Fractionals

(via Fluxblog)

Andy Falkous is a genius. Why do I not already own both Future of the Left albums? I can tell you why I didn't see them (arrrrgh) when they played Toronto last week - lack of money. Next time. Please let nothing get in the way of a next time - I never saw Mclusky live either.

So today my first review over at Blurt went up; it's on the new Jesu EP.

Feel good hits of the 9th of November, 2009:

The Dears - Expect the Worst/'Cos She's a Tourist
Gomez - Sweet Virginia
Engineers - Song for Andy
Against Me! - Thrash Unreal
Sloan - People of the Sky
R.E.M. - E-Bow the Letter
Low - Sandinista
The Rolling Stones - Can't You Hear Me Knocking?
Red House Painters - Song for a Blue Guitar
Los Campesinos! - Miserabilia

If you've ever wanted to watch Sweet Pepper break a cinder block on Orbax's groin using a sledgehammer, have I ever got a video for you. I have the most interesting drinking buddies.

My review of the new, good Slaraffenland album is up today at PopMatters.

http://www.thestylusdecade.com/

So the new Los Campesinos! album is going to be quite... something (I don't know, haven't heard it yet!). Based on the fifteen track titles they've posted and descriptions like "It is a record about the death and decay of the human body, sex, lost love, mental breakdown, football and, ultimately, that there probably isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel" it's likely either the best thing they've ever done or the first time their reach has exceeded their grasp. I'm hoping for (and expecting, I have to admit) the former. Either way, I bet you it's going to be kind of significant.

Feel good hits of the 21st of October, 2009:

The Twilight Sad - Cold Days From the Birdhouse
Marit Larsen - If a Song Could Get Me You
Carole King - It's Too Late
Crooked Fingers - New Drink for the Old Drunk
OutKast - Gasoline Dreams
The Wrens - Faster Gun
Cex - Chicago
R.E.M. - I Don't Sleep I Dream
The Mountain Goats - Cobra Tattoo
Donkeyboy - Ambitions

Every so often I encounter a really, really good band that seems to be obscure to an unjustified extent. Gregor Samsa is one such band, and while I can't do much about it, I have taken a very small stab at getting them some exposure with a capsule review at PopMatters.

I haven't seen every single one of these movies, but I have seen most of them. And they're pretty much all great. And this is very well chosen and edited together. Result: sheer glee.

I've said for a while now that some of the most valuable artistic experiences I had as a kid (and the kind I still tend to seek out) are the weird, the discomfitting, the unsettling, the inexplicable. Science being science and studies being studies, you should never place too much weight on any one piece of research, but I still like that there's at least a suggestion that I had a good reason for feeling that way.

I'll happily admit to being a longtime, helpless Hefner fan; as soon as I have a job again I plan to get the two-disc reissues of their first couple of albums, and hefnet.com is still one of my favourite band websites ever. So I'm pleased that not only does still-working Hefner frontman Darren Hayman have a blog, but that so far it's so entertaining. More reviews of UK horror films, please.

Feel good hits of the 8th of October, 2009:

Belle & Sebastian - Don't Leave the Light on Baby
Tindersticks - if You're Looking for a Way Out
Neil Finn - Addicted
The Hold Steady - Sequestered in Memphis
U2 - Some Days Are Better Than Others
The Mountain Goats - 1 John 4:16
The Fall - Iceland
Elbow - Powder Blue
The Twilight Singers - Number Nine
R.E.M. - You're in the Air

When friends ask me why I don't attempt to make a living writing about music, I've never had a pithy answer. Now I can just show them this video. I pretty much agree with everything Christopher R. Weingarten says there, although I'd probably emphasize things a little bit differently.

Weingarten's point about "the because" is right but I think he's overoptimistic about how good your writing can be if you're ALWAYS restricted to 140 characters. More generally, he's got a valid point about a form of bad writing (3000 word pointless unedited internet reviews) and a form of good writing (poetic 140 word internet reviews) but like a lot of people he seems to make the error of thinking that his is the only form of good writing.

And while obviously the important thing here is that Weingarten's speech is true, hilarious and profane, I'm pleased to hear that people still remember Stylus.

My mammoth review of the new Mountain Goats album (one of the best of the year, guys! top three for me, probably) is up today at PopMatters. I'm grateful to whoever at PM tracked down the video of Darnielle doing "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace" solo piano, because I definitely hadn't seen that before. And I'm both flattered and amused to see that the most effusive of the tweetings that the review has gotten so far is from an old colleague.

What is Fever Ray like live? Kind of like this, except thunderously loud:



One of the best live shows I've ever seen, although Andrew W.K. and the Calder Quartet were just as good in a completely different way.

You want to know how I feel about the Roman Polanski furore, and have since I first read up on it in the 90s? Here's how I feel. Marcia Clark, of all people, has a good overview on the legal issues and how stupid/craven/etc. etc. running in the first place. And none of this affects - or has anything to do with - my love for Chinatown at all.

(first link via the ever-esteemable Alfred)

My review of the stunning Brock Van Wey album White Clouds Drift On and On is up today at RA. I'd say it's my favourite sort-of ambient album of the year, but Mountains' Choral might be slightly better - or maybe just slightly easier to get through as Van Wey's two discs are 77 and 79 minutes. I cam very close to just giving it a straight 5/5, and if it had just been a little more digestible I think I would have, but still, and amazing album.

Chris at DYFL? has the most cogent thing I've read about Lady GaGa to date. I fully defend my friends' rights to hate or love her (myself, I like "Paparazzi" but nothing else that I've heard), but completely separate from the music I think there's something interesting about her.

I am feeling more than a little swamped right now, which is funny; I'm unemployed, I shouldn't be so busy I feel like I can't make any progress, right? But between (unpaid) writing, some big, exciting (unpaid) projects, an exceedingly busy weekend coming up, personal stuff, emails and facebook messages piling up for what feels like months now, a messy apartment (and brief window of opportunity to clean it up a bit that involves me finding time to go through a lot of my shit and figure out what I don't need), always increasing piles of stuff I need to hear, read and watch, a broken-ass old computer that makes everything I do on it feel twice as slow, a lack of money, waiting for a job I've been semi-offered to actually get posted etc etc etc...I'll get caught up soon enough, I'm sure. But my apologies in advance if you run into/talk to me anytime soon and I seem a bit... frantic.

In the meantime, I've got another capsule review up at PopMatters, this one on the fine new Tangled Star EP.

An anonymous commenter has pointed out that the story I linked to about using hair to run solar panels is apparently false. Another neat idea crushed by the cold weight of reality. Ah well - I'd rather know the truth, in any case, so thanks to anonymous.

I think the Singles Jukebox is one of the better things I've been involved with (writing-wise), so it's nice to see it getting some praise. It's really interesting to me that the writing there, while generally excellent, comes from a mix of really well-known critics, critics I know (mostly ex-Stylus people) and then people who as far as I know mainly write about music only for the Jukebox. It's a good mix. And as I was just talking about with my friend Erik the other day, writing there keeps my pop muscles nicely exercised.

It's going to be kind of a weird day for me due to sleep deprivation - I'm doing my best not to go sleep for hours so that I can get to bed at a reasonable time for once, but doing so means that I'm not sure I have the mental focus necessary for the things I ought to be doing (writing, responding to emails, sorting through my books for the big sale the library is having). It stresses me out; I feel like I have all this stuff I should be doing (well, I do) but I can't and even shouldn't do it right now. Of course, when I'm stressed out I tend to watch an episode of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross, who I've eulogised for PopMatters as part of their big feature on celebrities and death.

Less important to me personally but still hopefully kind of edifying, my short review of the Shortwave Set's slightly underwhelming sophomore effort went up at PM a few days ago. Between being away last weekend and how busy I've been since I got back, I forgot to link it.

Fell good hits of the 22nd of September, 2009:

David Bowie - Afraid
Blue Rodeo - Somebody Waits
Low - Heartbeats
Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
Andrew Bird - Fiery Crash
Ola Podrida - Pour Me Another
The National - Karen
The Chameleons - Mad Jack
Belle & Sebastian - You Made Me Forget My Dreams
Tindersticks - Travellin' Light

Just got back from Cleveland tonight. It was a really fun time, and I had an exceptionally good time hanging out with Todd Hutlock (and his wife Melanie), Chris Gaerig and Mike Orme. I wish more weekends were that fun.

I love the underheralded band Wheat, particularly in their poppier moments, but I don't love many of their albums. Despite too much filler for a 33 minute album, their new White Ink Black Ink comes the closest to anything since their stellar, undervalued (by even the band) Per Second Per Second Per Second... Every Second album, still a shining example of why major label polish can be a good thing and seriously one of my favourite albums of all time (if not top 20, then lurking around it).

After a very fun, satisfying weekend wherein I got no work done on anything (and for my purposes this Friday/Monday are included in that), I seem to be getting back on things today, but I still have the nagging feeling I'm behind on everything. So apologies to anyone whom I owe correspondance, writing, etc. For now, I've got a brief review of the Sir Lord Von Raven album up yesterday at PopMatters.

A teenager in rural Nepal has figured out a way to potentially cut the cost of solar panels by 75%: Human hair instead of silicon. At first he was just thinking of his village, but now he's thinking a bit more global. After all, if the hair is good for a few months, that means that even in remote, developing areas people will have grown the replacement parts necessary by the time their solar panel stops working. Properly distributed, I have to say it sounds like this could actually be a pretty significant step forward.

I admit, I resisted for a few days; the Beatles are far from my favourite band, primarily because for a group that made so many songs that I genuinely love, they also made a bunch of songs that I kind of hate, and only ever made two albums that I love enough top-to-bottom that I'd want to own them (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolver, if you're curious). But while I was cautiously getting into the new remasters with the intent of only sampling a few, I managed to hear the mono version of Sgt. Pepper's for the first time, and it was a genuine fucking revelation. Not just the obvious stuff like the slightly speedier take on "She's Leaving Home" (which improves a song I'd already loved, frankly) or anything so obvious; the whole thing sounds gorgeous now. It turns out that all that was keeping the Beatles from cracking my all-time top twenty may have been the shitty 1987 CD masters. I haven't heard the stereo version yet (although I understand they're quite different) but if they'd have the decency to release at least some of the mono versions as standalones I'd be buying it the day it came out.

So that led to me spending the rest of the day listening to Beatles remasters (partly mono versions) and while nothing was straight-out gobsmacking in the same way (and I was confirmed in my opinion that the last three albums are inconsistent (yes, even the White Album) and that the earlier stuff isn't really for me with a few exceptions), it's been a hell of a day. Part of the fun has been talking it over with music-crit friends, arguing over what's their best, and so on, but I think I am firmly with Andrew Unterberger on this: While cultural veneration of the Beatles is as entrenched as it can/should get, setting aside a day or two every year (or maybe every few years) to just gorge on it, all of it, is pretty satisfying and fun. I own non-remastered copies of the two albums of theirs I love, and I can't say I play them very often, but when you're in the mood few things scratch that itch (and few 60s bands discographies genuinely hold up) the way the Beatles' albums do.

At one point, I was pressed to come up with my top ten Beatles songs, and off the top of my head I said this (unranked, except that the first one is always always always always the best Beatles song and I am not arguing with you about it):

A Day in the Life
Good Morning Good Morning
Tomorrow Never Knows
Eleanor Rigby
Back in the USSR (or some days, "Helter Skelter")
All You Need Is Love
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Hey Jude
Strawberry Fields Forever
Glass Onion (which in my heart I'd like to combine with "I Am the Walrus" as one entry but if I have to pick the amazing middle eight that Danger Mouse used to such great effect on The Grey Album seals it)

Andrew Casillas then pointed out something I hadn't noticed or considered, which is that all of these songs came out within one three years. Which highlights both that I am a person who loves a very definite subsection of the band's work, and that the Beatles really were a kind of unrepeatable marvel - whereas novels have Ulysses and superhero comics have Watchmen as the peaks of their form, towering successes that nothing else in the genre really feels like, rock music has not Sgt. Pepper's or whatever but their whole career.

First of all, Tom Ewing is a fucking genius and has been for years (I was definitely reading him when I started writing, so he's a formative influence on me as much as glenn mcdonald, Chris Ott (for better or worse!), Nick Southall and the rest of the Stylus crew, et al), so respect is due on that account. But this post of his on "music critics as football positions" is so casually brilliant it set me back a bit. We've been talking about it on the Stylus boards today and one of my favourite Stylus writers put me down as a holding midfielder, which I'm quite flattered by. And I'm glad someone assigned me somewhere, because I'm sufficiently Canadian that when I read that post all I could think was that it would be grotesquely egotistical to say that I was any of those positions.

This is an article that all academics should probably read. Certainly philosophy doesn't rely on the kind of rigid structure that Hornstein mentions applies to the social sciences, but jargon-heavy and obtuse is something that, sadly, we're very good at.

An example: I really, really tried to make my thesis accessible to laypeople, to the extent of running a few hard to understand sections past my brother to make sure I was making sense to people without a philosophy background. My mom, a very smart woman, was unable to get anything out of the precis at the beginning except for confusion - and that was purely because several of the words I used were technical, something I completely didn't notice (being so used to them) until she pointed them out.