I dig! I gotta find a way to get their new album.
Category Archives: Music
Crazy Germans Invade Stage
…during “Bad Kids”:
Pitchfork = Dumb
P2K: The Decade In Music…Seriously? They are already naming their top 500 songs of the 2000s, but wait…it’s only August! There’s still months left of awesome music. They say that in early 2010 they will make additions, but can’t they just wait? And the randomness of songs 500-201 tell me this list is going to be disgusting.
Song of the Day!
Enjoy!
Chris
No Radiohead EP…Just “These Are…”
No four track EP. But the leak that was “These Are My Twisted Words” is available from Radiohead’s w.a.s.t.e merchandise shop as a free download.
Click here to download: http://www.waste.uk.com/Store/waste-radiohead-twisted+words.html
Included in the download is the song, artwork, a .pdf about the artwork, and a little document about the song.
A Brief History of My Musical Tastes
The Pop Era
1997: “I’ll Be Missing You,” and “Barbie Girl.”
1998: “Ghetto Supastar” and “Miss America.”
1999: “Mambo No 5” and “Blue”
2000: “The Real Slim Shady” and “Can I Get A”
2001: “In the End” and “Whenever Wherever”
2002: “Lose Yourself” and “Hey Baby”
The Hip-Hop Era/Videogame Era
2003-2006: In sixth grade I started to become pretty obsessed with hip-hop music and culture…but not overly obsessed. I wasn’t listening to anything too far from the mainstream. I sort of took a break from hip hop in late seventh grade and all of eighth grade. I returned to hip hop (more obscure shit this time) in summer and fall 2005 only to lose interest in it a few months later. During this time I became more and more engaged in “alternative” rock and underground/electro-rap thanks to soundtracks on MVP Baseball, Madden NFL, and NBA 2K.
The Modern Age
2006-Now: A lot of credit should be given to Chris as he showed me/got me into a lot of music that I was pretty unfamiliar with. 2007 is when I started to research bands online and explore the unexplored. It’s pretty incredible to think that my top two favorite bands of today (the Black Lips and No Age) were completely unknown to me before 2008. This is true for so so many of my other favorites. My rock tastes haven’t changed that much in as though I still don’t like a lot of the screamo and hardcore punk that I didn’t like before. I remember initially saying something like the Black Lips are something country truck drivers listen to. Obviously I don’t believe that anymore!
Glen
CD Review: Matador Singles ’08
Artist: Jay Reatard
Title: Matador Singles ’08
Year: 2008
1) See/Saw– 10- My personal favorite from Jay Reatard. It’s heavy, catchy, funny, surely one to get stuck in your head! To me, it exemplifies everything great about Jay’s music. He creeps me out, but he creeps me in again.
2) Screaming Hand– 9.8- A nice tale about the young Reatard singer and how he was different from everyone else and started his band. I love the “You are my hero” and “oh No No No.” Extremely catchy. I find that SH goes well following See/Saw.
3) Painted Shut– 9.5- Simply Classic Reatard
4) An Ugly Death– 10- I try to avoid giving out more than one 10 on any album, but this definitely deserves it! I think this was the first Jay song I came across and it is very powerful to say the least. I love the epic guitar opener; it just makes my ears anticipate what will happen next. Even after listening to the tune a ludicrous amount of times, I still can’t get over those powerful, yet simple chords. When I’m shuffling songs and AUD pops up on my ipod, I can never muster the will to turn it down. My actual favorite part of the song is the “for you, for me, for all to see” the vocals and guitar are just perfect. I also dig the ominous lyrics meshed with the upbeat music.
5) Always Wanting More– 8.8- One of my least favorites on this compilation, but nonetheless a hooky and genuinely decent tune.
6) You Mean Nothing to Me– 9.0- Typical Reatard. It gets stuck in my dome from time to time. In terms of lyrics, People being meaningless to Jay seems to be a recurring theme.
7) Fluorescent Grey– 9.2- This is a Deerhunter cover. Having never heard the original, I don’t know how it holds up, but I enjoy it very much. Giving the nature of Deerhunter’s music, this one is a bit softer and more experimental than previous Reatard singles/songs, lacking the familiar chainsaw guitars and pop hooks. It works though and foreshadows future Reatard talents.
8) Trapped Here– 9.6- Haha, I always find myself laughing at Jay’s disturbing, malicious lyrics! Violence, particularly one villain torturing his victim and remind them that they can’t escape and that they will soon parish is a frequent theme in the long haired punk’s lyrics. Memorable lyrics include “Relax, Relax, Relax, my little victim” and “You have nowhere to hide and you have everywhere to die.” Haha, the music itself, menacing, perfectly compliments the creepy lyrics.
9) Hiding Hole– 9.4- Another signature Reatard tune. Extremely, catchy, loud, fast guitars, fast, shouted vocals.
10) DOA– 9.8- One of the more popular singles and it’s certainly easy to see why. One of the heavier and yet absolutely endearing songs from this album. It includes perhaps the best example of the classic Reatard technique of slowing down the guitars and drums and simply shouting one line over and over again till its burned into your brain. In this case “It’s No Fun! It’s No Fun! It’s No Fun!” for whoever is dying on arrival haha.
11) No Time– 10- Once again, a rare 10! I love this song so much! Completely Unreatard. One (you’ll see) of the softest Jay songs I have ever heard. When I first heard this I was confused, I thought I may have put on a different artist. In this number, we see a gentle Jay (it sounds so strange) expressing his deepest emotions. “It seems I never have the time to make my mind feel fine,” Jay’s best lyrics and one of the best lines I ever heard period!
12) You Were Sleeping– 9.8- It gets even stranger! I can picture this and the former pissing some Reatard fans off. Especially some serious Blood Visions motherfuckers. Most of the previous statements I made about “No Time” apply here. It’s a sensitive song, I couldn’t even imagine Jay playing live when I saw him.
13) I’m Watching You– 9.7- A fabulous closer to a fabulous record! Softer than most Reatard songs, but heavier than the previous two. Unlike the other two though, it’s an upbeat single, but it’s similar to them in the sense that they all violate the typical Reatard format. I always smirk whenever I hear the line “You see, to me, you always were a cunt.” Haha. This is much better than the Watch Me Fall version in my opinion.
Grade: A:One of the best albums (though it’s technically just a compilation of singles) I’ve ever heard and certainly of the past few years. Probably the best from 2008. Jay and the gang bring their roaring flying Vs with them from Blood Visions and Singles ’06- ’07 and mash them up with more pop and delve into previously unknown or unforeseen territories! Foreshadowing their next effort, Watch Me Fall. There’s a notable progression that is perfectly displayed here.
Chris
CD Review: Blood Visions
Artist: Jay Reatard
Title: Blood Visions
Year: 2006
1) Blood Visions– 9.5- Perfect opener: loud, fast, simple catchy, a great foreshadow to everything else Jay would later do on this album and beyond.
2) Greed, Money, Useless Children– 9.2- Quick, little catchy number. Employs the classic Reatard pop technique of slowing down the guitars and drums and simply shouting one line repeatedly, in this case- “Greed, Money, Useless Children.” It is clearly effective and we see this over and over again.
3) It’s So Easy– 9.7- Lyrically this is classic Reatard. Apathetic… to the point of not caring when your friends die haha.
4) My Shadow– 10! Arguably the band’s greatest offering (actually “See/Saw” is my favorite!) or at least a major fan favorite. And it’s not hard to see why. The song begins with simple and slow, but menacing guitars then erupts into a heavy motherfucker with Reatard hollering MY SHADOW at the top of his lungs! The best track on this album by far.
5) My Family– 9.2- Funky guitars, spooky/disturbing lyrics, it works for me! Displays Jay’s bizarre interaction with the other humans or “assholes” haha in his life. This theme continues on this album and throughout his current discography.
6) Death Is Forming– 9.0- The classic Reatard technique is exemplified on this track. See #2 I dig how he evolves “Death is Forming” into “Forming Death” haha.
7) Oh It’s Such A Shame– 8.5- Decent, nothing wrong with it, but for some reason, just doesn’t stand out.
8) Not A Substitute– 8.8- Another typical Reatard track…. actually a bit shorter, but it works here.
9) Nightmares– 9.5- Excellent Pop song, sounds more like a track off Matador Singles ’08 or Watch Me Fall. Fabulous love/hate song. The lover Jay speaks of causes him to have horrible nightmares, yet he keeps “Searching” for her. Good Stuff
10) I See You Standing There– 9.0- Jay Stalker haha. Just listen to the lyrics to understand what I’m saying. Musically, very catchy and endearing. I especially love the final line, which is shouted extremely fast: “DON’T MOVE!” ahaha.
11) We Who Wait– 9.0- Great sing along. You could march this one haha. Once again we see lyrics containing themes of isolation and generally misanthropic thoughts.
12) Fading All Away– 9.9- Amazing! Hilariously savage. Lyrically this is a extremely malevolent tune about an apparently psychopathic/sociopathic/schizophrenic miscreant who will go to no end to kill his victim because of “the voices in my head.”
13) Turning Blue– 8.2- Eh, it’s a decent track, but comparatively it’s just ok. For some reason it doesn’t do all that much for me.
14) Puppet Man– 9.2- Cool, catchy, funny, somewhat short.
15) Waiting For Something– 9.9- Sums up Jay’s outlook on the people around him and his situation at the time. Waiting for something bigger to happen and get away from all the "creeps" surrounding him. Perfect title for the brief documentary on him, which I advise all fans to check out!
Grade: A: A fantastic example of modern punk music with undeniable pop hooks and elements of noise rock. One can hear glimpses of the incredible (noisy) pop Jay and his crew unleash in their future material.
Chris
Video Concert Review: Warlocks
Bands: Vandelles, Morning After Girls, Warlocks
Venue: Great Scott
Date: August 12, 2009
Radiohead’s EP Wall of Ice
From NME:
Radiohead are strongly rumoured to be releasing a new EP next week.The move comes after a new song ‘These Are My Twisted Words leaked’ earlier this week and fansite At Ease reported that source files of the track revealed that the title ‘Wall Of Ice’ was found twice with a release date set for August 17, 2009.
The site now claims that there could be up to four tracks on the EP and that a weblink has surfaced which leads directly to Radiohead’s online merchandise store, a similar tactic the band used to release their last album ‘In Rainbows’.
Apparently it’s going to be called Wall of Ice and apparently it’s going to be released in two days. That’s just the buzz on a bunch of music sites.
And apparently this is the cover art:
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 