Icelandic Streams.

-  Just listened to the entirety of this:

Not sure if it’s the band’s best album, but for me personally one of my favorites.  RED brings the equal parts progressive Metal (before it existed) and experimental/free Jazz together, which is both stunning and shocking but surprisingly smooth on the ear holes.  Course, a whole bucket full of ingredients are sprinkled in — it wouldn’t be King Crimson without that bucket — but to a lesser extent than the Jazz/Metal elements (mainly Electronica; there’s definitely synths on RED, but they’re only adding color, not driving the approach).

-  Rolling Stone has the new BRONX record streaming in full.  It’s just called “IV”.  It’s definitely a blast to listen to, and you’ll want to jump around… but the pure, unadulterated rage of their first few albums isn’t quite there.  And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it depends on your perspective I suppose.  Plus, you’ve gotta look at where they’re coming from: they’re a bit older, some of them probably have kids, etc.  But running through it, you do get the feeling that there will not be a track titled “Shitty Future”.  Still great to hear a new Bronx record though.

-  I’m more than a bit disappointed that Duncan Jones got the Warcraft directing gig and not some other, more prized, pop cultural property [cough... EP SEVEN... cough, cough].  Still though, I am very happy for the guy.  He’s got chops, and it’s nice to see a bit more of a subtle filmmaker get a big gig rather than an over the top, every camera trick in the bag, in your face style filmmaker.  And who knows, maybe he’ll create a really cool, other-worldly but oddly real adaptation of the world WoW exists in?

-  I am firmly on the side of New Avengers over Hickman’s regular Avengers title.  A bunch of people spoke of how boring the second issue was because it was a bunch of guys sitting around a table talking.  That may be true, but when the “bunch of guys” are the some of the best minds on the planet and they’re discussing how to approach a problem even they can only vaguely begin to comprehend — and it’s written really, really well — that sounds mighty interesting to me.

-  Speaking of, I should probably do some comic reviews one of these days.

-  Newest Game Of Thrones video blog thingy (from Iceland):

-Sonny

Cool Jazz, Theater Dreams.

-  COFFFFEEE!!  It’s been a minute since I’ve been here.

-  Last night I had this amazing dream about my wife and I.  It kinda felt like a second honeymoon.  We were in this very 21st Century, borderline futuristic city… like Tokyo looking.  Except it wasn’t Tokyo because there was an abundance of white people and everyone spoke with a vague European accent.  Let’s just call it 2064 Kiev.  But we were frolicking through this city from a home-base of this beautiful penthouse.  We went to see this band play in an underground club.  Somehow we got to dancing at the side of the stage then the band invited us up to dance on stage and sing backup for the rest of the show.  After the show we went back to our place and got up onto the roof.  There was a small, traditional movie theater across the alley from us.  Even with the neons of the city the stars burned bright.  I found a piece of wood we used to walk across and get onto the theater roof.  We made our way inside and found the projection room.  We dug through reels and reels of film until we found an old, dusty copy of Inglorious Basterds (so yes, this must be a future occurrence).  I put it on the 35mm projector and got it working.  We brewed up some popcorn and watched the film all by ourselves in this tiny, historic theater.  Balcony and all.  When it was over we put the reels back how they were and darted out to the rooftop.  The sun was just coming up.

But enough about me.

-  The Longest Hunger Strike by Ann Neumann

“They came for him on October 23, 2008. Eight medical staff, corrections officers, and guards took William Coleman out of his solitary cell, down a bright hall, and into a medical examination room. The officers stood guard outside while a medical internist told Coleman to get on the vinyl-covered examination table. They were going to feed him. Coleman told them he did not want to be fed. But they weren’t asking for his consent; he had no choice.

It had been more than a year since Coleman had chewed anything.

He’s not suicidal; he’s in prison for something he says he didn’t do. Like 2.2 million people incarcerated in prisons and jails in the U.S., his body is not his own. The only way for him to protest his conviction, to exercise his first amendment rights, he says, is to stop eating solid food.”

-  ARTIST OF THE DAY:  Amélie Fléchais:

-  Cool Jazz and Cold War.

“In 1956, with the guiding support of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the U.S. Department of State sent the nation’s finest jazz musicians abroad as goodwill representatives in a conscious effort to symbolize America’s commitment to freedom. The Jazz Ambassadors program was launched at the bitterest point in the Cold War to bring the best of American culture to the rest of the world. The program not only focused on Iron Curtain nations but also the Third World, where many developing countries were exploring Marxism as a possible political identity. The first Jazz Ambassador was trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and two years later Brubeck joined the ranks that would eventually include Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Benny Goodman and Miles Davis. These musicians reached audiences in the millions, not only performing but also meeting with heads of state as well as thousands of everyday citizens through the international language of music.”

I can’t help but think this would never be something we’d invest in today’s world.  Even with a surplus.

-Sonny

 

Raise The Barnaby.

-  John from Baroness posted a really great journal entry/message to fans on the band’s website this week.  It talks about his rehabilitation after their harrowing bus accident in Europe, and his absolute need to make music again:

“i’ve tried to fill my weekly routine with as much physical therapy as possible but the truth is, PT is not fun, and its benefits come with a great deal of mental/physical/spiritual pain and struggle. furthermore, i believe am getting a touch of Stockholm syndrome when it comes to my doctors and therapists (the highlight of my week should NOT involve a clinic). music might be the best therapy i have right now. perhaps it’s both the cause and the cure (the thought has crossed my mind); but i feel lost without it. Pete and i have just spent a long week surveying our musical wreckage and, surprisingly, we are quite well and intact. sure, there’s some substantial obstacles to overcome before we write, record or perform any time soon; but we still have everything we need to get “back in” that particular “saddle again”.

-  I’m no business major/economics major, but I would assume if your stock drops three months in a row leading up to Christmas/End of the Year you’re in trouble.

-  WHY AM I JUST NOW DISCOVERING BARNABY WARD?!?  Holy holy:

-  “Raise the Black Lantern”… The label I’m on — Black Lantern Music — has just released a 50 track compilation album from it’s first slew of  releases.  It’s wonderful.  There’s so much good music and artists, I’m just glad I’m involved.  GO HERE to get the album.  Donations welcome.  This is the cover:

I’m taking a holiday break.  See you — anyone who reads this — soonish.

-Sonny

2012 Tunage.

[DISCLAIMER:  This is not a "Best Albums of 2012" list.  Rather a list of my favorite albums of the year.  And it was a lot longer but I've whittled it down substantially.  It was a good year for me.]

Baroness -  Yellow & Green

Baroness became one of my favorite Metal bands when they validated their debut with the beautiful “Blue Album”.  “Yellow & Green” takes the litany of influences to another level, stirring all sorts of ingredients together to make a pretty, if haunting, “metal” album.

Local H -  Hallelujah! I’m a Bum 

Lyrically, musically, and thematically, this is the record Scott Lucas has been itching to make for possibly the entirety of his career.  Hopeful, pessimistic, and very Chicagoan, “I’m A Bum” reaches down into its guts and heart to rip out an outburst of understated political criticism.

Brother Ali -  Mourning In America, Dreaming In Colour

Similar to Local H’s album in many, many ways, Ali returns to the full-length after the all too happy “Us” with a scathing critique of the American political process with one finger always on the button of hope.  Probably the most apt title of the year.

JJ DOOM – Keys To The Kuffs

MF Doom – or whatever he’s calling himself now – collabs with one Jnerio Jarel to present a sound that hearkens back to his Madvillain days with a slight tinge of Electronica to boot.  The bizarre and compelling backstory behind the making of this album, and the themes, is as interesting as the sound it inspired.

El-P – Cancer For Cure 

After yet another five year break between solo records, El-P’s newest album is definitely his most accessible: heavy, catchy, conceptual without being taking it too far.  His production and lyrics are both the stars, with the former tackling complex synth based beats and the latter walking further down the tracks of 21^st Century alienation and paranoia.

P.O.S. – We Don’t Even Live Here

This is the most non-political political album of the last five years.  Though you wouldn’t know it from the reviews, the message is simple: free yourself from a system that doesn’t work for you, doesn’t accept you, or both.  Production and appearances from German techno dudes to Justin Vernon to Ryan Olson keep things very, very interesting.

Aesop Rock – Skelethon 

It took Aesop Rock over a decade to finally trust his chops enough to make an album with all his own beats; the result is the most personalized and soulful record of his career.  His trademark high-concept lyricism is in full effect, but it feels like the imagery and metaphors are pulled straight from the last 5 years of his life.

Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes

Steven Ellison continues his acclaimed, multi-genre discography with a wonderful, mysterious 15 track album grounded in where it came from but still forging ahead without inhibitions of any kind.  The features are spot on with the likes of Thom Yorke and Erykah Badu lending vocals.

Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city

Mainstream Rap music takes a huge step forward this year with Kendrick’s proper debut LP, a concept album about growing up in Compton under the shadow of previous West Coast Hip-Hop and the underbelly that comes with it, both metaphorically and literally.  The final step in Rap music entering the 21^st Century, and growing up.

Swans – The Seer

There’s a reason why this punk/hardcore/??? band’s 2 hour-ish magnum opus has been making list after list of late… it is one bold, massive, go for the throat piece of work that rewards listeners for repeated listens and just simply getting to the end.  This is what happens when rules and limitations go out the window: the results are often stunning and powerful.

Death Grips – The Money Store/No Love Deep Web

A tie for the most anti-corporate band’s two albums of 2012 because, really, they work in conjunction.  Together, “The Money Store” and “No Love Deep Web” form an admirable and poignant story about the limits of control, capitalism, and the record business in the second decade of the 21^st Century.

Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music

I don’t know about everyone else, but for me there was a fear that El-P’s beats would overshadow the veteran Atlanta rapper’s rhymes on the Adult Swim sponsored “R.A.P. Music”.  That didn’t happen.  As it turns out Killer Mike keeps pace with the heavy, heavy production and maybe even surpasses it.  The best album of his career by far.

Grimes – Visions

Clair Boucher – better known as Grimes – is a one woman wrecking crew of ethereal, primal, yet futuristic witch house that will bite at your soul while making you want to dance.  “Visions” takes her looping and overlaying style to a whole new degree: at times there are 4 or 5 Clairs singing in conjunction to form 13 fresh and undistinguishable Electro tracks.

Dan Deacon – America

Nowhere else is it more clear that Dan Deacon studied electo-acoustic and computer music composition than on “America”, an album that encompasses everything Dan Deacon does to its absolute best form.  The hearty, thick analog sounds are here, as are the intricately laced runs of synth scales.  Awesome record.

Purity Ring – Shrines

Another Canadian outfit, this time from the East (Montreal), presents to the world a very, very good debut that sparkles and shimmers even amongst a whole lot of good 2012 Electro albums from seasoned veterans of the genre.  Really hope this 21 and 24 year old stay together and keep making music for years to come.

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Cobra Juicy 

I’ve introduced Black Moth Super Rainbow to as many people as I can.  And for good reason, there’s really nothing out there like them… even in a year so influenced by the sound they’ve pioneered.  “Cobra Juicy” sees the band getting a little less dreamy and trippy and a little more dancey.

The Bad Plus – Made Possible      

Why I still haven’t seen the Twin Cities best modern Jazz trio I do not know; but The Bad Plus are players to be reckoned with, each of these guys get a 10 on skill alone.  Which can often overshadow soul, but “Made Possible” serves up both.  And in spirit of democracy ([laughter]) each member gets a chance to write multiple tracks.

Gary Clark, Jr. – Blak and Blu 

This guy keeps getting anointed as some iteration of “best new artist”, which is a little deceptive: he’s been recording officially since 2004.  And there’s lots of bluesmen out there, few invigorate their brand of tunes with such energy and variety.  At least not lately.  But even calling this album “blues” paints it into a corner it doesn’t sit it for too long at a time.

Robert Glasper Experiement – Black Radio   

“Black Radio” is my biggest surprise of the year.  Previously to it I only had briefly heard Glasper’s name barely in passing.  The ringleader and his amazing band though make modern Jazz as cool as any other type of music the kids may or may not be listening to.  It doesn’t hurt that the album features one of the best (and strangest) Nirvana covers I’ve ever heard.

Polica – Give You The Ghost    

Hype can be a bit of a problem sometimes.  This Minneapolis band began garnering hype for their debut long before its release.  Deserved or not… it’s hard to deny the uniqueness of Polica’s sound.  Ryan Olson’s synths and Chaney’s processed vocals over one hell of a rhythm section is, if anything, just damn entertaining to listen to.

How To Destroy Angels -  An omen_EP

As hard as it is for me to include this album due to it feeling like a short and sweet prelude to some other great piece of work further down the line, it’s still the best thing Reznor and co. have done yet.  And I know this might be hard to read, it’s certainly hard to write… I think I like How To Destroy Angels’ sound better than NIN.  Gods forgive me.

A Place To Bury Strangers – Worship

A Place Bury Strangers suffers from that all too often affliction of lavish praise upon debut, only to have those heaping on the praise forget about you and move onto the next hot new band.  It’s a shame because “Worship” takes everything them made them so dangerous before and adds all kinds of new dynamics and layers.

Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself  

I’ve only gotten into Andrew Bird lately and boy is it overwhelming trying to catch up.  His discography, like his arrangements, is fairly daunting.  But with Andrew Bird – and the band he’s assembled for “Break It Yourself”, including a couple of my favorite MN instrumentalists – the amount of work you put in is far surpassed by what you get out of it.

Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…    

Fiona Apple remains to this day a curious case of semi-successful independent musicianship.  Not many late 90’s chart toppers are willing to name their newest album using 23 words, or craft the types of songs that appear on “Idler Wheel”.  These are bizarre and quirky tracks, but would you expect or want anything less from her?

Guided By Voices – Let’s Go Eat The Factory

So Guided By Voices released a boatload of music this year: 3 LPs, all featuring 20-ish tracks.  It was a little difficult picking which one.  The other two are good, and GBV is one of those bands whose quality remains very, very consistent.  But “Let’s Go Eat the Factory” saw their return from an almost 10 year hiatus.  And Robert Pollard and co. came back with the hunger of a band in their 20’s.

Matthew Dear – Beams          

Matthew Dear has been making Electronic music for over 10 years, and a lot of it is really good.  But it feels like on “Beams” he finally found his creative sweet spot.  The music is comfortable in its own skin: confident but perhaps a bit shy at the same time.  And this album perhaps has some of the best lyrics of the year.

Blut Aus Nord – 777: Cosmosophy      

This French black metal band (with a German name) ends its “777” trilogy in stunning fashion with an almost ambient take on the genre.  While so many other metal bands, particularly this brand of metal, limit themselves within the confines of what “metal” is, Blut Aus Nord branches out beyond the borders and the results are awe-inspiring, majestic, and very beautiful.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill

It’s hard not to applaud the aspirations – or maybe balls – of a record that opens with a half-hour track of 70’s jam band psychedelica about those very days some 40 years ago.  Normally I’m weary of nostalgia in almost all its forms, but “Psychedelic Pill” brings it in droves and you will find yourself thinking, “Damn I wish it was 1972 right now”.

-SonnyW.

Rockfort Gaming.

-  I’ve now got a SModcast app on my phone after enjoying having WTF! W/ Marc Maron on my phone for a few days.  They’re really nice things to have access to in your pocket, eh?  I wasn’t aware of this, but the “SModcast” network (Kevin Smith and friends, for those who don’t know/click/Google) features a whole slew of podcasts with and without Kevin Smith, some about comics and some not.  There’s one that still gets released on a relatively regular schedule called “The Breaks”, wherein a DJ Smith knows veers into all sorts of different territory but manages to always talk music and spinning records.

Course now that I’ve got this on my phone I should probably get a Ray Kurzweil podcast or something to balance out the Universe.

-  With PS Store redeem codes I received as a birthday gift, I downloaded Journey, Braid, and The Walking Dead yesterday.  Cheap games… 15, 15, and 20 respectfully.  I only briefly played Journey last night, and it seems spectacular: artistic, intuitive, graceful, unique as all hell.  It’s going to be really nice to have a break from people sending me nasty messages after I play them in NHL 12.

-  Last night I was racking my brain trying to wrap it around the concept for my next proper LP.  It will be based on the most transformative part of my life (so far).  I want the album to go through the journey of what I went through; this could get a little painful as particular memories are brought up, but hopefully the good memories outweigh the bad.  And they do.  Musically, I guess I would like to move a little bit back towards the more sample-based sound of two albums ago.  My last album (I don’t know who I’m talking to, if anyone, so I’m gonna assume you have not heard it; which I’m totally cool with) went a bit more instrumentation based, with sort of complex arrangements mixed in with breakbeats.  It was less about the beats and samples, and more about the instrumentation/arrangements.  I want a mix of the two, of course, but this last time I used samples to compliment the synths and guitar lines I was writing, I’d like to flip that.  Also, THIS BAND.  Very inspiring.  Seemingly unconnected and obtuse samples tied together through synths and other original instrumentation to form a cohesive whole.  Also, apparently, Japanese music.  Like, classical Japanese music.

-  I should probably read anything Warren Ellis says is this good.

-  PHOTO OF THE DAY:  (Rockfort, India… from NatGeo)

 

-Sonny

WTF, Southtown Girls.

-  The new WTF with Marc Maron Podcastis just spectacular.  It is episode 336, in which Maron interviews the infamous filmmaker Todd Solondz.  Solondz’s latest film is called Dark Horse.  The film is discussed extensively along with Solondz’s career and upbringing, how the former employs the latter.  It’s really interesting to hear an extensive interview with the man (even though for a WTF interview it’s a bit short), I don’t know if I’ve heard him speak for more than a few minutes before.  Marc Maron is spot on as always, asking just the right questions you’d like to hear the answers to while simultaneously maintaining humor and intelligence and that everyman quality.

-  Surely there’s no way Wayne Coyne actually had a grenade at the airport, right?  Like, a real fucking grenade??

-  I’m seeing The Hold Steady Saturday and have been looking up videos of them from 2012 this morning.  Here’s a good one from “Rock The Garden” (especially cause a lot of these landmarks are a stone’s throw away from where they’re performing):

-  Art Under Austerity is a very interesting look at current austerity measures in Spain, as viewed from the scope of where the country has been and is going.

These unexpected points of contact between extremes in a famously polarized country suggest a growing post-ideological unanimity, unprecedented and still unfathomable. The wide social and generational range of those who have come out to march against a Europe ruled by Big Finance, and for a new Constituent Assembly in Spain, reflects the creep of an almost revolutionary radicalism. Even a pair of policemen assured me that 90 percent of the force, as “individuals in society,” would willingly have joined the “Surround Congress” demonstration last September. Until now there have been no counter-demonstrations by right-wing ultras, and not a glimmer of Greece’s party Golden Dawn.

 

-Sonny

Tom Sawyering the Corps.

-  Last night I made the mistake of beginning to watch the Lance Bangs Pavement documentary “Slow Century”.  A mistake because I should have known it would’ve been too fascinating to turn off, no matter how late the hours got.  If you’ve got the time, here it is:

-  Sage Francis has resurrected the Tumblr Hello There, Racists after an apparent shut down.  I think it’s outrageous to say it isn’t fair to publicly chastise these people, knowing full well that Twitter and Facebook are publicly viewed domains (they’re basically the 21st Century “public square”).  It also serves to remind us of some very important things, two of which: you’re not invisible on the Internet, and if you want to say outrageous shit you’d better damn well be posting anonymously (then again anyone with half a brain can trace an IP address), and yes… racism definitely still exists.  Some of this shit is just disgusting.

-  Very interesting article, that very well might go over your head a little (went over mine at least), on the nature of dark energy.  Is it static or dynamic in its existence.  If it’s dynamic… yeesh, the philosophical implications of such a thing are astronomical; a form of matter whose density and composition and structure changes as it shifts though space time??

While hypothesized dark energy can explain observations of the universe expanding at an accelerating rate, the specific properties of dark energy are still an enigma. Scientists think that dark energy could take one of two forms: a static cosmological constant that is homogenous over time and space, or a dynamical entity whose energy density changes in time and space. By examining data from a variety of experiments, scientists in a new study have developed a model that provides tantalizing hints that dark energy may be dynamic.

The results are still far from conclusive, but the scientists hope that future data might narrow down the models with greater accuracy. They hope that observations by the Planck spacecraft (launched in 2009; first data available in April 2013) and the Euclid spacecraft (launch date is 2019) could help pinpoint the dark energy models that most closely describe our expanding universe.

-  Great piece of street art (graffiti, if you prefer that term; I really could care less what it’s called) from GOIN, who I believe works out of the UK:

-Sonny

Dylan At The Xcel, 11/7/12.

Last night I had the opportunity to go and see the legend of Minnesota music legends, the spiritual successor to Woody Guthrie (Arlo not withstanding), Bob Dylan.  Bob Zimmerman.  Robert Milkwood.  Whatever you wanna call him.  He lived up to that status.  His presence was definitely felt from front to back, and he seemed glad to be in his (original) home.

My cousin who I was with hit it right on the head when he said, “he’s no nostalgia act, is he?”.  Suffice it to say after having trouble getting to our seats on the floor due to sheer volume of people, I think the entire row ahead of us emptied after about 3 songs.  It went from claustrophobic feeling to just plain bare.  I should make it clear that I was told (“warned” seems like too strong of language) what a modern Bob Dylan show was going to be like from several people before going.  I knew what I was in for; that being said, I honestly think I still would have the same reaction had I not been aware of the style in which Dylan and his always marvelous backing band present some of the best songs of the 20th Century.  I would.  Cause I was fairly baffled when I heard people complaining about it for the first time, it seemed a little unjustified.  Here’s the deal: none of the songs are very recognizable, especially to an untrained ear (musically, that is).  Sure… if you know the lyrics to Bob Dylan songs you’ll figure it out, or if you can recognize a key instantly you definitely will.  But if you have neither of things you damn well better be going into the venue with an open mind or you will be disappointed.  From the look if it, this happens at his shows with some regularity.  Which is such a shame.  If you do go in with an open mind, you concede to him that he’s the artist and you’re the patron, you will be in for a very memorable experience.

This was the first time I had seen him, so this could be all in my head… but he felt particularly loose last night.  Spry I would even say.  There were numerous times where he was playing the piano, getting more fidgety and fidgety until he finally had to pop up off his bench, grab a harmonica and walk to the front of the stage to jam.  Indeed some of the best moments of the night were songs that Bob was not playing an instrument during, waltzing around the stage and pointing at his metaphors and imagery before delving into another harmonica solo.  Now I know where Craig Finn gets his swagger from.  His voice was surprisingly good.  Again though, I’m well aware of how his voice has changed with 50 some odd years of cigarettes and red wine under the weight of being “a generation’s spokesperson”.  That kind of thing has got to wear on you.  Like the song rearrangements though, if you think his voice is gonna sound the way it does in the 60s or 70s, you will be dissatisfied.  But I thought he sounded great, and dare I say a little bit cooler with the now trademark rasp.  On “Tangled Up In Blue” for example, the long drawn-out words before the chorus hits he didn’t attempt, but he hit the chorus notes pretty well.  But he’s a story teller; he’s at his best when he’s rambling on about Highway 61 or not fitting into anywhere you go.  “Ballad of A Thin Man” was one of my highlights of the night: the band played a pretty heavy version of the song and Bob seemed to really be feeling the lyrics (this was one of the songs he walked around to).  That song — an indictment of the establishment from a confused anti-hero who, no matter what he does (including read all of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books) cannot seem to become accepted by society — ironically probably feels as personal to him in 2012 as it did in 1965.  Add to that the irony of some people wanting to hear that song the way it sounded in 1965, and thinking this old version of Dylan is just too weird to enjoy, and you’ve got accidental (or perhaps intentional) brilliance.

Before the single-song encore of “Blowin’ In The Wind” (a version I didn’t even recognize initially), Dylan and co. played two of his most famous songs back to back: “Like A Rolling Stone” and “All Along The Watchtower”.  It was a great one-two punch.  I had heard previously a version of “Like A Rolling Stone” from earlier this year (I think from Europe gig?), so that song wasn’t too much of a surprise.  And actually they don’t change it all that much, not comparatively to some of the other material.  But the rendition “All Along The Watchtower” was amazing.  Carefree, bluesy, even with a little snarl and attitude for good measure.

This may have been my last chance to see Dylan, and boy am I glad I did.  He’s easily one of the greatest song writers — or maybe poets — of all time.

-Sonny

Two New Releases and Improving Reality.

-  Warren Ellis at a conference on “how to improve reality” (I might have to sample this for a song…):

-  I finally got through Neil Young and Crazy Horse‘ new album “Psychadelic Pill“.

I think I would need to listen to the album again in its entirety — which is a quite a job — to really say how much I like or dislike like it.  So I’m categorizing this under the “upon first listen” thoughts.  Which can, and do, change.  I’ve been up to date with Neil Young’s modern material since 2003′s “Greendale”, having listened to all his albums since then.  And I like most of them.  Fork In The Road was probably the weakest of the batch, followed by the ground shaking Le Noise (which, in a strange bit of artistic freedom, featured little to no percussion).  So new Neil Young, or old for that matter, is nothing new to me.  Hearing him with Crazy Horse in the world of cellphones and private space companies, however, is.  Turns out Americana was just rehearsal for the big dance.  They’re really bringing out the big (epic, long, operatic, etc) guns for this album.  And that world of cell phones and nano-tech is not something Mr. Young wants to be a part of; he sings on the 30 minute opener, “When you hear my song now, you only get 5 percent, you used to get it all… I’m driftin’ back”.  The instrumentation is a little nostalgic too, with the band hearkening back to their 70′s days of drawn-out freeform jams, mic’ed 30-watt amps, and that vinyl, analog sound.  It feels good on the ears (even if it feels a little strange when just a few years ago Young made an album about retro-fitting his classic car(s) with enough modern tech to free them from gasoline), and it’s sometimes nice to hear the legends crave the old days.

-  Then you’ve got Kendrick Lamar’s debut full-length which deserves most of the credit it’s getting.

This is probably the strongest Rap debut we’ve had in some time.  I use the term “Rap” deliberately.  The production is rock solid, rarely missing the mark.  And the slate of producers, besides perhaps Just Blaze, are a little bit off-kilter compared to the sometimes predictable melody makers of 21st Century mainstream Hip-Hop.  I always like Pharrell’s beats, and I almost wish he’d do an entire album for a guy like Kendrick.  And what of Kendrick himself?  He lives up to the hype.  Well, most of it.  A lot of the these lines are really thought provoking, more than what Top 40 Rap was giving us in the hey-day of materialism Rap, when the illustrious 50 Cent album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” was the big anticipated album of the moment.  Those days are gone, thank God.  And Kendrick Lamar, along with a whole slew of new-ish rappers, are taking mainstream Rap into the 21st Century (finally) with equal parts style and substance.  It’s nice to see.  What this album is not, is “Illmatic”.  This is not an “instant classic”.  It might become a classic one day, but it’s not instant.  In fact, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City might suffer a little bit from Dark Knight syndrome: levels of anticipation so off the charts there’s absolutely no way it can live up them.  Which is too bad.  This album isn’t breaking down any walls, it’s not shattering the paradigm Rap music exists in as it stands, but it is solid.  And it’s the best mainstream Rap has been (w/ a few notable exceptions) in quite some time.

-Sonny

Neuroposter Mask.

-  So Disney bought Star Wars.  If you don’t know.  Which is… meh.  I mean, I’m not like a huge Star Wars fanboy or anything so I don’t have to strong of feelings either way.  I do, like 80% of humans, love the old Star Wars movies; and I do, like 85% of humans, hate the new ones.  From what I’m reading from people who know a lot about this stuff, there are novels that act as the official “post-Original Trilogy” story.  Something to do with Han and Leia’s kids, Luke running a new Jedi order, and the resurgence of the Empire and the Sith.  This could be decent I suppose.  The problem with the new ones — and I’m sure this has been written about extensively — is the fear of treading new ground.  This notion that they had to fall back on the old ones to be good.  You can see that in everything from the bizarre and wacky coincidences written into the story, the way the ships are designed, even the way Palatine was scarred to look like a shitty Halloween costume of himself in Jedi.  As long as they don’t do any of that, and focus on a new story, new characters, new designs, they should be alright I hope.

[But hey, I'm one of like 3 million assholes writing my opinions on the Internet about this so what the fuck do I know?]

Brendon over at BleedingCool seems to think he’s courting Hamill and Fisher about being in them… this sounds risky.

-  William Gibson’s seminal novel Neuromancer is being turned into a film as we speak.  Little is known about the project.  The IMDB page is empty, to say the least.  Liam Neeson’s name is on the cast, which may or may not be true, but sounds awesome.  If you don’t know about the novel it’s one of the best science fiction novels of all-time.  It started the genre we call “cyberpunk”.  It also featured characters “jacking into” the Internet which was obviously directly lifted for The Matrix movies.  Anyways, here’s a new poster (the first):

-  A Rioter’s Prayer: Pussy Riot’s Yekaterina Samutsevich on protest, art, and freedom.

I have the impression that this is the opinion the government wants to impose on people, their way of opposing the situation. I think that when a person goes somewhere, she reflects, she thinks about where she is going and why, because she is using her time and energy. It’s a conscious choice. I don’t go to a demonstration because it’s cool. It isn’t at all cool to go to demonstrations today. The forces of order are nearby. They can beat you up. The demonstration on May 6th proved that. Nowadays, many people find themselves behind bars solely because they went to a public demonstration.

-  Chuck Klosterman on why Fantasy Football is bad for the game (and your mental health) over at Grantland.

If I mentally transpose the words “entertaining” and “sport,” Dylan’s sentiment gets close to what I’m trying to express (and what I want to feel, but can’t). There was a time when I watched football in order to not think about my day-to-day life, but fantasy sports slowly changed that — in fact, my affinity for fantasy only makes it worse. I turn the players I draft into tiny parts of my life, which stops me from remembering that they have no relationship whatsoever to who I am. It makes me unconsciously think of them as extensions of myself. And I wonder if this is more problematic than I want to accept. Do I have any right to get angry at Chris Johnson? Does anyone?

-  The Trouble With The Mask.  Great op-Ed on the inherent problems with the new Joker in Batman and featuring a brilliant Bukowski quote.

-Sonny