's become so exclusive... because they make it seem like those are the ONLY smart, interesting peeps

Pretty good argument. Your thoughts?

Posted by Brendan at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

In a new segment to obviate media, updated every Sunday, five new (or fairly new) tracks you NEED to hear. Of course, they are all available to download. Enjoy. Comment. Rejoice.

Elton John - Tinderbox -A cut straight off of his new The Captain and The Kid disc due September 19. The album is a sequel to 1975's Captain Fantastic and the Dirt Brown Cowboy. This is his finest effort in well over a decade, dare I say since the 1987 surgery that drastically deepened his singing voice.

Beck - Cell Phone's Dead - Beck's got a new album out October 3rd. "Already?!" You say. Yeah, I was surprised too. Pretty quick turnaround from March '05's Guero. A 'hip-hop' record produced by Radiohead knob-twiddler Nigel Godrich, is one I'm really looking forward to, though I've never fully been impressed by an entire Beck record yet. I'm hoping that this is the one. Besides, the blank cover with the included sticker sheets to make your own is the best packaging idea since Sgt. Pepper came with all of those cut outs.

Elliott Smith - True Love (demo) - "All I need is a safe place to bleed... is this where it's at?" From the recently-surfaced From A Basement On A Hill sessions. Production supposedly by Jon Brion. Depressed much?

Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla - Okay, not super new, but new enough. I find it amazing how Sigur Ros can express emotions through music and still not sound like anything else I've ever heard in my entire life. In the Children of Men trailer.

I'm From Barcelona - Oversleeping - Think Polyphonic Spree, but not as creepy. This 30 member collective (who's not from Barcelona, strangely enough) created an album of perfect pop songs. This is the one that immediately got my attention. And come on, who doesn't like huge choruses?

Posted by Brendan at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments

No one seems to mention your name anymore,
probably for fear of further twisting the knife in my back

But I think you'd still be the one to know
when I finally took up to giving up
and decided it was best to go-
When I finally sighed down to my knees
and forced my bloody feet to see
if I'm ever going to stand up again,
you've got to come fix me

No one, not anyone, can replace the first
and darling, you've never been my nurse
You're the siren that fucked me to fetal position
but maybe I just don't care

You have got to come fix me.

Posted by Matt at 2:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

This was reported on various news outlets this morning... this particular report pulled from MTV.com.

In news that should not surprise to anyone who's been following Jay-Z's "retirement," his first solo album in three years, Kingdom Come, is slated for release on November 21. Hov's comeback has been just about the worst-kept secret in the industry over the past several weeks. When he announced his retirement three years ago with the release of The Black Album believed it was the end of Jay's recording career.

...Some of his loosed-lipped friends — including Timbaland, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West — started to let the cat out the bag weeks ago, saying they were involved in the project. Hov confirms to the mag that those three producers all have tracks on the LP; Dr. Dre and Coldplay's Chris Martin are also involved. The first single is reportedly called "Show Me What You Got." Hype Williams has already said in interviews he's directing the song's video.

Anybody else is as excited about this as I am? Chris Martin producing? A Dre beat?! Pretty interesting. I wonder if there is going to be any guest spots or is it going to be a purely solo effort like The Black Album.

Here's an underrated cut from 2001's The Blueprint - "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)".

Jay Z - "Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love)"(m4a)

Posted by Brendan at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

We're on Facebook!

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Add us! If you are an RSS or XML fan, add our feed!

http://obviatemedia.blogspot.com

Posted by Brendan at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

Bob Dylan - Street Legal - A forgotten Dylan classic from 1978. Ever wondered what he'd sound like fronting the E Street Band? Wonder no more. An album better heard from start to finish than by individual song, Dylan's cinematic songs benefit from the color provided by his enormous backing band. You'll hear better Dylan records than this one - but you won't hear one quite like this again.





John Mayer - Continuum - John Mayer was always capable of making a good album. He's got the talent. It's just for the first two he stuck to writing boner jams for the teenage set. The time he spent playing with Buddy Guy and B.B. King, as well as his own Trio smartened him up. On his third (and easily, best) record, Mayer marries his technical ability with his penchant for writing a good pop song. The result is a digestable concoction of blues, soul, jazz and...boner jams. The songs are there - such as the fantastic leadoff single "Waiting on the World to Change" and the delicate "Heart of Life" - but the production may be a little too tight. I have a feeling this record may be one to hear better live, where the songs are given some room to breathe.




Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds - When I'm not trying to force this record down people's throats, I'm probably listening to it. Five years ago, I would have never considered listening to Justin Timberlake, much less make an album this musically literate. JT recruits some of the game's top produces - Timbaland (who produces a bulk of the album), Black Eyed Peas Will.I.Am, industry vet Rick Rubin and even Oscar winners(!) Three 6 Mafia drop in for "Chop Me Up". It's a collection of quirky pop, (What Goes Around/...Comes Around Interlude), club bangers (yeah, that dud SexyBack), and even a slow burn ballad in the form of "(Another Song) All Over Again". Far from perfect - it'll probably be forgotten about in the years to come - but it's more engaging with each additional listen. Definately a surprise for this fall music season.

Posted by Brendan at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

senorziggypedals (12:01:14 AM): find another hopeful man to RUIN you HEARTLESS BITCH.
BH3H (12:01:20 AM): NO
BH3H (12:01:25 AM): ANDY NO SERIOUSLY
BH3H (12:01:28 AM): DONT LEAVE ME
BH3H (12:01:32 AM): EVER
senorziggypedals (12:01:33 AM): i've left.
BH3H (12:01:37 AM): NOOOOOOOO
BH3H (12:01:38 AM): IM BEGGING
senorziggypedals (12:02:25 AM): we're fucking DONE.
BH3H (12:03:13 AM): facebook

BH3H (12:03:47 AM): i wish i knew how to quit you
senorziggypedals (12:04:02 AM): well then, why... why dont you just let me be
senorziggypedals (12:04:03 AM): ?

Posted by Andy Dubbya at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments