via//chicago

np: "The Pull" - The Microphones
ahh... Phil Elvrum. amazing stuff. i first got introduced to the Microphones by taking a blind risk based on Pitchfork's ranking of "The Glow, Pt. 2" as the best album of 2001. it was the first time since i started reading the site that i hadn't even heard their number one pick. so a few weeks later i picked it up at Record Breakers. it took me awhile to get into it, i really didn't understand what all the hype was about. then one night i played it while i was working late - it was quiet and no one else was around. something clicked. i can't exactly place my finger on what did it for me, but i was intrigued by this simple, yet complex, sounding music that was unlike anything i'd ever heard. Phil didn't have the greatest voice, but the sheer simplicity of the melodies mixing with the intricate tape tricks he came up with made for a listening experience that i can only compare to the first time i heard "Kid A". i sat at work totally engrossed until the album was over. later that night, i laid in bed and listened to it again with headphones on and that was all it took. i didn't get another Microphones release until "Mt. Eerie", but that finally provoked me to go back and take a look at the back catalog. "The Glow, Pt. 2" is still my favorite album as a whole, but "It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water" has some excellent individual tracks. I wonder what's next for Elvrum now that he's dropped the Microphones moniker, taking up Mt. Eerie instead. i'll be looking forward to whatever he does...

good news for the day: June release date for the new Radiohead. summer is going to be awesome.

bad news for the day: the 'check engine' light is on in my car, i'm taking it in on Thursday to get looked at. of course this happens 300 miles after my warranty is up. fuck. an expensive repair is the last thing i can afford right now.