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A couple years ago at “the bins” I got my dirty little hands on a stack of Rock Video Monthly: Alternative Releases vhs tapes from 1994. They were put out by Warner Music and I assume were meant for college tv stations and the like. I’ve occasionally put them on mute during parties and watched one or two on those nights when you’re really scraping for stoner entertainment, but I’ve never sat down and really paid attention to each one of them.
So, over the next few…however long it takes me, I’ll be sitting down and watching each video of each tape chronologically, offering my thoughts. If there’s a video on youtube, I’ll link to it so you can share the experience. This oughta be good. March ‘94 after the jump. Read more »
Hey Joie!
Can you believe that it was already a week ago that we saw The Magnetic Fields at the Old Town School? Hot damn, that was a good show! We should have started writing that night, but the Hansa Clipper devilishly served us every time we called out for another round…
Some highlights: 1) a set list of which dreams are made, 2) in the only venue apropos to TMF in Chicago (they will only play the Old Town School for a reason), and 3) Claudia… lovely, witty and gregarious and foil to Merritt’s playful indifference.
… to hell with the pieces of the whole, it was all about Merritt’s wry songwriting (already well-documented) and the band’s ability to sensitively and hilariously breathe life into songs that make the broken-hearted laugh at themselves, and young lovers say, “If it has to go wrong, I hope it goes wrong like THIS…”.
[Forward pass to Joie]
Regardless of their pleasing-to-everyone quality and the fact that I disliked it as first, old-school Panic! had me bobbing my head after 3 or 4 listens. So, in listening to this album, I expected to be pleasantly surprised by a song or two. After stomaching as much as I could, my sentiments are: Why the fuck do people bother? Why must the music industry be plagued by so-so, vomit-inducing, drabble, hand-job pop bullshit? Money talks, that’s why, and it’s frighteningly apparent on this drink-coaster of an album.
Don’t worry, folks. There’s no need to Panic! Just relax and exit quietly. I don’t even think they’ll notice. Back in the ! days, these guys actually had some kick to them. On Pretty. Odd., along with the famed exclamation point, everything Panic had going for them dissolved. It seems to me that they stopped panicking and started accepting their imminent demise. This stuff isn’t catchy pop like Yellowcard or Kelly Clarkson (I’m not saying that’s good), it’s pop in the predictable, rice-cake-bland, “blah, blah, blah, we’re famous musicians and we’re going through the motions” pop (I’m not saying that’s good either).
Scary brain-freeze fact of the day: this album was recored in Abbey Road Studios. Pull all of your flags to half mast.
Pretty. Odd. What a name. Other possible names could have been: Shitty. Period., Dumber. Because. Of., Money. Wasted., Blandly. Spectacular., Mindless. Non-Entertainment., We. Sold. Out…Even. More., Sadly. Predictable., No. Worth.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the “meh” feel of this album is going to matter in overall record sales and Billboard charts. People will still buy it and Panic’s concerts will still sell out. It’s a shame. I think something in me just died.
Album: Pretty. Odd.
Release Date: March 25th, 2008
It’s been since ‘97 since Portishead put out new stuff. They succeeded in watering our plants when they put out the recording of Roseland NYC Live in ‘98, but then all was quiet on the Western Front. Now. Finally. New stuff from Portishead, recorded and ready for the eager ears of the trip-hop band’s many fans. Where’s the weed?; let’s go. Kick ass, right? Kind of.
The first couple of songs light my fire with their classic elements. “Hunter” does the trick of old-school Portishead with Beth Gibbons’s haunting droning and that trapped-in-a-vast-dark-open-room sound; that slow melody with little hints of percussion that I love so much. However, with the exception of 3 or 4 other songs, this album is a swing and a miss in Portishead standards.
Most of the songs start off on the right track, but last way too damn long without anything changing. Songs like “Deep Water,” “The Rip,” and “We Carry On” are okay, but they don’t fit in with the rest of the repertoire the ‘head has given us in the past…virtually at all, especially “Deep Water.” They sound like they should be on attempts by other projects of Gibbons, Barrow, and Utley, not a Portishead album.
The worst part of all is that there is almost a complete absence of disk scratching. That was half the fun on Dummy and Portishead. Some samples are present, but sound distant and are few and far between.
The saving grace of this album is “Plastic.” It reeks of old-school stuff, so much so that it could be thrown into the mix of the two previous albums without a notice. Plus, the “boomerang” sound in the fray just kicks ass. All in all: One thumb up, one thumb down. It’s Portishead alright, but not as much as the one we all know and love.
Album: Third
Release Date: April 28th.
Here in Chicago, Mother Nature is being a cocktease by putting on her short skirt and low-cut shirt to give you a taste of the goods, but then turning into an ice-cold bitch when you stare a little too long.
This last week we had a few good days of weather and now it’s back to bitter cold for who knows how long? Still, that didn’t stop me from pumping up the warm weather jams at work to keep me in a good mood while the sunshine made its brief appearance. While everyone has their own style they like to listen to when the weather gets hot, I just picked out some good ones that always make me smile from tons of different styles throughout the years.
So here are some good T-shirt weather jams to rock to put a hitch in your step while walking down the street or to bob your head to while chillin on the porch.
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend
Steve Miller Band - The Joker
Phantom Planet - Hey Now Girl
Weezer - Surfwax America
The Clash - Rock The Casbah
Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff - Summertime
Arrested Development - People Everyday
LL Cool J - Around The Way Girl
Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up
Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop
Mariah Carey - Fantasy
Booker T & The MGs - Green Onions (aka The Sandlot song)
Ray Charles – What’d I Say
Mr. Big - To Be With You
Lionel Richie - All Night Long
Muscles - Chocolate, Raspberry, Lemon & Lime
Ratatat – 17 Years
Chromeo – Woman Friend
Annie – Chewing Gum
Len – Steal My Sunshine
What are some of your summer songs?
rumour on these here intarwebz is you can pick up a track from every single band playing this year’s SXSW festival right here. hurry up before the powers that be take it down. those bastards.
