Even if you don't agree with us on this, at least fulfill your civic duties on this primary day and get the fuck out there and vote. You have absolutely no reason not to and because of that, well, just do it. We wonder who Britney is voting for.
(mp3) Feist - My Moon My Man (My!Gay!Husband! remix)
Godspeed!
Nothing needs to be said that cannot be expressed in these photos. We took a whole lot of HOLGA photos too, but until we develop them, you're stuck with these digital shots. We love you all and if you missed us, rest assured, we're back. Thank God for the lovely girlfriend Karen or else we wouldn't have been able to vacation in the first place.
(mp3) High Places - Golden
(mp3) High Places - Shared Islands
Godspeed!
So, we were totally away last week (since Thursday)! Sorry for not telling you all, dear readers, but sometimes we're totally just looking to get out of here and go someplace special. Like our minds. Or the Paramus Center Mall. Or, in the case of these past few days, the BAHAMAS. Yeah. Get into it kids. If you haven't been, go. If you have, go again. Anyways, catch us up. What's been going on? Did our irregular (nay, nonexistent) posting crush your spirits? We hope not.
(mp3) Broken Social Scene - Looks Just Like The Sun, from the You Forgot It In People LP
Godspeed!
That's right kids. Dear ole that dude jeff is fucking lazy and, what's more, exhausted. With the Pretty Girls Make Graves show, not-so-torrential-but-still-rather-annoying all day rain on Saturday and the AIDS Walk (photos later) yesterday, my body, mind and phalanges are destroyed. D-e-s-t-r-o-y-e-d. We'll see you tomorrow. Unless of course, a hilarious news break occurs. I'm hoping for rest, though, to be honest.
(mp3) Teddybears - Alma, from the Soft Machine LP
Godspeed!
About three weeks ago, my friend Rachel asked me a simple question:
What would you say is your seminal album. The one that changed everything for you and the one that you haven't been able to replace?
I couldn't answer her. I said "That's tough. I mean, there are so many of those that choosing one would be like, impossible." And that was that. Enough said. I went home and didn't think of it again.
That is, until yesterday. Rachel emailed me and asked if I had an answer for her. Thankfully, due to email's reliance on asynchronous communication (for those of you who aren't film/TV majors, that means that the communication lines rely on sending messages in a delayed-response format, unlike the telephone or face-to-face communication where messages are sent without delaying responses), I had some time to think more about the answer. So here goes:
That dude jeff's seminal album is "Recipe for Hate" by Bad Religion.
I bought this tape when I was 13 years old. It was after I had already heard Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Clash, John Coltrane, Lou Reed, Bob Marley, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, AND everything I can remember being on Motown Records. So, dare I say, I had had a primer already of what music can really be like; and "good" music at that.
"Recipe for Hate" is Bad Religion at their finest. Greg, Brett & company are, well, they're never really in rare form, so I can't say that. The band is in whatever form they've been able to maintain for the almost three decades' worth of influence. But here's the thing: the band has gotten so much flak for "selling out" because of this record. The main reason? It's put out by ATLANTIC Records, a.k.a. "the Man". Most fans immediately started throwing stones at BR for this, but here's the thing: it's by far their most viciously lyrical and adventurous album ever put out. By fucking far. I dare anyone to listen to "American Jesus", "Watch It Die" or "Skyscraper" without getting chills up their spine. It should go without saying.
If you don't have this record, smack your forehead, step on your own toe, whatever. Just go fucking get it. If you can pick up a copy that HAS NOT been re-mastered (they're hard to find for sure), even better. Tape hiss is necessary for the full effect. After all, Bad Religion is still the only (ahem!) relevant Southern California punk band still alive today.
So there you are. My seminal record. What's yours? Oh, and please don't say "Nevermind". Give me something more than that.
Godspeed!
5 years ago I was turning twenty--sigh. Now, I know that some of my "older" readers will say something like "twenty. Sigh. What the fuck. I'm one of those older readers. Fuck that dude jeff." But let me finish. I'm not waxing emotional about being 20 years old. I'm merely giving some ground to start off on. Okay? Let's continue.
5 years ago I was turning twenty. 5 years ago, there were about 2% the amount of iPods around everywhere. 5 years ago, I didn't know that my lovely girlfriend Karen existed. In fact, 5 years ago (I'm sorry for this Karen) I was dating someone else altogether. In college, no less. 5 years ago.
Some other things that happened (not so that dude jeff-centric) 5 years ago: the Harry Potter movies debut, everyone's afraid of Arabs, the Yankees lost the world series, Bush was inaugurated, the towers fell down, Will Smith was Ali, Dale Earnhardt crashed hard, Vanilla Sky blew, Lord of the Rings destroyed, Joey Ramone died, the concert for New York was a better telethon than even Jerry Lewis could imagine, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. Oh, and "the New York scene" is reborn.
The Strokes. Interpol. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Walkmen. French Kicks. And the hundreds of bands-to-be brainstorm the next big hit while sitting in Williamsburg or the Lower East Side. And here's where the point of this blog really kicks in. 5 years ago, no one could deny the power, prowess and artistic "turbulence" of popular music from New York City in 2001. And neither could I. I was a fan. I bought all the records. I went to as many shows as would have me. I preached to my non-enlightened friends about how they were "missing out" and "you'll totally dig this", etc. And they listened. And then they bought all of the records. And they went to some shows, too. It was beautiful. And I knew it couldn't last forever.
And this is the crux of my typing. All of the bands I just listed up there have a special place in my musical mind. They all brought me something that I could see. Concretely. I could go to a basement party off Lorimer and run into Carlos D. From Interpol spinning talking heads records. I had the ability to see Nick Zinner chat up Vincent Gallo and Chloe Sevigny over a Pabst blue ribbon at Manitoba's, North Six, Sea, or 117A. Anywhere. I felt like that fucking kid in Almost Famous saying "it's all happening". Because it was "all happening".
And then the year ended and I couldn't stay with just 1 record from these bands. I figured that they owed me more. More songs. More anthems. More emotion. More. And they didn't provide. Deadbeats, I thought. They don't care about that dude jeff. I'm just another face in the concert-going crowd to them. But I’m not. I'm fucking not. 2002. 2003. 2004. 2005. 2006. Take that in. That's a lot of fucking time going by.
I want to go back to 2001 for the sole purpose of not being disappointed with how these bands have not lived up to anything they put out 5 years ago. And you could make a case like "it was a certain time and place". A certain something. Anything. But it's not just gone by in a flash. It took the Yeah Yeah Yeahs 3 years to follow up 2003's "Fever to Tell". And while you can read plenty of interviews about how Karen, Nick and Brian didn't want to make "Fever to Tell 2” for their next record, they were right. They didn't make anything close to it. The Walkmen's "Bows & Arrows" was good. It was good. It was not "everyone who pretended to like me is gone".
The only band (in my opinion, at least) that made more of an impression artistically and architecturally speaking was Interpol. Yes, Interpol. And while you can only read so far into Paul Banks sounding like Ian Curtis over and over again, nowhere can you find much about how big a leap "Antics" was from "Turn on the Bright Lights". And it was a giant leap. Paul Banks sounded a lot less like Ian Curtis and a lot more like Paul Banks. Their sound evolved. It didn't change, really. It became their sound even more than was evident on their first release.
So, what am I really getting at here, huh? Is it something more deep than my disapproval of the "New York scene" bands not sticking to the program of making shit-kicking-ly good music over and over again? Yes. Is it more than that? Maybe. I don't really know. I wanted to write this after listening to the new YYYs record on the subway. It kind of dawned on me that Brian, Karen and Nick maybe focused a little too much on three years of sheen and not 40 minutes of genius. Maybe I’m wrong. It's happened before. But I don't think so. Not now at least.
You tell me. Is it better to progress and augment your sound to prove that you can make something different or should you just do what the strokes did from album 1 to album 2 and from album 2 to album 3? They didn't change anything. Not even my opinion of them. And that's what's really important to me. If a band makes me feel proud to listen to them for reasons other than it being deemed "cool" to do so, than I’m impressed and content with my decision. God knows I’ve gone through enough albums that sucked ass to really know which ones I want to keep pressing play to.
Godspeed!
this is what i did today! thanks shannon, adam, vinnie, sheila, jackie & everyone at electric lady studios
if there is a god, i appreciate this gift
godspeed!
FRIDAY NIGHT
my lovely girlfriend karen and i joined james, sarah, jessica, et al. for this show at the "highly overrated shit-town bar" R&R and attempted to "enjoy" the show. here's some things yay/nay about the evening's events. first off, R&R posted a doors-open alert for 8. now, i know that that usually means around 8:45-9ish, but nobody saw the inside of the venue until around 9:45ish. and then, we had to deal with an overly crowded basement-like aura of the venue while getting pushed around by the nazi-esque hipsters trying to get through to the front. it was worth $10 that i threw away for going to see the band, but not by much. i'm usually easier on any act that looks like they're having a lot of fun on stage, but if you were in the crowd, you'd have sided with me on this one. i'd have taken pics of the band, but you couldn't see shit. we all ended up disliking how it sounded in there (read: get a new fucking PA system) and afterwards we headed to the university diner in union square for a quick end of the evening bite.
SATURDAY
my lovely girlfriend karen and i took advantage of the bright and shiny first day of the upcoming warm season here in nyc and headed out to soho to do some shopping; karen had previously been awarded some gift certificates by my parents and her family alike for being born...so it was as good a reason as any. after a few hours at flying a and anthropologie, she came away with a new top and some new shorts that are quite cute if i can comment on such things. then, we went out to dinner with alicia, josh, eve, qian (chan), morris, peter, po, sara and nick in our neighborhood at scottadito, and after wining, dining, laughing, etc., we headed out to patio, this bar/lounge in our neighborhood that's low-key enough for karen and i to feel comfortable, but trendy-chic enough to cater to the varied crowds in park slope.
SUNDAY
today was MoMa day for my lovely girlfriend karen and i. we met up with our friend wan (pronounced "win") to go and see the museum's exhibit of edward munch's paintings, sketches, etc. and i must say that i hadn't known of his work that much aside from 3 or 4 works that i'd come across before (read: "the scream", "madonna", "mermaid", "vampire"). it was pretty intense. dude was really varied with his work, but motifs were EVERYWHERE. i'd have pictures, but you know how museum's are. instead, i took a few pictures of some other "works of art" we found in MoMa behind the glass:
"the new school"
"the old school"
"my school"
that's all for this weekend. what'd you do today?
godspeed!
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