Comments which don't warrant a thread.

[snuffbox 0]

Supposedly Rage will be playing at Alpine Valley in Wisco on August 24.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Saw Modest Mouse last night at Lupo's. Skipped the first opening band, Love As Laughter, because alternative music, for the most part, is fucking atrocious. It's either going to be something sounding eerily similar to Radiohead, trying to emulate Nirvana, or be so fucking "out there" and "avante garde" for the sake of being so that it's awful. Came in, saw Man Man (who we thought was Modest Mouse initially, since their lead singer has the exact same voice), and was bored to fucking tears, so I contemplated leaving, and came up with a new rule for whenever I go to shows with people: I drive my own car no matter what. That way, if the band sucks? I can bail.

 

Modest Mouse came on at 10:15 or so, played a few songs I knew and mostly stuff off the new album, and...yeah. They were there. It's actually amazing, because the atmosphere at an "indie rock" show is entirely different than a metal/hardcore one. I tried to push through the crowd to get to my girlfriend to give her the Modest Mouse shirt I bought her, and only two people actually moved without me having to shove them out of the way. "Uptight pricks" would be a good phrase to describe the majority of the people there. Go to a metal/hardcore show? Ask somebody to move so you can go past them, and 9/10 will do so (the 1/10 will be too drunk/stoned to register the request). I don't get it: how can music that's meant to channel anger (metal/hardcore) have a scene that's more polite than music that's meant to be listened to for how fun it is (indie rock/pop)?

 

Show ended an hour too late (fuck all you hippies and indie fucks, I actually have a job to go to in the morning), got home around 1 after stopping by Taco Bell right before their drive-thru closed, ate my quesadilla, and fell asleep. Wake up feeling hungover when I didn't drink anything but water at the show, Slayer cranking (I have my alarm set to "Raining Blood," go ahead and make your comments), and get my ass to Dunkin' to grab some coffee and a bagel. Don't say much to my girlfriend either because we're both exhausted or mad at each other (the former is 100% true, the latter prolly true due to me not wanting to go last night and having said so a month ago upon learning of the show and thus being miserable for most of the evening), get to work, and here I am: the office is dead, there's no orders to pull, no deliveries to be made, and my boss stepped out to go to the post office and Dunkin' so I got about 20 minutes to kill.

 

Next concert: Sounds of the Underground. I wish it was at the Tweeter Center again this year rather than the Palladium, because the Palladium has just gotten worse and worse as far as concerts go, but Tool is playing the night before at the Tweeter Center, so they won't have enough time to clean up the pretentious droppings of "oh-so-wise" Tool fans that would understand how boring the band is when they put down the beer and the joint and actually listen with sober ears.

[Annabelle 0]

the klaxons album is alright. but its not over yet is remarkable. its a fine treat right at the end of an innocuous yet over-hyped album. a let down this song is not.

[Gary Floyd 0]

I got the new RJD2 album "The Third Hand" via rar. file today. I'm not liking it. He should really stick with producing and stay away from singing. I'll give him kudos for taking a chance with this one, but in the end, it sounds too much like DJ Shadow meets Beck meets Elliot Smith, and in a bad way.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I like a handful of songs, especially "Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away," "Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth," and "In This Home on Ice." The rest is hit or miss but I love those tracks. Haven't listened to the new album at all yet.

 

That's pretty much what I'd say. He is the queerest of gaywads, but I love that 'oooh hooo get me to a party' bit.

[snuffbox 0]

Slayer/Manson dates

 

Jul. 25 - Sound Advice Amphitheatre, West Palm Beach, FL

Jul. 27 - Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa, FL

Jul. 28 - Hi Fi Buys Amphitheatre, Atlanta, GA

Jul. 30 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

Jul. 31 - Tower City Amphitheatre, Cleveland, OH

Aug. 02 - Tweeter Center, Philadelphia, PA

Aug. 04 - DCU Center, Worcester, MA

Aug. 05 - PNC, Holmdel, NJ

Aug. 07 - Centre de Foire, Quebec, QC CANADA

Aug. 08 - Bell Centre, Montreal, QC CANADA

Aug. 10 - Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, ON CANADA

Aug. 11 - DTE Music Theatre, Detroit, MI

Aug. 13 - Allstate, Chicago, IL

Aug. 14 - Xcel, St Paul, MN

Aug. 16 - TBA

Aug. 18 - Coors Amphitheatre, Denver, CO

Aug. 21 - Sleep Train Amphitheatre, Sacramento, CA

Aug. 23 - Sleep Train Pavilion, Concord, CA

Aug. 24 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre @ Irvine, Los Angeles, CA

Aug. 25 - San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, CA

Aug. 27 - Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, AZ

Aug. 28 - Journal Pavilion, Albuquerque, NM

Aug. 30 - Nokia Theatre, Dallas, TX

Aug. 31 - Reliant Arena - Houston

Sep. 01 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, San Antonio, TX

 

Bleeding Through & someone else will open.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I'd go to see 'em, but Slayer at the DCU? Nah. Saw 'em there before (first time I saw 'em, actually), and it just doesn't work for 'em. Plus I'd be paying more to see Manson than I would to just see Slayer and MAYBE bands that don't suck, so yeah: fuck it.

 

Plus, SotU is 22 days earlier, and there'll likely be better concerts around that same time. Slayer is amazing, especially live, but I wouldn't want to have to deal with a bunch of early-to-mid 20's Manson fans that still haven't quite understood why people call them fags to see 'em.

[snuffbox 0]

When I saw Manson in 2004 this weirdo next to me was burning his palm with a lighter in tribute to his hero. Hilarious stuff.

[justsoyouknow 0]

Heard the new Wilco track last night when the local station actually decided to play music. I had no idea it was them until it was announced at the end - very different stuff, but I liked it.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

1. JSYK's avatar fucking RULES.

 

2. That's exactly why I won't go, snuff. I have only two friends into Manson, and only three our four into Slayer (2 of which that would actually have the cash to go to a concert). Plus...what the fuck would Manson play? A ton off of the last three or four albums (I can't even remember how many came after Mechanical Animals, since that's when my interest dropped off), a few off Portrait (the best album they've done, which is sad considering how much more popular the other albums are), and...then the radio singles. Hurray. Manson is boring, other bands do the whole "anti-establishment, free-thinking shock rock" schtick better than Manson ever could, and Slayer OPENING? Blasphemy.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

That's probably because it'd be easier to have all of Manson's shit set up than to set it up and move it out of the way for Slayer.

[snuffbox 0]

Alvin Batiste died in his sleep early Sunday morning.

[vivalaultra 0]

Is there something to The Shins that I'm missing? They're certainly ok, if a little bland and boring. I definitely don't think they're anything better than 'meh'. Am I wrong?

[King Kamala 0]

At the sports bar I was at last night, they were playing a lot of REM. Now I got no beef against REM but that's about the worst music you can play at a sports bar. It wasn't even their upbeat stuff, it was like "Everybody Hurts"

[Richard 0]

I guess the owner's team lost, or didn't cover.

[C Dubya 04 0]

Is there something to The Shins that I'm missing? They're certainly ok, if a little bland and boring. I definitely don't think they're anything better than 'meh'. Am I wrong?

 

Well, Zack Braff was all up on their dicks, so I think that helped them gain some mainstream momentum. I agree with your assessment though.

[Hank Kingsley 0]

Depends on what you listen to, really. Oh, Inverted World is super mellow and not my favorite (though "Know Your Onion!" is probably my favorite song by them), but Chutes Too Narrow and more specifically Wincing The Night Away have a stronger and more fun sound to them. Wincing is especially great because of the nautical theme. I am a fan.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I like the Shins, though Wincing the Night Away kinda stunk. Also, don't bother seeing them live. I think I've explained why in the past.

[Hank Kingsley 0]

I like it. Sleeping Lessons, Australia, Phantom Limb, and Turn On Me alone made it a worthwhile purchase. And the other songs don't bother me. I think overall I still like Chutes Too Narrow more.

[Anorak 0]

Is there something to The Shins that I'm missing? They're certainly ok, if a little bland and boring. I definitely don't think they're anything better than 'meh'. Am I wrong?

 

Give Chutes Too Narrow another listen or two. It's short enough and doesn't have a single duff track imo. If you're still unmoved then give them a miss.

[vivalaultra 0]

So, the lineup for Austin City Limits 2007 was revealed a minute ago. It's easily a better lineup than Lollapalooza and probably just about as good as 'roo and Coachella. So, yeah, here's the lineup (not including the 'kid's' acts and the gospel tent and some of the other filler acts, with the artists that I'm looking forward to seeing (barring schedule conflicts) asterisked:

 

Bob Dylan *

Bjork (I don't know about Bjork live. I like some of her stuff, but I'm not sure if she puts on a good live show or if her stuff will really translate well in the festival atmosphere. She is playing alot of festivals, so it probably will)

The White Stripes *

The Killers

My Morning Jacket*

Wilco *

Arcade Fire *

Muse

Queens of the Stone Age

Bloc Party *

Arctic Monkeys

Gotan Project

Joss Stone

Damien Rice *

Robert Earl Keen *

Lucinda Williams *

Spoon *

Blue October

Indigo Girls

The Decemberists *

Paolo Nuitini

Regina Spektor *

Amy Winehouse

Crowded House * (I only wanna see em to hear "Don't Dream It's Over", but they'll probably play that one last.)

Steve Earle *

Ziggy and Stephen Marley *

Kaiser Chefs

LCD Soundsystem * (Oh shit yeah!)

Augustana (Oh shit no!)

Amos Lee

M.I.A. *

Ben Kweller *

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

Andrew Bird *

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones *

Ghostland Observatory

Cross Canadian Ragweed

Rev. Horton Heat

Pete Yorn

Butch Walker

Peter, Bjorn, and John *

Sound Tribe Sector 9

Yo La Tengo *

Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts

Rodrigo y Gabriela *

Zap Mama

Blonde Redhead

Eli Young Band

Aterciopelados

Heartless Bastards

Raul Malo

Asleep at the Wheel *

The National *

Midlake

Dax Riggs (Dax Riggs is a fuckin' sonofabitch!)

Elvis Perkins in Dearland * (I'd pick Elvis over Dylan.)

Sound Team

Charlie Musselwhite *

Patterson Hood from The Drive-By Truckers *

The Broken West

Fionn Regan

Rose Hill Drive

 

They have a few more people that I've never heard of, local artists, kid's entertainers, and gospel singers. They also have an ensemble called Back Door Slam. All in all, the lineup looks really great. I'm glad that they didn't go strictly indie or 'brit-pop' like I had heard rumored. There's a good mix of indie, classic rock, country, singer/songwriters, and Marleys. Good stuff all the way around, except Augustana.

[godthedog 0]

i was reading this psychological study in this academic journal called 'music perception', where they were looking at intense emotional reactions in listeners, and i saw this table of the music pieces they used for their experiment:

 

"Tuba Mirum": Requiem KV 626, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -- An example of classical vocal music in which all solo voices from bass to soprano as well as a choir enter sequentially without any overlap, enabling study of the effect of different voice registers.

 

"Toccata BWV 540": Johann Sebastian Back -- An example of instrumental classical music (organ) in which different themes are repeated and developed in a highly ordered manner, enabling study of the effect of repeated parts compared to their first appearance.

 

"Making Love out of Nothing": Air Supply -- An example of pop music previously shown to elicit strong emotional reactions (Panksepp, 1995).

 

 

and a little further down the list, i see:

 

"Skull Full of Maggots": Cannibal Corpse -- An example of "death metal" music. Even if the piece seems to be nothing but chaotic shouting and crying at first glance, it has a clear and simple structure.

 

 

so, bravo to air supply and cannibal corpse for their valuable contributions to psychoacoustics.

[snuffbox 0]

While good, ACL is not a better lineup than either Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza. Didn't your hyperbole get the best of you with that statement last year as well, vivalaultra?

 

It is closer to you than those other two, though. Good for you on that.

[vivalaultra 0]

Meh, ACL still has more artists I'd rather see than Lollapalooza. ACL has more of the singer/songwriter types and Texas artists that I enjoy. I've decided that I don't like alot of 'indie' music these days. Give me a 60 year old guy from El Paso with a whiskey-cracked voice and an acoustic guitar and I'll be happy.

[snuffbox 0]

The 10klf schedule was announced today. What a bunch of garbage to slog through to get to few good bands.

[Gary Floyd 0]

New Order have officially broken up.

[Henry Spencer 0]

A good fifteen years too late.

[Epic Reine 0]

Who does the rapping part on Rush's "Roll The Bones"?

[Mik 0]

Probably talking to myself but "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" leaked and it's pretty decent. It's an interesting situation because I can't remember a band going from absolute nothing to one of the biggest and simultaneously most hated bands in between their first and second albums. Songs About Jane came out so long ago that I had an entire 3 year relationship between the CDs and I broke up with that girlfriend over a year ago. It's been awhile.

 

Needless to say, it's a big more peppy... Jamirqui-esque, but there are some definite stand out tracks. There is a song called "Nothing Lasts Forever" and it uses the exact same hook as a previous song he sung. It took me forever to figure it out and I was wondering how they could get so lazy but it's just his verse from the Kanye West song made into a whole song. It's actually a good song.

 

Overall, it's better than I expected. I expected a major let down and I actually kind of like it.

 

But the people who want to kill these guys will want to even more so, I think.

[Red Baron 0]

Who does the rapping part on Rush's "Roll The Bones"?

 

Alex Lifeson