Limit One Song Per Band
– “Brian Eno” by MGMT
– “Walk in the Park” by Beach House
– “Tiny Sioux” by Box Elders
– “Fresh” by Devo
– “Jail La La” by Dum Dum Girls
– “Gay Human Bones” by Harlem
– “Go Berserk” by Mark Sultan
– “1000 Years” by Portugal. The Man
– “Be Brave” by The Strange Boys
– “Take On the World” by Wavves
– “Cloud Shadow on the Mountain” by Wolf Parade
I’m leaving out a lot; these are just ones that I found on a quick run through of my media player.
“GO SEE FUCKING MADONNA YOU FUCKING IDIOT PIECE OF SHIT!!!”
Yeah, it’s SATURDAY NIGHT what do you think I’ve been doing? Twiddling my thumbs and reading twitters? NO, far from it. I’ve been ranting. I’ve been in the mood. I should probably stay away from message boards because I’m going to make some posts that are going to make people wonder if I am truly a reatard. And yes, matter of fact, they would be right, but you know, matter of fact, I don’t care. I love when my fingers type without any regard to what I am actually thinking. IN FACT, I am thinking this. Screw those posers who say they lose control. THAT doesn’t happen! You have to be simply dumb. DUMB.
All these songs about needing people while drunk is just dumb as fuck. You don’t need anyone when you are fucked up, you little puss. Oh yeah you need the guy of your fucking dreams. Chances are the fuck just wants to fuck and you’ve gotten past the point where you actually give a shit. You give and shit happens. You regret the next day. The fuck absolutely doesn’t and tells all his friends.
It’s just as bad as capitalism. The isms tend to suck. Capitalism sucks for the people who don’t have a great opportunity or don’t want to further advance themselves into the “owning class.” Yeah, that’s not an easy feat, but some people are content at doing the bare minimum to make things work. Socialism sucks for people who actually want to be able to do whatever they want. Should everyone be equal? Probably not. There has to be some level of commitment in people to do something. Setting people equal is just a form of manipulation, especially since I imagine not a lot of people want that. I know inequalities create conflict, but what can you do? The whole worker management system is a generally good idea, but wouldn’t work in every scenario. In some industries there has to be some level of hierarchy — provided that this hierarchy is agreed upon by basically every stakeholder. And finally, I have understood socialism and communism! Yes, I have! Well kind of. A whole lot of socialists and communists are atheists so they are like yo, yo, I want THIS life to be awesome because we are just going to rot afterward. The capitalists are like yo, yo, suffer and believe and you shall be granted a great afterlife. Both are pretty crooked outlooks, in my opinion. I’m a pretty religious guy, but I want the poor and the near-poor to get their share. They can just lounge around. I’m not making excuses in support of the owning class, but let’s get real here. If you come from no money, it’s going to suck, but at least make some kind of attempt to rebel or just work your ass off. K bye.
Full Title: Stop Making Sense
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Talking Heads and various special guests
Year: 1984
Set List:
1) Psycho Killer
2) Heaven
3) Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
4) Found a Job
5) Slippery People
6) Burning Down the House
7) Life During Wartime
8) Making Flippy Floppy
9) Swamp
10) What a Day That Was
11) This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
12) Once in a Lifetime
13) Genius of Love
14) Girlfriend is Better
15) Take Me to the River
Encore:
16) Crosseyed and Painless
Comments:
Stop Making Sense? When did the Talking Heads ever make sense?! Haha, of course their brand of weirdness, a “good” weirdness is exactly what made the Talking Heads, the Talking Heads. The other night I had the pleasure of revisiting this 1984 classic via a screening at the Sommerville Theater. I had been a fan of the live CD Stop Making Sense for years, but never got around to seeing it’s cinematic coutnerpart. Well, what better a venue than the Sommerville Theater?! And it was. The sound was a tad lower than desired, but besides that it fit really well for this presentation. Now to the film itself. David Byrne kicks things off with the TH classic, “Psycho Killer,” just Byrne himself gently rocking out on acoustic guitar with a tape player. As the song reaches its final moments, Byrne stumbles to the beat. He fake trips then catches himself, then again and again; fitting perfectly with the music. Next, the nerdy, neurotic singer is accompanied by his bandmate, Tina Weymouth (who is looking rather attractive here) on bass. The two launch into an impassioned, acoustic version of “Heaven.” And with each song another member hits the stage to join the circus. It should be noted that the Talking Heads put on an extremely entertaining show with incredible energy, charisma, and showmanship, without any of the big theatrics, i.e. light shows, back drop videos, etc. (at least in the first half of the film), oft-seen in such concert films. This speaks volumes for how well they can captivate an audience with just themselves as the visual stimulants; essentially less is more. They use a lot of light humor in their approach, such antics as the “Running Man” dance; at one point Byrne acutally runs around the whole stage at full speed! We also see him playfully push a lampshade back and forth, each time catching it at the last second just as it is about to hit the floor, amongst other weird, but amusing stunts. Byrne and crew seriously dance their asses off as the tunes become heavier and funkier. Songs that stood out in particular included “Burning Down the House,” “Life During Wartime,” and “Once In a Lifetime.” Perhaps they stood out to me because they are some of the bigger songs and/or some of my favorite TH numbers, but either way the performances were near perfect. Without a doubt, the most iconic moment in the picture is when we see the fabulous frontman in his lovely “Big Suit,” once again a bizarre, humorous, and ultimately memorable element of the Talking Heads’ craft. All in all, there is very little to nothing I can say bad about this movie. My one complaint, (a very small one) is that at some points it drags a bit on some of the tracks I am less enthusiastic about, such as “What a Day That Was” and “Girlfriend Is Better.” I feel like it wouldn’t have hurt to do some time truncating in these areas. Probably just me, but in the long run, this didn’t really harm my opinion of the performance. In short, for concert films this is top notch and certainly sets the bar for competition.
Grade: A/A-
Haha, I wonder what Albini would have turned into if he heard the Partridge Family; an ardent pundit on mainstream teeny bopper music!
If you REALLY WANTED TO you could become a NOBUNNY junkee easily. The dude’s fucking asking for it. In fact, I allege that I AM NOBUNNY HIMSELF on a few of my recent YouTube videos. SO WATCH THOSE! Wee-Woohhhhhhhhhhhh! GRIP YOU BY YOUR FUCKING HIPS!
EDIT HERE YA GO:
I just heard this song on National Public Radio. It’s incredible. Not just like oh yeah, this is pretty great. I might listen to it again sometime soon. No, no. This is high quality tune-age.
Band: The Walkmen
Album: Lisbon
Release: Fat Possum [9/2010]
1. “Juveniles” – Known in some circles as “Tragedy,” I’m just amazed by Hamilton’s delivery on the choruses. I, too, love the laid back, Caribbean-esque feel. What a great album opener! Grade: A+
2. “Angela Surf City” – This one is marked by Matt Barrick’s drumming. At least that’s what stands out to me. I do like this song — Hamilton is as passionate as ever — and how it, like “Blue” that follows soon, has an enormous explosion of instrumentation. Grade: A-
4. “Blue As Your Blood” – Known in some circles as “The Sky Above,” this builds up pretty good. The initial guitar plucks and percussion stay constant — as a good rhythm section usually does — throughout the duration of this tune. I got a feeling pretty early on that this thing was going to explode. Indeed, it does. There are some really nice intricacies toward the end of the song — like a subtle keyboard push and twangy guitar parts. Grade: A
8. “Woe Is You” – This one is comparable to “Tragedy” in how it sounds Caribbean. I really enjoy how it flows. The left panned keyboard sequence is cool at the end. Sorry, I can’t think of anything else to say! Grade: A
10. “While I Shovel the Snow” – A tad tad slow for my liking, but I’ve got to give praise to the lyrics. This one feels old — you know like Sun Records old. Leonard Cohen inspired as well. Tentatitvely I won’t give it the benefit of the doubt, but we’ll see by the time the entire record comes out. Grade: B+
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 