Stop Loving Everything

2010: Faves and Duds

2011-01-10T11:52:00.001-05:00

The swirling drain owned 2010: Chilton, RS Howard. None is the number. And yet, Swans & Three Mile Pilot came back from the beyond, so, hey.(not proofread. Like you care.)Singles:"Troublesome Houses" - Bonnie Prince Billy and the Cairo Gang (off Wonder Show of the World)Oldham will never top this. So have sympathy for this album's other songs; while nice, none approach the melodic fountainhead of

semi-never roundup of newish album releases

2010-10-18T10:11:00.010-04:00

But first, a word from Otto, our literary editor, on Franzen's Freedom: As usual, NY Times critic Michiko Kakutani's intern was reading a different book than I read. A surprisingly trashy (in comparison with The Corrections) 800+ pages of gossip following mostly unlikeable people as they fail or succeed despite their personality flaws, Freedom's only defense could be as a comedy, in the vein of

New Release Roundup: Alex Chilton Took a Piece of Me Upstairs

2010-03-19T10:33:00.002-04:00

New Orleans, you stole something from me, and I want it back.Here We Go Magic - PigeonsNot a turn for the better, but: moments. Less collage&mood and more Eno-ish pop than their still-unassailable debut. But - did Luke Temple injure his voice? On some tracks, he misses.Aloha - Home Acres What can I say? I just flat-the-fuck-out dig the emo Genesis (Gabriel-era, thanks). Darker, this one, but no

Beyond their Greatest Hits Comp, There is no Reason for the Existence of the Following::

2010-03-14T18:28:00.007-04:00

1) The Smithereens2) The Foo Fighters3) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers4) The Cars5) The Rolling Stones (not one album a masterpiece all the way through, not even Exile)6) Belle & Sebastien (do they have a hits comp out?)7) Any of the solo Beatles8) The Four Tops9) The Pretenders10) Orange Juice11) Ultravox12) The Bee Gees13) The Jam (tho it pains me; but yeah.)14) Madonna (pick one) 15) David

I'd Rather Be Bob Stinson in His Coffin than Lou Reed in his Limo: Top Albums & Tracks of 2009

2009-12-04T10:55:00.009-05:00

Goodbye to the Sextape Decade.Albums, no order:The Clean - Mister PopThe greatest band formed before 1980 and still making music.Wilderness - (K)no(w)hereReally an EP, but I'll take anything. Pre-attack music for pirates.Future of the Left - Travels with Myself and AnotherMcClusky can be made a dim memory if FotL's records continue to be this angry and catchy.Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou -

Mini Music Reviews: New Release Roundup Vol 1

2009-09-23T16:31:00.002-04:00

Don't call it a comeback. More coming, too.Reviews for the time-challenged:Big Star - Keep an Eye on the SkyThis kicks any record off any desert island list I've made in the past. There's so much on this collection that I hadn't heard, all of it good -and I call myself a fan -- that my skull cracked open from such pop delicacy. These guys threw away demos and songs most bands would suffer

new release roundup: Oh, the Underwhelm-ment

2009-03-23T09:07:00.002-04:00

Peter, Bjorn, & John - Living ThingD.O.A.Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light YearsWelsh supervillians glass-blow ELO-meets-Elephant6-collective magic pop. They release oodles of albums, so I just picked this one. The others might be as good, or just marginally different depending on your mood. Best moment: "The Very Best of Neil Diamond," with its Bollywood-meets-Love nuttiness, tops most of

the Mummies - Uncontrollable urge (live 1991)

2009-03-22T09:24:00.002-04:00

#3 in Bands I miss Most from the 90s: The Mummies. "This next one goes out to fuckin' me" Maybe the best cover song of the 90s. Good freakin' God I miss the Mummies. They get my vote for the greatest song title ever: "Sooprize Package for Mr. Mineo!"

skywave -don't say slow

2009-03-17T15:35:00.001-04:00

#4 in the "Bands I Miss Most from the 90s"While all you neu-shoegazers were still wearing Garanimals, I was scooping up Skywave seven inches without reading the price tag. Ackerman went on to help form A Place to Bury Strangers, which is alright, I guess, but Skywave had the songs. "Don't Say Slow" is not at all Skywave's only high point. Good luck finding their output - all of it was

Gang Starr - Mass Appeal

2009-02-05T10:04:00.001-05:00

#5 in the "Bands/Artists I Miss Most from the 90s"Gang Starr might have dropped their debut in '89 and a decent - actually excellent -- album in 2003 ("Ownerz"), but they're of and by the 90s. Most of their product still makes the likes of fitty, snoop, etc, sound like punks.I represent /set up shit like a tent, boy / you're paranoid/ because you're my son like Elroy"

We interrupt this list for a translated album review

2009-01-27T13:32:00.002-05:00

Pitchfork's review of the new Franz Ferd album (7.3):More so than stoking the band's current commercial prospects, Tonight is an exciting record for what it could potentially spell for Franz Ferdinand's future-- from here, you could just as easily imagine the band further exploring electro-house productions, or stripping their sound down and making a folk record, or delving into tropical

Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet

2009-01-19T08:25:00.001-05:00

#6 in my "Bands/Artists from the 90s Whom I Miss Most"Known widely for their theme ("Having an Average Weekend") and incidental music for the Kids in the Hall show, SMOASP made three of the best - maybe the best ever -- albums of surf-rock. And I'm counting the Ventures, Dick Dale, and the Mermen in that statement. I think one member's death undid any chances of a reunion following their

MY CURSE the afghan whigs

2009-01-12T09:55:00.001-05:00

#7 in my "Bands/Artists from the 90s Whom I Miss Most"Did the Whigs make it out of the 90s? If they did, I decree it false. "Up In It" ought to be played in full at the next ATP.Marcy Mays (Scrawl! I miss thee also!) breaks my heart anew with this one each time I hear it; I can almost feel my broken bed against my back in my cheap-ass DC basement apartment again. At least nowadays I don't have to

TAD - Wood Goblins

2009-01-08T09:33:00.001-05:00

#8 in my "Bands/Artists from the 90s Whom I Miss Most" listFor those of us who saw them live, nothing needs to be explained. Not for kids.

seefeel 'industrius' live britronica moscow 1994

2009-01-05T20:17:00.001-05:00

#9 in my "Bands/Artists from the 90s Whom I Miss Most" list.I recall tenuous connections to MBV and Aphex Twin for these guys, could be wrong.

Engine Kid - Treasure Chest (Live '95)

2009-01-05T20:12:00.001-05:00

#10 in my "Bands/Artists from the 90s Whom I Miss Most" list. I think one of these guys is in SunO))) now"Bear Catching Fish" was a stunner of an album, but Slint got all the press

I Didn't Think It Would Make Me Sad

2009-01-02T18:47:00.003-05:00

until I saw this.Someday, I'll recall all the shows I've seen there.

Why Make a List When I Can Slag Yours?

2008-12-19T09:38:00.003-05:00

In the interest of all thing negative and reductive, here's a response to the top ten albums of 2008 as chosen by Penusfork.10.DJ/RuptureUprootI did like the "Brooklyn Anthem," despite the carpetbagging. But while most tracks are accomplished dancehall-dubstep-electro hybrids, I still can't get the memory of bad drum n' bass/jungle out of my head when I hear dubstep. This also makes me think of

Screaming Blue Messiahs - Happy Home

2008-12-15T00:24:00.001-05:00

#9 in the "You Had Them All Wrong" 80s bands' list. SBMs were best known for the non-hit wonder, "Wild Blue Yonder," but their full-length stateside debut is stellar all the way through. I never got to see them live, nor did I care for anything they did after this, but I did see them pop up in a David Wojahn poem in the nineties. Which was nice.

Peter Gabriel-Lay Your Hands On Me/Shock the Monkey

2008-12-15T00:09:00.001-05:00

In an 80s documentary on the Fairlight, he said: "I'm certain the third world is going to have an increasing influence on our culture; and in music, a very vigorous hybrid will be produced, which is based on this non-european influence, and new technology, which is going to get cheap, and this facility will open up a new age of electronic skiffle."Say what you will about the guy, but he was right

Crowded House - I Feel Possessed

2008-12-14T20:56:00.001-05:00

#7 in the "you had them all wrong" 80s bands list. Sure, CH wrote perfect but airless pop on their debut. Yet a few songs hinted darker streams flowed through Neil Finn, and he let loose with the darkness on their subsequent and best album, "Temple of Low Men." Not your average pop by a long stretch, most tracks didn't make it to MTV airplay.

Dead can Dance - A passage in time (1984)

2008-12-10T00:22:00.001-05:00

#6 in the "You Had them All Wrong" 80s list. Forgive me - their debut sounded as if Elizabeth Fraser had joined the Comsat Angels. All went downhill afterward.

Ministry - Revenge

2008-12-09T09:20:00.001-05:00

#5 In the "You Had Them All Wrong" 80s bands list: Not because I like it, because I don't -- I never liked Ministry -- but because it's hilarious to think Al Jourgenson (sic?) so successfully fooled so many into buying his tough-guy image and sound for later Ministry albums. Knowing this video first, for a long time I refused to believe they were the same band.

Prefab Sprout - Goodbye Lucille #1 (Johnny Johnny)

2008-12-09T09:08:00.001-05:00

#4 In the "You Had Them all Wrong" list of 80s bandsMany bands tried to rewrite Beatles' songs; most went back to pumping gas. PS rewrites "Hey Jude," and theirs is the better song; a gorgeous, romantic breakup song both piquant and shimmering ("you're still in love/with Hayley Mills")

INXS - Don't Change: Video

2008-12-09T08:58:00.001-05:00

#3 In the "You Had Them all Wrong" list of 80s bands*with caveat: Stunning to hear this great pop song, now, in comparison to the loads of dogcrap they spewed over ensuing years.

Wall of Voodoo - TOMORROW (Live TUBE) - Stan Ridgway

2008-12-08T00:41:00.001-05:00

#2 in the "You Had Them All Wrong" list of 80s bands

Talk Talk - I believe in you

2008-12-07T23:48:00.001-05:00

#1 in my "You Had Them All Wrong" list of 80s bands

The Patron Saint of Failed Writers

2008-12-04T14:08:00.002-05:00

Dig it: Imagine this at the Barnes & Noble table of worthless gift books, with my name on it (or the name of the connected asshole who already got an advance for it). Or imagine it arriving unbidden in your email from your Aunt, who sends you all sorts of stuff that was probably culled from greeting cards or Dan Barry columns: Things They Don’t Tell You About

We Bake Fresh Rhymes Daily

2008-06-20T12:54:00.003-04:00

I just listened to Girl Talk's new Feed the Animals.Missy Elliot over Ziggy Stardust, etc. Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" as a bed doesn't need a re-use after Hoovertronics curbed that with David Banner six or so years ago. Not too inspired, but nifty just the same. GT is all about the hits and generational signifiers (Verve, Eminem), anyway. Seek your deep crate-digging elsewhere.This time, GT/GG

The Light Was Green, But So Was I

2008-06-16T11:58:00.008-04:00

Unprepared for how heartbreaking The Replacements, All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History would be, I read it while rocking my second child this past weekend, reflux-sufferer that she is (but otherwise healthy as an ox in all other respects), and now I will forever associate her infant-hood with tales of Bob Stinson walking barefoot in the snow, etc.I'm not a fan of the oral-history-schtick

GOD - My pal (1988)

2008-06-16T10:40:00.003-04:00

Watch closely - the lead signer/guitarist sports braces. They were teenagers. I think two are dead now. My life has changed so much that I'd forgotten how much I once prized my vinyl copies of this band. Today it struck me how this song proves Cobain was a pirate of the first order. Even the lyrics ...

Dream Covers #345267

2008-05-24T09:42:00.004-04:00

And I don't sleep enough to dream these days, but:Will Oldham & Neko Case will cover "Islands In the Stream" (or did they already?)Britney Spears will cover the Frogs' "Which One of You gave My Daughter the Drugs?"

Alternative Distribution Insound

2008-05-06T14:31:00.003-04:00

Not that I'm surprised, but it didn't take long for Insound to rollover, lift their leg, and become Warner/ADA's exclusive indie retailer-on-a-leash. Future of the Left - The Lord Hates a CowardOn Insound's current homepage, each page refresh retains a two-thirds majority of ADA-distributed titles -- to the detriment of some refreshes not including, for example, Portishead's new record, which any

Waddlin' Around

2008-05-04T09:28:00.002-04:00

I know I'm behind on this, but rarely do I love a song as much as its video.Wait for the projectile vomit-fight* almost half-way through.*between puppets

Future Of The Left 'Manchasm'

2008-04-28T01:00:00.001-04:00

Once again

Cattle and cane - The Go-Betweens

2008-04-28T00:55:00.001-04:00

Another good reason

Cannanes - We Drink Bitter

2008-04-28T00:36:00.001-04:00

Finally, a reason for youtube

New Release Roundup, or: A Late Apology for Institutionalized Child Molestation is Not an Apology at All

2008-04-15T11:23:00.008-04:00

The fucking pope is in town. Look for the ex-Nazi with the $5000 hat.J Frank's ghost writer has shaved his head, a requirement for baby #2's imminence. Feels like the tucked sleeve of a one-armed-boy, to quote a poet from Union, NJ.The new release roundup, possibly my last, for a while:Cut Copy -In Ghost ColoursI don't hate Pitchfreak, I just like correcting them, but they're spot-on with their

On Your Deathbed, You Shall Receive Total Consciousness

2008-04-14T19:29:00.002-04:00

I just realized that the chorus to the Dead Milkmen's "Bitchin' Camaro" is the same tune as the chorus to that old jingle for Food Emporium supermarkets.It is too, you boys.

Justice is Not Only French Duo

2008-04-14T13:55:00.005-04:00

On my way to work on Broadway, there's a homeless woman who often sets up out in front of a bank, a full camp of blankets and cardboard stuff. She spreads out. A large tabby cat sits beside her, on a leacs, in a box.I often see non-homeless people stopped and speaking with this woman -- and she looks about as bad as homelessness gets -- and they're invariably addressing the care and condition of

Schadenfreude

2008-04-03T17:05:00.003-04:00

Hilarious comment on the NY Times' Paper Cuts blog today, this one in response to a list of favorite music, by AM Homes, in Paper Cuts' continuing music-top-ten-by-writers feature. She picks two Leonard Cohen songs, Lou Reed's "Heroin," A Johnny Cash Depeche Mode cover, Joni Mitchell's "Blue," Aaron Copeland, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, etc, and so on, yawn yawn.And the third comment down:"This is

The Kids are on Fire In the Bedroom

2008-04-03T12:55:00.005-04:00

I'd been wondering what had happened to Kelefa Sanneh. I was often at odds with his music criticism in the New York Times, but his tenure as a New Yorker staff writer has surprisingly moved to serious journalism, an escape most music writers never manage. Many never make it stick, either, so the verdict remains partially out. But his article on Pastor Jeremiah Wright clarifies the complicated

Dream Covers #3425: The Del Shannon Dream Tribute Album.

2008-03-31T15:22:00.008-04:00

Shearwater will cover Tim Buckley's "Phantasmagoria in Two."Tim Buckley - Phantasmagoria in TwoCat Power will cover "Thinkin' It Over" by Charles Westover, better known as Del Shannon, who dropped one album under the name his parents gave him, in 1968, entitled The Further Adventures of Charles Westhover.Del Shannon/Charles Westover - "Thinkin' It Over"Fans of Shannon's earlier work might be a

...and They're Marching Through Georgia

2008-03-30T19:36:00.009-04:00

I am not watching college basketball. I am a lifelong Knick fan, and the Knicks, this year, have turned me off to the entire sport, pro or college-pro.Today's New York Times greets its 30-40 year old arts&leisure demographic with a piece focused on REM's new album Accelerate, whose title refers to tempos rather than male pattern balding.Apparently Accelerate is worth a published sentence

Whatever Succeeds Despite Itself Actually Sucks

2008-03-25T11:54:00.010-04:00

The bad news about the new Destroyer album begins with the appearance of a Swan Lake song - as if anything from that noodling nightmare of an album needed rehashing -- and continues with Punkfork's blood-curdling-ly laughable review today. Reviewer William Bowers, while a smart cat, steals our life-minutes with his six-sentence GRE-test method of writing reviews (we last deprogrammed him for his

The Hyphen Across the Ocean

2008-03-24T12:09:00.012-04:00

Always metal. Always.Despite that like-able new Shearwater song (look "Rooks") which laudably distills their longer excursions into single form, I've reached one of those twice-yearly attacks of a fetishistic need for metal, especially on earphones. I have theories, one being that metal delivers right away, as a genre, for time-pressed or attention-span-challenged listeners. I am the latter due

There was a holiday today

2008-03-17T23:00:00.001-04:00

Third Time's a Paranoid Masterpiece

2008-03-10T12:14:00.005-04:00

Most reviews of Portishead's upcoming and now leaked Third will lead with we've waited ten years for this or some such lazy claptrap. Many will be written by those too young to know pain, or waiting, or the pain of waiting.They'll be only partially right, since we've been waiting for this album for 14 years, not ten. Portishead's self-titled sophomore release of 1998 paled against Dummy, their

Tiresome Music Journalism Strikes Again

2008-03-08T10:26:00.004-05:00

Who's to blame: Ben Sisario, for selling an overworked arts&leisure NY Times editor on a tired concept -- the easily-written "Here's the new Scene!" article -- or said editor, who didn't notice the article was a boring, unsurprising retread of Brooklyn? Didn't they write this article a year or so ago, with Deerhoof at the center? Now it's Dirty Projectors. Whom, I recall, only recently moved

New Pixies Album Gets Name: "Parting Is All We Know of Heaven"

2008-03-06T13:36:00.009-05:00

I submit to you two parts of the new Pixies album that never was:While the Breeders' Mountain Battles is their best since their debut, proving Deal was spewing out material during and following the Pixies' reunion whatever her damage, one listen to Svn Fingers eliminates doubt that at least Black was obviously writing with the possibility of a new Pixies album in mind: One, because it's good; two

New and Coming Release Roundup

2008-03-02T19:41:00.011-05:00

The Long Blondes - CouplesI'm still waiting for the day I'll hear the Long Blondes blasting from some frat-girl's Hyundai on the Garden State Parkway. Last album it was "New Girl," this time my vote goes to "Guilt," the best Madonna single since "Material Girl" in a world of needless Madonna singles, including her own. Imagine Mrs. Richie with a Marr-fan guitarist and a drummer still listening to

By a River the Color of Lead

2008-02-28T14:22:00.007-05:00

Two nights ago I finished watching Julie Taymor's interminable Across the Universe, essentially Rent with Beatles songs. I can even hear her pitching it that way to the studios. It's a noble and even interesting experiment, but done with a suspicious lack of care, considering the conspicuous electronic-pitch-witchery for many of the cast's attempts at Lennon-et-al's higher notes, and also

So, Dig This Big Crux

2008-02-27T14:39:00.004-05:00

The other day I received a wonderfully important email from a publicist -- about their hiring of another publicist, something I'm sure I needed to know. Soon, I can hope to receive press releases about press releases, and promo CDs of recordings of label board meetings.Scott Walker - Use Me (Bill Withers cover, I kid you not)Bravo:WE ARE BEYOND THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THAT SHEILA BREEN KENNY (

Contest: The Worst Blogs

2008-02-26T13:16:00.004-05:00

Besides this one, what's the worst blog ever? We hear so much about amazing blogs, even suffer books purporting to collect excellent blog writing (aka, a good agent tricks old media into a healthy advance), but I've never read anything with a big enough set to chance collecting those blogs effectively serving as the equivalent of z-movies, or the movie The Other Sister, to be specific.So I

Scott Walker Live in 1995

2008-02-24T19:06:00.002-05:00

It makes the hairs on my neck standup

Systems and Their Tragic Flaws

2008-02-21T16:29:00.004-05:00

A friend and I have been backing and forth-ing about the current and final season of the best series ever produced for television.Reams have already been written (some better than others), but I'll add: Few novels come close to the storytelling skill, importance, and breadth of the Wire. I almost want to call it something new, the tele-novel, or something like that, but its size alone defies

I Bring You Strong Enthusiasm

2008-02-19T14:30:00.005-05:00

Here's the third track from the Japanese version of the new Boris album, Smile, entitledBoris - [][]!(at least that's what it's called in bad windows translation of Japanese text. But the exclamation mark is theirs. The language of love persists.)I bring you strong enthusiasm for this track. What sort of badassness allows one to begin a song by echoing the breakdown/bridge/solo from Led

If Motorhead Were Japanese

2008-02-14T16:48:00.002-05:00

"Ibitsu," From Boris's Akuma No Uta(PS - I have Boris's forthcoming Smile. Not immediately impressed.)

Baby Huey: There's White People, There's Black People, and There's My People

2008-02-05T14:02:00.001-05:00

There's been alot of talk about the next song, maybe too much talk.Sorry. But it seems true that Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" is seeing a resurgence, most due to the political season, these primaries (and later the general election) being our current chance to put the country back on track after eight of the worst years in my lifetime (semi-apologies to any billionaires or Luddites or

I Am Here On Earth to Eliminate Tribute Albums

2008-02-01T14:33:00.000-05:00

If I had the mental power today, I could maybe count on one hand all the tribute albums I find worth hearing, or maybe on two fingers. I do have the mental power today to suggest reasons for tribute albums' general suckitude: labels forcing the participation of shitty new sign-ees, lackluster efforts on the part of participants, tributes to people who deserve no tribute, lack of editing -- by

Spencer Davis Barkley

2008-01-29T10:43:00.000-05:00

The indie rock TO, a friend involved with the Mission Creek festival in Iowa emailed me this morning with a heads up about their exclusive scoring of a newly sanctioned mp3 leak of "Run," from the new Gnarls Barkley album The Odd Couple, due out whenever the whole thing leaks, since I'm guessing only about 37 people nationwide will bother to buy it (or anything like it) in a physical form.Gnarls

I Shoot Myself with Rock and Roll

2008-01-25T00:41:00.001-05:00

Sometimes it's not that phony rock and roll

New Release Roundup #2- So Much to Hate Less

2008-01-22T14:49:00.000-05:00

Beach House – Devotion Surprisingly affecting, more focused and less meandering than the debut, but then again I was only looking for some background music while I washed the dinner dishes."Gila" Sons and Daughters – The GiftMuch better than expected, thanks to S&D adding some fine new ideas to their chugging sound which, on the last release, risked repetitive death. This album may justify my

New Release Roundup

2008-01-09T14:37:00.000-05:00

Insound got sold to Warner's (ok, ADA, but they're about as independent of Warner's as Sprite is from the Coca Cola company). Maybe Warner refused to take back all those unsold Bloc Party records. Are there no more indie sellers on the internet? Can we call Amazon indie? The Plug awards seemed to think so.Will P-fork find their link to a now distributor-owned store a problem? They sure haven't

I Am Winner

2008-01-05T12:01:00.000-05:00

After some redone math, it turns out I won last week's football pool after all. I don't even follow the NFL, which makes it even better.Bennie's Thai, on me, for everyone (who lives in my apartment).Ride - Like a Daydream (Peel Session)

A Man With No Memory Makes No Plans

2008-01-03T11:18:00.000-05:00

Idolator has recently offered a spate of posts recalling the 90s, and I'm increasingly convinced I was watching another decade entirely from '90-'00. Not to slag their recollections. There's nothing wrong with exhuming Jawbreaker, but there's also nothing novel or earth-shattering about recalling them, either, at least not in the sense of holy shit, how could we have forgotten jawbreaker? No one

No Need For More Covers

2008-01-01T23:12:00.001-05:00

I've now heard all of her new record. It has its moments, I guess, and she's in better voice than ever, but Chan Marshall/Cat Power will never top this brief moment with the Dirty Three, the one band born to collaborate with her. So here's to none of these four people expiring before that collaboration can take fuller shape someday.

Men With Daughters Live Longer

2008-01-01T12:22:00.000-05:00

Our three-year-old has spoken.This song is good for kids:Jens Lekman - The Opposite of HallelujiaHappy New Year.

Tinariwen Made My Day

2007-12-28T13:22:00.000-05:00

by playing live at Other Music

When I Was a Kid

2007-12-27T14:01:00.001-05:00

I thought Pete Rose was the Hulk, and vice versa:

Ride - Taste live Brixton 1992

2007-12-24T13:35:00.001-05:00

I was there. Look for my shadow ...

Your List is On My Kiss: 2007 In My Nutshell

2007-12-14T00:57:00.001-05:00

Now with downloads! Act fast, bandits & varmints ...Why not just a list? A list of things. No specific number but the one the list leaves. No "top" anything, just the best things, whatever art. A list that functions as only a list.Maybe the confines of a single year will be applied, but then only to define the time in which these particular things pleased me. These things need not have been made

The Library on Top of Mount Ararat

2007-12-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

I don't read as much as I'd like to, anymore, but parenthood and three jobs will do that to you, although I have three jobs I like, doing exactly what I like to do, so this might be a shallow complaint.And then I also don't read as much as I'd like to because I'm becoming more and more confident that my hunches are correct about which books will be a waste of time before I suffer 100 pages. Plus:

You're the One Who's Dead, But Look Who's Talking

2007-11-27T23:34:00.000-05:00

A trip to the Dentists today, but first: May Kevin Dubrow find nothing but zebra-swirl microphone stands where he's going. I once saw Quiet Riot for free --for free - in a NJ club in 1999 or 2000. They were horrible. But the crowd delivered. There were guys present who hadn't left their basements since 1986. Mullets like prehistoric fauna.Why the Dentists? Only because a cd case of old stuff fell

If This Be Error and Upon Me Proved

2007-11-19T14:57:00.000-05:00

Last night I dreamed musicians in this internet-addled age made albums for reasons they no longer could articulate, but knew they needed this sham, the album, to lay onto their moneyed fans as an object, a thing to own, but deep in their hearts they know the album is an artistic vehicle fading faster than the short story, a form equally born of financial (from "hey, I can sell this to the

Dream Covers # 5436.6

2007-11-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

Scott Walker will cover "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" with Kronos Quartet.Although that's predictable, if mind-blowing. Let's say Walker will please cover Xiu Xiu's "I Broke Up (SJ)."Radiohead will cover Roky Erickson's "I Have Always Been Here Before"I Met Rocky [sic] Erickson - Daniel Johnston and Jad FairThe Drones will cover the Scientists' "We Had Love" (and they probably have, somewhere,

Cartoon Composers and Tom Waits Singing in a Puerto Rican Rowboat

2007-11-08T10:08:00.000-05:00

My daughter's allowed one cartoon, maybe once a day, usually less. It's 20 minutes, and has no commercial interruptions* at all. It's not Gabba Gabba Hey, although that sounds cool, but GGH comes on at 11 am or so, and my kid is a kid who goes outside on adventures after 10 am, and doesn't come back until 4 or so, as long as the temps are above freezing. Says I, Dad.The Backyardigans came highly

What Not to Say to a DJ

2007-11-02T13:14:00.000-04:00

Like some, I've played records in public for others. Sometimes it's a blast, especially when in a bar not serving food, with drunks and rock fans, the kind of people who offer to fight you if you play Justice but get blissfully confused if you unleash Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" after Sabbath's "The Mob Rules" and some MC5.I used to DJ in a Brooklyn bar (now RIP), which will remain nameless

I Have Some Pet Peeve

2007-10-31T14:36:00.000-04:00

1) I dislike people who stand right in front of elevator doors, waiting for them to open, so that when i try to get off, they're in my way. Where would you like me to go? Oh, I'll get back on and go with you. You're going to the proctologist on the 10th floor? Cool, can I come? This also happens on the subway2) I dislike predatory straight men, especially middle-to older aged men. Who doesn't? Of

For Those Who Do Nothing About Anything

2007-10-29T12:19:00.000-04:00

For an hour the moon blocked by a monolithfurther darkens this evening apartment.I'd prefer the cool moon's full absence.Not to mention a fuller compliancefrom the seasons, be it raw freezein January, or heat made permanentby June, rather than this shibbolethof dust and sunburn we call November.I typed this poem down a search enginelike a corpse rolling a newspaper coneto holler regrets from

At a Certain Moment in His Phonebooth, Superman is Guilty of Indecent Exposure

2007-10-16T13:05:00.001-04:00

Alike to the advent of the automobile spurring a pre-marital sex revolution via newly affordable and portable privacy, today's cellphone-forced obsolescence of the phonebooth has created a special opportunity for public onanists.Specifically, anyone needing a public phone ought to avoid the two at the southwest corner of Chambers and Broadway. Unless they want to clean it themselves. This morning

What's Not to Like, Roy G Biv?

2007-10-12T19:20:00.000-04:00

At sub-cd quality (160 kbs), In Rainbows fails to fully flip that final middle finger to major labels and distributors. If it was cd-quality, I'd say Radiohead had made men of themselves. But the fact that they're putting out a cd in '08 anyway (not counting the vinyl package; seems to be through them also) makes this move, while not a stunt, only an experiment. They're not the first, either, but