This Is Our Music

Let's go away for a while

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:14:29 GMT

Strange morning. I woke up around 5 feeling like a salt lick. Had a dire thirst and set about quenching it, but now I'm seemingly up for good. Gotta work in a few hours. Hey! What's your favorite song off Weezer's Blue Album? I was thinking about that, laying watching the shadows pass on the ceiling. I first heard the Blue Album right about when it came out, which puts me around 9 years old. Somehow it's managed to sidestep the fate of Green Day, No Doubt, and so many other bands of the time that are just ill-formed hunks of juvenilia to me now. Something about it just holds true, even 14 years later.

How to pick a favorite? Go with the hits, like "Say It Ain't So"? Or the B-Sides, like "In the Garage"? How about the navel gaze mope-out that closes the album, "Only In Dreams"? Or the sad-sack highschooler entry, "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here"? All good choices, I wouldn't fault you, but I've got to go with "Holiday" on this one. It's definitely the most left-field song on the album, but it's also a mini-epic. It's got that chant-along chorus, and the super-dorky finger snap breakdown that threatens to destroy any feeble sense of cool the rest of the album created. If you've heard Weezer's last few albums, you know it's just a colossal failure when they try to act cool. "Holiday" is typical pop music, nothing real special about the lyrics, but it just rocks so well, those guitar hooks! Damn. It's up there with "Tonight" by the Raspberries, chillin' in power-pop Valhalla.

You've heard the song, right? Oh? You haven't? You deprived child. Here you go. Don't spend it all in one place:

http://www (dot) mediafire.com/download.php?mzh2qnaqyz3

Let me know what your favorite is and they can go head to head in an all-out battle of rocktopus tentacles and flaming licks. Okay, I'm through with this jackoff shoeshine tip. Gotta try to get some sleep out of this last hour before I have to head out.

============================

As always, if you like what you hear, go out and buy the album. On Vinyl.

soggyroach v2.0

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:24:22 GMT

This blog is hereby resuscitated as a music blog. I'll be posting tracks now and again, and writing about the music that propels me through my days. We'll start off with a brief A-side / B-side mix, you can call it "The Samplers vs. the Sampled."

Everyone knows the Funky Drummer - He's the guy playing drums on all your favorite hip hop tracks of the past 30 years. Clyde Stubblefield is his name, but he doesn't get much credit past the occasional name-drop. He was just a session musician when "Funky Drummer, Pt. 2" was recorded, so there's no royalty checks headed his way. He's probably never signed his name on anyone's cleavage. There's no real fame and fortune to speak of, and he's got no glam to his music career (see: Revenge Of The Funky Drummer for example). At the same time he's probably the single most-played artist on radio and in the clubs of the past three decades - he's been sampled, chopped, re-sampled, and his beats are now laying the funky groundwork for other artists' tracks. That's the solitary lot that a sampled musician has to bear - all cultural impact and no social glory. As I believe Walter Benjamin once said: "The real work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction is the simple act of getting some decent poon when no one recognizes you as the guy who played the 'funky drummer' beat."

The three modern tracks here are prime examples of the ways a good sample can be put to use. They're not hammy, and they don't rip off the original artists. Instead they manage to retain the feel of the sampled songs while still putting enough of a twist on the sounds to make them new. I see it as a tribute to the original writers, a nod of commiseration and a joyful expansion of their ideas.

Here's the tracklist:

The Shangri-Las - He Cried
Clinic - Porno
The Left Banke - I've Got Something On My Mind
Jens Lekman - Black Cab
Beck - Paper Tiger
Serge Gainsbourg - Cargo Culte

Download the mix HERE.

In the words of Omar Little from the Wire, "Money ain't got no owners, only spenders." Using these tracks as evidence, I think the sentiment can be echoed when it comes to good riffs and slinky beats.

LT Out.

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As always, if you like what you hear, go out and buy the album. On Vinyl.

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:28:29 GMT

Wow, it's been a while. Do any of you bearded lovelies still use this?

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:30:25 GMT

Kurt Vonnegut is dead.

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 05:40:48 GMT

Headuhline

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 02:05:12 GMT

Did I wander into the onion or something?

Incontinence sufferers have lower quality of life

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 10:38:13 GMT

Go see The Host.

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 03:12:38 GMT

This year's list of the top 25 under-reported news stories. read it, it's absolutely terrifying.

http://www.projectcensored.org/

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 04:29:57 GMT

I've got so many weird, wild, wacky, and sexy pictures on my hard drive, it would be a crime not to share them with anyone who might wander by. So. . .

It's good to see you.

John Samson!

feeling wacky yet!?

KABOOOOOM!

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 09:37:30 GMT

So Fletch posted a quiz of sorts here

And I've decided to make my own version, since sleep is still a fair ways off.

A: I was getting ready to be a threat / I was getting set for my accidental suicide

B: I first saw you / you had on blue jeans / your eyes couldn't hide / anything

C: I feel depressed, I feel so bad / 'cuz you're the best girl that I've ever had

D: I was livin' in a devil town / didn't know it was a devil town

E: Now that your picture's in the paper bein' rhythmically admired and you can have anyone that you have ever desired...

F: Asked you a question / But I didn't need you to reply

G: Tower to the skies / An Academy of lies

H: Now you're lookin' at a man that's gettin kinda mad / I had a lot of luck but it's all been bad

I: I never got my license to live / they won't give it up / so let's stand at the world's edge

J: Yeah I got busted / So I used my one phone call to dedicate a song to you on the radio

K: We're standing here / Exposing ourselves

L: Heaven / Is a disaster / But you won't get there / Any faster

M: Well she tossed all night like a raging sea / Woke up and climbed from the suicide machine

N: The World is turnin' / I hope it don't turn away

O: When you come around / Everything else disappears / My ears disappear

P: If I could fuck a mountain / Lord, I would fuck a mountain

Q: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

R: That candy-colored clown they call the sandman / tiptoes to my room every night

S: I lay on the bed in the dark / Laughing at things I think of / Getting off on the pornography of my past / Lighting matches, and dropping them into a wet glass

T: Just like a buzzin' fly / Come into your life / I'll float away / Like honey in the sun

U: Saw Johnny tonight, but we didn't say hello to eachother / we're all moving pretty fast these days, hoppin' round like peppercorns

V: I don't know just where I'm going / But I wanna try for the kingdom if I can

W: Think of a number / Divide it by two / Something ain't nothing / Nothing ain't nothing

X (the mystery clue, I have no X music with lyrics): Springtime comes and the leaves are back on the trees again / Snipers are harder to see, my friend

Y: Julie Christie, the rumors are true / As the pages turn, my eyes are glued

Z: I close my eyes and soon I'm feeling sleepy / I sleep so easy

It's about to go Critical!

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 10:35:01 GMT

radio silence

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 07:59:25 GMT

dude, everyone's doing it.

BAND/ARTIST: Hank Williams

Are you male or female: Ramblin' Man

Describe yourself: My Bucket's Got A Hole In It

How do some people feel about you: Hey, Good Lookin!

Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: I Just Don't Like This Kind of Living -or- Tear in My Beer

Describe current boyfriend/girlfriend/crush: Settin' the Woods on Fire

Describe how you love: Howlin' at the Moon

Where you want to be right now: I Won't Be Home No More

What would you ask for if you had just one wish: A Mansion on the Hill

Share a few words of wisdom: You're Gonna Change (or I'm Gonna Leave)

Where Do you Live?: I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 04:55:17 GMT

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 07:05:49 GMT

I asked the man what day it was.
He told me it was Veterans' Day.
"What date is it?" I said.
"November eleventh, sir," he said.
"November eleventh is Armistice Day, not Veterans' Day," I said.
"Where have you been?" he said. "They changed all that years ago."
"Veterans' Day," I said to Helga as we walked on. "Used to be Armistice Day. Now it's Veterans' Day."
"That upsets you?" she said.
"Oh, it's just so damn cheap, so damn typical," I said. "This used to be a day in honor of the dead of World War One, but the living couldn't keep their grubby hands off of it, wanted the glory of the dead for themselves. So typical, so typical. Any time anything of real dignity appears in this country, it's torn to shreds and thrown to the mob."
"You hate America, don't you?" she said.
"That would be as silly as loving it," I said. "It's impossible for me to get emotional about it, because real estate doesn't interest me. It's no doubt a great flaw in my personality, but I can't think in terms of boundaries. Those imaginary lines are as unreal to me as elves and pixies. I can't believe they mark the end or the beginning of anything of real concern to a human soul. Virtues and vices, pleasures and pains cross boundaries at will."

-K.V. Mother Night

the stock market's tumbling and the rock market's crumbling

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 01:27:00 GMT

that is a picture of me lately.

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 20:17:20 GMT

This train's bound for Pluto. Maybe earth can finally replenish its supply of dust and ice. My house is too clean and my drinks are too warm! Please, Pluto, help a brother out!

Sat, 10 Dec 2005 23:14:35 GMT

BREAK BEGINS!

call me up!

Oh Snap, I been tagged from across the country!

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 04:44:26 GMT

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, they must be songs you are presently enjoying. Post these instructions in your Live Journal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to."

Yo. 7500 songs and i've got to pick 7?

:
1 Pell Mell - Aero
2 The Black Keys - Act Nice and Gentle
3 Bruce Springsteen - Highway Patrolman
4 Roy Orbison - In Dreams
5 Merle Haggard - Sweethearts or Strangers
6 Badly Drawn Boy - Cause a Rockslide
7 Daniel Johnston - Got To Get You Into My Life (this one in particular is fucking amazing)

tags:
dance_wounds
bobby_fermango
hepcatmonk
kids_are_stupid
visualinterlude
p_n_guin
ross_eye

also P.S. attractivecousin a.k.a. Amber Hall: trust me, you will rue the day you convinced me to taint the sanctity of my livejournal with one of these "memes," as the common-folk call them in their grass-and-fish-gut hovels, reeking of blood sausage and old sandals and scratching eachothers' names into their childrens' skin using unglazed pottery shards. you have introduced a nugget of shame into my spotless game! for that, you are outcast!

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:23:39 GMT

i'm in vancouver starting tonight, leaving the 26th or so. call me if you want!

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 07:15:17 GMT

GAME:

Can you find Waldo in New York City, circa 1968?

look hard, it's a tough one.

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 09:04:25 GMT

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:13:24 GMT

Smoosh just made me realize i've wasted my life,
but then The Go! Team taught me how to love again.
Danced so much my stench was manifold, and i guess that's kind of a pun.
interpret it however you want. tomorrow DEERHOOF.
goodnight moon

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 07:55:08 GMT

i'm getting the new Boards of Canada album right now. can you smell the excitement? i can.
Ross: come over as soon as you read this, bring a CD.

ADDENDUM, 2:42 AM: It's pretty good.

Sat, 27 Aug 2005 07:45:57 GMT

Herein you will find a digitally rendered set of cliffs notes pertaining to R. Kelly's recent masterpiece "Trapped in the Closet." I hope that you will find them as helpful as I did in decoding this complex piece of modern musical cinema.

http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3100

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 09:42:17 GMT

for those of you who haven't heard: this sunday, the 28th, the tasteful nudes and i are opening for HELLA at the holocene. needless to say i'm waaaaaay fucking beyond excited. we should put on a good show, too, if today's practice was any indication of our sonic feasibility. everyone who's 21 or older and in the greater portland area should come to this show. i cannot stress that fact enough. hella will blow your mind and rattle your bones, we'll probably try to sell you a cd, and who knows about blues goblin? although i guess if you're the type who prefers not to have their mind blown, feel free to sit at home and jerk off to ron popeil infomercials or unsolved mysteries. whichever you prefer; i won't tell your mother. better get a broom!