Wednesday's Emotional Setup: 2/4
Normally by the time Wednesday rolls around, I know what I'm doing for WES. I at least have some idea, and if that idea gets usurped, big deal. Probably for the better.
Today, I woke up and had no idea what to do. I hadn't forgotten, I'd just been working so hard on various things (the older I get, the less free time I seem to have), and so I left it until now.
Then Todd Hutlock emails me about, among other things, Clinic. Clinic are many things: one of my favorite bands, my biggest concert regret, a CD I've called at Stylus.
In order:
I love Walking With Thee to distraction, it was my favorite album of the year and I think all th reviews either complaining that it wasn't rockin' enough or that it "sounded the same" as Internal Wrangler are insane (espeically the latter - not since Elastica's The Menace have I been so astounded that people can't seem to notice major stylistic differences). The upcoming Winchester Cathedral is set to possibly solidify my high opinion of Clinic, maybe even (cross fingers) making them one of my favorite bands ever. If it's as great a leap from Walking With Thee as that album was from Internal Wrangler, it'll be my favorite album of the year.
I had tickets to see Clinic (with the Apples In Stereo opening, oddly enough) a few years ago, K. was going to go with me (she likes Walking With Thee too, which is kind of surprising to me as it's seems like such an odd album). Something came up (Easter or something), and we wound up not being able to go. For the first and so far only time in my life, I bought tickets to a concert I never used. It hurts me deep inside that this is true. Todd was emailing to say that they'd been to Cleveland, had they come up to Toronto? Thank God they hadn't, or the prospect of having missed them again might have killed me.
I've called dibs on Winchester Cathedral for Stylus. I did this at the same time as I called Mclusky's The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire. I just wrote the review for that album yesterday. I felt about Mclusky Do Dallas kind of how I do towards Walking With Thee, and although much of the new Mclusky is great, it was a disappointment. Considering these are the two albums I've been most looking forward to, and I called them at the same time, I feel kind of like they're linked. So now I'm a bit nervous about Winchester Cathedral.
"2/4" is actually off of Internal Wrangler. While at work today I got a Clinic song stuck in my head, and once I panicked over Todd's email and spend ten minutes trying to hunt down any Canadian dates, I decided I should write about that one.
Only problem: It's not, as far as I can tell once I got home, a real Clinic song. I quickly went through both albums and all of my MP3s, and it bears some relation to "2nd Foot Stomp" and "T.K.", but it's not a real song.
This is not the first time this has happened. And I'm pretty sure this quasi-imaginary Clinic song was the same both times. Next time it happens I'm going to try to write down some lyrics.
Anyway, going through Internal Wrangler reminded me of how much I love "2/4", so I thought I'd do that instead. It's a short (2 1/2 minute) stomper, featuring this fucking insane fuzzed out organ part that reminds me of, now that I've heard of them, Oneida, "Treasure Plane" or something.
The funny thing is, I cleared Winamp of anything else when I started this, put in the "2/4" MP3, set it to repeat, and at this point I've heard it maybe 100 times. I'm stretching this out so I can hear it more often. Listening to it so many times in a row is awesome, I couldn't tell you where in the song I am at any given moment. The drum hits, the organ blurts, Ade Blackburn's baby-pterodactyl voice, the static hum - it's all brilliant. That crazy fuzzed out organ riff has played probably 300 times now, and each time it hits the button in my brain that makes me all happy. How cool is this song? Too coo for school.
And listening to it several dozen times in a row is really where it's at. My neck is sore from head bobbing, my legs are twitching, and I haven't even had a drink. Nothing else on Internal Wrangler gives me this sort of visceral thrill (I mean, yeah, "Distortions" is the best song there, but that's a whole 'nother kind of thrill, and the fact I've put it on so many CDs for friends is probably pretty perverse).
I have no idea what I originally intended to say about "2/4", the insanely catchy repetition has fried my brain. This is fun. I think I'll leave it playing for a few more hours...
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Today, I woke up and had no idea what to do. I hadn't forgotten, I'd just been working so hard on various things (the older I get, the less free time I seem to have), and so I left it until now.
Then Todd Hutlock emails me about, among other things, Clinic. Clinic are many things: one of my favorite bands, my biggest concert regret, a CD I've called at Stylus.
In order:
I love Walking With Thee to distraction, it was my favorite album of the year and I think all th reviews either complaining that it wasn't rockin' enough or that it "sounded the same" as Internal Wrangler are insane (espeically the latter - not since Elastica's The Menace have I been so astounded that people can't seem to notice major stylistic differences). The upcoming Winchester Cathedral is set to possibly solidify my high opinion of Clinic, maybe even (cross fingers) making them one of my favorite bands ever. If it's as great a leap from Walking With Thee as that album was from Internal Wrangler, it'll be my favorite album of the year.
I had tickets to see Clinic (with the Apples In Stereo opening, oddly enough) a few years ago, K. was going to go with me (she likes Walking With Thee too, which is kind of surprising to me as it's seems like such an odd album). Something came up (Easter or something), and we wound up not being able to go. For the first and so far only time in my life, I bought tickets to a concert I never used. It hurts me deep inside that this is true. Todd was emailing to say that they'd been to Cleveland, had they come up to Toronto? Thank God they hadn't, or the prospect of having missed them again might have killed me.
I've called dibs on Winchester Cathedral for Stylus. I did this at the same time as I called Mclusky's The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire. I just wrote the review for that album yesterday. I felt about Mclusky Do Dallas kind of how I do towards Walking With Thee, and although much of the new Mclusky is great, it was a disappointment. Considering these are the two albums I've been most looking forward to, and I called them at the same time, I feel kind of like they're linked. So now I'm a bit nervous about Winchester Cathedral.
"2/4" is actually off of Internal Wrangler. While at work today I got a Clinic song stuck in my head, and once I panicked over Todd's email and spend ten minutes trying to hunt down any Canadian dates, I decided I should write about that one.
Only problem: It's not, as far as I can tell once I got home, a real Clinic song. I quickly went through both albums and all of my MP3s, and it bears some relation to "2nd Foot Stomp" and "T.K.", but it's not a real song.
This is not the first time this has happened. And I'm pretty sure this quasi-imaginary Clinic song was the same both times. Next time it happens I'm going to try to write down some lyrics.
Anyway, going through Internal Wrangler reminded me of how much I love "2/4", so I thought I'd do that instead. It's a short (2 1/2 minute) stomper, featuring this fucking insane fuzzed out organ part that reminds me of, now that I've heard of them, Oneida, "Treasure Plane" or something.
The funny thing is, I cleared Winamp of anything else when I started this, put in the "2/4" MP3, set it to repeat, and at this point I've heard it maybe 100 times. I'm stretching this out so I can hear it more often. Listening to it so many times in a row is awesome, I couldn't tell you where in the song I am at any given moment. The drum hits, the organ blurts, Ade Blackburn's baby-pterodactyl voice, the static hum - it's all brilliant. That crazy fuzzed out organ riff has played probably 300 times now, and each time it hits the button in my brain that makes me all happy. How cool is this song? Too coo for school.
And listening to it several dozen times in a row is really where it's at. My neck is sore from head bobbing, my legs are twitching, and I haven't even had a drink. Nothing else on Internal Wrangler gives me this sort of visceral thrill (I mean, yeah, "Distortions" is the best song there, but that's a whole 'nother kind of thrill, and the fact I've put it on so many CDs for friends is probably pretty perverse).
I have no idea what I originally intended to say about "2/4", the insanely catchy repetition has fried my brain. This is fun. I think I'll leave it playing for a few more hours...
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