obviate media.

Big News! We're moving!

2007-05-07T16:40:00.000-05:00

Just a note to all of those who haven't heard yet: We're moving!

That's right, we've had domain space for a while now, and we've decided now's the time to use it. It's time to bid adieu to blogger. So we're in the process of moving over to wordpress and drastically expanding our content.

We plan to relaunch with an all-new site on June 1. Stay tuned, and thanks for visiting!

- the obviate media. staff

Bloody Nose

2007-04-08T04:56:00.000-05:00

It's of the wonder you have of a certain carpet
and why there seem to be so many flowers
in vacant fields of hungover eyes
and worlds that I've never shown

Tears and quiet moments when no one knew you were there
and the words which were heard through the ears you don't own

The time you slept in a bed that wasn't in your room
The time the bathroom light surrounded your pillow
and you couldn't sleep because your father snored
your sister wept, but she didn't know anyone heard

When I think of hotel carpeting
I don't remember vacations
just the need of escape and already being thrown

Something To Look Forward To

2007-03-30T01:19:00.000-05:00

A recent explanation of a dream by a friend caused me to realize that I no longer consciously remember my own. I believe that we can only appreciate the good things in this world because of the fact that we have bad things to compare them to. I started to think about the application of this idea to every day life and the way I perceive my place in it. I don't have a firm grasp on my intentions or motivations but I do have a good sense of how I feel internally. Recently I've felt somewhat out of place, misdirected, or just .outside of my head. I'm toying with the idea that because I no longer remember my dreams, I in turn have trouble grasping onto how real reality is. I have no unconscious state to compare my coherent thoughts to. I'm not positive as to how much my conscious and my unconscious affect my dreams, but I do know that my bearing on reality is directly affected by how unreal my conscious is. The line seems to be blurred lately, and I blame that on the lack of appreciation I have for the reality I'm surrounded by. Anything that alters my mind in a way that is anything but the "uge" becomes more appealing as time wares on.

Anything that takes me away from reality seems to better establish where I was before I left. What is wrong with the idea of misguided direction. What good is direction if you have no idea where it's taking you?

Goodie Bag 3/23

2007-03-23T03:26:00.000-05:00

Back for a special Friday edition. Excuse me for the rather loose descriptions this time around.

Timbaland ft. Fall Out Boy - One & Only - Tim's releasing a solo collaboration record in April with guests diverse as The Hives, Elton John, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake and Dr. Dre. Too bad it pretty much sucks. This is one of the record's few bright spots. Remember that Swizz Beats/Metallica/ Ja Rule 'classic' from a few years ago? Yeah, the rest of the record is like that. No bueno.

Voxtrot - Stephen - Okay, if you're really down with the whole Austin, TX music scene (or music blogs), you probably have heard about these guys. Maybe not.. you just as likely got lucky and tracked down some of their tunes off of any of their three stellar EP's. Anyways, these guys are finally dropping their first full length on May 22, and it's fantastic. May take a few listens to sink in...but something gives me a feeling these guys are going to catch fire at some point.

El-P - Up All Night - The best record of the year (so far) belongs to El-P's I'll Sleep When You're Dead. Listen to this and you'll know why.

Joni Mitchell - River - I was conciously trying to stay away from picking another Joni track, but this song is constantly coming up in my rotation. It's absolutely gorgeous. I think the melody sounds a little unusual, but it sticks with me.

Mike Watt - The Boilerman - Given Mike Watt's history with the legendary Minutemen in the early 80's (and an endless list of projects since then - this cut off of 1997's Contemplating the Engine Room kind of reminds me of my brief jam band period in the first few months of 2003. However, this apparently is punk rock. Either way, it's a lot of fun.

Wilco - Impossibly Germany - Wilco finally returns with their follow up to 2004's A Ghost Is Born on May 15 with Sky Blue Sky. The record sounds definately more organic than the band's last two efforts, and it proves to be a very enjoyable, breezy listen.

Amy Winehouse - Rehab - I spend many conversations with a friend of mine from school lamenting the production of modern music and how nothing really can replicate the sound of the great 60's soul records. Winehouse, 23, already making headlines with her hard-living ways, almost gets it right. This single is one of the best to come around in a long time.

Dinosaur Jr. - Show Me The Way (Peter Frampton Cover) - So...gnarly.

Cosmic Certainty

2007-03-14T23:50:00.000-05:00

Ahem..... if you'll excuse me. I'm about to start. I would first like to thank you all for coming. I realize that the circumstance of this impromptu meeting is both regretable and unwelcome. Now please let us throw caution to the wind and begin with a question. Can music save a life? Do harmonized notes have the power to crescendo our spirits strait out of depression and into a light airy mood? Music is a medicine that needs no percription. It is amazing the illness a song may cure. If your anxious, something calm. If your restless, something fast. If you feel as though no one else on this earth could possibly ever feel as undone as you at a certain moment, something that understands. Music, my friends is the language of the heart. I have been saved by music and I write this with the certainty that I am not the only one.

An Act of Desperation

2007-03-13T00:57:00.000-05:00

One night, when Shane and I were still together, I couldn’t fall asleep. The only logical solution was to go to his apartment and fall asleep with him, in his bed. I knew this would comfort me. I gathered some things that I would need in the morning (face wash, clothes, class binders) and headed to his place.
I knocked a few times on his bedroom door, and he didn’t answer. I didn’t want to wake him with a phone call, as that seemed harsh. When he didn’t come, I gave up and walked back to my car, scolding myself for being so “crazy.”
His roommate texted me, as he was awake and had heard my knocks. I went back and talked to him for a while. In time he convinced me to just crawl into bed with Shane. When I made it to the next room over, Shane was surprised to see me, but not in the terrified sense that I had anticipated.
The whole time I had been gathering my things at my apartment and while I drove over, I told myself that I was “crazy” and that needing him to fall asleep would “freak Shane out.” This self-deprecating behavior is very typical of me, and was very unnecessary in this situation as he was not put off by it at all.
I think of this tonight, as again I cannot fall asleep. I have had many nights like this, especially since we broke up. I can’t seem to stand my bedroom. But now there isn’t another bed to crawl into.
After spending my Friday evening with friends I have made through my relationship with Shane, I have a new theory of the reason for our parting: he is afraid.
I want so badly to let him know that he has nothing to fear; that we’re in this together and everything will work out somehow. There’s no need to look far ahead and play “What If.”
I am incredibly tempted to pack up, drive to Highland Road and knock on his bedroom door. I was terrified of what would happen when we were together – I wouldn’t know what to expect now that it’s been “over” for almost three weeks.
I have made many attempts to get my feelings out of my system and calm down: I’ve made a mix CD, written two letters and watched three seasons of “Sex and the City.” I gave him the CD; I still have the letters; the third disc of season four has been skipping. I’m fresh out of ideas and in desperate need of sleep.

sound

2007-03-11T00:00:00.000-06:00

Responsive echo bellows, tumbling toward the internal drum
Whether mallet, hammer, or hand itself strikes -
My echo will cry out from the caverns where once it came

Interference perhaps:
a vowel here
two - wait! three consonants there!
I think a wave ate a wave
or dropped a mast and forgot how to sail

Derelict,
and Receiver's eyes bug
For what are conquests if the cargo never makes it?

Goodie Bag 2/26

2007-02-26T11:28:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'll admit that I've been a little lazy in posting on this site, and it's time I pick up the slack and uh... be a little more consistent... without further ado - the first goodie bag in over two months.

The first quarter of 2007 has brought many strong albums from a variety of artists. Here's a few choice cuts from some of those new (and not-yet-quite-released) records as well as some older tunes that are must listens.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Bottle of Buckie - 'Living With The Living' may be Ted Leo and the Rx's finest record yet. The band storms through a variety of styles and unleashes ferocious hooks that don't leave your head for days. I'd debated either to put this or another fave, "La Costa Brava" up, but through the lobbying of obviate media's own Evan Thorne, the right track won out.

Modest Mouse - Florida - Modest Mouse's new album is a bit of an anomaly. It certainly doesn't contain the claustrophobic elements of their earlier work, nor does it have the spazoid carnival music vibe that 2004's 'Good News For People Who Love Bad News" so engaging. With the addition of former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr (!!), the band forges an album contains thick guitar textures and soaring hooks - none more evident than on this track. Marr was a puzzling but ultimately welcome addition to the band, and here's hope he sticks around for a few more records to see what his influence further has on the band.

Kings of Leon - On Call - When their first record came out, Kings of Leon were a band that used to bore the shit out of me. It sounded a lot like just lazy country rock with a dude that really couldn't sing. When Aha Shake Heartbreak dropped two years ago, I started swinging in the other direction. There were some eyebrow raising tunes - especially "Milk" - so when I heard that another album was on the way, I got a little interested. 'Because Of The Times' is a knockout, mainly because the group is willing to take chances with their sound. The pot-obscured country sound is still there - but it's nested in a bed of atmospherics. Give this one a shot - it's the sound of a band going for broke - and do they ever succeed.

Joni Mitchell - Help Me - I really like Joni Mitchell. I don't think I realized this until the other day when I noticed I had four of her studio records. What's most interesting about Joni is that she never seems to make the same record twice. There's the acoustic nakedness of 'Blue', the weirdo jazz folk hybrid of 'The Hissing of Summer Lawns', and her 1979 collaboration with Charles Mingus, aptly titled Mingus. 'Help Me' is a cut off her 1974 classic, 'Court and Spark'. The record seems to position itself as the accessible pop record, and this is one of it's most memorable tracks.

Warren Zevon - Johnny Strikes Up The Band - It really upsets me that I knew next to nothing about Warren Zevon -until it was reported he had terminal cancer. Why? The man was a true rebel. His songs are all about suggestive shit - for example, the title track for the album that this particular cut is from 'Excitable Boy" talks about a dude digging up a girl and using her bones to make a cage. Hilarious. The guitar solos on this track are what deliver and merit repeated listening. Enjoy.

Prince - Raspberry Beret - You've heard it so many times already, but I'll say it again: Prince is one of the greatest musicians ever. Sadly, I'm not sure that many people will ever take him seriously because of all of his eccentricities over the years. There are so many worthy tunes to put on this post, but Raspberry Beret is the one that's getting the most spins in my rotation. Just wait - you'll be singing "Rassssspberry Beret! The kind you buy in a secondhand storeee..." That, or you'll be hoping he'll invite you to Paisley Park to play basketball and eat pancakes.

Kate Earl - Someone to Love - The best singer you probably haven't heard of. Mainly because she has yet to play a show outside of California. If you dig the piano-vamping-Fiona-moodiness, this lovely lady is for you. If not, she's still got a great collection of songs that pose the question: 'Why isn't she huge right now?' Corrine Bailey Rae, eat your heart out.

Andy's Top Five Albums of High School

2007-02-19T11:33:00.000-06:00

High school. We all "discovered" music there, unless you were weird in middle school, therefore becoming the badass punk/emo/indie kid in high school. I am going to list my "Top 5" in the vein of Nick Hornby/John Cusack. They may not be good, but these 5 got the most play in La Casa de Andy from 2002-2006.

5. "Freewheelin" by Tuesday

Dan Andriano's side project. I always felt cool, because there was a slight chance that one day, when hanging out with Nick, Jenna, or Adam, I would meet Dan, and feel like a badass for doing so. What Dan lacks in vocal ability, he makes up for with a kickass album. The lyrics and melodies are much more intense and altogether more vibrant than most of what Trio did. It is a great album, and the song "Sixty-Eight" will always be a favorite of mine.

4. "Live 2003" by Coldplay

That's right. I listed a live album. I didn't buy this one till 2005, but the day after I did buy it, I got tickets to see them at United Center. It will be a favorite concert, (I "Hey mister!" -ed some guy for beer. It worked.), and the album is actually much better than most live albums tend to be. The live version of "Amsterdam" is one of the best ending songs for a concert. Ever.

3. "Stay What You Are" by Saves the Day

Damn. I love this album. I may be a bitch for it, but I will remember picking up Andrew Miller and going to Meijer to buy yellow Chuck Taylors. Sitting in my beat to hell station wagon, picking the guys up for ska band practice, this album will forever be the summer after I turned sixteen. Man. I'm listening to it right now. "At Your Funeral" is fucking kickass.

2. "This Desert Life" by Counting Crows

This is my "got me through a tough time" album. Most of the people who read this will know what I'm talkin about. Adam Duritz's "deep" lyrics and haunting vocals made life bearable for those two or three months. Counting Crows is one of the bands that have the ability to bring back the Great American Rock Scene. "Mrs. Potter's Lullabye" is probably one of the most balls rocking jams of all time.

AND FINALLY!

1. "The Greatest Story Ever Told" by The Lawrence Arms

Released on September 23, 2003. This album is the only one that I listened to regularly throughout high school. I was a rudeboy ska kid at the time, and this album blew me away. I saw the Lawrence Arms open for Tsunami Bomb at the Metro for the CD release tour. One of the best concerts of my life. Ever. SO GOOD. This album is listenable any time, any day, any mood. It is amazing. This is probably the worst description ever, and I would not be surprised if King Brendan, the editor, makes me rewrite it. "The Ramblin Boys of Pleasure" demonstrates The Lawrence Arms ability to thoroughly rip music apart and make it into something wholly new and amazing.

black crow call

2007-02-12T12:26:00.000-06:00

i am a drug-filled rodent
i am a toxin-fuming rat
i am made of pure tabacco
and smell of Turkish rag

i don't believe in self-abuse
or drinking alcohol to death
but i believe you when you say you hate yourself

and don't say you don't know it
the feeling when you fall
you've walked until you couldn't feel anymore small

you are a joke within a habit
you are junk rushing through my vein
i can't breathe when i'm without you
but when i am, my fingers are stained

i've scraped my share of glass
and torn up little greens
but it's the process and the odor that only was our thing

we never wanted recognition
or a meditation mind
mostly we were bored and curious of the blind

obviate art corner

2007-02-02T15:31:00.000-06:00

I Love You by Emily Frierdich, 2007

Musings of a Twenty One Year Old

2007-01-15T02:01:00.000-06:00

If you are anyone who's had any sort of contact with me in the last year and a half, I've likely made mention about some long, helpful period of self-discovery I've been on due to a bunch of life altering events. Okay, so some of this is true, but I can't help but believe that a lot of it coincided with something that everyone my age has experienced or is just about to.

I'm twenty one years old now. Three years into college. It's pretty weird. This past new years, I remarked to some friends that this decade is almost over. It's so strange to think about, but then I look at some video tapes my friends and I had made at the turn of the century, and then think about how long ago that actually was. I remember the groundless idealism we all had, and how things just seemed so free and open ended. It's crazy how life has dragged some of us down, brought us to levels that we never thought we'd hit, or maybe in some cases, really didn't change us at all.

I think about the time you hit twenty, you hit what I've been calling the "Not-Quite-Quarter-Life Crisis". Things that used to be interesting don't really seem to matter as much as they used to. Activities that may have been fun a year or two before now just feel like a waste of time. It's not so much the quantity of friends you have but more the quality - and I think a lot of people have trouble with that. I did. I'm incredibly lucky that I escaped a lot of the trappings people my age have fallen victim to, but at the same time, I've encountered my own unique set of road blocks.

The "Not-Quite-Quarter-Life Crisis" - I've basically put it as, "you want to change the world, but have little patience to do it." That's okay. You'll eventually get to the point where you realize these things take time, and then you're able to see things clearer.

I recently went to a party that blew my mind. Many of the people I talked to - mostly old friends - have moved out of their parents homes, gotten great internships/jobs, plan to marry soon, and even have children. I'm just in awe that we're at that point now.

All the bullshit has melted away.

We've arrived. My generation has finally reached adulthood.

I still don't have a lot of money or my own place, but I'm getting there. All of my adolescent anxieties have seemed to melt away and I've got a confidence I really didn't have before. I'm still young and have a lot going for me, and I'm very grateful for that.

This stage of life is revelatory. I'm still trying to make the right adjustments, but when it really comes down to it - I'm free to do whatever from here. It's a power I'm sort of uneasy about handling, but at the same time, it's a responsibility I'm strangely ready for.

Goodie Bag 1/1/07

2007-01-01T15:35:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! Took a little winter break there. Here's a new batch of tunes for ya.

EPMD - You're A Customer - EPMD's innovative use of sampling on 1988's Strictly Business was years ahead of it's time, and through this track, which samples the Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like an Eagle", shows exactly how much modern hip-hop has borrowed from this groundbreaking duo.

M.I.A. - Galang - I just like to repeate "Galangalangalanga" over and over and getting weird looks from people who have no idea what I'm talking about.

Mynah Birds - It's My Time - Here's a mindfuck for you. A song from a Rick James (yes, THAT Rick James) and Neil Young band from the mid-60's that finally surfaces on a new Motown box set. It's a classic.

Mastodon - Circle of Cysquatch - I have no idea what the dude is singing at all, but I put this on and sit back in awe of it's absolute wickedness.

Nina Simone - Rich Girl (Hall & Oates Cover) - Really cool cover off a Nina record no one's probably ever heard, 1978's Baltimore.

Could it really be?

2006-12-25T01:02:00.000-06:00

I just had a cigarrette and flipped on the television. It was about half way through an episode of "the first 48" a documentary on murder detectives, or crime scene investigators.(I'm not sure which one.) Anyway, one of the main charactors was called in to the office to interview a possible witness to a murder case. They cut to footage of the detective cancelling and appointment for a double manacure and pedicure. She then bitched because of the strenuous demands of her job and the sacrifices shes made. This instance happened to be a double because of the combines manacure and pedicure. I can't under stand how anyone could be so vain. I mean I can grasp the concept, but you'd think at least the t.v producers would be with it enough to cut that shit out of the final cut of the episode. How can anyone videotaped saying those words, in that situations live with themself? I'm pretty sure that witness gave them the information they needed to catch the killer. The day was still not a sucess though, because her nails hadn't be done. "bitch"

Tom Cruise

2006-12-16T10:55:00.000-06:00

I woke up and felt like doing something at least semi productive today. But I don't know if that is going to happen. I decided to look at obviate media because I haven't in weeks.

Not too much has changed, more reviews about songs that either everyone has heard or I might never listen to, that's about it. I thought I would write something about Mission: Impossible III because I watched it last night. It was the first time I had seen it since theaters and I really liked it. Then I had all these tangent thoughts about how people hate Tom Cruise for no real reason.

Regular, every day people believe some celebrity is crazy. How can people think someone is crazy or hate someone so much that they wouldn't even watch a movie starring him? I think hate is a strong word and I do not think people can judge the character of celebrities, especially actors because 1) they are just that, actors, and 2) they have never met him or her (Except Brendan, he met Lennon's son, but he's not an actor, as far as I know).

How well can you know a person if you do know get to know them, let alone have never met them? I understand if you do not like him as an actor. If you do not enjoy his brand of movie making, that makes sense. But Tom Cruise likes to run fast with a frantic look on his face, and by golly, he does it well. And if I have a taste for watching some guy run fast, I am going to watch a Mission: Impossible movie, though probably the third and first one before the second. Too many motorcycles.

Goodie Bag 12/10

2006-12-10T19:37:00.000-06:00

Yo. Here we go.

Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly - Painfully overblown Floyd song from the Post-Roger Waters era. Enormous drums and lots of David Gilmour super-processed guitar. I don't know why I keep coming back to it.

Nouvelle Vague - The Killing Moon (Echo & The Bunnymen cover) - Nouvelle Vague is a French collective that covers 80's new wave tunes in Bossa nova style. Cool, right? Here's the kick: the artists performing them hadn't heard the original songs prior to recording.

Simon & Garfunkel - Save The Life Of My Child - Probably the most deliberately trippy song in the duo's entire catalog. Spooky sound effects in the background over a bouncy pop tune...listen to that freaky synth and the "The Sound of Silence" sample.

Thelonius Monk - Humph - This song oddly reminds me of punk rock.

Lil' Wayne & Young Money - Famous - No Goodie Bag would be complete without some hip hop. I'm still trying to figure this track out. The flow is unlike anything I've ever heard. The beat's kind of nuts as well because it's this weird clanging noise. Strangely, it all works, and I keep listening it over and over.

Rap for the holidays

2006-12-08T01:19:00.000-06:00

The hottest new rap sensations for sure guys... and just in time for the holidays!!

http://myspace.com/picktink
"Cookies and Milk"

QUITE A TREAT!

Goodie Bag 12/4

2006-12-04T17:30:00.000-06:00

I know I'm a day late. Another six song-er for you all since I screwed up.

Beach Boys - Vegetables - It pisses me off that I didn't listen to Smiley Smile earlier. I mean, I've heard SMiLE's version of the tune, but it simply doesn't compare to this one. Nothing like the sound of actual veggies used as percussion. I want to make music like this.

EDIT: Matt has informed me that Paul McCartney is one of the veggie-eaters on the record. After researching this, I can confirm this is indeed true.

Lil' Wayne - Receipt - He's not the "Best Rapper Alive", like he claims, but this track showcases his impressive flow...and it's got one hell of a sample.

Neil Young - Betty Lou's Got A New Pair of Shoes - Neil Young pisses off Geffen by making experiemental records like 1982's Trans. The label tells him to make a rock record...he makes a rock...abilly album. Hilarity ensuses.

Box Car Racer - Watch The World - I bet you guffawed at that title. Now, I'm not saying this just because I turned 21, however, I think I've finally reached that age where I can look back at my teenage angst with a sense of nostalgia. This song brings it all back...*tear*. Besides, that crawling riff is pretty sweet, too.

Rolling Stones - Shine A Light - The penultimate track from Exile On Main Street, and my all time favorite Stones tune. I don't know if it's the slow burn soul or the backup choir that hooks me, but it simply towers over all other Stones tracks.

The Clash - Police On My Back - Sandinista! is part awesome and part trash. This is one of the awesome ones.

Goodie Bag 11/26

2006-11-26T21:30:00.000-06:00

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Here we go.

Jay-Z - 22 Two's - I usually try to stay away from posting the same artist every week, but this track is simply undeniable. A classic cut off of Jigga's 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt.

Aerosmith - Rats In The Cellar - Dude, you can hear the cocaine blowing our your speakers.

Animal Collective - Grass - I may have missed the boat with these guys by like, two years. Who cares. Enjoy.

Antony and the Johnsons - You Are My Sister - Antony has one of the strangest yet most relaxing voices I've heard. Simply put, this duet with Boy George is outstanding.

J Dilla - So Far To Go (ft. Common & D'Angelo) - It's really a shame that someone as talented as Dilla didn't really seem to get any recognition until after he died. This song, consisting all of samples - sounds completely organic.

Goodie Bag 11/19

2006-11-19T12:50:00.000-06:00

The Beatles - Lady Madonna (Love Version) - Cirque Du Soleil are currently performing a show consisting entirely of Beatles music in Las Vegas. It's called LOVE, and features mashups of Beatles songs created by original Beatles producer George Martin and son Giles. Here's one of the most creative reinventions, that's worth hearing even if it's just for the "Hey Bulldog" riff at the end.

The Clipse - New World ft. Pharrell - I've been listening to a lot of hip hop lately, and the new Clipse record has been in constant rotation. Hell Hath No Fury drops November 28, and this is one of it's best songs. The beat is sick and Pharrell's verses don't take anything away from this song.

Bloc Party - Hunting For Witches - A Weekend In The City doesn't hit stores until February 6, however it already leaked. This song is a glimpse into a more complex, poppier Bloc Party. Is it me, or are they aping the riff from Crazy Train?

Incubus - Paper Shoes - Is the new Incubus record a disappointment? Yeah, kinda. This song? Not so much.

Yusuf - Heaven/Where True Love Goes - The former Cat Stevens releases his first secular pop album in 28 years. Yeah, it's still a little preachy, but his melodies are undeniable. One of my faves on the record.

His little heart beats so fast.

2006-11-19T04:06:00.000-06:00

Recently, a friend and I were having a conversation about how music creates color. It was odd that this had never come up before, because both of us are avid listeners, and probably both thought it was weird to “see” color when listening to music.

I’ve been listening to Kate Bush quite often, and to listen to her music and attempt to see color is not something is really so bizarre, since her music is so textured and full of opportunities to experience this. Although I can’t think of a song by her I haven’t enjoyed, I will limit myself to her 1985 album Hounds of Love.

Considered by many to be her masterpiece, 1985’s Hounds of Love combines Bush’s unmistakable voice with the huge, dramatic sound of 80's excess. The vocal samplings and vast orchestrations create more of an environment than just something to put on while doing the dishes. Hounds of Love is a commitment, but a rewarding one.

The true pinnacle of this record is Bush’s voice. This woman has a startling range, and because of it, she can create many moods. Her lower register has the raspiness of an 80-year-old bluesman, but is still feminine and rich sounding. Her higher register can milk the drama of her lyrics to levels that someone with a mediocre voice could not.

Although it is considered “more commercial” track, “Hounds of Love” is probably pulse of the album. The percussion in the introduction creates a feeling of tension, and then Bush comes almost suddenly to tell a tale of spending her life running for love, and waiting for the right person she can “take her shoes off and throw them in the lake with.” The percussion continues to pound throughout the song, as well as a continuous cello part that illustrates running, and the anxiety of being pursued by all the wrong people, and waiting for the right one.

Bush barely misses a beat before launching into “The Big Sky.” Actually, this is how most of Hounds of Love is, a breathless, spectacular, but beautiful slow walk in the woods. The album comes full circle and leaves the listener feeling completely satisfied. Oftentimes, this is difficult to find with many albums, as there always seems to be one track that doesn’t fit or seems unfinished.

Oh yes, about the color? It's mostly purple.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (mp3)

Times like these make me glad I don't have TV in my dorm

2006-11-15T17:45:00.000-06:00

What If OJ Did It?

Granted, it is on FOX, so you can't expect much, but honestly what is this garbage? I thought our culture was getting bad when we couldn't get enough of these trashy reality shows, but now this?

I'm one person who's going to choose an alternative activity...Seinfeld Season 7!

Season 7 came out Tuesday, which includes some of series better episodes including "The Sponge" "The Invitations" and the ever popular "The Soup Nazi".

Oh, adhere to me, for we are bound by symmetry.

2006-11-13T01:40:00.000-06:00

A story accompanied by a completely unrelated thought

I've...been to a lot of shows. All types of music and venues, shapes a sizes. I got lucky and have a very musically inclined family who never objected to me tagging along to see a little live music. Then I got a car and insight into the intricate workings of the Chicago L system, and the rest is history. When you experience something enough, it becomes stale. I still love going to see bands play but I rarely walk out onto the puke stained sidewalk still buzzing, wondering if I'm shivering from she cold or the lingering ecstasy of what I just witnessed.

Seeing the Decemberists was a revival of that good ole feeling for me. What can I say- I laughed, I cried, I screamed LA-DI-DA-DI-DA-DI-DA-DI-DA-DI-DA like it was a battle hymn and I danced as if I didn't look like a total fool. Going to a show was an experience again and I thank Clarissa for a fabulous birthday present.

And now-a topic...

Lou Reed-
"There she goes again
She's out on the streets again
She's down on her knees, my friend
But you know she'll never ask you please again"

Jim Morrison
"Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire"

Both AMAZING artists.
Both huge influences on music.
Both referred to as the "American Poet" on merchandise.
Both utilizers of the 'Rhyme A Word With Itself' rhyme scheme.

DISCUSSSSSSSSSSSS

Goodie Bag 11/12

2006-11-12T19:35:00.000-06:00

Hello there again. Even though I'm totally groovin' on them right now, I'm mercifully holding back posting any Tenacious D tunes until the flick comes out.

Jay-Z - Oh My God - Okay, so I may have jumped the gun on this record a little early. I was claiming it was God's gift to hip-hop early last night, but now that I've slept on it, I've realized it's only half great. Anyone who downloads the goodie bag knows my love for Just Blaze, and with this track he makes me fall in love all over again. Listening to this song makes me giggly. I'm serious.

Willie Nelson - Songbird (Fleetwood Mac Cover) - Willie Nelson is so rad. Ryan Adams produced his new disc, Songbird which came out last week. It's a great listen for Ryan fans, mainly because his backing band, The Cardinals back up Willie on the entire record. At 73, it's great to see Willie taking chances with his music. It's a really nice listen.

Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World - Notch this one up in the "I know I've heard it but I don't know the name" category. I saw Stranger Than Fiction on Friday and this song plays a part in the flick. Hooray for late seventies punk!

Chris Cornell - Billie Jean (Michael Jackson Cover) - No, not a typo. Yes, the Audioslave/Soundgarden wailer covers an MJ classic. It's a hell of a lot better than it looks. I'm serious.

Iron & Wine - My Lady's House - Listening to this, I just think about being locked in a one-window cabin in the middle of the woods and It's really hot and I'm sweating like a mo. Okay, you probably didn't need to know that - but hey, I'm the dude that still thinks fart jokes are funny.

Hope you missed this one: Giles

2006-11-08T18:33:00.000-06:00

Have you heard of Fruity Loops? It’s a techno loop generating program that has a really easy to use interface. So easy in fact that a fourth grader could figure this program if given the right amount of time.

Unfortunately, this has it's downfalls, being anyone including that little eight year old has the ability to generate the biggest pile of electronic garbage and call it genius.

This sort of what Giles self titled debut is like.

Giles - a techno side project of lead singer of Between the Buried and Me’s Tommy Giles Rogers Jr. If this side project was shot between the eyes by a poacher mistaking it for an endangered animal hoping for it’s sweet fur - I think it would be ok.

Let's start with the worst of the problems here. The lyrics. Yes, I know it's techno, but they make me want to flog a kitten with a hammer. They're that bad. I'd rather hear "Fear is the mind killer" or "get on the floor yea yea yea" than lines such as "Little kitty it's time to be naughty. Hopskotch into the closet of raunchy". Enough of kittens, closets, and hammers let's move on.

Simply put, Giles isn’t bland techno. It's bad bland techno. Nearly every song could be mistaken for another on the album because of the same formula: cheesy bass line + terrible repeating riff + lyrics that make Fred Durst sound like a genius = Giles. There is no redeeming quality in this album, except that it's only 20 some odd minutes long so you won't feel like you've punished yourself that long by giving it a full listen.

Be fortunate you weren’t foolish enough to spend ten dollars on this, and on top of it actually listen to it. If you were, take comfort in the fact there are others that made the same foolish mistake. There are so many better ways to spend your hard earned ten dollars, like getting a cup at a frat party to drown the memories of this album, or a pitchfork at Menards to skewer yourself with.

...Well, you know where I'm getting at.

P.S. This album is truly terrible...just needed to point that out one more time.

Do you know what time it is?

2006-11-07T19:47:00.000-06:00

Stop reading... go vote. I think there's only something like 20 minutes left for you kids out in the midwest.

Goodie Bag 11/6

2006-11-06T22:01:00.000-06:00

Gah! I know I'm a day late. To make up for it, I'm giving you an extra special edition of the Goodie Bag with SIX SONGS!

Girl Talk - Hold Up - Gregg Gillis. Biomedical engineer worker-dude by day - mash up master by night. (Okay, it's more like weekends.) Gillis released Night Tripper, probably one of the most breathtaking records of the year - and may have incurred some serious legal trouble in the process. Why? The dude samples 15-20 songs in the course of one 3 minute song. Yikes. My favorite part of this particular track? 2:29 in. I bet you can guess why.

John Legend - Show Me - Jeff Buckley is alive and in the form of an African-American man.

The Rapture - Whoo! Alright-Yeah...Uh-Huh - The Rapture absolutely bored the fuck out of me with their first record when I first heard it. (I've since gone back and am starting to dig it.) Their newest, Pieces of the People We Love, makes me want to boogie. Here's one of the ten reasons why.

Led Zeppelin - Fool In The Rain - There's something really satisfying about finding a great song in an old band's catalog that you haven't heard over and over a million times. (I actually owe this find to one of my friends. So, thanks.

Cassius - See Me Now - I don't know much about this band other than Pharrell guests on one of their tracks. The album, 15 Again is great to chill out to though. This song blows me away.

Cold War Kids - Hospital Bed - I posted "We Used to Vacation" a couple weeks back, and for good reason. This band is fucking awesome. Their debut, Robbers & Cowards didn't completely stick the first time around. But after a few more spins, I got hooked. There's some seriously vampy piano shit on this album. Get this record if you don't own it...and for the last time, NO, they aren't an emo band.

Beethoven in Blue Jeans

2006-11-06T14:43:00.000-06:00

Nathan Langfitt came to LSU as a music education major with every intention of leaving as a band director. He expected to learn the basic fundamentals of music and music education, and practice them by student teaching. What he didn't expect was to have NPR's Baton Rouge station 89.3 FM WRKF's hundreds of listeners as some of his students.

Every Monday, between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., Langfitt hosts a radio show titled “’B’ is for Beethoven.” The goal of the show is to teach the public about classical music without being “stuffy,” said Langfitt, so that people will be able to relate to it.

Music has been a key element in Langfitt’s life. His earliest memories are “music memories.” He recalls “sitting on a piano bench with my dad and him teaching me how to play the piano.” However, Langfitt could not read music for the most part of his childhood because of how he remembered where the notes were.

“Our piano in our home has a big crack on the 5th octave E natural,” he said, “and I learned everything I played on piano off of the key with the crack on it.” He still looks for it to this day. Ever since then, “music wasn’t really ever a choice” for Langfitt. “It’s sort of something that’s absorbed into my psyche,” he said.

During his childhood, Langfitt was involved in the usual “childish hodge podge,” he said. He played sports through local athletic centers and participated in Eagle Scouts, but a natural musical ability gave him a great opportunity.

“When I was in 3rd grade, I got picked to sing the national anthem at an all-star baseball game, mostly because I could hold pitch,” Langfitt said. “It was funny for me because I was not a ‘stage kid,’ and all these other kids were.” Many of the other children at the game had either modeled or been on television, “and I was just ‘local kid who knew how to sing,’” Langfitt said.

Langfitt grew up in Plano, Texas. He said that the area “brews” musical opportunities. “Sadly enough we live in a world where good culture requires good money and requires the people with money to value culture,” he said. Fortunately, the various corporations in nearby Dallas did just that; they provided art museums, a symphony and musical opportunities for children.

When Langfitt reached 6th grade, he was given the option of participating in band, orchestra or choir. “I didn’t want to do orchestra because it was the dorky kids; I didn’t do choir because it was all the gippy girls you wanted to punch in the face,” Langfitt said. “So it was like, ‘OK, looks like I gotta be in the band.’” As a pianist, Langfitt was quickly put on percussion. He said that this transfer was simple because “a lot of the percussion instruments resemble the same melodic patterns as the piano.”

Langfitt enjoyed his new instrument. It allowed him to participate in high school marching band and three rock bands, and occasionally win over some girls. “The drummer always gets the girls!” he exclaimed. Langfitt’s most successful musical endeavor was the Plano Jazz Project. The members consisted of a pianist, bassist, trumpet player and Langfitt on percussion. Their venues included various coffee and book shops, as well as the Texas Floor Tile Convention.

“[Musicians] can do whatever the heck we want and people, just to look sophisticated, will say ‘Oh, music is wonderful!’” Langfitt said. “[The Plano Jazz Project] played for the Texas Floor Tile Convention. Each of us got paid this sick amount of money because they thought they were hiring professional musicians. We could have played ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ 20 times; these people would’ve just been the happiest people in the world!”

Music was one thing that Langfitt always understood, and he found it imperative that he share it with others. “Music was always great to me; music can be great to you,” he said. This outlook was shaped by a combination of inspiring teachers from high school and Langfitt’s musical father. “Classical music will only live as long as we try to make it live,” he said. “If you love it enough … you do your part to help survive it.”

To ensure classical music’s longevity, Langfitt searched for a university that would suit his needs. “Some people really want the conservatory atmosphere, where it’s just music 24 hours a day,” he said. “And I wanted that, but I also wanted that classic college experience.” He said that LSU offered everything that he was looking for, including “loud, crazy football games” and a gorgeous campus. “I don’t think it gets any better than being here,” he said.

LSU’s School of Music has gone above and beyond Langfitt’s expectations. “I find great fascination to thinking back to what I was when I got here,” he said. He finds that an important factor in a musician’s growth is the diversity of music appreciated. “If someone has a[n artistic] statement to make, I am ready to listen,” he said.

As passionate as Langfitt was about his area of concentration, he felt that something was missing. He looked to the university’s radio station, KLSU, to satiate him.

“I really wanted to be the classical [radio show] guy,” Langfitt said. Before that could come, he was given the morning show. It did, however, give him an exceptional experience last fall.

“By being the guy that lived closest to the radio station, I became LSU’s hurricane correspondent,” he said. He was on the air for around 17 hours straight during Hurricane Katrina, beginning at 5 a.m. He took phone calls “from everything from a woman who couldn’t find her cat to CNN.”

His radio work during the crisis assisted Langfitt in realizing that he enjoyed “being there for people… being a person who can give information, entertain, make happy; make comforted and controlled,” which connects directly to teaching. When asked if he would ever give up teaching to go into radio, Langfitt replies with “Ha ha ha – I do teach! I am a teacher every day I get to be on the radio.”

Eventually KLSU gave him a classical music show that he hosted with an alter ego: Dr. Walter McFarriot. Unfortunately, KLSU’s schedule conflicted with his commitments to the School of Music, and Langfitt had to leave his shows.

The school year wore on, and Langfitt longed for the radio. He emailed 89.3 FM WRKF with the statement, “I have an idea for you.” He planned to save classical music in Baton Rouge.
“I said that because I wanted to be that loud flashy guy; that would get me the job,” Langfitt said. “And I had to go back and be like, ‘Wow, how am I going to save classical music in Baton Rouge?’”

Langfitt met with the president of WRKF, who told him to develop a pilot episode and promotional material and return in a month. Langfitt did as instructed, and “before I knew it, June 12, 2006, the pilot episode of “‘B’ is for Beethoven” went on the air.”

“I realized that the reason people – when I say people I mean [a] 35-year-old male who works at the bank – why does he not like to go to classical music concerts? He doesn’t like to go to classical music concerts because he sees them as stuffy. He sees them as this intellectual thing where he has to put on his coat and tie, and sit there and listen to this long, dragged out music,” Langfitt said. “One of the biggest reasons why it doesn’t work is he’s bored out of his mind. I’d be bored out of my mind going to a banking convention, why shouldn’t he be bored out of his mind going to a classical music concert? So I realized that I if can tell people how this music is just like our world today, I could make it interesting enough to them where they would enjoy classical music.”

Langfitt aimed to teach the public about music. He extracted the “boring parts” –“put aside theory, put aside all the music mumbo jumbo that I’ve learned since I discovered that crack on the 5th octave E natural” – to make the classical genre more appealing to more people. Langfitt planned to educate people based solely on the social, political and historical contexts of classical pieces. “By picking the right pieces and by telling the right stories, I think I can make classical music interesting enough where my 35-year-old banker will listen,” he said.

In addition to teaching the public about classical music, Langfitt wants to make his listeners think. “The show is meant to make people ask questions,” he said. One example he gave is for listeners to go as far as asking the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra why they don’t play a wider variety of pieces.

“Our local arts organizations are doing just as bad a job as the 35-year-old banker in the audience at not being keen to what the people need,” Langfitt said. “People don’t just want to hear Bach and Brahms over and over again. They will go crazy; they will go bored out of their minds and they will be asleep. So we have to give them something that they can latch onto and enjoy, and be immersed in enough that they want to come back. Why do we just mindlessly program something that keeps people asleep in the audience? Why don’t we make music what it’s supposed to be – something that grabs you and inspires you to be a better person. Why not?”

Needless to say, “‘B’ is for Beethoven” is doing its job “very well; it’s doing exactly what I want it to do,” Langfitt said. His show has new listeners every week that are asking him questions. His most recent show was “‘Q’ is for Questions,” during which Langfitt read and responded to e-mails he had accumulated from listeners over the past few months. He loves that people contact him, whether it be for advice on what to listen to or for more in-depth descriptions of pieces.

“I don’t always know the answers. I’m a college student, for crying out loud!” he said. Yet as a college student, Langfitt has the resources to find any answers that the public wants: the “world-renowned” LSU School of Music faculty.

Langfitt said that he relays the information “in a manner that isn’t so stuffy and intellectual that it scares people off,” which was the original idea. “It is Beethoven in blue jeans on the radio.”
NPR’s last classical music show existed from 1961 to 1999 and was hosted by Carl Hoss, who would take on classical music “like it was tying your shoes,” said Langfitt. Langfitt believes that there has been an absence in radio since the end of Hoss’ show.

Langfitt said that, although Hoss was a wonderful host, he had an “intellectual” and “woofy” voice which some people may find intimidating. Langfitt hopes that, as a 22-year-old college student, he has a more welcoming persona.

“Classical music is only as stuffy as we make it. Let’s take it off the shelf, dust it off and have some fun with it,” he said. “Every piece has a message in it that can be applied to our world today. If I make one listener out of a non-listener, I’ve done my job. That’s all that matters to me.”

Langfitt’s show has achieved its goals for the most part since its debut in June. He has a large, loyal audience. His listeners are becoming more curious about music, and hopefully are listening to it outside of the show.

However, Langfitt has one more goal for “‘B’ is for Beethoven.” Langfitt dreams that it will someday become nationally syndicated. “I would love for it to be a show that can be heard coast to coast, not just from Lafayette to Mississippi,” he said. In the “far-fetched” event that Langfitt’s show takes off, it would be a dream come true and he would stay with it “without even thinking.”

“Being a host on NPR is the world’s best teaching job,” Langfitt said, “Public radio actually has a bigger listening base than you think. You’d be surprised how many people listen to NPR across the country, and if my show could become as established as ‘All Things Considered’ or ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ or ‘This American Life,’ I think I could definitely make a difference for classical music in the world.”

History

2006-11-05T03:28:00.000-06:00

History

Eyes Closed, Ears Open

2006-11-03T14:55:00.000-06:00

Five or six years ago, we were begging for a band that wrote their own tunes and didn't sound like someone farting into a microphone. Now we've got them, and we're all still bitching.

It's refreshing to see that a whole bunch of rock bands nowadays are making concept records and double albums. These bands grew up with these pieces of art that mean something and require dedication as a listener. Now they're doing it for themselves. In my seven years as a serious music listener, I've never seen anything really like it. With iTunes and all these other downloading services (okay, and pirating), the album the way we know it may not make it much longer. If that's the case, it's nice to know it's going to go down in a blaze of glory.

Anyways, after reading the comments on the Goodie Bag from a few weeks ago, I felt I had more to say then what I was posting.

Take My Chemical Romance for instance. Maybe it's that they are an 'emo' band. Maybe it's because Gerard doesn't have the greatest voice. Or maybe it's my favorite, that they just "suck". When Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge blew up two years ago, the band was finally financially capable of recording an album that was derivative of their influences. I'm not talking about the modern ones that shaped their early sound. I'm talking about the Pink Floyd's and the Queen's they grew up listening to.

The result? The bombastic, dramatic The Black Parade, an album that rocks just as hard as those band's classics did thirty years ago.

What's this band guilty of? Other than being a little more melodramatic than they need to be, nothing. Think about it, did those classic rock bands you grew up listening to strive to make music to change the lives of yours and your parents? Probably not. They were just trying to make the best music possible. Were these bands theatrical? Absolutely. Look at The Wall and anything Queen did. For fuck's sake, their most well known record is called A Night at the Opera. MCR shares all these qualities.

The internet is so powerful when it comes to our music listening habits. I frequent probably a half dozen music blogs daily, trying to find new sounds. It can be a great resource, but it's also narrowed our view on what's out there. Every band has a category it fits in. I don't really think that this was so influential thirty years ago than it is now. What 'label' did Queen hand Floyd have back in the day? 'Prog rock?' 'Heavy Metal?' Not likely. This is just something some dude at the All Music Guide got carried away with a dozen or so years ago. Now that we hear that something sounds like a 'hardcore' group or 'sounds sort of emo-ish", it turns us off. We're probably missing out on something good just because of these small descriptive words.

I'm not saying that you need to like the new My Chemical Romance record. I'm not saying you need to listen to hardcore or emo bands. I'm completely guilty of lambasting these types of bands, but it doesn't mean I haven't given them a shot before. Mainstream music was so bad a few years ago. If you don't like something the first time, give it a second listen. You may discover there's more there than what you realized.

Goodie Bag 10/29

2006-10-29T13:10:00.000-06:00

Here comes an edition of the Goodie Bag after the most relaxing week and most exhausting weekend in recent memory.

Fleetwood Mac - Storms - Christine McVie sung ballad served with a side of inner band tension and sprinkled lightly with cocaine.

Jermaine Stewart - We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off -1986 song about keeping your garments ON. When I think of the 1980's, this is exactly what comes to mind...Ridiculously hot pop jams sung by dudes with high voices. It's sad that he died of AIDS related causes in 1997, or maybe he could be here to spread the cartoony synth-funk to a whole new generation.

Bob Dylan - Girl From The North Country - I got the opportunity to see Bob Dylan in concert this weekend. It probably was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. The show was absolutely fantastic. He didn't play this song, but it's still one of the coolest off of 1963's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

Boogie Down Productions - 9mm Goes Bang - Before KRS-One went apeshit (ie: told the press that he "cheered 9/11") he was in Boogie Down Productions. This 1987 classic is the fruit of his labor.

The Shins - A Comet Appears - A great song off an average new Shins record. Wincing The Night Away is due January 23, 2007.

Excuse me, but can you please pass the crazy pills?

2006-10-26T02:12:00.000-05:00

I have a friend who lies. If you asked her, my mom would be an alcoholic, my dad would be a shell-shocked navy vet, my little brother would be on Ritalin and I would be in intensive counseling from it all.

As it is, my mom has a glass of wine once or twice a week. My dad was in the navy, but never saw combat. My little brother is completely normal. And I don’t need counseling any more than any other kid in college—which isn’t to say I don’t need it, but I’m getting by fine without it.

But my family is a bit strange. My mom is currently taking courses to be a master herbalist. My dad has been working with computers since before there was an internet, but would really like to be a sailor like his dad. My little brother is 13, but he’s way cooler than most people my age, sometimes I suspect myself included.

Me, I have an obsession.

I have an obsession with ideas. Not with just any ideas though. I have an obsession with the ideas of certain things. Things like James Dean movies and serial killers. Not that I’m actually obsessed with James Dean or Jeffery Dahmer, but I’m obsessed with the seemingly universal fascination, with the ideas behind them.

I am of the opinion that James Dean is the coolest man ever. You can’t top James Dean cool. You can’t make fun of James Dean. Any other icon of “cool” can be made the object of ridicule. Not James Dean. I’ve never heard of a “James Dean joke” or a “funny James Dean impression.” If anyone has one, I guarantee it’s not funny. James Dean made three great movies…and died. He died before anyone could learn much about him, including what he was capable of. There’s a level of mystique there that no one else has. And that’s fascinating.

Serial killers are also fascinating, for much the same reasons. No one really knows much about them. Sure, we know what they did, but their motivations are a mystery no matter what. You can’t possibly tell me that someone who is deranged enough to kill over and over again is sane enough to explain why they did it. And when they die, be it of natural causes or not, no one will really know. Their confessions realistically offer no more of a glimpse into their lives than “Rebel without a Cause” gave into James Dean’s.

Now, I’m not saying James Dean was a serial killer, or that Ted Bundy was cool. But they’re both fascinating because they’re enigmatic. It’s like Bob Dylan before he started writing books about himself. It’s like the Tommy Lee/Pam Anderson sex tape before anyone actually saw it. But it’s not like those, because eventually that mystique dissipates and we’re left with something tangible, something understandable, something rational. With James Dean, as with serial killers, we’re just left with an idea, a concept, an all-encompassing something. And that something is more fascinating to me than any number of nameless victims or black and white screenshots.

Now, what does this all say about me? You never know. Maybe my brother is only cool because of the Ritalin, maybe my mom’s a closet drinker, maybe my dad does have war dreams, and maybe I should be in counseling. Is it likely? No.

But you never know. And that's what keeps things so interesting.

Did You Make Out With Any Hotties?

2006-10-24T12:14:00.000-05:00

I drank.

I drank, I drank, I drank.

And you know what? I had fun.

I didn't get drunk, but I did get close.
I remember everything about the night, and I know that I did not do anything embarrassing.
I did not have a hangover the next morning, but I was very tired because I had been up late.
I made sure to eat before and after I drank, and I didn't drink anything that I didn't like.

So there.

Goodie Bag 10/22

2006-10-22T14:01:00.000-05:00

Here is probably the weirdest edition yet of the Goodie Bag. Enjoy. Scoff. Comment.

My Chemical Romance - House of Wolves - A cut off The Black Parade, due Tuesday. It's a concept record, pretty enjoyable. If you liked American Idiot or Queen, check this out. At 1:54 into this song is the most Freddie Mercury moment ever by an emo band.

Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland - I've been grooving on Born to Run all week. Not a weak song on the record. Here's the nine-and-a-half minute epic closing track, Jungleland. Listen for Clarence Clemons sax solo halfway through. It will change your life.

Lady Sovereign - Love Me Or Hate Me (Missy Elliott Remix) -British MC Lady Sov has been buzzing for well over a year. Her style - weird, strangely catchy and incredibly fascinating has developed a following despite the fact she doesn't have an LP out. Public Warning should remedy that problem when finally drops on Halloween. If the album sampler making the rounds is any indication, then she probably won't disappoint. On this track, Lady Sov gets a treatment by one of the most fearlessly creative producers today. Missy's verse alone blows the original out of the water.

Eric B. and Rakim - Lyrics of Fury - Absolutely terrifying track by one of my favorite hop hop acts of all time. Over a carefully crafted beat by Eric B., Rakim set the bar to an insane height over the course of this 592 word manifesto. Very few rappers have been able to match Rakim's intensity, level of literacy, and of course, his effortless flow. It's too bad that more people outside of hip hop aren't aware of his music.

Hall & Oates - Adult Education - I can't tell if this song is about sex or literally about how you should go to college. Reguardless, the painfully 80's drums and porn guitar riff are worth the admission price.

Goodie Bag 10/5

2006-10-15T18:56:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm a little late. It's still Sunday. Enjoy a rather eclectic collection this week.

1. The Thermals - A Pillar Of Salt - A fantastic track off of one of the year's best punk records.

2. Jake Weisman - Audrey - Up and coming singer songwriter from Vermont. If you're into lo-fi stuff or Elliott Smith, check it out. It probably doesn't hurt that he lives down the hall from me...

3.The Decemberists - Summersong - I have never really dug The Decemberists until I heard The Crane Wife. The new record has a strong prog influence, that can be felt on two of the album's 10+ minute tracks. Here's Summersong, one of the most autumnal cuts on the record.

4. T.I. - King Back - I..can't...escape... T.I.. I don't know what it is! I got a hold of King. awhile back, and in the last week, it's been in constant rotation. T.I.'s rhymes are sharp and with carefully chosen beats and guest spots, this record is unstoppable. Here's the incredible opening cut produced by Just Blaze.

5. Neil Young - After The Garden - At 61 years old, Neil's pretty much one of the only classic rockers that's willing to take a chance with their music. Okay, sure, Sir Paul's worked with Radiohead's producer, but the results were nothing out out of the ordinary. I know I'm a huge fan of all these old guys making records again, but who's willing to take a chance with their sound at such an advanced age? That's right, just Neil. In March, he wrote, recorded a collection of government bashing tunes, and by early April, it was available to download with a hard copy following later in the month. Here's one song that sticks with me after every listen.

A dreadlocked warrior's last tune: Renegades

2006-10-09T11:37:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to generate a bit more consistency in my posting I’d like generate a new feature called Did you miss this one? And I hope you missed this one. The goal being to look back at albums, movies, and other forms of media from a years back that you may have overlooked.

2000. The year when all the computers in the world were supposed to rebel against us, and humanity would crumble soon after. Sadly the only real damage was to my 1990 PC resulting in a date change to somewhere in the 70s. Yes, it seemed the new millennium would certainly be as boring as the last, with a few exceptions. 2000 was the year Rage Against Machine would release their swan song, Renegades.

Renegades, every bit just as good as any of Rage's other CD’s, but the funny thing is that none of the tracks were written by Rage. Remember "Renegades of Funk? that was all over MTV? It was originally by Afrika Bambaataa. Aside from the fact that the album consists completely of cover songs, the sound is the same style and sound that is trademark Rage Against The Machine.

I hope it isn’t too hard to imagine the band covering Bob Dylan’s “Maggie's Farm", but, they did. The fusion of rap and metal is still there with Zach de la Rocha flowing through the lyrics like a hot knife through butter and Tom Morello providing guitar that can’t be compared to anything or anyone else. It's amazing.

Because of the band's breakup before the release, this album was mostly ignored, and it’s a real shame because it was just as amazing as any of their other three. The only flaw I could find is since the lyrics weren’t written by Rage, they lack the same political furry that could be found in their previous works. It's disappointing, but Zach does an excellent job providing the same intensity to the songs, a great example would be the cover of the Minor Threat classic “In My Eyes”. It’s just a real shame that this would be the end of such a great band, and they hardly went out with a bang. It was more like a wimper.

Sidenote: The version currently available in stores also features two live tracks “Kick Out the Jams” and “How I Could Just Kill A Man” the latter featuring Cypress Hill themselves, a real treat.

Goodie Bag 10/8

2006-10-08T15:44:00.000-05:00

All new tunes from the library of Brendan.

Incubus - Anna Molly - Light Grenades is out November 28. This song gives me some hope after the lackluster A Crow Left Of The Murder and that garbage they released for Halo 2 and Stealth.

The Who - It's Not Enough - Pete and Roger return with Endless Wire on Halloween. I really wasn't thinking this was going to be anything special, but after hearing the European-only Wire & Glass EP and this song, I got interested. The album may turn out to be one of the year's biggest surprises.

Jay-Z - Show Me What You Got - First single off of Kingdom Come. Hova's back! That Just Blaze beat is wicked awesome.

Cold War Kids - We Used To Vacation - I'd only heard this name in passing and thought these guys were in the same vein of the Gym Class Heroes. I was very wrong. This piano vamp won't leave your head, and if you dig this, definately check out Robbers and Cowards immediately.

The Hold Steady - Citrus - Yeah right, like this post wasn't going to end without these guys. One of the more gentle tracks off the album of the year (so far.) GIVE THEM A CHANCE!

Subconscious Reciprocal Love Affairs

2006-10-08T08:43:00.000-05:00

Let me tell you what it’s like to be in love with three men and a sound…

I recently paid to have myself stabbed repeatedly, permanently expressing my gratitude to a band that I can sincerely say saved my life more than once. The Lawrence Arms have released six full length albums and I have loved each one in turn. They are a band that I cannot imagine any person who enjoys punk or rock or punk rock not liking, because they recreate themselves with each CD the put out.

The first song I can remember listening to by my boys is ‘Nebraska,’ off a benefit compilation for a very sick little kid. I would play it almost daily while walking home from middle school and, although they were addressing an anonymous Mike, I couldn‘t help but think maybe it was me Chris was imploring to ‘please don’t hate yourself.’ And I tried. For that voice I would try anything.

It wasn’t long after that Adam handed me Apathy And Exhaustion, their third release. It was an album of the most beautiful poetry I’d ever heard. I cannot tell you how many times I played that CD. In the years when I first found out what razors were for I also found words that could stay even the most determined of hands. ‘Brickwall Views’ opened my eyes, and ‘Abracadaver’ taught me to “use your mind over matter, til’ there’s nothing the matter.” With every song there was a connection I couldn’t explain. Their voices were my lovers in sadness, and no matter how hard I cried they stayed at my side… and I sang with them.

A Guided Tour Of Chicago, The Lawrence Arms’ first album and the only one that reflects Brendan’s old political fury, was an anthem for the early days of my political roots. The summer after sophomore year I fell for Ghost Stories like a kid sitting up scared in the dark. I could scream along to ‘Turnstyles’ and feel secure in my loneliness. Everything got burned out of existence when I played that album loud enough, as if it’s raw sound was enough to negate every regret , every inadequacy I possessed.

In 2003 the Greatest Story Ever Told was released and I fought my brothers for the right to purchase it. Perhaps the most quotable album in the history of away messages I dare you to claim “this is my exit…I stom out STAGE LEFT” hasn’t appeared on your buddy list at least once. Words cannot describe how deeply each song touched me. My first listen to Greatest Story marked the beginning one of the worst periods of my life at the end of which I was physically alive, but emotionally crippled. It was the same album, one year later, that made me remember what I loved about music. I had forgotten what it was like to really feel anything, but there was that connection again. I had ‘Hesitation Station’ to feed my anger and help me to grow again, and The Disaster March to remind me “Ugly is ugly, transformation is a dream, so love what you are not what you would like to be.” I loved not just the voices, not just the words but even the instrumentation made me want to sing and dance and lay on my bedroom floor and fucking feel okay again.

When Oh! Calcutta! Came out, I was preoccupied. I gave it a listen and went back to my nervousness. But it waited patiently for me, and when the worst happened, the songs were there. I received six confirmations of my absolute failure over spring break my senior year of high school. In the days following, Brendan, Chris, and Neil played solely to cover my screaming, hysterical breakdowns. When everyone else gave half-assed “it’ll be alrights” they gave me unrestricted sound and understanding. They rode with me as I disappeared for days, they screamed along as I curled into a fetal position for hours- never complaining at having to play the same songs and hear the same sobbing, never claiming I was overreacting. The words were so oddly perfect, each song telling me to “to just forget all the regrets that keep haunting you, they aren’t worth your time.” With them, I remembered to breathe.

Every time I felt like I wasn’t worth a kind word from anyone I knew, there were three people waiting to know how it feels. I don’t know where I would be without them. I love them, they love me, and it is the only love I will ever really trust.

My top ten-in no particular order

Light Breathing (Me And Martha Plimpton In A Fancy Elevator - Ghost Stories
Your Gravest Words -Apathy And Exhaustion
Fireflies - The Greatest Story Ever Told
Recovering The Opposable Thumb - Oh! Calcutta!
Intransit - Cocktails And Dreams
The Disaster March - The Greatest Story Ever Told (m4a)
Brickwall Views - Apathy And Exhaustion
A Toast - Cocktails And Dreams
Turnstiles - Ghost Stories
Alert The Audience! - The Greatest Story Ever Told

Like Syrup for Old Style.

2006-10-06T19:25:00.000-05:00

Everybody says that children are the leaders of the future. Deep stuff. Any Joe Schmoe student can, and most likely will, go into his or her third grade classroom with nine years of such infant propaganda having been forced into their minds through world media. Therefore, one of the most important parts of a child’s learning experience would be a teacher.

I grew up in Waterbury Center, Vermont. Many people would describe it as “quaint”, or “rustic”. I described it as “home” when I lived there, but probably agree with everybody else now. My parents are middle class workers. If you like ice cream, you’ve probably heard of Ben and Jerry’s. My dad worked there. I was a regular child growing up, and I like to think that it entails sneaking into your parents’ room around midnight, and sleeping in their bed when you’re five years old. I did that. One night I began to make my way to my parents’ room, taking my usual route down the hall. As I made my way past the living room, I saw that the sofa bed was pulled out, and naturally assumed my mom had moved there due to excessive snoring. Finally, I made it into their room, and up into the bed. My dad was sleeping there, and I dozed off, realizing that yes, he really did snore.

Morning broke, and I noticed that my dad’s arm was across me. As I pushed it off, I noticed two things. 1) The arm draped across me was MOST DEFINITELY black, and 2) MY DAD IS NOT BLACK!!! I dove out of the bed, and bolted across the room. This man had already gotten my parent’s, and I had to protect my sister. I went to my most important possession- my NERF bow, with foam arrows. I would be able to stop the intruder, and give my sister precious time to flee to the neighbors while I sacrificed my life for the family. My screams, (I was five. There was no such thing as yelling back then.), awoke the man from his slumber, and he began to stumble out into the living room. I unloaded my sheath of arrows, and began to charge him when I was snatched from the ground. There were more! A roving gang of outlaws had entered my home, and I was out of arrows!

I turned and prepared to meet my maker. My eyes made contact with my captor, and I saw that... wait... it couldn’t be... it was my dad. He explained that his high school friend Larry had come to town, and my parent’s had given up their bed to the weary traveler. This is one of my finest stories, and after numerous tellings, it made me realize. I want to be a professional story teller. The only catch is, the job doesn’t really exist outside of 1867 Montana. The next best thing I could do was be a teacher, and use my innate abilities (or so I like to believe) to pass on knowledge and information to the generations to come, because, hey, they are the future.

I was a theatre geek in high school. I think that I was well liked outside of that department, but inside, I was the golden boy. When I found out that Drama was a required class for all sophomores at Dundee-Crown High School, I knew the class would be a breeze. I would slide by on looks and charm alone in that one. The first day was a big surprise. You would assume that, once past fifth grade, most people should be able to read aloud. This was not the case. Looking at lines of dialogue seemed to be the most baffling thing anyone could do. Everest seemed easier than reading a script. Out of the thirty of us in the class, five could read without stopping and gasping for breath minutes in. It became our job to help out the other twenty-five. It was like being in a kindergarten class that averaged at about 5’ 7”, and would help to be one of the deciding factors in my choice of college majors.

As I have said, I grew up in the fine state of Vermont. From my experiences, it is a very liberal state. In Vermont, two people, of the same sex, can be joined in a legally binding civil union. It’s the closest thing to gay marriage in the United States. I never heard anybody with something bad to say about interracial couples, or about any race for that matter. I didn’t experience racism until I was nine, and that was when my dad told me that, when we move to Illinois, “You might meet some racists.” I never met a racist person in Vermont, or for that matter, more than one person of a different race (that being the aforementioned Larry) during my nine years in that fine state.

Illinois was a complete culture shock. I went out of my way to make sure people knew I wasn’t a racist, and after research, had finally figured out that they didn’t have a second head or claws. I met people from South America, Eastern Europe, Mexico, but thought they were all just Americans. They worked with my dad, so they were Americans in my eyes. Vermont may have been colorful in the fall, but Illinois was colorful all year round. The complete difference in the two states was easily the most diverse thing I have ever experienced.

For when you don't want your music too sophisticated...

2006-10-05T14:42:00.000-05:00

What happened to simplicity? Why is it when I go to Ben and Jerry’s I can’t get strawberry ice cream? I mean, I can get it with banana, with chocolate, with no fat, more fat, upside down, and as a t-shirt, but why not plain and simple? Don’t get me wrong I enjoy variety, but why is it so hard to find some of a good old thing anymore? I feel the same about music. There are probably fifty million styles and none of them are what I want. Then a fan will ask you “Do you know what these lyrics mean? There is a story and it’s deep!” Why can’t I find anything that’s simple? Why isn’t there a sound that reminds me of the Rolling Stones or The Beatles?

Oh, wait a second….I just did.

Sparta, (a.k.a. the bastard child of At The Drive-In), is what I have been searching for with it’s third album, Threes. What's it all about? Well, let’s start with what it isn’t. When you pop Threes in you will not get track after track of unpredictability with speeds varying from warp 5 to grass growing. You also will not listen to lyrics that will leave you piecing them together for 2 weeks eventually cursing them and searching Wikipedia for the meaning. No, you will no get any of these things, and if you ask me I couldn’t be happier!

What you do get from Threes is what I’d like to call “good old rock n’ roll”. After listening to this recording I instantly threw on “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones and sat in awe, thinking, “so this is what music was like before!” I didn’t even have to try and compare, it simply came to me. Singer Jim Ward’s voice that is somewhere along the lines of raw and pretty which matches the bands sound phenomenally during these twelve tracks. From the build ups and slow downs of “Untreatable Disease”, to the solid flow of “Taking Back Control” you are welcomed to a world where music doesn’t need to be complex to be enjoyable. I finished the album final track “Translations” satisfied with the world I had just exited, and wanting more of this style of rock music that I can simply only compare to as a heavier version of the Stones or Led Zeppelin’s early years.

Sparta’s Threes may not ever achieve great popularity because of it’s classic rock sensibilities and today’s music climate where there is an emphasis on a bold sounds and cryptic lyrics. I think that there is something any music fan, writer, or performer can take from it, and that is you can’t have of those things without talent, and a good core sound.

Threes will be released October 24.

P.S. It turns out that Strawberry was indeed there, maybe there is still some hope after all.

Sparta - Taking Back Control (mp3)

Music for you

2006-10-04T15:50:00.000-05:00

If you like electronic music at all... check out a friend of mine at http://www.plastic4records.com/sounds/bands/69/music.php. He just put out a new album which I am listening to at this moment. Good guy, good electro. "A Good Night in Fast-Forward" is a track worth checking out. "Midday Rides in Jason's Celica" is a mellow treat.

You can't know everything forever!

2006-10-03T03:08:00.000-05:00

All the history and background bullshit
will catch up with our minds.
We'll remember words and fragments
of these simple ideas
and never know what they mean.

but computers... computers know everything!
and they will always be on top
if top is all of history...

But we need to stop learning to learn!
What about experiences?
What about feeling things that are worth feeling?
We keep learninglearninglearning history,
but history is continual!
We can't stop it!

Then we put it in books to read
so we know. And we push it on them to know.
But we don't know everything,
we don't know ourselves!
They certainly can't either
with this landfill of knowledge
which we create
And list.

One knew we were different.
Emotion knew.
I know.
You do too.

Up The Film Can - 10/2

2006-10-02T20:21:00.000-05:00

Well, I’m new to the whole Obviate staff-ish thing (if you want to call it that) and I guess I should win you fine folks over somehow. So as a little ice breaker, I’m gonna give you all a very fine piece of advice. Here goes…With movie tickets scratching the ten dollar mark, there’s no time for bullshit. We only have enough cash to see the good stuff. So I offer you the few movies in the theatres that are definitely worth seeing.

The Science of Sleep - How much do I love Michel Gondry? His movies challenge the audience and in return rewards them with visuals rarely seen and a (sorta) simple story about love. No computer was used in this film (exclamation point) and the only green screen is the one we can obviously see. The Science of Sleep offers more than stunning visuals, it also offers a sweet story and really great acting particularly that of Gael García Bernal who can’t seem to do wrong. After reading some posts and talking to some people, this movie seems to be really polarizing. Either you dig it or you don’t…just take the ride and don't ask questions.

Little Miss Sunshine - If you don’t know why this movie is worth seeing already, then you’ve been hiding in a cave…or Iraq…or somewhere where they don’t have movies. See it. I love Steve Carell…and..well…everyone else in this movie. Most definitely worth the 10 bucks to see at the theatre and, yes, the 20 bucks it will be to buy it.

Hollywoodland - Huzzah for neo-noir! I know what the first thing on everybody’s mind is…and the answer is yes, Ben Affleck is really, really good in this flick. But I’ll be honest with you folks; I don’t have a problem with him. I know he can act, he just hasn’t been showing it for the past, what? 8 years? Fucking Chasing Amy, people! He’s great. Hollywoodland follows the mysterious death of George Reeves, the original Superman (and no, they weren’t related…on another note -- What’s the opposite of Christopher Reeve? Christopher Walken! Ho!). Adrian Brody and Diane Lane give stellar performances as well as a knockout by Bob Hoskins. Fuckin’ guy says four sentences throughout the entire flick and he’s still one of the gnarliest bad guys out there. Plus - a sweet, jazzy score to throw back to all the best noir of the golden age.

Jackass Number Two - People are all pissy because they think teenage boys are retarded and Jackass just brings with it the downfall of society. Jackass is Fight Club sans narrative. Think about it. We all need to go primal every once and a while and that’s all this is: people laughing at what’s really funny. People need to pull the stick out of their ass and just admit to themselves that this is hilarious.

Idiocracy - Ha, ironic that this comes after the Jackass write-up. Now, you all may get mad because Idiocracy isn’t playing in your city but lucky for me it is playing in Chicago. What is it? It’s the next feature live-action film from everyone’s favorite favorite writer/director/Lumburgh creator Mike Judge. What? He has another flick? Yes he does! It’s fucking funny! Because they spend the entire film making fun of Starbucks, Costco, Fox News, and every other company under the sun, our good friends at 20th Century Fox aren’t letting the American public see this gem. No advertising, no website, nothing. Instead, they opted for a release in seven select cities. Trust me, guys, this is gonna be HUGE on DVD. Like, the next cult classic on DVD. I just hope this doesn’t turn Mike Judge off of making feature films If you get a chance see Idiocracy, you’ll be a happy, happy soul.

Goodie Bag 10/1

2006-10-01T16:03:00.000-05:00

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

1. The Hold Steady - Hot Soft Light - I am like a thirteen year old girl for The Hold Steady's new record, Boys and Girls In America. I'm freaking out about it. They're a band that's not completely accessible at first, but after you open your ears - you discover all sorts of treasures on their three albums. This track is one of their best off a record that's an Album of the Year candidate.

2.Ben Folds - Such Great Heights (Postal Service Cover) - Come on, do I really have to explain why?

3. Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny - First single off the album and the movie of the same name. The film may turn out to be the best thing since Citizen Kane. Or Star Wars.

4.Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood - The opening cut from Tom Tom Club's 1981 debut. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz rule. Oh, and that other band they were in was alright too.

5.Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy - I used to think I could relate to this song. Then I actually LISTENED to the lyrics...Geez.

I see London...

2006-10-01T03:55:00.000-05:00

The Killers, "Sam's Town"
The Killers are one of those bands who exploded, seemingly, out of nowhere. They played 80s-steeped dance rock, and were far from the only band doing so at the time, but saw so much success than their contemporaries it was nearly unfathomable. Now, they've shed the pristine suits and dancehall-suave grooves in favor it...well, ratty suits and rock club dance grooves.

And the results are mixed, at best.

The title cut starts things off well, but is a far cry from "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine," the bass-driven leadoff track from 2004's "Hot Fuss." "Enterlude" is pleasant enough, and when combined with "Exitlude" ties the album together nicely. "When You Were Young," the first single, is phenomenal, with one of the best hooks the band has ever written. And other assorted songs ("This River Is Wild," "My List," "Bones") are classic-sounding rock and roll songs. But for the most part, the album just lacks something .

Whatever it was that made "Hot Fuss" so utterly irresistable, at least initially. The band's debut had a mysterious, almost futuristic feel to it, but "Sam's Town" opts for more familiar rock ground. Also, the lyrics for the most part lack any kind of inspiration at all--lines like "If all our days are numbered, why do I keep counting?" are painfully trite and predictable, like something a barely-literate highschooler would write while sniffing white-out, trying to sound deep.

But perhaps the most glaring error is the omission of "Where Is She," the much-promised third part in the murder-mystery series begun with "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" and Midnight Show." The band tested it at live shows and after recieving a glowing response promised fans in magazine interviews that the song would make it onto the second record. Well, the second record is here, and that song is nowhere in sight.

"Sam's Town" is one of the more anticipated releases of the year, and with reason--with an album like "Hot Fuss" to build from, the Killers could shoot in any concievable direction. It's just unfortunate that they opted for one of the lackluster ones.

The Killers - This River Is Wild (mp3)

...

2006-09-29T21:18:00.000-05:00

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.

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau...

2006-09-28T16:53:00.000-05:00

“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.

a step into the unforeseen

2006-09-28T12:36:00.000-05:00

"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.

DEBUT POST!!!

2006-09-27T23:19:00.000-05:00

Simplistic Intelligence

In recent years intelligence has evolved to include a spectrum of definitions and stipulations, when what is needed most is a more simplistic approach. In his essay “Who Owns Intelligence”, Howard Gardner states there are eight different types of intelligence: linguistic, logical, spatial, bodily, creative, intra and inter personal, and naturalist. This leads to a plethora of complications and standards that are seemingly unnecessary. So instead, I present the concept of a Simplistic Intelligence.

In Merriam-Webster’s dictionary intelligence is defined by four different entries. For the sake of this argument the definition and basis for Simplistic Intelligence will be derived from the first entry: “the ability to learn or understand or deal with new or trying situations.” This may appear to be a broad and vague definition; but under closer inspection I find it to be more simplistic that obtuse. If you analyze the definition, it covers many of the bases Gardner attempted to separate and prioritizes them as “the ability to learn and understand”…meaning any one person who displays a knack for picking up new skills with noticeable ease. For example, a child who catches on to reading or math at an early age or perhaps a college student who takes to physics or anatomy with almost no effort could be deemed intelligent. Therefore, any person who finds ease in understanding questions, writings, or instructions could justifiably be labeled as intelligent under the stipulations of Simplistic Intelligence. Considering Gardner’s various types of “intelligence” three have already been eliminated by two standards given by S. I. Are linguistics, logic, and spatial abilities and skills truly used in learning and understanding? Of course they are, for they are all considered central to learning at early ages and even beyond. If these two qualities are indeed so inherent in learning and understanding, as outlined in the Simplistic Intelligence’s definition, then there is no reason why they should be excluded and made an intelligence of their own. Yet learning and understanding only account for two parts of the three-part definition for you also have “(to)…deal with new or trying situations.”

This last section of the definition of Simplistic Intelligence provides an “Ockham’s Razor” solution for Gardner’s other independent types of intelligence. Every time two people interact for the first time they both automatically begin judging, interpreting, and analyzing each other. Anytime you start a job you are faced with multiple new tasks and responsibilities as well as new faces. A person’s ability to manage all these things in a skilled manner would display a prominent level of Simplistic Intelligence. Again under this new definition of intelligence, we see the negation for the need of separate bodily, creative, and intra/inter personal types of intelligence. The ability to control your body and have a definite awareness of it is crucial in both scenarios of meeting new people, starting a new job, or any other new situation. The same holds true for creative and intra/inter personal issues. In displaying that one can handle new situations, then they are also displaying intelligence.

There are a few obvious refutations of this new Simplistic Intelligence. Many people may try and claim that Simplistic Intelligence is simply all of Gardner’s different and independent kinds of intelligence placed under one blanket of intelligence. Although this may seem to be the issue, there are notable differences in the two viewpoints. With the eight different intelligence types Gardner sets each intelligence up to stand on its own feet. Along with this method you have a different criteria and standards for each independent intelligence. If each type of individual intelligence had 2-3 different criteria there could be up to 24 different opportunities for poor judgement or fault. With this many given options, anybody could conceivably fit into any of the eight types as opposed to Simplistic Intelligence where you have three and only three standards to be found “intelligent.”

One major question with any intelligence is “how do we test it?” I must profess I am not skilled in any fashion pertaining to qualitative or quantitative testing. However, given the nature and standards of Simplistic Intelligence, it would appear almost necessary to test by observation in everyday life rather than by paper and pencil. This leads to the next question in the line of testing inquiry “how do we rate the level of Simplistic Intelligence?” The best method I could suggest would be to keep the ranking as simple as the definition itself leaving three levels: pass (intelligent), fail (unintelligent), and exceptional (highly intelligent). Another possible avenue is to break up the definition not into separate but dependent factors. Thus, a person displaying intelligence would meet 2 of the 3 factors within the definition. Respectively, an exceptional display of high intelligence would meet all 3 factors and an unintelligent display would meet none of the 3 factors.

Another type of intelligence provided by Gardner that remains to be covered here is the Naturalist Intelligence. Naturalist Intelligence is interpreted as an ability to notice certain formations and other nuances in nature. This seems like a glorified definition of perception simply occurring outdoors. While perception is absolutely important, I do not feel it defines a separate intelligence in and of itself. In cases of people with severe mental challenges, there is no evidence defining any sort of “intelligence” of any viewpoint that has been noted. Yet, it has been observed that people suffering from sever mental challenges are still very perceptive and take an interest in their surroundings.

In conclusion I fail to understand why so many differences must be established for so called different and independent kinds of intelligence. If someone is creative but has no personal skills, no ability to process logic, and has limited linguistic skill, but is intuitive to nature, does that make them intelligent? According to Gardner they would be not only intelligent but also intelligent twice over. I say by the definition of Simplistic Intelligence they might show some signs, but they are essentially not intelligent. There was a time when someone was called intelligent because they displayed simple traits of intelligence as described in Simplistic Intelligence. There was no such thing as “Creative Intelligence” but there was creativity. Nor was there such a thing as “Logic Intelligence” but there were logical people. When did a descriptive word such as “intelligent” turn into a word that could be apply to any talent? Without turning to a simpler less expansive intelligence like Simplistic Intelligence we are soon to see independent intelligence types such as “Hockey Intelligence” or “Mowing Intelligence.” It is because of this problem that I propose the concept of Simplistic Intelligence with a most useful definition based on learning, understanding, and managing new and trying situations.

Ok...alright...dammit, I'm posting!

2006-09-27T01:44:00.001-05:00

So. It's that time again. Time to drag out the knit scarves, enjoy warm beverages and talk long walks before the last beautiful days of the year are gone. Yes, it's autumn.
Whenver autumn rolls around, I must make a playlist. And I have decided to share this with you lucky people. Put this on your pod (or a CD if you're still stuck in the dark ages. Hell, I could make you a TAPE if you want me to) and I dare you not to smile.

1. Graceland - Paul Simon (m4a)
2. Hanasakajijii (three: the man who made dead trees bloom)- Anathallo
3. Bisbee Blue - Calexico
4. Death of an Interior Decorator - Death Cab for Cutie
5. Everyday I Write the Book - Elvis Costello
6. Somebody that I Used to Know - Elliott Smith
7. She Don't Use Jelly - The Flaming Lips
8. Gold Dust Woman - Fleetwood Mac
9. Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl - Broken Social Scene
10. 89 - Inspector Owl (m4a)
11. Melt Your Heart - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
12. The Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks
13. Walk On - Neil Young
14. Finally, I've Made it Nowhere - Head of Femur
15. Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed

Yes, I realize, many obvious choices, but I have tested this...and this is a great mix to take a long walk to. Especially if you are accompanied by a canine. Just remember to clean up after them, and have a great autumn!

Media Mismatch

2006-09-26T22:58:00.000-05:00

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.

Hereditary

2006-09-26T02:46:00.000-05:00

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.

And Maggie Won't Stop Buying Cookies

2006-09-25T22:07:00.000-05:00

"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.

Goodie Bag 9/24

2006-09-24T12:29:00.000-05:00

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.

Buddhist Blues

2006-09-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

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

No one is meant for seclusion

2006-09-21T19:51:00.000-05:00

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.

Autumn night, stay soft and cool. Come morning light, I'll be gone.

2006-09-21T16:34:00.000-05:00

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)

What I've Been Spinning 9/21

2006-09-21T02:48:00.000-05:00

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.

You left a sock...

2006-09-21T02:45:00.001-05:00

Music saves lives, sometimes. Not always--usually it's not that drastic. But once in awhile, the most cheesy, cliche'd song in the world is the only thing that helps. And you hate to admit that it helped, because it's so trite and predictable. But you can't deny it either, so you just avoid the topic all together.

Eve 6 pulled me through some tough times once.

I'd love to say it was something classic like Journey or Elton John or Queen. Or something more obscure but equally predictable like the Smiths or Rilo Kiley or some Joni Mitchell b-side. But it's Eve 6. The band with the ultimate prom song in "Here's To The Night." The band who toured with Good Charlotte. That's them.

And were the only thing keeping me hanging on for awhile.

They have a song called "Girlfriend" on their last album, "It's All In Your Head." It's a fun rock record with some awesome tunes, but this song was written specifically for the situation I was in. It doesn't matter that it was written specifically for every single guy dealing with being dumped--at that point in time, it was mine.

I had been dumped. No, not just dumped--completely worked over. Fucked six ways from Sunday is I think my favorite euphamism for it. Completely crushed by this girl, but the damage was completely irreparable. I couldn't get over her. It was tearing me apart, and I was in a very bad way. Then I pulled this CD off the shelf for some background music and this song came on. I stopped whatever unimportant menial task I was undoubtedly doing, and just let it hit me. And Max Collins, bless his heart, was exactly right. He knew what I was going through, and he was telling me exactly what I needed to hear.

"For every tear a lesson learned/And every good time golden/I know it's time to let you go/But I will not be broken."

And he was right. I had learned from the experience. And there had been some good times. I had to let her go, but god dammit, I would not be broken.

I cried for probably an hour after the first time I heard that song.

But I went back, and I listened to that song four or five times a day for at least a week. After two weeks, I was completely over it. Like, over it to the point I hadn't believed I could be. Not only that, but that same month I found out two of my friends had been through nearly the exact same thing--different girl, different situation, same song.

So the point I'm really trying to make here is, sometimes the popular pseudo-emo kids with bad hair get things right. Like, extremely right. And that is why I have never been ashamed of what I like.

I've Got Broken Face! Uh huh, uh huh!

2006-09-21T01:18:00.000-05:00

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.

If a butterfly flaps it's wings in China, will Andy buy the chocolate milk, or diet coke?

2006-09-20T23:15:00.000-05:00

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.

2006-09-20T02:02:00.000-05:00

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.

The Times They Are A'staying The Same

2006-09-19T03:16:00.000-05:00

Now is the season of our discontent.

Call it luck, or fate, or choice-I have managed to assemble a group of friends I consider to be the only possible force of withstanding the steady rotting of life into a mockery of living. Those who I am blessed to be in the company of are feeling a trend shudder through them. I have countless conversations asking the question why, debating the social norms, and identifying everything wrong with the world we live in. And there are more of us. People who can’t stop thinking, who demand change.

Change for the better.
Change for love.
Change for the sake of not just the continuation of mankind, but its imperative betterment.

Two nights ago I was adamant that all that was needed was unifying communication between all of us, those known to me, and those waiting to be known. I wanted to believe that if we all found each other, we could throw ourselves like a brick and take out everything inherently wrong with this life in a hail of glass and anarchic will.

But we are standing in the way of our own goals. While I hear nightly the laments of the would be revolutionaries, there is a failure to see a path towards the ideal good. That path will remain hidden until we clear it for ourselves.

How can we hope to be saviors? We refuse to help ourselves and the one’s who we claim to love. I have been in need and been ignored or forgotten too many times. I have failed to give my full attention to a friend’s anguish because I was focused on my own petty problems, too many times. By now, I’ve stopped eating or sleeping within any bounds of healthy standards in favor of vitamin pills and 50 cent expresso shots because the only way to feel alive sometimes is knowing that it’s a state easily reversed. This is not living. The people I love are denying themselves and refusing to make choices, or giving in to constraints less powerful than them. It’s not.fucking.living.

Can we fix this life? This status quo of breathing vs. not breathing? No. Not yet. The ideas are there but the fundamentals are missing. First, we must see the value in ourselves. Clear the rubbish from our own paths and walk to meet each other. Next, we must be a community, not a group of individuals with similar qualms but syncopated voices. The only way to effect positive change is to be a force. A unified force. When we can help ourselves, we can help each other. From there, we find the others and the rest will be history written in the light of a brighter future.

This isn’t rhetorical. It’s a summons. It’s a question-are we ready? I’ll be waiting.

Because, frankly, I’m tired of falling asleep in stairwells.

Is that all you've got?

2006-09-19T01:23:00.000-05:00

Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman's epic collaborative debut, "Bat Out Of Hell," is my third favorite album of all time. The followup (released a mere 16 years later), "Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell" is a decent album with some absolutely killer songs. Since I started hearing rumors of a "Bat Out Of Hell III," I've been frantically searching for any information possible. And now we have the first single from, arguably, the most anticipated album of my lifetime.

And it's okay.

Not fantastic. "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" featuring Marion Raven is a power ballad in the fashion that only Meat Loaf can truly pull off. It's a solid song--definitely better than "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)," and not just because it's roughly half the length. And it's as overblown as anyone could ask for, with an epic hook and powerhouse vocals all around. But something is missing.

Oh wait....the balls.

"Bat Out Of Hell," at least for me, is a swaggering, strutting, rock and rolling monster of an album. And, for the first single from an album called "The Monster Is Loose," this is fairly nonmonstrous. Hopefully this is just the ballad, and the best is yet to come.

I have faith in you, Meat Loaf. Don't let me down.

Meat Loaf featuring Marion Raven - It's All Coming Back To Me Now (mp3)

An American Classic

2006-09-18T00:18:00.000-05:00

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?

Conversation with Matthew Strasser Concerning Helsinki

2006-09-17T18:03:00.000-05:00

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?

Goodie Bag 9/17

2006-09-17T16:05:00.000-05:00

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?

The decision is not to decide

2006-09-17T13:36:00.000-05:00

See Clarissa run. Run Clarissa run. Run away from everyone, everywhere, every decision the world can possibly hurl in your direction. As your footsteps drum your arrival to Nowhere, do you regret your flight? That you didn't stay? That you waited too long? It's amazing how fast one can run just by standing still. The world just swirls in decision until you're too dizzy to stand; maybe you'll wake up to the right morning. Maybe you were never supposed to wake up at all.

Why won't my eyes stay open? I've shut everything out in favor of fantasy, a composite of all I feel the world should be, just sitting on a curbside with a cup in my hands, hoping someone will toss me a shiny bit of opportunity, squandering it when they do. I should be buying survival, seizing the proper skills, taking the best where I find it. Instead I opt for my demise, the very essence of why I'm chained to this carousel. That's all life feels like sometimes: this ride of occasional ups and downs, of thinking I'm moving forward when all I'm really doing is watching the world change around me. And I'm not part of it. I don't know when it will stop or how to get off and I'm too scared to jump so I sit and wait, glad to feel something even though I'm just visiting places I've already been.

Somebody stop this thing. I can't take this eternity. My hand's on the handle, but I'm too scared to stop fast.

scalpel

2006-09-15T02:39:00.000-05:00

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.

Every Fourth Quarter, I like to Mike Jordan 'em

2006-09-14T15:48:00.000-05:00

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)

Some info...

2006-09-14T00:07:00.000-05:00

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What I've Been Spinning.. 9/13

2006-09-13T13:44:00.000-05:00

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.

The Storm of the Century.

2006-09-12T00:15:00.000-05:00

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): ?

two thousand two

2006-08-30T21:42:00.000-05:00

2002. The first year of our post 9/11 antipathy with anything that's important in this world... and I was stuck trying to find something new to listen to. Sixteen, you know that age. Too old to rock to Metallica but still too young to spend hours searching for some obscure motown record or debating the merits of Phil Spector's "Wall Of Sound". Well, for me at least.

I'd 'worn out the groove' (aka, scratched) my CD copy of Nevermind, and 90's radio rock just stopped being interesting to me. Ok, not that it was all that interesting to start with anyways. I wanted more - but what, I wasn't entirely sure. I'd rather ashamedly purchased a Ryan Adams record after an article I read in Rolling Stone, but I was struggling with the fact that I may actually like country music.

April. Enormous buzz in the print media as well as the internet about Wilco, a band who had been dropped by their label because their latest record was deemed 'not commercially viable'.

Yes, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

YHF reminds me of the summer going into my junior year. I'd grown a lot already, but there was still so much more to happen. I suppose that's similar to the state of the world at the time. There was this big tragedy (although sad, I didn't feel all that connected to it). We knew things were different - but we weren't sure how much more bullshit we were going to have to go through in the next couple years.

FADE INTO YOU

2006-08-30T21:14:00.000-05:00

As I was falling asleep last night, I made a pretty cool mix. Let me know what you think.

1. Little Eyes - Yo La Tengo (m4a)
2. Radio Cure - Wilco
3. Beside You - Van Morrison (mp3)
4. 'Round Midnight - Thelonious Monk
5. Old Friends/Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel
6. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
7. The Night You Can't Remember - The Magnetic Fields
8. I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab For Cutie
9. Moonshadow - Cat Stevens
10. The Girl From Ipanema - Joao Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, and Stan Getz
11. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Charles Mingus (mp3)
12. Please Forgive Me - David Gray

Andy's Video Corner

2006-08-30T13:56:00.000-05:00

Upcoming Jackass2, Kenny Rogers teaser.

Andy's Video Corner

2006-08-28T21:32:00.000-05:00

Brendan splooges profusely for Nelly.

Andy's Video Corner

2006-08-27T13:42:00.000-05:00

Brendan told me to post videos here, and describe them with one sentence. I sent him a video with a one word sentence, and he told me they have to be at least five.

Ok Go - Here It Goes Again

Sheer indescribable calisthetic good... ness.

"good" and "ness" are two seperate words in the Book of Dubbya.

Five things I like and you should too.

2006-08-27T02:08:00.000-05:00

It's late, I'm bored. Here's five things I'm groovin' on lately.

1. Donny Hathaway - Everything is Everything (1970)

An LP that caught me totally out of left field. I've been listening to a lot of Motown lately, sort of looking for something in the Marvin Gaye/Stevie Wonder vein and I think I found the combo I've been looking for with Donny Hathaway. An absolute perfect record from an immensely talented individual who's life was cut short by his suicide in 1979. This should be on more "best albums" lists.

2. Bolthouse Farms beverages.

Oh, mango lemonade, how I love thee. Strawberry banana smoothie, you're good too.

3. New York Doll

Bittersweet documentary about former New York Dolls bassist Arthur "Killer" Kane. The film chronicles his life after the Dolls, as well as touches on his conversion to Mormonism in the late 1980's. During the course of filming, Kane is offered the once in a lifetime chance to reform the band for a show in London. Kane must decide if he's able to put aside differences with his former bandmates and accomplish his goal of reforming the band he helped found thirty years prior.

4. Threadless

Best. T-Shirts. Ever.

5. (+44) - No It Isn't (Demo) (mp3)

First released song from the new band with former Blink-182 members Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker. The album When Your Heart Stops Beating drops November 14. This song makes me really excited for what's to come. Certainly a hell of a lot better than most of the Angels & Airwaves disc.

Anxiety More To Your Mother's Liking

2006-08-26T22:11:00.000-05:00

High school wasn’t for me. College isn’t for me. I’m better in theory than practice.

I’m beginning to look at life like a poorly written screen play and I’m simply not a main character. Some fuckjob art student wrote me into this as a supporting character. Incomplete. All aspects incomplete. I’m only fleshed out enough to want. And so I want in the singular sense. And, like an amateur, fate always seems to leave loose ends untied. I want education. End scene. I want value. End scene. I want you. End scene. And the puppeteer never improves. He just pulls the pen furiously across the paper while stars shimmer in his eyes and fame sparkles in his mind.

Or maybe it’s more like a poker game. Anyone who’s played with me knows I have a talent at going all in on shit hands and winning (with no shortage of celebratory bombast). In life I hold my breath, wait for the perfect hand, throw all my chips in and get bulldozed by fate’s royal flush. Fuck fate. Sunglasses are forbidden while playing, but fate hides in the shadows.

I make all the right decisions. Check all the angles. What’s wrong with wanting only one thing at a time? I’m focused. What did I do wrong? Don’t laugh, but I want to stop wanting. I’m setting a goal to abandon all goals. I’m attached to the idea of being as unattached as you. As them. Fuck college. I'm walking off the page and I'll never gamble again.

It was worth the wait

2006-08-26T01:48:00.000-05:00

Spinning an advance of Sean Lennon's Friendly Fire. Such a pleasant listen. Pick it up when it hits stores September 26th, or shoot over to his myspace to hear the single 'Dead Meat'. Fans of indie rock, Jon Brion produced stuff and even The Beatles will dig it.

I feel as if I've been kicked in the teeth.

2006-08-25T01:48:00.000-05:00

I've been getting a pretty steady influx of new tunes lately, and I feel compelled to share one of my newest finds with you all lately. I may be a little late in the game for this, but one I can't seem to stop listening to is Nashville, Tennessee's be your own PET.

The band, fronted by 19 year old Jemina Pearl (none of the other band members are older than 18) have risen from the Nashville local scene, attracting attention from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, who signed them to his Ecstatic Peace label. They've also played major festivals this year - Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, to name a few.

Their spazzy blasts of punk have drawn comparisons to the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, and while the comparisons can be heard in the similarities in Pearl's and Karen O's voices, the buck stops there. There's an immediacy to BYOP's music that the Yeah Yeah Yeah's havent quite harnessed.

be your own PET will hit Chicago on September 26 at the Logan Square Auditorium. Tickets are on sale at TicketWeb.

Here's 'Adventure', a cut off of their self titled album released in June.

be your own PET - Adventure (mp3)

this much closer to the end of my life (vol.1)

2006-08-24T22:20:00.001-05:00

I'm in college.

I did what people do in college. Met my roommates, went out, drank... beverages, and had an all around good time. I skipped my first day of class.

I've realized i've got four years of college (sans the Pauly Shore route, buuuuddy!!) and then I am a working adult. Jim Bittler pointed this out, and we are just this much closer to being 20.

The big 2-0.

Why does everyone make life such a big deal?

Fuck this. go out, do what you want. as Jack Black says, "...NURTURE the artist!!"

Society can't make us do shit.

Anarchy in the U.K.!!

Viking Quest!!!!!

I feel like a fuckin' hippy. I think college does that to you.

DO IIIIITT!!!!!!

Local Girl Has Moment Of Clarity

2006-07-23T21:33:00.000-05:00

I've been watching a lot of The Learning Channel (TLC) lately: mostly What Not To Wear and Ten Years Younger. I have found it that all that these shows do... is change people. People of all ages are told to hide their hips, boost their bustlines, and smooth out any wrinkles with Botox. To this, I say "What the fuck?"

I'll be honest: I complain as much as (if not more than.. way more than) the average person about my physical appearance. But lately, I've been observing how my body works, and also how it's growing. And you now what? I like my imperfections. I wear the smallest B-cup bra. I have to find jeans with some sort of stretching agent in order for them to fit comfortably over my thighs and hips. I wear size 11 (sometimes 11.5) shoes. I'm 5 feet 9 inches tall. If I were to walk into, say, a modeling or talent agency of some sort, I'd bet anyone hands down that I would be told to drop at least 20 pounds.

Now why the hell would I do that? As of Saturday, July 22, I weigh 140.5 pounds. This is a perfectly healthy weight for my height, and I am pleased with it. Yet somewhere along the line, it was decided that mine is not an acceptable body type. And when did so many natural qualities become imperfect? Features such as hips, breasts, and thighs are too big or small, as if there is a standard measurement to live up to. Any slight forehead wrinkle or laugh line is expected to be filled in with Botox, or whatever people are injecting themselves full of this week, and be administered a chemical peel stat.

This is the moment that I stand up and say "Shove it, media, because you're not going to push me down any longer." As of this very moment, I will (try my absolute hardest to) not hold myself to the ridiculous standards set by today's celebrities and the media that idolize them so. I will embrace my body, keep it healthy, and not give a damn who knows it. And I hope that more people will (try their absolute hardest to) do the same.

Happy One-Hundredth Post

2006-07-23T17:14:00.000-05:00

Hey!

To commemorate the one-hundredth post on obviate, we are announcing a relaunch of the site to come in the next coming weeks.. stay tuned.. Seriously this time!

A return to form? Maybe.

2006-07-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

De-Loused In The Comatorium is a wattershed record for this generation. Although not really that perfect, it's one I know I'll be name dropping in conversations about music I listened to in high school ten years from now. It's a sharp, kaleidosopic assembly of prog rock married with new millenium recording sensibilties. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Rick Rubin was essential to the band's early sound as the actual musicians were. Without him, I'd find it very hard to beleive that The Mars Volta would be viewed as anything more than ex At The Drive-In members who liked to play with their guitar pedals. With Rubin's guidance, came The Mars Volta's identity: The premiere musical experimentalists of this decade.

But then, two years later, the band attempted to eschew that by releasing a mindfuckingly boring concept album. Let's admit it. Frances the Mute sorta sucked. Besides L'Via L'Vazquez, and maybe, like the first five minutes of the last track, there wasn't much to write home about. Although the experiementation on the album may sound cool, the lack of a decently constructed track around it caused the album's quality to suffer big time.

So, I didn't have high hopes when I heard that a new record was coming out. I'm actually surprised in the turnaround time - Frances came out in March of last year, followed by a live album last fall - and here we are a little less than a year and a half later with a brand new studio record. A much, much, better studio record.

Produced by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the band's wunderkind (and almost solely responsible for the musical direction on the last album), Mars Volta's third LP a sharper, much colorful disc compared with their last one. Sure, nearly half the tracks on the album eclipse the ten minute point - but instead of your attention wondering elsewhere, you're completely engaged with the material. It's a rollercoaster. Predictabilty is out the window - where you think you can see where one idea is going, it immediately switches into something much more thrilling. Some songs are still a little half baked, like the leadoff single "Vermicide" and the opener "Vicareous Atonement", but this is certainly an improvement.

Without Rubin at the helm, I'm going to find it very hard to beleive that Volta will ever be able to make a record that will sustain my interest the entire way through - but with Amputecture, it comes pretty damn close.

The Mars Volta - Meccamputecture (13.08 mb, mp3)

I may as well be ODing.

2006-07-05T01:41:00.000-05:00

You see all of those TV shows, read in those "modern underground novels", and people are depressed. Depression has swept the nation in a wave of middle aged people and Xanax. I've realized that you don't need to take 3 vicodin and hang out with Mr. Daniels while you look at pictures of your ex wife to feel this way. Watching a movie like Love Actually, Notting Hill, or, shit! ANY Hugh Grant movie and then listening to Rufus Wainright sing "Hallejuah" can pretty much give you the same effect. Minus the stomach pump.

That's all i have to say tonight.

anxious anxious anxious and no drugs

2006-06-28T22:13:00.000-05:00

I can't breathe.
I can't fucking breathe.
I think I'm thinking too much because I can't stop thinking.
Is that too much?

I can't fucking breathe!

Where is my mind? FUCK you Pixies!

your expression is BEAUTIFUL but i just can't handle your voice right now.

Stop talking stop singing can't you see i can't breathe

ear muff silence spins inside my skull. you know what i'm talking about the kind you see in a war slash shoot'em up slash post-war drama slash all genres suck and you just want to sound BETTER SMARTER

...fucking pretentious
and you can't breathe

but the silence!!
your helmet just got shot
-an explosion went off next to your face
-you hit your poor little head
-someone slapped your ear?
i don't know anymore... but i can barely hear anything, dizzy Dizzy DIZZY muffled everthing

i. can't breathe

We'll be back after these messages

2006-06-15T01:57:00.000-05:00

Apologies for the lack of updates. New content is on the way. It's currently in the works.

That's all I've got for now...

Stay tuned.

A Conversation Amongst Friends While Dining

2006-05-20T01:15:00.000-05:00

We're back with the latest obviate media podcast, "Hummus and A Boy Named Jake". The first podcast recorded on the road.. as well as other locations...is hosted by Andy Wyslotsky, Nicole Staudenmaier and Brendan Hilliard. Click the link below to download!

This podcast contains questionable material. Listener discretion advised.

obviate media podcasts - Hummus And A Boy Named Jake #1 (48:47, mp3)

A work (for an independent study in anatomy) in progress

2006-05-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

It happens when I run. It happens when I take a test. And sometimes, a lot of times, it happens when I do nothing at all. It is the secretion of a pesky little chemical known as sweat. [Insert Research Here]
I used deodorants and anti-perspirants just as everyone, well mostly everyone, else does, but my problem far exceeded those of my peers. So I, with the aid of my friends, embarked on a mission to find out why- Why do my sweat glands seem to be (far) more active than those of other people around me?

Part I: Is it all in my head?

I cannot remember having a major sweating problem before the summer of 2004. And since I realized this problem at the [insert date of] Modest Mouse concert, I can’t recall an extended period of time during which I haven’t experienced said problem. After my friends and I poked fun at how sweaty we had become, images of pit-stains down to my nipples consumed my every thought. And I haven’t been 100% dry since.
This begs the question, is my problem mental? Throughout history, numerous experiments have been conducted concerning varying characteristics, abilities, and reactions of the human body that do indeed support the theory of mind over matter, or in my case, self-consciousness over not-sweating.
So do I have a psychological disease in which I convince myself I have a seating problem, and thus, sweat excessively? I don’t know. I cannot diagnose that, nor can I say for sure that I don’t, so I would definitely consider it a possibility.

Part II: Is it strictly a physiological disease?

More than likely, my perfuse sweating is due strictly to a physiological disease… That or a minute abnormality or chemical imbalance at least. [Insert research here]

My responses to sweat-inducing stimuli are consistent with, simply more potent than, those of average people. As external temperature rises, so does the amount of sweat I secrete… exponentially. As my level of nervousness or insecurity increases, so does the amount of sweat I secrete… exponentially. The more I exert myself physically, the more I – you get the idea.
[insert research]

[insert some BS third part concerning other possible factors such as tight shirts and length of armpit hair]

[insert conclusion]

Odds are I will never finish this paper.

Donutcast 2.0?

2006-05-17T08:54:00.001-05:00

Whoever is in town, Sunday, 1 am, honeyfluff donuts.

let's cast it up, bitches.

Visit AzraGaming.net!!

2006-05-16T23:08:00.000-05:00

Our webhost, Mark, has launched a gaming site called AzraGaming.net. He is about to be sponsored by several companies, including the possibility of Bungie (the makers of Halo!!!) pending on a criteria of minimum number of members. He graciously waved my webhosting fees upon the agreement that I'd bring some traffic to his site, so please check it out. And if you like it, stick around! It's only a click away!!!

Spektor shines on "Hope"

2006-05-16T03:48:00.000-05:00

According to the All Music Guide, Regina Spektor was born and raised in Moscow until the age of nine, where she then moved to New York. She practiced piano for years until eventually enrolling at the SUNY Purchase Music Conservatory. It was there where she took an interest in Billie Holiday as well as blues music. She took what she learned and developed a penchant for quirky pop and that can be heard on her albums 11:11 and Soviet Kitsch. Her third record, Begin To Hope, is due June 13.

After hearing the advance, simply put, I'm blown away. The melodies are beautiful, and the colorful production reflects Spektor's playful vocal stylings. I'm resisting to urge to post more than one track, but I sincerely believe that when 2006 is said and done, this will be on the list of the year's ten best records.

Regina Spektor - Samson (4.46 MB, mp3)

'I'm not a man!' - Donutcast Ought-Six

2006-05-13T02:11:00.000-05:00

A brain trust (of sorts) of obviate media staffers convened at Honey Fluff Donuts in Carpentersville, IL to do a group podcast, live, in the middle of the store. the group consisted of Andy Wyslotsky, Kelsey Pierson, Evan Thorne, Brendan Hilliard, and special guest Josh Halvorsen.

Enjoy. We sure as hell did.

obviate media podcasts - Donutcast #1 (33:51, mp3)

Could it be.. divine intervention?

2006-05-13T01:53:00.000-05:00

So, after some technical difficulties and a getting over some shyness, here is my first obviate podcast. hope you enjoy and please offer some feedback if you could! Co-hosted by Brendan.

obviate media podcasts -Divine Intervention With Kelsey R. Pierson #1 (24:04, mp3)

Comments

2006-05-10T08:06:00.000-05:00

Read the comment on the Gnarls Barkley "Crazy" video post. It will make you realize why i LOVE the internet.

The past is gone, but something might be found to take its place

2006-05-10T00:27:00.000-05:00

What is it about 90s rock that's so good? It's mostly bland, boring, derivative stuff, so why do I like it so much?

Take "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" by Nine Days. It's a complete rehash of 70s and 80s power pop--an organ-driven version of the Replacements or the Raspberries. Nothing original whatsoever. Yet why does it feel like I'm listening to the freshest, most effervescent pop song ever written? The same with "Only Wanna Be With You" by Hootie & the Blowfish. Matchbox Twenty made a career out of making bland, derivative pop songs sound new and exciting to ears like mine. Unless there's some epic 80s arena metal, I will always head for the 90s alternative rock once my dollar's in the jukebox.

Let's disect a 90s classic. For arguement's sake, let's go with "Hey Jealousy" by the Gin Blossoms, in my opinion the archetypical 90s rock song. The tune opens with a two-note bass riff, leading into a generic 3-chord progression with a vague alt-country tinge. The soft verse/loud chorus dynamic falls into place, with lyrics of heartbreak and loss and nostalgia for times gone by yadda yadda yadda. So far, pretty generic, right?

Nope.

Something about this song makes it infintely listenable, as with the entire CD (1992's "New Miserable Experience"). Robin Wilson's high, clear vocals are unmistakable, Bill Leen's walking bass line makes the song, and the dueling guitars of Jesse Valenzuela and original Blossoms guitarist Doug Hopkins add an edge to the song, though the song could never really be described as "edgy." And the beauty of 90s rock is, if done right, this formula can be applied to virtually any song and make it successful. It's all about fun and hooks.

Maybe that's it. Most radio rock today has plenty of hooks, but it's lost the sense of fun the glorified garage bands of the 90s had, whereas plenty of indie rock is lots of fun, but it's indie for a reason: the hooks are just too damn weird.

But I think my favorite part about 90s rock is the fact that it exists at all. In the 90s, people always talked about how there was definitely a "60s" sound, a "70s" sound and an "80s" sound, but that 90s music didn't really have a "sound" of its own.

In hindsight, that's not quite right.

Podcast #1 is up!

2006-05-09T23:53:00.000-05:00

obviate media is proud to present our first podcast, titled "Dusty Gems & Raw Nuggets", hosted by Brendan Hilliard and Jordan DeShon. It's in mp3 form, so all you have to do is download it and play it in your music player of your choice. Please comment!

obviate media podcasts - Dusty Gems & Raw Nuggets # 1 (32:02, mp3)

Podcast Launch this week!

2006-05-09T02:28:00.000-05:00

The site will be launching the first in a series of podcasts this week, available for download on your computer! So, look out for them... and get excited...cause we are.