Pretty much how I remember it, too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZfRaWAtBVg

Do Velvet Underground songs sound like (good) Godard movies to anyone else?

It certainly is

http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/post/394752911/garfield-minus-garfield-the-book

I think it's kind of a Bonnie and Clyde situation.

Well, yes, Beach House, I suppose a zebra is kind of like a black and white horse.

Hey! Have you heard? Shoegaze is back! It's true! So pull out the No Age, track down that copy of "Loveless" you lent to a friend, and figure out what happened to your Jesus and Mary Chain record after your mom threw it away (have you noticed that the Jesus and Mary Chain is easily misspelled as the Jesus and Marty Chain, which is another concept entirely?) This is real. This is happening.

Also, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart? I don't care what Pitchfork says, your name is kind of stupid.

It doesn't work for Cleveland

I was listening to Interpol's "Turn On The Bright Lights" today and I was struck by its similarities to Bright Eye's "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning." Both albums explore New York, and I believe both albums explore New York as America in microcosm.
Makes a lot of sense to me. New York, at least for me, has always been America in miniature. I mean, it has the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, for heaven's sake. If that doesn't sum up America then I don't know what does. New York is the quintessential American city in a way that no other city really approaches. Every other city is too regional: Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle... None of them come close to matching New York.
I wonder at the drive behind both bands, to explore and city and so, intentionally or otherwise, explore a country. Did they both think to themselves, a city, yeah, I can sum up a city, and then end up taking on the nation? I don't know.
It's an interesting comparison - the self-consciously Dylanesque leanings of Conor Oberst against the Joy Division sound of Interpol (was Interpol part of a secret government program to create Joy Division doubles, much like Saddam Hussein and his doubles, in case of emergency? The world may never know), both of them capturing and encountering a city, an era, and a nation.

Glenn Beck Proves Round Earth Liberal Plot

Beachfront property for sale in Arizona.
$500,000 or best offer.

He's absolutely right, you know

My roommate pointed out that everything becomes more interesting when you preface it with "in accordance with the prophecy." It becomes that much more interesting if you preface it with "in accordance with my court order."

I like cartoons, okay?

Is my favorite part of the "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" their use of maple syrup as an obvious stand-in for alcohol?

No.
(My favorite part is when Flapjack asks Bubbie where babies come from and Bubbie says, "Let's ask Bubbie another question, ok?" Kids these days are spoiled rotten.)
But I still think it's funny.

Quite Generous

Hey.

I just bit the inside of my cheek.

I think it might be bleeding.

If I die, you can have my comic books.

Joshua Folmar

Hey, Josh Folmar.

You remind me of the Mountain Goats, if the Mountain Goats were kidnapped by Johnny Cash's voice and preoccupations. (I'm not going to defend that statement. It makes sense in my own head. Trust me, it's a compliment).
I love the Mountain Goats.
Keep up the good work.

Now, Internet! Notice me! I command you to listen to "Devil's Highway" at the link I have so helpfully provided. If you feel the need to unplug your laptop, throw it in the car, and drive until you find a dusty road with a little peeling shack next to a swamp improbably chock full of cypress trees, well, by all means. Gotta get in the mood somehow.
http://www.myspace.com/joshuamorganfolmar
Then, perhaps, if you would like to step outside and look at the pure blue sky and, perhaps, think about the intersection of the infinite and the finite, well, I think that'd be okay, too.

I love Josh Folmar's music and I think Tuscaloosa is lucky to have him.

It's Detroit's parking lot

I'm boycotting the Olympics this year because I don't believe that Canada is real. It's just the parts of Michigan no one wants to see.

National Identity

Two foundational punk bands: The Clash and the Sex Pistols (yeah, yeah, I know we can make a thousand arguments about how The Clash weren't really punk and so on and so forth but cut me some slack, they were part of a moment or something like that). Right? Right. Both bands my mother would shake her head and tut at me for listening to. Possibly it would lead to some concern for my future. (The Clash? very possibly says my mother? Didn't they sing "Rock the Casbah?" Well, okay, yes, but that was about the Islamic Revolution in Iran and I think Jimmy Jazz cut someone's head off, so, you know, tut. I'm a rebel).
Well, okay. We've established that they both existed. Both, really, kind of on opposite ends of the punk spectrum, with the Sex Pistols being, well, a touch nihilistic and the Clash full of righteous, world changing rage (among other things).
Yes. So, listening to both "Never Mind the Bollocks" (and so on and so forth) and "London Calling" I was struck by both album's shared undercurrent of interest with national identity. Consider: "She was a girl from Birmingham, She just had an abortion." And, of course, "Anarchy in the U.K." with its self identified anarchist, claiming anarchy will come to the U.K. "God Save the Queen" salutes the singers ruffled feathers over the monarchy. Songs that (for Bodies) ground the music solidly in England and then pose a question: Who are we? Is this us? Are we fascists or are we anarchists? What's the truth and what's a lie? (And some songs are just concerned with, well, one's self). The songs seem very concerned with who we are and why we are so angry about that.
And the Clash, well, "London Calling," "Guns of Brixton," "Lost in the Supermarket"... Songs that concerned with who we are - "Lost in the Supermarket" lower middle class life and alienation. "London Calling" portrays London as a center for moral and spirtual corruption. "Guns of Brixton" questions middle class complacency (man, this song is like the Tea Partiers anthem... Good thing Tea Partiers don't listen to a bunch of pinko-commies!). Very, very concerned with who we are, where we came from, what are we doing, what is our effect and impact on the world, centering that debate in national with their constant reference to English cities, landmarks, and life.
So yeah. Very different albums, both very influential, both mightily concerned (well, okay. One of their concerns) with national identity. I thought it was interesting, anyway.

And then, in a slightly more serious vein...

"And I've seen my wife at the K-Mart. In strange ideas we live apart."

Living in strange ideas. Is there any better way to describe these United States?

Why I'm proud to be an American

My next door neighbor was having trouble falling asleep last night so, directed by my roommate, me, his girlfriend, and a strange drummer stood as close as we could to the shared wall and sang excerpts from "The Sound of Music."

America.

It is, actually, good machinery

Hey! You! Why aren't you reading Scary Go Round's lovechild, Bad Machinery? Why why why?
http://www.scarygoround.com/
You totally should. And I'm going to go to bed. And tomorrow, I think I'm going to talk about music.
Oh, right. Click on archives, click around until you find the Captain Beefheart story. It will tell you everything.

So, yes, the Neil Gaiman reading was an unequivocal success. Many thanks to the no doubt very tired author to putting up with being ambushed and forced, at threat-of-tears-point, to sign a book. Thank you, Neil Gaiman. Too bad you deftly eluded my handcuffs.

Neil Gaiman will speak to me in, oh, say, about two to two and a half hours. I'm so excited I'm about to have one of these.

Neil Gaiman

Hey. Neil Gaiman is coming to my town tomorrow. I'm painting myself blue to celebrate.

We'll be best friends after I handcuff myself to him.

Just watched my roommate climb up on his loft and blow dust off the ceiling fan.

America.

Callooh! Callay!

Hey! They've got a new album coming out! (And by new I mean their first, because apparently an oversized EP does not an album make) They claim it drops in April. We'll see. But their first single "Noskeemos" is up on Myspace (it's not really my space). You should listen and prove to your loved ones that you are, contrary to appearances, good deep down inside.
http://www.myspace.com/calloohcallaytunes

I've been given (*ahem*) advance listening privileges for this album. And you know what? I love it. It's a real leap from their previous effort, the aforementioned The Bird's Run EP, which can be found here, totally for free: http://freecalloohcallay.com/music.html
The Bird's Run was by no means a shoddy effort. There's some great stuff on there, and they really packed in the instrumentation. Listen to, oh, pretty much any track and you'll hear mandolin, guitar, drums, bass, glockenspiel, melodica...
It's a folk album. It feels very pastoral, which is fine (yes. I know my use of that word to define this EP is an offense against the actual definition of the word "pastoral."), evoking a quasi-Wordsworthian feel. You know, nature, hanging out in nature, losing the light, can't see what I used to. That sort of thing. Look up Ode: Intimation of Immortality if you need any further description. And all this is fine, and fun, and it's good. It's definitely good.

Did you listen to "Noskeemos?" Did it sound pastoral? Or did it sound like Radiohead got lost somewhere in the bayou and hooked up with an imagistic Modernist puzzled by the inability of humans to effectively communicate with each other? Really? I thought so, too! Man, it's awesome when we synch up like that.

Trust me, ladies and gentlemen, it just gets better from there. Dare I say... Southern Gothic? In Faulkner-Tennessee Williams- Flannery O'Connor kinda way? I dare!
Did I mention that they pulled out the electrics and decided to rock?
It's all in here. A dirty blues song, a post-rock intro, the most fun you've had with "Come Thou Fount" since church. Seriously. This is the real deal. Callooh! Callay! has figured out who they are. And it sounds great.
(Who are they, you ask? Why, I think they're three people dedicated to an immersive sonic experience and a deep seated interest in the complexities of the human condition. Also, if you go to a show you can dance to their music).
So yeah. The album is Sassprilluh Champagne. April. Be there.

A Quickie

Hey! Jarvis Cocker was in Harry Potter! And The Fantastic Mr. Fox! We should celebrate reverse independence day and make this man our king!

You know. Just a suggestion.

The xx

I haven't hit a band like this in a world. I fell for you, xx, and I fell hard.
I mean, just listen.

http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/2117-the-xx/1


Woah.
I'm seduced by them.

I strongly suggest a quick pop over to Grooveshark for a listen if one is not yet familiar with the xx.
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
Ok. Now open the shades and put your pants back on. I understand, you're confused. It's okay. It happens.
I have xx and I love it. Just love it. It's intimate. Two things really make it for me: The bassist's playing, and the female vocalist, Romy Madley Croft (she also plays guitar, I think).
The bassist, first. I don't know why, but this is the instrument that creates such a wonderful feeling of intimacy. It's small, closed in, without being claustrophobic. It's a whisper, the cue that we're going to be quiet now. (Oddly enough, for an album that feels so muted, quiet, subdued the louder you listen to the album, the more you appreciate it. Oh, and when I said it was subdued I also meant that it bristles with emotion. Yeah. It's both at the same time.)
Then. Croft's voice. Again. It's throaty, not the most beautiful in the world, but the kind that invites you to lean in a little closer for a listen. There's a great moment in "Heart Skipped a Beat" that says, really, everything I want to say about her voice. When she sings, "Heart skipped a beat, and when I caught it you were out of reach," her voice nearly cracks, like she's singing out of her range, like she's saying something that's so close to her heart she can't quite get it out - but tries, anyway. Love it.

Sufjan Stevens

So, yes. Much has been made of Sufjan Steven's attack on the album, the wondrous format that allowed "Illinois" to no longer, in my mind, be solely associated with a place to avoid at all costs (I have a severe allergy to cornfields and log cabins) and allowed "Chicago" to be a sing-a-long, not just, yes, another place to avoid at all costs (I have a severe allergy to stabbings and wind). If I may quote Sufjan from memory, "I hate the album, it sucks, I think I'm going to dedicate my life to interstate piracy." (I don't know, I guess he raises the Jolly Rodger from a van?)
Or something to that effect.
Honestly, though, I see his point.
I got an iPod for Christmas. A nifty new Nano. It's blowing my mind because the last iPod I had was a Shuffle back in the days where they kinda looked like a sad Popsicle. It has a screen! And a radio! And a robot voice! (And it's going to break as soon as the warranty is up, I just know it). So, yeah. I'm finally one of those kids with the headphones in their ears.
And now I understand why Sufjan said what he did.
Yeah, what I'm about to say isn't terribly original. But I just got it.
The iPod destroys the album. It really does. At least for me. It's way to easy to jump around. Now for the first time I understand why we're back in the era of the single. I had this problem with music on my computer and the iPod has only exacerbated it. So, yeah. I understand what 'ol Sufjan is saying. Why bother making an album? It's songs we're listening to, no matter what the format. What is the album? It's a fairly recent way to think about a collection of music.
I don't think the album is dead. But I see the reason for artists like Sufjan to question the utility of the format. I think artists definitely have the right to question the basic assumptions of their art. The artist is not held hostage by the audience. If we like what Sufjan's doing, great. If we don't, also great.