mmmmmm... skyscraper, I love you.

New location.

2004-03-29T21:34:00.001-08:00

Apparently this blogging tool is better than the one my brothers and I have been using. So... we also bought a domain name. My blog will still have the same name.

If you want to see all three of ours on the same page, go to www.troisbaboons.com

If you want to read just mine, go to www.troisbaboons.com/skyscraper.php

I will no longer be posting to this site, so go to the new one.

Fucking Amazon.

2004-03-20T17:59:00.000-08:00

So I'm home on Spring Break and I figure I'll order a cd. The CD is by Bill Ricchini and he sounds like equal parts Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, and Belle and Sebastian. I nearly wet myself with excitement upon hearing that this unique hybrid existed. I even wrote it down on the elite list of cds on my hand. Only the best and brightest go on my hand, the albums that I have to have. The cd was in good company, surrounded by Saturday Looks Good To Me (they sound like they kidnapped Brian Wilson and forced him to record an album underwater), The Wrens (Pitchfork Media darlings and aging indie rockers), Sondre Lerche (a norwegian singer/songwriter who was writing pop songs when he was 16 that sounded better than 99% of 40 year old musicians can manage), Espers (psychadelic folk. it sounds like... classic, dark, wintery folk music with electric instrumentation thrown in to make it sound better), and... other bands that I don't exactly remember. I'll probably start writing about bands again instead of just music in general.

Anyway, so I manage to find all the albums in stores, all the albums other than Bill Ricchini, that is. So I decide to order off of Amazon. The shipping estimate is well within the time that I would be home. The estimated day comes around... I wait patiently for the mail... and its not there. No biggy. The next day I'm having a pretty bad day, but I figure it will all be okay when I can start absorbing my new album. Nothing. Well, it didn't get here today either, and I'm leaving to go to Massachussets tomorrow (or "Massa-twoshits as Jessica Simpson has so generously called it) and it's not here. That means it should arrive promptly the day after I go back to school. Thank you Amazon, I hate you all.

So... I should stop using this to rant about things that make me angry and start writing about music again. Don't worry, I have a bunch of albums to write about and recommend, and I'll do that when I'm feeling better. Tonight I'm a little sick and tired. No, not sick and tired of anything in particular, just sick and tired. Actually sick and tired. Join me next time when I start talking about actual albums and music again.

I write.

2004-03-19T07:54:00.000-08:00

They say that the people who can't do, teach. I'll assume this applies to music to some extent too. Well, I sort of hope that it doesn't, because I would much rather be a musician than actually write about music. Don't get me wrong, though, I definitely love writing about music and I would be more than happy to make a career out of it. I would, however, be fucking ecstatic to make a career off of my guitar.

Fortunately for me I've been blessed with the voice of a cherub. A cherub without vocal chords. Based on my singing ability, I'm shocked that I'm able to talk with any level of even-ness. I think I have some level of guitar-playing talent, and I think I can write lyrics fairly well. I enjoy plugging around on my guitarEvery once in a while I pound out a song that I'm pretty proud of, but I'm not what you would call a "musician". If I ever made a career out of writing about music then I would be one of those musicians who only got any notice because he had connections, and possibly shamelessly promoted himself.

Nick Hornby, in Songbook, says that he became a writer because he wanted to be a rock star. He figured if he could never play anything worth hearing himself then he might as well write about people who could. Is it a greater tragedy to have some musical talent but not enough to make anything of it? I guess if I don't have enough talent to play music, I might as well write about it.

New Stuff.

2004-03-17T10:50:00.000-08:00

If you've noticed, I changed the way my blog looks.

I've also added a dynamic picture in the sidebar at the right that tells you what im listening to at the moment you read the page. Or if I'm not listening to anything, it will tell you what I was last listening to.

Below it you will find links for my listening history page as well as my listening stats page.

I dont know if this is useful or not, but ill be damned if it isn't fucking cool.

Elliott Smith. Nick Drake.

2004-03-14T16:31:00.000-08:00

One of my great regrets is that I never got to see Elliott Smith play live. Granted he looked sort of like this really ugly kid that I knew in high school, but he had a unique voice and a singular talent for songwriting. He, like many musicians before him, killed himself. He stabbed himself in the heart. He had the promise of a revitalized career after the release of his new album, and all his friends say they thought he was more focused and together than he had ever been.

One thing that always bothered me was when people would say "well, what do you expect? listen to his music." That is a load of shit. Sure he wrote about heroin addiction and tragic love, but that doesn't mean he was headed straight towards stabbing himself in the chest. No one expects that. A Spin Magazine interviewer commented on how friendly and open Smith was, expecting him to reflect his musical persona. The music isn't always the direct reflection of the artist, in the same way that a book isn't always the direct reflection of the author. I have been taught never to assume that the author is the narrator of the story, but why do we automatically assume that the singer is the same as their lyrical and musical content? But what it really comes down to in the end is that you can never expect someone to kill themselves based on their music.

He was often compared to Nick Drake, and apparently he hated the comparison. I would wet myself if anyone ever compared my music to Nick Drake's, but I think Elliott Smith created something separate and equal to Nick Drake. Unfortunately, it seems like they will have similar fates after their deaths, gaining notoriety and recognition only posthumously. Also, both seemed to be reaching their peaks when they took their own lives. Elliott Smith's last album, due to be released sometime this year, may end up being a double cd affair. Those recording it with him said it was his best material to date. Pink Moon was no doubt Nick Drake's best album. Maybe Nick Drake and Elliott Smith were far more similar than anyone thought.

As Nick Hornby once put it, "which came first, the music or the misery?". Were Nick Drake and Elliott Smith tortured because of their music? Was their music a product of their inner demons? It seems like a viscious cycle, where one feeds on the other. They are fighting demons so they write their songs. In writing, recording, and performing these songs they have to recall the demons. The songs reminded them. In the book "Nothing Feels Good" that I mentioned in my Emo post, Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba (yes, I know he pretty much is Dashboard Confessional) talks about how performing songs about the most painful moments in his life is akin to reliving them. Performing these songs must have been like looking at a picture of an old girlfriend who broke your heart into so many pieces you just never got over her. So the misery is a function of the songs AND the songs are a function of the misery.

Assuming that either of these men could have been saved by medication, I wonder if they would have chosen it. Another assumption I am making is that if they were medicated, they would not have created the music they created. I once had a conversation about this with a friend and we ended up on separate sides, she saying that she would rather create amazing art than be happy by taking drugs. Her artistic side ended up being more important to her than her happiness. I, on the other hand, decided that I would rather be happy than create amazing art as the result of my sorrow. What good is beautiful music to you if you're depressed? I indulge my artistic side in order to make me happy, what good is it if it won't be truly cathartic enough to save me from my own depression? I would rather be happy than artistic. Would it have been worth it for them to take medication and be happy at the expense of their art? It's selfish for any of us to say that they were better off making music that we could enjoy. After all, it's never been our decision, it would always have been theirs. But is the artistic enjoyment of a great number of people worth the cost of happiness to one person? I don't think so.

Makes me wonder how many great artists may have been prevented from creating their greatest work by antidepressants. I wonder, but im glad they had a chance to live happy rather than tortured lives. What does it matter if I want to hear a great album if they had a chance to live happy.

Elliott Smith and Nick Drake created some of my favorite music ever. Pink Moon, Five Leaves Left, XO, Either/Or, Roman Candle, these are some of the greatest songwriting albums ever recorded. I love them to death, but I would rather these people have lived happy lives instead.

Pitchfork Media.

2004-03-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

Pitchfork Media, for one reason or another, is slowly destroying my life from the inside out. So, it all begins when I start listening to less music that might be stamped with the big "E" word. Call it an effect of Spring, call it an effect of college, but I've been listening to more indie rock now. I wouldn't call myself an Indie snob (I might be, though) but I think I have a fairly extensive and comprehensive collection of indie rock. I have developed a love for indie pop. Pop music that throws back to the 60's, like Saturday Looks Good To Me, or just something like the Shins that walks the line between experimentation and familiarity. If it can be called indie pop, chances are that I likes it.

So, in order to bulk up my indie pop collection, I start reading pitchfork. I hadn't really heard of it before now, only in passing from my friends. Well, pitchfork is a group of indie snobs. They enjoy harping on certain kinds of music and just being generally a huge bunch of assholes. Which is why I can't stop reading it. Pitchfork is like that friend of yours who hates so much that when they like something, you assume that it must be the greatest thing since sliced bread if it made even an asshole happy. Granted, sometimes that friend of yours likes some stupid crap that no one should ever listen to, but for the most part their recommendations are pretty solid.

Unfortunately, I had a lot of catching up to do as far as the indie pop went. Coming in this late in the game, all I could hope to accomplish was grabbing some of the great albums and calling it even. That in itself was a challenge. I must have spent the better part of three days avoiding hygiene and food in order to read more reviews on pitchfork and catch up on years worth of music that i had thus far neglected. Luckily, someone on campus had a lot of the cds that I wanted, though not all of them.

Enter Newbury Comics. They had none of the cds I wanted to buy. It's gotten to the point that they dont even have the cds I want in their warehouse, so they can't order them for me. Newbury Comics blows! Not really, but they enjoy mocking me. I'm sure you know what I'm talking, you go in looking for an album and all they have is the little card telling you where the album would normally have been. I think the bastards leave the card there just to laugh at you when you freak out because your album isnt there. Pitchfork has made my tastes so obscure that even Amazon requires 4-5 days to ship the cds I want because there is only one copy in their warehouse. Some of the stuff I want isnt even in print anymore.

Pitchfork can usually be trusted for a good review. Just remember what kinds of music and what artists they don't like, be careful when you read it. And for God's sake, please dont dip into the archives, or you'll end spending all your money on cd's that you'd never heard of before. You'll search for days and days to find a single album that no store within your tristate area has. Suddenly none of your friends will know what you're talking when you mention a band. You'll be going to shows alone. Your only salvation will lie in making copious mixes to turn people on to the artists they dont know they love yet. However, that means you'll spend all your time making mixes. You'll also be spending money on CD-R stacks that you could be spending on that rare album you've had your eye on.

But seriously, be careful when reading pitchforkmedia.com. It ruined my life and it could ruin yours.

Most importantly, don't become a music snob. Nobody likes them.

Zero 7 and AIR.

2004-03-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

Following in the wake of my last Blog concerning techno music, I find it only fitting to discuss AIR and Zero 7 now. AIR was most certainly around first, and as far as I'm concerned, perfected the floating electronica that they still manage to dominate. Moon Safari is still widely regarded (with good reason) as one of the best chillout albums ever made. It's just jampacked with classics. Sexy Boy was all over commercials and movies, and im sure you actually know the song even if you don't think you do. It's been everywhere at one time or another. Kelly Watch the Stars was another great song, with an entirely synthed vocal track. AIR is kitschy, but they know it. At the same time, its beautiful music to sit down to and just kick it.

Moon Safari was a triumph of kitsch, it managed to be relevant, entertaining, and beautiful while still being light and thin. Other albums may have fallen beneath the weight of these contradictions. Unfortunately, 10,000 hz didn't fare quite as well, and it was generally thought by my brothers and I (the ultimate arbiters of musical taste) to be good, but lacking in one area or another. If a friend had made it, I would have been terribly impressed, but this was AIR. They needed to release something new and fresh like the first album. Unfortunately, this album just didn't have it, whatever "it" was. Maybe it was too experimental, maybe it sounded too thick and overproduced, maybe their sound just wasn't as fresh anymore. Either way, as far as AIR albums go, this one sorta sucked.

AIR did a bunch of soundtracks, most notably the soundtrack to the Virgin Suicides. It was a great soundtrack. I think that while making this soundtrack they remembered what it was that had made them great in the first place, a certain level of minimalism and atmosphere that they had lost. Playground Love is a great song that everybody knows even if they think theyve never heard it. The rest of the album is great as well, and a perfect example of how great AIR can be.

Maybe taking this to heart, they moved on and made Talkie Walkie. Someone told me it was produced by Nigel Godrich, the man who produced Radiohead. AIR is a pair of producers, why would they need a producer? This didnt make any sense to me, so I read into it, it turns out he mixed and recorded it. Problem solved. Anywho, Talkie Walkie marks a tempering of their ambitions with their original formula, and a great one at that. Up until I heard this album, I thought that AIR died after Moon Safari and even went so far as to explain Zero 7 as what AIR would have ended up sounding like if they hadn't started sucking. Talkie Walkie made them more relevant than ever, and showed me that AIR is at least as relevant as Zero 7 if not more. Perhaps not any more likable, but definitely fresher. The first song on Talkie Walkie, Venus, is pretty much just three piano chords that repeat. It doesnt sound terribly awesome to hear someone explain, but it really surprised me how much I liked it. The next song, Cherry Blossom Girl, goes back to the sparkling guitar that they have been so well known for in the past. The last song they wrote for the Lost in Translation soundtrack, it's called Lost in Kyoto and marks a deeper sort of song for AIR, that of a more complex and atmospheric guitar piece. If they decided to take themselves in this direction for their next album, they would definitely distinguish themselves from the crowd even more.

Zero 7 is a great band as well. Perhaps not as revolutionary, but great nonetheless. Their debut album, simple things, was gorgeous. It was swirling and beautiful in ways that AIR wasn't. It was an amalgam of soul, techno, and just beautiful guitars. The song Destiny is one of my favorite songs ever, and perhaps one of the more beautiful and echoing songs ever written. It DRIPS sunshine. The rest of the album is beautiful as well, sometimes jazzy, sometimes soulful, but almost always sundrenched.

Unfortunately, they seem to have released the same album twice. No one can exactly fault them for taking something beautiful and sticking to it, but it is always a little disappointing to see a band with a lot of promise for development release the same album twice. When It Falls is a great album by any account, but it seems slightly less relevant because it's not as fresh as the first was. The first seemed to be an upgrade of Moon Safari, they took what AIR did so well and expanded on it. On this album it seems that they've expanded upon... nothing. This is not to say that it is any less beautiful or affecting, however.

If I had to pick between buying the latest AIR or the latest Zero 7 album, I would tell you to buy the new AIR. My overall advice is to make sure you own the debut and latest AIR album and the debut Zero 7 album. In that combination, you get the best of everything. All the others are pleasant but secondary to these three.

In conclusion, chillout music rocks.

Underworld.

2004-03-06T13:06:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, I was weaned on electronic music. I remember it clearly, the day my older brother finally made me aware of the fact that there was more music in the world than The Smashing Pumpkins and Beck. I was playing Starfox and listening to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (which I still say is one of the best albums of the 90's) when he forced me to listen to Dubnobasswithmyheadman, Underworld's first proper album after their ill-advised new-wave phase and their short stint as Lemon Interrupt. I had always hated this particular album and the mere mention of it tended to make me shiver and wretch. For some unknown reason, however, this time was different and I finally awoke into the world of music.

Underworld is Rick Smith (producer), Karl Hyde (vocalist, lyricist), and Darren Emerson (DJ, no longer a member of the band, was with them for their first 3 albums).

For a long time this was my favorite album and I still think it holds up even though it was released more than a decade ago. Some production eventually begins to sound dated but this never did, at least to me. Sentimentality aside, this is subway music. It's dark and cold, distant. It's electronic and inhuman, even with Karl Hyde's vocals wrapped around it (Underworld, by the way, is one of the few electronic bands that regularly features a vocalist, and the same one all the time.) Tends to make me think of driving at night, being on a subway, watching the lights blur past. It's also beautiful music if it's about to rain. My favorites are the opening track (Dark and Long) and Dirty Epic. Mmmmm... Skyscraper I Love You is another one of my favorites, and the song for which my blog is named. Skyscraper is... it begins with wind. It is the musical equivalent of a tall building at night seen from the ground level. Dark and Long is an opus. It is what the title says, dark and long. Some of my favorite lyrics ever come from this song "I am just a waitress she said, went and bought a new head she said, when I look at you I believe in you she said, screaming into the eye of the lens." Karl Hyde's freeform poetry on this makes for some of the best lyrics that I could ever hope for, and only Davey Von Bohlen of The Promise Ring even compares (they are my two favorite freeform lyricists). Dirty Epic is my #1 on the album though, and held solid as my favorite song ever for a number of years. Underworld hinted at what they would run away with later on Beaucoup Fish, throwing in swirling piano and beautiful vocals. The piano on this track is quite possibly my favorite use of piano in a song, ever. The lyrics on this song are nothing less than astounding. I suggest you read them all and listen to the song.

To date they have released three more albums. Each of which I most likely write about individually.

None of them holds a place as close to my heart as this one, the first album that opened me up to how big music actually was.

Regarding Ryan Adams

2004-03-05T08:18:00.000-08:00

I had a conversation at breakfast the other morning about Ryan Adams. A few things occured to me. First of all, I don't like waking up for 9 o'clock classes where I just sit there in the dark for three hours. Second, if Ryan Adams just calmed down and spent some time putting together an album, he could have a string of classics on his hands. He already releases some phenomenal albums the way he is pumping them out at the moment. He's releasing like 7 damned albums a year. Since his old band whiskeytown broke up, he's been releasing albums like there's no tomorrow. Adams is also notorious for going into a recording studio, pounding out an album in a week and then shelving it. Demolition, for example, was a collection of songs from albums that he was never really planning on releasing.

He wrote the Love Is Hell EPs and meant to release them as the album that came after Gold, but the record company decided that they were too depressing and didn't want to release them. So, he went off and wrote another album, Rock N' Roll. This album, depending on how you feel about Ryan Adams, was either a train-wreck or pretty good. No one will neccessarily argue the point that it's a brilliant album, but its not as bad as people make it out to be. Personally, I enjoy it a lot. He was a punk before he was country, and this album definitely goes back to his plain rock and punk roots. Who can fault him for that? The Love is Hell EP's (written about Beth Orton, btw) were released on the side with little fanfare, and in my opinion hold the greater material. He covers Wonderwall on the first one, giving an obvious nod to his britpop influences on the album. Actually being the first Ryan Adams album that I really listened to, the Love is Hell EPs (when you put the two together, you get a full length album) will always hold a special place in my heart. There are forgettable songs, but there are definitely enough gems to keep me interested. The Shadowlands tips along slowly on the same 3 chord progression with lo-fi vocals that eventually breaks into a slow roots-rock jam. Wonderwall is obviously a great cover, and I have to say I like it better than Oasis' version. So shoot me. Avalanche is another great song. The entire second EP is good, I think. Or at least more consistently good.

I haven't listened to Gold yet, so I won't even talk about it. Demolition, although an album of previously unreleased stuff that he tossed together, makes for a better album than Rock N' Roll. More solid than Love Is Hell? Who knows? Love is Hell was produced by the Smiths old producer, and has an obvious brit-pop flavor to it. Personally, I think they are equally flawed albums, with a lot of gems but a few songs that just sound like another Ryan Adams song.

We all know he's prolific. Now, if the guy would just follow his own lead from the album Heartbreaker, I think we could all be alright. He didn't spend this album whoring out his influences (Rock N' Roll) or just tossing random songs on (Demolition). This being his first solo album, he likely realized that he had something to prove and decided to put forth his best effort rather than half-ass it. Unfortunately and fortunately, he did an excellent job on this album and probably got cocky. No one can deny that Ryan Adams is prolific and supremely talented, but he seems to lack discipline. I honestly dont think there is a song on Heartbreaker that I dont like, so I wont go through and explain all of them, I'll list my favorites though. Damn, Sam, I Love a Woman That Rains is a slow song with piano drifting around the edges. Oh My Sweet Carolina is a song I didnt even notice the first time I listened through, but turned out to be one of my favorites, it opened itself up slowly and beautifully. Come Pick Me Up, a great melody. My Winding Wheel.

This is an incredibly solid effort with a bunch of beautiful songs that have only grown on me.

If you want to start listening to Ryan Adams, start with Heartbreaker, a gorgeous acoustic album tinged with harmonicas and Gillian Welch harmonies. Fit for listening to on a rainy day or at night. After that, move on to Love is Hell, where Ryan Adams proves again that he is one of the better songwriters alive right now. Pitchfork trashed Love Is Hell, and the Onion loved it. The Onion made a good point, that since Rock N' Roll got much more fanfare, it seems like Ryan Adams might not be getting the attention he deserves for what he does best, songs like the ones he put on Heartbreaker and Love is Hell. No one really seemed to care when he released Love is Hell.

Ryan Adams could be, and I think is, one of the great songwriters alive. He just needs to stop releasing albums like he's about to die. And, if we start appreciating him for what he does best, songs with heart instead of songs where he parades around his rock guitar like he is accounting for small testicles or something. I'm hoping we realize what to appreciate him for, and he begins to think about how to put together an album again. Sure, his songs are better than I could write, but some of the ones he releases arent even nearly his best.

Slow down with the albums Ryan, work on your quality control. Put out a song where you aren't beating us in the head with your rock guitar. I know you have it in you to release a perfect album. Heartbreaker, if not perfect, was pretty damned close. We know you can do it, release an album of top to bottom gems with heart, beauty, and emotion. Even if the rest of the world doesn't appreciate what you do best, I most certainly will.

Please?

Emo is dead, long live emo.

2004-03-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

Except for the long live emo part.

For a great majority of my career being musically fanatic, I was all about emo. I used to be proud of the fact that I listened to emo. I announced it! Emo for all! Now, however, I seem to have grown past that stage in my life. This is not to say that some emo doesnt still hold a special place in my heart. Certain Dashboard Confessional songs will always hold their place for me, as will Get Up Kids songs, and some Jimmy Eat World songs. Unfortunately, I think I will have to displace Jimmy Eat World's album Clarity as the album at the top of my list. This is not to say it won't always rank high on my list, but I think a lot of the appeal this music will hold for me now is sentimental. The music that stands apart from the emo hype, however, was likable music and will remain likable music to me.

Maybe I'm speaking too soon. It's Spring and I'm feeling happy all of a sudden, maybe there's no place in my life for emo because im not feeling particularly angsty at the moment. Maybe I'm done with being angsty for no reason in particular and ive moved on to more complex and adult expressions of emotion? Lately I've been listening to Coldplay more often. The Flaming Lips. Aimee Mann (who, by the way, is much better than any emo band has ever been and I would give my left nut to meet her). Ben Folds. Ryan Adams. Is this an indication that I'm maturing?

Even if I am maturing and there is no place in my life for emo anymore, I can't deny the place it's held in my life before now. Nor am I about to go and decry anyone who listens to it as the bulk of their music just because I've outgrown it. There was nothing that bothered me more than people complaining that it was nothing more than a bunch of teenagers whining about their emotions. I was whining about my emotions and I was glad to hear that someone else was whining about theirs too, and it sounded good at the same time. No other generation was ever any different and it's condescending to think that. I remember hearing about Joni Mitchell and people locking themselves in their rooms listening to Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys and wondering how anyone they had never met could understand so fully what they were thinking. The last generation had their folk music, they were reacting to the war. We, in this generation, react to our angst. It's just what happened.

Every generation had their emo. It's not a type of music, it's a time in your life.

I guess I just moved on past that time.

If you want to read up on this, read the book Nothing Feels Good by Andy Greenwald (I would link to it, but this blog thing is still pretty new to me). This book, which is named for a watershed (and still damned awesome) album by the Promise Ring explores emo in depth and is an amazing read whether you're interested in emo in particular or just the development and blossoming of any kind of musical culture in general. I highly recommend it, it's one of the best music books I've read in a while. Andy writes for Spin as well, so he knows what he's talking about.

Anyway, long live music in general.

The Future Of Music

2004-02-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

Sound collage. I think it’s the wave of the future. Sampling deserves a place in future of music too. As far as I’m concerned it all started with the Dust Brothers and Paul’s Boutique, the first album that let us know the Beastie Boys weren’t just a bunch of idiots. It’s gotten to the point where entire albums can be created without even knowing how to play a single instrument. The Avalanches, for example. Since I Left You is an album without a single original instrumentation or vocal track by the artist releasing it. Of course, Nick Hornby (Author of High Fidelity) in his book Songbook makes an interesting point. Accusing the Avalanches of ripping other artists off because they sampled their music is like accusing an author of plagiarism because they used the same words as another author. To listen to the Avalanches, especially the song “Frontier Psychiatrist” is to hear something almost completely new. They sample a John Waters movie, they play around with sound samples and make a song that doesn’t seem like it should work but works better than anyone could have hoped for.
The Dust Brothers. Anyone who has seen Fight Club is most likely familiar with their sampling work. Neither of them plays a single instrument on the Original Sound Track they did for the movie. They aren’t new to the idea of sampling either, they were the producers who made Beck’s album Odelay what it was, a mixture of well-placed noise and well-written music. They also produced “mmmbop” but we are willing to overlook that. They are another perfect example of creativity springing from inspiration drawn from other works.
Who can say either of these groups aren’t talented? If you haven’t heard them you might think they aren’t talented, and that they are just riding coat tails of some other artists. However, im sure if you heard the parts they sampled in their original context you wouldn’t even be able to recognize them. It takes a tremendous amount of talent to take a bassline from this soul record, a drum break from this rock record, and piano from this jazz record and put them together to make a dark, brooding song. That’s what the Dust Brothers did, repeatedly. That’s what the Avalanches did. Talent.
Sound collage. The point of this post, more or less. Related to sampling only superficially. It is what it sounds like. Sound collage is more like sampling yourself hitting a Dr. Pepper bottle with a phone cord and tossing it into your song somewhere in the background. This brings us out of the stifling territory of guitars, bass guitars, drums, and keyboards. Perhaps the best examples of sound collage are Olivia Tremor Control, The Microphones, Mirah, the Books and the Unicorns.
Olivia Tremor Control sound like what the Beach Boys would sound like if they liked sound collage. It allows for something that almost sounds like it’s thrown together randomly, but at the same time has a cohesion that you can’t exactly put your finger on. The Microphones, as far as I know, pioneered this sort of music. To think of the Microphones as “they” is like referring to Pedro Martinez as a sports team. The Microphones are Phil Elvrum, who has a fondness for taking three seemingly incongruent guitar strumming tracks, some sort of a humming, strangely loud buzzing, and lyrics about a samurai fighting a polar bear and making a dramatic, intense song. Mirah is produced by Phil Elvrum, and is sort of an offshoot, as far as I’m concerned. The Books like taking 400 tracks that are no more than 3 seconds long and cutting them together to create an amazing song that shouldn’t work. The Unicorns aren’t really sound collage, I just wanted to mention them because I love them and am going to be seeing them soon, but they are also produced by Phil Elvrum. They sound like what would happen if you mixed the Microphones with the giddy side of The Flaming Lips album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. It’s a brave new direction for pop music. I’ll write more about them later, I’m sure. Oh, also, check out Four Tet. It’s organic techno. This guy basically epitomizes sound collage, taking organic sounds and making it sound like electronic music. Highly recommended.
So basically sound collage is what happens when that kid on your hall who likes banging random things together gets a hold of pro tools and starts making amazing music out of it. It may not sound like much to read about, but its an entirely different thing to experience. It blurs the line beautifully between music and noise. This is not to say that it makes music into noise, but that it makes noise into music.
Some people might complain that since we’ve been around so long that it’s impossible to do anything new anymore. I think sampling and sound collage only go to prove that we have been looking in the wrong places for original material. It’s more than alright to look someplace old for something that will be entirely new and revolutionary. The new is born from the old!
Mark my words, this is the wave of the future. If it isn’t, well, I don’t care, I like it anyway.

Songs to check out-

Olivia Tremor Control - A Familiar Noise Called “Train Director”, from the album Black Foliage: Animation music Vol. 1

The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist, from the album Since I Left You

The Dust Brothers - Who Is Tyler Durden, from the Fight Club OST

The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2, from the album of the Same Name

Mirah - Cold Cold Water, from the album Advisory Committee

The Books - Tokyo, from the album The Lemon Of Pink

Four Tet - Glue Of the World, from the album Pause

The Unicorns - Jellybones, from the album Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?

G Love.

2004-02-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

G Love and Special Sauce. If you put the entirety of his first name together, it spells glove. He looks a little bit like my friend Amelia's boyfriend. He loves rap, blues, and... drums. Think of him as a wonderkid. For those of you that love Dispatch or Sublime, but wish they were a little more funky on more of a regular basis. This is one of those albums that I love listening to on a sunny day. Makes me want to skip and whistle.

Today I've also been listening to the new Norah Jones album, which, to tell you the truth, I think I like better than the older one. Come Away With Me is a great album in it's own right, but it seems to me like she's settled into something a little more her own with this album. The mark of a great album: I put at least 3 or 4 of the songs on this album on repeat the first time through, so by the time I had heard all of the songs on it, I had heard a few of them 5 or 6 times already. Those songs were:

Sunrise- first song on the album. The harmonies on the chorus made me feel warm and fuzzy. Some parts of the song almost sound like they are played on toy instruments, a very plucky song.

Those Sweet Words- It's a Norah Jones song. What more do you want? I listened to it 6 times the first time through the album.

Humble Me- I didn't even pay attention to the lyrics the first time through, I just listened to her singing.
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On this album she simultaneously managed to not only incorporate country into her jazz, but to also develop a stronger blues voice. It must have been difficult to release another album after Come Away With Me. On one hand, everybody demands that you release something better and different, because if you release the same album then you are stagnant as an artist. On the other hand, if you change too much people get mad because you aren't the same artist you used to be. Hell, they even booed Bob Dylan off the stage when he went electric. She managed to release a better album than the last, different in all the right ways, while remaining the same Norah Jones that I've always loved to relax to. Some may say this album is a disappointment, but they're wrong.

The other album I listened to today was Soft Spot by Clem Snide. Clem Snide is hard to explain. One of their songs was the theme song to "Ed" for a year while the Foo Fighters decided they didnt want to license their song out for it anymore. They changed their mind and the Foo Fighters song is back. Anyway, Clem Snide has strings. Probably some of the better string arrangements that I can think of, actually. Some of their albums seem a little more like 20's Jazz mixed with a little bit of country. This album just sounds... sweet. Not sweet as in "oh man, thats so sweet" but sweet as in "ohhhh, they're in love, that's so sweet." It manages to be sweet without being saccharine and that's saying something. It's intimate and quiet, a guy with an acoustic guitar and a few strings dabbled about here and there. Quite beautiful.

I would tell you more about it, but it was so nice that I fell asleep while listening to it. So... I don't really know the whole album too well. My neighbor Clarke says it's the perfect album to drive to when it's warm, preferably with a slight breeze on a country road with grass swaying. Maybe some day when I manage to listen to the whole thing without feeling so pleasant I fall asleep, I will report back on it in full.

Yoshimi is my kind of Woman.

2004-02-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

Today I bought a copy of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots mixed into 5.1 surround. Unfortunately, I only have a stereo, and my speakers are broken. So I'm listening to it on my headphones, and the Flaming Lips certainly know how to fuck with your perception of stereo. On "Fight Test" they have the drums and the vocals rotating around you like they are on alternate sides of a circle that is spinning clockwise around you. Its so strange, and I dont know how to deal with it. But it's genius and amazing at the same time. Especially since it's an already great album.

Anyway, I love this album to death and if you don't own it then you're an idiot. I love the Flaming Lips, even though I blew out my speakers listening to Zaireeka, I can't blame them for it, they didnt make me turn the volume all the way up and bust them out. Zaireeka is worth a listen, by the way, if you get the chance. You buy the album as a set and then it comes on 4 cds, meant to come out of 8 seperate speakers. Ideally, this would be accomplished by parking 4 cars in a square and sitting in the middle. We, on the other hand, just gathered 4 stereos together and sat in the middle. Apparently its a different experience every time based on when you start the tracks, and they aren't meant to line up exactly. Some of it just sounds like really cool noise, and other parts sound like amazing music. It's really quite an experience and I suggest you try it if you get the time, even if it is a little involved. Its definitely better than any of that dark side of the rainbow crap.

The Soft Bulletin is another great album. I enjoy it, but I can't get into it quite the same way that I get into Yoshimi. Here's a rundown of Yoshimi.

Fight Test- Sounds amazing. About fighting or laying down arms. Which is better? Who knows. Wayne Coyne doesnt. However, the melody is amazing and the fuzz is spectacular. I can't rave about this song enough.

One More Robot- I... love this song too. I used to think of it as the song between Fight Test and Yoshimi P1, but now I love it too. The bass is bubbly and the vocals are spacey. The drums are very atmospheric and it's great.

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt 1- The greatest love song ever written. About Yoshimi. She takes vitamins and fights off robots for the good of the city. Yoshimi is my kind of woman. I think this song says what we all want to say to the person we love so dearly: "...they don't believe me, but you won't let those robots eat me." A beautiful love song. The actual music is wonderful as well, a sort of choppy guitar accompanied with robot sounds and little asian girls singing "yeah, yeah!". There are bells too, I think. Anyway, it's the title track for a reason.

Yoshimi Pt. 2- It sounds like a party on Mars. The kind where you would throw your hands in the air and yell things while waving them around wildly. I don't know what else to tell you.

In The Morning Of the Magicians- Somewhere between a love song and drifting around on an acid trip. It will wander for a minute or two, driven by an amazing bass line and echoes, and then go into one of the more amazing and gentle melodies I've ever heard. All in all, a gorgeous song.

Do You Realize- Spreads downwards like ripples. It has a soaring melody and makes me smile every time I hear it.
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Well, that was at least half of the songs on there.

I love the Flaming Lips... Wayne Coyne has such an amazing voice. Steve Drozd is a cool producer. He also produced an album, by the way, for the guy who used to host Blues Clues. Does anyone remember Steve? Well, his full name is Steve Burns and he is actually a pretty good musician. Not on par with the Lips, but good in his own right. You can hear a little bit of their music in his songs, which are either helped a lot or hindered a decent amount by the production. It's worth a listen anyway.

The Flaming Lips will go at least in my top 15. Which is saying something, considering that I have so much music.

In closing, god bless Wayne Coyne. He is always smiling in his pictures. He writes love songs about people fighting off robots for him. We can all learn a lesson or two from him.

To tell you the truth, theres just too much damned music.

2004-02-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me yesterday somewhere in the middle of grabbing 1000 or so more songs off my network that I haven't even completely assimilated the 6600 or so that I already had. Leave it to me to take just way too much music and put it all on my computer. I now have 35 gigs of music, or something like 22 days. I remember a time when I could listen to the entirety of my music collection over the course of a day. Now it would take me the better part of a month to do that.

Sean, you may ask, why all the music then? True enough, I still amaze myself with what I have on my computer, and I find new songs hidden all the time, like I stashed them there to discover at a later date. I mean, I definitely didn't know that I had a Jackson 5 greatest hits collection stashed on this beast. It is at the point where I walk into a record store and I can't think of a single thing that I want to buy for myself as far as music goes. I have successfully assimilated 30+ years of likable music. Thank you.

Loading my iPod won't be any easier, either. How do I cut out nearly half of my music collection to toss onto it? I don't know.

Anywhoozle, Spring is in the air and I have a reccommendation. Listen to Beulah's album The Coast is Never Clear. It reminds me of what the Beach Boys would sound like if they had a greater affinity for leisure suits and quirky melodies. Still, it's great pop music. With horns! Grab a mai-tai and give it a listen, its not often you find tropical beach pop with both horns AND wit.

Some favorite songs:
A Good Man is Easy To Kill- Fuzzy guitar. And then woodwinds. Then horns. This song just makes me happy. The lyrics aren't happy, but the song is.

Popular Mechanics is For Lovers- Bouncy and pingy. I swear I hear some sort of xylophone in the background. A little reminiscent of the song in Fight Club they play while they show all the swedish furniture he is buying (that song, by the way, is called Corporate World and is by the Dust Brothers). A definite head-bobber.
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Anywho, I will give recommendations whenever I think of them. Hopefully I won't repeat any of them. If I do, you should know that its important that you listen to it. You also have my permission to hit me.

2004-02-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is my birthday. Also, the first day I will write to my blog. Unlike my brother, my passion was not completely unprecedented in my family. We at least had a few Beatles or Dire Straits albums tossed around the house, but it was having older brothers that really allowed for me to listen to music that didnt completely suck. Like any other little kid that didn't know better, I used to listen to top 40 radio almost exclusively and was sure that my older brothers understood nothing about music. Unfortunately, it slowly dawned on me that they might have some idea what they were talking about.

The next musical stage in my left I spent assuming that Beck and the Smashing Pumpkins were the only real musicians that existed and all other music was crap. So even though I wasnt listening to top 40 radio, I was more or less dead weight as far as listening to music went.

Sophomore year in high school marked the next large phase of musical awakening. I had managed to start listening to some good music by this point, mostly electronic music like Underworld and the Crystal Method. I met a girl who listened to indie rock, or emo, more accurately. This marked a 3 year musical phase of listening to almost nothing but depressing music and power chords. The Get Up Kids, Midtown, Dashboard Confessional, The Juliana Theory, New Found Glory, etc. I was an emo kid. I sat in the dark and cried about how sad I was.

Now, in my freshman year of college, I think I have finally outgrown my emo phase. Partially thanks to my powerbook and iTunes, which makes everything much easier. I have, currently, 30 gigs of music, or something like 19 straight days of new songs. I carry my iPod around with me everywhere and I can barely remember a time when I didnt listen to music every single chance I got. My tastes have expanded, now you could say that I like pretty much everything. I've got so much music on my computer that I went into a record store yesterday after getting my first workstudy paycheck and I could not think of a single thing that I wanted to buy.

So, this is for me to talk about new music I get. Old music I love or rediscover. Music I've had for a long time that I didn't even know I liked. Basically, just whatever I'm listening to, how good it is, and how it makes me feel. I hope it's educational for you and stays interesting for me.

I'm working on a list of 10 albums (in no particular order) that I keep going back to. I'll start posting them as soon as we get this blog thing worked out.