via//chicago

np: "rich" - yeah yeah yeahs

it's snowing outside again today. winter in chicago has finally decided to kick into full gear over the past week or so, going from extreme cold to a solid day of snowing yesterday. thing is, we maybe got two inches during all that, but it was still enough to turn my 35 minute drive home into an epic three hour plus journey. christ. and now tonight i'm supposed to be heading into the city to a party, but i don't know if i'm even going to be able to park by my friend's house or not. which would mean a 20 minute drive, followed by a 45 minute El ride, topped off with a 20 walk to the apartment. the things we do in the quest for socialization and alcohol. but it's friends i haven't seen in ages, so i'm looking forward to going.

so i've decided 2004 is going to be the year that i try and get into some bands that i've always meant to, but never gotten around to checking out. and the first name on my list was The Fall. i've been a Pavement fan since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain came out, so i've heard and read plenty of references to Mark E. Smith's band. the question was, just where in the fuck to start? Tower only had about 15 different albums from all phases of thier career. great. then i stumbled across Totally Wired: The Rough Trade Anthology in the import section. $20 for a two-disc overview of supposedly the band's most fertile period, according to AMG. i figured it was a decent starting point. so far i've only listened to disc one, and i'm somewhat impressed. being a fan of bands like Sonic Youth, Pavement, and other slightly off-kilter bands has somewhat jaded me i suppose, as i'm not totally blown away by it. it's not exactly something that hasn't been tried before. but as is often the case in music, historical context has to be taken into account. when i stop to think that this anthology covers the very early 1980's, it puts a whole new spin on what i'm hearing. must have been pretty impressive to folks on the Fall tip back in the day. Smith's cynical delivery takes some getting used to, but it works when put up against the constantly shifting music behind him. i don't know if this is going to turn me into a rabid Fall fan or not, but i'm certainly not regretting the Monopoly colored Jackson i shelled out for it.

the new turntable is definately having an effect on my music buying habits, as could be seen by my recent trip to Record Breakers. seeing as they were both cheaper and cooler to look at, i picked up Do Make Say Think's Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn and Explosions in the Sky's Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die Those Who Tell the Trust Shall Live Forever. for some reason that epic post-rock stuff sounds much better on vinyl that compact disc, or maybe that's just me wanting it to sound better. regardless, much props go out to the folks at Constellation Records for all the hard work they put in to make beautiful packaging for their releases. i'll definately be ordering more from them in the future. while i was at the Breakers, i also picked up Ride the Skies and Wonderful Rainbow by Lightning Bolt, great shit right there.