Band: Daniel Johnston Label: Eternal Yip Eye Release: October 2009
1. “Mind Movies” – 9.4 2. “Fake Records of Rock and Roll” – 8.2 3. “Queenie The Doggie” – 9.3 4. “High Horse” – 9.4
5. “Without You” – 8.9 6. “I Had Lost My Mind” – 9.2 7. “Freedom” – 8.9 8. “Tears” – 9.3 9. “Is And Always Was” – 9.4 10. “Lost In My Infinite Memory” – 8.9 11. “Light of Day” – 8.9
Comments: Daniel Johnston’s “outsider” shtick ended sometime ago, but his awkwardness in music still lives on. He’s just a funny guy at the heart of it all. Very simplistic and catchy tunes show a happy Daniel…a “Love Wheel” Daniel, but not as obnoxious. No more “True Love Will Find You In The End” or “Devil Town” downers. He even tries out a Dinosaur Jr./Built to Spill kind of thing with “I Had Lost My Mind.” I’m not falling over because of this album, but I’m glad to see Danny still kicking it around at the age of 48.
Band: Times New Viking Release: September 22, 2009 Label: Matador
1. “Martin Luther King Day” – 9.0
2. “I Smell Bubblegum” – 8.7
3. “City On Drugs” – 9.2
4. “Born Again Revisited” – 8.5
5. “Little World” – 8.8
6. “No Time No Hope” – 9.4
7. “Half Day In Hell” – 9.1
8. “Something Moore” – 9.3
9. “2/11 Don’t Forget” – 9.3
10. “These Days” – 9.2
11. “(No) Sympathy” – 8.9
12. “High Holidays” – 8.4
13. “Hustlers, Psycho, Son” – 8.7
14. “Move To California” – 9.2
15. “Take The Piss” – 8.3
Comments: Beneath the static there is some level of goodness on here. Unfortunately, the better part of this album suffers from “not as good as Wavves” syndrome. The better tracks are the cleaner tracks…you know, the ones that aren’t layered in fuzz up to the neck. A good balance of 40% lo-fi noise and 60% breathable pop (like No Age) would be nice rather than the 75%-25% madness going on here.
I’m a fan of both songs and both bands, but I’m a wayyy bigger fan of Big Black and their cover; it’s one of my personal favorites! Which version do you prefer?
Comments: With the Vivian Girls and Mika Miko, I felt a certain kind of like punk grrl vibe, but Jemina sounds like a girly girl just happening to sing punk. She’s really good at sounding clear, making me hesitant to call this natural garagey punk, which tends to be “dirty.” Overall, this sounds like cleaner garage a la Hunx, except with a pure female voice. It’s catchy, but I wouldn’t listen to it on a regular basis, other than maybe one or two songs.
Random title indeed. This is an extremely brief commentary or rant if you will on something that occurs quite often when I am discussing music with other music devotees. Here’s the setup:
Someone asks me if I like some Progressive Rock band like Dream Theater or King Krimson and then I respond that I’m not really into Prog Rock, yet every time this incident happens I am sporting a shirt with one of the few prog bands I listen to (i.e. Tool, Pink Floyd). Most of the music related shirts I wear would be appropos, like the Ramones or the Black Lips, but for some strange reason, I am never seen wearing such shirts when this question arises. I don’t know, I think it’s slightly amusing enough to make a post out of the situation…. and I’m also procrastinating my french homework.
They still are on the road like 98% of the time, don’t get me wrong, but they were here in July ’08 then November ’08 and then April ’09 (on a special occasion). My luck they’ll schedule a date here the same night as the Pixies or Sonic Youth show.
I dig if tickets aren’t sold out. The date is December 13 and that’s a Sunday night. If I do manage to get a ticket, I know that I’ll do all that I can do to get there earlier than last time when I saw Animal Collective from the way back, but by the grace of God (and a few pushy-shove people) I managed to get really close to the front. I don’t think that will happen at an Arctic Monkeys show.
Haven’t gotten all crazy over them, though I do recognize they have put out some great tracks over the years. That said…seminal indie powerhouses? Been signed to Epic since 2000 thus I thinks not.
Band: Daniel Johnston
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 