np: "kicking the heart out" - rogue wave

well i've finally reached the point in the year where i feel completely behind on new music for 2004. this happens every year at some point, i just realize that i'm not getting close to hearing everything that i would like to hear. but, hey, i do have a job and a life (somewhat), so it was bound to happen sooner or later. and since i'm not one of those lucky critics getting sent free shit all the time, i gotta settle for what i can realistically get my hands on. regardless, over the past week or so i've been completely overwhelmed with reviews, articles, and talks about all these cool records i've not heard yet. i'm sure even as far back as February i was only hearing about 1/50th of the music out there, but at least i felt like i was on top of everything i wanted to check out. so this Rogue Wave album is one of those ones that i felt i needed to check out. not too bad, but nothing is really jumping out at me on the first listen. nice enough for background listening i think. for now, though, i think i'll once again resign myself to the fact that i'm simply never going to hear all the music i want to hear... and that's ok. not like i don't have plenty to fall back on as it is.

np: "scream" - del cielo

show review: del cielo, crap engine, starlike collision @ big horse lounge, wicker park

sometimes you just dread going to watch a friend's band play. not that you don't want to see them, but knowing that you are going to have to sit through a couple other shitty local bands first. last night was one of those nights... i was tired, it was a tuesday night and i had to get up early for work the next morning. but out of dedication i journeyed down to the hipster haven of Wicker Park to watch them play. the Big Horse Lounge is a cool little bar, hidden behind a take-out Mexican place on Milwaukee Ave. definitely one of those places you have to be looking for in order to find. but hell, two dollar PBRs can make any bar just that much cooler, so i was satisfied. yeah, i suppose drinking PBR is a symptom of a hipster or something, but fuck it.. i just like cheap beer. anyway, the bar slowly gets a little more crowded as people start to file in, attracting a pretty decent crowd for a Tuesday night... including none other than Elizabeth Elmore of The Reputation (and formerly of Sarge). and with that, the rock began.

first up was Washington D.C.'s very own Del Cielo, a trio of very talented ladies. imagine a slightly tamer Dischord sort of sound fronted by a very charismatic lead singer. unfortunately the sound was a little shitty for the first part of the show, so the lyrics were hard to make out. but she more than made up for it with facial expressions that really connected her to the audience. meanwhile, the drummer bashed her kit with a vengeance - throwing every ounce of energy she had into each hit while the bass played stood there looking cool and collected, smoothly fingering some powerful basslines. it was a short, sweet, killer set... i wish i had been a little more familiar with the songs before seeing them, but it really left me wanting to hear more.

next up was the ill-named Crap Engine, a surprise addition to the bill but a very worthwhile one nonetheless. this Chicago quartet brought some funky new-wave garage rock that really got the crowd moving. a solid rhythm section laid down some tight grooves while the two guitarists brought out the "punk" in post-punk as the lead singer sang about love and lost love. the lyrics were nothing to write home about, but Crap Engine was more about the groove than getting a point across. they kept the crowd moving with songs like "Love is Making Babies" and a funkdafied cover of "Surf City". they were a very pleasant surprise for a band that i knew absolutely nothing about beforehand, and one i will check out again if i ever get the chance.

i won't get too much into the Starlike Collision part of the show, since they are the friends that i went to see and i am terribly biased - but i'll just have to say it was the tightest set i've seen from them in a long time. the high number of shows they've been playing lately has really resulted in a confidence that comes across throughout the whole set. guitarist John threw himself into his solos, drummer Peter looked like he was punishing his kit, and lead singer Justine wowed the crowd as usual, turning a lot of converts onto the band - especially during her solo acoustic tune. not to ignore the always solid basswork of Sarah, its almost impossible to believe she's only been playing for a couple years. i guess thats what practice and dedication can do for you. anyway, despite my bias.. the crowd really seemed to get into Starlike and hopefully a few more were converted to the rock. check them out if you get a chance.

so it turned out to be a very fun night, with the two bands i'd never heard before really blowing my preconceptions of "shitty opening bands" out of the water. keep an eye and ear out for any of these three bands, well worth the time and money to check them out. Del Cielo are currently on a short tour around the country, check out the dates on the website i linked to above. Starlike Collision is always playing around Chicago and the burbs, keep an eye on their site as well to see when they will be bringing you the rock. as for Crap Engine, i don't know... i wasn't able to find much info on them on the net... but if any of you know anything about the band, let me know.

np: "c'mon c'mon" - the von bondies

tonight's now playing brought to you by the reinstated, streaming WOXY. oh hell yes, i was really starting to miss that station. but with the exception of that news, not a whole lot new and exciting musically for me right now. kind of slowed down on the new purchases lately, but not so much that i couldn't pick up that awesome new Fall comp, 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong, which finally allows me to bask in some of the more recent work of Mark E. Smith and the gang. i'm diggin'. as an update to the Project AZ that some of you regular readers might remember - it's still going. made my way to the 'N' section now, getting ready for a long string of NIN resulting from my college obsession with Trent. but yeah, the New Pornographers? perfect summer driving music. fo 'sheazy.

summer movie season is upon us, and i am fully slacking on seeing the hot joints as per usual. i made it out to see the surprisingly awesome Spiderman 2 last week, but i've yet to see Dodgeball, Anchorman, or Farenheit 9/11 - all high on my must-see list. it's pretty sad when both of my parents have seen the new Michael Moore movie before me, but they both highly recommended it. hearing that from my dad doesn't surprise me, as he's a huge Democrat, but my mom's usually been pretty supportive of Bush so i was a little surprised to hear her saying how much she liked it. she was fully aware of Moore's spin-doctoring, but she still says it's going to make her think twice about who to vote for in the election. and, hell, isn't that what the movie is supposed to do? i need to get out there with a quickness.

np: "hong kong fury" - the datsuns

today has been a pretty eventful music day for me. i've been listening to probably two of the best rock albums of 2004. yes, i am aware it's only June, but these two are THAT fucking good. both albums are the bands' sophomore releases and i can honestly say that i wasn't expecting this much hotness out of either of them. the first, purchased on a whim with a Border's gift card this morning, was the jaw-droppingly good Penance Soiree by The Icarus Line. this is like the ultimate statement of where rock and roll should be at this point - i could taste the beer and sweat and heroin just seeping through my speakers. i don't know much about the band, but this just reeks of real rock and roll. its dirty, nasty, groovy, sweaty, stanky, and just plain rockin'. if i had to draw some sort of parallel for the unitiated, it would be to some celestial being throwing Brian Jone's era-Stones, Iggy and the Stooges, a young and hungry Guns N Roses, and a whole fucking lot of drugs into a giant blender and hitting 'puree' for about 3 minutes. this shit is absolutely album of the year worthy. check it.

the second album is another huge shocker... Outta Sight/Outta Mind by New Zealand rockers, The Datsuns. probably best known for "MF from Hell" which broke onto a lot of stations in the post-Strokes garage-rock feeding frenzy. they pretty much got ignored and lumped into the third-tier of garage bands with The D4. the debut album was pretty decent, with my personal favorite being "Harmonic Generator". the band didn't really click with me until i finally watched the bonus DVD that came with the American release of that album and saw the energy these guys brought across live. but this band did something right in between albums, as this new one finds them bringing some serious fucking rock. you can definitely smell the Zep influence all over the place, but on a much more subtle way than, say, the genre raping of Jet. guitars scream and squeal all over the place as the rhythm section nearly pounds you into submission. this album probably has some of the best drumming of any of the current garage rock bands. unfortunately we here in North America have to wait until September for the release, but those of you with ways of hunting it down - its well worth a listen.

well, thats enough of hyping the rock for me, i'm gonna wind down the night with the new Corporate Ghost Sonic Youth DVD.

np: "let them eat war" - bad religion f. sage francis

yeah, another band of mine managed to sneak up a new release on me completely unaware. i remembered hearing that Bad Religion was working on a new album, but i had forgotten about it until i saw it sitting on the rack today. i snagged that one with a quickness though, and i am glad i did. i've been loyal to BR even through some of the not-so-great albums of the late 1990's, but the joy i've gotten from them since i picked up Suffer over a decade(!) ago kept me loyal. the first time i saw them live was at Soldier Field in Chicago, opening for Pearl Jam. yeah, a strange place to see a punk band for the first time, but they did an excellent job considering the circumstances (i.e. the majority of fans not giving a fuck about them, the 95+ degree sun beating down on them while they played, etc). i was blown away, with "Fuck Armageddon, This is Hell" being a personal highlight. ANYWAY. the band suffered a slight decline in quality over the latter half of the '90's as they toiled away on a major label and the punk scene got overrun with poppier fare for the younger generation. but two little things brought this band raging back to life - the return to being solely distributed by the Epitaph label and said label's head Mr. Brett returning to the fold. the last album, The Process of Belief, was a pretty huge step up after the last two albums on Atlantic, both returning to their roots while still retaining some of the expanded repetoire that they had built over the years. the album combined their political ideology with that certain spark that had been eluding them, producing arguably their strongest album since Stranger Than Fiction. the latest, The Empire Strikes First, continues the groundwork laid on TPoB and proves that Bad Religion is one of the best twentysomething punk bands still in action. maybe it wasn't due so much to the return of Mr. Brett or the Epitaph logo, but more because the state of the world seems far more conducive to a Bad Religion album than the late 1990's did. obvious topics like the war in Iraq (the title track, "Let Them Eat War") and the decline of the social fabric ("Social Suicide", "All There Is") are present as expected, along with new attacks on the Catholic priest scandal ("Sinister Rouge") and reality television ("Los Angeles is Burning"). after a shaky start to the album, featuring a gothic choir snagged from Davey Havok's house, the album charges through the next 4 songs in less than 10 minutes while Greg Graffin spews his always intelligent poetry over some of the fastest drumming and guitar-shredding the band has done since the '80s. about halfway the band throws a slight curveball by adding an unexpected guest vocal shot by underground hip-hop phenom Sage Francis. while experimenting with huge guest stars isn't new to the band (remember Eddie Vedder on recipe for Hate?), its the first time a guest has fit so well with the band's sound. instead of opting to just quiet the guitars and pound out a hip-hop beat for Sage to drop his lines over, they band charges full speed ahead and moves over just enough to allow him to jump aboard. while a anti-war track from Bad Religion and Sage Francis isn't exactly the most shocking thing in the world, it's surprising just how well it works. the band continues to explore some new sonic textures towards the end of the album on tracks like "Beyond Electric Dreams", but the passion and fire never fades away. or maybe i'm just old and it's a comfort in these doubtful times to hear an old voice angered anew. nah, it really is a good fucking album.
i figured anybody reading this would probably be inundated with talk of the Sonic Youth, !!!, or Velvet Revolver albums this week, so i thought i should mention something that might easily get overlooked amongst this week's purchases. so yeah, if you've ever been a BR fan - check this out.

np: "learning from mistakes good (not fun)" - alejandra & aeron

a friend of mine sent me some tracks from this album tonight, with very little explanation of what it was. just that i would like it. he was right, but it wasn't until i did some research on the album to find out a little more about it. from what i could gather, its comprised mostly of field recordings of one of the guys' grandmother singing and other household noises mixed with various other sound effects and software tweaks. once i learned that, i approached listening to the songs much differently. it struck me as a deeply personal recording, the aural effects enticing you to the grandmother's voice at times and at other times reminding you that life is still going on around you. it almost makes you feel like you are sharing her life with her - from daily food preparation to an evening song on the back porch. it's truly an intimate experience that i would recommend to anyone fond of field recording/found sound type of "music". for anyone interested, these tracks i'm talking about come from the album Bousha Blue Blazes, on Orthlorng Musork.

np: "a good man is hard to find" - sufjan stevens

so it's a little early to be a the true halfway point of the year, especially with the number of solid releases due out in June - !!!, Wilco, Sonic Youth, etc - but since i had some time this weekend i sat down and compiled my Top 25 albums of 2004 so far. the results:

1. Kanye West - College Dropout (Roc-a-fella)
2. Franz Ferdinand - S/T (Sony)
3. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News (Epic)
4. Madvillain - Madvillainy (Stones Throw)
5. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free (Vice/Atlantic)
6. TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes (Touch and Go)
7. Iron and Wine - Our Endless, Numbered Days (Sub Pop)
8. The Ponys - Laced with Romance (In the Red)
9. The Walkmen - Bows and Arrows (Record Collection)
10. Morrissey - You Are the Quarry (Attack)
11. Ambulance LTD - S/T (TVT)
12. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose (Interscope)
13. The Hiss - Panic Movement (Sanctuary)
14. Mission of Burma - ONoffON (Matador)
15. Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles (5 Rue Christine)
16. Seachange - Lay of the Land (Matador)
17. The Reputation - To Force a Fate (Lookout!)
18. Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld (Drag City)
19. Gift of Gab - Fourth Dimensional Rocketships (Quanuum)
20. Snow Patrol - Final Straw (Universal)
21. RJD2 - Since We Last Spoke (Def Jux)
22. Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly (4AD)
23. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans (Sounds Familyre)
24. All Night Radio - Spirit Stereo Frequency (Sub Pop)
25. The Beta Band - Heroes to Zeros (Astralwerks)

np: "it's all around you" - tortoise

so i've heard Tortoise referred to as "the band for hipsters who are afraid to like jazz", and whatever, that may not be far off the mark. but there's nothing better than dropping some Tortoise on in the middle of the week when you come home from a night out drinking with good friends and you have to work too early in the morning to rock the fuck out. the new album is no exception. not that i'm afraid to like jazz, i'm just too intimidated by it. i own a handful of Miles and 'Trane albums, and i enjoy them immensely, but whenever i step into the jazz section at Tower - i just get blown away. i suppose that's what it would feel like to step into the "rock" section if you've spent your entire life ignoring it. so many choices, so little time. so for now, i choose to mostly ignore jazz - not out of dislike, just that there's so much damn good rock music for me to choose from that i'm never left thirsting for something more. maybe that will change when i get older, but for now... when i need that downtempo "chill" shit, it's all about the Tortoise.

np: "slither" - velvet revolver

despite the worst band name i've heard in years, i'm very much looking forward to this album based on the two tracks i've heard. Weiland's always had an excellent "rock" voice and getting to hear Slash and Duff together at any time is a treat. the songs remind me a little of early STP, but with a guitarist that knows what the fuck he's doing. not that DeLeo was a bad guitarist by any means, he just can't shred like Slash. the album has to be better than Audioslave anyway.

np: "irish blood, english heart" - morrissey

for someone who's never heard much of Moz's solo work, i am really enjoying this album. just as overdramatic and over-the-top as i expected, but there's some very solid tunes on there. the clincher for me, though, was that killer first single. i didn't know he could put out such a, well, rocking single like that. boom, bam! and it's over in 2 and a half minutes before you even knew what hit you. yeah, the political Moz thing usually bores me, but if he could wrap it up in a killer riff like that more often i wouldn't even care. "First of the Gang to Die" is another catchy tune that took me by surprise and really helps keep the album from getting dragged down towards the end. but after several listens, i think "Let Me Kiss You" is sticking out as a personal favorite. "but then you open up your eyes / and you see someone that you physically despise / but my heart is open / my heart is open to you", i mean - who hasn't felt like that before. you know, sure i'm not your type.. just shut the fuck up for a minute and kiss me. who the hell knows, maybe it's just that ol' loneliness creeping up inside again thats turning me on to the Moz.
and in sad news, the day finally came. WOXY is now off the air and the net. i've come to find in the past week just how much of a blow that would really be when i couldn't stream it anymore. when i couldn't figure out what i wanted to listen to, it was just so easy to pop into the site and hear a lot of music i enjoy. yeah, there are a lot of other stations that play some of the same music, but i've yet to find a station with as high of a hit:miss ratio of my own tastes that was as high as WOXY's. let's hope something solid will come along and fill the void. speaking of radio stations, i know it's Clear Channel and all - but i am somewhat interested to having something like Indie 103.1 hit the waves here in Chicago. if you've gotta deal with them anyway, might as well pick the lesser of the evils.

np: "fit but you know it" - the streets

i'm loving the hell out of this new single. catchy as all hell and some pretty funny lyrics that seem to ring out very true for some girls i've known. i'm just sitting through my first listen of A Grand Don't Come For Free, and so far i'm enjoying it. there aren't as many great songs that jump out at you right away like there were on Original Pirate Material, but i have a feeling this is a grower. the storyline is a nice touch, it's cool to hear an album that tackles a tale over its entire length without resorting to skits to push it along. Mike Skinner is a wonderful lyricist, that's for sure.

np: "spaceboy (alternate version)" - smashing pumpkins

so yeah, most people that know me know that the Pumpkins are my all-time favorite band. awhile back i was hooked up with a download of the ultra-rare Mashed Potatoes boxed set that Billy put together years ago. i've been hooked on it all day, and this track in particular reminds me what i love about this band. this version is a little more country and a little more psychedelic than the original version. if i was one of those cool mp3 bloggers, i'd hook y'all up with a download but i'm not that awesome. but yeah, this box set is full of live stuff, demos, alternate versions, and just a lot of Pumpkins goodness from about '89-'94. the era that i still consider to be when the Pumpkins were at their creative peak. it's just sinking in to how obsessive i've been about this band at various points in time. probably the only band that i've gone to such great lengths in order to get new shit to listen to. it seems that at some points Billy almost reached a Bob Pollard-like level of output with great music. it's a shame to see how much he's tapered off in the last few years. Zwan was an amazing live band, but the bald one was never able to capture that energy in the studio, resulting in a mediocre disc that i can't even remember the last time i pulled it out. yeah, you may remember me hyping it up back when it came out, but i think that was more from the excitement of seeing them live so much then. my liking for that album has diminished quite a bit in the past 16 months. and from what i've heard of his recent solo performance, i'm not going to be too terribly excited about what's coming next either.

np: "lady godiva's operation" - velvet underground

man, this is one fucked up and creepy song - even by VU standards. but i like it. the VU love today has been inspired by the newest book i've been reading, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. it took me some time to get into it, but its turning out to be a fascinating read. early on there was a little too much "who slept with who" gossipy shit for my liking, but it's really quite an interesting document of the early days of punk. much love for detailing the early years of VU, the Stooges, and the MC5 and for not starting at the obvious 76-77 era. it really gives you a feeling about the true dirty, nasty roots of what was to become punk rock. i'm also really looking forward to delving more into the Heartbreakers and New York Dolls after reading this. definately worth a read if you come across it.

np: "glitterball" - seachange

tonight's now playing song comes courtesy of WOXY, a great station out of Ohio that sadly seems on the verge of going away for good. sure it's not as indie or eclectic as most of the college stations out there, but i've always found it to be pretty dependable whenever i tune it in. i'm really going to miss it if they do end up shutting down internet broadcasting as well.
just got done watching the season finale of The OC, and i have to admit i'm going to miss my regular dose of drama every Wednesday night until Season 2 rolls around. blatantly obvious ending to anyone that's seen the last couple eps, but it was still pretty well done for a FOX teen drama. i think the last 10 minutes were an example of the strong suits of the show - knowing when to have the characters just shut the fuck up and let the images and a well-chosen song tell the story. sure, the musical interludes are nothing new on prime time soaps, but tonight's really managed to help move the story along and provided a fitting ending to the season. probably helps that they chose Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah", rather than another poorly done Rooney tie-in. so now my Wednesday evenings are completely freed up once again, to join every other night of the week.

np: "big sur (live at SXSW)" - the thrills

i found this little EP for cheap when i went to Tower, so i snagged it as i seem to be one of the few people to openly express a love for their California-sunshine pop. the music's stands up pretty well live, but it doesn't really offer many surprises from the album versions. still a decent little EP. i had planned on picking up the new Beta Band and the new Mission of Burma while i was there, but i balked at ONOffON when i saw the "sale" price of $16.99, considering it's going for 10 bucks on Matador's website right now. so it looks like i'll have to be doing some e-shopping a little later tonight.
while i was running tonight i was listening to one of my two favorite recent releases by a Chicago band, this one being the debut from The Ponys - Laced with Romance. it's a great little garage rock album, from a band that knows just how to meld their influences into a unique overall sound. check out "Chemical Imbalance" or "Let's Kill Ourselves" if you wanna get a taste for the rock action coming out of the Windy City right now. the other recent Chicago release that i've been digging on comes courtesy of one of the nicest and cutest girls in the indie rock world these days, Elizabeth Elmore. you might remember her from her days in the mega-hyped Champaign band Sarge, which sadly split up in 1998 after starting to generate a really strong buzz. these days she's fronting a new band, The Reputation, who just dropped their second album To Force a Fate on Lookout! Records. it's a great album, full of Elmore's brilliant lyrics and just the right balance of jaded and lovelorn imagery. but i highly recommend you check the band out live if you get a chance, they put on a hell of a show and they manage to rock the fuck out. i've been fortunate enough to see them several times so far, and i've yet to leave a show without a huge smile on my face. although the last time that might have come more from my conversation with the lovely Ms. Elmore than anything else. hopefully they'll be heading back out on the road shortly, but for now they've got a handful of dates here in Illinois, ending in Champaign where they will team up with Braid in their first reunion gig. god, that takes me right back to Champaign house parties in 1996.

np: "embers and envelopes" - mae

listening to this one on suggestion from a friend, pretty good upbeat emo tune. wait, did i just say upbeat emo? yeah, i did. it's not a bad little song, and today i've been all about the more optimistic songs. "Float On" got some massive airtime during the commute from hell home tonight. i will never understand how closing one railroad crossing can fuck up every road within 25 miles, but tonight it took me damn near an hour and fifteen minutes to go three fucking miles. ah well, such is life in the suburbs. i just sometimes wish Chicago would put as much of an emphasis on inter-suburban mass transit as they do to and from the city. even one looping Metra line around the burbs would work wonders i think.
i picked up the new issue of SPIN today, because you gotta give props to any U.S. rag throwing the Moz on the cover in this day and age. much to my surprise, this year's edition of "The List Issue" was actually pretty entertaining. i haven't checked out the Pope of Mope's interview yet, but i'm looking forward to perusing it later. i never got into the Smiths when i was younger, mostly due to never even hearing them until college and being so not impressed with what i heard at the time. hey, i was young and stupid. since then i've come around to enjoy them, mostly after picking up The Queen is Dead on vinyl for a couple bucks last year. i never bothered to check out the Moz's solo stuff... but that new single kicks my ass and definitely makes me want to check out more.

np: "fine without you" - alkaline trio

well i'll sit here to convince myself it's true
if you keep on telling your friends that we're through
i've got nothing here but loneliness
holes in walls and a bleeding fist
my head is pounding like a pillow, like a Big Black song
well my friends and i try to tell me you're gone
i won't listen to myself or anyone
you got on a place and off you went
and you're never coming back again
i'm trying to convince myself it's true (convincing myself)
i'll be just fine without you
i'll be here telling myself it's true
well i'll sit here to convince myself it's true
if you keep on pretending to have no clue
that i'd kill for you and eat the flesh
give you the heart and burn the rest
one thousand miles ain't shit to walk
if i'm walking to hold you
but...
i'll be just fine without you

damn you Alk Trio, damn you. you go ahead and release this new stuff two weeks after i get my ass dumped. thanks guys. but seriously, i don't know how i managed to know nothing about this new split album with One Man Army. one of my all-time favorite bands releases some new material and they only way i notice is by noticing it out of the corner of my eye as i walk through Tower. i must be slacking in my old age.
so last night was that kick-ass 80's party, thrown in honor of the lovely and talented Justine of Star*Like Collision and the anniversary of her birth. good times were had by all, with a packed house rocking out to SLC originals and 80's covers galore. highlights included the group sing-along on "Sweet Child O'Mine" and "Just Like Heaven". yours truly was rockin' the John Bender of The Breakfast Club look. luckily i scrapped the Don Johnson look planned, as i would have made about the fifth Crockett in the house. there were some fine women fully decked out in the 80's gear, and the most dead-on was the girl with the Flashdance sweatshirt and the crimped hair. i had nearly forgotten about the motherfuckin' crimped hair.
prior to the party, i headed down to Wicker Park for WLUW's second annual Record Fair. lots of skinny hipsters in trucker hats came out, along with the mandatory creepy older record collecting nerds. memo: before you are going to be cramped in next to people filing through boxes of LPs in a sweaty gymnaisum - rock the Speed Stick. shit was rank. i picked up a handful of LPs - a Buffalo Springfield retrospective, a Windy and Carl album, Get Your Ya-Yas Out, Theatre of Pain, Shout at the Devil, and picked up the !!! "Pardon My Freedom" 12" from the nice dudes at the Touch and Go booth. it was a good way to spend a Saturday.

np: "ten thousand times a minute" - xiu xiu

i don't remember if i've mentioned my extreme interest in Xiu Xiu before or not, but it's reared its ugly head again tonight. fucked up music for a fucked up weather evening. i hesitate to say i'm a huge Xiu Xiu fan, but i've heard pretty close to every song they've released so far. it's a bit like watching a car wreck, you sure as hell don't want to be too close to one, but you really want to stick around to see what crawls out of the twisted wreckage. Jamie Stewart and his revolving band of cohorts have a way of packing each and every song with sounds that just completely fuck with your brain. dissonant machinery squeals, hammering keys, choked vocals, everything and the kitchen sink. not to mention the lyrics, as fucked up and insane as they come. i walk away from each Xiu Xiu album feeling a little disoriented, a little twisted, and a with a lot of thought. it makes you wonder if the pain or emotions you are going through could ever turn you into a screaming, squawking maniac. it's hard to classify this stuff as an enjoyable listening experience, but certainly worthwhile. in the very least you will come away with a new viewpoint on exactly what qualifies as music. yeah, i could get that from some drone-rock or some minimalist ambient music, but none of that manages to convey the emotion like a Xiu Xiu song. forget "emo", this is some of the most emotional music being made right now. if you are looking for a taste of Xiu Xiu, but want something a little more accessible, i would recommend "I Luv the Valley OH!" off of the latest release Fabulous Muscles.

np: "girls on film" - duran duran

i have no fucking idea where this came from. this sudden urge to hear Duran Duran. i've never really been anything close to a "fan", but i've enjoyed a tune or two in the past. but suddenly this weekend i found "Rio" dancing across the sands of my mind over and over again, and for some reason i quite enjoyed it. imagine my surprise when i walked into Border's today during my lunch hour and saw Greatest for $9.99. i snatched that shit up with a quickness, and jammed that motherfucker on the drive home tonight. nothing like some pure pop sugar to make you forget about all of your problems. then i get home, check my e-mail, and find an invite to a birthday/1980's party this Saturday night. what the fuck, right? but yeah, i'm looking forward to it. i need to get drunk, dance to cheesy synth pop, and flirt my ass off.

np: "lucky charm" - jets to brazil

All that I can ask is forgiveness for what's past.
You know who I am, but will you know me in the end?
I know it's too late but wait for me to turn around.
I'm almost home, so if you're leaving, walk slow.

i guess its just the way i've been feeling this week, but i never noticed just how fucking sad this album is. nearly every song on Perfecting Loneliness pretty much lives up to the name. yeah, i've pretty much been alternating between cheesy, depressing stuff (The Cure, Adore, whiny emo) and stuff to keep me from thinking (NOFX, Eminem, Lil Flip). luckily it's been a pretty slow week for new releases, so i don't really feel like i am missing much by just burying my head in my collection. it amazes me just how much an hour-long conversation can take up an evening, without talking to her at night my life's been quite a bit more boring when i get home from work. i'm still running three times a week, but that really only can take up so much time, you know? it's been hard not to call her all week, but especially tonight during our usual conversation after The O.C. gets over. and goddamn, did tonight have to be the night when both Ryan and Marissa and Seth and Summer had to be getting along well and making out all the time? christ, where's the drama? damn them for not having the balls to kill off Luke, what purpose is he going to serve now that the Julie Cooper storyline is done? god, its quite scary that i'm devoting this much thought to that show. i suppose it's better than the alternative trains of thought.

buried in this really shitty weekend one good thing did happen, i was able to score a ticket to the third Pixies show at the Aragon in Chicago. i'm excited as hell, but it's kinda hard to get THAT excited for a concert that won't be happening for another 7 months. damn.