Category Archives: Art

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My Top Albums of the Decade

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Just flipping through the latest issue of Rolling Stone (I rarely read the mag) and taking a gander at their bests of the decade lists, I can’t get over the massive discrepancies in our’s and their’s. RS overwhelmingly favors mostly mainstream/major label acts and a few independent acts with some degree of commercials success. So of course, our homeboys (Black Lips, Jay, King Khan, No Age, etc.) are virtually nonexistent because they’re not big enough! Wow, what a terrifically horrendous way to evaluate music… Anyway, case in point, their top 50 albums of the decade barely included 1/5 of independent music, whereas our lists are the complete opposite. Anyway, here’s their list: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/31248017/100_best_albums_of_the_decade/44 and here’s mine, the better one :)

1) Black Lips- Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo (2007, Vice)

2) Jay Reatard- Matador Singles ’08 (2008, Matador)

3) The King Khan & BBQ Show- What’s For Dinner? (2006, In the Red)

4) Jay Reatard- Blood Visions (2006, In The Red)

5) Jay Reatard- Singles ’06-’07 (2008, In the Red)

6) Bright Eyes- I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (2005, Saddle Creek)

7) The King Khan & BBQ Show- The King Khan & BBQ Show (2004, Goner)

8) Animal Collective- Strawberry Jam (2007, Domino)

9) No Age- Nouns (2008, Sub Pop)

10) King Khan & The Shrines- The Supreme Genius of King Khan & The Shrines (2008, Vice)

11) Arcade Fire- Neon Bible (2007, Merge)

12) Black Lips- 200 Million Thousand (2009, Vice)

13) Page France- Hello, Dear Wind (2005, Suicide Squeeze)

14) Box Elders- Alice and Friends (2009, Goner)

15) The Pains of Being Pure At Heart- The Pains of Being Pure At Heart (Slumberland Records, 2009)

16) Against Me!- Reinventing Axl Rose (2002, No Idea)

17) Girls- Album (2009, True Panther Sounds)

18) The Nightwatchman- One Man Revolution (2007, Epic)

19) Glassjaw- Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence (Roadrunner, 2000)

20) Mark Sultan- The Sultanic Verses (2007, In the Red)

21) Arctic Monkeys- Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006, Domino)

22) Kimya Dawson- Remember That I love You (2006, K)

23) Black Lips- Good, Bad, Not Evil (2007, Vice)

24) The Almighty Defenders- The Almighty Defenders (2009, Vice)

25) The King Khan & BBQ Show- Invisible Girl (2009, In the Red)

26) System of A Down- Mesmerize/ Hypnotize ( 2005, American)

27) Deerhunter- Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP (2009, Kranky)

28) Head Automatica- Decadence (2004, Warner Brothers)

29) Deftones- White Pony (2000, Maverick)

30) System of A Down- Toxicity (2001, American)

31) Mabuses- Mabused (2007, Magpie)

32) Glassjaw- Worship and Tribute (2002, Warner Brothers)

33) Against Me!- As the Eternal Cowboy (2003, Fat Wreck Cords)

34) Black Lips- Black Lips (2003, Bomp!)

35) Black Lips- We Did Not Know the Spirit Made the Flowers Grow (2004, Bomp!)

36) Animal Collective- Feels (2005, Fat Cat)

37) Sonic Youth- The Eternal (2009, Matador)

38) Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009, Domino)

39) Fugazi- The Argument (2001, Dischord)

40) Those Darlins- Those Darlins (2009, Oh Wow Dang)

41) The Strange Boys and Girls Club (2009, In the Red)

42) The Used- The Used (2001, Reprise)

43) Arctic Monkeys- Humbug (2009, Domino, Warner Brothers, EMI)

44) Editors- The Back Room (2005, Kitchenware, Fader)

45) Shellac- 1000 Hurts (2000, Touch And Go)

I’m leaving 5 slots open for possible last minute acceptances.

Chris

Art, Books, Crime, Culture Jamming, Drugs, Entertainment, humor, Lists, pictures, Politics, TV

Abbie Hoffman v. Jerry Rubin

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Jerry on the left and Abbie on the right. Both men were Revolutionary Yippies! in the 1960s, but who is cooler?

Hoffman was funnier
Rubin was zanier
Hoffman wrote more books including the incendiary Steal This Book
Rubin’s Do iT! is the best Yippie! book and far more colorful (plenty of pics, many displaying nude babes), wacky, and radical than any of Abbie’s, though his contain similar elements.
Hoffman staged more pranks: Throwing money over the New York Stock Exchange, levitating the Pentagon
Rubin was arguably more militant or “freakier.” He considered Charles Manson an inspiration and even chatted with him for hours in prison.
Hoffman was a member of SNCC in his early days
Rubin was active in the Free Speech Movement in his early days, though he made some Civil Rights protests as well
Hoffman wore an inverted Amerikan flag on his shirt
Rubin wore the Viet Cong (he spelled it Kong) flag on his shirt
Hoffman heard Castro speak
Rubin personally met him (if I’m not mistaken)
Hoffman has several biographies of him and including his own as well as an entertaining biopic called Steal This Movie
Rubin once stormed the halls of Congress half nude, dressed up in American Revolutionary attire, complete with war paint and ammunition, albeit a toy gun!
Hoffman along with Jefferson Airplane singer, Grace Slick once attempted to slip a hit of LSD into president Nixon’s coffee, but they never made it inside the White House
Rubin became a yuppie when the war ended: stockbroker, businessman,etc.
Hoffman was forced underground and became an environmentalist, when he rose above ground he continued his activism with the War On Drugs, and the CIAs sadistic, murderous involvement in Latin America as major targets

Well, I could go on and on here. Basically, both men were heroic and should be revered for their tactics, ideals, and for making revolution fun. So, who wins?……………

Abbie! because he never sold out and more importantly because of his unique form of media manipulation, which ultimately led to social change and gave people some laughs (or the jitters!).

Here’s some history in motion; this is Abbie right before the Chicago Democratic National Convention protests which culminated in him and seven others (including Rubin) being tried and convicted (though the decision was eventually reversed) for conspiracy to incite riots at the Convention:

And here’s just a classic Jerry Rubin moment:

Chris

Art, Entertainment, Femmes, Lists, Music

MY Top Ten Concerts of 2009!

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For specific information like dates, go to Glen’s post, as I feel it is unnecessary to rewrite the same information. Also, in some of these shows I am not naming every performer for the evening, but rather those I found to be memorable. Note: I attended twenty solid concerts total this year, so this list is exactly half of them.

1) Black Lips w/ Mean Creek at the Middle East- A+: Best concert I’ve ever seen simply because they are my favorite band and I knew all of the songs. But, beyond that, the show was constantly exciting and I really appreciated the chat with Cole as Glen noted. Mean Creek were a chill band with a great anti-capitalist message.

2) King Khan & The Shrines w/ Mark Sultan at the Paradise Rock Club- A+: What else can you say about King and gang that hasn’t already been said?! The show is a spectacle from start to finish. Pure energy, excitement, and really happiness. If the Black Lips were not my favorite band, without a doubt, I would say the Shrines were the most entertaining performers I have ever seen. Like Glen, I’m positive I would appreciate Marky Sultan’s performance infinitely more, if I saw him now, but even without being familiar to his music, I still appreciated it; something extremely rare for me. Supreme Genius indeed!

3) Jay Reatard w/ Box Elders, Nobunny, and Hunx and His Punx at Harpers Fery- A+: Fun, Fun, Fun till Harpers Ferry security took Nobunny pyro techniques away! Then more fun with Jay! I second Glen, as I seem to do a lot in these lists (great minds think alike!) best opening experience ever! I heard one of my new favorites for the first time: Box Elders. Instantly I fell in love with their catchy, pop songs, another rare feature. Hunx was queer as fuck, but in a great way! They really got the crowd moving, perhaps moving away for some (and oddly moving closer for others haha); once again rare for an opening band. This continued with Nobunny, who also shared tremendous showmanship and over all joy in their craft. Of course Jay belted out his hits and it was great. The moshing and crowd interaction made it a memorable concert for sure.

4) King Khan & BBQ Show at the Middle East- A+: Supreme Genius continues! Well, I was waddlin around right into the snow with some zombies, which transformed into a fish fight. Soon I said I’ll never belong here and so I docked at number eight. Unfortunately, the hunnies treat me like dog because I’m too much in love with them, so I just sat and watched them shake real low. I’d much rather they hold me tight, but I guess not tonight. I guess I’ll be a lonely boy for one more night.

5) Pixies w/ Jay Reatard at Wang Theater- A+: One of my favorite bands playing one of my favorite albums and my second favorite artist opening for them with amazing seats, what else can I ask for?!

6) Sonic Youth w/ The Feelies at Wilbur Theatre- A+
7) No Age w/ Lemonade at Wellsley College- A+
8) Animal Collective at the House of Blues- A
9) Head Automatica at the Great Scott- A
10) Arctic Monkeys at the House of Blues- B+/A-

Chris

Art, CD Review, Entertainment, Health/Science

Classic CD Review: Greatest Hits

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Band: Wesley Willis
Year: Various
Label: Alternative Tentacles

Comments: Wesley Willis was (death, 2003) a joke. The man himself was not a joke…in fact, he was a paranoid schizophrenic who consistently had to deal with the “Warhellride,” or demonic encounters. He was a great story teller, as evidenced in many of the songs in this collection. Wesley was a master at combining vivid descriptions with catchy (but, very monotonous)  outsider pop riffs and phrases. Go to his Wikipedia page and there you find how his songs are structured. This is precisely what makes Wesley’s music a joke. He built a career out of ranting over music. You don’t get a lot of that from musicians today and that’s why people will always react to his music in a wtf kind of manner. Whereas critics say fellow outsider Daniel Johnston’s music ranges from “spotty to brilliant,” Willis doesn’t fit on a paradigm that’s worth evaluating. How do you judge a man who can’t be judged? The demons got to him and got to him damn well at that. If I absolutely absolutely absolutely had to slap a grade range on his Greatest Hits, I’d probably dish out between a C+ and a B. It’s music for a good laugh now and then…not the kind that’s constantly on repeat. Rest in peace, Wes.

Art, CD Review, Entertainment, Music

CD Review: xx

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Album of the Year? Yeah, right. Top 50, maybe...

*Rough Trade Records named this the top album of 2009. But is it? In my never ending quest to find great music, I am reviewing this LP! But wait…I already named my top 5 albums of 2009. That’s tentative, though. So let’s see about this.

Band: The xx
Label: Young Turks
Release: 2009

1. “Intro” – 9.0
2. “VCR” – 9.4
3. “Crystalized” – 9.7
4. “Islands” – 8.2
5. “Fantasy” – 7.8
6. “Shelter” – 8.1
7. “Basic Space” – 8.8
8. “Infinity” – 9.3
9. “Night Time” – 8.5
10. “Stars” – 8.9

Comments: This is the first band to actually cause my sub-woofer to make crazy ass noises. There are some pretty cool beats and stuff like that, but this record isn’t that special. Vocals are kind of shabby and not really unique at all. The “chill-wave” that this record embodies is limited in the sense that you can only stare at your shoes for so long before you fall asleep. In essence, the only things that save this from mainstream success are the male vocals and the consistent darkness and ambiance. Pop music usually doesn’t regard the latter as positive or particularly marketable. And to some degree, I can see a lot of independent-minded people shunning this kind of music or writing it off as done before, or what have you. The album begins to crumble after the third song, but there are some cool spots after that.

Grade: 8.7

Art, Entertainment, Femmes, Music, reviews

Concert Review: Arctic Monkeys & Screaming Females @ House Of Blues (12/13/09)

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Artist(s): Arctic Monkeys, Screaming Females
Location: House Of Blues, Boston, MA
Date: Sunday, December 13, 2009

Part I: Pre-Show Activities:
As soon as we arrived, it was pouring, so we raced through puddle after puddle. Along the way, we witness the most depressing thing to a concertgoer: lines and lines of people ahead of you. All bodies closer to the front then you. Fuck…
After some waiting outside, we made it in and at least we weren’t as far back as we were at Animal Collective. To pass the time we chatted with some fine lads (one of which bared strong resemblance to a notable Wakefield High student) about everything from college acceptances to the harsh reality of 18 + shows; this one was All Ages, which of course unleashed some fine talent. I bet that’s the one, the FBI I will nail me for lol.

Part II: Screaming Females
Chris: Well, not quite… Singing for the most part, but occasionally screaming female (the other two members were of the opposite sex) would be more apropos. They were ok, nothing special. They rocked out for a while with sledegehammer drums, powerhouse guitars, and a caterwoul sceam from the lead singer. Most of the time her vocals were high and reminded me of the voice of some Disney villian haha, no offense. I appreciated the individual parts of the songs, but overall they weren’t memorable or “stand out” numbers. They played far longer than I wanted them to.

Glen: Chris basically said what I was going to say. I’m sure if I look up more of their songs (“damn, I should have YouTube’d them”, I’ll probably develop an affinity for a few of them. That’s because I did really like a few, but in an overall picture they were kind of forgettable. At times they seemed too hard rock — which is a turn off for me.

Part III: Arctic Monkeys!
Chris: Ok, so if you’ve been to the House of Blues, at least in my experience, then you have withstood the shoving back and forth deal, resulting in enormous perspiration and lack of air to the point of leaving some attendees unconscious, and at points loss of the ability to see the show itself, at least for us 5’3 and below. Ok, well it got in the way of the music at times, but I just want to throw this out now, so I can properly critique the performance for the remainder of the review. So, in terms of music, the band was excellent. Unfortunately, they did no play that much from their debut as I hoped, but that was to be expected. They opened with a chill and mellow song, I believe it was “The Jewller’s Hands,” from their latest release, please correct me, if I am wrong. Then they exploded into “Brianstorm,” and like thunder as the song proclaims, the audience roared and entered a frenetic state of sorts for quite some time. The group went on to unleash such old and new classics as “Still Take You Home,” “My Propeller,” “Crying Lightning,” “Pretty Visiters,” “The View From the Afternoon,” and “I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor,” which rightfully garnered fantastic crowd response; I was pogoing my ass off! It was one of the best sing alongs that night. They slowed down for a “gentle” song in the form of “Cornerstone,” one of my new favorite monkeys’ offerings. It gave most of us a chance to breathe, relax and hear a slow, little, love song, whilst boyfriends held girlfriends and the rest of us envied them and held on to the dude beside them… kidding. The evening would end on a happy note with the beloved, fan favorite, “Fluorescent Adolescent,” this received a similar response as ‘dancefloor,’ but not as much excitement/dancing, because the song itself was slower and softer than I expected, but almost everybody in the house knew the words. Fans were greeted with a neat treat when the song suddenly transitioned into “Last Christmas,” as drummer Matt Helders took over vocal duties with black shades over his eyes, a glass of wine in his hand, he belt out the sappy lyrics to that sappy song. This digression left as quickly as it came; Helders returned to his drum set and the band smoothly transitioned back into ‘Fluorescent.’ They said goodnight and left the stage. Of course, we shouted, “Monkeys! Monkeys! Monkeys!” and naturally they returned for an encore. They started with “Secret Door,” a new favorite of mine and one of the best tracks of ’09 and finished with “505.”

Glen: I had a smashing time. Yes, at some points I couldn’t  really concentrate on the music. And that’s annoying. But for the greater part of the show, I could see the band and didn’t have to worry  about certain externalities (girl yelling that they she couldn’t breathe, another girl yelling because she lost her cell phone, etc). A big big fan of Humbug, I was quite pleased that they played quite a bit from that LP. Obviously, “Fluorescent” and “I Bet” got everyone going like Chris said. The slower jams were pretty awesome in their own right. So yeah, great shit. This was a great show, but there were some things that prevented it from being among the best. Also, fuck the Boston Herald. They called the Arctics performance “lukewarm.” Huh?

Set-List

    1. Dance Little Liar
    2. Brianstorm
    3. This House Is A Circus
    4. Still Take You Home
    5. Potion Approaching
    6. Red Right Hand [Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Cover]
    7. My Propeller
    8. Crying Lightning
    9. Catapult
    10. The View From The Afternoon
    11. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
    12. Cornerstone
    13. If You Were There, Beware
    14. Pretty Visitors 
    15. Do Me A Favour
    16. Fluorescent Adolescent / Last Christmas
      Encore:
    17. Secret Door
    18. 505

Glen’s comments, which should be highly valued, will be arriving shortly…

Chris