- joiezabel in Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head it really is brilliant, scott. i hate you.
- hotshotrobot in Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head Goddammit, Borch, now how am i supposed to review this? I can’t top that!
- Borch in The Avett Brothers - House of Blues - May 14th Good Lord, that’s a beautiful song! The Avett Bros. were in Chicago? Why wasn’t I notified?!
I’m reviewing these VHS tapes full of old alternative videos from 1994. See last week’s here.
Being 10 at the time, some of these bands I’d heard of, some I’ve since heard of, and a few are new to me. Where there is a youtube video I link it so you can share in some nostalgia and ridicule with me. Here we go: Read more »
After years of arduous study, researchers have found that Fall Out Boy has not been the primary cause of global warming. The scientists’ conclusions were published after Fall Out Boy canceled their trip to Antarctica, falling short in their quest to be the first band to play on all seven continents. The band came under criticism after the Wilkins Ice Shelf, a big piece of ice where Fall Out Boy was supposed to land, collapsed 15 years earlier than expected. Fall Out Boy douchebag Pete Wentz immediately denied responsibility, saying, “Someone sent (the story) to me and they’re like ‘Oh now you guys are going and this ice shelf fell that wasn’t supposed to fall for another 15 years.” And I’m like, ‘We didn’t even land there so that wasn’t even our fault.” I’m like, wow, that totally sucks. Wentz continued, “Basically it’s more evidence of global warming,” exonerating Fall Out Boy from the charges of killing us all - through global warming anyway.
No penguins could be reached for comment, but a spokesman for one did not deny the penguin’s utter joy after being spared the Fall Out Boy experience. And the trip did have at least one real benefit. Wentz learned that there are seven continents, two more than he was aware of.
I decided to take a small break from the whole switching jobs and moving across the country thing that’s currently occupying my life and write something brief about this album, which I’ve been playing a lot recently. It’s good box-packing music, I’ll tell you that.
Pixelh8, a.k.a. Matthew Applegate of Hidden Fortress, is a chiptune musician, and The Boy With The Digital Heart is, according to the liner notes, “pure chiptune music.” As such, for anyone who might not know the terminology, essentially the entire (instrumental) record was created using video game consoles and old (pre-’95) computers.
Is it gimmicky? Sure, although the gimmick isn’t a unique one. But is it good? Yes it’s good. The repetitive, cyclical riffs are catchy (”Chocolate Milk” gets stuck in my head all the time), the use of the often at least somewhat recognizable sounds is clever (”Your Parents House,” punctuated just like that, is probably the best example), and in general, it stands up well on simply musical terms, not just as a trick album. There are occasional down moments — “Meet Me In The Arcade” doesn’t do much for me — but overall, it’s a surprisingly strong record. Also, my wife doesn’t like it, which is usually a good recommendation (see: Ifihadahifi).
This is Pixelh8’s second full-length, and I’ll be curious to see if he can keep the sound fresh as his career goes on. But for now, this one’s worth hearing.
Label: Hidden Youth
Release date: Dec. 12, 2007
Rating: 8/10
Months and months ago, my friend Jamie burned my roommate Scott and me some random Wrens release that she claimed was called Overnight Success, and she had no idea where it came from. Of course, this means there was no track listing, so i put off listening to it. I am complete crap when it comes to remembering song titles, but ironically, if a CD has no track listing, i don’t want to listen to it, load it into my iTunes, or deal with it at all, even if it’s by one of my favorite bands (of which The Wrens surely are one). I’m a doof like that.
A few weeks ago fellow slack-ass SSC contributor Josh and i finally threw it into the computer and the first track we heard was a version of “Pretty OK” off the Abbott 1135 EP. Sweet! I love that song and haven’t owned it until now.
Anyway, finally tonight i decided to sit down and figure out what the hell the story was with this release. Naturally, going to the Wrens’ website and message board was the smart thing to do, so i finally made my way over there and figured this shit out.
Overnight Success was a cassette-only release that came out in, like, 1996? 1997? Apparently after Secaucus, which was 1996, and before Abbott 1135, which was 1997, as it contains early versions of most of what became that EP. There’s also a crazy early version of “Faster Gun” from The Meadowlands called “Blind” that’s super-raw.
Track Listing:
1. Big City Move On (This became “Pretty OK”)
2. It’s Alright
3. Fire, Fire
4. I Guess We’re Done
5. From the Rack
6. Player
7. Blind (the future “Faster Gun”)
8. Take Me or Leave Me
9. Shakers
10. Don’t Be Shy
Because i love you, here’s “Blind:”
Can you believe it’s already been almost 5 years since The Meadowlands came out? It was seven years between that and Secaucus, and that was because of their legendary record label issues.* Being completely used to the Wrens taking forever between records, it didn’t even occur to me that i should be looking for new music, but according to an interview that was posted to their message board, we should see something new this year. We’ll see.
*for those joining late, here’s the Wrens’ web page’s short version of that story: “Halfway into first tour supporting Secaucus, the wrens are told that if they do not sign their new fairly-high-dollar recording contract, all promotion for Secaucus will be stopped. The wrens, frowning on strong-arm tactics, do not re-sign and as promised, all promotion (including support for a pending tour of Europe with Brainiac) is pulled. The head of the record company, infuriated, commences layoffs of involved record company personnel and vows that “the next band to walk through that door will be made famous - at any cost”. The next band through the door is Creed. Grass Records becomes Wind Up Records. Creed becomes famous at any cost.”
Hey, everyone, what’s shakin’? I know it’s been a while since i rapped at ya, but damn, my schedule’s been hell of nuts lately, i tells you what. Anyway, i’m interrupting my dumb-ass radio silence to let any fine Chicagoans reading this know of some hot rock action coming their way this Friday, March 28th, at the venerable Beat Kitchen.
One of my favorite bands going today, the creepy, jarring, skronktastic, and all-out awsome pAper chAse, will be taking the stage for an all-ages extravaganza starting at 8:30 after the doors ope
n at 8. Oh, and who’s that opening the show? A delightful Chicago outfit called Reds and Blue and everyone’s favorite feedback-drenched Brew City troublemakers IfIHadAHiFi! Hurrah!
$10 in advance, $12 at the door, suckers. Be there by 8:30, because the HiFi’s playing first and will be slamming through select cuts from their upcoming long-player, Fame By Proxy, out September 16th of this year on the recently-relocated-to-Chicago Latest Flame Records, as well as some older favorites. And well, shit, the pAper chAse are just one of the best live bands going today, so you really have no reason to not go see them.
Aren’t you annoyed by how i keep referring to my band in the third person? Who the hell am i trying to fool, anyway?
Anyway, sorry that my first post in weeks is blatant shilling as opposed to the grumpy old man-ramblings that you often want to fellate me for. I’ll get back to that soon, i promise. It’s been a rough winter.
Sometimes you wear something on a night out that is a little unusual for you, uncharacteristically flamboyant (or conservative). About halfway through the eve you become self-conscious about it, but it’s too late - you’re stuck with it, and removing it compounds the embarrassment.
Fast-forward to the day when the guys in Panic; At the Disco are sitting down to coffee, and one of them says what’s been in the backs of everyone’s mind: punctuating their name is not edgy, but is, in fact, fucking retarded. Everyone hangs their heads and admits that they only wish they’d brought it in 2005. Back-pedaling in indie rock, hah!
Pop and indie music basically has to be ironic to avoid the dreaeded ‘pretentious’ label, but the address where irony and pretensions meet is the corner of ‘Panic ‘ and ‘at the Disco’. Guitarist Ryan Ross said they didn’t want to, “Make a Sgt. Pepper’s thing,” but they went to Abbey Road Studios anyway, as if harmonies aren’t something that can be captured with a microphone and GarageBand. To listen to the band say it, the overdone sound isn’t meant to be taken seriously, but cutting out the excessive ‘do - you’ rhymes, wall-of-sound circle-jerking and Beatle-esque everything would leave an ineffectual nothing of an album. Over-production and quirkiness is the best thing that Panic* at the Disco has going for it on Odd.
Honestly, Odd. is not an excruciating listen, but the mediocrity herein that is about to be celebrated is only a little less than annoying than eyeliner on men. The album is full of pre-psychedelic pop riffs and tricks, and it makes a half-baked attempt at continuity by oft repeating the chorus from ‘Nine in the Afternoon’ apropos to nothing, like telling a joke twice to make sure everyone in the room gets it. A lot of people will be impressed at first by the few good ideas that were distorted, re-arranged and dressed up ad nauseam, but the fancy duds will get old after they’re worn out a time or two.
Word, Matt.
