Honorary Klaymers
1) Black Lips
2) Jay Reatard
3) King Khan
4) Mark Sultan
5) No Age
6) Box Elders
7) Hunx and His Punx
8) Walkmen (for Glen)
9) Animal Collective
10) Bradford Cox
11) Harlem
12) Nobunny
13) Girls
14) Pains of Being Pure At Heart
15) Almigthy Defenders
16) Wavves
We feature many artists here, some far more than others, but these very few guys hold the highly prestigious title of “honorary klaymers,” even if they don’t know it.
Chris
Take Care
I’m taking a vacation as recommended by The Young Veins. They ordered me to a nice get-a-way. Hopefully, everyone likes the new theme?
Thoughts on Hunter S. Thompson
I really dig Thompson’s no bullshit style of writing. He told exactly what he felt and wasn’t afraid to include detail and perspective down to minutiae. That said, he really tired this approach. Ho, ho. I will say some of his phrases are money. Getting to his books: Fear and Loathing was interesting as fuck to start, but had me losing interest toward the end of the tale. Better Than Sex was witty, but had a lot of fluff that maybe only political junkies appreciate? Hey Rube has a lot of interesting columns and some flat-out uninteresting ones. His rant on eliminating the pitcher position was gold whereas his schpeel on the XFL was merely average. He’s good in small doses. A nice read on occasion. I give him a B.
Subversive Book Club Review: Psych…
Author: Carl Jung (published as C.G. Young)
Full Title: Psychology and Religion
Year: 1938
Comments:
Well, here’s a rather unique addition for our little Subversive Book Joint. The broad topics of Psychology and Religion have barey (if at all) entered the sphere of Book Club reviews and what other better way to kick off this occasion than with Psych’s Spock, Carl Jung! Jung, unlike his mentor, Sigmund Freud, focused less on the role of sex in our psyche and more on shadows, archetypes, and all that jazz. As you can probably guess my knowledge of Psychology is very limited to a couple of general psych courses, so much of this work was a bit too “heady” for me, but I appreciated delving into deep thought with Jung’s musings. Specifically, I dig his theory that it is our thoughts that are actually the most dangerous elements in life and not things like torandos and nuclear bombs. Sit on that for a while…. Overall, I like the way Jung isn’t dogmatic with his approaches, like most others are.
I’m not going to grade this because I do not feel like I am in any position to judge it as a “good” or “bad” book, but I enjoyed doing a little exploring.
Chris
Dan Boeckner Interview
CD Review: Thank Me Later [2010]
Rapper: Drake
Release: 6/2010
Label: Young Money Entertainment [Universal Records]
1. “Fireworks” – B-
2. “Karaoke” – B-
3. “The Resistance” – B
4. “Over” – B
5. “Show Me a Good Time” – C
6. “Up All Night” – B
7. “Fancy” – C+
8. “Shut It Down” – B-
9. “Unforgettable” – C
10. “Light Up” – C
11. “Miss Me” – B
12. “Cece’s Interlude” – C-
13. “Find Your Love” – C+
14. “Thank Me Now” – C-
Comments: Aubrey Drake Graham was a nobody without Little Wayne. Little Wayne got a hold of a few of Aubrey’s raps and was like “yo, I want to make this guy big. I want to sign him to my label and a take cut of his income!” Aubrey was like “all right, Dwayne, that’s fine, but I’m not going to make this for commercial purposes.” At any rate, Aubrey was able to get in touch with a shit load of high profile hip-hop players like Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Timbaland, Jay-Z, and Young Jeezy. to appear, in some capacity, on the album. That’s all nice and all, but does Aubrey know how to tell a story? Yes. He does that at length. “Over” is incredibly Lil Wayne like. It’s more explosive than any of the previous tracks and, for that reason, has more appeal. The chorus is not traditionally annoying, but it’s not anything special. There’s really not much else to say about anything else. I don’t think Drake could have struck out much more on such an anticipated, ultra-hyped album. Most of the songs on here are just average rap songs, lacking solid beats or decent flow. Little Wayne Weezy single-handedly saves “Miss Me.” Drizzy is just weak, ‘yo. “That’s nasty. Yes, my name is Weezy, but I’m not asthmatic.” Damn, Weezy, keep doing your thing. You drop some great lines.
Grade: C+ (78)
No Age @ Primavera
Teen Creeps!!!
CD Review: Take A Vacation! [2010]
Band: The Young Veins
Release: 6/2010
Label: One Haven Music
1. “Cape Town” – A
2. “Change” – A-
3. “Dangerous Blues” – B+
4. “Defiance” – B+
5. “Everyone But You” – B
6. “Heart of Mine” – B+
7. “Lie to the Truth” – B
8. “Maybe I Will, Maybe I Won’t” – A-
9. “Take A Vacation!” – A
10. “The Other Girl” – A+
11. “Young Veins (Die Tonight)” – A
Comments: So you’d probably expect a spin-off full-length from former members of Panic! At The Disco to suck. Well, I personally can’t say that I know what Panic! sounds like, but I’m sure it’s something not too good. Probably something unlike this. Well, this group takes on a self-proclaimed ’60s sound — reminiscent of what was considered pop and “garage” back then. Fair enough. Sure, this album isn’t original at all. Sure, it gets progressively worse from tracks 1-5, but utterly amazing towards the end. Besides some of the negative points of discussion, though, this is really good. I’ve read people hating on this, but with what justification? If you are a lover of the kind of music that got this band inspired, why pass hatred to these innocent victims? Pretty much the entire album is catchy. Check out, though, if I request you must “Take A Vacation!” and “Cape Town.”
Grade: A- (90)
CD Review: Before Today [2010]
Band: Ariel Pink
Release: 6/2010
Label: 4AD
1. “Hot Body Rub” – C-
2. “Bright Blue Skies” – B
3. “L’Estat” – B-
4. “Fright Night (Never More)” – C+
5. “Round and Round” – B
6. “Beverly Kills” – C+
7. “Butt-House Blondies” – C+
8. “Little Wig” – B-
9. “Can’t Hear My Eyes” – C-
10. “Reminiscences” – C-
11. “Menopause Man” – C
12. “Revolution’s a Lie” – B
Comments: Lounge music meets oldies! How cool is that? Not really that cool, huh? I’d call Ariel a similar artist to the more high profile (and more polished) MGMT. The problem with Ariel’s Before Today is the same problem with MGMT’s Congraulations. There is hardly any fucking direction. There are speed ups and speed downs. Heaviness and laziness. Of course, all these elements are present all over the place. Consistency? Screw that! Psychedelic pop be damned! Pop?! “Round and Round,” my whole household mistook this for an ’80s pop tune. This record is so damn strange! Maybe it’s the lo-fi element that really makes this thing sound like a lost-and-now-found cassette. If Ariel wanted to create twelve novelty songs, he succeeded. He succeeded so much. I like to say this is one of those albums I didn’t want to hate at all, but after listening to it…shit it sucks. Sucks in a terribly average way.
Grade: C+ (77)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 