yes we can… MOVE THE ISLAND!
I’m listening to Tommy right now, on vinyl for the first time. It’s great listening to something so familiar with new ears, in a new context. The way records are broken up over sides is fascinating to me. Here, so far, each side begins and ends with a bang. Like, a real one. It goes BERRONNNGG!! Each side as it’s own little exploratory/psychedelic part and it’s pop song part and it’s bluesy/r&b part. I’m in the middle of “Underture” right now, which never felt so important on CD, but feels awesome here closing out the second side. I love the way the action of flipping a record refocuses the listener’s attention and gives a chance to think about where the record has been and where it’s going.
Being without a computer of my own has significantly changed my listening habits in a really good way. I was in a rut for a while, it was at it’s worst over the course of 2007, where I only got music from downloading albums off of album blogs other such probably-not-legal sources of mp3s. I would grab 4 or 5 albums every time I sat down, listen to them once or twice (if at all) while doing three other things. I was a lot less happy with my music and, by extension, my life. Now I’m back in the habit of taking the time to listen to things closely and repeatedly and boy howdy, I’m loving everything.
Acts who have released/will release things in 2008, that I have heard and love (in no order):
- Vampire Weekend
- Los Campesinos!
- Destroyer
- Islands
- Constantines
- She & Him
- Robyn (this is obviously cheating, considering when it came out in Europe)
- Panic at the Disco
- Lil Wayne
- Usher
- Lil Mama
- Weezer
The Constantines are probably among my top 5 currently active acts. They have a quality that most of my favorite possess: they sound like what they’re doing is incredibly important without sounding desperate to please or to influence. If every band in indie rock had half the soul and energy of this band, we’d be in the great shape of the agriculture. This is their new single off of the upcoming album Kensington Heights, which I have a hunch is great (wink).
I think it’s awesome that, as they are Canadian, 12 of their 28 announced 2008 tour dates are in Canada, including 2 nights each in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Compare that to fellow canucks the Arcade Fire, who did 12 out of 47 last year, but stuck to the big cities. I’m a sucker for populism, I guess.
Want more? Here they are playing in a hail storm. “Neither wind nor sleet nor rain will stop rock ‘n’ roll!”
Schwarzenegger
Wii
When Brenda and I move in a few weeks, DTorr (aka Punchline) is going to sell me his Wii and all his Wii games for $20. Yes!Radio Song
I’m going to be blogging about songs I hear on the radio a lot. I’m going to start with the elephant in this room that we can pop music, Usher. Like T.I. and Young Jeezy before him, Usher’s first song off the new album is slow-mo coronation music adorned with an appropriately regal and awesomely buzzy synth riff. I’ve read reviews calling it too safe, but I think they miss the point. Usher has been around long enough, and has been great long enough, that he doesn’t need to try to impress anyone. He can just let the song flow along slooow and spin off sweet little melodies, each nicer than the last. This is an artist comfortable in his talents, give you nothing but exactly what you need. Welcome back, Mr. Raymond.
On a side note, wtf the end of the video? When the Usher song ends, so does THE ENTIRE WORLD.