5_moves_of_doom

Sean accidentially sent his match to Raynor. It's not my fault that I turned in my marked match late this time. I swear.

Huh. I can see the Green Day hate, as I'm not really a fan of more than one or two of their albums, but Mars Volta? They're terribly overrated, true, but... well, I don't know. I guess I'm biased. I actually thought they were just "OK" too until I saw them live opening up for the Pixies.

Maybe I'll actually pick up the Green Day album to see if I agree. Still haven't heard it all the way through. But at least we agree that the Mars Volta are intense.

I hear it's just 7 or 8 songs packed together and called one song, simply so that they can have a 9 minute track. Same with the other 8+ minute track on the album. Really, Green Day should just stick with what they do ("Dookie" era goodness.) The Who and Queen can pull off 9 minute operas. Green Day cannot. Much less a nine minute SONG that's not just a bunch of songs put together, which very few bands can pull off. Really, from what I've heard off of the album and from what people have been telling me, it's just a typical (weakr than early stuff) Green Day album with them just combining a few songs to form "epics" so that they can try to say "It's the punk Tommy! We swear!"

Yoshimi was my drug album last winter. That shit is timeless forevermore. I've seen the same thing going on with Good News and I don't understand the hate. I was under the impression that it's a good thing they haven't tried to make another Lonesome Crowded West. Upbeat Modest Mouse is excellent driving music. Be glad, goddamn it. K. Glad that someone agrees though I don't know what the problem is with Lonesome Crowded West... granted, I like the first and third album better, but all four MM albums are fantastic, in my opinion.

Oh shit. My computer's been sort of out of whack and I've had a lot of studying to do so I haven't really been surfing the net tonight, and I completely forgot about marking since once the booking was changed to Taamo I moronically assumed that all responsibility had been taken from me. Anyway... well, hrm, sorry Taamo, but yes... my matches are both coming your way... and they're both double noshows. Congrats. Good thing I stopped in here before going to sleep though, otherwise I wouldn't have remembered that I was supposed to be marking until sometime tomorrow afternoon. Geh. EDIT: It should be noted that not only were both of my matches double noshows, but also, both matches turned in weren't even actual matches because both people who actually bothered to write weren't very motivated to write against their opponents who weren't even writing. Grumble. See the cycle?

I didn't know that there was so much Yoshimi hate. For a while there, I actually liked it more than The Soft Bulletin. Nowadays it's not even like in my top three, but nonetheless, it's in essence just a very good pop album, full of pop songs. Those who expect more might hate it, but really, "Do You Realize???" and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1" and "Fight Test" were some of the best singles of the year. It kind of sort of doesn't age well, but oh well, I'll worry about that when I start actively not liking it. Sort of reminds me of Good News for People Who Love Bad News in that all fans who were fans before it came out hate it while all fans who became fans because of it love it to death, then eventually sort of get sick of it and end up moving onto their older stuff. Also, Sandista! has about one good album per LP. I think that it gets way too much hate and believe it to be at least "decent," but overall only about three of the songs stand up to the first three albums. Actually, I think every Clash album after the first three was an instance of "one good song per album." Especially the infamous Cut the Crap, with its "This is England."

The Lo-Fidelity All-Stars, the Verve, and the Spin Doctors all come to mind.

EDIT: Nevermind. Good. Yes, send things to Tom. Whew.

I must agree. The Pixies have been playing phenominal live shows and are still as energetic and potent as ever (and I've seen them three times and want more, so trust me,) but if, say, the Smiths got back together, I would have nightmares forever. The Pixies are an exception the rule, really, as pretty much every other band reunion ever (even the beloved VU) has sucked. ...Though I'm all for this Slint reunion, and would be a sucker for many other reunions no matter how half-hearted they were (Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, Talking Heads, etc.)

It's odd that the original line-up of Gang of Four reunited less than twenty-four hours after I asked Incan if he was a fan.

Unless of course, everyone goes out and loads up on Tindersticks, and it turns out that they suck.

Good. ...I think I'm going to go out and buy a Tindersticks album, now.

Darn. And yes, I know, but while I overall am mostly horrified by '80's Wire, I know of quite a few diamonds in the rough song-for-song. No Pink Flag's album-wise, but there are definitely a few tunes that would make a Wire Best Of. Anyway, to be honest, I wasn't most looking forward to post-punk that I already knew of -- I was more antsy to finally hear a Homosexuals song and see if they meet the hype (sure, hype via two or three people, but hey, I haven't heard anything bad about them.) This reminds me... since you're a Homosexuals guy and a Wire guy and seem to know your post-punk... why have I never heard you mention Gang of Four? I'm not doubting whether or not you've heard of them/own Entertainment! or anything, but you always seem to be raving about Wire and Gill and the boys need some love.

So what happens if that link does not work? I WANT TO LISTEN TO SOME WIRE GODDAMMIT! EDIT: I suppose it's logical that the link wouldn't work when the show's not on. So when are the airtimes, exactly? You've been whoring that fucking radio station forever, and I'm in the mood for Big Star, so tonight might just be the night for me to get hooked.

Don't forget Dick Dale and the 5,6,7,8's in Southern California! Zing!

Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuttin' ta fuck wit'. R.I.P.

Because you know what all those guys have in common? NONE are considered "great actors" Johnny Depp IS by a lot of people This is an inequity that needs to be fucking remedied. Cary Grant, Sean Connery, and BOGEY are not considered "great actors"? And I must say I never cared for Edward Scissorhands, but I really liked Depp in The Ninth Gate and Pirates of the Carribean. I rarely come across a top five actors list of all time that doesn't have Bogart on it. Cary Grant's considered an all-time great as well.

Yes, it's amazing. But beware. His bassist is a forty-something-year-old gay black man with a bandana and sunglasses with a voice resembling something between Annie Lennox and Jeff Buckley that makes a few of Lou's tunes sound just a bit too "adult contemporary" for my tastes. But it never came to the point where I thought I was at a Sting or Phil Collins show, and hey, he was actually really good at bass, so in the end it didn't matter too much. By the way, does anyone know if Reed plans on putting out another album in the next year? I would think that he's pretty much done, but if he's still got two or three albums worth of material in him, I'd be happy to buy, if not simply out of interest. Hey, The Raven wasn't all THAT bad.

So yes. This weekend, as some of you doubtlessly know, was America's rendition of the All Tomorrow's Parties, this year curated by the indie-fan's-wet-dream-band Modest Mouse. And, well, I went. I have very few people at my school that no anything about music at all, so... well, I figured I'd post some comments on the bands I saw here in hopes of sparking a little stimulating conversation. I must say, first and foremost, that this was probably the best event I've ever been to... and the atmosphere was much more laid-back and fun than your average concert (except during Lou Reed when some psycho 16-year-old girl threatened to gouge out my girlfriend's eyes, and during the headliners as a whole when it became a little more squished than would be considered comfortable.) Everyone sat down very comfortably between each set (up until the last two or three where there were too many people for most to sit,) and most people were very polite. While seeing the Pixies at Coachella was a dream come true (and, of course, Kraftwerk,) I would say that this was just about 100x better atmosphere-wise and the only way I'm going to Coachella next year is if the Memphis Jug Band comes back from the dead or My Bloody Valentine reunites or something. The only real flaw was the major lack of merchandise -- the only thing on sale was some crappy shirt with "ATP" written on the front and circled with some weird symbol. But yes, anyhow... I'd say that of the fourteen bands I saw, only about two could be considered "bad." Here's a rundown of each one, and if you're a fan of any or you've seen any of them live, feel free to contribute your own thoughts. Anyhow... yes, here we go. DAY ONE Wolf Parade ~ Well. Hrm. I must say. I had never heard a single Wolf Parade song and I only knew of them really from a Pitchforkmedia review or two, so I didn't quite know what to expect here. I was very pleasantly surprised. These guys were phenominal and unique. They had two keyboardists, one that looked like Jason Lee and another that looked like John Mayer, and then a very Tom Verlaine-ish guitarist, who traded off vocals with the John Mayer look-alike. Anyway, yes... very solid group, and I'm definitely going to go out and buy an album by the end of the week. Explosions in the Sky ~ Basically a second-rate Godspeed You Black Emporer!, but that doesn't really mean bad. Long, post-rock instrumentals... the bassist was very into playing and the Arab lead-guy started crying in the middle of the set while shredding on his guitar, so an A+ for enthusiasm, but I must say that if they had gone on for much longer than their half an hour, I would have lost interest. But in that time frame, I'd say I enjoyed the set, and props to them for doing their own thing and whatnot. Black Heart Procession ~ At first I thought these guys were really cool because their set started out with the lead guy playing a saw with a violin bow, but the more they played, the more I realized that they were just sort of "samey." Not bad, really... they did a pretty good Tom Petty cover, but just overall sort of bland. Probably the most "eh" set of the day. J. Mascis and the Fog ~ This is of course the famed member of Dinosaur Jr. and Ciccone Youth. Except now he's overweight and his hair is the most gray shade of gray I've ever seen in my life. And his bassist is a gigantic tub who thinks he's in a heavy metal band. I was overall confused by this set, because the melodies and the lyrics pointed towards '80's indie rock, but the virtuoso non-stop soloing and song structure pointed towards metal or noise rock. But he was pretty good at performing and you know... good for him for departing from the Dinosaur Jr. sound and doing his own thing. I met the guy after the show, and since I'm a semi-fan that was pretty neat. Overall though I'd say this was more "fun to watch" or "interesting" than "good." Lungfish ~ As far as post-rock-punk-emo-ish bands with Charles Darwin as a lead singer go, this was phenominal. Someone really needs to explain this band to me. Each song was a single riff repeated over and over very slowly and methodically (not simple riffs Ramones-style... they were pretty complicated and well-thought-out... but still... they played over and over and over...) with this guy who looked like Karl Marx yelling and falling over. It was weird, because the guy looked like 50, but his voice sounded like a 20-year-old's... like the guy from the Walkmen or something. Very entertaining, but I want to know what the band's deal is before I buy a record. The Walkmen ~ I never have and never will like the Walkmen. They're one of those bands that, looking at my musical taste, I really SHOULD like, but... just... don't. Sort of like the French Kicks, only at least I liked the French Kicks' first album. Anyway, they did actually surprise me and entertain a bit, and they had energy, but still. I wasn't too interested in anything more than two or three good songs in the set. Still, I could've been seeing Billy Childish on the second stage, so this was overall "bleh." Modest Mouse ~ My moment of the night was yelling at the stage "Isaac, how are you??" and having him reply with a very long rant... "Well, you know, I've been doin' pretty good, but I mean..." I then screamed at him and asked him why he hadn't asked Tom Waits to play the show, and he said that he couldn't remember if he had asked him or not. I then complimented him on his hat, to which he replied "Oh, thanks! It's 100% cotton." Anyway... they came on 15-minutes late and the mix was terrible and Isaac's guitar went out of tune. We only got like five songs. It was complete and utter bullshit. We were treated to an awesome extender version of "Cowboy Dan," but aside from that, it was "Interstate 8" and like all songs off of the new album, which was terrible. But you know, what was there was very good and I'll definitely see them again just to get the full concert experience. It's a shame they couldn't play any longer since they curated the thing and everything, but still. I saw a set list afterwards and we were supposed to be treated to "Trailer Trash" and "Third Planet," so it was nice to see what we were missing out on. Geh. Lou Reed ~ Lou Reed is the man. He is the man. There is no one cooler in the world. Seriously. He also has the most awesome cellist ever. Anyway, we got a nice rendition of "Venus in Furs" and "Satellite of Love," as well as surprisingly VERY good renditions of "Ecstasy" and two different songs off of The Raven. A few more VU classics, as well, but sadly no "Heroin," as they ran out of time and his the noise curfew. Anyway, he was old and everything, and didn't have the raw energy and power that he once had, but he's still the man, and I was overall content with the set, especially seeing as how the guy's like sixty-something now. Nearly Leonard Cohen old. DAY TWO The Constantines ~ Fine indie rock. Nothing too special, but I was definitely impressed with a few songs. The bassist is the greasiest greaseball ever. That's about all I have to say about them. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks ~ Going into this, I thought that I would feel cheated if I didn't get to hear any Pavement songs. But.. well, he played nothing but solo stuff, and still was one of the best sets of the night. On the Pavement albums what you really don't hear is that this guy is like the best guitarist ever. Not flashy virtuoso stuff but his solos are simply perfect -- not a note wasted. Very fun to see him play and one of the most feel-good sets of the entire weekend. The Shins ~ I'm only a fan of their first album, really, as I don't really like the second, but this was a completely and utterly phenominal set. The keyboardist is a funny and fun guy, and the whole band just looked like they were having fun. Good music too, and good stuff all around. Built to Spill ~ I'm an all-right fan of these guys, and they were by no means bad, but they didn't need an hour and were very, VERY samey. A few good songs, but a total lack of charisma wasn't healthy for a crowd that had been on their feet for like five hours. Alright, but nothing special. The Cramps ~ These guys (+ gal) are still just as entertaining as they've ever been. Lux was completely and utterly insane and totally charismatic, and he pointed at my friend and complained about his lice, so that was neat. Heh. He also tore the cork off of his bottle of wine and spit it into the crowd, and my friend caught it, so that was nice. Good set and it kept me in a spritely mood even after such a long weekend. The Flaming Lips ~ Set of the weekend. I had seen them at Coachella but here I was right up front and they managed to play MORE than five songs. They played their usual set of four songs that they play at pretty much EVERY concert (Realize, Yoshimi, Gash, and Race for the Prize... oh, and Fight Test) but they added a MEAN rendition of "War Pigs" (with Peaches!)... their Spongebob Squarepants song (which really wasn't all that good, but it was still neat)... and "She Don't Use Jelly," which was great live. Usual dancing pandas and huge balloons and fake blood and Wayne in a giant inflatable hampster-ball and projector screen stuff, but while it might get boring while they're touring, at concerts they always make it more special than usual, and they really just turned the crowd into a heaving mass of enthusiasm. Wayne and Steven are great to watch and this was just overall phenominal. I'm always a huge Lips fan, but for the next week or so I think I'll be stuff in a state of thinking that they're the most awesome thing in existance. And really, they probably are. Anyway, yes... go see them live. Now. I expect no one to read that whole thing, but I just needed to write down my thoughts for prosperity. Anyway, just to make me feel loved please comment on at least one or two of the bands in there that you're a fan of. Overall it was a great festival, and I'll definitely be going next year.

Strangler is in the right here. I'll put another five bucks on the fact that Thoth doesn't actually exist.

I was about to mention them -- great stuff. But really... when it comes down to it, I (along with the majority of the boards, it would seem) really, really can enjoy the heck out of ambient when it's *incorporated* into other types of music, but could only name about two or three straight-out pure ambient records that I would want to sit all the way through and enjoy. It's great and all, I guess, but it really shines when it's synthesized subtly into other band's music to just give some of their stuff ambient tendencies. Sigur Ros, Sonic Youth, Bjork, and a whole lot of Krautrock all incorporate a bit of ambience into their style from time to time, and it's heavenly, as long as they don't decide to become full-on ambient bands. ...But since I'm seeing Lou Reed live tomorrow... let's ante up on the props for Metal Machine Music, people!

... You stole that from a movie. ADMIT IT!

*cough* ...Whoops, I had a feeling that would happen. EDIT: Sorry to all parties involved.

...Wait... wasn't Fury like Ian's real father or something? Or he at least went out with Sky or something... I could've sworn that all four of you knew eachother though. At least I was pretty sure LDP knew Fury. Guh. All this IRL stuff is crazy. ...Well, I talked to Silent on the phone once.