Mapmaker

Today's Music For a Friday Afternoon is Mapmaker, by Parts & Labor. This album came to me, somehow, as I found the first track ("Fractured Skies") and decided it was worth investigating further.

And, I'm glad I did. This is very much a modern rock album, not the kind of rock you would hear on the radio, but the kind that isn't afraid to let its instruments - even the drums - carry the show. Some vocals, sure, but not the sort of strained rasp that would give the illusion of rage or darkness to the uninformed. Really, this entire album made its way into my workout playlist less than a week after my first full listen. It's glorious hard rock, music that isn't afraid of horns. The whole album is pretty good - the opening and closing tracks ("Fractured Skies", again, and "Knives and Pencils", respectively) are the standouts. However, there really isn't a weak link.

In short, this music might not be for you, but give it a shot. This is what indie rock should be, not Conor Oberst whining about how nobody loves him for two hours. Sorry, Conor.

In Other News:
Sorry for the short blog post but it's Friday and I have to move. Wish me luck. Parts & Labor deserves a better blog post but that may have to wait.

I voted. Maybe it's for your candidate and maybe it isn't.

On Avery Island

Today's Music of the Day is Neutral Milk Hotel's On Avery Island. Naturally, I got this after having found In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, but I'll try to judge it on its own merits and not just make this a straightforward comparison blog.

On Avery Island is kind of bizarre and meandering, but has a pretty interesting sound. It's very much Neutral Milk Hotel, all fuzzy and nasal and full of crazy instruments. It does seem to have some more electronic elements than I would have expected, but nothing that would lead you to believe the lo-fi sound is at risk.

I found this album a little more difficult to get into, but rewarding nonetheless. It has some pretty good songs, though even at their most upbeat, there is nothing to rival "King of Carrot Flowers" or "Holland, 1945". "Song Against Sex", the album opener, is pretty good. I suppose if this album suffers from anything, it's being a little too reserved, as it doesn't have one certain anthem that the rest of the songs rally around.

In short, this is one of those albums that isn't bad by any means, and I actually enjoy listening to it. However, I can't say that it really connected with me, but I'll probably end up listening to it more than albums I like better in the future, for the sake of trying to figure out exactly what I think about this album.

In Other News:
I slept a little last night but I need more rest.

I'm probably going to miss Halloween just for the sake of moving. Not a big deal but still kind of sad. Hopefully the new place gets a little more sunlight.

My strategy of not buying groceries and eating everything I have, in order to minimize the moving process, isn't working out as well as I would have liked. Just a couple more days...

Postcards From Italy, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Give Radio a Chance

Dear Grand View College Radio,

I just wanted to tell you thanks, for playing decent music in the mornings lately. You really caught my attention a couple weeks ago when you let some guy play all of Kind of Blue on a rainy day, which was about the best thing that could have ever happened to anyone. Because of this, I decided to give you a chance.

And so far, you've been pretty good! Granted, you play too much bad rap in the late afternoon, and your kids show on the weekend is unwelcome (but not surprising, given that all of your student DJs are likely hung over). In the mornings, though, and sometimes even in the evenings, your playlists are pretty decent. Some of the artists you've given me in the last week alone are Devotchka, Hot Chip, Okkervil River, Bon Iver, even the Dead Kennedys. As much as I'd like to mourn the death of radio and just listen to my White Stripes CDs on the way to work, you've probably given me enough reason to keep your frequency as one of my radio presets.

Of course, this morning, you played 'Postcards From Italy', the Beirut song that everyone loves. I had to sit in my car and finish listening to it, and for a moment, there, I was in Portland, jumping around like a teenager with the worst headache I've ever had, living for the horns and the strings and the crowd.

Don't get too excited, okay? I'm still going to listen to the 90's at Noon sometimes when I am out and about over the lunch hour, and at night I'll probably opt for NPR's Night Music if you're playing Mike Jones or something else equally silly.

Sincerely,
Your Local Catgun

In Other News:
I have to start sleeping sometime. Cripes.

I'm also a little confused today but it's probably nothing. As usual.

Music I'm listening to today: Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island, and Parts & Labor - Mapmaker. I really like both of them, though they are quite different in sound and tone. Full reviews likely coming later this week. If I feel like it.

The Places We Lived

Today, I thought long and hard about reviewing a special album for my 150th blog post. Perhaps it would have been one of my favorites, or just something I considered to be important in terms of music history. However, I decided against that, and instead will complain about another album.

Hence, Today's Music of the Day is The Places We Lived by Backyard Tire Fire. This is an album I claimed via eMusic after having heard the title track on the radio one day when I was driving to get groceries. This song was a light, enjoyable piece of pop fluff, something like a rustic Architecture in Helsinki might play. So at the end of the month, when my eMusic downloads came through, I tracked this album down and downloaded it, largely on the merits of taking a chance on some new music.

It turns out that I didn't like this album all that much. The title track has a nice progression to it, but the rest of the album was sort of airy and unaffecting. It made me think that the band might have found the opening sheet of an A. C. Newman song and decided to run with it, without getting any of the electricity that comes in the latter parts of his songs. I suppose another listen might endear this album to me a little more, but I don't see it; this seems to be the sort of cute, earthy album I didn't actively dislike but that just didn't connect with me.

In Other News:
I'm in somewhat passable condition today. The weekend was harrowing but great fun.

Why the hell is winter here already?

Jeff Mangum Update That Is Far Outdated

http://www.slate.com/id/2185219/

Yeah, pretty much. The link is completely safe but probably of no interest to you unless you like Neutral Milk Hotel, which I am willing to bet is at least one of the three people that looks at this site. The link is not recent, having been established in 2006, but it's still an interesting (albeit brief) read.

Otherwise, I probably am due to blog about In the Aeroplane Over the Sea one of these days, but not today. It seems like a fine album to blog about when I hit some kind of monumental number of blog posts. Also, it's hardly an obscure album any more, so I have doubts as to what I would say that hasn't already been said by a better writer, or at least one who is more polished.

In Other News:
I am traveling this weekend so don't flip out if you can't contact me for a couple days. Capoeira! I am on vacation tomorrow and Friday.

I'm not asking you to do anything, just please don't yell at me for a couple days. That will be plenty.

Up

Today's Music of the Day is Up, by R.E.M. I gave some thought to writing about another R.E.M. album, such as the superb Reckoning, but Up seems like an album that has more mixed opinions than most R.E.M. albums. Plus, it has some sentimental value to it.

Up, for those of you non-R.E.M. fans, is the first album that the band made after Bill Berry left to go farm somewhere in Georgia. It's very much not an R.E.M. album in either mood or sound, even with all the distinctive Stipe vocals. This album is decidedly withdrawn and rooted in despair, with nary a friendly rock song to be found. It's strangely electronic in many places, not quite a shoegaze album (do people still use that term?). This album, more than any other, doesn't fit with the rest of R.E.M.'s catalog; I suppose only time will tell if it's a welcome departure or just an anomaly.

(Someone made the point that this album had some interesting parallels to Radiohead's Kid A; both albums were radical changes from the band's traditional sound, going more electronic and sparse, but the reception for each couldn't have been more different. Up was viewed as something of an abberation, whereas Kid A was viewed as a bold statement.)

Having said all that, I do enjoy this album for what it is, even if I would have preferred something more along the lines of New Adventures in Hi-Fi. As it is, the album had some high points, a fair amount of meandering, and some songs that were fair but just not affecting. I don't think it's one of R.E.M.'s better albums, but it's not bad, just far different than what anyone would have expected. In hindsight, it looks much better; at the time, some long-time R.E.M. fans really thought we were seeing the band put one foot in the grave.

Well, enough depressing historical perspective. This album does have some songs that I like - the Leonard Cohen-inspired "Hope" is pretty good, and everyone should enjoy "Lotus". "Falls to Climb" is too somber to really be enjoyable but it's a nice song. If this album had carried the sneer of "Lotus" all the way through, with a couple semi-anthems like "Daysleeper", it would have been a more natural progression.

So, to summarize: Not the best R.E.M. album, but an interesting listen and a historical curiosity.

In Other News:
I'll be damned if Ben Folds' "Mess" isn't the song of the day for me.
"and i don't believe in god
so i can't be saved
all alone as i've learned to be
in this mess i have made..."

HOLY CRAP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzo_Ballet

The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place

Today's Music That Should Have Been Discussed Long Ago is Explosions in the Sky's The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place. This is an album I've been in possession of for over two years, and I've really enjoyed it.

Explosions in the Sky are the kind of band that won't have a dramatic difference in style from album to album, and their music is very much the definition of post-rock. By that, 'post-rock', I mean songs that have very few to no vocals and don't have radio-friendly song lengths all the time.

EitS manages to tell fantastic stories without any words; their particular brand of post-rock sounds exactly like what the band name would convey, a spectacular event that is too far away to completely absorb. The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place may not be their greatest album, but it's certainly an accomplishment, a triumph for anyone who appreciates the guitar. This album is full of six-and-eight minute epic songs, led by a ringing guitar that you might expect if the Edge had left U2 in 1988 and lived alone with some decent amphetamines. While this isn't really a 'hard' rock album in most senses of the word, I'd be lying if I said the guitar didn't kick things up a notch (I suspect that somewhere, in the belfry of the band's repertoire, there are guitar riffs that would cause Slash to melt or at least stop pimping Guitar Hero all over the place).

It probably is worth noting that EitS did the score for "Friday Night Lights", a decent movie about a small town and its football team, and the music really works in the context. Is there anything EitS can't do?

Anyway, I wholly recommend this album, as long as radio hasn't ruined your tolerance for actual music. Think of this album as being full of little symphonies if you will, or a guitar out on an adventure to save you from Nickelback, but just listen to it. I could go on and on about this album. The entire album really works as a whole, but the individual songs stand alone; in particular, the closer, "Your Hand in Mine"

Plus, this album cover is glorious. Look at it:












Please, Explosions in the Sky, don't sue me for using this, it just looks great. I'll take it down if you want.

In other news:
Hooray for Friday.

So Jealous

Today's Music of the Day is Tegan & Sara's So Jealous. This album came to me by way of the public library, after having listened to If It Was You so many times that it wasn't even funny.

This album doesn't stray too far from the T&S sound - it's very straight-forward rock with a little bit of a folk edge. Unlike If..., this album doesn't seem to be as laid-back; it also doesn't use the banjo that had a nice if limited presence on If....

These songs are simple but powerful. I'm surprised that T&S haven't really had much of a radio presence, as some of their shorter songs would seem well suited for the format. Maybe they don't say 'love' enough. I especially appreciate the mood of this album (and T&S's sound in general), as it's a little bittersweet. There's enough spite and loathing here to go around, but it doesn't ever dominate the album or make it difficult to listen to.

I don't know if I have a favorite song on this album - "Walking With a Ghost" is pretty good, "Downtown" and the title track are also strong. I don't know if this is the album for everyone, and I don't know that I like is as much as If It Was You, but it's still pretty good. Hopefully I can get my hands on a copy of their latest album, The Con, sometime soon.

What do you think of If It Was You for an album title? It's grown on me a little bit.

In Other News:
I'm just barely holding it together this week. Where the hell is sleep hiding?

I love it when the moon is visible in the morning sky, especially a full moon. It's just a little reminder that the previous night actually happened, as though the cosmos is saying 'hey, I was there too, it was great'. I appreciate a reminder of something that would otherwise be lost in the rush to get to the next day of work or grocery run or whatever. Plus, I love the night sky and nature in general. Mostly, though, I like the morning moon because it is out of place, and it feels like a prize for getting up early, something that I might have missed were I preoccupied. I just love secrets like a morning moon.

More Driving

Today's Music from Grand View College Radio, as brought to you by the morning commute of one man:

Blur - "Song 2" - might get old, but not yet. Not quite the '90's that I want to remember, but still two minutes of fun.

Ramones - "Texas Chainsaw" - not my favorite Ramones tune, but let's face it, there isn't that much difference between them. They're still pretty fun, though.

Chemical Brothers - "Let Forever Be" - this song and I go way back. When I was working for the county one summer in College, doing some kind of ridiculous GPS-related survey project, one of my regular radio stations played this song almost every day. I never quite got into the Chemical Brothers, but I do like this song, even if it's a little too tightly controlled.

Some other band I didn't recognize but wasn't bad - instead, let's just say this is Cheap Trick - "Surrender". Fun! It always bothered me that Cheap Trick had to reference KISS in this song, though, as Cheap Trick didn't need to drop names and definitely reached a greater point of musical relevance than KISS. Also, Gene Simmons will put his name on anything.

WAIT. There's more!
Today's Music That Ended Up Being A Pleasant Surprise is The Heroin Diaries, by Sixx A.M. Apparently this is what Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue (? I can never keep all those godless hair-band pansies straight) is doing now. It was loaned to be as an afterthought in a Satanic ritual gone awry that involved a good deal of blood and also some rocks in my pocket.

Now, my contempt for hair bands and their ilk is well-documented, so normally I probably would have passed over this without a second thought. But because it was placed in my hands, I felt some obligation not to treat it lightly. As it turned out, this probably isn't my favorite album, but it turned out to be much better than I expected.

Some of the tracks are mostly spoken word with some instruments - these are the tracks I didn't care for as much. I'm sure they were done with dark, brooding, sinister, black metal intent, but they just came off as adolescent Tom Waits-ish posturing. However, there are a number of straight-forward rock songs that are decent! About half of this album has made its way onto my iPod shuffle, which sees exclusive use in the gym, and I don't regret adding those songs there. I suppose the moral of the story is that everything deserves a chance. The songs I like? I think "Pray For Me", "Tomorrow", and "Accidents Can Happen" are pretty tolerable. There are some others, but I'm not about to go through the album now to figure it out.

In Other News:
I love rainy days, moreso when the rain is warm enough to walk around outside.

I think yesterday was the first day in a week, maybe more, that I didn't get some kind of new bruise or scrape. Sad!

Let's go to Ledges this weekend if the weather is tolerable. Come on!

Good Morning

Is there any better music for a brief morning commute than the Dead Kennedys? Perhaps, but I'll be damned if "Stealing People's Mail" didn't make the day a little more interesting.

Thoughts From the Interstate

This past weekend, I had some drive time, which I actually kind of enjoy. Sure, sitting in the car gets old after a while, but the first two hours are usually kind of pleasant, some time to be alone and just listen to music without any distractions. Also I can sing in the car and nobody will tell me to knock it off.

Anyway, I listened to three albums and a little bit of radio on the road, so have some thoughts.

The New Pornographers - Challengers - Not sure why I picked this album but it was a good choice. I maintain my belief that it might be the most serious of the NP's albums, and possibly the least important, but it's still worth listening to. It only has pinches of the frantic energy that Mass Romantic (and to a slightly lesser extent, Electric Version) hit us with, and it hardly compares to the drums and seamless ambition of Twin Cinema, but it's still got something going for it.

Fiona Apple - Tidal - Now, I feel badly about this one. I think Fiona Apple is talented, and she seems to be less appreciated every year. Her song catalog is wildly uneven - there are plenty of 'oh skip this' songs on her albums, but her best songs would make an old woman steal. Having said that, Tidal has some strong moments, places in time that were once transcendent but have dried and not aged as well as I would have liked. I can't say I dislike this album, but it wasn't a good choice to listen to after Challengers, and probably isn't a good driving album in general. Sorry, Fiona. Call me.

Arcade Fire - Funeral - There probably isn't any new insight on this album, but having taken some time away from it, my perspective is strangely unchanged. I would say the album has aged a little, but it's still enjoyable if emotionally draining to listen to. The songs here are wonderful (except for the album closer, which I probably never will warm up to), though I can't say I'm always in the mood for the Arcade Fire's particular brand of bleeding-heart music. Still, an album so personal and revealing is rare, and if you listen to this and can't enjoy any of it, you might be more of a music snob than even me.

Side Note: I found Funeral one day at Best Buy for $7; that same day, I also bought Cat Power's The Greatest and Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, having only a passing familiarity with each album. Needless to say, I won that day handily.

Other Notes:
Why the hell does Omaha get a dedicated jazz station? I don't mean a lite/smooth/khakis-and-stupid-boat-shoes/jazz station, but a station that recognizes people like Thelonious Monk? Kiss my ass, Omaha. I want a jazz station.

In Other News:
I tried very hard to be good this weekend and failed only once, I think. I owe someone an apology; I didn't do anything wrong, but I could have done more for this person and I didn't, mostly because I second-guessed myself too much. I don't think this person is even mad at me, but I feel that I let someone down. Maybe I just worry too much.

I did some decent things this weekend, though. Just don't look at me like I ride a white horse.

Homemade banana bread makes everything better.

The Glow, Pt. 2

Today's Music That Jason Is (almost) Over the Moon About is The Glow, Pt. 2 by The Microphones. I have to credit Pandora for introducing me to a few of the tracks from this album, and also to eMusic for actually having it.

(An aside: eMusic, you have a pretty good catalog, but we're only going to be friends until you get some Yoko Kanno and/or Seatbelts.)

I don't really know much about the history of this album. I don't know when it was made, where the musicians came from, or what they are doing now. What I do know is this: the album is a little too long but very good. It's not exactly a pop album, or a symphonic album, but the kind of album that has fairly diverse instrumentation and doesn't overuse anything.

Sometimes I wish there were fewer songs on this album, or that the overall sound had a little more dynamic range, but as a whole, the mood and musicianship dwarf the minor faults I had with Glow Pt. 2. It's a reserved work, something that probably wouldn't suit other activities so well, but that is very rewarding for a dedicated listener. I suppose this album is like a person at a party who doesn't command a great deal of attention, but who has the best stories if you are willing to listen.

Often, I like to compare the sound of albums or bands to others that I would consider their peers. For this album, though, I had a hard time coming up with much. The instrumentation might make me think of Beirut, but the sound isn't really there. The only thing that really seems fitting is Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. This is heady praise, and probably a bit undeserved; I don't think Glow is quite the juggernaut that Aeroplane, one of the finest albums recorded in my lifetime, is, but it's certainly worth a listen. The fact that I thought Glow even warranted comparison should say something.

In short: Take this album on a drive by yourself, and never look back.

In Other News:
I worry too much about things.

"Sleep is like a kitty. It's that simple. Sometimes you just have to be comfortable and warm, and it will come to you, sometimes it will pounce on you when you least want it, and other times it will fight you and run from you, if you can find it at all." -Me, yesterday-ish.

Thanks, Miles

Today I might have an album review later - The Microphones' The Glow, Pt. 2 is incredible and must be discussed - but for now, I hope you'll settle for a description of my morning.

This morning I arose with my alarm clock, which is less common but somewhat welcome - I often escape from sleep before my intended hour of waking. I managed to groom and feed myself in short order, and left my place around ten after seven.

The sky was gray and heavy this morning. One might suspect that after the rains last night, only a mild haze might remain, but the air was yet heavy and damp. Who knew what the day would bring, if there will be a torrential rain or just hints and empty threats.

I climbed into my car and deposited my lunch sack - leftover chicken, some fruit, and crackers - into its normal position in my passenger's seat. As I waited for the car to warm up, I poked the preset FM station buttons on my stereo, finding uninteresting popular music on the first few stations I went through (sometimes I listen to the news on NPR, but often I like some music in the morning). The last station, the Grand View College station, proved to be more fruitful, as it was actually broadcasting jazz! It took me a minute to identify the artist (by this point I had left my parking lot and was rolling towards the on-ramp for the freeway), but I successfully deduced that it was Miles Davis.

The song ended as I waited at a red light, and the DJ's voice took over. He said that "Kind of Blue" was to be played in its entirety this morning. YES!

Rain peppered the air as I pulled onto the freeway; I sped up so I could pass a lagging yellow school bus before I left the entry lane. The drive was fine for the first 20 (of 70) blocks, but somewhere around the 42nd St. exit, traffic picked up fiercely. I had to stop half a dozen times because of traffic congestion; the commute took me just over 20 minutes, whereas it normally takes between 5-10.

I still haven't figured out what caused the traffic backup. There was the aftermath of an accident somewhere near downtown, but there weren't even any damaged vehicles there by the time I drove by. The time baffles me more than anything; had it been half an hour later, I would have expected to share the road with as many vehicles. Thank goodness for Miles Davis, the definition of cool, the perfect laid-back (not smooth) soundtrack for this day covered in cold wool.

In Other News:
This past weekend was amazing.

Last night I went for a run in the rain - it wasn't my idea, though. Still, it was everything I had hoped for and then some.

David Alan Grier has a new show coming up on Comedy Central - Chocolate News. Please, please, please, let it not be a huge failure.

The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner

Today's Music That Has A Long, Unwieldy Album Title But Is Completely Worth It is The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, by Ben Folds Five. I think this is the last album the group put out before Folds went solo, and what a fine swan song it is. Apparently the Messner in the album title was a notable explorer, the first man to climb Mt. Everest without the aid of an oxygen tank. His name is also what the drummer used on fake IDs as a teenager. (Thanks, Wikipedia!)

Anyway, this album has all the hallmarks of a Folds LP: rambunctious, energetic piano, borderline falsetto tenor vocals, irreverent lyrics, good balance between jovial and serious songs. I've always loved how the mood of a Folds album can go from being melancholy and introspective to flippant and smart-assed (or vice versa) in the matter of minutes, sometimes even in the same song. And while the man may not be Dylan with respect to lyrics, they're certainly a strength. More than anything, though, I love this album because it is an album, not just a collection of songs.

While some albums are just a number of songs on a disc, these songs seem to fit together and are ordered and arranged well. Unauthorized starts out a little slow, and has these two wonderfully despondent ballads "Mess" and "Magic" in the middle, and allows songs like "Army" and "My Redneck Past" to lift the mood somewhat. And I'll be damned if "Lullabye" isn't a perfect album closer, the kind of song that sounds the way that crawling into bed and spooning with someone you care about feels. (The best all-time album closer, 40+ years and counting, is probably still the Beatles' "A Day in the Life". This is my opinion, but it's also damn near a fact.)

In short, this album doesn't really have any ringtones, but it's catchy, and well worth listening to. I think you'll get more out of it if you listen to it as a whole album, and pay attention, but the songs are good enough to stand alone if you can't sit still long enough.

In Other News:
Having a scooter is really great. Old Man Winter, you better stay away long enough for me to put some more miles on my scooter!

Tuesday night's capoeira practice was excusively devoted to throws and takedowns. Good fun but damned if I wasn't miserable yesterday.

Please don't let me screw this up.

"So I thought about the army,
Dad said 'Son, you're fucking high...'"