First playing “Every Artist Needs A Tragedy” then “Here Should Be My Home”…good stuff!
Category Archives: Uncategorized
CD Review: Here We Go Magic
Band: Here We Go Magic
Release: 2009
1. “Only Pieces” – 8.2
2. “Fangela” – 8.7
3. “Ahab” –8.3
4. “Tunnelvision” – 9.2
5. “Ghost List” – 8.3
6. “I Just Want To See You Underwater” – 8.4
7. “Babyohbabyijustcantstanditanymore” – 6.4
8. “Nat’s Alien” – 7.2
9. “Everything’s Big” – 8.9
Comments: Freak folk can, on any given day, be a genre of its own. Here We Go Magic escape what is traditional folk and produce songs that embody major elements of modern epoch psych-folk (slightly think Grizzly Bear) YET still maintain a strangely post-punk sound (in some areas), which is similar to the Walkmen, if only the Walkmen took acid. The sort of problem, if you want to call it that, is that if Animal Collective made these songs they’d be better. Music snobbery right there. Anyway, songs that are completely instrumentals of thunder and ocean waves can, in fact, be decent. And then there are songs that are completely instrumentals of alien noises that can, in fact, be awfully obnoxious. Could I stand watching this band two nights in a row for thirty minutes or more? Yes. Maybe I will grow more of an appreciation of them. Maybe I won’t and I’ll just make it through because I know that one of my favorite bands of all time will follow.
Final Grade: 8.2
Here We Go Magic open along with the Dig for the Walkmen on September 18 and 19 at the Middle East Downstairs.
Book Club Review: Catcher
Title: The Catcher in the Rye
Author: J.D. Salinger
Year: 1951
Pages: 214
Review:”If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” Arguably the greatest opening line to any novel. Well, Holden, if you do want to know the truth, we DO want to hear about it! In fact, for nearly 60 years our grandparents, parents, older siblings, and us have adored it. Why? What makes this novel so special? Well, Salinger masterfully captures an adolescent’s concern, fears, desires and instead of coming off as an adult attempting to represent this mentality of a teenager, he literally writes in the damn lingo of a buzzcock. Goddamit! As far as I’m concerned Salinger ain’t telling the story, it’s Holden who’s’ running the show. It’s his book entirely. Holden has become the Pied Piper for a whole slew of lonesome cowboys: Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle, The Perks of Being a Wallflower’s Charlie, and that cute radical nerd fellow from Kids Like You & Me. In short, he’s a middle finger to the establishment or a haphazard, misanthropic messiah, trying to save everyone only if he can save himself… and all.
Why Subversive?: Catcher has the unfortunate privilege (how’s that for an oxymoron?!) of already being subversive before you even read one word. It’s subversive simply for it’s reputation of consistently being a victim of Banned Books Lists and Censorship Nazis. Apparently heavy drinking and cussing some naughty words is worse than trying to commit suicide, murder your father, and fuck your mother as we witness with Shakespeare. Also, since some weirdos decide to assassinate (or attempt) public figures (John Lennon and Ronald Reagan) after or while reading the book, doesn’t mean shit! Look at the millions that didn’t grab their guns! Why focus on the select few? Not that Reagan would have been a great loss, but Hinckley’s motives were hardly in the vein of Leon Czolgosz: impressing Jodie Foster. Really?! haha. And you can calm down I’m not advocating political assassination, I just think Leon had much better, humane reasons. Anyway, I’ve digressed into this tornado of off topic subjects. Simply, Catcher challenges the reader to question authority and reject social norms.
Questions to Ponder (or leave a comment to!): What will become of Holden Caulfield? or What became of him?
What ever happened to Jane Gallagher? Is she in any way related to the awful comedian of the same name?
Why was Holden placed in a mental institution? How did this ALL transpire?
Any others?
Grade: A+ My all time favorite!
Chris
CD Review: Watch Me Fall
Band: Jay Reatard
Label: Matador
Release: 2009
1. “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” – 10.0 –
2. “Before I Was Caught” – 9.1
3. “Man of Steel” – 9.0
4. “Can’t Do It Anymore” – 8.7
5. “Faking It” – 8.9
6. “I’m Watching You” – 8.6
7. “Wounded” – 9.3
8. “Rotten Mind” – 8.7
9. “Nothing Now” – 8.4
10. “My Reality” – 9.2
11. “Hang Them All” – 8.9
12. “There Is No Sun” – 9.5
Comment: This album is quite like a lot of what Reatard has done in the past: fast paced, catchy garage punk, yet this time around it’s more accessible (though at some times a smidge more boring). “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” is in the mix for best song of 2009, while “There Is No Sun” is an extraordinary closer.
Grade: 9.1
Last Post For a Week!
I’ll be away at Lake Winnipesaukee for the week, so no posts from me between now and then. Can’t wait to read new posts when I return. Peace KLYAM!
Chris
Black Lips Causin’ Shit In Brooklyn
Spinner.com
The Black Lips delivered a raucous performance Sunday at New York’s Williamsburg Waterfront that was greeted by an equally disorderly audience. During the outdoor showcase, Brooklyn concertgoers charged the stage, crashing through the venue’s photo pit barricade. At one point, a member from the audience tossed a ukulele to bassist Jared Swilley, who proceeded to smash the instrument onstage and throw the remains back into the throng…The four-piece has been on a grueling tour schedule this year, which included getting kicked out of India, yet the summer heat and months on the road in support of their 2009 release ‘200 Million Thousand’ did not diminish the Lips’ spirit. Security officers at the state park picked off stage-crashers one by one as they leapt between Swilley, singer Cole Alexander, guitarist Ian Saint Pé and drummer Joe Bradley. Swilley returned the favor by stepping into the mob of fans and was supported by a mass of tattooed arms as he strummed along to such hits as ‘Bad Kids,’ ‘Sea of Blasphemy’ and ‘Drugs.’As audience members continued to jump onstage and flail violently, concert organizers threatened to pull the plug on the impromptu dance party. However, the group demanded that they be allowed to play one more song, hinting they wouldn’t be able to contain the crowd if their request was denied. The chaotic set proved to be the relative calm before the storm. After they packed up, a massive thunderstorm erupted, forcing headlining act …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead to cancel their performance.
Shit!
KLYAM.COM New Domain
To make people’s lives easier and because I had twenty dollars to kick around, I bought klyam.com. This won’t make too much of a difference for readers who don’t clear their history/save URLs to favorites, but whatever!
Hello World
Hello world! I would like to introduce myself. My name is Matthew Ramsden and thanks to the generosity of the founders of this blog, I have been appointed as a new writer and contributor to Kids Like You And Me. Well, my posts will pretty much be the same as what the other writers post; CD and movie reviews, political opinions, anecdotes about my life etc. However, I will also add whatever I know about live theatre if any drama kids read this (REPRESENT!!!) So that’s about it. I want to thank the founders of Kids Like You And Me again for adding me. I’m sure this will be an interesting experience. In the words of the great journalist Edward R. Murrow, “Good night and good luck.”
EP Review: Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Band: Deerhunter
Album: Rainwater Cassette Exchange
1. “Rainwater Cassette Exchange” – 
[9.8]
2. “Disappearing Ink” – [9.8]
3. “Famous Last Words” – [9.7]
4. “Game of Diamonds” – [9.9]
5. “Circulation” – [10.0]
Final Grade: 9.9 – This short five tracker is the Nouns of 2009! 
Saint Swithun’s Day
Saint Swithun was from Winchester, England and is widely remembered because on St. Switun’s Day, July 15 (my birthday), if it rains, it will rain for forty days and forty nights! This from the British weather love proverb:
- St Swithun’s day if thou dost rain
- For forty days it will remain
- St Swithun’s day if thou be fair
- For forty days ’twill rain na mair
Thus far, as I recall, it has yet to rain on my date of birth. Hopefully, this year will be the same!
Chris DeCarlo
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 