metamorpho

...but what i really mean to say is, have you ever wanted to be a sound?

a specific sort of sound?

and if so, what sound? a specific noise in a song? a particular sort of cheepy-cheepy coming from a bird in a nearby tree?

would that it were so easy. alas, for there are no chrysalii for such things. ;.;

never take these things out my ears

Last.fm, i feel confident in saying, is the most brilliant thing EVER. this is no exaggeration. try it yourself and see.

however, it also serves to remind me that there are a TON of songs that are really quite lovely until the bloody vocalist has to go and open their mouth and ruin it. XD

also, i don't know HOW i ever missed the usage of "swing the heartache" in X's "Crucify My Love" before.

Last.FM is, like, whoa. o.o;;;

what definition of "rocks," exactly, are they meaning?

now spinning: "the show must go on." (the real) tuesday weld.

...in case anyone wondered what the talented and wonderful Yuka Honda was up to lately, she's apparently now in collaboration with Shinohara Tomoe (amongst others) in a band called Panikaraqs!

my worlds just keep colliding and imploding. i mean, i'm not complaining or anything, but. XD

info courtesy of the Shinorers ML. YAY SHINORERS.

wanted to be your superman, but i turned out such a jerk (long overdue rekkid reviews, vol.2!)

this may well be the shortest review i will ever write.

it will be so simply because any and all gushing i might wish to do about this album would be completely surpassed by your own were you to buy it and listen to it yourself, assuming you haven't done so already.

therefore? i will unabashedly say you should go buy Nick Cave + the Bad Seeds' Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus double album RIGHT NOW.

not later. now.

it is lovely to see that they've still got it in them, even without Blixa. and while the fifteen minute not-quite-Birthday-Party-but-should've-been "Babe, I'm On Fire" off of Nocturama was utterly BRILLIANT, and possibly the most brilliant singular moment they've ever had as a band, the rest of that album may give you pause when contemplating future Bad Seeds projects.

don't let it. it is only trying to trick you.

go get this album. if you're bothering to read this review with even the smallest glimmer of passing interest, i'm pretty certain you won't be sorry.

so tired as i go (long overdue rekkid reviews, vol.one!)

now spinning: "mama was an opium smoker." rasputina.

what can i really say about the new Handsome Boy Modeling School album? it's certainly no So...How's Your Girl?, that's for sure. which, of course, probably surprises no one (esp. since i'm writing this quite awhile after i'd meant to. par for the course for me, hee).

to be sure, White People does have some good things about it; none of which are the very unfunny skits featuring later-generation SNL castmembers doing the same unfunny sorts of things they did when they were on SNL. and to be honest, Julee Cruise + Pharrell Williams guesting on "Class System" is much more amusing in concept than actuality (though for me personally, i'd say the concept is so amusing it almost carries over into the actuality, but that's quite probably just me).

in short, however? part of what sold me on this album before i'd heard a tiny bit off it was how great So...How's Your Girl? had been. because truly, that album is nothing short of brilliant. White People, however, made me immediately go get myself the first album, because it reminded me i'd only ever borrowed it on extended loan from someone and never actually purchased it. and boy, did i positively ache for it after listening to White People, Alex Kapranos or no.

which is to say it isn't terrible, but it's really not worth more than $5 in the used bin, either. pity, as i would generally have faith in Prince Paul + Dan the Automator...

mosh

so, Eminem has a new video out.

this would not really be news, and would not normally really impact my life any (although i'd be lying if i said he hadn't had some fun videos constructed for his songs previously).

however, the new video, which is for a song called "Mosh," is absolutely brilliant---and more than that, song and video are exceedingly timely as regards the elections going on in the US in a week and all the issues they entail.

you can view the video here. it is brilliant and incendiary, and it will be very interesting indeed to see if it does indeed get airtime. i, for one, really hope it does. regardless of whether or not one thinks Eminem's motives are suspect, it's a brilliant piece all on its own, and should be seen by as many people as possible.

and we'll never see his like again

holy crap.

John Peel has died.

;.;

gauntlets, gauntlets!

now playing: "work out my number." bangers + mash.

my dare:

anyone at all doing mashups, remixes, or any other collagist sort of music-digesting/synthesizing/regurgitation, could we please try to do them without the aid of Beyonce in any form whatsoever?

it's not that i have a problem with Ms. Knowles; far from it, in fact. as far as current pop icons go, she's got a fantastic voice, some great production, and is also quite lovely. what more could one ask for in a pop superstar?

no, my issue instead is that really? because of all these things, she's a bit of a crutch. it seems like every other mashup/megamix/etc. features her solo work or her work with Destiny's Child in some way or another, and it's a bit tired.

so please, i implore you. if you're going to assemble such a work, please drop the Beyonce crutch.

thank you.

the holidays, they just fly by too fast

i can't believe i missed out on this yesterday, but according to an e-mail i got this morning, apparently yesterday was Frankie Knuckles Day in Chicago.

Frankie Knuckles Day Best Chicago holiday EVER. Today is officially Frankie Knuckles Day, in celebration of the Chicago DJ who popularized house music in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Jefferson Street between Van Buren and Monroe will be renamed Frankie Knuckles Way today, and after that Frankie will be honored at Grant Park's Spirit of Music Garden.

...uh, yeah. so. day late, dollar short, what? XD

i'm strung out, addicted to you...

so, as to the extended lack of presence here at HSL, there's this whole "busy" thing that's been happening. there are no apologies; It Just Is. plus, yanno, motivation. and/or lack thereof. yay for coffee achievements~! XD

there are, however, several things that have flitted through my mind that i'd very much like to ramble at length about, such as The Great Secret Link Between Charlotte Hatherley and Kawase Tomoko That Exists Only In My Mind. plus, various things dearest darlingest H has been talking about.

could also expound upon half-baked theories that my strawberry patch and sweet orange tomato plant are plotting to take over the world, with all the little lettuces in hot pursuit, but you've probably already heard about it in your local news.

could also point you in the direction of The HM Department of Vague Paranoia...wait, done. nevermind.

could also go in a completely different direction and talk about how Yamaoka Akira and Silent Hill have eaten my brain, and how that and my soon-to-be lovely and wunnerful 2004 Dahon Piccolo D3 have been about the only coherent words of conversation anyone's been able to get out of me for a few weeks now, but many of you have already been bored quite to death with that, so.

i think you know what's coming. watch this space.

i am music

Common is my hero of the moment, if for no other reason than the sheer beauty and perfection of this song. everyone should listen to it, and i really do mean everyone. this song is astonishingly beautiful and true...not just lyrically (although that's certainly the case), but in every possible way.

Mariam mentioned that he played at the Fest this year, and she and the Mommie went. unfortunately, right after his first song, the horizontal rain began. she's not sure whether or not the (outdoor) show got cancelled, as she and the Mommie went home. but she assures me that one-song performance was very good nonetheless.

it's the song of my cells...

plea for help...

via this thread at ILM, a plea for help from Sing-Sing:

please support them if you haven't already. this goes for me, too---all i've got is the "Panda Eyes" 7", which is really great---i finally got to listen to it after having it for ages upon rescuing a Technics SL-B5 turntable a couple of weeks ago which, of all things, works beautifully both at 33 and 45 RPM.

yes i'm a loser

some people i know might be interested to know that they can listen to and/or watch the appearance Franz Ferdinand made on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic about a week or so ago.

i'm just saying, is all.

fire out of control

new and (hopefully) upcoming: response to Harpy on MP3 love. which i'm not doing a fantabulous job describing, even, so i'd read it if i were you. and if i hadn't already. ^^

want to write a good, proper response...however, it shall take time.

jyuukuuji no NEWS

according to this article at Bounce.com (via the pure j-rock ML), Matsui Ryo of The Brilliant Green has been working on a new solo project called "Meister." while i do in fact enjoy The Brilliant Green (and his guitar work), what's even more interesting is that according to the article he's been in London working with Amanda (formerly of Bis), amongst other people.

will be most interested to hear the results...

unrelatedly, big ups to The Sumilicious One for providing info and links to those Franz Ferdinand videos. and, er, well, that lyrical discovery explains all the "sticky" references, doesn't it? XD

try not to spend it all in one place...

just received my $13.86 settlement check earlier today. it's in fact just more than slightly offset the cost of buying Puffy AmiYumi's Nice yesterday after work! yay! XD

also bought tickets to Franz Ferdinand on the 26th this morning, as well as more orchard grass from Oxbow for Diesel. ah, productivity~~!

begging for it, they really were...

check it. Subpop mocks Pitchforkmedia. hee.

also, picked up Franz Ferdinand's Darts of Pleasure EP last night. so far, quite enjoyable. also noted new Laika record which i hadn't been aware of previously. shall have to try harder. *chomps at bit frantically*

words + guitars

completely unrelated to one another (apart from info on both being thanks to ILM), the Sing-Sing site has been relaunched in order to coincide with the release of their new Madame Sing-Sing EP.

also, Sleater-Kinney has at long last put up their own site. it's full of the expected history and info, as well as some audio and video downloads. they're also taking questions from fans; they'll post their favourite 5 per week along with answers (as long as they're not logistic in nature).

what did you mean by it?

for anyone who, like me, had been interested in hearing The Kitchen (formed out of the ashes of Bis and Discount by Amanda and Ryan of those two bands respectively) but hasn't yet gone and tracked down the 7"s that they've released so far, check out ILoveTheKitchen.com. they've got a new song, "Notch," available for download.

enjoy.

the in sound from way out!

i'm telling you, this had better be the absolute ultimate turntable cartridge ever, for $5,000.

it's awfully pretty, i'll admit. one wonders, however, what $5,000 worth of pretty actually sounds like...? XD

'swhat i get for not keeping up...

afraid i'm a wee bit late with this info, but videos of the last Bis gig ever are now available in both PAL and NTSC versions. check the link for complete info. total including shipping (in US$) comes to $20 in the US, $24 in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, and $25 in Japan. will of course post more once i've got my copy. ^^

neither a hanging matter nor a capital crime

got my first rather unfortunate taste of The Darkness this past weekend, as there was some bash on MTV2 being shown to celebrate an MTV2UK anniversary of some sort. it was live footage, and oh, oh, oh was it painful.

in other news, apparently Grand Royal is now up for auction. NoRock mentions how there's likely Sean Lennon + Luscious Jackson masters involved, but i wonder if Bis' deal let them hold onto the ones for Social Dancing and Music For A Stranger World themselves? ooh, and Buffalo Daughter...

so, er, if anyone's got $10K burning a hole in their pockets, er...yeah. XD

[ETA 14/1/04: had i looked more closely, i'd have seen the PDF files with listings of the masters and the stock involved. hrrm, full of Buffalo Daughter and Butter 08 masterswise...]

vocab quiz

Eppy posts a rather interesting discussion about pop music criticism over at ClapClap. Most of the points made are some I've also thought for awhile---basically, the idea of music criticism of any sort existing without actual analysis of the music involved seems rather useless.

At the same time, I don't think that people who mainly stick to analysis of lyrical content are automatically making themselves into literary critics. (Although, of course, there are some that do---I just don't think it's really an all-or-nothing proposition.) Literary criticism of pop lyrics is really rarely good at all (I'll be a fence-sitter and say "rarely" simply because I believe it's possible that someone somewhere has written just such an analysis and said something brilliant. Just because I've not read it yet doesn't mean it can't exist.)---this is a point I've argued (in somewhat less-than-cohesive form, I'll admit) many times before.

It's difficult ground to cover, too---of course, it's undeniable that if a song has got lyrics, and if those lyrics are intelligible, one will take some sort of analysis of them (however cursory) to heart upon listening to them---provided they're in a language the listener understands. That's an issue, though, in this sort of criticism---if one isn't able to criticise the lyrics because one doesn't understand them, then is that person unable to criticise the music altogether?

Relatedly, the issue of the sort of elitism and alienation that come with any sort of intense specialisation (and the jargon inherent) are undeniable if one speaks only in terms of music theory as regards these songs. Putting aside for a moment the notion that many people so equipped to disect music in this fashion would sneer down their noses at using such tools to analyse something so base as pop music, the fact that the theory courses are usually electives rather than requisites automatically limits and possibly cripples the audience. It's incredibly frustrating to have no way to describe something and say something that feels (well, to yourself, if no one else) somewhat intelligent---so why would people who aren't feeling a particular degree of masochism willingly subject themselves to it?

The main reason, then, that people are content to criticise pop music based mostly upon lyrical content (as well as to read such criticism by others) is that, of course, it's a matter of comfort and familiarity. It's a matter of course that the culture of literary criticism is virtually beaten into a good deal of people who would like to consider themselves "educated." This irks me on a very basic level, because I'd like to think that my education hasn't been just about reading and regurgitating---or, worse yet, reading and responding in exactly the ways in which I've been coached, thereby tricking myself into thinking I'm doing something original when really, I'm following the path beaten through my skull directly from point A to point B. I don't think I'm overstating my case in saying that there are few ideas that make me angrier, actually, than the notion that I'm not thinking for myself---in any aspect.

Eppy's right---both a new vocabulary and a new way of criticising pop music need to be forged, and I do believe it's possible as well. I don't believe it's likely to happen without a lot of other people (and particularly those of the sort who write about pop music with anything approaching regularity) building it, of course. Eppy also makes the point that the easy-to-identify-with nature of current pop music and movie criticism is why both are fairly widely read. Cinematic criticism has incredibly varied levels to it, and pop music (in some form) has existed far longer than cinema. I'd really say this idea is highly overdue.

honey, i got rhythms i haven't used yet

got Spaz the reissue of Journeys by DJ's 70 Minutes of Madness : Coldcutas a gift.

...my only possible summation, after listening a few times, is the same as it was the first time through. the phrase most aptly descriptive of Coldcut is, "our record collection pisses all over yours." seriously. i doubt you'll get a word of sense out of me other than that; it's that good.

for more sensible reviews, try here and also here.

also, "A Message From Our Sponsor" is ace. creepily, presciently ace.

if only i could listen

via xrrf:

Lauren Laverne to take over Zoe Ball's slot on XFM in the new year.

i really do wish i could hear this, but just the thought that she's got her own regular show makes me quite happy indeed. i'm also greatly entertained by Ball's description of Laverne as "a ballsy, up-for-it northern lass." XDXD

also, apologies for the nonexistence---we've been indulging in loads of roughage lately and hope to soon show some evidence of regularity soon.

all i ever got from you was all i ever took from you

...

wow.

without a doubt, the dumbest lyric i've heard in ages goes as follows:

"fell so hard, i broke my jaw...i couldn't talk to you."

taken from Zwan's "Come With Me."

wow.

obviously, it hasn't rendered me speechless, but it really did throw me off. it tries to be awkwardly cute and/or meaningful in a really strange way (a la Sr. Sumner, f'rinstance), but wowitreallyisn't.

*is impressed*

in other news, had a Moment a moment ago.

all day yesterday, i'd had the Pixies cover of the Jesus & Mary Chain's "Head On" stuck in my head. didn't have it with me to listen to. so it was maddening, quite naturally.

a moment ago, heard the J*A*M*C version on one of the various internet radio stations to which i listen.

...ahhhh, i feel so much better.

someday when i have more energy and time, i shall have to go on a tirade (hah, planned tirade? XDXD) about my deep and undying love for the J*A*M*C.

(well, up through Honey's Dead, at least. after that, i just don't know. i've been told by people whose opinions i do actually value that i ought to give Stoned and Dethroned another chance. but i just don't know. i don't know that i can get around the Hope Sandoval factor. XDXD)

rock over london...

should've mentioned Friday, when i found out (courtesy Robnewsmedia), but Wesley Willis is dead at 40.

it was always an exciting prospect to run into him at Reckless Records; he always seemed far more alive than anyone else in the store. or perhaps just less pretentious. in any case, er...yeah. ^^

i keep experimenting and putting together really good things which i want to share recipes for---not sure what my grand total is, but it's come up quite a bit from last time, when i had (i think) 5 or so recipes i meant to post. i might have double that now, although i'm not certain.

expect a flurry coming hopefully sometime this week over at LtS. probably about equal parts vegetarian and non-vegetarian, so everyone can hopefully find something they'll like. ^^

changed the locks when you came back from hollywood

the DMC Back To Mine compilations are a really brilliant idea.

and look what's new...Underworld does one.

excellent. ^^

and another thing...

after having run around with these headphones for almost a month now, i feel confident in offering some sort of opinion.

for one, Sumy and others might be interested to know that unfortunately yes, one can hear what someone else is listening to while that someone else is wearing these. but only if they're listening to it rather loudly, and are surrounded by rather quiet conditions. on a crowded bus or walking down busy streets, probably not. but they are audible from outside.

inside, they sound quite nice---particularly for headphones of the semi-cheap, non-studio-monitor-can variety. they're quite comfortable to wear, too---and unlike earbuds, the foam pads aren't quite so easy to lose. nor is there that nasty earwax problem to contend with. they're also about twice as much as most earbuds i've seen (excepting the Fontopia Anniversary ones i got awhile ago for use with my ear monitor, but those are meant to be noise reducing, so they're a bit more spensive, unfortunately. ^^;;;), but i would say they're worth it so far. we'll have to see how long they last, however. ^^ the quality of the sound is quite good---much better than i'd have expected. so that's something, at least. one could spend $20 in far worse ways. ^^

take it back....

i take back the previous entry. partially, anyway.

$27.50?

...$27.50??!?!?!?

dude. OUCH. :P

(i mean, that's more than the cost of seeing Gollum Mark E. Smith & Friends. or attempting to see them, i should say. XD)

eep.

mocked!

i now consider myself mocked by the one known as Dirty Damon.

>E~~~

please, consider for a moment the following:

1) my absolute and complete love for Think Tank. which i haven't exactly gone on about here, but which i've gone on about at length elsewhere, and which several of you who read this already know about. may ramble on about it here at some point, but quite simply i think it's the best thing they've done in ages, and maybe the best full album they've ever put together. Blur have done some great things, yes, but they generally aren't terribly strong in the album department---with them, it's more a game of singles and excellent b-sides than anything.

2) this led me to dig out things i haven't listened to in ages. including Bustin' and Dronin', which is this weird 2-CD Japan-only set comprised of one disc of odd remixes of a handful of songs off of the self-titled album, and the second disc all live stuff from around that era. had picked it up years ago in a used CD store on a whim. hadn't really liked it much then, but hadn't disliked it either---just felt i wasn't really in the mood. put it away. didn't think much about it until recently, when i dug it up again. found i liked it MUCH more now. have listened to it quite a bit more, as a result. the live stuff is quite fun (unsurprisingly)---whee, "Popscene"! ^^ depending on my mood, i also like the remixes okay---some more than others. will have to peruse liner notes before prattling on further, as i can't get very specific about what version of what with who doing what i'm talking about (esp. as regards remixes) without them. ^^ hence, no prattling here, other than what i've already done. nyah. XD

3) of course, Think Tank leads to touring. Chicago date is 14th July, at the Congress Theatre. the Congress is a pretty good place---again, provided you're up front, it's perfectly fine. haven't been there in years, but i suspect it'd be fine. except it's a Monday.

>E~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dirty Damon, why do you mock me? WHY??!?! Mariam's got tickets already. hopefully she'll be able to tell me about it, at least. ;.;

(oh well, it's not like i've never seen them this time, at least. not like Sleater-Kinney, whom the fates have determined that i shall never, ever see. --;;;;;;;;;;;;;;)

reconsideration

listened to quite a bit of Don Davis' score from The Matrix: Reloaded this weekend. in doing so, i came to a new conclusion (as opposed to this one).

this score is vastly more satisfying and entertaining than the movie itself.

honestly? you'd probably do yourself more of a favour if you plunked your money down on the score rather than the movie ticket. if you play your cards right, they'll cost about the same anyway. buy the score and imagine yourself up a sequel and you'll probably be much happier. ^^

(although i still stand by my original pronouncement about the last 10 minutes of the movie AND will add that really, what i said would improve it EXPONENTIALLY. not fix everything, of course, but it'd help a lot.)

i'm sick of nearly getting tornadoed. can we stop now? please? :P

have been listening to loads of stuff lately which i'd kinda like to write about, and maybe might have time to later this week...

o.o;;;

Red, Hot + Rhapsody : Gershwin Groove?

Sarah Cracknell + Kid Loco's version of "The Man I Love" was just on satellite radio a bit ago. (BTW, MC seems to think "sounds of the season" is analogous to how "Channel X" used to be. erm.)

UM.

Angelo Badalamenti?!?!?

<3 <3 <3

this was my beautiful dream

regarding this post from a few days ago and the sale at Crow's Nest---if it weren't for the fact that i bought items from that sale, i'd swear it was a figment of my imagination. some really gorgeous dream that came about somewhere in the confines of my (normally) fevered skull. know why?

it disappeared the very next day. and no one seemed to know where it went. O.O;;;

i went in the day after i posted that, looking to see if i might see things i'd missed. also because i distinctly remembered a Soulwax CD somewhere in the mix and wanted to double-check to see what it was. and probably buy it, actually. XD plus, i wasn't kidding when i said it was too overwhelming to take in all at once, and so i wanted to take a look again to see if i might have a better memory of what i'd seen to relay back to anyone interested.

but all the CD singles had gone. the 7"s, 12"s, and 10"s were all there---but no longer were the 7"s 4 for $10. all were back to $2.98 apiece. which still isn't bad, but.

the REALLY irksome thing about this was that no one was very sure where they'd gone. i asked some dude who worked there, and he was v. friendly and tried to be helpful, but no one had told him where they'd gone, and he seemed just as surprised as i was. i didn't have any problem with him---i've been on his end of things enough times (you know, when management doesn't see fit to inform their underlings of What's Going On and so they look like doofii to customers asking What's Going On, completely through no fault of their own? :P) he tried to get information for me, and i appreciated that.

what really DID suck, however, was the rude fucker behind the counter. he clearly wasn't listening to anything i or his coworker had to say, and decided to do the patronising-wow-what-a-dumbass-customer spiel. for y'see, in place of the bin of import CD singles from the day before was a bin full of full-length import CDs, with a big sign over them designating them as "buy 2, get 1 free." not a bad deal, but not nearly as nice as the one from before. so Asswipe decides to explain in v. patronising tones what the sign says. despite what the other worker had actually asked. at which point i cut him off short and said, "i can read, thanks; those are all full-lengths. he was asking on my behalf about singles."

he said he thought they might have been taken back to the warehouse, although he didn't seem too sure about it. i got some more 7"s (and the sign for them being 4/$10 was still up over them, i'll add) and went up to the counter to pay. this other guy was ringing people up and started to ring my stuff up, and Asshole takes him aside and informs him that the sale is over with. so all $2.98/ea. i was tempted at that point to either a) point out that the sign was still up (and they NEVER put dates on their signs, i'll mention---so you never know what the starting and ending dates for sales are), or b) leave. just leave. but it seemed really stupid, and i didn't want to create a scene (esp. with the giant line behind me, and the fact that in such situations, the other innocent people behind the counter would bear the brunt of the Customer Abuse and Asshole would weasel out of it somehow---have played this game on the other side of the counter too many times to count). $2.98 still not bad, after all. so i paid and left.

all this to say, is v. sad the CD singles disappeared. there was much goodness. can only hope they'll drag them out again sometime and i'll notice.

and that Asshole doesn't accidentally meet up with Post Moderne in a dark alley. XD

*halos and whistles innocently*

the lunatics have taken over the asylum

OHO.

*cackles*

guess who just stumbled into an earcandy shop with LOADS of imports marked down to stupidly low prices?

*^___________________________________^*

Crow's Nest (the downtown location, at least) is apparently attempting to clear out a bunch of their import singles. they're not getting rid of the imports entirely, as there are still plenty around and they've still got their own section apart from the stuff that's on sale. so that's good. it'd be far more bittersweet if they were completely axing the entire section, you see. but since they're not, it's just plain sweet.

import 7"s are $2.98/ea. or 4/$10, as are the import CD singles in the designated section. one can also mix-and-match as one sees fit betwixt the two formats. 12"s and 10"s are $3.98/ea.

so, erm, i ended up getting a slightly later train, due mostly in part to madly pawing through all the goodies on display just for me. ^^

and surprisingly, i came out of it having only spent around $14. there's a few other things i'm interested in, and there was really far too much to take in all at once. but here's what i grabbed:

7"s (which i haven't listened to yet):

"Thank God for the Rain" c/w "You Never Will Be." Graham Coxon.

actually, i haven't picked up any of his solo stuff before. and i haven't really heard good things about it, i'll admit. but...but...but...it's Graham! and he was cheap. so i bought him. and besides, it's pretty fire-engine-red marbly vinyl! how can one go wrong? brown sleeve with a drawing of a bird in a bush on the front and a flaming acoustic guitar (with no strings! :O) on the back. Transcopic Records.

"Uneasy (edit)" c/w "Lie Low." Laika.

anyone who knows much about me at all should know how much i adore Laika. Margaret Fiedler is absolutely BRILLIANT---at least, her contributions to Moonshake and to Laika have been. actually haven't poked much into the God Is My Copilot stuff. should. hrr. XD anyrate, er---i didn't previously have "Lie Low," as it's only available here. and i don't have the editted version of "Uneasy," although i do of course have the album version. and god, the sleeve art is pretty. i could show you pictures, but they wouldn't do it justice. it's got this prismy green/blue holographic stuff as the background. v. nice. Too Pure.

"Panda Eyes" c/w "Office Party." Sing-Sing.

let me just state for the record that this is yet another in my ever-expanding collection of jellybean vinyl. it is candy apple red. and translucent. v. pretty. simple sleeve; white with the Sing-Sing logo on in black and a little red heart off to the left. Elefant Records.

CD singles (which i have listened to):

"Re:volution." Coldcut (and the guilty party).

also has an instrumental version at the end, and in between is the rather nifty "Space Journey," which apparently is an intermusic.com competition winner by Nautilis. had seen the video to this ages ago, and seen the single too---but not for $3. it is a pretty great song, and goddamn them and their prescience! XD the instrumental is appreciated, and i know why it's included and see many points to it (not the least of which is actually paying more attention to the instrumentation and cuts and such), but really---it loses all the fun of the Blair sampling. hee. unfortunately, of course, guiltyparty.cc is no longer theirs. d'oh. the credits given on the inside are amusing as well. anytime someone can be referred to as "the Right Dishonourable Sir," you know i'll be amused. oh, and "Minister of Bass." yes. XD

"Beached." Orbital and Angelo Badalamenti.

i saw this and my eyes popped out of my head. i swear. i had difficulty putting them back in, too---good thing the right eye's so wonky or else i might not have been able to tell them apart well enough to put them back in the right places. this has got the radio edit of "Beached" (which is nearly Perfect Pop Song Length at 3:34! XD) and the long version of same (nearly 8:00), as well as a just-Orbital composition called "Doctor Look Out." as for the combination of Orbital and Badalamenti: two great tastes that taste great together? actually---yes. i was a bit skeptical, i'll admit. although i was WAY too curious not to pick it up, especially at such a price. this brings up a problem i usually have, though---that of things that have "radio edits" done for them. in recent time, there are two things i've noticed commonly wrong with a lot of them. scenario one, the "edit" is in fact done very choppily and jarringly, thus distracting you from being able to enjoy the song at all---regardless of whether or not you've actually heard the full-length version. hearing the full-length version of course only exacerbates this problem. it's either this or scenario two, wherein the radio edit is merely the hookiest bits of the song (not to be confused with the Hookiest bits, of course)---repeated over and over and over again with all the subtlety of using a jackhammer to crack open an egg for poaching. and the main problem with this is, a hook very quickly ceases to be a hook when it's what the entire listening experience is composed of. if there's no differentiation between it and the rest of the song, there's a problem. it gets boring, and thusly Loses Its Point.

it's scenario two that's present with the radio edit of "Beached," unfortunately. it's not bad, and not nearly as annoying as it could be due mostly in part to its (relatively) short length. but the full-length version is actually really quite good. i really like it quite a bit, in fact. and "Doctor Look Out" is quite fun as well. definitely worth the $3, and maybe worth full price as well. i hadn't known it existed previous to tonight---that Badalementi boy certain does get around, doesn't he?

(reminds me. i never did pick up Booth and the Bad Angel after moving out of my sister's. hrrm. XD)

what else was there? a couple different versions of Pulp's "Bad Cover Version" on CD (not sure how many CD singles were released, but i saw two there), some Pet Shop Boys, some Erasure, some JJ72, some Libertines, a Hefner split with Murray the Hump (or was it Murphy...don't know this band...^^;;;), a Funky Monkey 7" featuring Her Out Of St. Etienne, Mazarin's "Suicide Will Make You Happy," some Oarsis from the last album, and i think "Get Ur 9lb Cock On." although i'm not sure. it's all a bit of a blur, honestly. i know i got the only Sing-Sing there, as well as the only Graham. there were a couple more copies of the Laika 7". and a couple more of the Coldcut and Orbitalamenti CDs as well. some BRMC singles. loads of this one JSBX single on both 7" and CD which i forget the name of. Garbage's "Androgyny" in every format listed above except 10". no interesting 10"s, BTW. as for 12"s, some Oarsis from the last album, and loads of both of New Order's "Someone Like You" 12"s (which i didn't grab, as i don't really care for the mixes involved---and was trying to retain some small bit of self-control XD).

there was probably other stuff as well. it took me nearly an hour to get out of there once i was in, and most of the time was indeed spent pawing happily through everything in the bins. there was even some of The Brit to make certain people happy. XD

if any of you who i know and adore are interested in any of this, let me know and perhaps we can work something out. (as though i need an excuse to go back in and look again. XD) i was too overwhelmed to remember much in the way of song titles, but if you've got something specific you'd like me to watch for, let me know. and if you're in the area and interested, i'd suggest you get your arse down there immediately.

...and furthermore...FURTHERMORE...

interesting article here about how some indie record labels are faring in the face of the alleged "record-industry slump" hand-wringing often cited by the RIAA and its supporters.

and you know, obvious holes in the RIAA's general argumentative stance aside, i think the main thing that frustrates me is wondering whether or not some people realise they've got a choice to listen to something that isn't being drilled into their skulls via the radio every five seconds? with the rather insidious proliferation of multimedia monopolies (although my typo of "monopolice" actually seems a bit better suited in some respects) force-feeding whatever they choose into every sense possible, is this the real problem?

i mean, if you're into the top-40 stuff, all well and good for you. the top-40 and the indie can coexist quite peacefully on the same block, and within the same record collection, even. however, it frustrates me to think that there are people who aren't aware that they've got the choice of listening to other things. my brain boggles to think there are people who believe exactly what they're told as regards all things, and who consequently don't research and question things further. such complacency is, quite simply, dangerous (and i'll just stop this rant right now and stick to my intended topic... XD).

it also seems wholly alien to me. i think everything ought to be questioned, to be poked, prodded, and examined as far as you'd care to take it; music obviously being no exception. and i realise many people aren't as obsessive about certain things as i am *coughcough*, but it does make me sad thinking (due to various conversations) some people might not even realise they've got a choice. that there's a world beyond their television screens and their radios. that if they dug a little deeper, they'd have a better idea of what the world is made of, in so many respects.

(how do you like that? i've gone from my overly-sanctimonious yoof (which i tried to squelch, but i couldn't help being snobby sometimes---had to distance myself from those Paula Abdul albums somehow, and the sneer seemed the best way...XD) to...what? some strange notion of sad consideration? just plain sadness? what? aieeee. XD)

if there's one thing stopping me now, it's my heart in my mouth

sometime towards the middle of last month, Bis made their last song available for download. it's called "Today of All Days," and not particularly surprisingly, it's quite good.

it seems to have a similar sort of carefully channelled frustration and restraint as much of Return to Central did, and which seems to be an earmark of later-era Bis recordings. danceable dejection at its finest, and really not a bad note at all to end Bis on. lyrically more cohesive than many things they've done, as well. i wouldn't say it's their best song ever, but it's far from their worst. wonder when it was written, though---it's entirely possible that it's just circumstance making me feel this way, but it really does feel like it was written specifically as a bittersweet farewell.

download it if you've got the time and are interested.

(this review written entirely without use of the word "electro." really, it can be done! XD)

she is her own self like everett true

i really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really wish that Careless Talk Costs Lives was available for purchase here.

perhaps somewhere it is. shall have to look around. 'tis another good thing i sorta miss about living in the city proper; was much easier to search around for such things at a moment's notice, without having to worry about am i going to miss my train or not? but, y'know, it happens. XD

in the meantime, there's fun bits up at their website. check out the "extras" section even if you do have access to the print version, as there's web-exclusive stuff there (essays/photos/etc.).

and Fiona Fletcher's giglog amuses me to no end.

(also, a friend of mine's band's linked in the "Links" section. XD XD XD)

stole all the change off me

an (admittedly rather silly) thought just occurred to me.

(yes, i'd turn back now if i were you, too. XD)

the three proper Electronic albums can be broken down as follows:

s/t: barney + johnny + neil + chris = Interesting! New! Side Project! and therefore, automatically meritorious (or so it seems). it's also the most lauded of the three, which i still can't quite grasp. even taking into account temporal distance from this release, i still can't quite understand why so many people (and no, most of them who i've talked to aren't rabid PSB fans, either) like this album so much---and especially above the others. skeptically embraced by the few already entranced with the bands who donated members to this project; mostly ignored by everyone else.

Raise The Pressure: barney + johnny + karl = repressed boy band album shot straight to no.1 in an alternate universe. no, seriously---listen to it, think about it, and tell me i'm wrong. and hey, that would mean b. would have to get a choreographer, right...? XD mostly ignored by everyone except die-hard fans.

Twisted Tenderness: barney + johnny + ex-members of Sub Sub + various others in non-high-profile projects = most straight-ahead pop, with some interesting flourishes here and there. also arguably the one with the most balanced sound; the synths and guitars play nicely together, with neither necessarily hogging the spotlight. a nice change. mostly. ignored. by. everyone.

alas, for they are not so different after all in the end result. :P

but i'm right about the boy band thing. i'd almost put money on it. listen to it again (if you've got it) and tell me i'm wrong. XD

we've got a file on you...

went Jae Young-spotting and Fi-spotting yesterday evening by watching last night's new ep. of V. Graham Norton on BBCA. and alas~~wasnae as Jazzlerlicious as i had hoped, although Fi did end up quite a spunky lass as promised. and the Naked Cowboy. O.O;;; UM.

also, i have a bit of a confession to make, from this weekend.

i'd never seen Pretty In Pink before.

while it doesn't seem like the sort of touchstone that many people talk about (ala the Cusack oeuvre) as a defining film as regards, well, any aspect of their lives---it nevertheless seems something most people i know have at least unconsciously done. perhaps the first rule about Molly Ringwald is that we don't talk about Molly Ringwald? i don't know. (although i don't see what the big deal over any aspect of her is anyway, but that's a completely different matter.)

i blame Sabina for the fact that it was on the terebi this weekend, too. unfortunately on WE, which i've since discovered (by watching said movie on it, actually) makes me want to stab my eyes out even moreso than watching Oxygen for any length of time does. (hey, they show eps of AbFab, or else i never would have bothered in the first place!) EEEK.

anyrate, the movie. i still haven't seen all of it. i started somewhere around the middle---and i'd known that "Shellshock" was used in it. i've got the 12" that states this fact all over it, actually---some pretty forgettable sleeve art as well, but i'm digressing. anyrate, i hadn't realised what else is in that movie, soundtrack-wise.

three New Order songs within a single half-hour of watching. interesting edit of instrumental bits of "Thieves Like Us," part of "Elegia," and of course part of "Shellshock." Spaz jokingly wondered if they were going to show up as the band playing at the prom scene towards the end. XD

no, of course not---for that particular scene is loaded with an incredibly long edit of OMD's "If You Leave." leading me to explain about the evilness derived from the catchiness and earworminess of said song, which i'd just discussed with Sabina earlier in the week.

i found myself wanting to rewatch the movie from the beginning just to hear what else was used in it, but i cheated a bit in that regard by watching the end credits---as much as i could, since of course WE squished them off to the side to run promos for something else over most of the screen.

and oh, look. "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want."

NOT FUNNY.

particularly in light of hearing about The Importance of Being Morrissey.

but at least it wasn't used during the prom sequence. (wonder where it is used, though?) i mean, i was never the sort of person who wanted to go to prom, or to school dances in general---did end up going to a couple, mostly because i was dragged kicking and screaming by friends of mine. but for some reason, such an occasion doesn't seem to go so well with the Smiths as soundtrack providers to me, and particularly not that song. (jaw nearly on the floor in that scene at the end of Never Been Kissed, in other words.)

ahem. er, i am pathetic, i know. XD

...oh, and completely unrelatedly, yesterday was Christopher Walken's birthday and no one seemed to care mentioned it. *cries*

can't take this away from me

last night was the only Chicago stopoff for the Beijing Punk Jet Set US 2003 Tour, featuring Hang On The Box and Brain Failure. and it was brilliant. ^_________^

i didn't find out about it until last Thursday, but timing worked out beautifully and so i was able to go. couldn't get anyone else to go with me (which is understandable, as it was so last-minute), but that's okay---i just feel lucky i got to go. who knows when/if they'll be back? and besides, if they do come back, i'll be in a much stronger position to frogmarch strongarm people into coming with me then. *fangs*

anyrate, show started a bit late, as i expected. (i don't go to the Fireside as often as i used to, but i would almost be willing to swear i've never seen a show start on time there. which isn't a critique, really; just an observation. XD) Hang On The Box was up first, and they brought their stuff in, plugged in, did soundcheck, and started playing.*

Li Yan Fan is a really good guitarist. she kept doing things i didn't expect at all, and they all sounded really good. her harmonising vocals with Wang Yue were really cool, for the most part (all hail good floor monitors! XD). Yilina & Shenjing provided a good, steady rhythm section, and Wang Yue had attitude to spare. as for how they sounded, it's difficult to describe. they sound a lot better in person than on record, although i think that's really down to production than anything else. i'd recommend seeing them if you can. ^^ go here if you'd like to hear MP3s and see videos (via RealPlayer), as well as learn more about them.

Brain Failure was on next, and i swear it took no more than 5 minutes or so for them to plug in, soundcheck, and start their set. i think the best way to describe them is rollicking. the thing that stood out most to me about them was Shi Xudong's basslines. great, really interesting basslines. he, Xiao Rong, and Wang Jian were bouncing all around the stage, jumping off the stage monitors (and in Wang Jian's case, falling down in the middle of a song---Xiao Rong helped him up, though). no small feat, considering what a small stage the Fireside has got. i always marvel at seeing such displays, cos i'd be so worried i'd jab someone with my headstock or something. XD anyrate, Xu Lin had some neat fills as well. they were shoutalong, pogotastic fun. and Xiao Rong had neat little leopard spots carved out of his hair. difficult to describe, but it was really, really cool. they did "Come On Down to Beijing" as either the last or second to last song in the set (can't remember now...^^;;;); you can hear the song and view the video here. you can also learn more about Brain Failure here.

after Brain Failure's set, i skipped out, hopped on the bus, and went home. would've been fun to stay for the other two bands (the Arrivals and the Dillinger Four), but i wouldn't have gotten home until a really obscene hour had i done that---was lucky the show started so early, even though it started later than it was supposed to. otherwise my silly real-life obligations (read: job) would've got in the way of all my fun. XD

i've got to say, though---Fireside crowds are generally some of my favourites. they pay attention to bands they haven't heard before, even if they're there to see someone else. they generally don't rudely talk through other bands' sets. they get into it if the music moves them, and they don't if it doesn't---not as much posturing and impetus to look as cool and nonplussed as possible (thusly, the necessity of gluing one's arms to one's sides or else crossed appraisingly over one's chest). there's other kinds of posturing, of course, but the general atmosphere seems much more relaxed.

it was a really great show. one of those to singlehandedly restore my faith in music. not that it was in danger, but every so often you need a little kick-start, and this was it. left half-deaf and not even caring. should've brought earplugs (as some smart people near me did), but eh. XD this show was exactly what i needed, and exactly when i needed it. and everything worked out perfectly; i even saw Mariam beforehand. yesterday was brilliant (well, excepting the general state of the world, obviously. *.*;;;). <3 <3 <3

[N.B.= both bands are hitting several other places in the US; if you're interested, check out the tour schedule to see when and where they're coming near you. f'rinstance, they'll be in NYC on the 20th, and it's only $5...^^]

* = this is one of the things i love about the Fireside and similar venues---bands tend to plug and play. no taking a zillion years and making the audience wait forever. yay for less bullshit; we could certainly take a lesson from them! --;;;

yesterday is gone and now i need an alibi

hours and hours and hours and hours spent walking the streets, to and from record shops (mostly one in particular) and venues.

headphones plugged in always, with brief stops when necessary to get precious lifeblood-renewing batteries for the small audiocassette player responsible for All That Is Good And Pure In Your Life.

magazines pawed through for far too long in the shops; many purchased with scraped-together change gotten by foregoing the week's lunchmilk. the Crown books was nice; had discounts on magazines. the City Newsstand had a better selection, but alas---no discount. neither carried everything you wanted, so off to elsewhere for those most forbidden amusements: MM, NME, Select, Vox, etc.

of course, the shops likely to carry such fine periodical literature were also the ones most likely to actually carry some of the things your eager eyes were going wider and wider to take in. a blessing and a curse, because if you spent the money on the magazines to find out about these things you'd never hear in a million years on local radio stations, how were you to afford to purchase these things and take them home to listen to? a quandary, to be sure.

good thing you were in charge of doing the week's worth of laundry at the laundromat down the street, then. good thing too that your mother let you have whatever change she had in her wallet. she couldn't give you an allowance (except on very rare occasion, and never regularly), and she wouldn't let you have an after-school job---but at least you had some change. and friends you'd made at your favourite record shop who didn't give you the evil eye when you'd purchase an album with $10-something in silver coinage (usually quarters, but sometimes smaller denominations).

the excitement of such purchases was, of course, incomparable. it took a lot to get them, and thusly, they were that much more appreciated. you weren't trying to be cool. you just wanted something different. had you been trying to be cool, you would have gone along with what was on the radio. you would have tried harder to fit in. you wouldn't have been wearing bunny ears and steel-toes. piffle.

you used to write all the time. mostly bad lyrics over choppy, churning, angry guitar chords, written in the throes of unparalleled angst only achieved in teenage frustration; railing at a world which you believed was only shutting you out. (you may have found out differently later, but.) some didn't have chords. a kind soul might've called them "bad poetry." or not.

eventually, frustration (as it tended to) gave way to DIY-ness. time to type away and cut-and-paste. time to run away to the photocopy shop and make endless copies (really only 50, but that's a lot to do at one time by yourself) of the end product. staple, staple--must have that nice staple in the center to hold it all together. oddly more personal and political than musical, but what you needed to say at the time. it'll make you cringe later, but that's what it's meant to do, right?

(and besides, it served its purpose---for all the time she wouldn't believe you when you told her, you finally convinced her that you Weren't Just Kidding about how awful and full of racist fuck-upped-ness your school was. didn't matter that it was a self-published, shoddily-produced fanzine, subject to no one's editorial whims or fact-checking except your own---it was Written, and therefore that was Authority Enough. :P)

getting up the slightly giddy courage to be cocky enough to send nice letters requesting interviews to local heroes. optimistically purchasing a very overpriced (but necessary) small tape recorder with which to tape interviews to transcribe later. shock and amazement when someone calls you in response to such a letter. elation mingled with fear and a handful of eeep as you prep a million times over for the questions you want to ask, and hope you don't sound like a complete and utter moron.

you write, and write, and write---and nothing comes out the way you'd like. you can't get things to work the way you want; you're instantly appalled by how the first issue came out and you wonder why you ever thought it was a good idea in the first place. you think you ought to go back to doing music, not trying to explain anime because it just isn't happening the way you'd like. you're supposed to review things for other peoples' zines, but those things fall through for various reasons. a pity, really---you liked those zines and they were a whole lot more readable than yours. but the fact remains.

maybe more music was in order? would perhaps have been easier to write about, although of course you always felt that someone somewhere had already done it better or perhaps was already doing it better than you, and so you let this stultify you into Not Even Bothering. second issue, much delayed---and never to be.

this angsty!semi-reminiscence brought to you by: a weekend filled with dreams involving The Indie, which is all your fault. quite amazing i remember them at all, given that i'm usually lucky if i remember that i had dreams, let alone what they were about.

(oh, and check out Indie Rock Pete Hits Indie Rock Bottom. hopefully will grow in entertainment value; seems strangely lacking somewhat. although there's a Kompressor poster on page 15, which amuses me nonetheless. XD)

also watched Crispin Glover play with rats this weekend. which was amusing enough. Shirley Walker scored it, which i don't think ehough people are mentioning---she had a lot to do with the EXCELLENT scoring of Batman: the Animated Series. so it was v. exciting to hear her work in a theatrical form once again. i <3 Ms. Walker. ^-^ i usually am not so keen on remakes, as there is rarely a point---but as i haven't seen the original, i am unqualified to comment. although of course i know about the little nods Morgan & Wong made to the original and its sequel, given that Everyone In Creation has seen fit to mention them in the reviews they've diligently cribbed from the one-sheet written up.

it is stunningly gorgeous outside and i'm unfortunately trapped in for another 2.5 hours. ;.; but after that, it's off to (hopefully) meet my sister and then hop from there over to the Hang on the Box show. ^______^

(and then, of course, go home and find out what went on in the speech i missed and wouldn't have watched anyway, as i just can't take watching him. can't. can't. can't. and will more likely than not be intensely upset, but this is to be expected, really, because i don't think it likely in the slightest that this is going to go any way other than what we're all expecting anyway. this entire experience is a grand metric fucktonne of stupid. --;;;)

...somewhere, we will meet...

WARNING: this entry contains randomness and disjointed rambling/ranting,etc., etc. i can only hope it approximates something resembling sense for anyone who's not me who's reading it. XD

firstly, let's play Clue!

Hang on the Box + Brain Failure.

at the Fireside (6pm Monday 17th March; tickets $8).

with a show. oh, and the Dillinger Four, but i'm really more about the other two.

^-^

also, Fi would be well amused if she'd seen the Interpol fashion spread in an NYTimes men's fashion supplement that i saw yesterday. can't find photos online (though i'm sure someone will put them up if they haven't already), and it isn't mine. but, er...O.O;;;

also, the Null Device brings up this article about how the Big 5 major record companies are considering merging once again to offset the brutal losses they've been suffering in recent time.

*snarls*

boo fucking hoo. once again, they seem to conveniently be skirting the fact that it's got little if anything to do with people file-sharing and buying video games and everything to do with product SUCKING. not only that, they've been systematically producing less boardroom!pop in the past few years, and therefore have had less to throw at the wall to see what sticks. ergo, less has stuck. i may not be the most mathematically talented lass in the world, but even i can figure that out. add to that the ridiculous retail prices asked for for new CDs these days, plus the current state of the economy---and gee, wonder why they aren't flying off store shelves anymore?

if more people would say what they mean, would face up to the realities of whatever it is they're dealing with, they'd make their own and everyone else's lives a whole lot easier. unless, of course, they went the other way and just became inter