The Monitor

Titus Andronicus' new album, the Monitor, a concept album loosely based on the Civil War is, ahem, the kind of undertaking that gets my English major, ahem, juices flowing. I mean, they have someone credited for playing Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman. It's the kind of, to paraphrase Pitchfork, dubious enterprise usually thought up by the Decemberists (only with more shape-shifting fawns). It's also incredibly, joyously fun, if it can be fun to celebrate how much it can suck to be from New Jersey. It's fun in that Hold Steady kind of way: fun, then sad, because you listened to the lyrics, then fun again.
It's a big chunk of an album. I'm really just getting into it. The ideas being thrown around are great. Gotta love the geeky intertextuality of it all. It's fun without it, but it's even more fun if you know your Civil War, your Lincoln quotes, your Walt Whitman, and if you know who Bruce Springsteen is. Standout moment of the first song? All the Civil War songs, shouted at the top of their lungs.
Also, bagpipes (Los Campesinos! and Titus Andronicus? It truly is a glorious new age).

Callooh! Callay! is the Hold Steady of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and quite probably, the South.

(Remember- Sasprilluh Champagne digitally released via iTunes, Rhapsody, and Lala April 5, physical copy on sale in Oz Music in Tuscaloosa on April 6.)

http://freecalloohcallay.com/

1 2 3 4

"1234" is the symbol of all that I should loathe: A hit after being placed in an iPod commercial it is the ultimate example of indie (whatever that is)=aesthetic=sales, or, SALES!!! Much as I love my iPod, and much as I loved 500 Days of Summer, it is definetiley pitched towards a certain demographic (what my roommate once referred to as the Being John Malkovich demographic, or, perhaps, in this day and age, the Where the Wild Things Are/Arcade Fire demographic (yes, I'm pointing out all you people who sang along to "Wake Up" in the movie theater, Josh Sawyer) ). As if "indie" was a lifestyle choice, to be bottled and sold (instead of a loose non-definition for more or less not top 40 music). And not sold by the artist either, but sold in an "Animal Collective advertising washing machines" kind of way (hey, those summertime clothes are going to get dirty). (Or, "Are you also frightened? JOIN THE MARINES).
But, darn it, I love that song. I feel so cheerful listening to it.
Is it normal to feel this dirty?

No one likes Limbaugh

When Rush Limbaugh said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was intelligently explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say—but what is equally true—is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If Republicans succeed—if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises out of office—Rush’s listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less, and hear fewer ads for Sleepnumber beds.
So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.
-David Frum

And Hertzberg's take on the whole thing
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/hendrikhertzberg/2010/03/waterlosers.html#ixzz0jDmev9bt

WHY

Billy Corgan + Jessica Simpson = Terrible

http://admin.mymojodemo.com/newsletter-mp3.php?hash=9fac0f994e07c30d187822e75fbe80f4

The Book of the New Sun?

I think I read this book...

...but it may have been this one...


I'm conflicted.

TV On The Radio's "Halfway Home" is just "Beat On The Brat" reworked, right? (man, I hope that's actually the name of that song)

I think Titus Andronicus sounds like Bright Eyes, if Bright Eyes pulled out all the stops. Also, if Bright Eyes made more Camus references.

Whoever you are, I sincerely hope you're fine, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart, but whatever happened to you today that sent a firetruck with blaring sirens to check on you was really nice timing, as I had just begun listening to LCD Soundsytem's "North American Scum."

Gene Wolfe!

If you are not wholly good and totally pure yourself, and you're not, an angel may be a very dangerous person for you to deal with, because he is.

It's absolutely criminal

that I haven't mentioned these guys yet. The Classic Flame:
http://www.myspace.com/theclassicflame

Unfortunately, they don't have a lot of stuff up on their myspace page. It's a shame, because I'm listening to their song "Broken Brain." It's great. The lyrics, the music... (the song that completely sums up Tuscaloosa...) Sounds kind of like the Antlers, but that's just a rough approximation of their sound. They're hanging around the same crowd. They're not the same people. Really, it's hard to exactly describe. It's completely deliberate. These guys know exactly what they're doing.

Seriously. Broken Brain is about, in part, Tuscaloosa. These guys get it. Sad happy beautiful ugly Tuscaloosa is just another chunk of the sad happy beautiful ugly stupid lovely South which is just another chunk of sad happy beautiful ugly stupid lovely America which is just another chunk of sad happy beautiful stupid ugly wonderful humanity. And, unless you are a self-aware machine (in which case I salute our new robot overlords), that should mean something.

Callooh! Callay!

Yeah, I'm talking about C!C! again. They have that album coming out:
http://freecalloohcallay.com/
...and...

They're working on new songs. Have you ever wondered, like me, what would happen if Sonic Youth and 16 Horsepower hooked up and formed a group bent on the utter domination of small pockets of the Southeast? Really? Weird.
Yeah. It sounds like that.

Well, SXSW is upon us once more. And I'm not there. I'm at work. I would much rather be seeing the xx.

They pay me and I'm ashamed

http://freecalloohcallay.com/

Like Godzilla coming to fight King Kong, this, too, is coming. To spank your mind into submission.

Should have read the terms of use

I guess I'm going to have to move. The Alabama State legislature is about to make human trafficking a crime.

(That's not objectionable content, right? Man, I can't afford to be on another watch list).

This picture has nothing to do with anything. I just couldn't get it to work as my Facebook profile pic.

Shame on you, Margret and H.A. Rey

Someone should really alert the Moral Majority about Curious George. Much like Mario, this makes drug use look AWESOME.

Squirrelhouse! Are they still, technically, a Tuscaloosa band? I don't know, but they're making some darn good music. Quibbles, quibbles my friends. Click, click, and listen to the beat.


http://www.myspace.com/iheartsquirrelhouse

The Decemberists - Yes, the Decemberists

In "The Hazards of Love," the forest that William, Margaret, the Rake, and that evil queen interact in is referenced as the taiga. That means that the story is more than likely centered in the place depicted in this photo - Siberia. (Yes, it could be Canada, too - both the setting and the picture). It makes a difference for me, for some reason. Feels wilder, untamed (sorry Russian stereotypes). Also if the queen is the queen of the forest and that forest is the taiga and her body is composed of the forest HOLY CRAP SHE IS POWERFUL.

Alice

I saw "Alice In Wonderland," the new Tim Burton one, last night. Being a Tim Burton movie, the visuals were excellent. The story was... interesting. Why, exactly, does Alice need to take up a sword and kill something? Why does a story which is a struggle involving three females have to end in a battle? Why does Alice have to settle for being your typical male fantasy world protagonist, instead of something much curioser? Why does she have to settle for being a man in a man's world?
Also, the White Queen seemed... troublesome. She yanks Alice in to do the dirty work (killing) and then reaps the benefits. You see, it's against the Queen's values to kill. So the next time something like this happens, she yanks in another champion, and another, and another... The moral consequences of war are farmed off to a warrior class. If Alice had to slay a person in order to save Wonderland instead of a dragon I think this issue would have become much more apparent.
I think, maybe, it has some real world relevance. Then again, maybe not.

Oh, Girls. Why can't I play any of your songs on the radio?

The other day I saw what was in all probability a member of some fraternity riding his bike in the middle of heavy traffic, waiting for a light to turn green, a 24 case of beer in the basket of his bicycle.


America.

Bella Fleck Chides Hippies!

That's really all I have to say about that.

(Oh yeah. I saw Bela Fleck tonight.)

(He didn't look anything like I imagined. I kept trying to figure out in what language his name is a pun.)

Pavement's "Spit On A Stranger" makes me a happy camper for a rainy night. How 'bout you?

I know this is old news, and I haven't watched Smallville for years (I didn't watch the episode I am referencing), but I am enough of a comics geek to "dig" the JSA in Smallville, especially weirder and more obscure characters like Dr. Fate and the Wesley Dodds Sandman (and, as Topless Robot pointed out, it was Ozymandias who did it, Clark).

Whatcha doin' on my roof, creeping cross the shingles

Like the Jesus and Mary Chain (and, if Rock Band memory (I sang) serves me right, Garbage), I'm happy when it rains. When it rains like this, it's time to pull out the country music.
WHAAATTT? Country? That's right, country. And I don't mean Brookes & Dunn (whoever they are). I mean...
16 Horsepower. That's right, Sinner Man. Country, if country can be influenced by Nick Cave and Joy Division. The kind of folk/blues/country/gospel that makes you wet your pants in fear of the Day of Judgment. The kind that would never have a lyric quite as asinine as (I paraphrase) "I like mustard on my hotdog, and mustard on my fries." (I think the singer may have liked America? Presumably one cannot find these condiments in other countries? I'm not sure, I lost the narrative thread when blood began spurting from my ears). It just feels right for this kind of weather.
(I suppose I should mention that Ryan Adams' "Heartbreaker" feels right too, but a different sort of right).
I love rediscovering music. I haven't listened to 16 Horsepower in a while and today, everything clicked. I love that feeling because it reminds me why I fell in love with the band in the first place. See them with fresh eyes, blah blah blah, yah yah yah. (Hey, did you know that Firefox is just fine with three blahs, no comma, but not three yahs, no comma. Discrimination.)

BEN GIBBARD YOU LUCKY BASTARD

http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/musicvideo/4113-she-him-in-the-sun-merge

(M. Ward, nice guitar strummin')

Wherein words pretty much fail me

Callooh! Callay! has thrown up some new songs on their myspace page. "Benjy" is one of those new songs.
I'm listening to it right now and I can't think of anything to say except:
It's really good.
The narrator throws together a barrage of sensory imagery, trying to make sense of his world, everything revolving around the mysterious "her." She, perhaps, breaks into the song, offering another perspective. There's something tragic and vibrant and brilliant happening, something that gives me chills every time I listen.

http://www.myspace.com/calloohcallaytunes

Sasprilluh Champagne is going to be out via the Internets on April 4, people. Just a little bit under a month away.

Glenn Beck Hates Teddy Roosevelt

HE HAS DECLARED WAR ON AMERICA!

Hey, Mr. D.J., won't you hear my last prayer, hey, ho, rock and roll, deliver me from nowhere

Currently stuck in radio hell, and by that I mean the best station to listen to during the daytime hours broadcasts from Birmingham and plays classic rock. And by best station I mean if you're really, really lucky, you might hear "Another Brick in the Wall," instead of "Carry On My Wayward Son" for the umpteenth time (if 106.9 the Eagle is correct, "Carry On My Wayward Son" was the "Bad Romance" of 1976).
Thank you, classic rock radio. You were the last nail in prog's coffin.
Hey. If you are playing "classic" rock, I would like to hear some David Bowie. I know, I know, he wears makeup and stuff, he's not manly enough to play on a ROCK station. Gotta spin some Queen a few more times.
Oh, and while I'm making requests? Would you play the Stooges? They're kind of sort of like AC/DC, only, relevant.

Hi, Internet, how's it going? How are your tubes? Mine? They remain well maintained, with a minimum of leakage, thanks.
Have you heard? Callooh! Callay! has put two new songs up on their myspace page, suspiciously close to the theatrical release of "Alice and Wonderland." I suspect, but can not prove, that the ghost of Walt Disney paid them off.
Anyway:
http://www.myspace.com/calloohcallaytunes

(Hmmm... Benjy...)

Violins, cryptic lyrics, lady singing... These songs really do have it all, unlike the designer knockoffs currently bandied about via the airwaves.

(Benjy... seems so familiar...)

Boys and Girls in America Have Such a Sad Time Together

So, yes, the rumors are true. In accordance with the prophecy I saw the incomparable Callooh! Callay! at the Mellow Mushroom! Muy bien, they debuted a new song. By the way, loyal readers (all three of you), One Big Owl, all the way from TN, was rather good as well. Internet! Follow them faithfully! They are going places! (Yes, one of those place is Tuscaloosa, AL, but Neil Gaiman was here, damn it),
And yes, the rumors, are true. The incomparable (yeah, I know, I already used that word) Josh Folmar was there. Props to Josh.

Was it the most pretentious lunchtime conversation ever?

Interesting thoughts about William Faulkner today, regarding him discussing writing in general, and his own writing. It makes sense that Faulkner would revisit the act of writing in his writing. First off, he's a writer, and what do writers do? They write. So what ends up being rather imporant (I suspect) to authors? Yeah, probably writing.
Second, as a man (so I've been told) who was sometimes plagued by the problem of justifying his choice of lifestyle (that is, to write, instead of get a real job, he worried about whether he was Doing Something Worthwhile With His Life. At my lunchtime discussion of Faulkner a passage from Absalom, Absalom was pointed out. The act of writing becomes something permanent, something that will last, something that means something, even if it only means something because it happened, because it existed, for one moment, the product of a human being. Writing is powerful, a primal power, and I wouldn't be surprised if Faulkner wanted to stake out a bit of that power for himself.
Third, Faulkner was a modernist. And, like it or not, we're affected by the ideas of our time. For a lot of the modernists, art was the supreme calling and the artist a sort of priesthood. So Faulkner, creating art, and writing about writing, was in one sense creating sacred scriptures. Those ideas the artist felt important should be poured into art. Art is the manual by which we steer our lives.
I could be completely wrong, of course.
Anyway, compare my ideas with Faulkner's Nobel acceptance speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxM0C7zjoAc

This is real. This is happening.

I was lucky enough yesterday to get the chance to hear some of the stuff Josh Folmar is working on. If you're wondering why I'm excited about that, may I remind you once more to look here:

http://www.myspace.com/joshuamorganfolmar

That's some good stuff, isn't it? I think my favorite may be "Devil's Highway," but they're all pretty darn good.
Well, I lucked out and got to hear what was mostly a brainstorming session for Josh's forthcoming LP, which I believe is tentatively titled "Joy In The Mourning." Adam Morrow from Callooh! Callay! is going to involved... and I think possibly some other C!C! members may end up involved.
And people, it is going to be good.
I like Josh Folmar's style. I love how he can tell a little story with every song, and I love his voice. It's low and husky and sincere. I sincerely hope he hasn't had half the experiences he sings about, but I truly believe he knows how it feels. Whatever it is. Nothing's faked. It's all real; that is, nothing's real but the song.
If you're in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (where else) then you need to take note. I mean, you don't want to jump on this bandwagon like you did with the Arcade Fire, do you?