For Against >> I'm waiting for somebody who can tell me what I've lost

± ± For Against - "Paperwhites" ± ±

☩ (Independent Project Records, 1988; Words On Music, 2005) ☩

Here's just one of the most explosive, adrenaline-fueled songs ever, and it's by a U.S. band that in its own small way helped kick off the shoegaze revolution.  This song is off of their cult-classic sophomore LP December.  Fitting in with that month, Paperwhites are a type of flower that people buy around Christmas time to put on a windowsill.  They put out lots of stunningly-fragrant flowers, but most people discard the plants after flowering, hence their use as a metaphor in this song's lyrics.  The guitar sound is the epitome of "piercing"... I mean, lots of guitarists have done the "piercing" thing quite well (especially U2's The Edge ca. '80-83), but F.A. axeman Harry Dingman III just takes it over the top into dangerous territory with this song, almost to the point that it ought to come with a doctor's warning label.  To get this kind of sound, all you have to do is play a Strat or Strat-type guitar with the pickup switch set to the bridge pickup, and strum with a thick pick right down near the bridge.  But to make it sound as musical as this is difficult.  The awesome surf-rock guitar solo near the end is so unexpected, yet so perfect and just indisputably badass, with a feeling of careening desperation.  J Mascis and Dick Dale would be proud.  Oh yeah, the vocals are just brilliantly executed, right down to the gorgeous, Byrds-esque harmonizing in the chorus.  Yes, this band was from Nebraska.

...Nebraska.

L-R: Greg Hill (drums), Harry Dingman III (guitar), Jeffrey Runnings (vocals, bass); presumably
 studying the effects of sunlight on post-punk bands as well as on the growth rate of wheat

For Against have never, to my knowledge, played in Louisiana.  I think this mp3 is from the original 1988 CD pressing on IPR, not the '05 remastered reissue on Words On Music.  That reissue has different cover art for some reason, and tacks on videos of their awesome (and very Joy Division-y) earlier songs "Echelons" and "Autocrat".  Also recommended from this album is the thriling opening song "Sabres".  The fascinating thing to me is how, much like Sonic Youth, this band was able to evolve from an eerie, gothy plod to the high-octane sound of "Sabres" and "Paperwhites" in only a few years.  And that oxymoronic band name is just so cool.

1988 promo cassette w/ alternate sleeve art

Here is the 1987 video for the super-gothy n' haunting "Echelons":

(I think "Echelons" might've been influenced by Section 25's amazing "New Horizon".)

And here is the 1987 video for "Autocrat," in which the band members hilariously switch instruments at random throughout the video, and whose lyrics consist of just one line repeated over and over with differing vocal inflections:

For my own personal use, a summary of the first half of 2011:

Finally getting around to starting Blowtorch Baby
Finally eschewing AOL chatrooms for first time in 14 years

Saints humiliated in playoffs by Seahawks via unreal Marshawn Lynch TD run

Brutally cold winter, even colder than previous one

My basketball goal gets fixed & I play constantly, going through 5 or 6 cheapo b-balls

A/C finally gets fixed
Jasmine Revolution leads to Arab Spring throughout Middle East, but will democracy be hijacked by fundamentalist groups?
Japanese earthquake -> tsunami -> nuclear meltdowns

Buying lots of species of aloes, cacti & junipers

Circle Bar, R.I.P.?

Discovering the greatness of the Ross store chain

Mom tells me about her glaucoma diagnosis; future blindness imminent

Charlie Sheen, king of all douchebags

Kate is talkative, then is not

Loss of loquat tree, N.Z. tea tree & several citrus trees

Gregg Spyridion & Gil Scott-Heron, R.I.P.

Never-ending construction of mound for olive tree; at least 200 bags of topsoil so far

NFL lockout + potential NBA lockout
Almost killed on Easter Sunday by psycho muscle guy who spun his car around and almost landed in the ditch while chasing me down on River Rd.

Two months without a microwave
Two nearly-identical shows I follow (The Event & V) get cancelled; Fringe is surprisingly renewed
Rapid ascension of Derrick Rose to league MVP

Two-month drought + record heat wave, from mid-April to mid-June

Speeding ticket

Impressive new music club Siberia

Snowpocalypse -> Morganza Spillway opening -> much less flood damage than expected

Rise of Tumblr to near-ubiquity; Facebook levels off as gripes grow

Near-comical field of Republican Presidential contenders comes into focus

Mavericks win NBA title, set LeBron James empire back ~5 years

Anthony Weiner & Arnold Schwarzenegger infidelity fiascoes

Mangoes, Greek-style yogurt

Blowtorch Baby becomes slightly less fun to do when it becomes evident no one reads it; I briefly consider an all-Arcade-Fire,-all-the-time format to increase web traffic

Chilling prospect of another, even worse, economic depression
Realizing I need to refocus my energies back on palms rather than on all these other plants & trees

Gripping & bizarre Casey Anthony trial; mom Cindy perjures self re: chloroform Google searches

Best live music:

Tamaryn, Warpaint, Tarik Hassan group, White Hills, Des Ark, Pygmy Lush, Caspian, No Joy, Shamarr Allen & The Underdawgs, Lauryn Hill, Skate Night!, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Khris Royal group [3x], Twin Killers, School Of Seven Bells, Native, Lake, Nicholas Payton SeXXXtet, This Will Destroy You, The Nighty Nite, PVT [f.k.a. Pivot], Lovers

Non-best live music:

The Strokes (even lamer than anticipated), Wavvves (annoying / bad), Mystikal (corny), Low (predictable), AgesandAges (hokey / trying too hard to be retro), Cloudland Canyon (lame), Barnaby Bastille (annoying)

Occam's Razor-worthy art lesson found on the band CSS's blog

Planets with similar climates: The Sound - "Fire" (1981), Ride - "Drive Blind" (1989), Dinosaur Jr. - "Little Fury Things" (1987), The Comsat Angels - "My Mind's Eye (1992), The Veldt - "Soul In A Jar" (1994), Sonic Youth - "Hey Joni" (1988), U2 - "Like A Song..." (1982), The Joy Circuit - "The New Sunrise" (2004), Tracer - "Indigenous" (2002), Feverdream [Australia] - "Vortex" (1995), Gene Loves Jezebel - "Bruises" (1983).