getting darker earlier

the constantines - on to you
radiohead - i froze up

I suppose it's amazing how much music I've missed in the last couple of years considering how on top of things I like to imagine I am. I think the reason this happens is because I tend to be skeptical about every review I read.

To be honest, I download enough music that I can't even keep up with what I've stolen.

I did buy the M.I.A. album last week because even though I had already downloaded it, I thought enough of it to actually pay for it.

I guess that absolves me of my sins.

Alright. The Constantines are a band I had to keep listening to to get. This happens from time to time. Now I really like them, and I'm sure in another year I'll think they're boring (this happens to every band I ever like, pretty much). For the time being, enjoy the fact that when he sings "ooh ooh I'm on to you" it sounds like the timing is off. And that when the music does come back in suddenly it makes sense. That's a wonderful musical revelation of discovery and I don't know what the fuck this sentence is supposed to be. Did I mention that it gets dark too early now? I'm going to end up fat again.

Track 2 today was ripped from a RealPlayer stream of Radiohead's Christmas webcast a couple years ago. Look, I like Radiohead more than any other band, and I know there's some sort of stigma that goes along with that if you're a music snob, or maybe even if you're not. Guess what? Fuck it.

I could go on about how the band somehow pulls off these huge sounding records and blah blah blah.

I Froze Up is a very small sounding song. The audio quality here is surprisingly good. I like the words.

Leave a comment, you freeloading bitch(es).

house cleaning

pj harvey - one time too many

My girlfriend and I are preparing a room for our new guest, an old friend of mine who will be staying with us for anywhere up to two years. I'm not sure if this is a bad idea or not, but I'm really fond of the idea of having extra money lying around (he's paying rent).

Last night we started cleaning out two closets in order to make space, and I came across quite a bit of music from my past. Most of this was in cassette form, and although I was really quite tempted to go buy a tape player in order to listen to classics from bands like Metal Church and Duran Duran. How's that for variety?

I ended up throwing it all away. It was cathartic.

I did find some mix cds, though, one of which contained the PJ Harvey track I've posted today. I think this was from a soundtrack, and I'd guess it came from around the time she recorded the To Bring You My Love album.

This track is a 3 minute slice of perfect, and once again makes me realize that I have no idea what the hell happened to the real PJ Harvey.

i have no idea where i was

arcade fire - cold wind
queens of the stone age - the blood is love

I'm so excited by someone I don't know leaving a comment (see the previous post) that I've forced this entry. But that's ok, because they're all forced anyway. On to the music...

First up is Cold Wind by The Arcade Fire. I don't really know where I stand on The Arcade Fire. When I first heard "Funeral" I thought it was fantastic, but it hasn't stood up that well to repeat listenings. I can't ever make it through the whole thing. Part of the reason for this is that I saw what they looked like in some video on MTV. The other part is because I generally hate Canadians.

That's not true; it's just that I wrote "Part of the reason" and then realized I was going to need to say more. Saying "I generally hate Canadians" seemed funny. But it isn't. "I love lamp" is funny.

Alright already. Six Feet Under (a show on HBO) is ending next week, and last night's episode featured "Cold Wind". When it started playing I thought "is that Arcade Fire?" and figured it had to be because of the trademark warbling and the way the song seemed like is kinda sucked but it also seemed good. There's some sort of redemption in this song. I haven't figured it out yet (mainly because I'm just sort of listening to it for the first time right now). But I think it's the part that goes "HEY HEY HEY".

Like I said, this song might suck.

The second triggidy track (you're allowed to hate me for writing that) is "The Blood Is Love" by Queens of the Stone Age. QUOTA are one of my favorite groups because they allow me to pretend I'm covered in fire tattoes and drive cool cars.

Speaking of cool cars, I used to own one of these.



QOTSA make me want to own it again, and run over little kids, and sleep with girls that wear leather underwear.

and now this

depeche mode - policy of truth
the fall - the birmingham school of business school

Two for today, starting with Depeche Mode's "Policy of Truth". I always thought he was saying "upon a sea of truth" up until the time I downloaded this album 3 months ago. I downloaded this because of a glowing review by a former pitchfork writer. I've owned "Songs of Faith and Devotion" for a long time (it seems to be pretty common in used cd bins), but I don't think I ever really appreciated this band until recently. What's amazing about this track (for me, anyway) is that it's got these horrible synthesiser sax stabs, and I still enjoy it. Usually synth sax stabs are a deal breaker.

Track 2 is The Fall's "Birminham School of Business School", which is long and rambling and Mark E. Smith goes Rawarwarwarwrawrawrwarawrawrwraw and it's fantastic. When I like a Fall song, I really like it.

Ok. Let me know how it goes? Do you enjoy The Fall? Radiohead's Thom Yorke does.

blues explosion!

the cardigans - do you believe
blind melon - car seat (god's presents)
bob dylan - bye & bye

The Cardigans track is here because it came up on shuffle on my ipod this morning and it sounded good. I like The Cardigan because Nina Person has a great voice and doesn't sound like anyone else. Something I've noticed from my musical wanderings is that alot of indie (or whatever) female singers sound the same. And by that I mean "not that good, really". Kind of like how there's 27 different rock stars running around now sounding exactly like Tool's singer.

I posted the Blind Melon track because I still think Blind Melon were great. This track kind of has two parts (the car seat part and the god's presents part). The car seat part was written by Shannon Hoon (who's dead and buried somewhere not too far from where I am right now) and the god's presents part was written by Shannon Hoon's grandmother when she was young. If I remember the story right, Shannon found the poem in her attic and decided to use it in the song. Shannon also had a ring of bugs tattoed around his neck because he was afraid of bugs and some voodoo lady told him that it would keep them away. I think that's a great reason to get a tattoo, and I wish it was my story.

I posted the Bob Dylan track because it reminds me of old people wearing seersucker suits, drinking tea and lounging in grand gardens. And I tried playing guitar along with this Dylan album (Love and Theft) once when I thought I'd pick the guitar back up, and I couldn't even figure out what planet it was coming from. It didn't work with any scale I ever learned. I'm horrible at guitar and should sell it and buy another bike. I'm ok at riding a bike.

Now taking requests.