Tagging Satellites >> Things that were stolen from me were never meant to be mine

Tagging Satellites - "Sun Damage"

(Mag Wheel Records / Recovery Records, 2000)

I bought this CD on eBay last June for next to nothing, after being impressed by the 90-sec. sound samples on iTunes.  I then listened to it over and over on a nighttime drive to Baton Rouge (to see a band called This Will Destroy You) the same day it arrived in my mailbox.  Singer Zera Marvel uses her "goth voice" on this song, though she generally uses a higher, prettier timbre on the other songs.  So this song is not really representative of their overall sound.  The Sonic Youth-y guitar squalls and cavernous "pendulum-style" bassline are like crack to my ears.  "I don't care if you don't wanna go, you're coming to the sun with me" is a pretty interesting / sexy threat.

This song was written entirely by Z.M.  Influential Seattle music mag The Stranger said "Like that dark-haired poet you had a crush on in high school, there's something mysterious and slightly dangerous about Tagging Satellites. The band's second album, Abstract Confessions, is almost a flashback to the moody, art school-influenced underground of pre-breakthrough Jane's Addiction L.A. – wonderfully detached, on-the-verge-of-a-breakdown female vocals paired with music that finds the middle ground between ethereal and the razor's edge."  Uh, what?  Jane's Addiction?  Huge reviewing fail there, unless he/she meant Psi Com.

Results of a poll done by The Stranger's online blog in April 2009

The Abstract Confessions CD comes with a bonus music video for the bleak, Codeine-esque "Time On My Halo," but unfortunately it's in RealPlayer format, so I can't upload it to YouTube to share it here.  So here's a clip of Marvel and her husband / bandmate / producer Graig Markel snorkeling:

Pic stolen from an eBay seller; this might be the exact CD I ended up buying.

Remember what I said a few posts ago about how most of my favorite bands end up ditching their shoegaze / noise / post-punk beginnings in favor of more low-key, parent-friendly music?  Well, Marvel put out an Americana-y solo album in 2009, completely forgoing any sort of experimentation or dark undertones.  Oh well.  You can hear the natural twang in her voice even in "Sun Damage," and she lived in South Carolina right before moving to Seattle to co-found Tagging Satellites in 1997, so she does have Southern credentials, and hence I'm not saying her current sound is a put-on, but still.

Last Wednesday at Delgado I saw a truly awesome experimental video projection as part of the Prospect.2 art biennial called Below Sea Level by Paweł Wojtasik.  Make sure to watch it in 720p:

I took that video when I went back to see it again on Friday.  Sorry for the constant panning, but that was the only way I could show everything that was going on on the approx. 350º circular screen.  The dude spent three years making it, so you can spend 15 minutes watching this excerpt of it.  It was deeply moving for me to see my nook in the world portrayed in such a hallucinatory, abstract way, and I'm sure this guy has a bright future ahead of him.  The ambient score is by someone named Stephen Vitiello.

On Friday I watched the 2-hour Chuck series finale, even though I'd never watched the show very much.  I laughed out loud at the scene where the bomb is set to go off as soon as the orchestra stops playing, and as soon as the last notes are dying out and you're bracing yourself for impact, this weird guy Jeffster busts onto the stage doing a keytar rendition of aHa's "Take On Me".   I have to say I wish I had watched this show more.  Today I sprayed some weeds and then played basketball for almost 4 hours at Lutcher Playground w/ Bruce, Chris, Meatball, and about 6 other dudes.  Today everyone called me "Larry" not as a Larry Bird reference, but rather because I was wearing a Larry Johnson Hornets jersey.  Then I watched Alcatraz, but I'm sure Fox will pull the plug on it as soon as the ratings dip by even one viewer, as Fox is notorious for doing.  So I suggest watching this show now if you have any desire to.

Well, this post pretty much had it all in terms of high-octane entertainment value.

Planets with similar climates: Bleach - "Can" (1992), Sonic Youth - "Ghost Bitch" (1984), Esben And The Witch - "Marching Song" (2010), Slint - "Good Morning, Captain" (1991), Warpaint - "Beetles" (2008).

A Place To Bury Strangers >> You make my dreams complete and then crash them down

A Place To Bury Strangers - "I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart"

(Self-released, ca. 2006; Mute Records, 2009)

The band first put this song on a self-released CD-R EP, recorded in 2005 or 2006, and then re-recorded it for their album Exploding Head on venerable Mute Records.

Original 2006 version:

2009 re-recording:

The re-recorded version is over a minute longer and has much clearer vocals, sacrificing little of the feral intensity of the original version, so I think most people will favor it.
As I've seen some other astute fans point out, this song is heavily indebted to both of the songs ("Beach Song" and "Take Me Down") that comprise Slowdive's 1992 flexi 7".  (Yes, Slowdive used to rock pretty hard for a brief while.)  And it even brazenly has the lyric "I want to take you down," and they also have a song called "Missing You" which is not a cover of Slowdive's song "Missing You."  If you want to hear the lyrics very clearly, go listen to the synth-y Broken Spindles remix on the "I Lived My Life..." remix single (Mute Records, 2010), which has the vocals mixed up high and has most of the pesky guitars removed.  There's also a nice choppy industrial remix on there by Secret Machines.

Front cover of 2006 EP

Back cover or inner booklet of 2006 EP

2010 remix maxi-single cover art

I've seen APTBS perform this song live twice, in Oct. 2008 in Baton Rouge at Chelsea's Café and in Sept. 2009 in New Orleans at One Eyed Jacks.  They are known for doing an extended noise bridge during the middle of the song (starting at the 2:20 mark), like My Bloody Valentine infamously do during the middle of "You Made Me Realise," and believe me, it's amazing live. The first time was amazing, mind-shattering, etc.  The second time was actually even better, maybe because the sound system was much better and there were a lot more people there, and because I was amped up to go on that rollercoaster again.  They play live using lots of fog and strobe lighting, like all bands should.  While singer/guitarist Oliver Ackermann is obviously the main focal point, drummer Jason "Jay Space" Weilmeister is an absolute monster.  I mean, holy shit, he was killing it, in a savage-yet-jazz-informed vein not unlike, say, John Stanier of Helmet.  The bassist is no slouch either.  They launch immediately into each song without even a millisecond of pausing, which takes a ton of rehearsal and ears a band the title of being "tight."  They have absolutely no time for between-song banter.  If you want that, go see fucking Guided By Voices or Lil Wayne or Elvis Presley or something.  When people talk about great power trios, let there be no doubt that APTBS is right at the top of the (my) all-time heap, along with Bailter Space, Unwound, Poem Rocket, Hovercraft, and a few others.  Listening to an entire APTBS studio album, on the other hand, can be a bit difficult, due to all the distortion and the relentless sonic overload.  Ackermann also makes guitar pedals guitar effects pedals under the name Death By Audio, and is sometimes overeager to show off his wares on record rather than backing off and letting the songs breathe a bit.

Speaking of breathing, I was able to overcome steady waves of toxic fog to take this pic of them at Chelsea's Café on 10/16/08, using a long shutter speed to get intentional blurs:

As Plexi once sang, "When I was looking at you, I didn't mind your foggy weather"

I unknowingly got into APTBS by hearing about a band called Skywave all the time on the Blisscent mailing list circa 2000-2001.  The main people talking about Skywave at this time were apparently members of Skywave.  I got kind of annoyed by this, but bought their "Don't Say Slow" 7" in the mid-'00s, and later got their full-length CD.  APTBS emerged out of the ashes of Skywave, with a very similar sound, albeit with less (or zero?) synth.  (Skywave's album was titled Synthstatic, and I remember getting a chuckle when someone on Blisscent erroneously transposed a few letters and called it Synthtastic.)  Some other dudes from Skywave went on to form the Joy-Divisionally-monikered band Ceremony.

Anyway, here is the original (ca. 2006) video for the original version of "Shadow Of Your Heart":

The inferior 2010 video for the 2009 re-recording:

That second video was shot by the guitarist from Sian Alice Group, who were the opening act at the APTBS show I saw in '08.

The Joy Formidable + APTBS spring tour, guaranteed by Blowtorch Baby to be the best live show you see all year or else you pay me $20:

03/12/12 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
03/13/12 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
03/14/12 - Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box
03/17/12 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
03/19/12 - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Cafe
03/20/12 - Madison, WI - Majestic Theatre
03/22/12 - Bloomington, IN - The Bluebird
03/23/12 - Cincinnati, OH - 20th Century Theatre
03/24/12 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade
03/25/12 - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
03/26/12 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
03/28/12 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
03/29/12 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
03/30/12 - Boston, MA - Paradise
03/31/12 - Montreal, QC - Cabaret Mile-End
04/02/12 - Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace

Apparently, hipsters are taking hints from the Amish now

Romney tax plan adds $600 billion to deficit, analysis says - "Though the Tax Policy Center said Romney’s tax plan would 'reduce federal tax revenues substantially, the budget hit isn’t as severe as some of his competitors. The same group previously said former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s tax plan would increase the deficit by $1.3 trillion and that Texas Governor Rick Perry’s proposal would boost the shortfall by $995 billion."

The final sentence. - A blog whose ambitious goal is to post the last sentence of every literary work ever published.  Good luck.  Speaking of books, I bought one the other day (My Brother's Gun by Ray Loriga) because it had a blurb by Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo on the back cover reading "Like the rush of an electric guitar riff charging up your spine, Ray Loriga's voice angles, beautifully desperate, to grasp our place in these chaotic times."  Here is the book's final sentence: "It was nighttime now, and then it would turn into day and all the planes in the world would continue passing through that very same spot."  That's translated from Spanish, so it's not his actual words, but it's pretty good stuff.

Planets with similar climates: Slowdive - "Beach Song" & "Take Me Down" (1992), My Bloody Valentine - "You Made Me Realise" (1988), Plexi - "Fourget" (1996), ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Ounce Of Prevention" & "Prince With A Thousand Enemies" (1997).

Junius >> That's some line between love and hate

Junius - "A Word Could Kill Her"

(Radar Recordings, 2006)

Yes, guitar heroics are back in indie rock, since post-punk kids in tight clothing have been rediscovering Dinosaur Jr., The Wipers, Soundgarden, and other axe-friendly '80s bands.  I prefer my songs to be driven by bass and drums rather than by guitar, but sometimes a band just nails a guitar riff, and this is one of those times.  Junius wear all black, which makes them look like anarchist ninjas, and are Very Serious about their bombastic forging of epic rock.  For this song, their guitarist came up with a hybrid surf-meets-goth riff that is as addictive as it is improbable.

The singer has said that his favorite album is Fantastic Planet by Failure, and does a good job of channeling Robert Smith, though I'd have to say the lyrics in this song aren't much to write home about.  I also recommend the very Joy Division-ish title track from this EP, Blood Is Bright.  I almost saw Junius in Baton Rouge in March '08, with a few other great bands, all of whom I ended up seeing separately over the ensuing few years: Ghastly City Sleep, Constants, Pygmy Lush.  Seriously, that's a jaw-dropping slate of bands, but hindsight is always 20/20, right?  Dangit.  It was a house show in Baton Rouge, and I didn't feel like hanging around at the house of someone whom I didn't know for 5 or so hours.  I'm excited to finally get to see Junius this March at the Circle Bar in NOLA, a venue the size (and temperature, since it lacks A/C) of a fireplace.  I've never posted tour dates for any band on here before, but I'm going to for this tour, and for another fine band in my next post.  I rarely post songs by bands that are currently active, so when I find one that's on tour, it's only logical to tell you folks about it:

02/15/12 New Haven, CT @ Bar
02/16/12 Washington, DC @ DC9 w/ O'Brother, Black Clouds
02/17/12 Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall w/ O'Brother, Ribs
02/18/12 Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory w/ O'Brother
02/19/12 Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar w/ O'Brother, Val De Val
02/21/12 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE w/ O'Brother, Sainthood Reps
02/22/12 Columbus, OH @ Basement w/ O'Brother, Sainthood Reps
02/23/12 Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme w/ O'Brother, The Soil And The Sun
02/24/12 Chicago,IL @ Beat Kitchen w/ O'Brother
02/25/12 St Louis, MO @ Firebird w/ O'Brother, Time & Time
02/26/12 Lawrence,KS @ Jackpot Music Hall w/ O'Brother
02/28/12 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre w/ O'Brother, Lucida Tela
02/29/12 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court w/ O'Brother, Loom
03/01/12 Reno, NV @ Jub Jub's Thirst Parlor
03/02/12 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill w/ O'Brother, Happy Body Slow Brain
03/03/12 Los Angeles, CA @ Satellite (formerly Spaceland) w/ O'Brother
03/04/12 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar w/ O'Brother
03/05/12 Las Vegas, NV @ Bunkhouse
03/06/12 Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress w/ O'Brother, Sleep Driver
03/07/12 Mesa, AZ @ The Nile Underground w/ O'Brother
03/08/12 Midland, TX @ Pine Box
03/09/12 Austin, TX @ Red 7 w/ O'Brother, Brother Ghost
03/10/12 Dallas, TX @ Bryan St. Tavern w/ O'Brother
03/11/12 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live w/ O'Brother
03/12/12 New Orleans, LA @ Circle Bar w/ Steve Eck And The Midnight Still
03/13/12 to 03/18/12 Austin, TX @ SXSW

These U.S. dates are followed by a lengthy European tour, whose dates you can see here.  The New Orleans date is not even listed on their website, so hopefully noladiy.org got their facts right.  By the way, my next post will be about another band that is on a big tour.

Some reviews of Blood Is Bright:

"They wear their brooding Eighties swirling darkness on their sleeve, yet still manage to conjure something fresh, majestic and uplifting. The vocal drips onto a textured canvas of chiming echoed guitars and a throbbing backbeat reminiscent of Pornography-era Cure, with the bombastic crunch of My Bloody Valentine." - The Noise

"Breathtaking atmospherics and dark sensibilities deserved of being likened to The Cure's Disintegration punctuate this EP. Vocalist Joseph E. Martinez deadpans a brooding style that clashes at the perfect angle with the swirling sounds that rise around his words. Without straying into anything too heavy, Junius manages to maintain an intense presence that is as stylish as Interpol but carries a sincerity and distinction not found in enough young acts. This band seems to have borrowed just enough from previous decades to build and shape something all its own. This Boston-based quartet approach New Wave tendencies with a shield of spacey guitars and artistic vocal stylings to create something that is not soon forgotten. With high energy emanating out of a pensive sound, Junius punctures each track with unshakable singularity until it turns into something addictive and encompassing." - Exclaim! magazine (Canada)

"Genius as far as contemporary New Wave / cinematic Art-Rock goes... [an] epic audio masterpiece." - The Big Takeover

I had never experienced symptomatic sports-related heartbreak until the last minute of the Saints' loss to the Niners on Saturday.  It was almost identical to the ending of the Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl three years ago.  To get over the shock, we watched a move called Flame And Citron and some SNL and an apparently-legenendary short film called C'était un rendez-vous.  I was also shocked that Lana Del Rey didn't sing her superb new single "Born To Die" on SNL.  The only reason I slogged through the whole episode was to see her do it.  She did "Video Games" and some other mediocre song, and was brutally panned by smug news robot Brian Williams, who called her perhaps the worst performer in the history of the show.  Ouch.

On Monday, the always-classy Spike network did the only thing any reasonable channel would do in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day: It aired a marathon of Steven Seagal films.  I was lucky enough to tune in and catch a hilarious fight scene in his 2003 effort Belly Of The Beast.  I looked it up on YouTube to watch it again, and learned that I missed an even more hilarious beginning part of this very fight:

1.) Is this the worst scene in the history of cinema?  Y/N

2.) Is this the apex of the S. Seagal canon?  Y/N

(Note: By answering question 2, you hereby admit to having viewed the entirety of the S. Seagal canon.)

I watched the pilot episode of a new show called Alcatraz, mainly because our dad used to always take us around Alcatraz whenever we'd go out on the little sailboat (The Green Toad) that our family briefly owned in the '80s.  The show was pretty good, but I was just totally enraptured by the lead actress, Sarah Jones. Just watch an episode and you'll see what I mean.

On Wed., I got a gigantic cheeseburger for only $4 at this little soul food place in Morgan City called Rita Mae's.  Before eating it, I played some hoops at this court a few blocks away situated directly under Hwy. 90.  There was a rail-thin tween biracial girl riding erratically around the court on a bike, lost in her own little world, warbling some song at low volume.  After she almost crashed into me a few times, I asked her what she was singing, and she said it was a song by Adele.  I remember it had "Rain" in the title; I just looked it up and it must've been "Set Fire To The Rain," which iTunes says is her most popular song at the moment.  She then sang "Someone Like You" and "Rolling In The Deep" at my request, like my own little rolling jukebox.  It was kind of like a scene out of Gummo or something, with the sound of cars rumbling up above our heads.  "She's kinda weird, isn't she?," I asked one of her friends, who smiled broadly and nodded her head as the girl pedaled away down the street.  Then I drove over two of the city's epic bridges as the sun set while listening to Poem Rocket.  Perhaps subconsciously inspired by C'était un rendez-vous, I filmed it:

Planets with similar climates: The Chameleons - "Return Of The Roughnecks" (1985), The Cure - "Burn" (1993), The Comsat Angels - "The Eye Dance" (1981), Juno - "All Your Friends Are Comedians" (1998), The Wipers - "Against The Wall" (1987).

Psychic Ills >> Your eyes looked gray in the rain

Psychic Ills - "January Rain"

(The Social Registry, 2005)

(Note: This is not a cover of the song of the same name by the Aussie band Hunters & Collectors.)  January Rain would be a great pornstar name, almost as good as Allysin Chaynes or Avy Lee Roth.  (The latter actually claims to be an illegitimate child of David Lee Roth.)  This is the poppiest song on their first album, and maybe the poppiest thing they've ever done, though I haven't really paid attention to them since seeing their second album.  I saw them live in spring '06 opening for the very mediocre Blood On The Wall.  They definitely stole the show.  I don't think I got any pics or video clips, unfortunately.  They opened for the Butthole Surfers at House Of Blues a year or two later, but I didn't even consider going, so deep is my loathing for the Surfers and for reunion tours in general.

I wish the Ills would do more songs like "January Rain" rather than the drugged-out meanderings that they are so fond of, though those meanderings are pretty thrilling live.  British bands are always singing about rain, so it's no surprise that a band with a lot of U.K. influences would do it too.  The opening lines of the song go something like "I saw you today, there was nothing to say / Your eyes looked gray (in the rain), I've felt the same way."  This is surely Psychic Ills' best-known song, since the Social Registry website has offered it as a free download since way back when the album came out.

Winter rain is really bad for cacti / succulents, since they essentially go dormant at that time of year, and excess water around their roots can lead to lethal fungal infections.  Hence the main reason I got a greenhouse: more for protection from the rain than for protection from the cold.

Undated (probably ca. 2006-08) live photo from TVPRTY.com, titled "Psychic Ills out in Bed-Stuy on Saturday night"; no PHTGRPHR is credited

Note: I added this pic of the concert flyer on 9/18/12

The Saints-Lions game last weekend, the one Saints game I got to go to the whole season, turned out to be pretty epic.  We went with the owner of Mosca's restaurant and his wife.  It was pretty much tied at halftime but we dominated in the second half en route to an NFL playoff-record 626 total yards of offense, breaking a 49-year-old mark.  Calvin Johnson is completely unstoppable, though, piling up almost 500 yds. receiving in his last two (yes, two) games.  He and Fat Matt Stafford could shatter every NFL passing/receiving record eventually.  I almost brought my Barry Sanders jersey along to try to sell it to some intrepid fan who had come down from Detroit.  (I actually passed a car on I-10 that day with Michigan plates that was being driven by a dude with a towering blue mohawk, so I have to give Lions fans props for their loyalty.)

Might I suggest that you download this photo (photographer unknown) and use it as your desktop image, like I am currently doing?

In regards to my recent touting of Guinness Draught, I have to put out an urgent do-not-buy alert in regards to the bottled version of it.  Guinness recently took out the nitrogen widgets from the bottled version, ruining its taste.  I guess they did it to save $.  So stick with the canned version, which still has the widgets and is of course much larger.  It's basically a health elixir like tea, since it's just a bunch of plant parts dissolved in water and allowed to ferment a tiny bit (4% ABV).

Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop, 30, Arrested By Madison, Wisc. Police

Planets with similar climates: Pearl Harbor / Puro Instinct - "California Shakedown" (~2009), CAN - "Oh Yeah" (1971), Catherine Wheel - "She's My Friend" (1990), Indian Jewelry - "Excessive Moonlight" (2010), Plexi - "Change" (1996).

Aarktica >> I can really feel it now

Aarktica - "Big Year"

(Silber Records, 2002)

It is a new year, a year in which you can do a lot of things!  Rather than sitting here and reading this, you could be doing any one of several productive things at this very moment.

I got this CD, Pure Tone Audiometry, in 2003 or '04.  Read a lot of reviews of it on Aarktica's website here.  Despite the wonky Stereolab-esque title, it sounds nothing like those boring pinkos.  I'd recommend this album to fans of laid-back dreamy drone confections like Stars Of The Lid, Low, and Windy And Carl.  Aarktica is pretty much a one-man instant party headed by Jon DeRosa, with guests on instruments like cello (Andrew Prinz of Mahogany), trumpet, upright bass, etc.

Opuszine said: If "Ocean" is the album's most affecting piece, "Big Year" is the most haunting. DeRosa's guitar takes on an endless sound, creating ghostly, bell-like tones that seem to hang suspended in the dark ocean depths. DeRosa's tired vocals have a sinking quality, as if lyrics like "Today I learned to tie my shoes / I can feed myself again / It's gonna be a big year / I think I'll even start to talk" are a weight dragging him down into the depths plumbed by his guitar. Far above, Prinz' cello can be glimpsed, filtering through the murky surface like dim rays of sunlight, forever out of reach.

Be fucking amazed by this huge, whitish-blue agave (likely a rare Agave franzosinii, or else just a really whitish and floppy Agave americana) that I found a week ago.  I won't reveal where it is, other than to say that it's in a well-landscaped parking lot.  I helped myself to a pup, and as a souvenir I got a big cut on my left tricep from the mama's imposing leaf spines.  Finding this plant was a great way to cap my year on a high note, since I never thought I'd see one in real life.  Compare its leaf color to that of the "normal" dark-green leaves on the Sabal palmetto (Cabbage palmetto) and Cycas revoluta (Sago) in the background.  Mind-boggling.

On New Year's Eve, I stayed home and decided to do a quickie painting, after realizing that I pretty much slacked off from making art in 2011.  The background was done ca. Feb. 2010, and it sat around for almost two years.  I had planned on painting a reclining nude lady, but I'm not good enough at that yet, so I waved the white flag and threw on a palm:

On 10x20" canvas board; as usual, it's acrylic paint.  The palm is not done in black paint, but rather in Payne's Gray with a type of silver paint called Iridescent Stainless Steel mixed in.  Not my most impressive work ever, but its uncluttered-ness gives it a nice Zen-like quality.

On Monday I brought my busted greenhouse to this scrap metal yard by the Superdome.  After about half an hour I received a whopping $3.60, wrapped in a piece of white paper, for about 40 lbs. of iron.  "Stairway To Heaven" played on a little raggedy boombox, barely audible over the cacophony of clanking metallic noises.  Some guy was wearing a Notorious B.I.G. sweatshirt.  I'm into recycling and all, but this was one of the most depressing experiences of my life.  Luckily I didn't get a flat tire from all of the nails and screws littering the lot.  I then picked up a book of John Ashbery poems and a Morcheeba CD, then shot some hoops at the Annunciation St. basketball court.  Later I got a chicken carbonara at a Quiznos in Marrero, and was subjected to a Ke$ha song on the satellite radio station.

Yesterday I made an impromptu stop at NOMA's Sculpture Garden, and it was much better than I had remembered being a few years ago.  Pics forthcoming.

I'm going to the Saints-Lions playoff game tomorrow (my dad scored us free tickets), but not to the LSU-Bama BCS title game on Monday.

Planets with similar climates: Unwound - "Below The Salt" (2000), Low - "Lullaby" (1993), Windy &Carl - "A Dream Of Blue" (1997), Bark Psychosis - "All Different Things" (1989), Mazzy Star - "Umbilical" (1996), Talk Talk - "After The Flood" (1991).

Drop Nineteens >> Yesterday's home cut in half

Drop Nineteens - "Delaware"

(Caroline Records, 1992)

Riding atop one of the sickest basslines in history, not to mention some furious drumming, Drop Nineteens exploded out of the gate with the first cut on their debut album.  I don't know where the band got its name, nor do I have any idea why the song and album were called Delaware.  I'm guessing they jokingly chose to honor an American state in anticipation of every music critic calling them out for their unabashed Brit-rock fixation.  They apparently had three guitarists on this album, which helps explain the dense web of guitar textures.

AllMusic Guide said "Acclaimed upon emergence as the American response to the U.K.'s shoegazing trend, the Drop Nineteens weren't totally following in that particular vein, though it was clear that they were the first of many American bands who had played Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine releases to death. Combining that version of blissout with a dollop of late-'80s indie/college rock, the quintet on its first album created a sometimes excellent, sometimes generic effort of politely queasy guitar overdrive and gentle melancholia. Lead guitarists/vocalists Greg Ackell and Paula Kelley made for a good (if clearly Kevin Shields/Bilinda Butcher-inspired) front team, the latter's singing the more distinct but the former's generally more prominent, if flatter."

Spacemen 3?  Ned Raggett is usually very trustworthy, but that's a huge swing-and-a-miss there.  I would say their sound on this album owes a lot to Bleach, but I guess My Bloody Valentine is an easier reference point for most casual fans to grasp.  As for the line "Yesterday's home cut in half," I always thought it was "whole" or "hole" rather than "home."  I think the concept of a whole or hole cut in half is cooler than a home cut in half.  Some accurate-looking lyrics can be found here.  The album also has a surprisingly great, psychedelicized cover of Madonna's early hit "Angel."  Aside from the title track, the best songs on it are the stunning "Kick The Tragedy" and the passive-aggressive "Reberrymemberer."  I got this CD sometime in the early '00s, and a promo cassingle for their next album National Coma, and National Coma itself, which sucks, and a Paula Kelley solo CD.  A few years ago I downloaded their near-mythical Mayfield demo album, which was never commercially released.  That album eschews their Pixies fetish in favor of pure shoegazeness, and is viewed by some people as one of the best shoegaze LPs ever made.  These are the two most commonly-used promo pics of the band, and guitarist Motohiro Yasue is dressed the same way in both of them:

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a pic of a member of Run-DMC wearing a Drop Nineteens shirt... yet.

Note: Delaware was reissued by Cherry Red in 2009 (with the Your Aquarium EP tacked on as bonus tracks), but this mp3 is from my 1992 Caroline CD.

I have a 1992 Caroline promo CD called Between A Flower And A Chainsaw, whose liner notes contain this write-up of the D19s: "Halfway between a flower and a chainsaw, Drop Nineteens are poised to shake music's summer doldrums with their debut Delaware. Their impressionistic guitar-ridden pop orientation has been favorably compared to English practitioners like My Bloody Valentine, Chapterhouse and Ride.  Quick brush strokes and calculated harmony, full on sonic melee and lilting vocal melodies set Drop Nineteens apart from the pack."  (The only D19s songs on this CD are "Winona" and "Angel," unfortunately.)

You can see that they got that girl-with-gun photo from the cover of Delaware:

The Droppers were definitely going for the Pavement slacker-rock mediocrity vibe with the mediocre video for the mediocre "Winona," named after the mediocre actress:

Speaking of mediocre actresses, I'd have to cite Kirsten Dunst and Scarlett Johanssen as my least favorite ones of the last decade or so.

I hate when everyone makes "Best of the year" lists, as though they've actually listened to all 50,000 or so albums that came out in that particular year, or arrogant / dumb enough to think that the random ones they have heard are somehow the best, so there's no way I'll do that kind of thing.  I've learned that I have to wait 10-20 years before having a good idea of everything that was going on in any year.  I would say the most memorable music video I saw from this year was "Milkman" by EMA:

Make sure to watch that video and Pocahaunted's "Ashes is White" video back to back.  Spin magazine always overreacts to everything, but even I was shocked to see them rank EMA's album as the #3 best of the year, to say nothing of them putting Fucked Up at #1.  It would be too easy for me to say underground music blows nowadays.  But you can't deny that music is pretty polarized nowadays, with polite, parent-friendly diary-folk (Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, etc.) on one side and obnoxious, over-the-top primordial stuff (Fucked Up, Odd Future, Monotonix, etc.) on the other.  Then there are niche genres (markets, actually) like chillwave and this disastrous new hybrid of metal and shoegaze that is laughably being called blackgaze.  The chances of a song like "Delaware" coming out in 2011 are very slim.  It's kind of amazing to think that great bands / songs like this were so common in the early '90s that they actually got viciously criticized for allegedly sounding too similar to one another.  Music critics shouldn't have taken that scene for granted, and now we all suffer because they did.  Every year there are fewer and fewer bands doing the kind of music I like, but every year I discover old ones that did it, so I can't really complain.  As usual, few noteworthy rock bands bother to come through Louisiana, so I try to go and catch lots of local jazz groups in the Frenchmen Street area when possible.  The Baton Rouge scene is essentially dead, even as a touring stop for national bands.

Best live acts I saw in the second half of 2011: Rex Gregory group, Memoryhouse, Puro Instinct, Tarik Hassan group (strange abstract soundscapes), Geneva Jacuzzi, TV On The Radio (good live, still terrible on record), The Meters, Das Racist, Brothers (local jazz-hardcore group with two dueling sax players), Boris, Asobi Seksu, Matana Roberts (solo), Ri¢hie, Simon Berz + Simon Lott + toktek (trio), Danny Brown.

This was my worst year of driving in my 19 years of driving; highlights include two tickets, two instances of driving away from a gas station with the nozzle still in my gas tank, a flat tire, and a huge scar on my front left panel from a neighbor's mailbox door.

I rarely talk about politics on this site, but for the last decade or so I've watched several hours of political talk shows a day, mainly on MSNBC and CNN, and the Sunday morning ones, plus I try to listen to political talk radio, and I'm also addicted to politics-based websites.  It's definitely an obsession, and keeps me from doing more productive stuff like working on art, exercising, taking care of my plants, going to bed on time, etc.  As with music, I feel that the more I learn about politics, the more I realize I don't know... and that leads to me spending more and more time researching it.  A vicious cycle, all so that I can decide on a few meaningless votes every year or two.  So I resolve to spend less time thinking about politics in 2012.  But here's an example of an interesting article that I found peripherally this week: Is the world really safer without the Soviet Union?

I also have to spend less time on cacti / succulents, though it's hard when you keep finding cool species, like this amazing beauty I found last night:

Micranthocereus estevesii; photo © David S. Franges, 2006

Congrats to my sister and Damion for getting engaged today in Amsterdam.

I played basketball on the following courts this year: Lutcher Playground, Paulina Park, Ama Park, the ones at the Thibodaux civic center (outdoors in indoors), Gray Park, two in Laplace, the covered court in St. Rose by the airport, the one at SUNO, my driveway, the covered court at the foot of Broadway in New Orleans.  I believe I could start at shooting guard for any team in the NBA.

Planets with similar climates: Bleach - "First" (1991), Pixies - "Break My Body" (1988), Morella's Forest - "Hang Out" (1995), Poem Rocket - "Box: Tallow, Felt And Ice" (1997).

D.J. Magic Mike & M.C. Madness >> You wonder if it's real

D.J. Magic Mike & M.C. Madness - "Dynamic Duo"

(RM Records / Cheetah Records, 1991)

I was first adrenalized by this song in 1991 upon seeing its video on the Jukebox channel, which was later renamed The Box.  I bought the album, Ain't No Doubt About It, on cassette on November 1st, 1991 as sort of an afterthought on the same night that I bought Ice Cube's new album Death Certificate, also on cassette; it had hit stores three days earlier.  I was with my fellow gangsta rap expert Warren, recuperating on a Friday night after a football game; he was a sophomore running back and I was a freshman wide receiver / special teamer.  (Fun Fact: We were such huge Cube fans that we both bought Death Certificate on cassette that night.  We also both got Public Enemy's new album when it came out a month earlier.)  We both agreed that the Ice Cube album was a dud*, and I ended up vastly preferring Ain't No Doubt About It.

This song displays everything that was exciting about rap / hip hop in those days, which were later over-romanticized by young archivists as the "Golden Era" of the genre.  For example, DJ's had to actually do lots of dramatic scratching back then, not just boring-ass "beat matching," and the boasting was not derogatory.  I'll never forgive sulking, charisma-free goons like Nas, Jay-Z and Eminem for killing off this exciting style of hip hop, which is probably oversimplifying things, but I watched the decline happen on a week by week basis and I know why it happened.  By spring of '92, I had bought Nirvana's Nevermind and Metallica's first five albums, and moved away from hip hop.  But have always kept tabs on it and I'll always have fond memories of how it made me feel invincible.  This era of music really does hold up well.  About a month ago, I was at a gas station and two black guys in their teens or 20s were playing some annoying Li'l Wayne-esque song really loudly while filling up.  So I popped in The Low End Theory and blasted its opening track, "Excursions".  They actually turned their music off to listen to mine, which is the ultimate compliment that could be paid in any song showdown.  It is likely that those dudes have never even heard of A Tribe Called Quest, just as a rocker kid today who likes Alterna-Band X has likely never heard of Sonic Youth.

*I just almost fell out of my chair laughing upon finding out MTV ranked it the #8 greatest hip hop album ever.

M.C. Madness had a slightly congested, Q-Tip-esque vocal style which still sounds unique today, as do the powerful, kinetic beats and screechy guitar samples.  The "Short pause..." line is presumably sampled from a Batman movie or TV episode.  The line "Pass the brass knuckles, let me break his jaw" is sampled from LL Cool J's "Murdergram."  (I was obsessed with that LL album at the time, and it was actually the first CD I ever bought.)  I presume the recurring "Ha!" is a james Brown sample.  "Don't ring my bell once I turn off my porch light" is one of the most specific orders I've ever heard.  Most of the album's songs are much slower and more bass-oriented than this one, fitting in with the whole Miami Bass scene of that time; "Do You Like Bass?" was, and still is, a hit among subwoofer enthusiasts.  "Dynamic Duo" has excellent potential as a bromance anthem in today's meme era.  I can picture some god-awful Judd Apatow flick with a slow motion scene featuring two rotund schlubs strolling down a beach, winking at comely ladies.

Extremely dynamic artwork of the cassingle

"Dynamic Duo" promo 12" on green vinyl; also came out on red vinyl with different remixes, and on regular black vinyl.

The group's logo on the red 12"; note that it's in place of the Batman logo in the sky on the cassingle cover, and on the cassette itself.

It never occurred to me that Cheetah Records and/or RM Records were legitimate indie labels.  I guess I had assumed they had some major label connections like lots of other hip hop boutique labels of the time, but my recent research has proved me wrong on that, hence I can post it here.  Also, it turns out that I bought this album right after it came out, possibly the same week, but I'm not totally sure.

Planets with similar climates - The D.O.C. - "Whirlwind Pyramid" (1989), Ice-T - "Power" (1988), Public Enemy - "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" (1990), LL Cool J - "Mama Said Knock You Out" (1990).


Currently eating or drinking: Rouses eggplant parmesan; Noosa yoghurt (blueberry); Samichlaus malt liquor (strange sweet beer whose motto is "World's most extraordinary beverage"); Udi's granola (Hawaiian); Pirate's Alley New Orleans rum cake; a bottle of Cointreau (thanks mom).

Nice Strong Arm >> There's no room in this room for us to expand

Nice Strong Arm - "Cloud Machine"

(Homestead Records, 1989)

I obviously like the drifty dreamy music as much as the next person, if not 100 times more, but sometimes you just have to throw on a viscerally rocking Rock Song.  I downloaded this EP, Cloud Machine, several years ago, but just bought it on 12" the other day.  It was one of those things I never thought I'd find, so I was a bit stunned to see it in the flesh, and it's #1991 in a numbered edition of 2000.  (My copy is on black vinyl, but it was also pressed on purple.  Black vinyl always sounds better than other colors, so I'm actually glad I don't have a purple one.)  It was the first time I ever just picked up a vinyl release and just tossed it on the store's counter and bought it without even checking on the condition of the vinyl.  If you're into borderline metal stuff like Helmet or Quicksand, check out the two very intense live songs on the B-side, recorded at CBGB by Prong's singer / guitarist Tommy Victor.  (I saw Prong slay in an opening slot for Pantera & Sepultura in 1994.  It seems to me that their single "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" might've been inspired by "Cloud Machine."  The choruses have a similar feel, at least.  And check out the machinery in the guy's head at the 1:56 mark...)  Aside from England, New York City was simply the epicenter of great music in the '80s.  The guitar on "Cloud Machine" is so expressive and imaginative, exploding the notion of what a "noise rock" or "indie rock" band could be, going into abstract psychedelic realms, especially near the end.  The vocal melody is addictive enough that I can forgive the singer's gruff voice.  The spoken-word backing vocals near the middle are an interesting, mellow touch.  Somehow I think Jimi Hendrix would smile if he ever heard this song (or the previous song I posted, by Bright Channel).

© Charles Schulz, 1970

Occupying something, probably in New York City

I first got into this band in 2005 by seeing their video for "Framingham" on an Atavistic Records DVD called Twelve O'Clock High:

Another NSA song I'll be posting someday is "Everyday An Ambulance."  I don't know if NSA could have "become big," but I think they would've surely gotten a major-label deal had they stayed around a few more years until the Nirvana thing happened.  They certainly had better melodic sense than lots of mediocre indie bands that got deals at that time.

Congrats to Drew Brees for setting the single-season passing yardage record last night, though Tom Brady will probably eclipse it next week if Brees sits out game 16... I doubt Sean Payton would let such a snafu happen, though.

Planets with similar climates: The Chameleons - "Return Of The Roughnecks" (1985), Poem Rocket - "Small White Animal" (1995), Swervedriver - "For Seeking Heat" (1993), Dinosaur Jr. - "Raisans" (1987), Live Skull - "Fort Belvedere" (1985), Broken Water - "Coming True" (2009).