Birthday Party

So, it's my wife's birthday, and I got her some stuff that I thought you might be interested in hearing about.
First, I cannot say enough good things about Lookmatic. The customer service alone would be good enough reason to shop there. But they also have some great styles. My wife had Lasik surgery a few years back so she doesn't need glasses, but really good sunglasses are always welcome, so I think she likes her new Tippis.  Also, she's become addicted to her Kindle. I'm ok with that. She's been a Boxing, Wrestling, and Racing widow for me from time to time so I owe her. But, I got her a couple of books for her Kindle- It will Be Exhilarating and Something Like Normal. The Exhilarating book is because she runs a small business and is looking to expand to the web, and the Normal book is teen fiction (something my wife likes) written by a friend of mine. Also, I got her some gift cards so she could choose her own books and music, and I got her some of the Corporate Portraits at Shanalogic. Good hipster Art, you know?
I took her to dinner, of course, her choice, and her choice was excellent, as per usual- Bryan Voltaggio's Family Meal restaurant. I thought the fried chicken was excellent. She really liked the Fried green tomatoes, and the poutine.
I think I might take her to the movies, but that hasn't happened yet, and that's up to her. I know that we're going on a photo safari, today, and I better get ready to go do that, so just a peak for you, today.

The Wait.

Yes, things have pretty much ground to a halt here at HMLMWTMC, inc. Four reasons for that, not all of them negative. I'm waiting until I can talk freely, it's my wife's birthday, so I'm doing stuff for her, I'm pretty broke ( between money already spent on bills, car repairs, getting my son set up for his next college semester, buying crap for birthdays, and other major events, and money dedicated for upcoming events...) and  I'm pretty happy with a bunch of stuff I've already talked about ( Musically, I'm listening to the CD not yet named, Baroness, the Workers "Both Hands" and The Hives "Lex Hives", haven't gone to the movies, but did watch a lot of TV- True Blood, The Newsroom, Burn Notice, Suits and a tonne of movies on IFC and Indieplex, and I'll soon talk about the rest).
Anyway, programming should soon pick up....

Nothing to report

I'm still listening to the same stuff as last week, but a few things to note:
1. I got tickets to see Bob Mould. My wife isn't as "into it" as I'm into it, but I'm hoping she'll enjoy it. I feel lucky  that he's scheduled to play both Copper Blue and Silver age stuff. That's September 8.
2. I'm becoming a big fan of Lookmatic. I'm starting to feel like I might be on their payroll, but no, they're just really good. They had a facebook contest, and I was already a fan, so, hey Presto, I've got some new specs. On top of that I bought a new pair of shades for my wife from them. So, now, if they ever put out some metal frames, I think I'm sold for life. Then, again, I'm pretty simple that way. I find things I like and then stick with them.
3. I don't know if I'd count it as cultural, but I've switched from AT&T to Virgin Mobile. I'm not like most, though. I know that. Most folks seem to use their phones as all forms of communication- from talk to text to photos, to social media. What could be more the basis of culture than that? So I guess it's worth noting. Really though, I'm more of a laptop guy. I like longer-form communication. Stuff that can get a bit more complex like Email, Skype and blogs, you know?  I mean, sure, I've got a facebook profile, and a twitter account, but I refuse to become part of that 128 character culture. I think it's making people dangerously stupid. So, now, instead of making three calls a day and four texts on an AT&T phone, I'm doing it on a Virgin Mobile. Big deal. But, for anyone who might care, there it is.

Convergence

Prong. Randy Blythe. Covering the Misfits. Yes, yes and Yes.

Old TV Shows

I'm not sure why, but I'm thinking about four great old TV shows, tonight.
First, The Young Ones. For many, I think that was the first taste of "alternative" (read "real" comedy) . It was also the best collection of the insurgent, anarchic "Punk Rock" comedy scene, most notably Rik Mayall and Alexei Sayle. Really, you should check out anything with either of their names involved- and yes, that includes the nearly horrible mainstream American movie "Drop Dead Fred'.
Next, Northern Exposure. Eccentric American ensemble comedy. Very influential, somewhat twee, but so very nice. More quality than American TV can handle with great scenery, witty dialogue and literate references. If only grunge had all this, it would have been the perfect musical idiom. I kid, but seriously awesome show.
Next, before he became a tool of the man, Ben Stiller was a freakin genius. His Ben Stiller show had everyone worth a damn in American comedy- Bob Odenkirk, Janeane Garrafalo, Andy Dick, and David Cross- not to mention Ben Stiller, himself. Plus, look at the writing credits- apart from that fearsome list above, you also had Judd Apatow, and Brent Forrester. Pure quality, right there.
Finally, The Tick. What can I say? The non sequiturs are worth it, alone. But, then you get Bat Manuel. Superheroes  under the tutelage of Barry Sonnenfeld and Larry Charles? What's not to love? Watch an episode....

Hardcore Stalwarts Ever True

I really do view most of music and the music biz as "stuff my friends do", and that sometimes leads to odd places. Just like any circle of friends, if it gets wide enough, it includes people who vary greatly from yourself, so I end up counting people like Dave Smalley and Joey Keithley as "People I've had friendly chats with"- these are both guys that I'd gladly have drinks or dinner with, yet both would disagree with me on a number of subjects. Both are in bands, and both just released CDs- Joey's band DOA just put out "We Come In Peace", and Dave Smalley's band Down By Law put out "Champions at Heart". While I like both, musically, I prefer Dave's band, while politically, I guess I'm closer to Joey's band.
DOA, of course, pretty much invented Hardcore back in the early 1980's, but really, they're a second generation Punk band. That means they throw in basic punk, some hard rock, some reggae, a little Celtic folk, and whatever else comes up at the moment. Still, for the most part, it's roaring Sex Pistolish punk, with Clash politics, and some Clash styled white boy reggae. Good stuff, and starting off with "He's got a Gun" makes it pretty topical. But, the problem with DOA is history. They've got enough of one that it's starting to constrict them- they have to carry the Flag for the music they made 30 years ago, and the strain shows. Especially on "Walk Through this World" which has world-weary lyrics set to a tune nicked from "Bankrobber" by the Clash. It just makes Joey sound so infinitely tired that it serves as a downer, even if it wasn't meant to be. Likewise the duet with Jello "We Occupy" just sounds a bit like two stalwarts cashing in on something they may have helped to inspire, but have no real connection with, which makes them sound older than they are.
Which brings us to Dave's Down By Law. The guy was in DYS, Dag Nasty, and All. On top of that, I know the guy is smart- like multiple degrees type educated smart. So, while I know I've had personal disagreements with him, and even a serious fight with a former band of his, I respect the guy, a lot. Musically, this is top shelf California style pop Punk. Lyrically, it's a Seinfeld episode- they songs ultimately aren't really about anything- sure, they have themes, like "if the kids are united, they will never be divided", or " it sure does suck that sugar has calories" which is about how Pop Punk usually ends up, so I'm not mad that Dave's not using that massive brain to write a song that fully explains the Israeli position on Syria or some such, but still, it does become a drag- he's got 9 minutes of a 45 minute record about the topic of "Unity", explicitly, and said pretty plainly. Still, for sing-a-long boisterous Warped Tour Punk, you won't find better. They guy was in All, after all. Pop Punk is his forte. It is a wonder that this style still connects with so many kids, but I'm grateful that it does because it means that a whole host of stuff that I like gets dragged along, too.
So, bottom line, I think it's good that there's still a place for Stalwarts like Joey and Dave, and I just wanted to support that....

Very 'Eavy, very 'Umble

A running sub-theme with this here blog is my ongoing wrestling match with Heavy Metal. Like it or not, and I don't, I seem to have an  unmet need to spar with my sometimes metallic tastes.
So, the latest entries on that front are "A Brief Crack of Light" by Therapy? and "Four" by Bloc Party.
Part of the lasting appeal of heavy metal is just how humble it is. I read some punter in some magazine who wrote that metal was music for ugly people, and as inarticulate as that is, I think it's pointed at the truth. Metal is for the unsophisticated bordering on boorish, the  awkward bordering on Aspergered, the anti-fashioned, and proletarian. In short, it's not for beautiful people, or graceful people, though the music sometimes aspires towards beauty and grace. Too much flash, too much grace, too much style, and it's roundly disdained by the metal masses, though. I think that's the area that's subtle in metal, but that gets all too easily hidden by the garish extremes.
So, Therapy? have a bit too much Art in them to be fully considered metal, but they share that kind of club-footed artless lack of grace with metal, so they belong more to metal than metal will own them. What they are, when they are at their best, is a kind of Midwestern late 1980's posthardcore meets early 1990's "altmetal"- like Big Black meets Filter. That also means that they're very hit-or-miss with me. The last tracks I liked by them were a few on 1994's "Troublegum" album. The last time I liked a whole album by them would be 1992's "Nurse". That's twenty years since they put out something that I could heartily endorse. So, the short-and-sweet of it is I do heartily endorse this new CD.
Lyrically, they're still clumsy, but musically, it's tight, aggressive , adventurous, and, yes, pretty music. It covers the ground between Helmet at their most "nu metal" and (believe it or not) Fugazi which isn't a bad sweet spot to occupy. They've toned down some of the squeal to concentrate on the thud, which is unfortunate, but par for the course. I resisted it for all this time for the same reason I suspect it won't be a huge successful chart smash, nor a cult fetish item- it undercuts itself constantly. That is- it's too pretty to be the big bad evil ugly rock that they'd like to be- a kind of Celtic Slipknot. But, it's not filled with beauty and grace like Baroness, either. So, again, it's much like any metal- this is music for the awkward, the clumsy, and the disorientated  and  the colloquial. That's precisely what I find so charming about it.
On the reverse, such homeliness can lend a kind of "authenticity" to an established, but stale Artist. If you look closely, it's an old David Bowie trick- after Space Oddity, the Man Who Sold the World, after Pin Ups, Diamond Dogs, after Never Let me Down, Tin Machine- get the idea? So, Bloc Party did a run of artsy yet commercial dance-rock albums from the mid 2000's to 2010, then just fell apart. Now, supposedly all patched up, they've got to sell everyone on the concept that they're back, they're whole, they're vital, and they're authentically a band. So, the new record has everything from the glitch-pop single "Octopus" and numerous bits of supposedly "raw" studio field recordings of the band talking to hiring Alex Newport to  produce, and the metal stylings that are most overt on "Kettling" and "We are not good people" but are present throughout. Cynical as that may be, the only question I'm concerned with, as a listener, is "Does it work?"- the answer is a reserved yes. Yes, I like this better than anything they've done as a band since "Silent Alarm", however, I still think Silent Alarm is the best they'll ever do. I think that Kele's solo work is still more vital, and yes, authentic than this, even if my aesthetics are more closely aligned to Four. But, Silent Alarm is still the Bloc Party album to beat, and a lot of that is due to impossibilities of getting certain Genii back into their bottles. They simply cannot be as urgent, hungry, or vital as they were, as they have had the success they were seeking. Kele cannot be just a humble band member, or just another bloke, as he has revealed himself to be a star in his own right. Yes, the rest of the band clearly do resent that, and no amount of volume or chatter between tracks can approximate the kind of easy camaraderie that being a real, young, authentic band brings. At this point, they best they can hope for is enough short- term failure to make them seem like the kind of underdogs that Metal is composed from. Still, this is a good record, and I enjoy hearing it, but if I want to sell you on Bloc Party, I'll still put on Silent Alarm.
( oh, and BTW, I'm dropping a certain pretense, here- yes I paid for both records, legally. Yes, the Therapy? record was released awhile back, while the Bloc Party one is scheduled to be released in two days. Just because I've bought something at Amazon on pre order, or haven't bought until after it is released has little bearing on when I hear it first. Between scouring the net, and promos, and friends, I hear stuff weeks and months either before or after it gets released.  So, I'm stopping right now from trying to review when stuff gets commercially released- with a few notable exceptions. If someone asks me to hold off, or if it seems prudent for me to do so, I will, or if someone asks me to do a "review" as a promotional device, I'll at least consider it. This blog is far from professional grade, but I still view the entertainment industry as one populated by my friends. I hope that clarifies things a bit)

FPR

Hey, normally, I'm all for self-determination, and I'm not real big on telling some culture to adopt my values, but this whole thing in Russia seems a no- brainer to me. I'm not going to be satisfied if they Free Pussy Riot,  I want to see Putin out. Not just out of politics. I want him exiled to some sweaty island where he can pick fruit for a living. I want that murderous bastard disgraced, tried for treason and high crimes, and then shunted away from any kind of power whatsoever. Here's the thing- if everyone saying 'Free Pussy Riot" were to change that to: Fire Putin, Russia- it could actually happen. I know, it's hard to get people to commit. I know most people would prefer to try to support the brave and good than actually be brave and good, and fight the scary monsters and supervillians, but this just seems obvious- more than Qaddafi, more than Mubarak, more than al- Assad, by far the most destructive dictator going is Putin, and I don't think the world is safe until or unless he is brought to justice.

Sworn to secrecy

Sometimes, I love being me.I cannot say much, but one of my favorite musical artists  is soon to release a new CD,and I got an advance copy. I wasn't supposed to, but someone involved trusted me, and gave me a copy. I'm not going to betray that trust by saying too much, but I have to say it's the best I've heard from , ahem, this Artist, in  seven years, minimum. Depending upon how you count it, it could be the best in over a decade, and close to two decades. When you hear it, if you're around my age and tastes, it will bring back memories of when you were much, much younger, but will acknowledge all those years between. If it's not on critics' top 10 lists by the end of the year, do not trust those critics. They are not serving in your interests.
As for me, I'm sworn to secrecy, but I'll say this: keep your ears open and soon, you'll be rewarded.

buying what you already own

Bob Mould. That one guy has been responsible for so very much of my musical taste that there's no way I can "review" the newly remastered and re-released Copper Blue/Beaster.  I know these songs backwards and forwards, can play all the guitar notes, know the lyrics so well, I sometimes hum them in my sleep, and therefore, have played some of these songs as covers. The only question I can answer for you is why you need this, as opposed to just owning the original rykodisc pressings from the 1990's.
The first reason, though not the best reason, is for history. Bob invented the kind of pop music enveloped in squall that everyone from The Jesus and Mary Chain to the Constants has used. Sugar was his response to the best imitators of his sound: My Bloody Valentine and the Pixies, so the most obvious reason to get this is to hear his full response to his place in musical history.
The next, better, reason is that these two CD's represent Bob's most accessible work, ever and the new mixes make sound clearer, deeper, and better. If there's one release to suggest, this is it. If you tell me  you don't care for Alternative Rock, this is still the one to get, as this set has everything from gothic folk pop to out and out shredding.
Since chances are, if you're reading this, that none of the above applies to you. You already own at least Copper Blue, if not Beaster, and Besides, and maybe even a bootleg live LP or two. Why get this this?
Because it collects everything that belongs together, and it's on merge, which means it's a "fan" version of events. I can understand this- when the albums were brand new recordings, they had to be "sold" to us- we needed convincing, so the editors' hands had to guide this towards what they thought we wanted. Now, there's no need to sell this, as Bob has legions of fans, so instead, they can release everything grouped together in a way that makes sense for the existing relationship. Not to read too much in, but if you were there the first time, like me, this is how you have wanted to hear Sugar.