Self-styled Record reviewer reviews

I often joke that I only like music whose makers have last names that are nouns:
Patrick Wolf
Kate Bush
Andrew Bird
Tom Waits (o.k., so that's a verb)

and of course the most important,
Nick Cave.


"DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!" Mr. Cave's newest album, was officially released today in the US. Yes, I bought it.

It's not a departure from his last 2 albums. I think it's more even than "Nocturama" (which had a few AMAZING songs and some that were just plain bad), but not (so far) as good as "Lyre of Orpheus/Abbatoir Blues". The latter was an album that was so inspired and so heavy and beautiful, well, it's hard to live up to. Nick Cave has a new horrendous mariachi moustache, so maybe this inspired him to make a new album.
ha
aha
ha

As far as his recent recordings, I group "The Boatman's Call" with the utterly heart-rendingly awesome "No more shall we part". These two albums are full of beautiful sad and building piano ballads. They seem very carried by Warren Ellis (of my OTHER favorite band "The Dirty Three" ) and his supernaturally good violin leads. (if you want an awesome collaboration between the two of them besides "No More...", buy the soundtrack to "The Propostion". It's haunting and wonderful)

Then, I think, Mr. Cave went back to the blues, regained some of his old bombastic libido, and decided to try to write some dirty old man songs. This is where Nocturama and Lyre of Orpheus, and now DIG, LAZARUS, DIG! get a lot of inspiration from and also the band called Grinderman- which I listened to once. I couldn't bear any more, and I am one so very SYMPATHETIC to Mr. Cave. He can get away with everything with me, if that tells you anything about how much I was embarassed by that album. (Oh well, the critics liked it) I find a few gems on all the recent stuff, though of course if you are going to get your intro to the Bad Seeds you should buy "Let Love In" (and then "Henry's Dream") and listen to nothing else. I did my first big art series on that album alone.

I like listening to my favorite artists mature, with all the missteps along the way. I think artists can grow old gracefully and put out great work that no one saw coming (Leonard Cohen's "The Future", Kate Bush's "Aerial", Johnny Cash's "American Recordings" series, The Mekons' "Natural" etc.)a video from "No More Shall we part". it starts off slow and seemlingly simple, then builds (as the song does) to a cresendo. It's great:


I now stop my unpaid advertising for the greatness of the lanky Austrailian former-junkie songwriter with a jesus fixation.
Thanks

This could be the bitter end. I know it won't.

I feel like I should go over to my brother's house. Funny enough, now that we live in the same town, I don't often see him. I started out as his connection to music, now he's mine. I've been happily revolving my favorite CDs for the last 6 months or so, but I fear getting too used to them.
Brother Jordan! What should I buy? What is the new thing? Give me a CD to devastate me........

Last 6 mo. Fav. CDs:

Silversun Pickups stay refreshingly not-boring AND put me in a killer yearning/self destructive sort of teenager mood.

Handsome Furs perfectly complement my empty countryside and nothingness-town ennui. And the Joy Division part of myself.

Andrew Bird produced a masterpiece, Armchair Apokrypha, which I am super wary of over-listening to, because it's on the ipod at work and we listen to music for 9 hours straight there.

The National's new album is rock for grownups, and very beautiful. The lead singer does not sound like a little boy, and that makes all the women instantly like it.

Patrick Wolf is my perennial art-boy crush and his new album is fucking awesome (and has Marianne Faithful on it).


I want new music I want all music.
I live in a house with two professional musicians and they almost NEVER listen to music at home. I listen to probably 97% of the music played in the house, but do to the aforementioned musicians annoying habit of making fun of all music that is played in the house, I listen to less and less, unless I sequester myself in the bedroom or studio.

I want to buy (on CD in my hot little hand):

The new Magnetic Fields
The new Bob Mould (I read a good review of it)
Vampire Weekend (possibly? The sound like afro-pop)
Lightning Seed (I read a good review of this too, They're from the Black Mountain family)
Cat Power's Jukebox
Something by Sage Francis (whenever he starts rapping on the ipod at work I'm like "woah this is awesome," and then I check and it's Mr. Francis being incredibly verbose AGAIN.)
23 by Blonde Redhead (why don't I have this already??)

more? Can YOU reccomend something? I have incredibly varied musical tastes. I even like goth and celtic (is that the same thing? Hmmmmm.) So try me.



I love this video because of the way she moved down to hip hop video level- crouching, walking towards the camera with her makeshift "posse" of bar denzins behind her, throwing up "signs". Also because it is so happy-golden-summer.

Cat Power- Lived in Bars
Starts off slow and sultry, ends joyfully.

Sunset Stone

sunset stone, originally uploaded by kai smart.

Stuck in the dry lands longing for the mist-salt-ocean air of the towns I have lived in before. I visited Santa Cruz, and got gulping lungfulls of seafog to tide me over.

I get asked all the time if I have tattooed myself****. I have not (yet). I am afraid that my concentration on dealing with the pain (yes, I am pretty tattooed, but the pain still does not feel GOOD. I am not one of those people.) will make it harder to concentrate on the art. And of course I would want to do a good job! I think if I did tattoo myself I would tattoo my thigh, mainly for the easy access (I don't want to have to go into a contortion and THEN try to execute my masterpiece) but also for another reason: I am not going to tattoo every part of my body.

I know it seems like most tattoo artists go for that, and indeed it is tempting because I have the freedom to do that if I wanted to, but I am still FIRST AN ARTIST, and I think about the picture (my body) as a whole, not just as a meaningless background for art. Not to diss anyone who does go for the whole body, either peice by peice or as a full suit. That's fine for them, and to each their own- but I really like being naked when I'm naked (I say this phrase quite a lot) and this is why all my tattoos are visible when I am dressed. This is why I started getting tattooed on my neck (!) and forearms (!) FIRST (much to the chagrin of my parents). I value nudity. Eventually I will have some tattoos that will be under clothes most of the time, but certain things I want to keep bare, like my lower legs.
I also value the way my tattoos look upon me as others see me everday. I want them to be a part of how I am expressing myself to the outside world. They are an homage to the art and the people that I love. With every tattoo I have gotten I feel like I look MORE like myself.

I also look very "sweet"* so my tattoos add to my love of contradiction. They get people to examine their own perceptions of what a heavily tattooed person would look like, act like, etc. It's been my experience that I am NOT what is expected. I like the contrast of my tattoos with my dresses and maryjane shoes and flowers in my hair. It keeps me honest. It's a kind of rebellion, but one that is very sincerely thought-out, and not in malice at all.

MUSIC!!!!!!!!!

Oh my God I can't stop listening to the new Andrew Bird. (But I must! I have limited myself to twice a week, so I don't stop hearing it.) It's orchestral and chiming and clattering and melodic. It builds, then releases. He is apparently a one-man band. He has a lovely voice and his album design is also pretty kickass. Do you like The Arcade Fire and John Vanderslice? Do you like lyrics about ancient sea slugs and Waves of Dark Matter? Then go buy Armchair Apokrypha. I obviously can't use enough exclaimation points to be able to communicate this.

I really like the new Feist. I just wish she was ugly**. hehe.
It's not fair that she lives in Paris and has a bone-structure like that and vocal chords that can do THAT and is a great songwriter to boot. The album is called The Reminder, and my surly indie-record-store clerk of a brother is uttering a sincerely-dissapointed and "over it" sigh right now, somewhere on the other side of town.

This might also be really uncool, but The Cold War Kids are GREAT. Their album kicks ass and the singer has an almost over-the-top desperate note in his voice, that may almost be gay (and therefore GREAT!), but then he sings a song that sounds like an old black spiritual, and it totally works for that too. Woah. I like the lyrics and they rock out quite fabulously. I don't even know what they or their album (Robbers and Thieves) looks like. Maybe I shouldn't look. I was sort of bummed when Silversun Pickups released an album poster with their faces on it. I was content imagining them as a teenage family band of blond incestuous opiated mid-90's basement punks. Who live entirely on sunshine and cigarettes. By the way, go buy "Carnavas" (awesome cover art on that one, and the font is rad too!) or "Pikul". YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED!!

###I gave in and looked up The Cold War Kids. They are younger than I expected, and now I believe that they actually were born during the Cold War and it is not just a cute band name. I am also very much more in love with them than before, mainly because of the well-written and funny tour diary and their uncomfortable photograph faces (and funny hats).

An excerpt from the tour diary:

6-26
What do you know about Glastonbury? That it was began by druids on a
farm spanning 10 miles? That 160 thousand people are there camping in
mud that creeps halfway up your shins? We knew none of this. It goes
without saying that people here are crazy. It’s mob mentality. People
can’t really enjoy this. It’s a tradition thing. They know that they are
supposed to enjoy it, so they follow suit. There was one guy that was walking
by us wearing a shark fin on his back doing a genuine breaststroke and
the look in his black and sunken eyes convinced me that he had been out
to sea in his mind too long. We tried to get away from the mud and get
some sleep in a little tent on top of wooden picnic benches. But we found
no solace. And no Winehouse, either.
But we did discover Seasick Steve. He was playing before us at the Q
party. Seasick Steve is a tough looking man (eagle and sailboat
forearm tattoos, big ole white beard) from the U.S. South, aged about
55. He plays guitars with an average of 3 strings and his songs are
pretty terrific stories.
On his day off in South London, Maust become quite the gin snob
after his super elite and private tour of the Beefeater distillery In case
you want to walk by, it’s the Vauxhall tube station.

And now my next act will be....SLEEPING!!!






* and I am....;)

** I take it back, Feist is Canadian, and therefore awesome and deserving of beauty;)

****A man who is unafraid of tattooing himself is David Allen. He has a blog I have been following for a while, about being an apprentice, and with his passion for the craft and attention for detail, he is already becoming an AMAZING tattoo artist. He's very inspired by Classical artwork too, and you should doubly check it out if you like that.

Slim Cessna's Auto Club at 12 Galaxies

It's four in the morning,
the begining of July,
I'm writing you now because I just had my ass kicked by Slim Cessna's Auto Club,
Davis is fucking hot,
but I like where I'm living,
there's music in the city (and it's about an hour away)....

No really, My face turned bright red and I was covered in sweat. Jesse and Jordan and I drove down, and man, did those boys look sharp! Jesse wore a vest and a cowboy hat and Jordan tucked his sparkly Western shirt in! They said that it was "a life changing experience". What a great musical show.

Michelle and O met us there and danced/went in the pit (Orion!!). A huge man fell on me and I ended up with my forehead smashed on the stage. I will have bruises. I may drive to Santa Cruz to see them tomorrow too......

I'm deaf though, so that may prove hard.

Such a Lucky Girl

So not many people, I assume, have an entire EP written about how they immolated the heart, soul and life of their first love.

I do.

Every song contains pesonal references, and things I would say or said, horrible things I did...and it ROCKS. Despite the cruel memories brought up by the lyrics, I cannot help but sing along to every song, because Sin In Space were such an epic good band.

And now you can download the EP for free here:

http://www.sininspace.com/stuff/

I was so happy, since I thought these songs were gone forever (which ads such an air of tragedy to the band too; so much promise, so much crash and burn...and because of ME! .......... that was sarcasm)
I just listened to it twice over, and though some of the songs don't live up to the live version's bombast and emotional rollercoaster ride, there are also some great new additions.

Look, you can buy the first album for two dollers on Amazon!

Read the cutomer reviews!