5 Songs In A Row

#25

2012-01-18T09:09:00.002-05:00

STOP SOPA AND PIPA!

Write to your congressman/woman and tell them you do not support censorship of the internet. We are not China or North Korea, nor are we any other state that supports the suppression of information.

5. "We're Not Gonna Take It" - Twisted Sister

4. "What's Goin' On?" - Marvin Gaye

3. "Fight For Your Right" - Beastie Boys

2. "Get Up, Stand Up" - Bob Marley and the Wailers

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1. "Fuck Tha Police" - N.W.A.

#24

2012-01-01T12:50:00.000-05:00

The First

January 1, 2012. My night was set on fire. Orange and yellow in the air. Red on her lips. The slow burn of blue on everything else. Emotions were high, it was to be expected though considering what specific night it was. It was new year's eve and on the stroke of 12 everything gets erased. Right?

Right?

I wish we had backspaces, deletes, and control-Zs. Undos not just for certain scenes and events, but for life baggage. The stuff that is constantly with you no matter where you go. The stained shirts and dirty jeans. They've been with you through thick and thin and to throw them away would be like losing a part of yourself that you just can't let go of. It's like cutting off an arm or two. But sometimes, just sometimes, I think I'd be okay as a paraplegic. I'd survive.

There are no resolutions to break. I can't keep promises to myself. But sure enough I will run through hell with a bomb strapped to my body and detonate it to make sure people that are close to me are happy. Certain ones in particular.

This off the cuff 5SIAR is about one of those persons, our new years, and the morning after that I spent making myself a gut rot kind of breakfast to cure the hangover from not just the booze, but from that person as well.

"Drive" - The Cars

Wearing my cheap sunglasses to save my poor head from anymore damage I braved the sun and ventured out to the grocery store for supplies.

Starbucks coffee (Luckily it was on sale)
Eggs
Bacon (Duh)
Marble rye bread (The best breakfast always involves a good marble rye)

I procured my items and started making my way to the cashier when this song came on. And here I thought I was doing so well shoving the night into a box and putting it on a shelf. No, not yet, because the contents just came spilling back out because of a song. It's always because of a song isn't it?

I found myself just standing in one spot underneath one of the speakers in the ceiling just so I could listen. People passed by and probably wondered what I was doing just standing there. To make myself not seem so peculiar I pretended to look at the ready made chili mixes on one of the shelves. I had already scared myself, I didn't want to scare other people too.

The entire night was on my mind, more specifically the drive home. It was quiet for the most part. Even if we did talk I don't remember what we said to each other. We were both drunk and we might have said something to the effect of wondering where the DUI check points were in town, but who knows. All I can recall right now is her perfume. It was still fresh in my car when I drove to the store. It's on everything. My hoodie as well.

After breakfast I think I'll go wash my car and do laundry.

"Holocene" - Bon Iver

I think I get why so many people love this album. It has a kind of loathing that everyone can identify with. Or something like that. I don't know. It's in the way Justin Vernon says "And at once I knew I was not magnificent" like he's fighting to accept it, but obviously can't. Some of us battle with our past and never seem to win. Oh how I wish we could have some kind of small victory. I wanted it to be last night.

"Hybrid Moments" - The Misfits

This was your song of the night. You kept begging me to play it before the stroke of midnight. So I did. I don't know what it was about this song that turned your volume up to 11, but it made me smile to see you have so much fun singing along to it.

It's going on the mix I'll eventually make but not give you.

"Something In The Night" - Bruce Springsteen

That makes three songs with lyrics that have to do with driving and/or being on a highway. Love, or something that looks like it, is always a long road.

Thanks, Boss.

"Love Is Like A Bottle Of Gin" - The Magnetic Fields

It makes you blind, it does you in
It makes you think you're pretty tough
It makes you prone to crime and sin
It makes you say things off the cuff
It's very small and made of glass
and grossly over-advertised
It turns a genius to an ass
and makes a fool think he is wise
It could make you regret your birth
or turn cartwheels in your best suit
It costs a lot more than it's worth
and yet there is no substitute
They keep it on a higher shelf
the older and more pure it grows
It has no color in itself
but it can make you see rainbows
You can find it on the Bowery
or you can find it at Elaine's
It makes your words more flowery
It makes the sun shine, makes it rain
You just get out what they put in
and they never put in enough

Love is like a bottle of gin
but a bottle of gin is not like love.

#23

2011-12-05T10:45:00.000-05:00

It's Not Easy Being Green

I was going to try to write something witty in the vein of an epitaph about how I feel like this blog is dying or is already dead. In fact I already had a solid paragraph penciled in. Something about hitting a wall and trying my hardest to walk through it. Bloody nose and all. But I didn't know how to go further than that. I thought to myself, "what else could I say that I haven't already said before?" Music...emotion...music and emotion. It all sounds like an echo that's bouncing off that same wall and won't stop. So, the only choice I do have is to stay silent for a bit to let the sound cool off. Being still comes easy for me. Hell, I haven't been to the gym in over a month now. I've gone back to smoking the occasional cigarette. My health hasn't necessarily deteriorated, but it's not exactly running on all eight cylinders. I guess the real issue is trying to convert that gas-guzzling engine into something more clean and efficient. Something that will carry me through the long haul of life. I need sustainability. I need to go green.

Holidays are always rough patches for me. The lack of money and then the stress of working more because of the lack of money. It can drag any person down as we have already seen in the past three years since the crash of 2008. I don't have to tell you that people have lost their jobs and homes. I don't need to give you the answers, you already know them. Some of you are a statistic. And what do the commercials say in regards to drunk driving or wearing your seat belt? "DON'T BECOME A STATISTIC!" Too late. This country (or should I say the 1%?) has already drank enough Four Loko, gotten behind the wheel, and hit the gas. I know many people that are jobless. Sure, it may be a lack of skills, but mostly it's a lack of money in the small business sector to provide those jobs. Oh, but wait, wasn't that what TARP was supposed to do? Where's that money? I think we already know the answer to that question too.

Don't get me wrong, folks. I still love music and I still love writing about it. But it's not just about me anymore and my problems. It's everyone else too and their 99 problems, or, their 99% problems. Which is why I'm going back to school for economics and political science. I don't think money is god, but I want to find out why people want to keep money as god. Gandhi said "be the change you wish to see in the world." So if we want our political landscape to change more of us need to take part in it or at least be knowledgeable about it. And I'm not talking about old ideas that cause people to sail under one flag or another. Conservative versus Liberal. Keynesian versus Hayekian. Korn versus Limp Bizkit (remember that fight? HA!). We need to go radical and come up with a plan that helps everyone. Even the ones that like Nickleback.

For now though, this new found obsession with the state of things has breathed new life into 5SIAR. I know I said I wanted to concentrate on the music and only the music on this blog and nothing else. But now it's time to flip-flop on that decision. Music means something different to me now. Just don't call me Newt or Mitt for changing my mind. You've been warned.

"One Time" - The Roots

The Roots have a new album out. Good, I needed some space to fill on my year-end mix. There hasn't been too many albums released this year that have grabbed my attention. However someone just gave me a few more new releases for me to ingest and digest. But first, this album, undun. It's become standard practice for The Roots to deliver us from evil with their intense story lines about the world in which we live in. For example, Black Thought name drops the Occupy movement on this track. I haven't listened enough times to really grasp what the context of the mention is, but I'm sure Thought and the rest of his band are pro-Occupy. I mean, they played Fishbone's "Lyin' Ass Bitch" as Michelle Bachmann's intro music when she was on Jimmy Fallon. Of course she was none the wiser, but in an interview with Pitchfork ?uestlove said that they regret doing it now. I say keep stirring the pot.

Every time I think of a politician listening to music I always think of George W. trying to play drums with that African dance company or Bill Clinton jammin' on the sax. Or the pièce de rèsistance, John Ashcroft singing "Let The Eagle Soar." Oh, the humanity.

I wonder what Obama listens to. Hrmm... Nah, he's not that cool.

I'm going to have to say that in the realm of music political activism is partly erased. Or maybe I'm not listening to the right shit? As noted in Chris Hedges' book Death Of The Liberal Class, people used to listen to Bob Dylan for their answers not LBJ and Nixon during the 60s. I'm paraphrasing of course. While people may not look towards artists for their revolution ammo now, that doesn't mean it's not there. A good example would be PJ Harvey's recent album Let England Shake or some punk band that I'm not listening to but probably should.

My mind is drawing a blank again. Forgive me if this post winds up being short. It could have something to do with me being hungry. To combat this I have begun to shove Ritz crackers with peanut butter into my mouth like a fat kid clinging desperately to a failed diet.

Oh, look, the Grammy nominations just dropped. My Twitter feed is abuzz with Bon Iver getting the nod for an award or four. I'll call it right now that Señor Vernon will win and NO ONE will even know who the heck he is just like NO ONE knew who Arcade Fire was when they won last year. There's a tumblr about that actually. But what's even more hilarious is this video. I guess you could've just watched the video on the tumblr page, but I as I said before, I want to help people in this world. Consider that my first act of public service.

"Who's That Girl?" - Robyn

So, yeah, nominations. Radiohead is on there, obviously, for The King Of Limbs. No surprise there. But what's this my eyes do see? Robyn has been nom'ed as well! I was going to use a Radiohead song, but fuck it, we're going with Robyn. Did I mention I was the only dude dancing at Bonnaroo when she was on stage for her set? I have no shame. I'm sure at some point if I decide to run for public office this will come back to haunt me. No, not my illicit drug use. None of the (alleged) trespassing charges that never stuck. But some pundit will break the story of me dancing my ass off in public to Robyn. America is getting so goddamned tight-wadded that I wouldn't be a bit surprised to open the newspaper one day in the future and see a headline that reads "NICHOLAS TRUDEN CAUGHT DANCING TO GIRL MUSIC!" Yeah, so? I'll admit it. I shook that thing my mama gave AND I waved it around like I just didn't care! Suck it, America.

There's another Robyn track I really love too. It's called "Who's That Girl?" and was the song that garnered her a negative response from her label at the time which then propelled her to start her own label, Konichiwa Records. Every time I listen to "Who's That Girl?" it reminds me of a quote from the author of the comic Phonogram, Kieron Gillien, and what he said about the track. I may have mentioned it before in a previous post, but here it is again.

“i listen to "who’s that girl?" and i think of every girl i’ve trapped in my expectations of her, and think of every time i feel as if i’ve been trapped in theirs. i think of the infinite distance between people and - nevertheless - our urge to cross that gap, knowing that most people fall into the void. it makes me want to dance, and makes me know that no matter how big the dance floor, no matter how many friends i was with, how happy i was…i’d be alone, and i know i’ll always be alone. and so will everyone else. but - most importantly - it doesn’t matter.”

Whenever I feel down I go back to that quote and listen to the song. It makes me feel better. I don't know how or why, but it does. Maybe because Kieron is right. We are alone, but it never really matters anyway in the greater scheme of things. There will always be friends and a dance floor and songs from Robyn. Those things are eternal.

"Cruel" - St. Vincent

"You can't apologize your way into people's hearts. You have to go full force." - Annie Clark

I envy this woman. She makes not having any emotion look so damn easy. And beautiful. Her gestures speak for themselves and they're not really saying much. This is what numb looks like.

"What If We Could?" - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

I had a dream. I had a dream you were my neighbor. I had a dream you were my neighbor and as we were sitting outside a man approached us at our little table. I don't remember what he said, it's possible he didn't say anything at all. But I remember the look on your face when you told me that this wasn't going to work. You and I. You looked down at the table and your dark hair masked the sides of your face like blinders on a horse. The man was then blocked from your view so I looked at him just so I wouldn't have to look at you. Or our table.

That was all I remember from a dream I had this past week. A brunette with dark eyes sitting across from me. I don't remember the dialog, but I'm sure it wasn't kind judging how I remembered the scene by listening to this new song from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo soundtrack. All I can recall now is her face and head, and the brown hair that fell from it that hid her brown eyes. I thought I'd be okay, but it's always something, something aural, that causes the most painful sting. Which is why I will always consider Trent Reznor one of the most prolific and conscious songwriters of our time and how I wish Chad Kroger would just stop already.

Am I bitter? Yes. Is it going to go away? Unlikely. I am who I am because of my penchant for not forgetting. I tend to hold grudges. I've buried most of them, but that doesn't mean they aren't there beneath the surface. I just need to throw the shovel away, but my grip on it is like that of a vice. I won't let go. And that will always be my problem. I'll never leave the table.

"Bloom" - Radiohead (Jamie xx Rework)

I decided to go ahead and put Radiohead on here anyway to make a point. The Kings Of Limbs has become the new bad Radiohead album. It pushed ahead of Hail To The Thief to take the top spot of least favorite among many of the casual and non-casual fans. Myself included. But I'm at war with this decision because I don't want to give up the idea that Radiohead can make a bad album. Truth is, any band can. Even Radiohead. Now what I want to know is, did they do it on purpose? Is King Of Limbs Radiohead's Exit Through The Giftshop? Did they turn the camera on us to see what we would do? I keep wondering if that's the statement between the songs. I mean, it's still Radiohead, and even though we're not getting the same kind of OK Computer or Kid A kind of genius, I feel like King Of Limbs still has something to teach us; It doesn't matter who it is, art doesn't always have to be loved.

It's weird to think that someone could be fucking with our heads like that. Making us sit down and question things. But that is what we should be doing most of the time anyway. This is why I feel Radiohead commissioned all of these remixes to be created. They asked, "how would you have done it?" It's not surprising that most of the remixes are actually better than their originals. Listening through it sounds like the only piece used from the original tracks is Thom's vocals. Everything else was produced by the remixers. Truth be told, this collection is the real King Of Limbs.

Radiohead isn't hurting for cash. I'm sure they wouldn't have flinched if absolutely no one bought The King Of Limbs. What I'd like to know is whether or not these remixes have had higher sales than KOL. If so it would almost be like Radiohead is doing what other leaders have suggested doing, and that is to "spread the wealth." Sound familiar? I'm sure it does to you and I'm almost just as sure you might be calling me a commie inside your head. Fair enough, but I'm not talking about a set of ideals taken from the story of Robin Hood. Where a thief takes from the rich and gives to the poor. Our society doesn't need a middle man. What we need are the opportunities without the enormous cost or any cost at all. What people don't understand about capitalism is that its goal is to have everything bought and sold in a market. It's a system of haves and have nots. I wish more people would see this, but it takes turning off the television and opening up a book or newspaper once in a while. You'll find that death is a pretty hot commodity lately.

People say that capitalism has improved our way of life and we are better for it. Noam Chomsky made a good point saying the same thing about the improved conditions of slavery from the 18th century to the 19th century. Does that still mean slavery is moral? How can America be the richest country in the world yet be in the middle or at the bottom on lists of countries with a better health care system or school system. The only thing we're at or near the top of the list for is the amount of money we spend on defense and the number of people incarcerated.

We need new ideas. Ones that aren't based off the systems we have in place now. The thing is is that these new ideas aren't new at all. They've been around for a long time and have become bastardized by our government, the media, and even the art community. We have no real choice anymore, and if voting actually changed something it would be illegal. This is why we need the remixers of the world to stand up. We've seen what Occupy Wall Street has done, just imagine what else we can do once more people wipe the dust from their eyes from sleeping so long to get to the American dream. We need to stop seeing green in everything and start seeing red. But first we need to get mad.

#22

2011-07-14T22:55:00.004-04:00

Uhmerica, FUCK YEAH!
ps. Bonnaroo

Today's the fourth of July (no it's not, but it was when I started writing this). It's time to dust off the Skynyrd tapes, fire up the pit, and sling back a few dozen of your favorite American brews. In some parts of the country (almost all of it) people are waving their flags with their families and rejoicing in the freedoms bestowed upon them by our forefathers. The rest of us just use it as an excuse to drink and blow shit up. And we don't even need to wear the Pro-Palin t-shirts to do it. I mean, really, does this day really mean anything to anyone except that they get a day off from work? I'd like to celebrate the way the founders of our country probably did. Smoke some of their marijuana cash crop, have sex with one of their "housekeepers", and call it a day. Actually, I wouldn't mind throwing around a pigskin right now. If only it wasn't 100,000,000 degrees outside. Speaking of hot weather, I shall digress from my Independunce Day rant and travel back in time to three, nay, four weeks ago. A time of endless dirt, buckets of sweat, hippies, good food, and even better bands. I am speaking of Bonnaroo 2011. We came. We saw. We conquered.

Four friends and I packed a car with enough booze to quench the thirst of Jimmy McNulty and made our way to Manchester, Tennessee - A small little community past the Blue Ridge Mountains that's home to one of the biggest music festivals that is now in their eleventh year running. Every second week in June thousands of people converge onto a farm to hear some of the biggest names in music, new and old. The name Bonnaroo comes from a Dr. John album (he was there this past year) and is Cajun for "good time." Well, it certainly was a good time. So much in fact that I was sick for two weeks afterwards. Shut up, you'd be sick too if your amount of sleep over the course of 4 days didn't come close to double digits.

So for this 5SIAR I have the stories accompanied by some music to prove that everyone should try Bonnaroo at least once. There are naysayers out there, I know. To which I say to you- deal with wearing a layer of dirt for a few days. It's worth it.

"Generator ^ 1st Floor" - Freelance Whales
Chosen by Rachel Crump

So I asked my fellow travelers to give me a song that summed up their experience at 'Roo. I'm currently having a little trouble coming up with mine so I'll start with the picks they made. I have never heard this band Freelance Whales until now as I write this. And since I obviously hadn't heard them when Bonnaroo was going on I wasn't going to fill my time with seeing them lest I miss something else important. Like, going down a giant inflatable waterslide. That thing saved our lives from the Tennessee sun which is remarkably very similar to the Florida sun. There was no relief from being north of my home state where hell's heat gets vented. No, the Tennessee heat was just as miserable so any respite from it received a very warm welcome. PUN INTENDED!

It cost a person $10 for a wristband to ride the waterslide an unlimited amount of times throughout the entire weekend of Bonnaroo, and I must say that that was the best $10 I spent while I was there. My friends and I must've went down that thing at least 5 times a day and we probably would've been on it even more were it not for the bands that we wanted to see. In fact, I think I might've skipped out on a few bands just to be in close contact with either a) water, b) shade, or c) water and shade. Both of those things were necessary if you were to survive there. I still don't know how the masses were getting drunk at 2 in the afternoon. Two people died during Bonnaroo this year, and by the looks of all the people carrying around booze cups between the times of noon and 6pm there should've been more. Maybe I'm just old fashioned in the I like being hydrated and alive kind of way.

Blogger keeps telling me that waterslide should be two words or have a hyphen between water and slide. It's one word. It's one word because it deserves to be held together on its own with no other punctuation. It's earned that right. Studies have even shown that it's impossible not to smile while riding a waterslide. It's even more impossible not to smile while riding a waterslide at Bonnaroo. We went down the thing backwards, forwards, sideways, and any other which way to get the maximum amount of pleasure we could squeeze out of it. A tip of the hat goes to the organizers of Bonnaroo for including this masterpiece of aquatic entertainment. Bring it back next year or there could be riots.

"Wonderful (The Way I Feel)" - My Morning Jacket
Chosen by Mark Nixon

So there's this band called My Morning Jacket. Maybe you've heard of them, maybe you haven't. They make for good driving music. They also make for a good band to play before Arcade Fire after waiting for hours in dry summer heat. The sun was our enemy for the entire trip. That unrelenting, unforgiving orange ball of suck that cast its rays down on the tired masses. It was Day 2, and having already learned that I cannot beat Apollo at his own game from Day 1, I wasn't about to take my chances outdoors without the proper amount of H20 that was needed. However, my comrades and I were determined to have a front row for Arcade Fire. It was part of the reason why we even bought tickets to the festival in the first place and we weren't about to concede to a defeat. Well, at least my comrades weren't. I pussed out...sorta.

It was around 4:00ish, I think, when Grace Potter & The Nocturnals were done with their set. The Decemberists were the next band up at 5:00...I think. I don't know to be honest, it's all hazy now. I should've written this right after I got back from Tennessee, but you know, I'm fucking lazy. You're just gonna have to deal with half memories or in some cases quarter memories. Hell, I might even just start making shit up.

So in between The Decemberists and the pterodactyl invasion I decided to seek shade and acquire more water before the dehydration got the best of me again. Day 1 was brutal, man. I ALMOST DIED! I was lucky to have friends there who didn't just want to kick dirt on me and give me snarky looks for wearing a fanny pack. I was brought back to life. More accurately, I was fanned back to life. But back to Day 2. It was Friday and we were sick of the sun and ready to get to the "punched out Deebo" part of our day. I was out of water and my two friends (we'll call them Mark and Tina, because those are their real names) were rationing what little water they had left for the rest of the evening, which wasn't much at all. Begrudgingly, I admitted an early defeat and trekked back to Centeroo for my punch and pie. I sat inside an air conditioned makeshift sports bar (because America can't go four days without sports) and chugged two bottles of water while watching the Decemberists' set on giant flat screen TVs. This was more like it, I thought, but then I also didn't want to miss My Morning Jacket or Arcade Fire. I also didn't want Mark and Tina to die from hyperthermia.

Hyperthermia [hahy-per-thur-mee-uh] - Elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation. Hyperthermia occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate. The more you know, people.

I tightened my suspenders (fanny pack belt), dusted myself off (pointless and futile), and set back out to join back up with my parched partners in crime and give them the sweet relief of fresh, non-backwashed, water. I know what you're wondering though. "But Nick, how did you manage to get through a sea of people to return to the front row? Surely your path must have been blocked by hundreds, literally hundreds of hippies." And you would be correct, but here's the catch. The hundreds of other hippies who were watching The Decemberists were leaving as I was coming back. There were holes in which to fit through, I just had to dodge a few hacky sacks to make use of them, and make use of them I did. I also had to pretend there was an emergency and tell me people to get the fuck out of my way. Finally though, there was victory.

I made it back to the front where Mark and Tina still were and their eyes lit up at the sight of me holding two extra bottled of water for them. I have no analogy to equate and compare this scene to so just use your imagination. They were fucking happy and I was the hero they deserved and needed. So, yeah, the rest of the night (and the trip) was indeed wonderful. Well, except for Tina getting pelted in the face with a beach ball. That kinda sucked. Oh, and she also ran over a squirrel with her car. So there's that too... But the rest of it was great!

"California One/Youth And Beauty Brigade" - The Decemberists
Chosen by Tina Jones

Tina stated on my Facebook page, "The Decemberists did not play this song, nor did we drive to Cali. But I feel this choice embodies what we all shared." Cue the studio audience awwwwww. She's right though, the song sums up the camaraderie the five of us had while on this trip. No one fought with each other. No one got on anyone else's nerves. We all wanted the same thing. Which was to share one of the best experiences possible from Day 1 to Day 4. From driving up to Tennessee and driving back down home to Florida. Part one of this song is all about driving, specifically on California's coastal highway, Route 1. And while our car may not have traveled that famous shoreline road we did travel quite a distance to get somewhere we all needed to be.

Packed into a compact sedan for 8-9 hours with four other people may make a certain person go insane or feel claustrophobic. I luckily did not experience either of those things. It was uncomfortable, yes, but never torturous. Torturous is spending just one hour in the car with my parents without headphones at my disposal. Everyone should know what this is like because everyone has some kind of "my parents are so annoying" story to tell. I can't imagine being cooped up in a small space with my parents for 8 hours straight. I'd need some serious downers. Thankfully my parents were not involved so I didn't need that bar of Xanax after all.

The five of us were troopers. Especially Tina considering she drove the entire way to Tennessee. Her secret of course was lots of caffeine. There was a 5 Hour Energy Drink, a Red Bull, and a large cup of coffee involved all at one time. I'm still unsure to this day how her heart managed not to explode. The human body is a resilient thing. However, three of us got sick upon returning. It took two weeks to get over the hippie flu and that was with antibiotics. It was miserable. All I wanted to do was throw a frisbee around and make bongs out of random household objects.

"Strange Times" - The Black Keys
Chosen by Chris Mitchell

I've never listened to this song before. To be honest I've never been a fan of The Black Keys. Their mix of blues and rock just never really appealed to me, but I can understand why people would like them. They're catchy, I'll give them that. I look for one of two things when I listen to a band. Does it cause an emotional response or does it make me want to move? All the artists I enjoy have either one or both qualities. The Black Keys unfortunately have neither. There must've been some reason Chris picked this band and their song to represent his time at Bonnaroo. Or he could just be lazy like me and pulled a song out of his ass just to give me one. I mean, he's a funny guy. The tantrum to get an Aqua Teen hat at the Adult Swim carnie games was proof enough.

Again, my memory does not serve me correctly. I can't remember what the hell I was doing when The Black Keys were performing. Does anyone remember? It was Saturday night, correct? Because they played before Eminem went on. Right? Fuck it. The only thing that really mattered on Saturday night was Scissor Sisters and Girl Talk. In fact that was more like Sunday morning considering we didn't get back to the hotel room till 6:00AM. Then we were back up at 8:00 to do it all over again. Then we were up fairly late Sunday night trying to put a dent in our cache of beer by playing Circle Of Death. ~~Strange~~ Good times.

"The Suburbs" - Arcade Fire
Chosen by me

"Your part of town against mine so you're standing on the opposite shore."

That line sums it all up for me. I don't know why, but it does. Could be the way I felt the first time I heard it played live last August in Atlanta seeping into how I felt when they played it at Bonnaroo. Two separate occasions, two very different meanings. The duality of the song and the duality of how all of our lives have those black and white moments even though it's still cradled by all of the grey that's in between. It always seems like there's a war going on between nouns. People, places, things. That constant struggle everyone calls life. I've taken the more cynical approach by just saying "whatever." But even cynicism has failed.

"No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up." - Jane Wagner

And she's right. It's not enough. Which is why I miss being a kid. Cynicism had no meaning yet.

This is why we spend a night or a day or a few days and nights forgetting about all of the bullshit that we have to worry about that happens on the other days. We need our release from the front lines. We need fucking concerts and Four Loko that has 12% alcohol. We need to try to set up a tent without the directions. We need a dude Jazzercising to School Of Seven Bells. We need to sing at the top of our lungs when our favorite song comes on. We need to eat Taco Bus everyday because it's fucking delicious. We need to push Gumby out of the way while trying to find the room to dance to whatever Greg Gillis is playing at the time. We need to get closer to the stage when Sleigh Bells is on so our ears bleed from the high decibel level. We need to take care of someone when the heat gets to them. We need to go down the waterslide one more time. We need to just forget about the war every now and then.

#21

2011-05-25T11:30:00.002-04:00

5-10-15-20-25

I was recently reminded of the part in High Fidelity where the main character Rob looks up all his old girlfriends in a sort of "what does it all mean?" mid-life crisis. While the situation seems to be common for most people, for me it just seems like a gimmick to help cope with some kind of pain that's still lingering. Kind of like how people go to psychics to get help or post something on Facebook to get attention from peers in a non-direct way. I think most psychics are fake, and the Facebook posts wind up just getting blocked from my news stream. So I'm sorry if I didn't like your the photos you posted of your stupid baby. You're probably blocked.

As for me, instead of taking the "what does it all mean?" approach. Instead of awkwardly calling up all my ex's to ask them "what happened to us?" I go for the best kind of memory erasing I can give myself within the bounds of human consciousness and capability. Photos get destroyed, keepsakes are burned, songs aren't listened to for a long time. Hell, just last week I listened to Passion Pit for the first time in almost a year. To be honest, I think I can probably go the rest of my life without hearing them again. They just didn't make the impression on me that I need to stick with an artist no matter what the memory connected to them may be.

So instead of looking back at memories that do not need unearthing, I'd rather dig up some other ones that allow me to ask and answers the questions of my own being. Other people influence our personalities, but it's how we process those connections in relation to how we feel at the time that causes those neural pathways to form the way they do. Which brings me to the subject of this new 5SIAR.

Pitchfork has a column they run called 5-10-15-20-25 in which they ask musicians what they were listening to when they were those ages. It's interesting to see what everyone puts and how my choices are so lame in comparison. But this is what made me. And I only get one personal musical history so I should make the best of it by sharing it with all of you. Prepare to laugh and silently mock me.

"In The Mood" - Robert Plant

People have very blurred and distorted memories from when they were small children. It's our brain's natural defense against the very first pains we experience when growing up since we are still mentally immature to handle them all. We don't know how to cope with certain behaviors and surroundings. I remember bits and pieces as I'm sure you do as well of your childhood. The one thing that always sticks out among the people I've talked to is that they always remember what music their parents were playing. I seem to recall a lot of The Beatles. One of my first memories is my mother rocking me to sleep while humming "Let It Be." Paul was always her favorite and I have her Wings albums. No, I do not listen to them.

It wasn't until my family and I moved to Florida from our hometown of Rahway, NJ that I remember a specific song that was played just for me. It was "In The Mood" from Plant's solo album The Principle of Moments. I just remember this one song even though I know they played the entire album. I was 5 and my bedroom was the fold-out couch in the living room of our one bedroom apartment. My parents put this album on one night as a soundtrack for me to fall asleep to. Not sure what my parents were thinking. It's not exactly an album that is soothing with Plant's vocals being so metallic and sharp. What kind of 5 year old would enjoy this? Me, I guess. Or at least that's what my dad probably thought at the time since it was his cassette.

I'm not close with my dad. We barely have anything to say to each other most of the time. But we do share a love of certain types of music and I have to give credit where credit is due. He introduced me to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Two of the greats, obviously, and as time went on in my youth he would constantly play Physical Graffiti and Dark Side Of The Moon. I've tried returning the favor by giving him newer music to listen to, but I never have any success. It may be because I caught him listening to "Everybody Hurts" one day and made fun of him for it. Did I mention we don't get along very well? On a more positive note, he's finally stopped listening to Celine Dion.

"Head Over Heels" - Tears For Fears

My time table is a little off for this song and album. I was listening to Songs From The Big Chair when I was around 7 or 8. Honestly though, I loved it so much that it was still played in the car when I was 10. It was required listening every time we went on a trip somewhere. Short or long. My parents only had one car for a while so I was always with my mom when she had to pick my dad up from work. As soon as we'd get in the car I'd beg her to play Tears For Fears, and of course bring the great mom she is, she always had the tape ready for me. Side one track one, "Shout", was one of my first favorite songs, but it was MTV and their constant rotation of the video for "Head Over Heels" that finally made me decide that Songs From The Big Chair was to be my first favorite album. I seriously loved that song so much I wanted to watch the video for it on repeat. And so begins my very first musical obsession.

When my parents finally caved and became cable television addicts they got a big kick out of recording the music videos off of MTV with their new state of the art VCR. We were climbing up the middle-class ladder. We moved out of the shitty one bedroom apartment and into a new three bedroom house. My dad even had his own work car once and for all. An old Datsun hatchback that required the bumper being held in place with electrical tape. This would later become a standing joke in our household. So with fiscal security came better Christmas presents. I finally got a Nintendo, but more importantly I finally got my own boombox with a cassette player for my room. This added luxury would become more important to my personal and social evolution than a gaming system. I never had to blow into a cassette tape to get it to play either.

Most of my pre-teen music exposure was attributed to those video tapes my parents had sitting on top of the TV for hours of continued entertainment. We eventually had an on-demand music video catalog. Everything from Rick Astley to ZZ Top was recorded. If we liked it, we hit the red button on the remote. Yes, I'm responsible for Rick Astley. I told you you would laugh, did I not? As the years went on I got into a lot more Pop music than you could probably shake a stick at. I stayed away from the mall-rat scene and stuck with the good stuff of course. Even at 10 I was a bit of a snob and had somewhat of a taste. Except for Rick. I totally understand Dennis' (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) obsession with the song. And yes I bought the cassette single for the it too. Sigh.

"The Sign" - Ace Of Base

It's confession time, folks. Before the onslaught of grunge I was stuck in a bit of a Pop wormhole that I couldn't get out of. I blame the radio for this because it even took time for the airwaves to catch on to the insurgence of Alternative bands. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots...they didn't exist yet in my world. My corner of the audioverse had room for only one band(?) and they were called Ace Of Base. I'll let that sink in for a bit.

Caught your breath yet? Great. I'm sure my 15 year old self was able to hear your laugh even from this great space/time difference, jerk. Okay, so I'm kind of laughing too (while I also listen to the entire album over again). It's terrible. Like, really terrible. Why did I like it so much? As I ponder this quandary I can only come up with one solution - The female vocals. I'm drawn to them. As my musical taste expanded with Alternative bands I realized that I liked the stuff sung by women more than men. This opened the door to Tori Amos, who is still one of my favorite musicians of all time. Sure, I was made fun of. But then being the music junkie I was I would just retort with "Maynard James Keenan likes Joni Mitchell, so fuck off!" Needless to say that did not ward off my verbal attackers.

But I mean, come on. You can't help but bop your shoulders to the beat. Yes, it's bad, and I eventually wised up and started listening to what all the other kids in my classes were listening to. I bought Siamese Dream from Smashing Pumpkins and never looked back. I even remember asking a friend of mine if buying that album would make me "cool." She said yes. So I went with it. Ace Of Base was left to collect dust on my CD rack and was finally traded in for better CDs. Still, I admit it helped shape my musical preferences of present day. It may be why I like Lady Gaga. That's okay, right?

"Bleed" - Soulfly

It wasn't until well after high school that I would get into Heavy Metal. My previous and only experience with the genre was Metallica's Black Album and really nothing else. I remember riding the bus in high school and someone gave a Megadeth tape to the driver to play. I immediately put on my headphones, turned the volume up on my portable CD player, sank into my seat, and listened to Boys For Pele.

During the ages of 20 and 21 I reconnected with an old friend from high school who was starting a band. They were playing covers. Some Alice In Chains, Corrosion Of Conformity, and Faith No More were on the set list. I knew some of it and I tried out to be the singer and got the job. That lasted a whole two days I think. They found someone better who wound up being someone worse. I was still involved in the band though and learned how to run sound and hook up the PA. As time went on the cover band turned into a real band with original songs and I was asked to join again to play keyboards/synth and run samples. But before all of that occurred I had to be schooled in the ways of Metal.

My friend took me to the record store and made me buy Pantera's live album, something else I can't remember, and Soulfly's first album, Soulfly. I was familiar with Sepultura and had listened to Roots several times while hanging out with friends. It never sunk in though. It wasn't until I listened to Soulfly, Max Cavalera's band after he split from Sepultura, that made me want to like heavier music. It also made me want to get their logo tattooed on my upper right arm. A decision that haunts me to this day no thanks to my friends that like to exploit it at parties for a cheap laugh. I also do weddings.

As with Ace Of Base, I am also giving Soulfly another listen for the purpose of writing this post. I completely forgot that the song "Bleed" has Fred Durst in it for a verse. I feel sick now. I want to go back in time and stop 20 year old Nick from getting the tattoo. It would save him the grief and the hours of wasted time trying to come up with something to cover it up. It would also save a lot of bedroom time with a lady trying to explain the damn thing.

"Ew. What's that on your arm?"
"It's a Soulfly tattoo. Just don't look at it."
"Um, I gotta go."

"Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" - The Mars Volta

We're almost there. We're almost to present day. We're at 25. This is where it all really started. I got so tired of listening to the television or the radio for what I was supposed to listen to. I wasn't a kid anymore. I wasn't going to put up with watered down, record company endorsed, shit stains. Life was pretty much in the crapper too. I was a new dad and I had no idea how to be one except that I didn't want to be my dad. Also, my relationship with the baby's momma was on shaky ground and would eventually dissolve. I needed music to save me, but unfortunately all of the old artists couldn't help with my dilemmas. I needed new blood so I went hunting.

I remembered seeing a video from a band I had never heard before called At The Drive-In. The song was "One Armed Scissor" and I'm sure most of you true believers out there are familiar with it. I remember it being like nothing I had ever heard before and came to the conclusion that this is what I needed to help me press on in life. I asked a co-worker who I knew listened to what he called "indie" music for all of At The Drive-In's albums. He brought them to me and I listened and digested them. After doing some research and seeing that they had broken up, started a new band, and released their debut album I immediately went to the record store to buy it. I didn't think about illegally downloading the album at the time. I don't know why really. I guess because I needed something tangible in my hand. Something to touch and hold on to and shove into the CD player in my 2001 Chevy S10 when I needed it to be there. It was Deloused In The Comatorium that sent me on the adventure into not only independent artists, but also the artists that influenced them. I'm guessing this is how in the future a computer may feel when it becomes self-aware.

The years of 25-30 had a lot of hardships, break-ups, court dates, and songs to get me through it all. It was this period in my life when music became one of the most important things. It saved me like it also saved Rob in High Fidelity. Music saves, but it'll also destroy. And to be honest, a little destruction never hurt anybody.

By the way, I have pages you can follow. You can find 5 Songs In A Row on Facebook and Twitter now. You know, if you're into that sort of thing.

#4:20

2011-04-20T23:36:00.001-04:00

Funnel

"Is this a---what day is this?" -The Dude

Any writer will tell you that one of the biggest fears about writing is staring at a blank piece of paper. Or in my case an empty screen. I forgot where I was going with this.

So today is 4/20 and I just did my civic duty of making at least one joke about it. Now I can move on and never mention that this day, while full of harbingers of death (Hitler's birthday. The Gulf oil spill. Dudes in trench coats playing a live-action version of DOOM inside their school.), it is also the national holiday for pot smokers everywhere to have an excuse to do what they probably did yesterday - smoke more pot. I'm not judging, just merely stating the obvious because I'm sure as I write this most of my friends have already sparked a J at some point today and I'm jealous. All I've done is sit in Anatomy class and look at vaginas and penises all morning. Relax, we're studying the Reproductive System right now. Besides I've been close to these models since the first day of the semester. There was no other way to get all the giggling out of the way.

I'm testing myself right now because I just remembered why I started talking about writer's block. I've been suffering from it off and on for the past few months. I'll get a stroke of luck and be able to write paragraphs and paragraphs of pure brilliance. And then go through a dry spell and realize that just typing the word the is enough to make me run away from my computer in extreme terror. The only advice I've been able to follow is something a mentor of mine told me when I asked him what he did when he had writer's block.

"Simple. You write through it."
"That's it?"
"That's it. Just start writing and don't stop. Even if it doesn't make sense - don't stop."

That's what I'm doing right now; Writing and not worrying about what I might say. The filters are off, which could end badly, but who cares? How many people read this thing by choice anyway? I usually have to bug people to read when it goes up, which I always feel bad about doing. If people want to read it's their decision. I'm done censoring myself for the sake of who might read what I have to say. Hell, it might even make it more enjoyable. Like that poop you took the other day while still on the clock at work. Or pulling a pesky chest hair from your neck. Maybe those are just things I enjoy.

"Exile Vilify" - The National

God damn you Matt Beringer. Seriously, why do you have to write songs that relate to so many males aged 25-35 and their problems? If I didn't know any better, Matt, I'd just go back to listening to Aaron Lewis complain about his life. Which, I'm guessing, is far more brutal than yours. I mean come on. Look at the amount of criticism the guy takes on a daily basis from people like you and I. We may not judge the content of a person's character by the color of their skin, but I'll bet you buttons to biscuits that we'll judge someone by what music they listen to. It's a bad personality trait to have, it's true. And obviously not one I'm proud of, and I'm working on it, really. But I just can't help but cross-reference a person's visual IQ to the music he/she probably listens to. I say visual IQ because where I live the meth look is always en vogue so chances are a good portion of the population here does not listen to The National or even know who they are. Their tooth loss.

This song from the king of brooders was written and recorded for the video game Portal 2 which I probably will never play. Video games and I have a distant relative kind of relationship in that we only see each other a few times a year and maybe when someone dies. But since this is 4/20 and pot smoking and video games are synonymous to, well, pot smoking and video games, I'm willing to give it a try. Now all I need to do is find someone with the game, get out of work, drive to their house, eat their food, drink their beer...fuck it, nevermind. No wonder most spot smokers have the edge on laziness. Some of the actions involved are way too movement driven which is why I'm surprised smokers haven't invented more remote controlled objects. I'm getting off topic here and I'm not even high. I think just being awake during 4/20 gives you a contact buzz similar to watching James Franco host the Emmy's.

Raw. Visceral. Another power word used to describe a new song, book, or movie. "Exile Vilify" doesn't sound like it belongs in a video game. It sounds like it should have been on High Violet to replace one of the other crappier songs. I'm looking at you "Runaway." Honestly, I can't really sweat The National's balls too much. They make great music. Music that I wish the people living off Fish Hatchery Road would discover. Yes, that is a real name for a road here. This one's for you guys. It's also for my friends. Because lately I feel like I'm living somewhere in obscurity off Fish Hatchery Road.

"Patriarch On A Vespa" - Metric

I was rudely interrupted for a while by my Ethics professor and his ability to make me and my fellow classmates feel like imbeciles. We're currently on the topic of feminism, and while his views are poignant and on track with how the world should be treating women and men, it becomes difficult to speak out against patriarchy and the power over an individual when the professor treats his students as second-class. I understand that there is a teacher/student rapport, but some of his comments to me and to others on the discussion boards are deplorable. I empathize with his beliefs, but he needs to recognize that he's not going to sway a demographic that is mostly white, middle-class, and monotheistic to his side when acting like an Ivy League snob. I'm not saying he needs to dumb himself down, but he could certainly make his rebuttals a bit more polished and respectful and not so fuck knuckle-ish.

Discussing patriarchy made me think of this song which is a nice little battle cry against fitting into the cookie-cutter kind of life most men expect of women. In fact most of Live It Out is about Emily Haines' falling into the typical expectations of women the world seems to have in store for her. I've been a big fan of Haines' music for a while now. Her solo album Knives Don't Have Your Back is a favorite of mine. I might have actually included a song from that album on 5SIAR at some point. I don't know -- I can't remember right now. If you're following along that was another pot joke.

I'm a dude and even I have a fear of comparison shopping. I must admit that I tried the typical American lifestyle on for a while. A wife (Girlfriend that hated me), a steady, good-paying job (Still here. And define: good-paying), children (Chips off the old smartass block. So proud of them!). And just like an American Apparel t-shirt it was cut a bit too small for my liking. That could also be because I weighed 180 lbs. and even a size L shirt was snug on me. I'm happy to say that I'm now a happier person because of a few things I've learned and changed within the past years, months, weeks, and days. I'm still learning actually because no one should ever stop in the first place. This is why we still have the same kind of shitty problems everyone complains about yet does nothing to make it better. For instance, the lack of equality amongst the races and sexes. The abundance of childhood obesity. Or the inability to find a deli that makes a good pastrami sandwich.

"Weed Song" - Bone Thugs -N- Harmony

It's 10:00PM and I may not be able to get this post done and posted before my midnight deadline. It's a 420 post so it'll be really awkward if I post it tomorrow. Maybe I'll just hold off on this one till Christmas. Then everyone will surely be lost! It'll be like a pot flashback. Do those exist? Do people get so high that once they come down something will trigger them to get high again later on? And if so do they crave the same kinds of food? I can't imagine a former pot smoker turned family man out to dinner with his wife and kids at Chili's and suddenly ordering a bottomless brownie sundae as his main course and the mozzarella sticks for dessert. Actually, yes I can.

What's a post about 420 on 4/20 without one song referencing smoking mary jane? Just so you know I felt very white typing "mary jane" just now. Is that capitalized?

I know I could've chosen a better song about pot. Are there better songs about pot? I feel like that isn't possible unless the name of the song doesn't reference pot in any way and the name of your band is Animal Collective. Speaking of bands with trippy album covers, what's up with this one? The skull is just being creepy by hiding behind those cannabis plants. And if you stare deep into it's eyes you can see a Kanye West meme stare back at you. But seriously, Bone has written and recorded enough songs about smoking out to warrant a greatest hits? Cypress Hill didn't even do that. Well, I guess they really didn't have to considering their entire back catalog references MARY JANE in some way or another.

I have one hour left to write about two more songs. And go.

"Pacing Around The Church" - Cold Cave

I'm eating crow at this very moment. I originally wrote this album off very early. Then I found out one of my favorite producers was involved in the making of it - Chris Coady. He produced Teen Dream from Beach House, so maybe giving it another try and a deeper listen wasn't such a bad idea. That and my friend Aaron would've given me shit if I put a song from this album on my year end mix without previously stating I liked it in some way. That's how I squeaked in a Health song from my 2009 mix. I like Health now and to be honest I would've given me shit too. And yes I think too much about this kind of stuff. There are rules to mixtape/CD making, right? Rules that must be followed to some extent. Someone back me up on this.

This album has been on constant rotation. I admit I am quick to judge something new. It could be because I expose myself to too much new music at one time...Shit, it's 11:21!

"Courtship Dating" - Crystal Castles

The only things you need to know about this song is that I listen to it a lot and I'm running out of time to post this blog on 4/20. So much for having enough time to write without stopping and without a filter! That proved to be kind of impossible considering I'm at work and doing schoolwork at the same time. I make a great employee.

This song is a boner jam. Whatever that really is. What is anything?

I'll leave you with that.

Goodnight.

#19

2011-03-14T14:22:00.001-04:00

I'm Treading. I'm Treading. I'm Sinking. I'm Treading.

I'm treading water and trying to stay afloat. So says the book Not Quite Adults: Why 20-Somethings Are Choosing a Slower Path To Adulthood, and Why That's Good For Everyone. After reading the introduction, in which the authors described my haste into adulthood by having children and therefore skipping education as treading water, I don't feel as miserable about my situation as I once did. Sure, I'm not in as good as shape as most of my other peers, but now I know I'm not alone in my faults. I shouldn't really call them faults, however, that word makes me feel like a failed at something, which I don't feel like I have. Mishandling would be a better term for the arms I'm using to keep my head above the water. More often than not I've let my appendages get too tired to the point of sinking. I drown for a bit, and then I rise back to the top only to return to my previous state of treading. I should be concentrating on swimming. I should be concentrating on studying for that next Anatomy test and working on that 10 page paper for Ethics (which I'm not looking forward to). I should be concentrating on my hobbies. For instance, this blog and my fascination with music.

It's so easy to be lazy though. But even being lazy has its rewards. We all need a break every now and then to maintain our sanity and to propel us forward. We just can't let that break turn into the rest of our lives. As I get older I've found that I can't stay stagnant. If I sit too long in one spot my anxiety level shoots through the roof as if my neurotransmitters are playing that Strong Man game at a carnival. You know, the one with the giant Gallagher-esque mallet used to pound a piece of metal up a scale to see how "man" you are. The game is rigged, as is most of my body is as well. But that's just an excuse.

Speaking of excuses, I've been trying not create any for the reason why I haven't updated 5SIAR as much as I should. Actually, I've been trying to not make excuses for a lot of other miscues as well. A friend of mine stated recently that she's "fucking done with making excuses for not ruling." I might be paraphrasing a bit, but that was the gist of it. She also said that she's getting back to basics. Simplifying. Trimming the fat to allow for the maximum experience out of life. And she's right because we only get one shot at this (multiple if you're Hindu, I guess). We shouldn't be wasting time, or making excuses, or exhausting ourselves with the endeavors our parents set out for us. Our world is not their world and therefore their plans are not our plans. We're not dead yet. It's not, as Vonnegut said "so it goes", but more like "so it rules."

Here are five songs I've chosen as being the ones that will help me to swim.

"One Chance" - Modest Mouse

This song popped into my head yesterday as I was washing my car. I don't know what I was thinking when I suddenly started humming the verse "My friends, my habits, my family, they mean so much to me." It hadn't even dawned on me yet that I'd be writing a new 5SIAR. That came to me as I began to read the introduction to the aforementioned book in the first paragraph. It immediately made me think of yesterday. Scrubbing my car to get all the pollen off. A heavy breeze destroying the piles of leaves my brother had raked earlier in the day, or perhaps week. The almost meditative silence that made me want to break out the boom box and attempt to find a decent radio station to listen to. But since there aren't any decent radio stations to listen to I was left with my own inner voice. Which, as luck would have it, started to sound like Isaac Brock.

Modest Mouse makes for a good soundtrack to being in my late 20s and early 30s. Cursive would be another good choice. During my attendance of a recent Cursive show frontman Tim Kasher explained between songs and sips of whiskey that he's made a decent career out of writing about his failed relationships and social-awkwardness. That's what we all need - an outlet. Something we enjoy doing and can also survive on. Something that doesn't involve a cubicle and does involve being outdoors and appreciating life a bit more. Our generation needs more breathing room than our parents did. I plan on reading Not Quite Adults in its entirety to find out why.

I'm still trying to grasp and understand why "One Chance" started reciting itself in my head. My memory could've picked any song from any album from any band. Why this one at that specific time? I think that there are always bands that become period pieces on your iPod. You equate that music to the feelings you had during that time. I think Modest Mouse is the closest approximation to mine right now. Maybe that's why it appeared in my memory. My subconscious decided that Good News For People Who Love Bad News was relevant to what needed to be said to my conscious brain. That my friends, habits, and family will always be there when I need them and that I need to cut more of that "Mad Max bullshit" out of my life to make it less stressful.

"That Teenage Feeling" - Neko Case

The line "And nothing comforts me the same as my brave friend who says 'I don't care if forever never comes'" takes me back to the intro of Not Quite Adults again. The authors mention that we are relying less on our significant others (if we have one) and more on our family and friends to help cope with the problems our generation is facing. So many young adults are realizing that it's too difficult to maintain a relationship while trying to find their place in life. We aren't our parents. We can't just graduate college and immediately find a job, get married, and have kids. It seems as if when we do try to do that we fail. So why do we keep doing it? One word: hormones. Our physiology seems to want to control our anatomy. The chemicals in our bodies want to rule us. There's one specific culprit - oxytocin - though it is still unclear how much of a role it plays in sexual behavior. Yes, men have it too, but in smaller amounts.

That teenage feeling may be caused by the release of oxytocin into the bloodstream during sexual arousal. I think most of our problems come from an addiction to our own hormones. It'd be nice to kick the habit cold turkey and not have to worry about "feelings" anymore, but we can't. We're stuck with this chemical that gets released from our pituitary gland and travels through our veins whenever we're attracted to someone. It also plays a part in increasing trust. However, according to this article from the NY Times, that trust is not for everyone. We have in-groups and out-groups and right now it seems as if our in-group has become our friends and family and our out-group are our husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends. I know this doesn't apply to everyone. But it does for my immediate friend group. The doctor who did the research stated that "when people get together with others who share their values, that drives up the level of oxytocin." So true because I don't know what I'd do without my friends. They are the ones I want on my side from now till death. They have become one of the most important things in my life.

I need to come to terms that the forever Neko is talking about may not come. I'm getting closer. It'd be easier if my physiology had a control panel. Some kind of interface that would allow me to choose which chemicals I want my body producing at a certain time.

"Okay, today I want serotonin, dopamine, some endorphins, and maybe a little extra epinephrine so I won't need to drink three cups of coffee to stay awake at work."

And yes, in the future, someone will make an app for that.

"Try A Little Tenderness" - Otis Redding

Self-explanatory.

"Crystalised" - The xx

I've chosen an xx track not for what the song means or how it makes me feel, but because of the production value of it. I've become obsessed lately with anything that has Jamie Smith's (aka Jamie xx) name stamped on it. From his main project The xx to his DJ sets that I have been trying to seek out on the internet, to his newest release We're New Here - the remix of Gil-Scott Heron's 2010 album I'm New Here. To say I'm fascinated with his work would be an understatement. It's not even that stylistic or ground-breaking. But it is definitely minimalist, and that's something I can get behind seeing as how I have been striving for the same kind of philosophy in regards to my life.

Earlier in this post I touched upon trimming the fat. Discarding what isn't needed to survive. I'm sure everyone has watched or least heard of that show Hoarders, right? Sometimes I feel like I hoard too much in my life. I'm not talking about tangible objects, but the things no one can see. The trash in my brain that needs to be taken out to the curb once and for all. This, to me, is a huge chunk of fat that needs to go away. I'd have someone help me carry it all out, but therapists are expensive and my insurance sucks.

I now know that the key to not having stress is to lead the most simple life as possible. I don't need much to be happy and a xx song doesn't need much to be great. So as I listen to the songs on this album they give me ideas on how to only include what is most beneficial to my day to day grind. I only need soft vocals, one reverberated guitar with no distortion, one bass with minimal distortion, a few electronic drum beats, and maybe a handful of synth patches. In my quest to live this kind of life I have renewed my interest in making music. The goal is to put two and two together to make something to share with everyone else. It'll be my version of preventative medicine. Bear with me.

"Zebra" - Beach House

I decided to make a Top 5 Most Listened To Albums list. I've thought of three so far. PJ Harvey's Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. Middle Cyclone from Neko Case and this album, Teen Dream from Beach House. It makes me wonder if the other two spots will be filled with female singers. It also makes me think of the Seinfeld episode with Mel Torme where Elaine asked Jerry if he wants to go to the benefit Mel is singing at. To which Jerry replies, "I can't watch a man sing a song. They get all emotional, they sway. It's embarrassing." I can relate.

I wish I knew why this song has been stuck in my head. It moved in around the beginning of February and started sleeping on the couch. It's quiet at night and allows me to sleep, but during the day it won't stop repeating itself. Actually listening to it doesn't make it stop either. I don't even know what or who Victoria is singing about. It doesn't really matter because it's not the lyrics but the music that keeps looping over and over. I'm not the type of music listener that tries to find the meaning it had for the writer anyway. I only care about its meaning to me. Is that wrong?

The piece of "Zebra" that keeps repeating is the intro. The guitar riff is so bright and low-key but with an aggressive kind of force that orders you to stay still when it begins to play. Accurate in the sense that it doesn't aim to kill, but to maim so that each time it plays it makes you lose a little bit more of yourself. Now that I think about it, the entire album is like that. Teen Dream drags you out to sea and then brings you back to shore with some parts missing, but with so much more given back. It's like the tides. Okay now I'm starting to sound like an old Grateful Dead fan that's still on an acid trip. Next paragraph.

"Zebra" and the rest of Teen Dream won't go away no matter how many times I listen, which is kind of comforting. It's always there like a friend. A faithful companion. A partner in crime. The reason and answer to problems. It's been a long time since I've considered an album to have that big of an impression on me. It's all the things in life. The things I have and can't have. It's a reminder that even though people come and go I will always have this music to make me think of that self-realization. It makes me feel safe. Reassured. My feet up at home while having a cup of tea and reading a new book. Having picnics. Being there for my daughters. Swimming.

#18

2011-01-17T15:00:00.001-05:00

Hi, My Name Is Not Conor Oberst

I'm writing this while listening to the new Bright Eyes song "Shell Games" from their forthcoming album The People's Key. It's strange to hear how Conor Oberst has changed from a drunk, drugged-out, teenage twenty-something to a well-adjusted, reinvented, adult-like thirty-something. I can't even get past the two minute mark. I think I speak for all of us when I say I liked him better when he was sad and sappy and almost ready to kill himself. Perhaps this is what made Elliott Smith so great. People probably knew his suicide was inevitable and the fact that he actually went through with it made him even greater. Same with Cobain. They went out on a high note. Oberst on the other hand is like the Brett Favre of the indie industry. He just won't go away. And I'm sorry for using a sports reference, but I can't think of anyone else that has prolonged the ending of their career. Even Conor's newer projects (Mystic Valley Band, Monsters Of Folk) are pathetic attempts at reinvention. My apologies to the other members of both bands, you don't deserve to be dragged down with Conor into his own inferno of 4.9 Pitchfork ratings that most of the internet community scoffs at, yet secretly pay attention to.

My point is this: It doesn't matter what you try to do to rekindle that younger flame. You can do side projects, join a different team, or star in your own spin-off that was doomed to fail from the get go. If the people say you're done. Then you're done. Which brings me to this blog. I am not done. No one has ever said, "Nick, don't bother writing anymore, no one is reading." Granted my only readers are my friends and they're obviously not going to tell me to stop, just like I'm sure Conor's friends have given him praise and have told him to keep writing when he's down on himself and considers killing his career. The difference is that I'm not out to make a buck with this blog. Yes, I care that people read and give their feedback, and yes I would love to write for a living. But do I care that it makes me money? No, I don't. Which is another reason why I don't like 90% of music currently playing on the radio. They don't make the music for the love of the art. They do it for the paycheck. And to me, Conor Oberst has become the Nickelback, Creed, and Staind of the indie music world. It's hard to say no when the dollar sign says yes.

We need something new. Something we've never heard.

This road has been forever. My feet are tired from walking it for so long. The twists. The turns. The bumps. I had to find a shady spot under a tree and rest, which is why this blog fell into ruins. But I'm back up and I'm coming back to it now like it was a home I used to live in. Everything is covered in moss and there's a dampness to everything. The wood is rotting and the paint has peeled away. I could feel bad about all of this, but I'm done feeling sorry for what I've done. It's time to accept it and move on. I'm going roll up my sleeves and clean it all up. It's not going to be bigger and better than what it was before. It will be less. Less is always more. You'll see. I will show you.

For this 5SIAR I'm picking songs that I have only heard for the first time. Some unknowns. Some castaways. All of them are must listens which is why I'm putting them on here.

"Vehicle" - The Ides Of March

Yet another band using the automobile as a metaphor for falling for someone. The Boss does it better though, obviously.

I've been procrastinating writing this post. It's not my fault though, I'm going to school again. Hold your applause, please. As much as it is exciting to traverse through unknown subject matter on the coattails of a measly government grant, it is also mildly terrifying in the way I remember feeling on my first day of elementary school. As I explained it to someone today - It is a leap of faith. It is this new experience that gave me the idea of this new 5SIAR. New territory. Fresh ground, or, at least fresh from my perspective.

I found this song over the holidays whilst spreading Christmas cheer by joining the other thousands of people in my town to what I call our new civic duty as Americans: shopping. Nothing says "dashing through the snow" like a wild herd of consumers stampeding each other to get the hot item of the season. My item was a vacuum cleaner for myself. No, I don't like buying "stuff," but I do need to keep my apartment clean. So as I'm "dashing" I decide to give the radio a listen to find some music to get me into the spirit of things and instead I find this song. Sorry Bing, you didn't make the cut.

Have you ever heard a person on the phone without previously meeting them and pictured in your mind what they may look like? That's exactly what happened when I listened to "Vehicle." I immediately had visions of this giant funk supergroup lead by a George Clinton wanna-be with a backing band that rivaled Parliament or Funkadelic or Parliament Funkadelic. That is to say I thought they were all African-American. Then, as I'm beginning to write for this section of 5SIAR, I go on Youtube to see these cats play and to my surprise they are all white. Like, Barry Manilow white or Rod Stewart white. It's not a big deal obviously, which is why I'm not going to linger on this point. But it did have an iota of shock value considering that all of the funk groups I have known throughout my music listening adventures have always been of African descent. Which brings me to another point. White people aren't very funky. They like to emulate the sound made by Motown and Stax in the 70s, but do so without the required soul. And KC & The Sunshine Band do not count, so don't even try.

"Vehicle" may not be the greatest song ever, but it's what I needed at the time. Something new to hold on to even for a few minutes. Aren't most songs like that though? Every once in a while there's a hit. And I'm not talking about a Top 40 Casey Kasem hit. I'm talking about finding a song that's left of the dial. Something you've never heard before, yet suddenly fall head over heels when you first listen. Those are hits. They make an impact. It's almost as if being at sea for months and miraculously finding land. You drop anchor and then begin to explore and then you realize years have gone by and you have all this new knowledge in which to share with other people. I think that is another reason why I started this blog. I've amassed so many memories linked to music that it was about time I started sending some of the messages containing information back home. And sometimes, people are like those kinds of songs too.

"You Better Know" - Witch

To me, the best part of a year ending is all the "year-end lists" that are dispersed onto the interwebs. Best Music of 2010. Best Movies of 2010. Best Books of 2010. And, to my personal delight, Best Music Websites of 2010. Wait, you mean there are others out there beyond the thick walls Pitchfork has wrapped around everyone? Yes, yes there are, and may I say that the lesser known ones (at least to me) have more to offer in the way of not only discovering new music, but old music as well. Out of the Best Music Website list I found one that I immediately fell in love with. Her name is Aquarium Drunkard.

Everyone should be on this website on a daily basis, if not for the new posts, but for the back catalog as well. There is a ton of music on there, new and old, that is waiting to be heard. Witch, for example. This quintet from Zambia deserves to be heard, which is why, of course, blogmaster Justin Gage presumably posted the lead title track from Introduction which is simply the members jamming and the singer introducing the members of the band. That song drew me in enough to download the entire album and upon listening to it track 3, "You Better Know", stuck out. You can really tell that these guys loved the Stones and wanted to pay homage to them by creating an album of blues-rock and psyche. Which goes to show you that even back then bands were already sounding like other bands of their time or before their time. This has been a hot topic in my group of friends for a while now since most of the newer indie bands sound just like bands from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. People feel that there is no originality anymore. I can see how someone might think that, but it is a very narrow view of the entire spectrum of music that exists.

So, even new is old, and old is new. To me at least. I feel being completely original in modern times is a Catch-22. How can you write songs now that sound nothing like what you may have already heard? There is always going to be influence from some other artist that exists or has existed. There is no logical way around it. When you listen to music you prescribe to every part of it. It becomes a part of you whether you want it to or not. A song you heard years ago may affect a mood you have today. We remember everything even if we don't consciously know that we do. So I can't really hold it against the artists of today creating music that may sound close to what they heard 20 years ago.

"Funnel Of Love" (at 33 RPM) - Wanda Jackson

Yet another great find from the previously mentioned website Aquarium Drunkard. This song from Wanda Jackson, the queen of Rockabilly, was slowed down to 33 RPM to reveal that changing the song's playing speed puts it in a completely different genre. Instead of the mid-tempoed rockabilly with a raspy voice it becomes a slowed down psychedelic track with a baritone hook from the backup singers. Creepy.

After listening to this track and doing some further research on Ms. Jackson I discovered that she is releasing a new Jack White produced album that is being released on his Third Man Records label. I'm anxious to hear how that might sound. Jack is also known for breathing new life into country legend Loretta Lynn with her Jack White produced album from 2004, Van Lear Rose. Their song together, "Portland, Oregon", is a good one. That is if you're into a more classic kind of country like I am. I'll take Patsy and Emmylou over any of the current pop-saccharined stars any day of the week.

After listening to "Funnel Of Love" at 33 RPM I've decided to search out more tracks that have been slowed down. Supposedly there's a 33 RPM version of Neko Case's "Deep Red Bells" floating around the internet somewhere. Still haven't been able to find it though. If anyone runs into it during their travels can you please send it to me. Thank you.

Slowing songs down also reminds me of a Ween album a friend had me listen to during his tenure on my couch this past summer/fall. Pretty much all the songs on the album could either be listened to at 33 or 45 RPM. There should be more albums like this and I'm surprised there aren't considering all of the experimental electronic bands out there always wanting to push the envelope with their sound. I could see Animal Collective doing something like that. Or maybe Dan Deacon. I'll stop name dropping now.

"I Don't Know" - Lisa Hannigan

So the other night at work a co-worker walked over to my desk and asks me if I've ever listened to Lisa Hannigan.

"Who is that?"

"You know, the chick that sings with Damien Rice sometimes."

I didn't know. And while I wasn't shocked to hear this person talk about Damien Rice, I was however shocked that he took the time to do his research to find out who the lovely lady was that sings with Rice on most of his songs including the haunting (and personal favorite) "9 Crimes", which was something I've never done. Needless to say I immediately went on Youtube to find some of the music of this Irish songstress. My first click was this video from the song "I Don't Know" from Hannigan's debut solo album Sea Sew recorded inside an Irish pub.

Hannigan and her band sit inside a tiny box of a room reserved for musicians that come and play. A unique concept since these old pubs do not have jukeboxes. It gives the patrons something to listen to without having to worry about the music being right in front of their face - like being in front of a stage - and therefore too loud. The performance and setting are perfect. Even the old curmudgeonly bartender seems to be enjoying himself. Am I right?

So now I've been listening to Sea Sew non-stop lately. That's what happens when I find something new and love. I play it out. I wear it out. I obsess over it. It's a bad habit when it comes to life I think. I don't give anything a chance to evolve naturally. I use and use and use till it is dull and wants nothing to do with me. Yet another new year's resolution of mine I suppose, which is: leave some breathing room. Life needs air.

I appreciate being surprised with new music. I appreciate it even more when this something new comes from someone that I wouldn't expect to give me a good music suggestion. I'll admit I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to people suggesting new music for me to listen to. New or old. I love the look on someone's face when they try telling me to listen to someone whom I've already heard and decided they were terrible. they look so hopeful. I don't want to be an asshole, so I just nod my head and say, "Sure, I'll check them out." But obviously I don't. Who am I to judge someone else because of their taste in music? Sure, it may suck, but by that philosophy, the other person may think my taste in music is terrible too. Which is fine. But I think we all know who the winner is here. Okay, I'm an asshole.

"The Devil" - PJ Harvey

I have a love/hate relationship with Polly Jean Harvey. Let me first say that my favorite album from this past decade was Harvey's Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. My adulation for this album is limitless and it would obviously make it on to a desert island top 5 list. A track is never skipped when I dedicate myself to listening to the album, and the song "Good Fortune" makes it onto pretty much any mix I make for someone. However, I've never been able to really get into her other albums. The only reason I ever listened to To Bring You My Love is because of MTV's push of "Down By The Water". Granted, this was during the time people actually paid attention to MTV to give them their dose of what to like in the 90's music scene. A lot of grunge, alternative, and the occasional episode of 120 Minutes when I remembered to set the VCR to record on Sunday night. Does anyone even know where Matt Pinfield is now?

I have never listened to Dry or Rid Of Me either, and I feel a little embarrassed about that. I enjoy Is This Desire? from time to time and I feel the folky Uh Huh Her is sub-par except for the songs "Who The Fuck?" and "You Come Through". I know SFTC, SFTS is her most accessible album and therefore makes me a poser to think that it's better than any of her other releases, but this is why I have vowed to acquire Dry and Rid Of Me so I can listen to her entire catalog straight through. Which brings me to her most recent album, White Chalk - a dark and brooding LP with songs written on the piano instead of the guitar. Yet one more Harvey album I decided to skip over and never listen to because it wasn't SFTC, SFTS. Don't judge me.

White Chalk was more unknown territory to me and I felt that at this point why should I bother listening to it. Sure, I love the piano. Tori Amos was, and still is, a love of mine. I just recently delved into more of Harry Nilsson's recordings after watching the documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?). And I grew up listening to a lot of Billy Joel. So it's not like the piano and I have never been previously introduced. But, again, I refused to spend any time with White Chalk. I decided to change that after a friend had suggested to revisit the album. Now, I can't say that I really enjoy it. In fact, even as I'm writing this I'm listening to Is This Desire? and not White Chalk.

Harvey will be releasing her new album Let England Shake here in the states on February 15. I'm already weary of hearing all of it, but the first few tracks that have been released online are promising.

I still do not feel any connection or need to listen to White Chalk. Yes, I'm contradicting myself since I said at the beginning of this post that these songs are "must listens". I guess this proves that even the new songs are tired songs, just like Oberst's. I chose track one, "The Devil", only because I've recently made a new mix of track ones, and, well, I have homework I need to do. The track list is as follows:

1. "Gotta Get Up" - Harry Nilsson
2. "Two Of Us" - The Beatles
3. "Allentown" - Billy Joel
4. "Pink Moon" - Nick Drake
5. "Learning To Fly" - Tom Petty
6. "Caught In A Dream" - Alice Cooper
7. "Watch That Man" - David Bowie
8. "The Queen Is Dead" - The Smiths
9. "Thunder Road" - Bruce Springsteen
10. "Tangled Up In Blue" - Bob Dylan (A live version from Bootleg Vol 5: The Rolling Thunder Revue which I think is better than the version on Blood On The Tracks)
11. "Private Eyes" - Hall & Oates
12. "What's Goin' On" - Marvin Gaye
13. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" - Beach Boys
14. "Sunday Morning" - The Velvet Underground
15. "Teen Age Riot" - Sonic Youth
16. "Gimmie Shelter" - The Rolling Stones
17. "Let's Go Crazy" - Prince

If you would like to have this mix then feel free download it here.

The reason why we have new songs is because of evolution. Take for instance, this blog. I went from talking about something stale (Conor Oberst) to something I decided to put together (my track 1's mix). Another reason why when we consider music, sometimes we need to go backward before we go forward. We, as listeners, crave something new even if it is something old. I don't think I will ever get tired of someone talking about older music because it will always be new ground to me. I've grown tired of checking Pitchfork every day when I get on the computer in the morning. I would like someone to talk to me about music face to face instead of just reading it on the screen. I want that connection. Because more than likely, even something old will be something new to me. I like new music. And I also like the people who show me this music.

#17: Top 10 Albums Of The Year

2010-12-06T19:39:00.006-05:00

We're Still A Long Way From Home

Wow, 2010, what a shitcan of a year, huh? Not totally. I did come away with some important life lessons that have completely reshaped who and what I am as a person. It has been the year of transformations from the lowly, depressed, anxiety-driven little boy I used to be to a confident, well-adjusted, positive man. I kept saying to myself, "shouldn't this have happened years ago?" Maybe. But not everyone is the same person with the same experiences and the same emotions. Some of us take a little longer to gestate in the womb of the world.

But the muffins aren't done yet, folks. Part of being a good human is to constantly keep growing. Keep evolving. Keep learning. And to never stop this process. To be stagnant is to become stale and just another pair of eyes and ears for the half of the world that is too stubborn to change. We don't want you on our team. You will be picked last, if picked at all. And if you are already on our team, you will be cut. Again, we need to keep going and not let anyone get in our way. No one.

Let's make 2011 as positive as we can. Let us all take what we've learned from 2010 and apply it to the problems we may face in the future. It seems as though not enough people are doing this. I used to be one of those people. I never listened to myself or others and I regret that. But I saw the error of my ways and I made it my goal to change them. Shouldn't you as well? It's never too late. The path to home is perilous and is never paved in gold, but that doesn't mean you should stop walking it. We brake for no one.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Here are my top 10 albums of the year.

10. Yeasayer - Odd Blood

With the onslaught of the 80's come back it's nice to know that some bands take themselves a little more seriously than others. Odd Blood is put together with finesse and with no detail left behind. I like it when a band knows what they're doing and knows how to accomplish it without sacrificing their vision to appease a specific group of people. Namely the reviewers at Pitchfork. And while Yeasayer's sophomore album is good enough to slip into the list it warrants the number 10 position because of the album trailing off after track 6. Still, a good album to jam to at a party or perhaps even a bar mitzvah.

9. School Of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire

Having lost a member during their fall tour SVIIB became yet another guy/girl electro-duo to add to the already long list in indieland. What sets them apart is obviously their lack of being held back during a live show because of it. They have no shame in running tracks behind them while playing. This gives the listener an experience as close to the album as possible, which in my opinion is what I look for when I go see a band perform. I want that sound duplicated. I want to be able to hear every synth fill and every drum beat that accompanies whatever is being played live. SVIIB does a great job of keeping you interested by filling those sonic gaps that are easily overlooked by others of the same genre. However, the album could've used a bit more variety with the type of sounds being used. Still, it's a hell of a lot better than almost all the duo's swarming the scene right now.

8. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)

One part overdrived-synth. Two parts bit-crunched drum loops. Throw in some punk, dance, and glitch and you have an album to keep you going through the night (read: early morning) when you're already hopped up on enough FourLoko for the after after after party. Also a good album to listen to when you're beyond your deadline on a project and are rushing to get it done only to be sent back for more changes anyway. I digress. I have a crush on singer Alice Glass, I also have a crush on Ethan Kath's production techniques. Both of those combined inspire me to want to start a similar project. Having Robert Smith's phone number wouldn't be a bad thing to have either.

7. Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart

I have come to appreciate this band a lot more lately. Their previous album In The Future was better, but Wilderness Heart should definitely not go unnoticed. I mean, c'mon, look at the album cover! There's a great white shark on it! That already makes the album awesome without even listening to track 1. Album cover aside, Black Mountain have made another solid LP for the fans of folk and psych-rock alike. I recently had a chance to see them with The Black Angels as their opener. Great show. Another band that doesn't suck in the live sound department.

6. Sleigh Bells - Treats

Another guy/girl duo. They are indeed popular these days. But they deserve all the recognition they receive especially since their debut album totally blew away MIA's new one. And she was the one who signed them to her label!! How do you feel now, Maya? Pretty dumb I bet. All that hype for your new album and it sucked...a lot. At least she did something right by making Sleigh Bells known to the world. It's funny to think that an ex-guitarist from Poison The Well could come up with this kind of stuff. But that's why I put the album on the list. It's unconventional and very raw. A friend had asked me when she listened to it for the first time, "is it suppose to blow out my speakers?" Yes. Yes it is.

5. One Hundred Flowers - Mechanical Bride

Austin, TX has a history of putting out some pretty decent music. I would hope so considering the city is music capital of the world. I could name a few bands for you, but I'd rather just name one. One Hundred Flowers. Their debut album, Mechanical Bride has a lot of heart and guts sewn in and is stronger than most band's third or forth albums. The driving force of these up and comers are the layered vocals of lead singer/guitarist Harrison Speck and keyboardists Eva Mueller and Amber Nepodal. Their three voices create the trifecta of what makes Bride stand out amongst the rest. Along with bassist Gary James and drummer Curtis Henderson the music this quintet plays has something for everyone's taste, as bitter or as sweet as it may be. Be on the lookout for them in 2011. They will be touring the countryside bringing their unique blend of chamber pop and indie rock to your neck of the woods very soon. I hear they may open for Kanye.

4. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

James Murphy. You can't say too many bad things about the guy and his music. Always fresh, always relevant, never stale. But look kids, he's getting older, as he has explained on This Is Happening. What's happening you ask? Age is happening. Getting older is happening. Striving and doing his best to be set apart from the rest is happening. Being bored is happening. Nevertheless, Murphy has made an album dedicated to the fact that his longevity as an artist is in danger. He's been quoted as saying he won't make another album, then later rebuked that statement. Makes you wonder if he really is getting bored with doing it all; Pleasing people that is. Maybe he wants a successor? From the sarcastic "Drunk Girls" to the brutally honest "You Wanted A Hit" Murphy casts his shadow over all the other would-be indie/electronic/dance acts and naysayers alike while politely saying, "This is the level I'm setting for you. I dare you to top me."

3. Beach House - Teen Dream

The best albums, in my opinion, are always the most simplest ones. Ones that seem to be created effortlessly. The ones that make me feel the most without the over-saturation of an emotion connected to a memory. During my growth this year I have let go of a lot of music that has some kind of connection to the past. That's not to say I won't ever listen to it again. They are the friends I have grown apart from, but will never say goodbye to. With that being said and done I can now open myself up to new experiences and memories through the new music I am listening to. I started that process with this album. I kept it to myself. I never shared it with anyone. Sure, I recommended it to people, but I never allowed it to be a part of any situation that may have turned sour and therefore force this album into the "don't listen to this unless you want to think about _____ and blow your brains out." category.

2. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Just because Pitchfork gave it a perfect 10.0 doesn't mean it's the Muhammad Ali of all hip hop/rap albums, though it does come damn close. Kanye has created himself a legacy with MBDTF, and it is indeed a great album, but his legacy will also show the antics of Mr. West proving how much of a screwball he is. He takes advantage of his position in celebrity world by giving others who may not be heard a voice. Everyone in New Orleans probably wanted to call George W. a racist, but when were they going to get a chance to do that? Yezzy can do it. And I'm sure some people disagreed with Taylor Swift's getting the award for whatever the fuck it was. Yezzy can tell it like it is. Yezzy can be raw if he wants. Say whatever he wants. And you know what, I can kind of respect that. No one can tell another person to keep their mouth shut. Not our superiors. Not the media. And certainly not the government. Yezzy has indeed taught us well.

1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

It's tough getting older. More responsibility. Less time to do what you want. Walls start appearing where before they didn't exist. Conformity takes hold. You've become a peg to fit in their hole. You wake up, go to work, come home, cook dinner, put the kids to sleep, watch your television, and then go to bed to do it all over again. It's the American nightmare, one that most of us are just now beginning to wake up from. We were handed down from our parents and their parents before them a way to live to be happy. Except the same kind of happy they were okay with does not apply to our way of life. We're hungry for more and because of that hunger we're fighting with ourselves, our families, and our friends just to get a taste of a better life. Arcade Fire exploited this battle and wrote an album about it. An aural Revolutionary Road if you will. The roads and houses our parents built, the same ones we grew up with are crumbling. And we're crumbling along with them. No wonder Win Butler says in the title track opener "I want a daughter while I'm still young." He recognizes, as does the rest of the population in our age group, that our own mortality is more transparent now than it ever was. We need to carry on, but how do we take what we've learned from our parents and apply it to today? How do we rebuild our cities, our suburbs, and ourselves?

#16

2010-07-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

5 Songs In A Row: The Sequel

"Kill all my demons, and my angels might die too" - Tennessee Williams

It's been long enough I think. I've had ample time to recollect, reevaluate, and reorder some things in my life to get to a point where I need to stop, rest, and start refilling my empty tank. I've been running on "E" for the past few months on purpose. I needed normalcy. Some sense of standing still and not spinning out of control on the X, Y, and Z axes [pronounced ack-sees] of my life. For a while I was getting dizzy. I don't like being dizzy. I don't like the act of throwing up. So here I am again. Writing in the style of middle class for the middle class.

Today while driving it finally hit me. I was coming back from a mild hour of browsing at the bookstore looking through books on graphic design to help rekindle my former addiction to it. I thought, "I miss my loves. I miss creating. I miss inspiration." Music was obviously playing as these words were speed-walking through my head. It inevitably recalled the moment when I first came up with 5 Songs In A Row. I was in my car and listening to music as per usual. I was just about to obsessively start mashing the "next" button on my iPod to a song I wanted to hear. Just then it hit me like a bomb exploding right next to my ear with a voice underneath it all saying, "You love this."

I've missed you. And I'm sorry for neglecting you for so long. I needed a break. But I'm done now. Rest assured that the entire time I did not stop living. My heart did not stop pumping the blood through my veins. My lungs did not stop converting Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide. I did not stop converting RGB to CMYK and then back again. My eyes still see and my hands still touch the keyboard the same way it always has...slightly skewed and off center. I am here again for you. And I plan to stay. I am at "F".

That was written almost a month ago or something. Much has changed since then. Strap yourselves in.

"Floater" - Every Time I Die

"Drag the lake, you'll find it's full of love."

For this 5SIAR I'm choosing my own songs again. I need to be in control. I need stability. I want the wheel to stay straight. Or at least the illusion that it's straight. It feels like I've been driving blindfolded with a blind person in the passenger seat for the past few weeks. We hit a few people. Maybe a dog or two. And had the police on our tail the entire way down the steep hill. Needless to say, I've been leading a dangerous life lately. And so physics eventually has its way. The car must eventually come to a stop. We crashed. But it's not the end. I keep going back and forth with that notion. Life doesn't stop. I mean, people's lives stop. People die, but other people go on living or at least trying to live. The living is the easy part (breath in, breath out). The trying is always the hardest. That's where failure comes in (I wonder what drowning feels like?).

With all the commotion going on around me I've been dragged, nay, pushed back into metal. Some people like the drown their sorrows in the saddest of songs, and I admit I have those moments. But as for moments like these. The moments that have unfolded thus far this year, well, I can only turn to one band. A band that has symbolized the ideal way to move forward and keep banging your head and squeezing the tube for more and more and more out of life. To have no sour grapes. To shotgun a beer every now and then. To not only swing life around by the balls, but to also kick them when life is being a bitch. The boys of Every Time I Die help me cope.

As I write this I'm listening to a song off another album of theirs. The singer Keith Buckley tells me that "all the highs are running low, and every new is getting old." He couldn't be more right. This year started off pretty damn good and then a few days later it went to shit. Got better again. Then dipped back down further than the current level of poverty and unemployment in this country. Then a stimulus package came and all was good for a bit. It was better than good, actually. Then shit collectively hit the fan. It was bad. Imagine if North Korea took over the world. That bad. Still kinda is and I grow tired of it. I'm tired of having a hand in making it that way. This is where ETID come in. They are the big brother I don't have smacking me in the face saying "stop doing stupid shit!" Then again, they are also party animals (Listen to "We'rewolf") and shouldn't be trusted in giving life advice.

Okay, no more quotes. Wait, I've got one more to pinch off.

"I've got a bad reputation to think about. I've been dirty. I've been wrong."

Now I'm done.

"How Mountain Girls Can Love" - The Stanley Brothers

Right now I'm looking at wedding pictures from a couple I've never met before in my life. That's the beauty of Facebook. You get to peek inside another person's life for a minute or two. The wedding took place out in a grassy field that looks like it could be upstate New York. The men are dressed in suspenders and collars and the ladies in light summer dresses. Whiskey is poured into glasses next to wild flowers and whistles shaped like birds are offered up as the favors. There's a rusty teal tractor that carries the wedding party up a dirt road to an apple tree where the ceremony will be performed. Rolling hills cover the background where three men have in their hands a violin, guitar, and banjo respectively, playing bluegrass standards and maybe the occasional John Denver request or two. The guests march single file to the apple tree and instead of sitting everyone circles around the couple that is about to become one. They are surrounded by love. Love from each other, their families, their friends, and from the earth. Now, I've never been one to imagine my wedding in my head. Probably because I'm not a woman. Moreover, I've never been one to look to the future to imagine how any part of my life will turn out. But these pictures. These pictures of strangers make me think about how I would want that moment to look and feel like. Everyone looked happy. I can picture that in the future, but what I want it in is the present.

This is another 5SIAR first. I wrote the paragraph above without even picking the song. I went searching for an old bluegrass song that sounds like it would've been played at the wedding reception. Something the people could clap their hands to. Something I had never heard before. What I found was the song "How Mountain Girls Can Love" by The Stanley Brothers from their self-titled album. A sort of homage to the bluegrass bride in the photographs and to my future bride (whoever she may be). It's a bit unclear when the song was actually recorded and released. Allmusic.com says 1959 while the wiki page says 1961. John Denver also recorded a cover of the song on his 1980 album Autograph. And now as I type this I can already acknowledge the fact that this song will become one of those songs I will tie to a memory. Not a memory of the past, but one of the future.

This is unknown territory to me. Not only researching bluegrass artists from the late 40's and early 50's, but imagining futures that I would like to take place. I'm a man of the present. I think about what's in front of my face rather than trying to figure out what is down the road. But for this one song and the time it's taking me to write about it I'm thinking about my future from where I stand right now. A difficult thing to do considering how much I feel like I'm in limbo with a lot of aspects in my life at this very moment. And then I look at those wedding photos again. I replace the faces with faces from my life. My friends. My family. My bride. My fucking whiskey!

So yeah, new memories. New memories that I don't even know will happen. They are nice to think about and have the ability to put a smile on my face. But so much changes from this moment to that moment. It's impossible to know what is going to happen a few weeks, a few months, or a few years down the road. All I can do, and all you can do is take it one day at time. We have one day to be stronger and grow until the next day comes. We must use our time wisely till we get to those grassy hills. Till we get to hear "How Mountain Girls Can Love" while we dance at our future weddings.

"Candela" - Buena Vista Social Club

I love my Spanish heritage. I'm closer to it than my Italian. My mother was born in Puerto Rico and raised in The Bronx. My father, Italian, born and raised in Brooklyn. I keep in contact with almost all of my maternal side of the family. Especially the group still in Puerto Rico. My maternal grandmother is still alive, living in Lakeland, and I visit her every Tuesday. In return she feeds me some of my favorite dishes. Arroz con gandules. Tostones. Rellenos de papa. And for Christmas our family gets pernil y pasteles. As a bonus she keeps the fridge stocked with Miller High Life. I'm one lucky son of a Puerto Rican. I eat well every time I visit Puerto Rico, too. There are countless of roadside vendors cooking some of the best in Puerto Rican and Cuban fast foods. The crown jewel of them being Platano Loco in Aguada. Everything they make contains fried plantains. It's because of the Puerto Rican diet why I ultimately cannot lose weight.

I find comfort in not only music, but food. There, I said it. I eat when I get depressed. Which is why I'm always happy to learn the recipes passed down from my grandmother to my mother and now to me. I like eating, but I also discovered that I like cooking even more. It's instant gratification to cook for people and see the smiles on their faces when they take that first bite of what I created. Especially if it's the type of food you can't exactly get around here. There are a few Cuban places that are decent. But I'm sorry, they can't put a finger on my mom's arroz con chirizo or abuela's alcapurria. I'm happy to learn and make them and I've been doing just that. So of course I need the music to cook to. The caldero is steaming and Ibrahim Ferrer is singing por la victoria.

Have you noticed I haven't translated anything for you? Stop being lazy and go learn something.

The short of it for Buena Vista Social Club is that Ry Cooder went down to Cuba, assembled all these old cats that used to jam back in the day, and produced an album for them. It's samba. It's merengue. It's jazz. Es pijamas del gato! It's the kind of music you'd hear riding your bike down the street of a small Puerto Rican town. Everyone is sitting on their porches sipping key lime-ade or beer and talking about whatever it is that might be interesting at the time. No one really talks about the bad shit happening in their lives. It's always a time for the uplifting of spirits. For support. To do some mild partying. I like that. It makes me want to call it home. Too bad the poverty level there is worse than ours. If you think you're broke then go down to the Caribbean. It's not Africa poor, but it's pretty damn close. But I don't want to curb you from visiting. Puerto Rico is a great place with even greater people. Sure there's lots of crime and the police are corrupt, but that only means you can drink and smoke weed on the beach if you pay them off. You didn't hear that from me.

"Cruel Summer" - Bananarama

Yeah, that's right, I just put a Bananarama song on 5SIAR. WHAT?!

It's hot here. Obviously because it's summer. But this is no ordinary summer. This is the summer we start melting from global warming or at least the thought of this unbearable heat being caused by global warming. I don't remember Florida ever being this hot, or dry for that matter. It used to rain everyday and now we don't even get that. Seriously, what the fuck? I can't imagine how the people closer to the equator feel. Are they even still alive? Someone should check in on them.

80's new wave - I'm reading about it right now in Rob Sheffield's new book Talking To Girls About Duran Duran. It's an adequate read so far containing a few quotable passages. His last novel, Love Is A Mix Tape, was better. Maybe because it had to do with death? In any case, Sheffield mentions Bananarama during a tirade about new wave. I haven't heard anyone talk about them (or play them) in years. The last I remember hearing them was when I was 8 or 9 years old in the car with my parents going to the beach. My aunt was with us and she had Bananarama's album True Confessions on tape and would force my dad to play the song "Venus" over and over and over. You know, the song that is now famous because of lady razors. I was sick of hearing it (still am). We were all sick of hearing it. Except of course my aunt. She loved them. I just wanted to jam out to some "Head Over Heals", but I was denied. I was being robbed of my earliest childhood music memories because of a terrible girl-pop group from the UK. That was then, but where are they now, you ask? Still stuck on the radio. But at least this song has some relevance.

It is a rather cruel summer wouldn't you agree? I think the heat is making people do stupid shit. Making us go crazy. Turning us into beasts. It's like we're all werewolves but instead of changing when a full moon rises we become the monster when the sun comes out. Our temperatures escalate to a level we can't come back down from. He's pissed. She's pissed. We're all pissed. It's a cruel summer indeed, and the wolves are howling. And I'm not talking about stupid Eclipse wolves either. I can't believe I got suckered into watching that movie. What a pile of shit. Sigh.

"Clones (We're All)" - Alice Cooper

Alice kinda looks like Gary Numan in that picture, don't you think? Maybe that's what Gary Numan is. A clone of Alice Cooper. I think I just blew my mind.

We're at another end of a road, yet another one is just beginning. The year is a little more than halfway over so it's time for me to reflect on what has happened thus far. On second thought, no. I'm tired of looking behind me all the time. It's like looking at the scene of an apocalyptic explosion. It's dusty and there's nothing really pretty or interesting back there. Just a lot of damage. Dead bodies. And maybe a roach or two. I caused it. You caused it. We all caused it. Are you seeing the pattern here yet? If not, then let's get one thing straight. No one is different. No one is better or worse than the next person. We're all cut from the same cloth. We're human. We make mistakes. But what sets us apart from the criminals is that we learn from our mistakes. We take a picture of that destruction and put it in our back pocket for reference material.

We are selfish beings capable of being the monster more often than the hero. You are guilty of it as much as I am. If you disagree with me, get up from your seat, go to the bathroom, dunk your head in the toilet and proceed to pull the handle down to flush. If you’re not human enough to accept and realize that we all bite off more than we can chew at times then you’re what’s wrong with the world. Period. We’re all heathens here and just because we have technology does not make us civilized. In fact, it does the opposite because it gives us the opportunity to be in constant contact with each other about everything that’s going on when we don’t need to be. Talk is already cheap. Why make its value plummet even further down the shitter? Okay, I get it, the dollar and Mel Gibson are lonely down there. Fair enough.

I've learned through life that the distinction between God and the Devil is blurred. But more importantly, they don't even really exist except in us. Again, we are all of it and we are none of it. What counts in the end is making life the best it can be without causing destruction along the way. Our family and friends are there to help, but they can sometimes make it worse. They are clones, too. We're all clones. The ugly ones. The stupid boys. The wrong ones.

"This is the year of the party crashers."

Last one. Promise.

What It Is And What It Isn't: My Top 5 New Album Releases

2010-02-12T14:36:00.002-05:00

With the first month of 2010 behind us - and the second halfway gone - I've decided to do a bit of early soul searching. Usually this doesn't happen till May/June (the time that I finally realize that I need to shed my winter weight and stop drinking so proactively), but since January was such a personally intense month for me I figured that going back into my reclusive tendencies to move past - or at least forget about - the insanity this frigid month had brought me. It's a time to reflect and to look toward greener pastures and brighter tunnels and I can't think of any other thing that would make me hopeful of that future than scouring the internet for news of new album releases. It's my ostensible approach to cheering myself up in an otherwise doom and gloom kind of world that seems to want to shit in my cereal.

A few weeks ago a friend and I were sitting at the bar trying to think of new albums that are going to be out this year. We didn't come up with much, but as per usual I don't think of an answer until my brain has had time to subconsciously mull it over. Kind of like George Castanza not being able to think of a good come-back until a few hours later when he's already left the meeting. Well, the jerk store finally called and I've come up with five bands whose new album will be dropped this year. Obviously there are more, but the website is called 5songsinarow, not 10songsinarow. And I'm lazy.

5. Snowden

There's not much going on in the southeast part of the states as far as music's concerned. It's rare to hear of a new band coming out of my home state (Florida) or anywhere remotely close-by. Georgia would have to be the only southeastern state to produce a reasonably decent band. You have the University of Georgia college-town of Athens which spurred bands such as R.E.M., of Montreal, and became the temporary home for Danger Mouse and Neutral Milk Hotel for a while. Then of course there's Atlanta and the one group that immediately makes me think of that city - OutKast. Sure, there are others, including my #5 pick, Snowden - a four piece indie rock outfit whose debut album Anti-Anti caught the attention of many listeners in the audioverse. Including mine.

I hate to make generalizations as to how a band sounds, but the closest approximation I can conjure that would allow this post to not be so lengthy is that Snowden sounds like the southern Interpol. They have a bit more girth and a lot less hollowness than their New York couterparts, but they're not far off from each other in terms of the genre they are categorized in. The same thing happened to Kings Of Leon and The Strokes. KOL was labeled as the southern Strokes when their first two albums - both not that very good - were released. Two albums later they are one of the biggest modern rock bands of the past two years and are about to perform on the Grammy's. I don't see that for Snowden, but that's OK, because then that allows me to be able to actually afford to go see them play. I'm all for bands making money for what they do, just don't dig too deep into my pocket. Art should be accessible for everyone and with the merger of LiveNation and Ticketmaster it's about to get a whole lot less accessible. Billy Corgan would disagree, but then again I don't trust any artist that would willingly allows one of their songs to be used in an advertisement for pro wrestling.

Little is known about the new Snowden album, we just know it'll be released this year proceeded by a new EP with "exclusive" material. If the new forthcoming material is anything close to being as good as Anti-Anti we are all in for a big treat. Keep a look out for these guys (and one girl). they are going to be big. Not Grammy big, but big nonetheless.

4. Interpol

Back in 2007 Interpol released their third album Our Love To Admire to an uproar of praise for going in a different direction with their music. It catapulted them to the mainstage and out of the shadows of the underground. Gone was the signature reverb and darkness that made these four New Yorkers such a catch with Turn On The Bright Lights. Antics - their follow-up to TOTBL - had all the elements of their first album, but was lacking a David Lynch kind of soul Bright Lights had. Still their music intrigued the masses. They snag your attention because of two attributes that in my opinion are essential to making a career out of music. They are digestible and they are memorable.

Being digestible means that any listener who hasn't heard one single track of Interpol's can easily discern and assimilate it into their own repertoire of genre-specific artists that may or may not group them into a race or class. These first-time Interpol listeners may not like them, but they can understand them. They "get it". Interpol is rock. It's two guitars (one lead, one rhythm), a bass, drums, and a singer; Your standard modern-rock archetype (Cocaine optional). Present this same group of people with Animal Collective songs and you'll get a bunch of blank faces staring back at you wondering why someone decided to turn their microwave into a musical instrument. Animal Collective is trying to be artsy for artsy sake with their avant-garde/experimental/electronica type of sound that makes me grind my teeth down to their roots every time I hear them played or someone tries to tell me to "just listen to it, man." I am listening to it, man, and I don't like it. But other people love them, and I fail to understand why. I can, however, understand why people would love Interpol. They are the poster child for modern indie-rock. Most people don't listen to Joy Division or The Chameleons. Which is why they listen to Interpol because it's almost the same experience for today's less-educated music follower. Compare it to listening to Nirvana circa 1992 and not knowing who The Pixies were. There is always a means to an end. Especially in music.

As far as being memorable, that's just Interpol's ability to write catchy tunes that get stuck inside your head without you realizing it until a few days later when you're grocery shopping and find yourself humming along to "Evil". When a song - Interpol or otherwise - gets stuck in my head it makes me think of the future of music listening devices. It won't be too long before we just plug a cord into our brain to download songs and listen to them. Scary to think that when someone says "I can't get that song out of my head", they will be speaking literally and not figuratively.

There is no set release date for the new Interpol album, nor is there an album title either. It is rumored that they are returning to their roots and giving their fans some of the old by channeling some of what made Turn On The Bright Lights a fantastic album. However, I did read an interview the other day with Paul Banks with him stating that the new album will be "elegant" and "orchestral". I hope those aren't synonyms to "dull" and "vacuous".

3. Battles

One dude from Helmet, one dude from Don Caballero, and two other dudes (one of which released a solo album last year that was - to put it mildly - eccentric) make up the band Battles. Mixing elements of rock, electronic, and drum & bass these four musical chemists got immediate popularity with their song "Atlas" and the accompanying video which is one of my favorites. Let's watch!

Their first album Mirrored from which the single "Atlas" comes from is an amalgam of synth and sample riding on heavy hitting drums. But to be quite honest I don't really know what excites me about this band. It's just as experimental as any other band I tend to dislike, so why do I find myself attracted to it? When I started to write this segment about Battles I went back and listened to the entire album and I have to say that it was kind of painful to get through. I realized then that Battles is one of those bands to take in small doses. A song here, a song there. But that's it. It's one of the reasons why the album is a better listen on vinyl. Not because it sounds better, but because it's split into four discs with only two or three tracks comprising each side. This gives the listener the correct dosage for listening.

Regardless of how tedious the music of Battles is it's not going to stop me from wanting to hear more of what they have to say. Sure, the music fits into a specific niche that only a certain crowd will really want to experience, but the other people will be there too. As experimental as Battles is it doesn't count them out of playing in front of a large audience at festivals. There will be the dedicated fans that have weaseled their way to the front for Battles' set which comprise maybe 10% of the group, but there's also that 90% that only want to hear "Atlas". This gives me an idea of how their new album will be considering musicians are always trying to evolve and have their music reach more people. For instance, the new Yeasayer album, which is great by the way (well, at least 60% of it). What makes Odd Blood good is that Yeasayer realized they didn't want to be "that band" for eternity that made weird music that attracted even weirder fans. Once that happens your fan base shrinks to the point of not making any money which means not making any more music which means going back to your shitty job working for the man. So bands compromise. They keep some of their Cageian sensibility while making their albums a bit more digestible to the public. Some would say that's selling out, but I disagree. Selling your song to play on a commercial during the Superbowl is selling out. I'm looking at you, Grizzly Bear. But, here again, bands have bills to pay just like us common folk. Let's hope Battles follows Mirrored up with their own Odd Blood and not something like Neon Bible.

2. Gorillaz

The same friend whom I mentioned earlier about the discussion of new albums coming out this year asked a question concerning everyone's favorite cartoon band. No, not Josey and the Pussycats, not Jem, and not KISS. I'm talking about Gorillaz. When the new single "Stylo" from the forthcoming third album Plastic Beach (Hitting the streets on March 8) was leaked online my cohorts and I listened to it and made our assessment. This was when the question "do you think Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett are getting sick of doing Gorillaz?" was posed. My answer- no. If they were they probably wouldn't have done a third album. I have faith in knowing that if these two artists don't want to do something, then they seriously don't do it.

In keeping usual form, Gorillaz they have shed very little light on what has been happening with the band - 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel - since their last album Demon Days. What we do know is Plastic Beach refers to an island in the middle of the ocean made up of remnants of everything fake or "plastic" on the planet after a supposed apocalyptic cataclysm. That's a lot of silicone and Hollywood if ya ask me.

Since there has been a lack of real info on what the band has been up to I decided to go scavenge across the internets for any bit of Gorillaz news I could find on their new album. What I found were a few scattered links off of bass player Murdoc's Twitter page. It makes me wonder who the man behind the cartoon is. Is it Albarn? Hewlett? Or some junkie from Manchester they pay a few quid every week to just so he can ramble off and essentially be a real-life Murdoc? I like the idea of that, actually.

So here are a couple of Murdoc tidbits I was able to scrape up...

A blog that he is now writing up on MTV's website rambling on and on about Lady Gaga. Pretty funny, however I don't really like the idea of it being hosted on MTV, but whatever. MTV in Europe isn't the same as MTV here in the states. To the best of my knowledge they actually still play music videos. In any case, here's the link. Murdoc's Blog

A video showing us that Murdoc is on the run from an assassin. Maybe this is why he hasn't left the island yet and is stuck there as indicated in his blog post from above. Here's the video.

And last, but not least, a trailer for Plastic Beach giving us a fully detailed outside look of where the Gorillaz have been recording the new album.

Awesome, yes? I'm excited. And you should be too.

1. The National

We've come to the end, at least for now. I don't plan to stop writing anytime soon; that is unless my life comes to an abrupt end. But even then I'll make sure to start a new blog wherever I may be in the nether-realm. My hope is to be noticed by the Ghost Hunters and have them film an episode that does nothing but face a camera toward a computer while I spit out opinions on music from the other side along with dead musicians as guest writers. Yeah, I've kinda thought this through already. Does that make me morbid?

The only thing I really need to mention here is The National is obviously my top pick for the new album I'm most looking forward to (Did I say that right?). Is it going to be as dark and depressing as Boxer? I hope so. I want the new album to become an old friend as well. Someone you visit when times are really tough. When somebody else's problems seem to trump yours. Either way, I highly doubt it will disappoint. Even the shittiest National song is better than three-quarters of the other crap that's floating around now-a-days.

No release date. No hint on what kind of sound they are going for. Nothing. The band have collectively been quite secretive about the new album since they are still recording and what not. Understandable. I'd pull the LOST card if I were them, too. I almost don't want to listen to any of the pre-release singles until the entire album comes out. It'll be like a second Christmas for me. Who am I kidding though? I know as soon as a song is out on the net I'm going to want to hear it since all my other friends are going to ask what I thought of it. I'm weak.

To be honest with all of you it's not so much the album I'm looking forward to, it's the feeling I will get when I listen to the album that excites me. It's also the anticipation of connecting these new songs to something in my life happening at the moment. Kind of like a stamp on a letter that never gets sent. It just stays in a shoebox somewhere with about 1,000 others. Sealed away until I start to feel nostalgic one day and decide to open them back up. That happens every time I listen to an album that has that kind of emotional significance to me. Boxer is undoubtedly one of them. I always wonder if the artist ever has any clue as to what their music does to people. Do they think of the bigger picture or do they just contain themselves in their own little world?

To me, music is always something more. Music is a calling. It's a statement of whatever you feel. It can be a disease, an addiction, a judge, jury, and executioner. It's the hair standing on end at the back of your neck. It's murder. It's salvation. Love. Horror. Sadness. It can be anything, really. But what it is is what it's never not. No matter how many people interpret a song it'll always be something different. Music will never be just music.

That is all for now. Stay tuned for a new 5SIAR coming soon. Barring any accidental death and dismemberment, of course.

#15

2010-01-21T11:15:00.000-05:00

A Brief History Of Time...And Music

"Disorder increases with time because we measure time in the direction in which disorder increases." - Stephen Hawking

On the first day of the year 5SIAR was the furthest thing from my mind. I was more concerned with what would happen this year in terms of a personal nature than forming a game plan for this blog that you're reading right now. It was a poor choice. I figured I'd get to 5SIAR when I had the time which would eventually lead to it being put on the back burner which would lead to me forgetting and abandoning it. Maybe I was waiting for some kind of sign. Those signs came earlier than expected and that is why you're getting a new 5SIAR to start off the new year. I want the year to be good. I want my blog to be better than good. They will both undoubtedly take some work.

Sometimes I feel starting something new is like removing a band-aid. A very sticky one at that. The kind that tugs at your skin and rips several dozen hairs off while you're pulling. The trick has always been to rip it off as quickly as possible to reduce the amount of pain that you must endure. To get that sting out of the way and let the healing process come to an end. Yes, there is still pain, there always will be. But would you rather let that pain last longer than it needs to or get it over with in one quick gesture? I'm not here to judge your choice. I'm not here to tell you what's right and what's wrong. I'm just here for the music.

So, in true fast-ripping action I give you the first 5SIAR for 2010. And now that the band-aid is off I can see I have a little bit more healing to do. But it's better to have done it sooner than never. If you wait too long the moment disappears, and you're left with a blank sheet of paper. No one likes a blank canvas. It's intimidating.

"Big Man With A Gun" - Nine Inch Nails

Big Man With A Gun - Nine Inch...

We're starting the year off with a loud, ear-ringing bang. Reznor's period album The Downward Spiral was an industrial masterpiece when all the world wanted was more grunge and alternative. This album was the alternative. It was like when you first heard Nevermind, Dirt or Core or any other one word album back in the 90's. When you got done with it you flipped the tape back over and hit play on the boombox your parents gave you for Christmas and you listened to it again and again. I had bought the CD though. It was right around the time I had friends that could drive and one of the places we would always go is the record store. I'm proud to say that The Downward Spiral was one of the first CD's I bought with my own money (The other one was Siamese Dream). And no, I did not get carded because of the "Parental Advisory" sticker on the album. No clerk really gave a shit about it at the time. Did they ever?

This album represents a lot of the anger and animosity my generation went through during this period. The day-to-day headache known as high school - and pretty much everything surrounding it having to do with class wars - was the main reason behind so many youths becoming attached to what Trent was talking about. Now, I didn't know any heroin addicts during high school, but I did know many people trying to find some kind of group to belong to. Someplace safe. It wasn't with the Agriculture class (though Reznor did use a lot of pig references), and it wasn't with the popular kids either. We formed our own group of outcasts and headbangers to combat what the "normal" people stood for. Which, for that time, now that I think about it, remind me more and more of the conservative newscasters on Fox News - too clean cut for their own good. Everyone had skeletons in their closet, it's just that us metal kids weren't afraid to be honest and show that side to people. The ugliness. The issues everyone faces. Trent taught us that it's okay to feel like this.

The Downward Spiral came to us at the perfect point in time. I try to look back to my teenage years and it's hard to imagine them without this album. Sure, I had other outlets to immerse myself in to escape the fact I was an awkward, introverted teen. Tool and Tori Amos showed me the road, but Nine Inch Nails carried me down it. I could go on and on about what exactly the album is about and what Trent was feeling at the time - which was obviously lost - but again, this blog is more about the experience, not the artist themselves.

I used that Hawking quote in the beginning to acknowledge that like the universe we the people tend to measure our lives in relation to the amount of disorder we've racked up. We're proud of our accomplishments, but without the chaos and disorder, we would've never learned anything from it all. We would still be empty inside. Every time I listen to The Downward Spiral I am reminded of that. We're all a bit untidy and are constantly struggling for a clean cloth to wash ourselves off with.

"Capsize" - Karen O And The Kids

Capsize - Karen O and the Kids

I'm not a big soundtrack fan. I have a bad taste in my mouth from so many disappointments. The only ones that I enjoy are the ones that are able to stand on their own, such as Purple Rain, The Wall, or Ziggy Stardust. I know there are others that are great, but those are the first three that pop into my head. These albums are made up entirely of songs by the artist instead of being thrown together by a producer or director. We remember how far we fell into the depths of the Garden State soundtrack, right? Thankfully Spike Jonze chose someone to create the soundtrack to 2009's Where The Wild Things Are, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She was chosen...wisely.

The song begins with hand claps and Karen O giving the listener a battle-cry chant outlining the movie's intro "running away to escape authority" theme. Soft chugging guitars, a marching drum beat that eventually leads into a stronger lead guitar, and Ms. O singing a few lines detail Max's reasons to take flight and leave his home. We've all felt that way at some point in our childhood as we try to come to terms with our parent's power over us. We are born with an instinct to not be ruled, but to do the ruling ourselves.

The movie takes its shape by showing us how negative emotions affect not just a child, but all of us. Feelings of abandonment, loneliness, egotism, depression, and self-loathing all make cameos. I know, it sounds like a commercial for Prozac, but it's a bit more entertaining when you see monsters become the manifestations of a little boy's melancholy world.

Some of us despise looking at ourselves in the mirror. The mask dissolves to show what we've hidden underneath. For some there is a lot of darkness hidden behind our eyes. Darkness that was never brought into the light. Time heals, but scars are always there as reminders of all the pain we've suffered. I say why not take a more laughable approach to the situation? There's something amusing about seeing imaginary characters going through the same process and handling it in a completely different way - like biting one another, or creating another world out of sticks and stones where nothing bad happens, or just hanging out with owls named Bob and Terry. Even now as adults we feel the need to run away every now and then.

"The Age Of The Understatement" - The Last Shadow Puppets

Before I speak about this song I feel it necessary for you the reader to watch the video for it to fully grasp its meaning or lack thereof. Whichever you prefer.

A lone ice skater with the entire rink all to herself. A few scattered people watching the band (Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of The Rascals) perform while a boy indulges himself with sweets. The band braving a harsh Russian winter riding on tanks while Red Army officers bellow out a gut-vibrating baritone. A single old woman praying in church. What does it all mean you ask? Excess. Which is why the band or director probably chose Russia as the location. It's ironic though because I don't think of that country as being excessive. It makes me think of America. Hrmmm...

There is a lot of emptiness in the scenes. Vast landscapes taken up by one or very few people yet still being able to show the gluttony of power. The army, the church, the delicious pastry, the perfect skater, all of it has to do with an addiction to excess, but it's presented in the form of how hollow that excess really is. The scenes are the understatement. Small snippets of reality candy-coated with the exact opposite of what the scenes portrayed actually are.

The cold war never ended. It was just turned inward. We fight with ourselves to the point of madness and stalemate because we deny our body, mind, and spirit things we are made to think are excessive and should therefore be avoided. Everything in moderation I always say, but some people just can't help themselves. As time goes on fat cats get fatter and the rest of us are left to starve. This is the way it has been for a while now and it's sad to see it getting worse.

At least the song and video are cool.

"A Peak In Time" - Cut Chemist

A Peak In Time - Cut Chemist

Did any of you watch Scratch, the documentary explaining the history of the DJ and turntablism? If not, then you should. A lot of people have protested against the turntable being used as an instrument, calling what is created from it unoriginal and plagiarist. I, on the other hand, have the utmost respect for it. The music produced from turntablism is the only genre that I feel isn't being created for the sole purpose of evoking an emotional response. It's completely unbiased. The listener doesn't have a singer going on and on about his or her problems or rewards. When you listen to disc jockeys like Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Shadow, or in this case Cut Chemist, you are free to think and feel however you want. Which is why DJ's have never and will never make a soundtrack to a television show or movie. They don't have to tell you how you should feel at some moment in time.

When you listen to this track from Chemist how does it make you feel? Uplifted? Intoxicated? Pissed off? Can you even pinpoint the exact sentiment being conveyed? I can't, really, and that's what makes it great. It is in no way connected to emotion so none of it can be used to soundtrack visuals. This is another aspect of the DJ I admire. None of their music is telling me how to feel. I decide. I don't have a Chris Martin or some other sappy lead vocalist with a melodic band backing him/her up to remind me of that one girl that got away or how the government is fucking me in the ass. I can count on Cut Chemist mixes not showing up on American Idol while some newly crowned blond popper bounces up and down for the camera with a piece of yellow paper in their hand. I also won't hear DJ Shadow during the new Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson movie about being a tooth fairy. Turntablism doesn't belong there and it's what I detest about television or movie soundtracks. They are played during the key moments when the director is telling the audience how to feel. Sounds like a crutch for actors if you ask me. I go more for a subtle approach. Like the Amelie soundtrack. It stays in the background the entire time and let's you connect with the actors instead.

Turntablists are the graffiti artists of the music world - complete freedom with no constraints and all control. None of them need producers to mold and shape their sound to fit into a specific niche. I like that. It's what I strive for in my own life. Creating myself without the direct aid of others, but taking the past and transforming it into something usable and original.

"Red Right Ankle" - The Decemberists

Red Right Ankle - The December...

What songs from your past do you find stick with you over the years? Songs that you never forget and that catapulted you into a new way of thinking or being. "Red Right Ankle" is one of those songs on my list, but I'll be damned if I can figure out why. I become engrossed and engulfed in so many artists and their songs that it all starts to become one giant radio transmission being sent from a distant world. Can you imagine what all the songs ever played on the radio sound like from space? It's one stream of noise. I feel that way here on Earth. So many songs linked to so many thoughts and memories that it becomes a chore to sort them all out and make sense of it all. Like having to scrub the kitchen floor on your hands and knees. It takes extra work, but the payoff is being able to see yourself in that floor.

I attribute The Decemberists as being my doorway into indie music. Sure, there are other bands and solo artists, but whenever I think of that one moment where I started ingesting every band that was recommended to me I always go back to the beginning. Back to The Decemberists. Back to my friend Eva telling me, "You need to listen to this band." Now when I discover a new band I work backwards to find their influences and from that find older bands that I should've been listening to instead of Korn and Mudvayne. I've labeled that time in my life "The Dark Ages."

Working backwards seems to fit my personality according to the Myers-Briggs test. I solve my present problems by looking into the past and taking that information and applying it to the situation at hand. Instead of devising a new way to sort through it I just stick with what worked or didn't work from before. It seems to work, sometimes.

The last time The Decemberists appeared on 5SIAR I was bashing them. Well, not them, but the song. It was a song off of the Always A Bridesmaid series, a collection of six new songs released before their lackluster rock-opera opus The Hazards Of Love. I only enjoyed half of the songs on Always A Bridesmaid, the half that reminded me of The Decemberists of yore - The Decemberists from Picaresque, Her Majesty, and Castways and Cutouts that I love. Let that be a lesson to you, Colin Meloy. Never try to cover Velvet Underground ever again. But I forgive them. Time heals. It also creates more chaos.

I could use some peace, though.

#14

2009-12-30T15:32:00.002-05:00

"Spring was confusing, a little bit scary. Summer was much of the same."

This issue's title comes from a track from the bass driven, sludge-metal band Big Business. The song is "Just As The Day Was Dawning" from their debut album Here Come The Waterworks and is pretty much my credo for the way 2009 has treated me. The first part of the year being very tense and emotional. One day I would be on my A-game- creating things and tying knots to the strings that linked all the things coming undone in my life. The next- wanting to hang myself from that very string. What I aimed to do wound up tearing me apart. Sure, I did some good things. Hell, I started this blog, and even though I haven't updated it much lately, it still stands. That counts for something. I did some bad things too. Things that lingered into the latter part of the year, but it's getting better.

In the beginning of '09 there was mania. Not in the sense of a bipolar disorder though, at least I don't think. I tried going to therapy and to have myself tested. It wound up being a waste of my time and $50 a visit. Besides, sometimes I have the tendency not to take advice from the people who matter most in my life. Family. Friends. Musicians. So I asked myself, "If you rarely listen to them, what makes you think you're going to listen to a shrink, Nick?" Well played, brain, well played. Back to the subject at hand, my manic impulses caused me to overload on thought, but with that came a lack of reason. I had so many ideas and I was in such a rush to start on them that I never focused on any kind of approach or vector. It was as if I had a sword and was just waving it blindly in the direction of my adversary hoping it would strike. That sword was heavy and in time I could no longer hold it up. My arms gave out. I conceded to defeat.

Now, as 2010 approaches, I feel reinvigorated. My usual penchant for camaraderie and "ruling" has returned. I don't make resolutions, or promises, or goals. I just let things flow but I direct the current toward a more favorable avenue that will lead to my and other's well-being.

Aside from all of that nonsense though, I wish to divulge to you my top 5 albums of the year. I was originally going to do 10, but I figured A: After album number 5 there's a really big drop off in how much I liked 6-10, and B: It's called 5songsinarow for a reason. Five being the magic number. So, you will get the five albums that I listened to the most this year that I thought were uber-worthy. Let the madness end!..er..begin! Whatever.

5. Sleepy Sun - Embrace

Classic psyche-rock/blues sound akin to Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, and more recently Black Mountain. Big guitar and cymbal sounds with lots of distorted bass just like dad used to love before he started listening to Celine Dion and "settling down". I say fuck that. Put this album on and crank your stereo to it's highest volume possible. An album like this deserves to be listened to as loud as possible. If you don't you will miss the subtle nuances throw in from the sparse harmonica and wha pedal. Also, having a female vocalist always adds some points in my book.

4. Mew - No More Stories...

These Danes do it up with their usual throw of prog-rock, odd-tempo weirdness with big atmospheres that probably make Muse blush and feel bad about themselves. Speaking of Muse, their new album this year wasn't so hot. I was actually quite disappointed in it. Thankfully Mew's new album was released and I could not stop listening to it. I love an album that everytime you listen to it it provides something new you didn't hear before. This was a big one, and for some people it's at the #1 spot on their list, and I'm okay with that.

3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

There aren't enough good things to say about this album, but then again, I am one of those Veckatimest people - the distant cousins to the Merriweather Post Pavilion people. We see each other maybe once a year during Thanksgiving and don't really talk much. We have that one conversation about football while waiting for dinner to be served since it's the only thing we share in common. Seriously though, people have been quite divisive about who to give the #1 spot to this year. It seems though that Animal Collective is the Obama of 2009 in music world.

2. Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth

I think I wet myself a little bit when I first listened to this album in its entirety. And here I thought indie/electronic was going toward the way of suck. Oh how wrong I was. This album bumped GB off the #2 spot to snatch the silver right out of their hands. They do have one thing in common though, they are both from Brooklyn. It seems as if that NYC borough has been an automatic indie band dispensary lately. Remember back in the early part of the decade when it was Omaha? Yeah, so do I. I'm glad that's over. Long live the east coast.

1. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

Honestly, none of the albums on this list could hold a candle to Middle Cyclone. It's not so much the music that makes this album so unbelievably incredible, it's the lyrics contained within that make it so special. As a writer I always gravitate toward albums that are heavily literary oriented. Add Neko's voice to these triumphs of fiction (and non-fiction) set to flawless fundamental folk/americana and you have a masterpiece. "This Tornado Loves You" is still the reigning champ as being the most played song on my iPod. When you fall in love with this album you'll understand why. From her cover of Nilsson's "Don't Forget Me" to the dragging march and drone of "Prison Girls" Ms. Case as proved once again that she is a force to be reckoned with. Respect her.

That's it folks. I will see everyone in 2010 with a new edition of 5SIAR. Much love to you all!

#13

2009-11-09T15:14:00.003-05:00

"Sometimes when you win, you lose." Or, A Cluster of Bad Timing

Does anyone remember that line from What Dreams May Come? I do. It's a constant reminder to stay grounded and to always be humble. Although sometimes that's easier said than done. I can be on top of the world and feel invincible, but I must always remember that below me lies the same shit I deal with day in and day out- My own personal demons. They are always there to keep me in check and to remind me that every day is to be treated as a gift, albeit a very subpar one. Almost like getting socks for Christmas. Sure, you're thankful, but at the same time you feel cheated. It's only my ego, and one day I'll learn to kick it to the curb.

I recently was a cast member in a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The connections I made and the fun I had with all the cast and crew will be with me forever. However, if I have to watch that movie at all any time soon I could quite possibly commit suicide. The upside to it is I have memorized pretty much every character's part in the movie. So if I do it again I will be prepared.

Before the show there was a performance from the Florida Dance Theatre. The dancer's characters were everyone's preferred occult figure for this year- the vampire. Vampires are the new black what with all the buzz with Twilight and True Blood being big hits. If you are a fan of those I suggest to you the movie Let The Right One In. Great foreign vampire film and definitely worth your time to watch it.

The dance the FDT performed moved me, which is a rare thing. Dancing doesn't do much for me, but this one was different. The dancers were amazing and it was wonderfully choreographed. It wasn't just that though, it was the music they used that brought it all together. The songs they chose were a perfect fit and I realized that they would make a great addition to 5SIAR. The dance, the songs, and the mood they put me in (which was suffice it to say not a happy one) compelled me to want to write this. That, and, well, a skirmish with a friend. All of those things grabbed me by the arm, sat me down, put my fingers on the keyboard and said "tell us about it." You asked for it. So here it is.

"Us" - Regina Spektor

Us - Regina Spektor

Scene #1: Man and woman meet. Man and woman fall in love. Man and woman are happy.

The opening number to the performance was a track from Spektor's Soviet Kitsch but was also put on the soundtrack to this summer's indie feel good/feel sad movie 500 Days Of Summer. It's your typical grab your lady by the hand and fall in love kind of song. There does, however, seem to be some kind of underlying message of love costing more than what it is worth. Yes, I'm putting a price tag on the emotion because in the greater scheme of things love is the thing that dictates pretty much everything in the universe. Or, at least, something on par with it such as gravity or magnetism. Somehow, someway, attraction is our life's path and that was the center on this part of the dance performance. Two people meet and they fall in love, and it's grand. It's grand because it spreads to others. That wonderful feeling is truly contagious. So much that people will use "Us" as a blueprint for their love.

As lovers rise, in time they eventually fall. Like Icarus, the lover flies too close to the sun, is burned, and falls back down. This is the nearest approximation of falling in and out of love I can conjure. That is the way of things. The path of love is not without its pitfalls and hiccups. Giant sacrifices are made for the other person all for the sake of keeping the connection alive when it's already on life support. Some people sign a prenuptial before getting married, what they should be signing are DNR forms. Do Not Resuscitate.

We all have this hope and dream that love will conquer all and I honestly think that is our first mistake in love. We can't count on it to fix everything because sometimes it does more harm than good. You know that old saying that one man's trash is another's treasure? Well that can also be reversed when it comes to matters of the heart. One man's treasure is another's trash. The shine that was there becomes tarnished and rusted to the point of taking the easy way out and throwing it away instead of polishing it. The same analogy can be used with two people in love. The feeling becomes tarnished from wear and tear (countless fights and disagreements). It becomes so broken that it is thrown away with no chance of survival or revival. Yeah, we've heard it before, love is a battlefield, and we are the soldiers at arms. And yes, sometimes peace treaties can be made, but most of the time the two sides just lay down their weapons and walk away from each other.

OK, now that I've depressed all of you I will say that beyond all of the bullshit and excrement that goes along with falling for someone it really is a great feeling when it all works out. When all the little pieces fit into place perfectly (which is more rare than one might think) it becomes something more than your standard boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in and out of love kind of story. The explosion from this occurrence echoes across our visible and invisible universe dictating courses of action and ultimately becoming the pebble thrown into our pond.

"Emotion Sickness" - Sliverchair

Emotion Sickness - Silverchair

Scene #2: Woman runs away. Hides. Man is attacked. Dies.

Silverchair- A band that has struggled to escape the label of 90's grunge relic to become something of their own; Something a bit more than the dropped D tuning they stole from Helmet. Well, it took a few albums, and from the sound of their most recent release Young Modern, they have come into their own and finally have shed all the Frogstomp stigma left over from their teenage years. In between Frogstomp and Young Modern there was their third album Neon Ballroom- an album that saw a band trying to shed its skin by exploring new territory in a soon to be post-grunge world, yet still maintaining a kinship to their roots of Nirvana-esque antagonism.

The bands and their intentions aren't the point of this issue but the meaning behind the songs are instead. What the songs represent in the dance routine and what that means to me and what I feel and what I think the rest of the world feels. Simple, right? Wrong.

With love comes struggle to keep that love alive. People say, "If it's meant to be then it should be easy!" No, it's never easy. Because we are all so different from one another and complex no one couple in this world will ever have it easy. There are too many nuances to one's personality that prevents that. You're going to have bumps in the road. You're going to get emotionally sick which inevitably leads to being physically sick. Why do you think after one spouse passes away the other follows shortly after. People die from broken hearts, and it happens more often than not.

We can either heal or become ill from overdoses of feeling. How do you feel when you're falling for someone? Invincible, right? Like you could take on one hundred Osama Bin Ladens or Rush Limbaughs and take them all down with one swift gesture. You're on top of the world. Unstoppable, even, yet that is only one end of the string. If there's a positive, there's always a negative.

What happens when love dies? Not only does depression and heartache follow, but now and again a physical malady as well. For instance, what I stated before, someone dying from a broken heart. There is no medical reason why this happens, nor can we really explain it. It just...happens. It amazes me how well connected the mind and body are with one another. Our body has responses to a wide range of emotion. If we're nervous, we sweat. If we're happy, we seem to "glow". If we're angry or threatened, adrenaline kicks in. And if we're sad, we feel nauseous, drained, and unable to properly function. Trouble arises when we lose control of our bodies and let emotion become the pilot. We are rash and we do and say things we wouldn't normally consider doing or saying and it always gets us in trouble.

As for our lovers- the woman leaves the man to be free and experience more only to return to find him broken and expired. Drained of life from the separation.

"The Fragile" - Nine Inch Nails

The Fragile - Nine Inch Nails

Scene #3: Woman returns to find man deceased. Commences to repair him.

When we cannot mend ourselves from what we may consider to be irreparable damage, we have friends and loved ones there to help us along. We break and those close to us are there to sweep up the pieces and help put them back together in some kind of recognizable order. This, of course, is achieved by heavy boozing and late-night drunk dials to the breaker. Luckily I've never been on the receiving end of one of these notorious phone calls of liquored belligerence, nor have I ever had the reason to make one. My life is still young though. I'm sure at some point someone will do something to warrant me drunk dialing them to blast obscenities and curses at them all while my friends are carrying my near de-hydrated and collapsed body to the bathroom to vomit some more. Yes, heartbreak sucks and who better than to school us about it than King Heartbreak himself, Trent Reznor.

The first thing that sticks out in this song is the use of tambourine to sound like chains being dragged. The chains are the focus of the song as them being the object holding down the main character with Trent supposedly being the one making the promise of not letting her succumb to darkness. This of course is my literal translation of it and is more than likely wrong, or is it? Sometimes a song's literal meaning is more often than not the right one. I get so tired of songwriters beating around the bush with in regards to their lyrics. Sometimes they are so abstract and distant that it's difficult to identify with the song which becomes turn off. I understand some level of mystery and privacy for one's feelings, but don't jump the shark with what you're trying to say to sound cool in front of the kids!

Ahem...

Getting back to the subject at hand- Hearts get broken, and then they are mended. It is a process as natural as the sun rising and setting. We win some, we lose some and occasionally both happen at the same time. Love never really dies. It just gets transformed into something else. It evolves. We have to stick by this concept (me included) or else we're all destined to keep falling down until we aren't able to pick ourselves back up. Friends or no friends, it is ultimately up to us to oil the machine and make it all work. But it never hurts to have a little help from your mates.

"Let Go" - Frou Frou

Let Go - Frou Frou

Scene #4: Man is turned to vampire and is healed to spend eternity with woman.

Yet another one-hit indie soundtrack wonder for this issue. This one comes from the Garden State Soundtrack and in all honesty I haven't heard anything released from Frou Frou since. I'm OK with that, too. I've never heard any of her other songs and judging from this one I don't feel like I would be missing anything that's a masterpiece. In this case the music isn't the meaning, it's the message. I believe I've stated that once before, actually. A lot of what I've been doing lately feels like I've done it all before. There's a little bit of past in everything, I guess, or else now wouldn't be the future. That will make more sense later. I promise.

So yes, it's the message. The words, the lyrics, what is being said, which in all actuality can be summed up by the title "Let Go." Let life take over. Don't worry about what is going to happen because then you will spend all of your free time pining over the very worst that may or may not transpire. You will not get to enjoy conversations with friends or ice cream with your children. You will not have your first kiss with someone. You will not catch the 2009 Tampa Bay Buccaneers win their first game of the season. No, you won't experience any of these instances because you were too busy buried inside your own head conjuring up expectations in life that, again, may not happen. Let go. Let whatever will happen happen. It may be what you're looking for.

Sometimes it may seem that at every corner you find a brick wall. Something to impede your forward progress. You can't let that stop you. You are your own worst enemy in this situation. Don't succumb to failure. Stand back up, turn around, and just go another direction. And if that too has another brick wall, well, then, that's life. There's positive and negative, opportunity and brick walls, perfect timing and bad timing....bad timing. People call it fate, or at least some do. The others still believe that we create our own destiny. As for me, I've been leaning more toward the bad timing theory for quite a while now. Sometimes things aren't supposed to happen for a reason. It's tragic though when a person's life becomes nothing but bad timing. However it's sometimes comforting to know that your life has a hand in determining so many other outcomes in other people's lives as well. You almost can't be mad about it. If it was meant to happen that way, bad timing or not, then that's what it was supposed to be. A cluster of bad timing.

Was it fate that determined man and woman being together forever? I honestly don't know, but I know I had a part in it all. This is also why there isn't a fifth song. Whatever it will all be - Winning, losing, good or bad timing - we just don't know. The song hasn't played yet.

"Untitled" - Unknown

PRESS PLAY. Don't let life pass you by.

#12

2009-09-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

It's not black. It's not white. It's all the colors in between....And rollerskates.

Music is release. It is energy. It is catharsis. These are reoccurring themes in music I have touched upon in pretty much every issue of 5SIAR since its inception. I think we can all agree that music feeds the soul. It is there when people dig their nails into your personal well-being for the sake of pushing their views on to you. Yes, we all have different tastes and it ultimately boils down to what we like and dislike. And that goes for everything in life. But this doesn't mean that we can't all get along. Aside from being human we all have common ground in something and that something is usually art related. We sit around a table with our comrades in polite, yet sometimes heated, discussion about what artists we consider ear-worthy at the time. We have different views and opinions, but they are neither right nor wrong. The gray area is called our voice. Our own personal take on what the music says to us and how we feel about it. And such is the case for the rest of the issues we face in today's world. But I'm not here to present a political or religious agenda via my blog. I'm here to talk about the music and how it may or may not relate to that agenda. An agenda that's unfortunately cutting not just America, but the world in two.

But, for this issue I say fuck all that noise and instead talk about my fear of rollerskating. A friend suggested to me that I should make a 5SIAR with the five songs I'd rather listen to than have wheels under my feet; So here we go!

"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" - The Proclaimers

I'm Gonna Be [500 Miles] - The...

Amongst the countless other things I'd rather do than go rollerskating (chew on broken glass, go to a NASCAR race, eat brussel sprouts...the list goes on), I would rather listen to five unbearably awful songs that I despise and would never otherwise bring myself to the point of actually listening to them. Listening to these songs, in my opinion, could be considered torture and in my case they usually are. Other people may have a different view of how bad these testaments to the flaws of human-kind are, but for me, they are some of the most abhorrent and god-awful songs to have stuck in your head at any given time. They are, however, the gems I would gladly (and proudly) jam out to rather than strapping skates to my feet only to hang on to the walls of the rink with a white knuckle grip and cold sweat while fighting back a major coronary.

First on the list is a suggestion by a friend that hit the nail right on the head with this diddy. I wholeheartedly agree that "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" has got to be one of the most annoying tunes to have stuck in your head. What makes the song worse is that once it's in your head it doesn't leave. It gets comfy and starts sleeping on your mental couch without even chipping in for rent or beer. These Scottish identical twins of torment struck it big in the U.S. when the song was included on the Benny & Joon soundtrack. To this day I have never seen that movie because of this. Any chance to not hear that song played is a chance worth taking. I even remember being younger, watching MTV, and scrambling for the remote to change the channel as soon as I saw the video come on. Yes, my hate for this song runs deep. Still, I would gladly pay the 99 cents on iTunes, throw it on my iPod, and listen to it on repeat before I would even consider rollerskating again.

I never understood how people could have a phobia and why they would freak out so much about it, but now I do. All of this stemmed from being at a friend's 25th birthday party recently which was held at a skating rink. I wanted to be able to join the rest of my friends as they were enjoying themselves, but alas my fear got the best of me. I did make some kind of breakthrough by making it around the rink at least once, but I'm not sure if I can count that considering I was hanging on to the wall the entire time. It was my own personal hell. The party was still awesome though and so were all my friends giving me the courage to make it around.

"Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" - Limp Bizkit

Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle) - L...

This song should be number one on the list, but I like to keep at least some of the randomness 5SIAR is all about. Limp Bizkit, and all their songs, pretty much sum up the latter part of a generation that was built on the music MTV served up as the staple of their rock portion of the channel. While we were succumbing to the N'Sync's and the Master P's of the era, bands like Korn and Staind became the relief for the former grunge junkies that were now turned Ozzfest fanatics. OK, in high school Korn's self-titled was a good jam for the times. Staind's first album, also decent for the musically uneducated at the time. There were also a slew of others including Sevendust, Coal Chamber, Incubus, System Of A Down that all made up this conglomerate of alternative metal that was now being called "nu-metal". It was a dark time for music indeed and it got even darker when Korn started inspiring another spin-off of the alternative music drowning the airwaves. It was the joining of rap and rock that sent the mainstream over the edge and into a pit of embarrassment and mud made from the tears of Nirvana fans. And it was Limp Bizkit that was the flagship that was to take us all there.

The year was 1997. Clinton was in office. People had jobs and places to live. The economy was about to enter a boom when something called the internet was to become something more than hearing "Welcome. You've got mail!" Things were pretty much badass compared to the constant shit storm nightmare we live in now. It was this same year that I graduated high school and during that summer some friends from work and I made the journey to Orlando for Ozzfest '97. The only reason, and I do mean the ONLY reason I really wanted to go was because Tool was playing. My parents had forbidden me to go see them on their Aenima tour a year earlier and it started becoming a reality that their oldest son was growing up and had the ability to go to shows by himself without the supervision of an adult. They eventually caved after a few mild arguments about how I wasn't a kid anymore. I guess they had every reason to be because Ozzfest '97 wound up being the first show I smoked pot. This was also the first time I was to experience Limp Bizkit, but unfortunately not my last. A few years down the road my girlfriend at the time wanted to go to a show of theirs, and I being the nice boyfriend, bought tickets to go. Sigh. It truly was a testament to my lack of wisdom and overabundance of complacency at the time.

I don't know what possessed me to buy their first album in the first place. Oh, wait, I know. I got suckered in just like everyone else did with their cover of George Micheal's "Faith". Looking back I consider my musical taste as the somewhat equivalent of what it must've been like to live in the dark ages. Yes, my friends, there was a time I bought and listened to Three Dollar Bill Ya'lls and Significant Other (typing that made me cringe). Luckily, in 2000, I was saved before I was to be forever lost in an ocean of hot dog water and chocolate starfish. My savior came in the form of albums like Kid A, Vespertine, and eventually Is This It and White Blood Cells. And I never looked back. I don't need to explain why "Rollin'" is a bad song. It pretty much speaks for itself. Just know that I would easily choose it over a fall on my ass that might cause permanent tailbone trauma.

"I'll Be There For You" - The Rembrandts

I'll Be There For You - The Re...

Hundreds of Rachel's walking around. Ma and Pa coffee shops popping up on every corner only to be abandoned years later and ironically turned into Starbucks. Millions of people around the globe gripping their loveseat and lattes in hopes that Ross and Rachel would finally get together. This was the reality we were all living in 1995 when this theme song turned big hit wrapped its mouth around the masses and swallowed them whole. This is the first time in history a television theme song reached #1 on the Billboard charts. What was worse was that it stayed there for several weeks. Every Thursday night America had this song shoved down its throat. The super poppy and uplifting lyrics defined what Friends was all about. People hated it, well, at least the people I knew hated it. And after a few seasons of it being on I started to see more and more of my friends change sides and become fans of the show. It was almost as if they had a case of Stockholm Syndrome.

You couldn't go anywhere without hearing someone talk about Friends. It became the Cheers of our generation and it may even surpass Cheers' record for longest syndicated television show. I can't look through the cable guide between the hours of 5 and 7pm without seeing at least one station broadcasting an episode. And with that episode comes another play of the song. Multiply that by the number of television stations in the U.S. Now multiply that number by how many episodes those stations play every day. That's a shitload of times "I'll Be There For You" is played in a given week. Now, all of that is dependent on whether or not the station plays enough of the song during the intro to pay royalties...I think. Correct me if I'm wrong here guys, but I'm right then The Rembrandts are living large. Like, Jay-Z's diamonds large. Like, Dirk Diggler large. Like, population of China large. You get the picture.

Because of a show a band is set for life off a song they didn't even write. And because of a song we had to listen to people in our offices say something like "I'm such a Monica, you're definitely a Phoebe" every Friday around the coffee maker. People went out and bought that Rembrandts album thinking that it was going to be great. I wonder how many of those people were disappointed by it or, to this day, still touts that it's the best album ever made. Are those people out there? Do they exist? If they do, I'd love to meet them. I'd also love to meet a die hard Proclaimers fan too. I also can't help but wonder that what if iTunes was around back then would "I'll Be There For You" outsell The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus? The world may never know the answers to these questions and scholars will be theorizing for years to come. I know I will.

"There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" - The Smiths

There Is A Light That Never Go...

This isn't a bad song. In fact, it's a great one. One of the best ever, actually. It's obviously far beyond all three previous tracks written about on here. So why is it here you ask? Well, this issue isn't just strictly bad songs I'd rather listen to than go skating. I like randomness and I seem to thrive on inconsistency, and since I just got home from seeing 500 Days Of Summer I figured I'd include it on the list. I like throwing curveballs, but it's funny how I don't like curveballs thrown at me. And that movie, suffice it to say, was a Nolan Ryan, right over the left edge of the plate, swinging at air, strike three you're out curveball. The movie was real and that's what made it great and it's also what made it depressing. But depressing movies happen. So do depressing songs. Rollerskating, however, does not in my book. So I will gladly take the heart wrenching pill called the bitterness of reality as opposed to, again, skating.

The song is not so much bad as it is painful. But then again, does it really matter? This won't stop a person from listening to a song. All the songs that are ex's, or friends that have passed on, or that summer you spent in Europe and fell in love, all of these moments in time become one mixtape after another that collect the dust of years gone by. That is until it is picked back up again. You get drawn back to that moment for better or for worse. Life is not a box of chocolates; It is a shoebox full of plastic and magnet with two sides- Comedy and tragedy.

I don't know; maybe physical bruises from falling down on varnished concrete are more bearable than the bruises left on ones soul from life's disappointments? No, I take that back. I'd much rather spend a night with a six pack in my stomach than an ice bag on my knee.

Any song ever recorded and/or performed by Insane Clown Posse

Great Milenko - Insane Clown P...

I'll wrap up this issue with nothing more than a mention of the duo named Insane Clown Posse; anything more would be giving them more space than they deserve. I don't see how people can like their music. Ugh, music. Can I even call it that? It's the most talentless shit I think I've ever heard. I know, some people would disagree. There are people out there that are the die hardest of the die hard of fans, so who am I to judge? These "Juggalos", I've found, are usually some of the most unintelligent people I've ever met in my life. That's why I can judge, because you, the ICP fan, are what's wrong with America. You and every other "ain't America great", IQ of 30, yokel from here to Alaska that thinks shitty music is good. What, you need someone with makeup on or a mask to tell you how it is? How about this: take off your face paint, burn your ICP CDs, and wake up and go buy Springsteen's The River. Then you might have some kind of idea how real life was and still is according to a recording artist. Not from two jackasses in clown makeup. How much do you want to bet that Fred Durst is secretly a Juggalo. That would explain a lot, I think.

I take it back. I'd rather rollerskate and incur and risk bodily harm than listen to an ICP song. Bring on the pain and embarrassment!

#11

2009-08-07T12:59:00.002-04:00

The best songs are played while driving.

"Commemorative T-Shirt" - Oceansize

Commemorative ____ T-Shirt - O...

I have a certain mix I play when I want only music that I have deemed enjoyable. I know, it's cheating, but I don't feel bad so it doesn't count. This playlist compiled with the intent on never having to skip through the bullshit to get to what I want to hear. And now, after not visiting this playlist for several months, I have come back to it only to find that the ">>|" button takes over the scene. It calls my hand to it and inevitably takes control. Gems are passed over for the sake of catering to my mood, which has been rather somber as of late, but that's another story all together. Just because I may punching the losing card instead of the winning one doesn't mean I can't appreciate beauty when I see it or hear it. It doesn't cut me off. I won't let it. My sword is phrase. My victory will be the final period at the end of this issue.

Welcome back to 5 Songs In A Row.

My playlist, aptly titled "On The Road" since I only listen to it while I'm driving, contains the songs from the bands that matter most. Matter most to me, that is. In the past it never failed, but as I was saying, tonight when I put it on nothing seemed to jive. That is until Oceansize was played; A rock band from the UK with a near obvious tell that they really wish they were Radiohead. And yet Oceansize blends just enough grit into the mix to be able to stay outside the niche of modern pop and shake the comparisons with a posture not unlike those of American indie rock/metal bands just doing what everyone else is- trying to make a name for themselves.

Frames, their third attempt at swallowing the masses with their gaping sound, doesn't stray much from the head-banging riffs of their debut Effloresce or the subtle repose of Everyone Into Position, their sophomore album. Those traits and the formula used to tie them together teeter on the edge of Frames being lackluster and only part of the solution to the same equation they have been trying to solve since their inception. That's not to say that everything they do is shit and shouldn't be heard. For instance, this song. Track one on Frames. It begins with a drawn out instrumental jam that rivals some Tool songs and drops into what sounds like a bit of a diatribe from singer Mike Vennart touting his ability to be above some sorry excuse for a reconciliation. Yet the title suggests some lingering resentment. The classic "I survived this part of my life and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" kind of attitude. Yeah, we've all been there.

The reason I let this song continue to play was because how it made me not want to feel the same things I had always felt when I listened to it in the past; like I was diluting myself into some imaginary concept of being something I'm not. A video of me playing music would consistantly play on in my mind's eye. Something that sounds nice on paper, but probably would never come to pass. It gave me power to accept what I truly need to focus on and clear away the black storm clouds that seep in and cover the sun. The clouds are just fantasies, of course. I still had four more tracks to get through, and the clouds still had to drop some kind of precipitation to let me know they were there. Don't worry, I carry an umbrella.

"Melt Your Heart" - Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins

Melt Your Heart - The Watson T...

Jenny Lewis was born with the purpose of writing the kinds of songs that somehow form the boot that kicks me in the balls. Everything about her from her scarlet bangs to her sweet and innocent charm is a steel toe to a sensitive part of my anatomy. That's not to say I don't take pleasure in the moment though. I am, admittedly, a bit of a masochist. The pain I endure in life serves as a means to an end. It is the mechanism I use to be able to sit down and write. Situations arise and I choose a path that will certainly lead me down a road with bumps, potholes, and the eventual blocked-off cliff drop of doom which I speed through at 100 miles per hour to end it all in a fiery crash of metal and blood. I brake for no one, but slowing down to enjoy the scenery along the way once in a while is nice too.

"Melt Your Heart" has to be one of the best worst songs to listen to when you're trying to get over someone. As much as I want to skip it, I want to listen to it that much more. I let it play even though it does a damn good job of killing me and the uplifting mood left over from Oceansize. It's a bittersweet moment, but it's safe to say that as time goes on in my life there will be more sweet and less bitter.

But above all of the nonsense, I love how tender it is. Like some kind of note slipped into your pocket when you weren't looking. You open it up and it's gentle words letting you know that nothing is ever perfect, and to stop trying to make it perfect. Let things be as they are. It'll mean more. It's not so much the words as it's how they are sung, though. Lewis' butter over warm toast voice continues to give the public what it craves: tranquility. There's not a lot to be angry about in the world during a Jenny Lewis song and adding the Southern charm of The Watson Twins makes it even more memorable.

"Good Fortune" - PJ Harvey

Good Fortune - PJ Harvey

I was thankfully given a short reprieve from the melancholia of "Melt Your Heart" courtesy of PJ Harvey and one the (very) few uplifting & positive songs she has written in her career; a single from (in my opinion) her best album, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. "Good Fortune" is the kind of song you add to that mix you want to make your significant other after those first few glowing months of "love will conquer all" attitude and right before you start getting on each other's nerves. I've only put it on a mix for one person so far. It also makes for a good road jam, which is why it is on this particular playlist in the first place.

Hearing the song took me back to the video. It shows Ms. Harvey coming out of a building with sunglasses on like she was expecting it to be light out. My guess is she was with a suitor and lost track of time. A lot of time. Then, waving her arms and thrashing about like some kind of love-sick seizure victim, she prances down city streets singing to the camera as if she's leaving a message to the lucky man (or woman) she was with before the film started rolling. She's upbeat, excited, and most of all, happy with what is going on in her life in the typical PJ Harvey "looks sexy while doing it" fashion. Yes, I'm stating the obvious here, but sometimes the answer to something is just that simple. Don't ever try to overanalyze a situation. It sucks the meaning right out of it.

So the next time you feel yourself growing in any positive way play this song. Even if you're not, play it anyway. It helps. Music is there to aid in that. It's medicine. An artist takes his or her own experiences from the shelf, mixes them together into a tonic, hands you the glass and says "Here, drink this. It'll help you feel better."

And like PJ, I can feel my bad fortune slipping away, too.

"Nothing & Nowhere" - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton

Nothing & Nowhere - Emily Hain...

Emily Haines' solo work reminds me of being in some kind of back alley music club that's heavy on cigarette smoke and cheap wine and low on self-respect and moral regard toward others. It's the soundtrack to so many sleepless nights. Kind of like this one. Details aren't needed, so I'll just let the songs speak for themselves. I guess they already are considering we're already on track 4, right?

The lead lyricist of the band Metric took a step away from her usual angst ridden song structure and went with a softer approach to the way she expresses the issues that vex her. It reflects on the apparent depression she was suffering at the time which almost crippled her into a state of never wanting to write music ever again. Understandable. It's difficult to want to pick up that pen, brush, or instrument again after a harrowing experience that leaves you in such a state of mind that you feel vulnerable to any little thing that took a piece of you. Emily says, "Numb is the new high," and at times being numb is the only thing that saves us from completely bottoming out. But it's only a temporary fix. A pill that may cure the symptom, but not the disease. We eventually have to confront the problem. Only then can we move on.

Everything is in a constant state of evolution, including music. Occurrences in our own lives and the lives of others dictate what we want to listen to and what a musician wants to write about. In Haines' case, it was all about a sadness she couldn't escape from. She was lost, scared, and unable to find herself through all the black; something I can empathize with.

"Landslide" - Fleetwood Mac

Landslide - Fleetwood Mac

As I pulled into my driveway this song came on to mark the end of the night. Many artists have covered it, but as with most reproductions, their versions have paled in comparison to the original. No one, not Tori Amos, The Dixie Chicks, and certainly not Billy Corgan can even come close to candor of Stevie Nicks. It was written during the time of her and Buckingham's rocky relationship. Ha ha, get it? Landslide? Rocky? Nevermind. Speaking of rocky, Nicks wrote this while visiting Colorado, looking at the Rocky Mountains, and imagining the avalanche of everything that had piled on top of her and Buckingham.

I can relate. Life has been beginning to feel like an in-box at work that's slowing building with more and more TPS reports. It's overwhelming to the point of not knowing where to begin to get it all sorted out. However, to begin a journey you must take a step forward and never consider taking a step back when negativity lurks around the bend.

We're all afraid of change, but as usual, it's the one thing that's constant. I spoke earlier of evolution; how we are all experiencing it together, yet it feels like we've become distant from one another while it happens. We grow up and move away, sometimes for good. What makes it special is the people we surround ourself with. They aid in our growth whether we believe it or not. Some are more spiritual and consider God to be their only route towards enlightenment. But I believe that it not only comes from God, but everyone we meet in life. Everyone is there to help dig ourselves out of the mess that we, or others, might have created. How do you think Fleetwood Mac are still playing as a band today? It certainly wasn't because of them turning their back from one another. Could be the money, though.

#10 (Finally!)

2009-06-21T19:30:00.044-04:00

Issue #10 of 5SIAR has had some complications for the past week or so. When I say complications I mean I haven't really had the inspiration or the time to really sit down and write. But a wise man once told me that the only way to battle writer's block is to just sit down and write. To just do it. Of course that little bit of advice made me think of the Nike "Just Do It" ad campaign which in turn made me think of the movie from the poster above. I figured saying "Just Deux It" instead of "Just Do It" would sound funnier to me and therefore put me in a better place and mood to write. The chicken and Sheen's 1990's coiffed Stallone-esque hair work just as well, too. And now, on with Issue #10 of 5 Songs In A Row.

I wanted my tenth issue of 5SIAR to be a really good one. It seemed just doing the usual shuffle of five random songs from my ipod wasn't special enough for this issue. Instead, I decided to pay homage to my favorite band as of right now considering I haven't really given a band that title since I listened to Tool in high school. Tool deserved it, and now Grizzly Bear deserves it.

"This Song"

When Ed Droste started Grizzly Bear in his apartment with nothing but a 4-track and a few instruments, I'm certain that he was not aware of the grandeur and rep his project would achieve only a few short years later. What began as something as simple as one man crooning out short lo-fi lullabies has turned into an extreme buzz-worthy and deserving collective of musicians that not only titillate the ears, but the inner spirit as well.

It all begins in ground zero for a lot of the more current indie-rock influenced music from the east coast - New York City, NY - an area rich with the culture and inspiration that has also spawned some of the music world's other heavily regarded acts such as TV on the Radio, Interpol, The Strokes, and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They all began from the same single idea to make something that the masses want to hear and enjoy. Some end up on shaky ground while others, like Grizzly Bear, just keep churning out solid jams one right after the other.

Grizzly Bear's first album, Horn Of Plenty, is almost all atmosphere that's dense with odd-noised synth mods, scarce drum patterns, acoustic guitar, and of course Droste's signature butter-soft voice made grainy by tape hiss and toast crumbs. It's folk, but the little hints and tinges of electronic make it seem as if it would be the folk album chained to the inside of Aphex Twin's head clawing to get out.

This album would serve as a basis for what Ed would eventually turn his project into along with fellow songwriter Daniel Rossen manning the guitar duties, Chris Taylor on bass, and Chris Bear on percussion and drums. All of them sing harmonies in the songs which give it that folk feel that's also been brought to light by Fleet Foxes. These four men and their voices formed an indie-powerhouse capable of even cutting into the mainstream with a sharp knife and disrupting the status quo of the Billboard Music Chart with their sharp riffs, hooks, poise, and charm.

"Little Brother (Electric)"

We're gonna have a song from every GB album in this post. It is, after all, a strictly Grizzly 5SIAR, so there will be something for everyone. You say you only like the Friend EP; though I don't know why you would only like a certain album from these guys and nothing else? We have your track right here. A completely plugged version of the same song from Yellow House (we're getting there, hold on). Since it's electric I can't help but wonder if Chris Bear went ahead and used an electric drum kit for the recording as well. You know, to make it hold true to its full namesake. I highly doubt it though. Part of what makes GB so gorgeously fantastic is Chris Bear's sudden calm to heavy style of taking a particular song - for instance, this one - to another level.

Percussion and drums aside, the foremost highlight of this ditty is, in my opinion, Rossen's guitar tone. I know he uses an acoustic/electric of some kind (Gibson?), but what is he using on top of that as far as effects goes? He can't be running completely dry. Some delay and some reverb obviously, but that can't be all he's using. If there are any guitar virtuosos out there reading this and listen to Grizzly Bear, please leave a comment with your thoughts and opinions on what Mr. Rossen is using for most if not all of the electric GB songs, as well as his other, and just as equally sonically persuasive band, Department of Eagles.

A friend of mine recently attended a GB show in her home town of Austin, TX. She said, and I quote, "at times they were very metal." I can only surmise which songs actually sounded "metal", but I'm sure "Little Brother" would have been pretty rockin' if it was played electric. They have certainly rocked enough to catch the attention of Trent Reznor who recently spoke with Newsweek and mentioned GB-

"The band Grizzly Bear, I think they're excellent. There's a beauty and a musicality there that I wish would have been in vogue in the late '80s, when I was forming bands. The aesthetic I was tuned into was a more dumbed-down kind of thing. Sometimes listening to stuff like they're doing makes me feel irrelevant. That's a nice, healthy kick in the ass. And it's interesting to see there's room for that in what's considered hip these days." -Trent Reznor

A GB influenced NIN album? I would really love to hear that. Make it happen, Trent. There'll be a cool shiny nickel in it for ya.

"Fine For Now"

THE album of the summer. No, I'm not kidding. It might even be THE album of the year, but I'm not ready to call that one yet. For the summer though? You betcha. I don't think there is anything else on the docket that could even come close to trumping Veckatimest. When it leaked it was like Christmas in March. Yes, that's right, I'm not going to hide the fact that I downloaded and previewed the album before its official released on May 26 of this year, but who didn't? I say previewed because I had every intention of purchasing this album upon its unveiling regardless of what I initially thought of it. When you're a fan, you're a fan, so obviously you will do everything in your financial power to support the art you love.

I understand some of the reactions from the people I have spoken to about Veckatimest who don't particularly care for it as much as they did for Yellow House (next song, I promise). The argument most commonly stated is that Veck is too "poppy" of an album and in today's music scene pop isn't synonamous to noble or impressive. Seriously though, did everyone expect Yellow House 2: Return To The Cod? Part of what makes a band continuously put out great albums is the constant shift in the various nuances of life and the reorganization of the world around them. Almost like pancake batter. No matter how many times you've made pancakes with the same recipe they will always taste slightly different each time. It's not just the chemistry of the different ingredients mixing together in the bowl. It's you. Your taste has changed. Same batter, different mood. Outside stimuli in your day to day drag has added or taken away feelings, thoughts, and emotions you may or may not have originally had before.

All of what I just stated should be taken into account when prescribing to a new piece of art. You have to consider what the band felt and what you are feeling at the moment of intake. I don't mean that in a matter of fact, this is the rule to listening to music kind of way, but on some level it's true. I can't even count how many times I've listened to an album and wrote it off after the first few listens only to return a year or two later and absolutely love it. You've had that happen to you, right? In fact, it happened to me with Yellow House and it's what I think the band is talking about in "Fine For Now." They are "not asking for your permission," so "please understand" if you come to find you dislike Veckatimest at this moment in your life. Just please don't count it out.

ps. Just watched the video review on ABC's website. Hearing Charlie Gibson talk about Grizzly Bear felt awkward. Though not as awkward as Mr. Thompson's stiff, monotone description of Veckatimest. I guess this belongs in a tweet, but whatever.

"Central and Remote"

Off the top of my head I can't really think of any great moments in history from 2006. We were still in the Bush era, so it goes to show you how little a person can actually remember from that time period without using Google to do it for you. Which I did, and it returned what I expected- Bush this, Bush that. Iraq this, Iraq that. Amy Winehouse does crack, etc., etc. There was however some light and hope throughout all of this in the form of music. Some great albums were released in '06 that are still in constant rotation on my turntable: Let's Get Out Of This Country, Silent Shout, Everything All The Time, Night Ripper, and of course Yellow House.

Going back to what I was saying before, Yellow House was one of those albums that I didn't quite get or comprehend as soon as I listened to it. It took a while, like, as in a few years. It wasn't until last year that I threw my arms around this album and called it "baby." No, not literally, so stop the internal dialog that's calling me a freak. I mean I really became attached to listening to it almost all of the time which in turn made me ask myself, why? Why now and not then? To reiterate, I lent it to not being in the right frame of mind or place in my life that I could fully embrace the genius and the musicality of it. So it goes.

While this entire album is beyond great as a whole, there are certain nuances of it that make it a step above the rest. For instance the vibraphones (guessing on that) in the intro of this song. Also the timbre of everyone's voice in the band goes so well together, yet they are so distinct, that it makes every harmony pleasing to the ears without being overly textured. It's almost as if the all the members asked themselves "how can we achieve the sound of a person laying their head down on to a pillow made of satin in a room where a cool breeze flows through an open window all while an old man shuffles in the hallway on a wood floor?" I wonder if I'm close.

"Eavesdropping"

Time is not graceful nor is it forgiving. However there is optimism to that statement. As the generations grow older the search for new landscapes and frontiers in the world of music and beyond becomes more and more important. We experiment more because we want to see what else is out there and sometimes we do it with music; We listen to it and we create it all for a chance to cheat time or at least to ignore it. Still, it'll always have an influence on us.

Out of the entire Grizzly Bear catalog I have to say that this song is probably the most classic folk sounding. Ed and the rest of the guys have gotten the label of anti-folk and psych-folk mostly because of the strangeness of the material on Horn of Plenty. But again, time has influence. The slowed down folk ballads of yesteryear are made apparent in "Eavesdropping." It's not so much the instruments that were used, but the way the song is carried and held up by Ed's voice which has been compared to Harry Nilsson's a lot lately. I've never been one to nit pick a song to the extent of trying to find the influences, but then again my music knowledge isn't as vast as others might be.

I know a lot of people consider our generations to be divided. Each one saying that the next one will destroy the world. But those gaps can be, and are closed with the patience and tolerance handed to us from the older generations and what they have accomplished through the arts. It brings us all together and it's something we can't forget about.

Remember when you asked your parents what they listened to when they were younger and getting into music? What they were enjoying during their early life and before the world ended and began at the same moment you were born? I'm sure what they told you was an array of bands that you began to enjoy as well because somehow you remember hearing it when you were a baby. I ask this because I'm reading This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel J. Leviten, a former music producer turned neuro-psychologist that talks about how music is able to produce an emotional response not only through the lyrics, but through the specific rhythms and pitches in the songs. A song sticks with you because of how you originally felt, and not thought, when you first heard it. This is why the music of our parent's generation plays a part in what we may listen to today.

I'm really looking forward to when my children get older and inquire about my taste in music. I would be playing an album and one of them will ask, "who is this, dad?" It'll be something I had been playing since they were able to remember hearing it whether they know it or not. Something that will stand the test of time and become a classic much like The Beatles or Led Zeppelin. It'll be Grizzly Bear.

#9

2009-05-26T21:33:00.023-04:00

Radio and the endless song.

"Brown Sugar" - The Rolling Stones

Brown Sugar (Remastered) - The...

I've come to terms recently that I like to be rushed when I write. I usually wait till the very last moment to start doing all my writing. Drafts? Pfft. Who needs those? I shoot from the hip. When my iPod plays the five songs that are to be used for an issue I immediately try to tie them all together in some kind of basic theme or idea. Something to make it interesting and make you, the reader, keep reading. For this issue however, a lightning storm went off over my head. I guess it was only a matter of time considering the incessant rain we've been getting here in ole sunny Florida. It's been raining here everyday for the past 17 days and counting. Sunshine State my ass.

A few evenings ago I was stuck driving a car that was not my own. No iPod hookup which meant no way to play my pocket-sized digital jukebox which provides limitless comfort in even the most harrowing of situations. No, nothing but Lorenna McKinnet CDs and a mix CD that my brother made. I wasn't in the mood for Celtic croons or emo-punk balladry. My only option was to then swallow my pride and turn the radio on to find a station. It was a big deal for me bearing in mind that I had swore off the medium nearly a decade ago. The only, and I do mean ONLY time I will turn the radio on is if I don't have my iPod or any CDs to play at my disposal, and even then I only listen to talk radio.

And then it came to me. Why don't I do a 5SIAR with five random songs being played on the radio? One right after another, each time from a different station. Just then a bolt of lightning came down about 20 feet away from the road I was driving on. Coincidence?

I immediately dreaded the usual garbage that exists on the airwaves. I was begging the gods that be to not give me Nickelback, Disturbed, or everyone's radio favorite Third Eye Blind. My silent prayers were answered when the first song that was played was none other than the ever classic head-bobbing, rock/soul/blues anthem dedicated to inter-racial sex, sadomasochism, and heroin use- The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar"

So as the heavens poured down the rain in buckets I cranked the volume and jammed out to Mick, Keith, and the boys. I had been worried only a few minutes prior that I wasn't going to find anything good to listen to. I've always equated the radio with music television stations like MTV and VH1. Yeah, they used to play videos, but now all their programming consists of reality shows. I view radio in the same light. Nothing but overplayed, top 40, run of the mill standards that are meant to be played over and over till you get sick and just can't wait for that needless station to change their format. It's recycled garbage, and not the good kind either.

Yet on the other side of the coin radio does have it's brighter moments peaking through the dark cloud of mediocrity. Every once in a while (like this one) you come across something you either A: haven't heard in a long time and suddenly hear it on the radio and immediately become nostalgic or B: have never heard the song that is playing in your life and you suddenly discover something new. It may be something you like or dislike, but the point is that you're experiencing something new. I used to think radio wasn't good for something like that anymore, but shame on me for being my usual judgmental self.

"I Want You To Want Me" - Cheap Trick

I Want You To Want Me (Live) -...

What is with this song that makes all the girls go crazy over? I mean, c'mon, it's not like Cheap Trick were the ultimate ladies men. Or were they? Were they the Def Leppard of the 70's? I think the only reason girls like it today was because it was in that movie 10 Things I Hate About You. No one even realizes that it was originally Cheap Trick that wrote this song. This annoying, vomit in my mouth a little, yet another played out, but for some reason can't change the station it's on song.

What made it worse was the fact that it was the live version. I don't understand how the live version of this song charted while the original album version did not. Oh, wait, I know. The album version is even more terrible than the live one. I will admit however that the intro to the song sounds like something The Strokes would write. So I guess the music isn't that bad, it's just the whiny & girlish falsetto that turns my stomach. Oh, and Rick Nielsen is kind of a kook too.

To let you know, this was the same station that had just played "Brown Sugar." One of those 70's, 80's, & 90's hits stations. It gives me a good reason to go back to my disownment of radio. I'll hear one song that I can jam to and then the next will be total crap. I like being in control of my music. I don't trust a radio station's computer to be picking the songs I want to hear. Not only is radio dying, but the DJ is as well. There are only a few radio programs left out there that allow their DJs to pick the music. One of them, a personal favorite of mine and one of the only reasons to wake up early on a Sunday, is called Sunday Morning Coming Down, named after the Kris Kristofferson song of the same name. The DJ has a smooth voice and plays nothing but alt-country and folk. Great soundtrack to recover from a hangover while having a cup of coffee and wondering what the hell happened the night before. So if you live in central Florida tune your radio to 104.1 FM on Sunday morning between the hours of 8 and 11. I promise it'll help the constant throbbing in your head from too many shots of Maker's.

"Under The Bridge" - Red Hot Chili Peppers

It was time to change the station. I don't remember what the station was that was playing this classic number. As soon as it came on I pictured myself sitting in front of the TV watching the video and seeing Anthony Kiedis running away from an atomic bomb explosion. Funny how that was the only imagery I remember from it. A shirtless Anthony Kiedis running. It's Gus Van Sant's fault.

Sorry for the ad. YouTube mysteriously doesn't host this video.

The song obviously made the Chili Peppers' career. As I said before, it's timeless. It will withstand the test of time. I think of all the songs released by all the artists in the world - which are in the billions I imagine - only a handful of those songs survive being overplayed. There are one-hit wonders, and then there are hits that continuously travel down a never ending radio road where your origin is the top 40 station and your destination is the classic rock station. It honestly makes me feel old.

All the songs I used to rock out to in high school are no longer played on the major rock stations. They are now considered "classics." It's a right of passage I suppose. Our parents went through it, but did their parents go through it as well? I'm going to say no. Our grandparents didn't have rock 'n roll in their day. They didn't have pop. They didn't have hip hop. They didn't have all the genres that exist today. They didn't listen to the radio like we listen to the radio. Grandma and Grandpa didn't care as much, and frankly, neither do I.

"Rockin' Chair" - Gwen McCrae

Rockin' Chair - Gwen McCrae

If you live in central Florida and are familiar with the radio stations you'll know, or have some idea, that the station Q105 (104.7) has changed their format several times over the past 20 years or so. They went from 70's, 80's to country and then back to 70's, 80's, and added 90's. What will stations say in the future when they add songs from the 2000's?

"The hits you love from the 70's, 80's, 90's, and the zeros!" OK, not that funny, but it made me laugh a little.

I tuned the radio to 104.7 just in time to catch the DJ talking about this song and then playing it. I was an itch away from changing the station until the music started playing. I was compelled to turn the volume up on the radio as loud as it would go and bob my head and do as much dancing as I could allow myself while driving. I'm really glad it was dark out and raining because if I was doing this in daylight I would get some really awkward looks at stop lights.

It was so loud I could even hear it standing outside my car with the door shut as I delivered something back to someone who supposedly needed that something right away but then changed their mind. So indecisive, but I digress.

Just listen to the song. I mean, you can't help but crank the volume up to the "other people are gonna get pissed because it's too loud and obnoxious" level. It's rare times like that that almost make me to not want to swear off radio completely again.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirv...

There's no better way to end an issue about radio songs than with the teenage angst anthem of the 1990's. This song has got to be played more than any other song on the radio right now. We can blame it on the martyrdom of Cobain. Now I know the formula to have a song last centuries.

Rip off Pixies + Punk rock + Millions of kids that worshiped you and your band + Suicide = A song that will end up in some 23rd century VH1 list for songs that will never die along side "Under The Bridge."

I'm telling you, it'll outlive roaches if a nuclear holocaust was to happen.

I wasn't a Kurt or Nirvana lover during their heyday. I was more into Tool and Nine Inch Nails. Still am actually. I'll take "Head Like A Hole" over "Teen Spirit" any day. Nirvana doesn't even show up in my top 5 list of grunge acts from the 90's.

1. Alice In Chains
2. Soundgarden
3. Failure (labeled as space rock, but their debut in my opinion was more grungy than Nevermind)
4. Mudhoney
5. Pearl Jam

Can you even consider Pearl Jam grunge? They were more of the rock/blues from the 70's, yet they got corralled in with grunge label because they were from Seattle.

In any case, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was probably the song that made me want to stop listening to the radio. I couldn't change the station and not hear it being played somewhere. It was around the same time I started listening to Tori Amos. She was never played on the radio so I had no choice but to turn it off and listen to CDs. This evolved into acquiring a very large CD collection so I wouldn't have to turn the radio on ever again.

I don't mean to get too scientific here, but it's interesting to me how our tastes develop and change over time. Like our sense of taste, our taste in music shifts from one direction to another depending on our experiences in life and beyond. I can recall sitting in my room on Sunday mornings listening to Casey Kasem and waiting with my finger on the record button on my tape player to catch some of my favorite songs. "Head Over Heals" from Tears For Fears comes to mind. It was the birth of my obsession with making mixes. Even today I make mixes for people that they never hear, and probably never will. It's a connection to my memories. I believed that was mentioned in an issue before.

I watched that movie Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist the other night for the first time. Sappy as to be expected, though Michael Cera reminded me of myself a little bit. Drowning himself in mix after mix as if it was a catharsis (See issue #8). He felt he would be saved if only his ex heard the songs he listened to that reminded him of her. She turned out being a bitch of course, so lesson learned- only give the mixes that mean something, that will, like the other songs in this issue, outlive us and our children...on the radio.

#8

2009-05-14T09:25:00.033-04:00

The doctor will see you now.

"Over & Over" - Hot Chip

Sometimes I feel I run out of things to talk about on here. I have different songs each time but what I have to say is pretty much the same each time. With every issue I have some kind of loose theme to tie all the songs together. It makes the blog more interesting. This morning I realized that there is a constant theme surrounding all the issues and tying them together. Music is therapy. It's other things as well to other people, but for me it's therapy. When I put on an album on my record player and set the needle down for it to play it's the equivalent of walking into a shrink's office, sitting down, and he or she looking at me and asking how I'm feeling. Then, when the music plays, I let go. Whatever I have on my mind that happened or didn't happen in my life gets flushed down the pipes of a vocalist and drowned in a sea of guitar, bass, and drums. It's a catharsis.

I've had this on my mind for almost a week now. I was hoping to have songs that would fit what I have to say (something from Sea Change?), but the randomness of 5SIAR is what makes it challenging. This song from Hot Chip, for example, is a great song to dance to. In fact, pretty much all their songs give you that get up and move feeling. The question I ask is why? The answer: because not only does the music heal you, but dancing to it does as well. Since time began humans have incorporated dance with their religious rituals that are set to music. The two go hand in hand. It's easier for the music to move you mentally and emotionally if it's moving you physically. I know some of you don't like to dance, but really, it helps. OK, so you're white. Big deal. So your best friend makes fun of you while you're shaking your ass. It's all in good fun because she looks just as awkward trying to move away from some douche-nozzle trying to rub his crotch all over her back side.

The night's over. You're drunk. Very drunk, and very sweaty. Sweaty because you've been on the dance floor all night, unable to leave it because the DJ is actually spinning (or these days cuing from a laptop) decent shit. The friend you conned into getting your drinks for you the entire night insists on leaving. Fair enough. Your time is up. You've had your session for the evening. The wadded up tissues filled with tears have become the sweat, piss, and vomit you left in the toilet. You feel better. That is until the next time you don't. If this hasn't happened to you yet then eventually it will. I promise.

Over And Over - Hot Chip

"Natural Resources" - Dntel

(In a Jerry Seinfeld voice) What's with people naming themselves just letters? What do they mean? You've got MGMT (Management), MSTRKRFT (Mastercraft), and Jimmy Tamborello's Dntel (pronounced din-tel according to wikipedia). You may know this guy as being one half of The Postal Service. The other half being indie music's poster boy Ben Gibbard. Sorry Conor Oberst, you've been dethroned. Dumb Luck does however feature Oberst and a slew of other indie music voices like Jenny Lewis and Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear. The album isn't great, but it's not without a few moments. For me it's the pure fact that all the music is programmed, something I aspire to do one of these days when I get my hands on enough money to buy equipment.

Music itself is a therapy and so is creating it. I view programming beats and dialing in synth settings as surgery. Very delicate surgery. One slip of the scalpel and your song will flatline, or will it? With music, sometimes mistakes can be blessings. Obviously when a doctor is repairing an organ he doesn't want to slice an artery. When I'm retooling a preset on a synthesizer to make it sound different I may screw it up in the process, but I make sure to let myself try it out before scrapping it completely. I break it all down. I let it be something it's not. It's something every electronic musician does, which to me, is therapy. You have the ability to create your own sound out of noise. You are the composer and the conductor. You are also the doctor.

Now you're on the other side of things. You're the creator so you're the one providing the therapy. You're the one that's offering the means to a release. It doesn't have to just be music though, it can be the words as well, or a painting. It can be anything you create. It's there for a purpose. It helped you, now you can let it help others. It's a cycle that will always keep going as long as we're here.

Natural Resources - Dntel

"Cloche" - French Kicks

There's another thing that bothers me about some bands lately. Hell, I don't even know what to call it since I'm not a guitar player. I'll give it my best shot though. Strumming pattern? 32nds on one or two strings to give the guitar that, I don't know, Radiohead sound? I can't put my finger on it. Just listen to the song and you'll know what I'm talking about. Whatever its called the French Kicks use it, a lot. Almost too much. I don't really consider it a bad or a good thing though. It's just a thing. Overdone, yes, but at least it sounds cool, right? Well, just because it sounds cool doesn't mean you have to keep doing it.

I feel bands sometimes fall into a comfort zone. They find a sound and they stick with it. It works for some, like the French Kicks, others get bored and venture off into new territory. Experimentation is just another kind of release and catharsis. How does a person learn without taking those steps toward the unknown?

We have an aversion to the unknown. We're scared of it, actually. But progress has never been made without some kind of leap of faith by someone. A person willing to risk it all for the sake of whatever it is he or she believes in. Painful, yes, but needed. I don't think I, or anyone else, would be where they are today without that pain. You need it. How else do you learn? How else do you finally rid yourself of what ails you?

Cloche - French Kicks

"Come Together" - Spiritualized

We're nearing the nitty gritty now. We have a song from an artist that has created music laced with references to people being sad, people taking drugs because they are sad, and then being sad because they took the drugs. And then, of course, we listen to those songs. People use a song as a drug. Other people just go ahead and use a drug, but that's neither here nor there. It's kind of like the beginning of High Fidelity....

"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

It's a constant, unwavering cycle. It serves itself. The motion of sadness begetting sadness is an occurrence that, to me, is a paradox. It will never end. People will never stop feeling, so obviously people will never stop exploring that feeling through music which in turn will cause other people to explore the feeling. As I said before, it just goes on and on. It's another way we are all connected in this universe. A song is played for you and you attribute that song to that moment and the feeling you had at the moment. It'll break you, but it'll also fix you.

Come Together - The London Com...

"The Way Out Is Through" - Nine Inch Nails

What better way to end this issue than with the king of healing through misery, Trent Reznor. Even the song title sums up the theme. Yes, the way out is certainly through all the noise and clutter you are surrounded with. You can't go around it because you will learn nothing. Healing hurts sometimes, but that's why we have Nine Inch Nails, or at least I have NIN. Trent has more of a cult following lately. There aren't too many people just now getting into his music. Either you've been a fan since the days of Pretty Hate Machine and beyond, or you haven't. But the time spent being a fan doesn't play into the equation anymore in my opinion. It honestly doesn't matter if you've listened to an artist's music since their inception or just recently started listening.

So yes, personally, Reznor's music is my antiseptic and bandage. There was a time after some not too recent heartbreak that I listened to the album With Teeth on repeat for a very, very long time. When that album first came out I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of it. I have discovered, however, that most albums from the past are played more now than when they originally were released. I suppose an album can serve a certain purpose at a certain point in time. Before that time it doesn't make sense. It's not ready to be listened to until that one moment comes when you're listening to it and it all comes together. It suddenly becomes your best friend. Your lover. Matter to fill the hole until it can fill itself again.

Art is used for a lot of things, but it's greatest purpose is in healing. The rhythm can get you on the dance floor and make you feel free and forget your cares and worries. The beat can stimulate your brain as you're trying to write a sequence of drum patterns for a song. Even something as simple as wind passing through the holes of a flute can do wonders. A few little notes are all a person needs to feel at home and at peace with themselves and others.

The Way Out Is Through - Nine ...

#7

2009-04-30T11:03:00.030-04:00

Happy May Day everyone! I have some reviews in the new issue of REAX Magazine that came out today. I reviewed the new Decemberists, Camera Obscura, and St. Vincent albums. Make sure to grab your copy, and if you have the time, write in and let me know what your take on these albums are. Thanks!

"I Got Lost" - Loney, Dear

Forgive me. This issue of 5SIAR will not be as lengthy and interesting as previous ones. Something called “studying for finals” got in the way. At least my brain power went to something constructive and not the uselessness that Billy Corgan seems to be bringing to the table lately. Speaking of which, if anyone hasn’t read my rant on him then I invite you to do so here. Anyway, on with the show.

Emil Svanängen, the Swedish multi-instrumentalist going by the pseudo-name Loney, Dear (this guy loves the comma), has been creating that dreamy type of indie-folk akin to Sufjan Stevens for quite a while now. Yet, as with most music from overseas, it takes a while to catch on here in the states. It helps to tour with someone like Andrew Bird, which Svanängen did for the most recent tour for his 2009 release, Dear John. He began recording where most young musicians do, in their parent's basement. I can't help but picture him trying to record his first song and his mom calling out for him to come to dinner or take out the trash. Still, that first basement recorded album garnered enough attention just by word of mouth to get him a record deal and a ticket to move out of ma and pa's house.

The album is worth a listen or two, but it's nothing to write home about. The scene seems to be flooded with Loney, Dear's reverence to indie. It does deserve some credit though. While the album is reminiscent to most other indie albums of past or present tense, it does a good job on not stepping on the toes of those albums. I can't say the same for that band Crystal Stilts. Can we say Iggy & The Stooges' Raw Power?

I Got Lost - Loney, Dear

"2 + 2 = 5" - Radiohead

If you didn't see them on their tour last year, then I'm sorry, you missed quite a show. Thom and fellow droogs put on one hell of a display of musical genius, even in a shitty amphitheater venue. The sound was good, the setlist was great, being around thousands of fellow Radiohead fans was phenomenal, and not hearing a lot from Hail To The Thief was appreciated. Let's face it, HTTT hasn't been their strongest release. I think even the most die-hard fan can attest to that. The album seemed to have stirred up enough malcontent in some people to give them the excuse to stop listening to the band completely. When I say completely I mean they didn't even give In Rainbows a chance, which in my opinion, is a great album, but I guess it wasn't great enough to bring back some of the fans that set sail.

I think maybe some people get tired of all the hype Radiohead always gets. Not to sound cruel or judgmental, but people, fans or not, do tend to raise an ear every time one little iota of Radiohead news is spilled out onto the internet. Even Pitchfork, the most staunch when it comes to real music news, started salivating after one little mention of recording a new album that Johnny gave recently. I mean, yes, it is nice to know an artist is in the studio working on their next release, but I really don't care to hear anything about it until at least near post-production and mastering. I'm picky. I like to not know that way it seems like less time between albums. Don't judge me.

Again, to reiterate, not my favorite, or anyone's favorite Radiohead album. I don't think it's in contention at all. This track, and the very last track "Wolf At The Door" are probably my only favorites. The rest is just an example of the band's frustration with themselves. They went through a rough patch for a while, and it certainly shows with the quality of tunes during this period of time. We can't blame Bush for that one, or can we?

2 + 2 = 5 - Radiohead

"Include Me Out" - Young Marble Giants

It's a 5SIAR first. A track that is from someone's random mix that was made that I took a liking to and threw on my iPod. The mix- The Top Of Damon's Charts. Last issue's Cyndi Lauper song was also from the very same mix. So now with that being said, this song isn't the first from that mix to make it to 5SIAR. Oh well. It is still a random song, therefore it fits the bill.

OK, I'll confess now that the only reason I stole this mix was to have that Cyndi Lauper song. You caught me. However, now that this song has popped up and I am forced by the laws put in place by the 5SIAR gods (me), I kinda have to listen to it. Fine by me because now it makes me want to go listen to more Young Marble Giants. The song is a tease clocking in at 2:01 so by nature I'm curious to find out if all their songs have the same length or does their minimalist post-punk go a little deeper down the rabbit hole to end up in the land of "something more." As of right now, with this song, I can see why YMG were an influence to the early 90's grunge via Nirvana and Hole. Both bands covered another Giants song from the same album called "Credit in the Straight World."

Young Marble Giants are another perfect example of a band being ahead of their time. Now that I've listened and not skipped this track I can hear their influence on not only the music of the 90's, but also new bands making their debut right now in the present. I believe this is why many bands of yesteryear are reuniting again. So far we've seen My Bloody Valentine come together again, Dinosaur Jr., and now Young Marble Giants have followed suit to perform at various UK festivals. They want to show the newbies how it's really done. My only question is: When will Hum reunite for a new album?

Include Me Out - Young Marble ...

"She Is Beyond Good And Evil" - The Pop Group

Wow, yet another early 80's post-punk band that seems to have influenced every single other present day band those Pitchfork dudes and dudeettes are telling you to listen to lately. Pitchfork, I love to hate 'em. Yet sometimes they do have some fairly witty and smart commentary that I agree with. Last year they came out with a book highlighting their top 500 songs from 1978-2008. It's in chronological order and not numbered so there isn't a specific #1 song. It is more like a nice little reference guide to the past three decades of music genres and sub-genres. For those who don't have it I suggest getting it. Makes a good Christmas gift, which was how I received it (thanks again, Edward).

I'll go ahead and give the excerpt from the book about this song since I am so pressed for time I don't have any to begin research about The Pop Group. Pitchfork can do the talking for me on this one. Meh, I felt a little queasy as I typed that. I promise not to slack on next issue.

"After an opening swell of distortion that recalls Jimi Hendrix circa "Foxy Lady," the femme fatale of the title is invoked as a spiky Venus. The band struggles to catch up to her, diving into dubbed-out foxholes dug by reggae producer Dennis Bovill. Frontman Mark Stewart stops the show with a shrieked "I hold you like a gunnnnnnn" that triggers a cavernous clang, then landslides into an anti-guitar solo of fantastically rude physicality. Crooning that "Western values mean nothing to her," the Pop Group earn their Nietzschean name-dropping with music that suitably Dionysian, ruthless, and ecstatic." -From the book The Pitchfork 500

Translation: I guess it's good, or else we wouldn't have put it in our book.

"Let Forever Be" - The Chemical Brothers

As soon as this track came on and I started listening to it, I couldn't help but think of "Blue Monday" from New Order. But not New Order's version, Orgy's version. Ugh, I feel sick again.

When was the last time you or someone you know jammed out to The Chemical Brothers? Yeah, I don't remember either. In fact, I don't think I ever have. I don't even think I've had any friends or acquaintances who have. Are we missing out? If there is a Chem Bros fan out there reading this then please leave a comment explaining, in detail, why I should listen to them. I believe the only redeeming quality to this song is the fact that Michel Gondry directed the video to it. Let's watch!!

Survey says: Your song will automatically be better if you can get Gondry to make the video for it. Take "Fell In Love With A Girl" from The White Stripes for instance. It's a good song, but the Lego block video makes it that much better. When it came to The Chem Bros, it was Gondry's use of the video camera and post-prod effects that gave this song some gerth. It certainly wasn't Noel Gallagher's voice.

#6

2009-04-17T09:42:00.011-04:00

Top 5 most played songs on your iPod in a row. Go!

“This Tornado Loves You” – Neko Case

For this issue of 5SIAR I felt the need to break the rules a little bit for the sake of the theme I’d like to concentrate on. Everyone has a top five song list. Maybe it isn’t the top five of all time, but it is the top five songs with the most plays on your music player of choice. These are the songs that you can’t get out of your head. They mean something to the point of you playing them over and over and never getting sick of them no matter how many times you press “repeat.” The notes and the words burrow into your head and stay there for a good amount of time. Long enough to start making connections to the songs to what may be going on in your life at the time. For me each song represents a scene from my past or present that includes a noun— a person, a place, or a thing.

I wasn’t surprised when I sorted my iPod to find that “This Tornado Loves You” had the most plays. This new track from Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone has taken me over. From the moment I first heard it there hasn’t been a day that I haven’t played it at least once. It was the lyrics that captured me. Neko explains that this person would do anything to find this love in the grim words “I left the motherless fatherless. Their souls dangling inside-out from their mouths, but it’s never enough.” I can relate and so can anyone else that has tried so desperately to have that one love back into your life-- A love that’s worth “smashing every transformer with every trailer” for.

This song also serves as a giver of perspective for me. I don’t necessarily have to continue searching for something or someone I know I can’t obtain, so why persist? I’ll give everyone a fair warning and say that the next four songs are equally has heart wrenching as this one. Brace yourself for the melancholy that is the rest of my top five most played. They are sad, but undeniably empowering.

This Tornado Loves You - Neko ...

“When You Were Mine” – Cyndi Lauper

I know what you’re thinking. “Nick, why is there a Cyndi Lauper song on your iPod? Is there something you’ve been meaning to tell us?” No, there isn’t, but hear me out because I know some of you are a bit stunned at the fact that A: Cyndi Lauper is on my iPod, and B: that it would have the second highest play count. Well for one, it isn’t even a Lauper song; it’s a Prince one. And two, Cyndi does a much better job at portraying the song and what it’s about with her distinguishing voice. It’s almost as if Prince wrote it just for her.

Cyndi lives in that realm bordering obscurity and semi-fame. The 80’s were kind to her with hits from the same album She’s So Unusual including “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and the uber prom popular “Time After Time.” But who can forget the timeless classic “The Goonies ‘R Good Enough?” I still can’t believe there are people out there who have never seen that movie. The Goonies is on that list of 80’s movies along with The Breakfast Club and Back To The Future that you have to watch. It’s mandatory. Period.

Simply put—“When You Were Mine” is a jam. It’s the kind of song you can play in any kind of situation and it would be OK to just put it on repeat for a while. Maybe not weddings because of the subject matter, but you catch my drift. The song serves itself well in a bar when you’re piss drunk, not thinking clearly, and need a song to play on the jukebox because you just saw your ex making out with another dude. Do you think Prince ever had to deal with that? I mean, c’mon, he’s fucking Prince!

When You Were Mine - Cyndi Lau...

“Let’s Get Out Of This Country” – Camera Obscura

Infatuation with this song started immediately after hearing it. Hence the third highest play count. I don’t even remember who turned me onto Camera Obscura. It seems so long ago, like back in the days of when Underachievers Please Try Harder came out. Of course back then I wasn’t as savvy to the indie world as I am now so I probably scoffed at it. Fast-forward a few years later to when the album of the same name of this song was released. I was a bit more open minded than I was in my naive past when I thought indie was synonymous with patchouli. Boy, was I wrong. It was the words of the song, and the entire album, that struck a nerve with me. They were sad, but not in an annoying self-deprecating way, and they were inspiring as well.

“What does this city have to offer me? Everyone else thinks it’s the bee’s knees” sings Obscura-ite Tracyanne Campbell to an uplifting chamber pop orchestration of mellow rock riffs and synthesized strings in a song that’s all about grabbing your lover and moving on to another city to escape. I can relate. I think about doing this on a daily basis. Sometimes I just want to kidnap my friends and family and just move away to experience something greater and something more stimulating than my normal day-to-day drag. This song helps to remind myself of that awesome, yet slim possibility.

It’s through Campbell’s wonderfully crafted lyrics that the listener can really get a sense of the insecurities she may have with not only her town, but her own image as well. The line, “We’ll find a cathedral so that you can convince me I am pretty,” sets the tone of old age not necessarily meaning ugly. Everyone reaches a split second point in their life when they look in the mirror and gasp at a gray hair or a wrinkle. No one should ever feel conquered by his or her age though. Certain body parts may be sagging a little, but that doesn’t mean you have to be vain about it. Age brings not only wisdom, but extra beauty as well. This can also be said about the band’s new album My Maudlin Career due out on the 21st of this month. I’ll let it be known now that it’ll most likely be on my top 10 for the year.

Somehow Lala got the order of the songs mixed up. It says "The False Contender" but it's really "Let's Get Out Of This Country."

The False Contender - Camera O...

“Knocked Up” – Kings of Leon

Who died and suddenly made these guys the “kings” of the airwaves? I can’t turn the radio on without hearing “Sex On Fire” or “Use Somebody” at least once as I’m scanning through the stations. They blew up so damned fast out of nowhere with just one hit. I thought something like that was only reserved for the Britneys and Beyonces of our time, but not Kings of Leon. They have paid their dues though; I will give them that. Some people have enjoyed them ever since Youth & Young Manhood, but as for me, I didn’t particularly care for them until Because Of The Times came out and even then I was still skeptical. That is until one night I sat in solitude with a beer and put the album on. It was track one, this song, which got me hooked.

“Knocked Up” is so mellow, even during the heavier portions of it. Almost like the first sip of a good whiskey. It’s smooth, but there’s some bite to it too. Not only did the music of “Knocked Up” make a believer out of me, it was Followill’s line “always mad and usually drunk, but I love her like no other” that hit a soft spot. I kept playing this song just so I can hear him say it again and again. I still do. However, I’m not so sure this band will stand the test of time. I don’t want to think of them as wasting away into pop culture hell with their newly found fame tailing behind them, but the signs are there.

It’s something in my gut. It appeared there after about the 100th time listening to Only By The Night. It was some kind of knot that was telling me, “This will be the last good Kings of Leon album.” I want to have faith, but that knot is holding me back. Maybe I’m just skittish. Everything I love goes away. Great bands (I miss you Hum), great television shows (damn you HBO for canceling Carnivale!), and great food (that sandwich shop down the street from my office with the to die for cheesesteaks needs to come back into my life). But who knows, there’s always that slim chance KoL will pull a rabbit out of their hat and give us another great album similar to that of Because Of The Times.

Knocked Up - Kings Of Leon

“Sounds Better In The Song” – Drive-By Truckers

Mike Cooley wrote, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful songs ever to be written by a human being. I don’t know what to say beyond that. The song leaves me speechless. Even now as I’m writing and listening to the song I can’t think of anything. Everything about it is big. The words, the way the slide guitar kicks you in the balls, the borderline lo-fi vocals, all of it makes it something more than what I’m sure it was intended to be. But aren't all the best songs usually that way? They always sound so simple and effortless, but you know deep down the song could've been one of the hardest ones the person has ever written. So if a song was a pie chart, the creator's soul would probably have the biggest piece of the circle.

Decoration Day is without a doubt my favorite Truckers album. I must give credit to a former roommate and now good friend of mine for turning me onto them. As I stated in the last post on the Emmylou song-- I’ve never been a big fan of country until people started giving me suggestions on what I should listen to. Another favorite is, of course, Lucero. I’m still kicking myself in the ass for not seeing them when they came around a few weeks back.

Go ahead and leave a comment with your current top 5 most played songs. And while you’re at it, and if you haven’t done so already, go here to leave a comment for your random 5 songs in a row. If your list is picked I’ll do a small write up on your songs on Tampa Calling. You might even win a little something too.

Sounds Better In The Song - Dr...

#5

2009-04-03T09:18:00.010-04:00

“Enlightenment must come little by little- otherwise it would overwhelm.” - Idries Shah

“Fitz & Dizzyspells” – Andrew Bird

When was the last time you had a lightbulb come on above your head when you found that certain kind of enlightenment that comes along with finding a new band or artist? To reach music nirvana is something that cannot be accomplished. It is impossible to know everything, yet Pitchfork already has a pretty decent grasp of it. Still, they are not infallible. You can’t rely on them to always bring you what you want to hear about your favorite artist. They are brutally honest, and it’s something you must accept even if you can’t get over that they gave the new Kings of Leon album a terrible score. Yes, you can go to Pitchfork for your music comprehension and wisdom, but there’s nothing like discovering an artist on your own or having a friend just hand you a CD saying, “You should be listening to this.” Such is the case with me discovering the tortuously wonderful music of Andrew Bird.

Mr. Bird, a classically trained violinist and an overlord of whistling, has been around in the music scene for quite some time. His footsteps can be traced back to the days of the revival of swing and old-time jazz in the mid to late 90’s, and the band that was at the centerpiece of that movement the Squirrel Nut Zippers. After the Zipper’s disbandment, Bird had formed the band Bowl of Fire and continued on with the traditional folk and jazz that made SNZ a name for them. Later on Bowl of Fire also disbanded and Bird went on to a solo career that carries him to present day. I could go on and on about the twists and turns in Bird’s musical direction throughout his career, but that’s not the point of this issue’s post. The point to his music is the feeling it expresses. How Bird’s music captures the essence of so many good and bad memories through his lyrics, the cadence of his voice, and, of course, his ability to turn the violin into an instrument capable of setting the perfect soundtrack to those memories.

Music is a gateway to feeling. You hear a song and it emits a signal to your brain to conjure up a memory that was once forgotten. Suppressed even. There’s always music to help you to remember. But what if it was not only a song but also an entire catalog from an artist? What if every song you heard, no matter which one it was by someone, it compelled you to either turn the volume up to bask in the memory, or just skip to the next album entirely to escape the pain it once caused? Anyone that’s deep into music has at least one band or singer that they can’t bare to listen to, and yet, still, no matter how much we don’t want to hear a song or an album by that harbinger of grief, sometimes we can’t not skip the track. It takes us over. The memory pokes its head out, gnashes its teeth, latches onto us and says, “Hold on, this is going to get messy.” We stop, we listen, and we remember no matter how bloody the situation gets. That’s all part of the discovery of music. One thing will always lead you to another.

Fitz and the Dizzyspells - And...

“Wait” – The Kills

Enlightenment is about discovering new things, things that may be in your life already, but hidden in a veil of darkness. That is why I created 5SIAR in the first place. There are plenty of bands I haven’t really taken the time to get to know. I’m always in a hurry to skip to the next track without giving a band a chance. The songs sit patiently on my ipod until that moment that I decide to let one or a few measures play of a song. There’s always a 50/50 chance that I’ll either love it or hate it. A person is always going to have a finite decision with music. However, there may come a time when that band that you thought you’d hate and always skipped over becomes the eventual possibility of loving them. A band may also give you a doorway to a new sub-genre that exists outside your comfort zone. The Kills are the perfect example. Forgive me ahead of time for tossing around the sub-genre of garage/blues rock; that is if you have no idea what I’m talking about.

The Kills, made up of Florida native Alison “VV” Mosshart and Londonite Jamie “Hotel” Hince, are pretty much The White Stripes for people who don’t like The White Stripes. Why you ask? Because they don’t sound like The White Stripes which is kind of a big deal if you’re a White Stripes hater. Their main influence: blatantly To Bring You My Love era PJ Harvey. I’m OK with that. What I’m not OK with is the fact that in the past every time they have come up during my daily ipod shuffle I would skip them. Their music reminds me of walking down an endless desert road without any idea where you are or where you’re going. So, if ever you need a band to add to a desert driving mix then my suggestion would be The Kills.

The path to enlightenment and finding new bands should not be rushed by any means. Take your time in your quest to discover. Please don’t deem it necessary to constantly follow what your friends are listening to just so you can join in on their conversations. Ease yourself into it. Make a goal of listening to one new artist a week, or two weeks, or whatever you’re comfortable with. That is, of course, you’re a music nerd like I am.

Wait - The Kills

“If You Find Yourself Caught In Love” – Belle & Sebastian

A friend told me recently that there are better Belle & Sebastian albums than Dear Catastrophe Waitress. At the time I felt like any other music fan defending my opinion with angst and a loud retort. But after careful consideration I have to say that I agree with him. Though there are no real memories that make themselves known to this song or album, but I do have a memory of first hearing the albums Tigermilk & If You’re Feeling Sinister for the first time. It goes back to a time when my knowledge of music was contained within the realm of mainstream. I have dubbed that period in my life the “dark ages” since I hadn’t achieved enlightenment yet. I still don’t think I have, but I’m closer now at least and not stuck in some kind of bad dream where I’m in a bar and all they play is Slipknot and Disturbed.

Yes, there was a time when I didn’t know the first thing about “good” music. In my youth I was attached to everything that was MTV, you know, when they still played music. I was never able to stay up late enough to watch 120 Minutes so all of what I listened to came from my daily ritual of coming home from school, grabbing a bag of chips, and watching MTV for my favorite Tool videos which they didn’t play during the day anyway. I was pretty screwed. With age though comes wisdom. You experience more, you meet new people, and those people turn you on to the bands they listen to. This unfortunately did not happen until my mid-twenties. So yeah, I kind of jumped on the bandwagon a little too late. I used to have a bad habit of that, but thanks to well-educated friends that listen to great music I am no longer stuck in Hot Topic land.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the Scottish do a few things better than the rest of the world. They can make a damn good beer and they can churn out some damn good bands. Hell, Belle & Sebastian even won the top spot on the 50 Best Scottish Bands Of All Time list. That’s got to mean something, right? And let us not forgot all of those other Scots that are mention worthy such as Camera Obscura, Mogwai, Franz Ferdinand, Idlewild, Arab Strap, and Frightened Rabbit, etc., etc., etc. Their whiskey, however, still needs some work.

If You Find Yourself Caught In...

“I Know It’s Over” – The Smiths

Who better to talk about break-ups than King Breakup himself? Him being Morrissey. I’m having a bit of déjà vu so bear with me on this song. Everything that I’ve attempted to write so far has come out sounding like the song from a few posts ago. No one needs to hear more about the self-deprecation and loneliness of Morrissey. But what you do need to hear is the album The Queen Is Dead at least once. Maybe someone has already told you to go listen to it? Can you remember if they did or not? I did, and truthfully it wasn’t until last year that I listened to it. I know what you’re going to say, “But Nick, you’re pretty savvy when it comes to picking up on good bands whether new or old. How could you have never listened to one of the most influential albums of our time?” Hey, nobody’s perfect, so cut me some slack. As stated before, I'm still on my path to discovery.

The only memories The Smiths and Morrissey bring to the surface are, again, ones of still being in my infant stages of gathering knowledge about today’s and yesterday’s music and culture. Nevermind that the song is talking about an ex of someone (most likely Morrissey) getting married and the person (Morrissey) can’t let go. Pretty obvious scenario when you’re reading the lyrics. Has Morrissey had any good memories in his life? I can’t help but wonder if Morrissey’s complete and utter lack of sunshine goes back as far as, let’s say, kindergarten, or whatever the British equivalent to it is. Perhaps this is what happens to rock stars from the UK. It’s the inevitability of either writing depressing songs for the rest of your career or just offing yourself because of the depression. Sorry to harp on that, Ian Curtis. Which leads me to the question; why hasn’t Oasis died yet? Or for that matter, Keith Richards.

I am convinced by not only my peers but by the battery of music columnists that The Queen Is Dead is indeed essential. If you’ve come across this blog and you’ve never listened to it, then please do. Allow me to be that person that has passed on the torch to another generation of music lovers and admirers. I mean, c’mon, there has to be someone out there that hasn’t listened to it yet.

My apologies. Lala didn't have this specific song on their website. So instead you get the next best thing which is my favorite song from The Queen Is Dead.

Bigmouth Strikes Again - The S...

“Wheels” – Emmylou Harris

Growing up I despised country music. My first taste of it wasn’t until riding the school bus in high school. The bus driver would always put the country station on because the amount of kids that were “country” outnumbered the kids that were “not-country.” So there were many afternoons spent listening to Garth Brooks, Dwight Yoakam (I kinda like him now), and George Straight. Of course I didn’t dare to ask the bus driver to change the station. To do that would’ve meant verbal, or possibly physical abuse. And since during this time period I was listening to Tori Amos a lot that would’ve given the cow hounds (as I liked to call them) even more reason to beat me up. But such is the life for an introverted nerdy teenager.

Fast forward quite a few years and quite a few cow tippings later. A certain album named I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning by a certain fellow named Conor Oberst made its way to my ears with a certain guest vocalist named Emmylou Harris. Being the nerd I am I quickly started finding her albums and listening to them. What came next was a bit of a shock to me. This was country music that I liked and could stand to listen to for an extended period of time. I didn’t feel like gouging out my eardrums with some kind of metal prod. The first Emmylou album was this one, Elite Hotel. It’s a fine example of how her voice can be like velvet while unpolished and coarse at the same time.

Emmylou brought the light to shine the way to other country and alt-country artists new and old that I’ve grown to love. The journey of discovery and enlightenment never ends. Even when you feel like you’ve earned your wings you are never truly done. It is an ongoing process because there is obviously always new bands coming out and always old bands that someone suggests to you. As the quote at the beginning of this post says, you should never feel overwhelmed by your path in life. Take small steps because when you do that you’ll find that the lightbulb turns on a lot more than it shuts itself off.

Wheels - Emmylou Harris with J...

I’d like to take the time to thank Scott Harrell for putting a couple of my album reviews in this issue of REAX Magazine and to TheFrontLoader.com for adding 5 Songs In A Row to their website. Thanks guys!

#4

2009-03-20T09:48:00.012-04:00

Generalissimo Genre at your service.

"I Will Possess Your Heart" - Death Cab For Cutie

People are getting tired of the same ole college indie rock of the new millennium. Everyone, their mother, and their dog have been retooling their sound to stay current including the purveyors of the genre, Death Cab For Cutie. The term "indie" isn't defined anymore by just being signed to an independent label. It has become the status quo for labeling a band that simply has that textbook indie sound, isn't played on typical broadcast radio (satellite doesn't count), or doesn't receive Grammy nominations. Death Cab has achieved all of the above. So why are we still calling them indie? They are signed to a major label- check. They are played on the radio (college radio doesn't count either) - check. And they received a Grammy nod this past year for Best Alternative Music Album for their 2008 release Narrow Stairs- check. Yet we still can't break that steady habit of categorizing them as indie. Why you ask? Because this is the direction music is going in our present day thanks to sites like Myspace and Facebook. The artists we used to know as strictly “indie” (Death Cab, The Decemberists, Rilo Kiley) are being signed to the labels the music zealots were against. And so, being signed to a major label became synonymous to selling out.

I was skeptical when it came time to listen to Narrow Stairs, Death Cab's second major label release. Its predecessor Plans was far from exceptional in my opinion. It sounded like a commercialized version of the heavily lauded Transatlanticism. The same thing seemed to have happened with The Decemberists' first venture into major label territory with The Crane Wife (as mentioned in Post #3). And let us not forget Rilo Kiley's stink of an album Under The Blacklight. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from that LP. Out of these three bands Death Cab was the first to release a sophomore major label album so of course I was ready for another disappointment, but thankfully that was not the case. Death Cab threw what guitarist and producer Chris Walla dubbed as a "curve ball." Their previous albums had always sounded smooth with very few sandpaper moments. Narrow Stairs was the complete opposite with it being louder and more abrasive. The first single from it "I Will Possess Your Heart" with Gibbard's lyrics exclaiming, "You've gotta spend some time, love. You've gotta spend some time with me." still hails back to the pre-Atlantic days but with a new twist of jam-band swagger a la Wilco. It is a fine demonstration of a band trying something new without losing the formula that brought them to the stage in the first place.

With the shift in the music industry pointing more towards internet-only releases we are seeing the comeback of what indie meant in the first place- being able to get your music to the masses without the aid of a deep pocketed label. As the days go on though, more and more independent labels pop up from the ground. We also see more major labels turning their ear towards unsigned acts that are already doing a damn good job selling their music on their own. This is all well and good considering the marketing and money that is offered, but we should all share in the lesson that the label does not necessarily define the band. Let us not forget that it’s the poorly written, watered down, swill that a band may release that either makes them or breaks them in the major label world. I’m looking at you Rilo Kiley.

"Nice & Blue Pt. 2" - mewithoutYou

I've never felt inclined to prescribe to the genre of Christian rock, its repetition, or its message. It is filled with a congregation of carbon-copy bands and stale singer/songwriters that bring nothing that’s truly genuine to the table. Just the same two words- "Praise Jesus." That is all well and good for the usual Sunday morning into Sunday night church-goer. They think anything not approved by their sanctuary of choice is, well, the devil's work. Although some of the less orthodox forms of Christianity have swung a bit more to the left lately, but not that far. They still hate gays no matter how tolerant they claim to be. But this blog wasn't intended to step on the toes of the pious and devout. I am here to bring you my thoughts on music, but if that means rubbing the face of Christian music into the dirt a little along the way, then so be it. But worry not my god-fearing readers; there is light, hope, and a burning bush by the name of mewithoutYou, a band that has consistently proved me wrong time and time again that maybe there is a band with a venerable message that doesn't suck. Honestly, I could never bring myself to put the label of "Christian Rock" on mewithoutYou. It's just wrong.

At the root, mewithoutYou's music lends itself to the hard-hitting, pre-numetal grunge days of Helmet with a dash of the melodic side of Sunny Day Real Estate. What captures the listener more though is singer Aaron Weiss' thoughtfully and elegantly poetic lyrics sung in the style of a preacher witnessing to his flock. His message isn't the usual Christian one either. Instead Weiss gives the listeners an intimate look into his life and how he has walked the footsteps of Christ and what exactly that means to him. His message doesn't convey the idea of how to be a good Christian, but how to be a good person and leading others to do so by example. An idea that was the core of Jesus' teachings and has remained relevant to the morals taught to us today.

Now three albums deep (and a forth along the way) mwY have asserted their stance in the music world. This is the part where I swallow my pride and say that mwY deserves to be on a bigger label than their current one with the power to push them towards listeners who may not have heard them yet. Who knows, they have probably already gotten offers to step up on the ladder to join the bigwigs, but I am sure that they have respectfully declined for reasons that are obvious if you understand the significance and importance of what they are trying to do. And that is to just bring beautiful music into the hearts of the lost no matter what label, genre, or classification the public seems to want to nail them to.

“Shell Of Light” – Burial

Since we seem to be following the theme of genre generalization in this issue of 5SIAR I’m glad to see that my ipod has decided to enter the realm of electronic. Like indie, it’s another classification of music with an endless assortment of sub-genres. Every artist, producer, and DJ has put his or her mark on what was once just a style of music, but is now an entire culture. Like the previous artists in this issue, and their respective genres, the school of electronic has a penchant for churning out one-shot club hits with nothing else to solidify them as worth listening to while sober and stagnant at home. However, this is not the case with the electronic dubstep artist from the U.K. known as Burial. He has been able to craft two creditable albums, 2006’s self-titled Burial, and 2007’s Untrue (from which this track comes from) that house an eeriness that makes you feel like you’re on some kind of acid trip in a haunted house that’s stuck inside an dance club sized aquarium.

While “Shell Of Light” is a memorable track, it was the song “Archangel” that made everyone’s 2007 year-end mix, including mine. I think there were a few days where I had to play it at least ten times a day (Thanks, Aaron). Burial makes the kind of electronic that is repetitious, yet hard to get tired of. The steady two-step beat of Untrue is the album’s kernel, but it’s the mix of ethereal soundscapes and underwater vocal effects that give the album its push.

Not much was known about Burial at first. For a while the public didn’t even have a face to put to the music. A few speculations made the British tabloids as Burial being either Richard James (Aphex Twin) or Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim). The media’s thirst was finally quenched when a photo and a blog were released from the real Burial on to his Myspace page humbly stating, “I'm a low-key person and I just want to make some tunes, nothing else.” If only other artists would take from his mantra and stop focusing all their efforts on being the next big thing. Burial proves the point that if you just take a step back and concentrate on what you love to do it’ll come natural and it won’t sound like a pile of used rubbers falling to the floor- flat and unappealing- which is, unfortunately what most of the club anthems sound like these days.

“Time = Cause” – Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene is about as indie as indie can get. These canucks have provided its listeners with a treasure trove of various full lengths, EP’s, and solo albums from main songwriters (and pretty much the only two band members that don’t seem to come and go) Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Most of the band is made up of people from other Canadian bands from around the Toronto area including members of Stars, Emily Haines from Metric, and everyone’s favorite ipod commercial sweetheart Feist. What makes this band so inviting to the ears is their ability to string together so many different little odds and ends borrowed from all over the genre map and make it sound organized and pleasing.

BeeHives is comprised of nine mostly instrumental B-sides taken from BSS’s LP You Forgot It In People. Get it, BeeHives, B-sides, nevermind. Like Burial’s Untrue, BeeHives is another great record to just put on and let it carry you through your day. It’s mellow, but not enough to make you want to go to sleep (Listen to their debut Feel Good Lost for the purposes of slumber). “Time = Cause” was the B-side to the popular song “Stars and Sons” featured on the movie Half Nelson along with several other BSS songs. Though the song that clenches the heart the most is the stripped down piano version of the ballad “Lover’s Spit.” Feist’s soft and aching vocals make this song even more painful to listen to than the original version found on You Forgot It In People.

Even though BSS are still signed to an indie label that doesn’t mean that all of their albums have been pure works of genius. While at some points throughout BSS’s career they have hit the mark with beautifully arranged rock and pop, at other times their music comes off as stale and overdone. It’s an unbroken habit by many budding artists to just choose the safe route, though BSS is hardly a newcomer to the scene so I expect a little bit more. Pitchfork said it best in their review for BeeHives, “B-sides are B-sides for a reason.”

“Spitting Venom” – Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse is yet another fine example of a small indie label band turned major label, platinum-record rock stars. What was once a band that used to open for Built to Spill in bars is now all grown up and headlining shows of their own at much bigger venues. It took them long enough too. How many albums does Modest Mouse have? It seems like more than a dozen and it could very well be considering that they’ve been around since the early 90’s. Their success came in the form of the albums The Moon & Antarctica and Good News For People Who Love Bad News from which the radio and bar jukebox hit “Float On” comes from. Since then they have also added on to their line-up including The Smith’s guitarist Johnny Marr and percussionist Joe Plummer formerly of The Black Heart Procession for the help on their 2007 LP We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.

“The opinions that I do not give are the opinions I ain't got,” sings Isaac Brock during the first few verses on this track, a track that is definitely one of my personal favorites from We Were Dead. The quote stands out to me because as I’m traversing down the long road of becoming a music critic and journalist I find it difficult to just sit down, listen to an album, and give it an objective review. Music is subjective, different people have different tastes. What I say about a song or album may not translate to what a person feels from that particular piece of music. No one is ever going to completely agree with what anyone may think or write. You become offended if you see someone talk bad about an artist you might love; and such is the dilemma of reading reviews. Sometimes we take it a little too personally.

Modest Mouse has joined the ranks of other bands that have made the crossover to major label while still being able to capture audiences and procure Billboard chart success. They have left fellow west coast indie rockers Built to Spill in the dust even though BtS had achieved major label status long before the Mouse did. I’m quite positive we’ll be seeing good things from this seasoned band as they continue to sprig new signs of life into the songs that have already given them the grandiose status they rightfully deserve. Maybe they could possibly fill in for the recently vacated spot from Amy Winehouse on the Coachella bill? Morrissey will also be playing Coachella this year. It would be about as close to a Smiths reunion I think we’ll ever get.

2009-03-06T09:49:00.004-05:00

#3

The British are coming! The British are coming!

“This Is Hardcore” – Pulp

I decided instead of just being stagnant listening to this issue’s 5 songs that I would be active in doing something. For instance, cooking breakfast, and I have to say that the title track from Pulp’s dark and seedy album This Is Hardcore is the perfect song to make sausage and eggs to. Well, almost perfect. I almost burned the sausage, and I definitely burned the egg. Still, they were both edible.

I think it’s the intro to the song that does it for me. The steady 4/4 drum beat, the horns, the piano, and then eventually the strings. I honestly felt like I was in a movie, which is kind of what the song is about, but not really. That is unless you consider porn to be actual cinema. I don’t know. I did however picture an entire scene in my head of me cooking breakfast and in walks the lady I slept with the night before with nothing on but the clichéd half-buttoned shirt and giving me a look like, “Stop cooking and just come back to bed.” I could go further with this scene, but I don’t write porn. Is there even screenwriting for porno?

This Is Hardcore is a must listen and must have. It’s one of those Brit-pop albums that will remain timeless. Yes, it’s kind of depressing, but you have to understand that this album was released later on in Pulp’s career which means that they were already dealing with the cocaine addiction and relationship break-ups that coincide with being in a popular band. And, of course, like most of the popular Brit-pop bands of the early to mid-nineties, Pulp is on hiatus. There is some light at the end of the tunnel though. Blur have reunited. This is already old news though, but I wanted to mention at least one working Brit-pop band that’s still great. And not, you know, *cough cough* Oasis.

“I’m Sticking With You” – The Decemberists

I love The Decemberists. Yes, even post-Crane Wife Decemberists. Just because an indie band is signed to a major label doesn’t mean I’m going to stick my nose in the air at them. Honestly, there are no lines between indie and mainstream anymore. The internet has pretty much wiped those lines from the sand. The Decemberists are a good example of semi-well known indie label band reaching very-well known major label greatness without losing their indie sensibility. I will admit that I didn’t enjoy The Crane Wife as much as their previous works, and I also didn't enjoy the singles collection that was recently released titled Always A Bridesmaid, which is where “I’m Sticking With You” comes from.

Bands go through changes in their music, I get this. They want to expand their horizons to hopefully gain new listeners and to not do the same thing that they have been doing for the past few albums over again. At first glance The Decemberists appear to have done it without losing too much of the original formula that made me want to listen to them in the first place. It was mostly the stories within the lyrics that Colin Meloy would put to the music that garnered such an attraction to them. Castaways & Cutouts was great, as was Her Majesty, and Picaresque. I could picture each story that was being told in my head. Meloy was vivid with his words without being extravagant and overbearing. Along came The Crane Wife and Always A Bridesmaid though and I was shocked to find that those songs weren’t as lyrically fulfilling as their predecessors. Was this because of them being signed to the major label Capitol? I don’t want to assume that at all, but it’s hard not to. It’s been happening a lot lately.

Their new album The Hazards of Love will be released in a few weeks. I’ve heard the few tracks that have been on the internet for a while now and I’m looking forward to hearing the rest, but I remain skeptical. I may have lost a little faith, but I will never write off The Decemberists no matter what happens down the road.

“Irish Blood, English Heart” – Morrissey

My knowledge on this music icon is limited, so forgive me. This brings me to the suggestion a friend made to me a few days ago about having guest writers. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Just because an artist like Morrissey is on my ipod doesn’t mean I know a lot about him, but I should. He’s only been one of the most influential singer/songwriters for, what, almost 30 years now? Still, I have only recently gotten into his catalog (sounds dirty) which includes The Smiths and all his solo albums. Being a music lover you have to listen to Morrissey at least once in your life, right?

Because I am still not very familiar with what this guy is about I’m going to let some Morrissey experts explain why you should listen to him. Take it away guys.

Edward-

“Morrissey's songs sum up the isolation and loneliness inherent in the human condition, and especially the male human condition. It's his standard theme, and one he's milked successfully for over two decades. His critics will say that there's nothing in his songs beyond just the gloom and doom, but what they are missing, the most important thing they are missing, is the hope that is also offered within. He may be singing about despair and sadness and loneliness, about fear and loss, but he's also telling you, that for the most part, it will all be okay in the end.”

Mary-

"Ah... Morrissey. We heart him. Why? Could it be his dry sarcasm? His blatant distaste for humanity? His pessimism? His asexuality? His ambiguous nature? Perhaps it's all of these things. Contrary to the beliefs of some people who have criticized me for loving "such depressing music," much of his music is actually upbeat. In fact, if you don't listen to the lyrics you might even go as far as to categorize it as happy music. Especially his stuff with The Smiths. It has that twangy '60s style coupled with complex melodies interlaced through an independent twist of the '80s pop sound that manages to stand out amongst bands who were popular at the time The Smiths were."

So the consensus is that Morrissey isn't all doom and gloom. There is some happiness to his music. It's all in how you perceive it. I was in my car not too long ago with my younger brother and his girlfriend and a Morrissey song came on my ipod. She complained about listening to it and proceeded to put her headphones on to listen to something else. I asked her, "What could you possibly be listening to that's better than Morrissey?" She replied, "Motion City Soundtrack." Sigh. Kids these days.

"All I Need" - Radiohead

The Brits are taking over this post. They are also taking over my ipod. Browsing through the artist list on it I notice that a lot of them are British. I'm not complaining though, so don't think I am. Just stating a fact. It's hard to say no to them all. Hell, my first favorite band when I was 6 was Tears For Fears. Fast forward ten years and I discover another band from the UK that's all the rave at the time. A friend handed me a copy of The Bends on cassette, and, well, the rest is of course history.

I still remember the day In Rainbows was released on the internet. I was skeptical considering that Hail To The Thief wasn't exactly on par with the usual tag of greatness that goes along with Radiohead. The band had tried something new, something that a lot of other bands have adopted themselves as well- cutting out the middle man and self-releasing their latest album on the internet before putting it in stores. What was more interesting was that Radiohead introduced the "pay what you want" scheme. You could get the album for free, or you could pay any amount you deemed necessary. Most people didn't approve of this, namely the record companies considering that if the scheme caught on (which it did) they would not be making the money anymore, the band would, which is how it should be anyway.

Business models aside, In Rainbows is a fantastic album. Worthy of the great reviews it received. The music of Radiohead has brought me a wealth of other music to branch off and listen to as well as new friendships with other people just talking about Radiohead. People have asked me which albums I would choose to be on my top 10 all-time favorite albums. This is harder than it sounds, but the one album and band that always crosses my mind first is, of course, without a doubt Radiohead's OK Computer. Like so many bands before them I feel Radiohead has defined a generation of music.

"Northern Whale" - The Good, The Bad, & The Queen

We're at the end of this post and the red coat's bayonets are almost at my throat. Jarvis Cocker, Morrissey, Thom Yorke, and now Damon Albarn all have made their point. The stars and stripes of my ipod have been replaced by the Union Jack and Colin Meloy is trembling madly in a foxhole somewhere waiting for the canons to stop firing. I wave a small white handkerchief and declare surrender. I'm hoping her majesty will have some pity on this poor wretched soul of mine.

The Good, The Bad, & The Queen was originally intended to be Albarn's solo album but instead turned into a concept album played by a supergroup Albarn put together composed of former members of The Clash, The Verve, and that one guy Damon worked with to make that Afrobeat album. The album is pretty good and is described as "a song cycle that's also a mystery play about London." I would expect nothing less from the frontman of Blur and half the brain behind Gorillaz. When I'm listening to TG,TB,& TQ I can honestly say that I feel like I'm walking down a London street at night. Hazy. Dark. Gloomy. Jack the Ripper right around the corner with his latest victim. I gotta hand it to Albarn and his cohorts, they certainly know how to set a mood.

As stated earlier in this post Blur has reunited to play some shows. Will there be a new album? One can only hope. Gorillaz is also slated to release something new this year too. I'm anxious to see what kind of new art Jamie Hewlett has done to go along with the effort. That's another thing that excites me about music. The visual art that goes along with it. The artist gives us the opportunity to not only hear the music, but see it as well. I don't know about any of you, but I always feel kind of bummed when a band or solo-artist releases an album with sub-par cover artwork. It just makes the music a little less appealing. Do you agree or disagree? Leave a comment after you read and let me know.

The Brits may have me, but I'm plotting my escape as we speak.

#2

2009-02-20T09:14:00.005-05:00

I got paid to do this.

1. "Roads" - Portishead

I'm assuming everyone was paying attention last year when Portishead announced that they would be releasing their third album cleverly titled Third. I understand that it was a big to do since they were coming back to the music scene after quite a few years away, eleven to be exact. The new album received praise and appeared everywhere- magazines, websites, that year-end mix that someone gave you that's now collecting dust at the bottom of a drawer because it had "Viva La Vida" from Coldplay on it.

My point is everyone loved it, except for me of course. When I first heard that Portishead was coming out with a new album I was on the bandwagon with everyone else. My elation could not be contained. This band was a part of my music loving history. How could I not be excited? What I failed to remember was that music had shifted directions since the release of their first album Dummy from which the song "Roads" comes from. Today's scene didn't include the ground-breaking trip-hop that Portishead first made famous. Personally though, I think Massive Attack had a bigger influence on trip-hop, but I'm not here to split hairs. I digress.

I was disappointed with Third. I got what I didn't expect, but that's my fault for not having an open mind about it. It doesn't bother me, I still love the band and I still agree with the consensus that even though Portishead was out of the music scene for so long they delivered an album that's edgy and current. But seriously, no matter how many more albums Portishead releases, they won't compare to the love I have for Dummy, and for this song "Roads." It's the line, "I got nobody on my side, and surely that ain't right," that really sums up the way I want Portishead to be forever. Dark and gloomy with a chance of heavy rain. I know, I ask too much, but I promise to give their next release a better listen to. Ten more years to go.

2. "Security" - Otis Redding

Otis' voice is like a bucket of ice water dumped on you when you've been sulking in your own self-pity for too long. It wakes you up, slaps you in the face and says, "Hey! Let me carry all your burdens for you through my songs." That's pretty much how I feel when I listen to Otis Redding. I don't have to be sad because he's already sad for me. The sign of a true soul singer.

He left us too soon, but his legacy lives on. "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", his first and only number one hit, didn't top the charts until a year after his death. In 1989 he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In '99 he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. And so on. And so on. And so on.

You know how some people want to believe that Elvis or Tupac or Biggie aren't really dead? Well, Otis is my Elvis, Tupac, and Biggie. Even though we all know these artists are dead and gone their music keeps us alive. It keeps our spirits up. When I listen to "Cigarettes and Coffee" it really is a quarter to three in the morning and I'm sitting with my baby doing nothing but smoking, drinking coffee, and enjoying my time with her even though in reality I'm by myself in a Starbucks and irritable because everyone around me is smoking and I have quit. Maybe I should try a little tenderness? BA-ZING!

3. "Edmund Street" - The Rosebuds

Forgive my ipod for picking yet another Rosebuds song for a 5SIAR post. And it's not even a good one either. I love The Rosebuds, but I dislike this song. Not one of their best in my opinion.

So I guess I've found the kryptonite to this blog. Repeating bands and/or repeating songs. I want this blog to be entertaining for the reader, but I can't do that when I get the same band twice in a row. I don't want to cheat and skip a song, but I don't want to be repetitious either. Any suggestions you the reader might have will be greatly appreciated because right now I'm at a bit of a loss.

4. "Blood Roses" - Tori Amos

This is the beginning. Where my love for music took root and started growing. It was the album Boys For Pele from Tori Amos. I'm not kidding when I say it is one of the most influential albums on my life. People give me funny looks when I tell them this, but it's to be expected. Tori doesn't exactly have a very large male fan base. Looking back I don't know what turned me onto that album so much. Even though I rocked out to all the grunge that was coming out I couldn't connect with any of it. It was the piano, and not the guitar, that made an impact on me.

Boys For Pele allowed me to branch out into other genres and styles I didn't even know existed. In fact, now that I think about it the same girl in high school who told me to listen to Tori also told me to listen to The Pixies and Pavement, two bands that are arguably the most influential on modern indie rock today.

Funny story. While in the piano class I'm currently taking (shared mostly with teenage high school students) my instructor was talking about the differences between the harpsichord and the piano. She asked, "Who here has heard a harpsichord being played?" I was the only one who raised a hand because I immediately and almost instinctively thought of the song "Blood Roses" which is played entirely on the harpsichord. She then asked where and when I heard to harpsichord. This is the part where my heart started racing and I was sweating like Meatloaf on stage while singing "Bat Out Of Hell". All eyes were on me and if I said what I wanted to say I most likely would've been laughed at by these children. Even though I'm older than anyone in that class I was sucked back in time to when I was in high school and being a closet Tori listener. So of course I lied and just said that I heard some dude play the harpsichord at the Tampa Bay Performance Arts Center a few years ago when in all actuality I saw Tori play it back in '97 during the Boys For Pele tour. For the rest of my life that night will be one of the best nights ever. To be honest, Tori plays into a lot of my best nights, and some of the worst.

5. "Behold The Wolf" - Summerbirds In The Cellar

I'm from Central Florida, so are the trio Summerbirds In The Cellar. I'm also a bit picky when it comes to local music. There's not too much of it that I like. I've gone to local shows in Tampa, Lakeland, and Orlando and there are times I've walked out of the bar because I didn't like what I heard. Even though I've seen Summerbirds play quite a number of times I have never, or will ever, walk out on their show. They are the one and only band from this area that I sincerely enjoy listening to and seeing live. There are others that are close to memorable such as Band Marino and The Dark Romantics. They aren't bad bands by any means, but the pay off isn't quite the same.

It's catchy in a good kind of way. The kind you can dance to, or at least moderately shake your body to while they are pounding out the heavy and not-to-overly dramatic synth rock they are known for. That's why I feel that you have to see them live to fully grasp the music they are making. On that same note it makes me feel bad saying that. I like this band, really I do. They should be signed to a label already. And I think that if they can harness that live sound and put it in disc and vinyl form, then I don't think they will have any problem getting the props they are deserved.

Seriously, when you open for bands like The Faint and R.E.M. and are scheduled to do shows with Deerhunter it's hard to keep saying no. There's a reason why Summerbirds In The Cellar has caught the attention of these big name acts. Listen to their albums With The Hands of the Hunter It All Becomes Dead and the follow-up Druids then go see them live. You'll see what I mean. And if you don't, I don't want to see you hopping on the bandwagon when they make it big. We will kick you off.

Thanks again for reading. Lunch time!

#1

2009-02-13T13:58:00.004-05:00

Let the journey begin.

1. “Reindeer” – The Knife

I’ve always been a bit on the fence with The Knife. Some of their songs I absolutely love. Others, well, there’s a reason they don’t have a high play count on my ipod. If the songs “Heartbeats” or “Pass This On” don’t come on I usually skip to the next track. I know, it isn’t fair, but this is why I created this blog; to force myself to listen to music that I would normally skip over. I’m guilty of being a fair weather listener. I guess that’s the proper term?

Sometimes I only like a band or artist for their popular songs. Big deal, right? Wrong! If I wanted to be that kind of listener and purveyor of music I’d stick to listening to the radio for the rest of my life. That, in my opinion, is suicide, so I’m not going to allow that to happen. So with the inaugural post of this blog it’s quite fitting that a Knife song that I have never listened to before be played.

Right off the bat the thing that impresses me the most, as per usual with a Knife song, is the minimalist layering of instruments. Some electronic artists tend to overdo it by piling more and more sounds into their songs to the point of there being no point. It becomes a harsh blend of too much rhythm and too much atmosphere. Less is more, and that is something I have always admired about the Swedish siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer who make up The Knife. They know how much instrumentation to program and then let Karin’s voice carry the rest of the song.

However, I’m not too keen on the lyrical content of “Reindeer.” Something about Santa Claus being faster…fatter? Hell, I don’t know, but the song does have the makings of making onto a Christmas mix. But honestly, if it came down to picking “Reindeer” or “Another Lonely Christmas” from Prince, I think The Knife would find themselves sitting on the bench.

2. “Never Tear Us Apart” – INXS

This song, under any circumstance, should never, ever, ever, ever, EV-ER be skipped over. It should be played at maximum volume wherever you might be at the time it comes on. If you’re in the car then roll down your windows and let the cars next to you hear it at the stop light. Yes, you may get some odd looks, but those are looks of jealousy because everyone else only wishes they could be as bad ass as you are blasting Michael Hutchins voice at peak volume.

You should also sing along. Hearing “Never Tear Us Apart” automatically gives you the right to turn your surroundings into a karaoke bar. I’m just waiting for the day that it comes on over the speaker in some random grocery or department store. I will, without fail, start singing. Yes, I will get those looks. No, I will not care. Though now that I think about it, how often does this song come on in a public place? I mean, it’s not like its 1987 anymore. But regardless, it’s a great song that deserves to be played every time it comes on. Again, do not skip it. Ever.

3. “Waiting For The Carnival” – The Rosebuds

So I promised myself when I decided to start this blog that I wouldn’t include anything personal on here. This song almost made me want to break my promise considering what has been on my mind lately. But it isn’t blog appropriate.

It talks about fireworks, waiting, hoping, love, and being there. That’s enough sentimentality for one blog I think.

I love The Rosebuds, more people should too. Every new person I meet that asks me for a new band to listen to I always suggest The Rosebuds. As far as husband and wife bands go, I would give them a higher rating than Mates of State. Now, far be it from me to want to step on the toes of those die hard Mates of State fans out there, but, you have to admit that sometimes they’re just a little too happy pop. Sometimes you need some sad pop thrown in the mix. I would suggest the entire Birds Make Good Neighbors album as your starting point then work backwards from there, and then forward again. “Waiting for the Carnival” is on The Rosebuds’ debut album Make Out, but again, start with Birds Make Good Neighbors. Your heart will thank you for it. And maybe, just maybe, that blue bird of yours will eventually find its way home.

4. “Atlantic City” – Bruce Springsteen

Ah, the boss. There’s no denying him and there’s no denying that this song, no, this album is incredible. Surprisingly a lot of Springsteen fans aren’t aware of the album entitled Nebraska. It’s a pity too because it’s one of the folk albums I believe everyone should own. In my opinion, it’s easier to swallow than any Dylan album. I know, I know…that’s a pretty bold statement, but not for us Springsteen fans. To be quite sincere the only Dylan album I can really tolerate is Blood on the Tracks.

Nebraska was forged in a barn with nothing but a 4-track, a guitar, a harmonica, and the usual Springsteen passion for singing about the trials and tribulations of the every man. It is the quintessential soundtrack to play to either ease your woes or fall further into depravity, or in my case, both at the same time. It makes you realize that yes; someone else feels the same way I do. Someone else has that annoying itch called life that can’t be scratched.

I don’t need or want to explain what this song is about. That would be taking away from the pure gut-wrenching honesty that it harbors within. You’ll just have to go find out on your own. Seriously, go listen right now, but I must warn you- The harmonica will, in my friend Jake’s words, “pierce your soul.”

5. “Gone Daddy Gone” – Gnarls Barkley

This song is a usual skip for me. Perhaps maybe it was the ridiculous video that went along with it. I despise fleas. But no, that’s not it.

It’s because I genuinely do not like the song. I didn’t like it when Violent Femmes originally did it. Still don’t like it now that Gnarls Barkley covered it.

I know this blog is all about weeding out the bad songs I don’t want on my ipod, but there is a rule I made for myself that I must follow. If I am to have an album on my ipod, in this case St. Elsewhere, I have to keep it whole. I can’t just delete tracks from it. It’s like a carnal sin to me. I would rather delete the entire album, but therein lies the problem; I like pretty much everything else on St. Elsewhere. So I suppose through this journey down the road of the music that’s on my ipod I just have to make a decision once I find a song I don’t like. Does the album go, or does it stay? More research is needed, and I am positive that during this journey into my music taste I will discover more songs I don’t like, which in turn will tell me more about myself.

Onward we go…

Preview

2009-02-03T22:57:00.003-05:00

Greetings and salutations fellow music lovers.

Lately I've been having a problem with myself and the technology geared toward bringing music to the masses. I'll be driving in my car or sitting at work listening to music and I will skip through tracks after putting my ipod on shuffle just to find a song I want to hear. I've become judge, jury, and executioner to songs that come on my ipod without really giving them a chance to play. These artists are on my ipod for a reason, right? What good is having 80 gigs worth of music if you're not going to listen to it?

So tonight after thumbing through a book entitled The Best Music You've Never Heard I decided to delve into my main source for listening to music- my ipod. It certainly doesn't come close to the same experience as listening to an album on vinyl, but it doesn't have to, the ipod is there for convenience; To plug in and have all your favorite albums in the palm of your hand.

Which brings me to the purpose of this blog. It's a way to force myself to listen to something new every day and write about it. Nothing big, just a few sentences about the song, the artist that created it, and how I feel about it. I promise not to do repeats.

Keep checking back. The first installment of 5 Songs In A Row will be posted soon.

Your faithful writer,
Nick