Monday, January 30, 2006

Like Roger Daltry Says

"Whoooooo are you! Whoo-oo oo-oo!"

I really wanna know.

Some garagy muffin or another singing a song called "Five past 12" which is really excellent. I know it's from around Ann Arbor/Detroit or a band that played here in the last couple months, and it's not the High Strung.

I'm not Lisa

Scratch Acid has announced a reunion. What does that mean? I dunno. Want some Killdozer?

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Feel the Zeigeist!

The Knife are one of my favorite new pop bands, and on their latest album while the last track is credited to them, it's actually a band called Zeigeist. The song is F as in Knife. And I like it, but just try listening to it and then listening to Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush.
Hopefully Ms. Bush's check is in the mail.

From the 7" file

Gondolier: High C Idiot Note b/w New #11 (Makoto, date unknown)

The a side takes its title from a David Foster Wallace line, and is some fine emo, if I do say so. Petulant, minor key, chugging along... It actually sounds a lot like Crush, Kill, Destroy, who was also on Makoto, though they don't seem to share any members. The b side has even more of the CKD feeling, as it sounds like the bastard child of Slint and Nada Surf.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

From the 7" file

Slide Off Saturn: Alien Convention + Strap on Love Sheep b/w Pauline and Redeemer (Prozak & Tonic Records, date unknown)

While the a side is kind of boring '90s Melvins-ish rock, the b side is a sprawling Sonic Youthy wash of feedback and dreamy lyrics. Clocking in at 18:36, it's a little pinched sounding on the 7", but still a fantastic find. Pick it up if you see it, since it'll probably be in a cheap vinyl bin.

How'd you get here?

The best part about SiteMeter is reading the referrals. Some searches that have led you here:

"Fred Thomas"+"Big Ten Burrito" [FIRST RESULT!!]

with+child+fuck gives you Jansen's comment. I'm on the second page, five down. What the fuck could someone have been looking for?

Dave+Mason+Torrents. Not here, I'm afraid. Who's Dave Mason?

And the ABSOLUTE BEST SEARCH: are white folks inbred albinos?

Yes, yes they are. Thank you for letting me solve that for you.

From the 7" file

I grabbed a bunch of random 7"s from the office, stuff we've had lying around forever, but since I'm the only one with a record player (what the fuck?), it falls to me to review it, so I'll be doing that off and on. These will probably be the only mentions on the entire internet of these albums...

Marlon Cherry: 970-Jack b/w Hope (Fang Records, 1996)

There are two notable things about 970-Jack and its b side: The first is how Marlon Cherry pretty well predicted the ongoing funk-rock hybrid that's still at least moderately popular today (311). The second thing is that even though it's a 33rpm 7", it sounds infintely better at 45 rpm, taking a fairly benign power funk ballad and turning it into an insane burner. Shame about the chipmunk vocals, but that's life.

Feisty!

To: The people who went to the Feist show at the Blind Pig on Tuesday
Re: The Feist show

Where the fuck are you people when any local band plays the Pig? You're all well-dressed, and obviously care about somewhat hip music.

Are you in Detroit? If so, I can understand that. I don't drive down there very often for shows, and I can't expect you to come out here. Especially when the weather is shitty.

But Jesus, the "shush" when she comes on? It's a fucking bar, you pansies. And gawd, what flouncers you are.
Her voice is good, I'll give you that. But the band is mediocre, the songs are boring, the lyrics are cliché (if they were just a little more emotionally cloying, I'd make a "foist" dig). The most interesting thing is the amount of DAT overdub to allow studio sounds into a minimal set.
But then she's hassling the audience! Fuck you, Feist, you have to earn the right to rag on us standing at the back. You can't just assume that because you've got a face that most male hipsters see when they come that you're at the level where you can berate your audience. Just because these sycophants enjoy it doesn't mean it's right.

It is like being in another world there, and all of the people in the audience seem like better looking versions of my friends. Or at least better looking versions of people at the Hard Lessons show. My straight friends would still probably fit in, even though they'd be the ugliest ones there.

(A jot in the notebook: Maybe I'll regret this someday, but it's more fun to write about people here than to listen to the music.)

And c'mon, Feist, "How are you doing, Ann Arbor?" Might as well "Cleveland, are you ready to rock?" And describing the opening musician as a "master of the low flow guitar solo"? DOes that mean he positively flushes with talent?

(Another jot: I think my girlfriend and I shouldn't get married because my last name is really long and her parents might give her shit if she doesn't take it. Man, that's a mental thought to have. God, it's hard to focus on the band.)

The last song proves that she really does do better with the big ensemble rhythm section behind her, though she veers into jam band territory. And she didn't even play my favorite song, the one that made me think she might be worth catching: Inside Out. (which is great, by the way).

Ah well.
Sincerely,
Josh

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Curious about Arabic Music?

I am. Well, to some extent. I'd like to find weird psych or noise or rock stuff, which I know must be happening somewhere, but for the pop stuff: "Mazikana lets me delve in without the erm... trouble of buying anything. Relaxed view of the copyright, they take, dontchaknow. Sure, the webmaster'll probably get their hands cut off sometime soon, but what's that in the way of me getting new music for free?

Anyone out there wanna delve in and lemme know what's the best?

Monday, January 09, 2006

Tonight... Classics in Internet Mentalism.

From the comments, down the page:

josh,
fuck you. thanks for the pathetic "i have no idea what i'm talking about write-up". you're right, we are just like great lakes myth society, except i'm going to fuck you in your mouth. you are impossible. also, my space is very very logical. you are a child in a puppet's body. correction (yes, this is for dramatic effect), you are a child.
fuck off (forever and ever),
jansen p. swy
the descent of the holy ghost church


From email (and someone else):

hello i just wanted to respond to "dose ann arbor need
any more garage bands,we have the avtars.well no we
dont because they all suck!the avatars are
shit.chris'box'taylor is the biggest asshole jerk i
have ever met.i my self an a guitarist and play heavy
metal and would notplay the clubs,because i rather get
signed
i woul hate to be 30 somthing and be in a local band
think in cool ha.as for you mr.stechmann you looke
like a compleat jerk and whom i would say have little
to go.
sincerly christin j.smith


My favorite part of this missive, this (if I may be Donovan) Epistle from Dippy? "Compleat." It feels like I'm being flamed by Shakespeare.

After a terse 'Good luck with that, Ace,' and vague notions that A&R men love people who don't play out, I get back:

ya send demo's i dont have a band im solo.the local
clubs suck and i rather sit at home and watch paint
dry .as 4 my spelling i type to fast but u i hope u
and the rest of the ann arbor local band get kicked in
the ass
i hope you all what s comung to you a kick in the
balls i spit on you and your crew fuck you and that
child molester box


How awesome is this? He thinks I have a CREW!

Sunday, January 08, 2006

No way is this real

Michael Jackson's "Give Thanks to Allah (via here).

By the way, on the subject of the "via", I'm what you'd call Fake Jewery. Everyone assumes I'm of the chosen people, but I'm not really. So if any of you legit yids out there can tell me what the name of the page is, or even translate some, it seems to be a pretty decent mp3 blog...

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

It's elsewhere too...

From a leak on the ILM forums: Britney Spears and DFA.

The demo's rough, with Brit doin' some "la la love you" stuff over the crunchy DFA beat #5. Still, even as an artifact, it's pretty interesting. Give it a listen (it'll be gone in a flash, I'd imagine).
The word from the record company? "Too hip" in a rueful voice. The word from DFA? Brit didn't bring a thing to the sessions, and they usually work by listening to music with the artists they're producing. Spears knew nothing of the bands they were into, and didn't offer anything herself, so it's unlikely that this will get an official release or that DFA will do more work with her.