Category: music

I loved Ben Folds Five. I haven’t listened to any of the old albums in months because of my recent addiction to trancey techno stuff. I’m down here browsing (wondering what the hell I’m doing online at 10:50 on a Sunday evening with a splitting headache) listening to Underground, Best Imitation of Myself and their last album, with Narcolepsy and Don’t Change Your Plans (a song that reminds me of The Royal Tenenbaums for no good reason). The music is so infectiously happy without being stupid or vapid. It’s bouncy without being cliche, and intelligent without being snobbish. You can rock out to a piano, Virginia. Be proud of your White-man-rocking-underbite while you jam out, underground, underground, woooo, underground (everyone’s happy underground).

I spent today recovering from painting the guest bedroom (mostly recovering from painting the ceiling). Painting ceilings sucks. There’s no graceful way to hold a roller on a six foot pole that won’t pull every delicate muscle in your back. And only a week recovered from my neck thing, you’d think I’d take it easy. Nope, I’m Mr. McPainty-Pants.

I’m gonna go medicate and go to bed. See ya tomorrow morning, bright, early and online as usual.

How did I forget what an amazing album Radiohead‘s Amnesiac is?

I know I’ve been posting a lot of music stuff lately, but there just isn’t really much else to talk about. I’m still not used to being back to work. I’m on my vacation bedtime (after 11:30pm, before 3am), but on my work wake-up schedule (8am), and it’s messing me up. I’m sitting here with a crazy headache, dry eyes, and a knot of anger, for no apparent reason, burning in my gut. I need a nap and a cookie.

I was right yesterday. The music from the new Nissan “Line” commercials is from a song off the new Chemical Brothers album. It’s the first chorus from the song Hoops.

That song from the Levi’s commercial where the guy dives back in the harbor after his English/French dictionary is called Playground Love by Air. It’s available on the Virgin Suicides soundtrack.

Oh, and what does the girl say to him in French after he gets out of the water? “What did you forget?” Am I good or what?

And that song in the new Nissan commercials is either Fila Brazillia or from the new Chemical Brothers album. I haven’t figured it out yet, but it will come to me.

And if anyone knows what song is in the new Adidas commercial with the slugs, please let me know. It’s very cool… maybe Thievery Corporation?

Watching the Pre-season game between the Texans and Giants, I’ve seen about 6 ads for ABC’s new gimmick series, Push, Nevada. It looks like a cheap Twin Peaks ripoff with a touch of U-Turn. The only rays of hope I can see for the series is the use of Social Distortion’s cover of Ring of Fire and the presence of the excellent Jon Polito (who I’ve loved since his turn on Homicide). Not worth changing my viewing habits for, but if there’s nothing else on Thursdays at 9, I may check it out.

So, let’s say there was this bus crash. Two buses, one carrying Ladysmith Black Mambazzo and another carrying The Chieftains collide, spewing band members, instruments and voice all over the landscape. That’s pretty much what Afro Celt Sound System sounds like. I was a little wary at first, but my friend assured me I’d like them. And, what do you know, I do! It’s definitely a weird combination, but it works.

He Shoots, He Scores!!

I took my little brother (ok, he’s not that little anymore, but I’m still bigger and older) to the Thrift Store so he could look for a new monitor (in my day, there were no computer parts in thrift stores, just crap). While he was testing, I wandered the store looking for anything to keep my interest. I stumbled into a pile of CD’s, covered in dust and under some magazines. I had hit it – the Thrift Store Motherload. My other brother and I used to wander the pawn shops and thrift stores of Mississippi in search of the fabled Motherload – that secret stash of amazing music (or comic books at the time) that the owner is oblivious to the value of. We found many. I am sorely out of practice, and haven’t gone out looking for the sweet vein of value in a long time.

But here, I had stumbled into it. I got:

• Orbital – Sides: It has one of the greatest “I’m a spy” songs ever on it.
• Loop Guru – Amrita: Not sure what it is, but it was stuck between Orbital and…
• Jesus Jones – Doubt: Who doesn’t need a copy of Right Here, Right Now? I have no idea when it will come in useful, but I know it will pay off one day.
• Orb – Orbus Terrarum: The Orb are the same group that did the Little Fluffy Clouds song from the VW commercial.
• Live! In Concert: An Alligator Records collection of live stuff. It has a bunch of stuff from the amazing Koko Taylor who I saw live a couple times in Tucson.

It was a small vein, but it was just enough of a reminder to bring back all those memories of muggy summer days in our crappy Cavalier, wandering the countryside in search of cheap treasures.

I’ve been listening to a lot of The Police lately. Man in a Suitcase is my new favorite song. The live version from their boxed set is one of the greatest happy depressing songs ever. Before Sting went all new age hippy, they were one of the world’s greatest ska bands. Sting, what happened to you?

The Big Roundup – Part One

Friday Night

Jen and I went to see No Doubt at the Charles E. Smith Center on the GW campus. We took a bus from the Park and Ride in Herndon, and then the Metro to Foggy Bottom. It was a surprisingly easy trip, and we got in and found our seats at 8 sharp (like I had planned it that way or something – of course I hadn’t). The people watching was amazing. We were three rows up from the main thoroughfare to the floor seats and we got a good look at pretty much everyone in attendance. They all filed past at one point or another. The audience broke down like so:

• 65% MTV TRL Pre-teen – 25 year-old girls, all with Destiny’s Child single strap tops or variations on the belly shirt. After a while, it became crystal clear that there are people in this world who were meant to wear these shirts, and those who weren’t. 90% of the people wearing them shouldn’t have been.
• 20% Frat Boys of various clothing schemes, mostly checking out the 65% listed above
• 5% Parents of the pre-teen audience
• 10% Old-School No Doubt fans aging from mid-20’s up to mid-fifites (maybe older). This was the group we were in.

The opening act, The Fate, was horrible. They want so much to be Rock Stars and fail completely. They have every rock band cliche. They have the Jim Morrison / Robert Smith wannabe frontman saying stupid things in ridiculous poses trying to make everyone think he’s sexy. You have the guitar playing flinging his floppy hair like one of the Ramone’s third cousins, and the keyboardist dry humping his instruments every time is has to play one of his three chords. They were not well received. Jen summed it up best, “Why didn’t they get a good old school ska band to open for them?”

Thankfully, No Doubt came out later and took care of the rocking. They were amazing. I’d never seen them before, and was never a really big fan before this. They put on an amazing show. Gwen Stefani is a god. She has the whole “I’m sexy, but can rock” thing to the next level. She has bravado and power and testosterone and blew everyone away. She and the rest of the band really know how to get an audience moving. It was great to watch.

I had a great time at the show, and am looking for other concerts we can go to this summer. I forgot how much fun live music is (duh, I know).

The trip home was… eventful. We missed the last bus back to the park and ride and ended up waiting at the bus stop for over an hour (putting us a about 12:30am on a Friday in downtown DC) for a bus going the wrong way. We ended up paying \$40 for a cab ride back to our car. Next time, we drive in.

I’ll update the rest of the weekend and this week later… I’m starting to fall asleep.