ChatLiveWithSpaceAliens

I’m sick and tired of waiting for Pitchfork to review this album, so I’m beating them to the punch. Pela’s Anytown Graffiti is one of the best releases of 2007. It’s what I imagine would happen if Bruce Springsteen met Interpol in a dark gritty alley and the outcome was a beautiful little indie rawk baby.

Waiting on the Stairs is a solid opener to the album, setting up the pace and tone for the record to follow, plus it has a great ending. It’s not the best track on the record, but to me that just means that they actually have some compelling music to be heard… they’re not blowing their wad on track #1. Track #2, Lost to the Lonesome, is one of the better tracks on the record. Incredibly fucking catchy, short enough to not go on forever, pure indie rawk. It leads nicely into… Drop Me Off, another solid track that ends better than it begins. One of the great things about the songs on this record is that they go out on a high note. None of this fading out on some dumb droning note bullshit. Track #4, Trouble With River Cities, is probably my favorite track on the record, while it’s one of the simplest tracks musically, it’s got great lyrics and is carried well by lead singer Billy McCarthy. Cavalry, track #5, is a great, driving, follow-up to Trouble With River Cities. Usually I hate songs with whistles, in this one I could chant “Needs more whistle.” Track #6, Song Writes Itself is another one of the stand-outs. Track #7, Your Desert’s Not a Desert At All, is the first weak track on the record. I usually fast forward to the next one, Tenement Teeth, another driving tune with a great chorus. Of course it fades out, negating my comment that all of the tracks on this disc end well, but whatever… still a great song. Track #9, Rooftops (Moth Song Outro) is another sort of weak track that I usually fast forward over, it feels both like a bit of filler and oddly out of sequence, if I were to drop one track from the record this would be it, even though I like it a bit better than Your Desert’s…. The title track follows, and while it’s better than both Your Desert’s… and Rooftops…, it’s still not one of my faves. The outro, 7th and 17th, is a weird found soundish collage of a playground with some strumming over the top, at 2:12 it’s definitely a bit long (for what it is), but it’s a nifty end to a great record.

So… to sum up… great record, definitely in my top 5 for 2007… totally under-appreciated. As much as I’d like to think that this little blog has any sway in the world, I’m not deluded… So… Pitchfork… review this fucking record… kthxbye.

“I went for the conjoined twin fight and stayed for the siamese sponge bath” –Susan

Like Snakes on a Plane, this movie gives you two of everything you want, but unlike Snakes on a Plane, it does not give %110. No, this movie prefers to remain subtle enough as to seem like an actual documentary. I went for the conjoined twin fight and stayed for the siamese sponge bath, however, you may go for the complicated psychological study or highbrow mockumentary humor. Don’t go for the conjoined twin fight as your imagination is probably much funnier than the footage in this film.

This film is a little dark. Not as dark as Geek Love, but if you liked Geek Love, this movie is worth your time. There’s no horses in this movie.

You may also go for the punk mock soundtrack. You can hear such gems as Two Way Romeo and Doola & Dowla (which is an ode to the imaginary friends that live in their sister’s shoes).

John Darnielle’s treatise on surviving a childhood of abuse easily gets my top pick of the year. The lyrics make this record, and I can’t imagine them without Darnielle’s wailing delivery. This Year and Dance Music are my two favorite tracks, although I usually find myself listening to the album as a whole; once you’ve got the St Joseph’s Baby Aspirin you’ve got to make it through to the Pale Green Things. I can’t say enough good things about this album, worth a listen (or 20), and definitely worth catching on tour.

I am going to make it through this year if it kills me.

I drove home in the California dusk.
I could feel the alcohol inside of me.
Home.
Picture the look on my stepfather’s face,
ready for the bad things to come.

I was introduced to The National as the headliner at a $10 show that featured Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Talkdemonic. I’ve never spent less money for more entertainment, and I’ve never been so pleasantly surprised by a headliner I was thinking of skipping. I enjoy the more rocking tunes on this record, and if pressed to pick a favorite I’d have to go with Mr. November. Good from start to finish, but less cohesive than The Mountain Goats disc.

I’m the new blue blood, I’m the great white hope
I’m the new blue blood

I won’t fuck us over, I’m Mr. November
I’m Mr. November, I won’t fuck us over

Clocking in at only 7 songs and right about 30 minutes, Iron & Wine and Calexico’s In the Reins is short and sweet. I’d have enjoyed this one more if it had been a true collaboration. I’m not the biggest fan of Sam Beam, but he’s good in small doses, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better backing band. Hopefully they’ll get back together and Joey and John can get some input, duets between Beam and Burns would sound so sweet.

One more kiss tonight from some tall stable girl
She’s like grace from the earth
When you’re all tuckered out and tame

I initially thought that Kanye West’s Late Registration was going to be a total dud, thankfully I was wrong. Other than the lame skits and the gawd awful Brandy song this one is a collection of solid gold hits that I’m sure will be bled dry until I hate every last song. That’s the one downside of every decent hip-hop album in the last few years, eventually they become so played out that I can’t bear to listen to them any more…

You tellin’ me if my grandma was in the N.B.A.
right now she’d be ok?
But since she was just a secretary
working for the church
for thirty five years
things s’posed to stop right here?

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self released “mega-hit” was next to impossible to find (other than on mp3, where it was next to impossible to avoid). I actually managed to stop the clerk at a local music as he was putting up the only copy they’d received. Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth is probably my favorite track, but they’re all good, on record at least… I’d have enjoyed this album much more if they hadn’t totally phoned in their first live show in Portland.

Who - Will get me to a party?
Who - Do I have yet to meet?
You - You look a bit like coffee
And you taste a bit like me

Antony and the Johnsons’ I am a Bird Now was a tough record to get into. On first listen I hated it, and deleted the mp3s from my hard drive. At a picnic a few weeks later someone mentioned it as one of their favorite albums so far of the year, and said that it took a couple of listens to get into. One trip back to usenet and four or five more listens I didn’t hate it. I kept listening for the same reasons you watch a trainwreck… you can’t stop it. For Today I Am A Bouy is definitely my favorite track of the bunch, but again they’re all good (it just takes a while).

One day I’ll grow up
Be a beautiful woman
One day I’ll grow up
Be a beautiful girl

For today, I am a child
For today I am a boy

Wolf Parade’s Apologies to the Queen Mary fills the yearly Canadian Rock and/or Roll spot in my heart that was created two years ago by Broken Social Scene and was filled admirably last year by Arcade Fire. Truth be told the Wolf Parade record isn’t as good as either of those, but it’s still a good disc. Grounds for Divorce is definitely my favorite of the tracks.

But look at the lovers
And they way they stand
And the way they move and the way move their hands
And look at their babies
And their tiny little hands
And the way they get loved and the way they get loved oh

That’s all for this year boys and girls…

Thank GOD DM has come back! Listening to this CD makes me happy. Sigh… so happy… anyway, there are several times whilst listening that I say things like “oh oh oh! It sounds like old DM from Violator days” and then people roll their eyes at me because I’m so excited about a CD.

Fair warning however, song 2, “John the Revelator” makes me angry. Not because of the message in the song, but because the lyrics are so annoying and the tune is just… ugh! It gets under your skin. ‘John the Revelator — Put him in an elevator…’ really Dr. Suess? I’m sorry if that makes me a horrible DM fan, but I just can’t deal with it. I really can honestly say, it’s the only DM song that I don’t like. BUT!!! Maybe it’ll grow on me. Maybe if I force myself to listen to it… nope. Not working. Reminds me of Elvis for some reason.

Song 3 “Suffer Well” is fab. And of course, the first release, ‘Precious’ is beyond words. Very Violator. When it comes on, I start do smile and dance. You should too.

This CD is an interesting mix of songs you can get up and dance to (at least I can) and songs that you feel entranced by. This CD does seem to go back to earlier pre-heroin addicted DM days. Not that I didn’t LOVE ‘Songs of Faith and Devotion’, it’s just… well… I don’t know. Also, the CD starts off strong, and tapers off the last few songs. They’re still good songs, but easily forgotten.

This is a really crappy review. I know. Pretty much, I’m bored. I’m listening to this kick ass CD and anyone who is a DM fan should go buy it right now.

I ♥ Hip-Hop. Round about the middle of May each year I used to find myself listening in rapt attention to the hip-hop station du jour, trying to figure out what the hot track for the summer was going to be. Then Clear Channel and Entercom came along and completely fucked up radio. Not all was lost, because right around the same time the gods gave us Napster, and it was good. Sensing that people might actually learn to enjoy music and start paying them again the RIAA couldn’t have any of that, so they gleefully have been playing whack-a-mole for the last several years crushing the last breaths out of an industry that used to bring joy to millions.

That said, lets get to the completely and totally unscientific analysis of a random smattering of Hip-Hop tunes that are likely bumping out the speakers of the kid with the peach-fuzz mustache that drives too quickly down your street at three in the morning. Shall we?

Read the rest of this entry »