Ears to the Ground, Hoping for Weird Sounds

Happy Silver Anniversary to The Legend of Zelda

2011-02-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how an article about a video game can both cause me to contemplate my age - something quite out of my character - albeit with boundless joy to the point that it electro-shocked this blog out of me.

I'm absolutely floored that The Legend of Zelda (the NES original) is turning 25 years old on Monday (2/21). I still remember my birthday in 1986. There was a huge box sitting on the living room table that I just had a feeling about. Everyone knew I was eyeing it up like a hungry lion stalking an antelope, but they decided to run the 46 defense on me and kept me away from the prize.

When I finally got to that heavily guarded birthday treasure, I tore through the wrapping like FC Barcelona through a mediocre defense only to be flummoxed by the revelation of a microwave oven box. This trick had been played on me before.

I think that, somewhere in my lineage, there's some great grifter known for pulling the wool over almost all those around them. Unfortunately, not all of his skill trickled through the generations, because I saw through this one; a trick played on my cousins, sister, and me enough times that I knew how to put on a happy face for the clothes I was about to receive. It was always a tried and true technique of gift-giving to to throw certain items in a box which had nothing to do with what the items were. For instance, one year my grandmother was given a refrigerator box completely wrapped. She was so happy it was a fridge that she made my uncles drag it to the kitchen so she could start switching the food out. The stubbornness runs deep enough, that they did it anyway. I think that was the first time I can remember hearing a torrent of obscenities woven by a lady more likely to be the good witch of the north than one who verbally shatter 4 men the size of the purple people eaters. Then again, she probably tasted a bit of karmic backwash in her throat that day because I can surmise she did something similar to each one of her kids (10 that is). Plus, the actual gift was several pieces of furniture that, I think, ended up being a new bedroom set that she'd been talking about for months.

Back to the story, I opened the box and put on a shit-eating grin as I pulled out shirts and pairs of pants to the oohs and ahhs of relatives and the quiet snickering of friends (7-year-olds can be so cruel). But as I reached in and prepared another fake smile, my knuckle knocked on something cardboard, but it couldn't be the bottom of the box. Instinct took over and the rest of the clothes seemed to explode out of the box as if I'd failed to disarm a bomb. Beneath them was a pristine, unopened Nintendo Entertainment System. Needless to say, I flipped my wig. Even more so when I discovered the 3 games taped to the back of the box.

So, like that, gaming came into my life. While the Italian plumber tackling turtles and eating mushrooms is probably the more famous of the characters that waltzed into my world that day riding a soundtrack of bleeps and bloops, the one that captivated me the most was the little elfin boy named Link. Sure, Super Mario Brothers, Excitebike, and Kid Icarus were great in their own right. Kid Icarus is still one of my 20 all-time favorites, but the un-boxing of The Legend of Zelda was almost a religious experience. From the format breaking golden case, to that fantastic golden cartridge. I imagine I wasn't the only kid that felt like King Arthur pulling Excalibur from the stone when I pulled that golden game cart from its vinyl sleeve.

Then there was the game. And what a game! The semi-open world, the levels, trying to find the levels, hell, even the instruction manual was amazing! So captivating was that first of Link's console adventures that myself and legions of others continue to revisit Hyrule whenever a new game comes out.

Thanks for 25 wonderful years!

I Got Lost in the Wilderness There for A While

2010-06-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

So, I'm just under a month shy of not posting anything for a year. Let me tell you, it's been a bit of a trip. I was laid off from my job, I went through a bout of serious depression, returned to school, I left mxdwn in a rather unprofessional fashion - which I regret - and I ended up back where I was before I spirited myself to this side of the country, Pepsi.

Yeah, that's a bit of a short version of things, but I got some other things I want to talk about rather than my own sojourn through the wildernesses of unemployment life in which I almost had a complete emotional shutdown.

Starting with recent events, I want to say a belated goodbye to Coach John Wooden. While I wasn't around to see his UCLA absolutely dominate college basketball, I did grow up playing the sport and many of the coaches I had referenced him in coaching teams that I played on. One team in particular, was my final year of basketball camp at Iowa University. It was a 2-week camp in which I didn't really grasp what I learned till well after I left college the first time around. I remember we had a motley crew of people from completely different backgrounds, many of my teammates weren't even from this country, which was a completely new experience to me. While we all were able to communicate in English, our coach's main goal was to get us working as a team using Coach Wooden's pyramid. Our first practice was drills and running on the first day of camp. Each subsequent practice and game, there would rarely be a mention of plays, tactics or even a scrimmage. His main argument against our questioning him was, "You're at basketball camp and this team is a part of that. In every other minute of the day, you'll be drowned in fundamentals and tactics, I want to teach you to be a team." The first few sessions with him sucked. We wanted to practice and play the game in order to win, but he got us talking to each other and through that specific interaction we began to figure each other out off the court. What none of us knew was how well that would help us on the court.

While our season was awful at a piss poor record of 0-10, but of course all teams made the playoffs. By the time the games began to matter, we knew where any member of our team would be on the court at any time, no matter which five of us were playing. In the first round, we blew the team out by 50. In the 2nd round, 65. The quarters and semis were more of the same and these teams that were tanking us in the regular season didn't even recognize us. There were kids from my school also at the camp and we hung out during free time. Prior to the playoffs, I made a crack about my team playing possum till the playoffs. I didn't expect it to actually happen, but my friends actually showed up to our final game. Of course, I didn't expect it to go to double overtime either, nor did I expect the fairytale ending of sinking the game-winning 3 pointer. Sure, the game meant nothing in terms of my life, but I still have the trophy (we hang on way too long). Back to Wooden, I found out about his style of coaching years later and found out that my camp coach pretty much copped the method from him. In learning more about Wooden, I began to figure out the parallels of team sports and life and realized that it's not always the greatest amount of skill that can help you achieve an objective, but hard work and character as well. So, Wooden had an affect on me, though very indirectly. Hopefully, he's joined his late wife in the afterlife and delivered the letters he'd written to her. R.I.P. Coach.

Now to what's up now. The 2nd day of World Cup 2010 in South Africa has come to an end. I've watched every minute of every game thus far and my goodness does this tournament have some personality. There hasn't been enough matches to really say the tournament has taken off and those that have come and gone had an infestation of hesitation and tentativeness about them. South Africa opened things against Mexico in a decent 1-1 draw where both goals (scored by Tshabalala and Marquez respectively) had quality about them. South Africa didn't break the unbeaten streak for a host nation on the opening game and actually look like they could mess things up for France or Uruguay. Speaking of them, their match, while there were a few moments of possible brilliance, was an absolute bore of a 0-0 draw. South Korea gave spectators their first glimpse of a team coming out all guns blazing and put Greece to the sword 2-0, breathing some more life into this event. Then Argentina absolutely crawled to a 1-0 victory off of a tragically un-marked Heinze goal early in the game. Nigeria looked really up for equalizing, but simply couldn't close the deal. Then there was the final game of today, England vs USA.

I have a few English friends that have loved taking the piss out of me ever since this draw occured in December. Then there was that picture that graced a tabloid in England using 'easy' as an acronym for how the group would turn out (England, Algeria, Slovenia, Yanks). While my friends were winding me up, I really wanted to go all Kevin Keegan on them, but I kept saying to myself that it doesn't matter until the game is played. The game played out for us in awkward fashion. I got some bad news from back home, which caused me and my US-supporting crew to be late, but I had my jersey, a vuvuzela and red, white and blue afro wigs and we brought a flag. While support for both teams was in equal measure at my friend's house, I about cried when Gerrard scored on 4 minutes. I thought, it's 06 all over again. Then the US squad slowly started to come into their game. While I'm not good with tactics and I'm not really looking at stats, there was a decent ebb and flow to the game. Lots of mistakes were made on both sides, especially Robert Green assisting a Clint Dempsey shot over the goal line just prior to halftime. Then, my friend's power went out and we had to listen to the game on the iPhone app. While that was hard to do because I wanted to see the possible mistakes being made by either side. Not being able to, even pushed my blood pressure to severely unsafe levels. It was easily the most stressful sporting event that I've watched, ever.

I think that's enough from me today. It's great to be back and I'm going to try to be more regular about it. Hope all is well.

I Leave and Celebs Drop Like Flies

2009-07-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

So, I had a great time overseas. Spain is one of the coolest, most beautiful countries I've seen. If you have the time and the means, I recommend going on a van tour. I didn't get to see Valencia like I wanted to, Sevilla is amazing and I was unable to get to most of the stadiums I wanted to. Just gives me an excuse to go back. More on Spain later.

The last day of my trip was marred with a bit of sadness. Michael Jackson passed away. I was unaware of his health problems, so it all came as quite a surprise to me. Yes, I'm like 2 weeks late here, but I was out of the country, give me a bit of a break. Jackson wasn't even in my top 20 favorite artists of all time. When Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash, two artists I hold far closer to my heart, left us, I was sad to the point of taking the day off work. However, I felt no need to revisit their entire catalogs and bludgeon myself to death aurally. Jackson was a different case, I felt the need to listen to his work again and remember funny things from childhood they accompany. I remember seeing him do the moonwalk on the stage at Motown 25, "Thriller" scarred the pants off me when I saw it as a kid, my cousins and I all, embarrassingly so, imitated the moves at my parents' wedding in 1985 and I will always remember the first conversation I had with my mom's new husband (my dad). I was sitting at my grandmother's kitchen table in Dukes of Hazard pajamas, listening to Thriller on a walkman and telling him how good it was. I think my mom or grandmother gave me cookies there at some point as well. It's sad he's gone, but probably some form of relief can be drawn here too. I'm not going to go into it, but a cloud can have a silver lining. At least he gave us some truly great music, videos and moves that will be remembered for a long time. I'll hold on to his work and champion Off the Wall, Thriller and much of his work with his brothers as I've done for as long as I can remember.

One thing, no matter how crass or ignorant, that I do want to say is this: Farrah Fawcett dying was sad, but Michael Jackson dying the same day saved her from a bunch of mindless exploitation. If I hear or read someone or something talking about, "Why couldn't Michael give her a day?" I'm going to scream. I say that with utmost respect to those who know and loved her work when she was doing it. I personally can't stand Charlie's Angels, Logan's Run is one god-awful shit fest of a movie, but somehow watchable, and Myra Breckinridge was just terrible. Of course the primate male in me finds her attractive in 'the poster', I can't lie about that. She meant a lot of things to a lot of people, that can't be denied. But the media overblowing Michael Jackson is a different than everyone coming out talking about how her contributions were under-appreciated. She was a central figure in one of the most dominating TV shows in the 70s, but that never really took her anywhere else. She will probably always be remembered for 'the poster'. I apologize if I offend anyone with these remarks, but it's just not a fair fight no matter how you slice it.

In closing, I'll be publishing a feature via mxdwn tomorrow about Jackson contributions to the music video. It's a long one, but I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting all his clips again. Please check it out.

My Jackson Faves:

10. Songs

1. "Billie Jean"
2. "I Want You Back" - The Jackson 5
3. "P.Y.T."
4. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
5. "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough"
6. "Can You Feel It" - The Jacksons
7. "We Are the World" - USA for Life
8. "Thriller"
9. "Remember the Time"
10. "Rock With You"

5. Albums

1. Off the Wall
2. ABC - The Jackson 5
3. Thriller
4. Dangerous
5. Bad

I'm not going to do a countdown for his videos because I feel the best way to see them is as one complete evolution rather than one being better than the other. If there's one I have to pick above all others it's "Smooth Criminal," but if you can find a way to watch everything from "Can You Feel It" up through the film Ghosts including Captain EO and Moonwalker, it's worth the time for both the aesthetic and entertainment value.

Busy 2 Months

2009-06-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

It's been 2 months and change since I've even thought about posting here. No one ever said I was going to compete in the blog Olympics, but I should probably try and do this a bit more often. Just more proof that I'm part of a natural order of species that just aren't evolved enough to manage all of the many ways to get worthless pieces of information about their lives into cyberspace. Like a stubborn old man with chores to do would say, "I'll get to it when I'm good and ready."

Since I last popped on here to pour a bit of praise Paul's Boutique's way, I've been involved with a bit of life activity. Nothing too extravagant, but changes is changes. We actually had to make proper house purchases like adults. We picked up a lawn mower, edge trimmer, grill and patio furniture. Coming from the midwest, I was hoping for some Hank Hill-esque euphoria when shopping for these sorts of things, but maybe I'm just not wired that way. Anyone I know from home or here that is hip to Hank Hill-isms has been giving me all manner of crap about not getting a propane grill to boot.

I will say this, there's nothing that gives a pseudo manly feeling like mowing your lawn for the first time, with a mower you bought. Anyone who says it's no big deal is lying. Sure, it's not like taking a drive in your new car for the first time, but there's a bit of a satisfaction you take from it nonetheless. Now, what can take that feeling away, is trying to grill for the first time. My man credentials were severely questioned when it came to grilling. I'd never really taken much interest in how to actually cook on a grill rather than eat what has been cooked. That first time around a charcoal grill can really make a mouse out of you if you don't know what you're doing. Having said that, the fact that our first attempt at grilling turned out shoddy only motivated me to get better at it. So, my goal is to, by the end of the summer, be mediocre at it. Next year I'll go for my masters.

Taking a chunk of time out of grill practice will be a two-week vacation. We're going to Spain. While most that've interacted with me over the past 2 months may not have noticed, I'm absolutely stoked for this trip. We'll trekking up and down the country and seeing a ton. Let's not keep the cat in the bag here, I don't know much about Spain to begin with; at least not much in the grand historical sense. I'm excited to see the land that gave the world individuals like Cervantes, Pedro Almodovar, Luis Bunuel, Antonio Gaudi, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. I'm also curious about - this is going to sound weird - the different social climates in places like Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia and (hopefully) Basque Country. Plus, being the football fan that I am, I want to see Estadio Mestalla in Valencia and Camp Nou in Barcelona. I'll possibly try and pick up a couple of jerseys while I'm there. If this is going to be anything like my first trip to Romania, it'll be one to remember as well as exhausting as hell.

Speaking of football, the season ended and what a conclusion it was. In England, it went almost to the last day with Manchester United taking the title over my Liverpool. While I'm sick of United seemingly winning everything put in front of them, I do have to say that my Reds gave them a proper challenge this year. With the possibility of huge names leaving United this summer and Liverpool keeping most of, if not all, its squad, next year could finally end the title drought for the reds.

In Spain, Barcelona showed the world what the height of all-conquering Catalan style can bring in terms of technique, class, dominance and flat-out entertainment. They made winning La Liga look almost academic while scoring and keeping the ball at will. Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi scored almost 100 goals between them and that's more than most TEAM's in the world have scored this season. They also became the first Spanish team to complete the treble (winning La Liga, The Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League). If they could play the way they did this season for a decade, I don't think anyone would complain.

Germany saw a VFL Wolfsburg win the league for the first time ever. Providing entertainment second only to Barcelona, Wolfsburg were a team that no one saw coming at all. They quietly wowed onlookers with the attacking brilliance of Christian Gentner, Zvjezdan Misimovic, Edin Dzeko, Josue and the defender-eating Grafite (scorer of my favorite goal this season).

France finally saw Olympique Lyonnais not win the championship ending their run of 7 in a row. Girondins de Boardeaux topped Ligue 1 when all is said and done. I will say that it was nice to see Paris Saint-Germain really put up a fight this season. Hopefully, they can build on it. Inter Milan won Serie A in Italy, but I can't say I really care. Italy was really hard to watch for me this year. Apart from seeing Genoa wreck some shop all over the place and finishing 5th, the always enjoyable Palermo, Napoli and Fiorentina finish in unsurprising spots, Serie A really lacked gravitas for me.

The best moments from this season though came in the form of teams breaking from tradition and delivering great performances where negative, defensive tactics were expected. In the Champions League, when Real Madrid went to Anfield, no one expected Liverpool to put on a show and light them up for 4 goals. Then, in the very next round, no one expected anything dramatic from a Liverpool - Chelsea tie (something that Jorge Valdano once called shit on a stick). However, viewers were treated to a two-legged affair that amounted to 12 goals (Chelsea going through 7-5 on aggregate). Sad to see my team eliminated, I could hold my head high knowing they went down fighting rather than worrying about damage control. Then, one week later, viewers were treated to a 4-4 thriller as Arsenal came to Anfield (one of the best matches I've ever seen). Again, their chances for the league title effectively eliminated there single-handedly by Andrey Arshavin, but they went down with a fight. Hopefully it's a good omen for the future.

That's all I have time for today. Be back soon!

Get Stone Bag Trippin' While You're Doin' the Bump

2009-03-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

Sicka Sicka Shake Your Rump!

Yes, I know that the actual lyric is "Disco bag schlepping while you're doing the bump..." and so forth, but when I first heard this album in 1996 (yeah, I came to the party late, imagine that), that was how I understood it. Even after I read the lyrics to this album, I still said it that way. Not saying I think my version is better, but more than anything, The Beastie Boys' sophomore effort is about - maybe now more than ever - what the listener can take away from the experience. All of the lyrical references and samples don't need to be known for anyone to get maximum mileage out of this, possibly the most New York of New York albums, if that's even a category.

Can you believe it's been 20 years since this was released? I'm not sure what's scarier, the fact that 20 years have passed or that I'm still no where close to tired of listening to an album almost entirely stuck in another time. Funny as it is, if you examine those samples and lyrical references that I stated don't need to be known for full enjoyment, you'll find a hip-hop album that seems obstinately intent on dating itself. Robotron, the Quarter Deluxe, Green Eggs and Ham and Yosemite Sam are all name checked at some point along with countless others and a vast majority of the samples are firmly placed in either 70s funk or old school (as it was at the time) hip hop. This approach was so far out of left field in 1989 no one would've thought that, by 1998, it would be called one of the greatest albums in rock history by Vh1 or, in 2009, that Paul's Boutique would be able to look back and see the trail it blazed so prominently. Capitol Records clearly didn't know what they had in Mike D., Adrock and MCA because this album almost disappeared on arrival. Def Jam, the label that saw The Beastie Boys conquer the world with Licensed to Ill, looks even more clueless in retrospect, because all they wanted was more of the 'white Run-DMC' sound that brought the first album to the fore.

Now, I'm not going to sit here and go track by track into why this album's a masterpiece as plenty of folks have covered this - none better than Dan Le Roy though. What I can say now is that this album pointed a new direction in how music could be made. I'm not 100% positive that this is the first album where a collage of samples is the focal point, but in conjunction with The Dust Brothers (who produced this album), The Beasties forged a path for intelligent, artistic use of sampling that has oddly seemed to gain more traction in the rock arena than in hip hop from where I sit. Look at bands like Animal Collective or Dan Deacon whose music is almost 100% sampled from somewhere or even in Matthew Herbert's or Richie Hawtin's brand of dance music. There are many more artists today using the sampler than before. Thanks to The Beastie Boys, who are probably still getting sued for the samples within Paul's Boutique given their volume - there's an addage about omeletes and eggs that fits here.

I just wanted to take a quick few moments and give a 20th birthday shout out to one of the greatest (firmly in my top 5) albums ever made. And after 20 years - just like the man says towards the end of "B-Boy Bouillabaisse," "It's a trip, it's got a funky beat and I can bug out to it."

A Bit of An Update From My World

2009-02-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

As promised, I'm going to take some time to give you a bit of a peak into what I've been up to.

The short story is work. When you elaborate into what that actually means, you find a combination of moving, travelling, packing, unpacking, writing, interviewing, hiring, depriving myself of sleep, playing futbol, attempting to watch it on tv, as well as adopting, acclimating and raising a new dog. I've been a bit distracted with all of that. I don't want to make excuses, but that's the way it's been.

On the moving front, yes we've actually moved from an apartment to a house in Roxborough. More specifically, half of a duplex. It's about twice the space we had at our apartment, it's only a fraction more expensive.

We've officially settled in and gotten used to the fact that we no longer have to patron places that specifically deal in doing laundry. Love that! We also have a bit of a yard and a deck. Can't wait to get a barbecue going on that thing! We even have a garage and a shed. Inside, we've got more storage space than we know what to do with. We've got 2 living floors, plus a basement and an attic (I call it my fort). Now, all we have to do is have an actual housewarming and I think our living there will be symbolically official. Even better still is that the city is still completely accessible and the bus ride doesn't feel much longer than at our old place (which was actually in the city). We were really lucky to come across this place and even luckier to actually move in.

The move, I must say, was simultaneously easy and a pain in the ass. We were lucky in that we'd just paid our rent at the old place and, due to the whole first month/last month clause in the lease, were able take the better part of 2 months to get from one to the other. That was a great thing to think about. Throwing a wrench into that engine was the fact that we had to move over Christmas as well as do the whole Christmas travel as well. There's nothing quite like biting off more than you can chew.

Christmas was quite the fiasco too. I went to visit the parents in Portland (yeah, they moved to Portland, Oregon). This was our first trip out west and, believe it or not, it felt more like an Iowa winter than anything else. We get there and there's probably a foot of snow on the ground. To make things worse, no one there has any idea how to deal with it, people talk like it's the friggin' apocalypse and the mention of snow shovel meets more blank stares than anything I've ever seen. At any rate, the holiday was basically a microcosm of how living at home was for me. Everyone is happy to see each other for a few hours, we all coexist in some form of harmony and then someone disagrees with someone else (like always, this happened to be me) and the waters grow rough. The one anomaly was the fact that all parties involved here were able to amicably agree to disagree. Then what comes is the all out war that usually breaks out (usually because someone wants to jump into the middle of something they don't belong in - this is also my territory normally, but not this time out). The war is timed to perfection to be the night before the first part of us leaves (which is usually us) and then order is restored. It's not a vacation with my family without a fight and we refuse to disappoint.

In the midst of all this, I had to basically hire another newswire staff for mxdwn. That entails dealing with the lovely, but often uncooperative, folks at CraigsList. While I have my problems with them, I cannot fault their ability to give me an outlet to hire decent individuals. I could easily go on a rant against them, but the red tape they require me to get through in order to get an ad posted has to be needed for some reason. And, while it's not a full compliment yet, the staff I've gotten together are really pulling their weight well and learning quickly. I don't consider myself good at interviewing or training, so that makes the work doubly hard because I have trouble getting motivated for it. But, it has to be done, right? Right!

Staying in the mxdwn realm, I was given the opportunity to review what may become the best album of 2009. If you don't recognize the image on the right-hand side of this text, it's the cover of Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion. This album not only combines everything that's made the band great to this point, it contains a lyrical timelessness that'll make it great for years to come as well as enough accessibility to bring plenty of new fans into their camp. If you haven't heard, please go listen to it in any way possible. If for some reason you don't like it, I apologize for wasting your time, but with songs like "My Girls," "Brother Sport," "Summertime Clothes," "Bluish" and "Also Frightened," I can't imagine how anyone can get through this album and not find at least one thing they like about it. Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist have once again brought forth an album that exhibits the joy of making music in bold, new, thought-provoking ways.

I was also given the chance to review the new Asobi Seksu album Hush. Now, this album may not even be in the running for album of the year by the time July rolls around, but there's still a certain greatness due for a band that makes albums that are akin to genre films in the golden age of Hollywood. Shoegaze may not be on the radar of every hipster in the world - hell, Loveless by My Bloody Valentine may have been the album to kill the style despite being the undisputed heavyweight champion of it - but Yuki Chikudate and James Hanna have, over 3 albums, injected new life and energy to the style. Songs like "Mae No Meh," "Layers," "Transparence" and "In the Sky" create a solid foundation of a great set of songs, but the really jewel of this set is "Me & Mary." A lovelorn ballad of drained emotion and loss, Chikudate's in perfect vocal form and an argument could be made for this as Hanna's strongest hook to date. That's why I nominated it for song of the year last year.

And finally, the biggest thing that kept me busy over the recent past was the newest addition to our family. His name is Milo and he's coming up on a year and a half. He's a rescue dog with bags of both personality and strength on top of being adorable as hell. Overall, we really couldn't be happier with him, despite him driving me to question whether or not we were ready for another dog after Brixton. He's got a very dominant personality and he's a challenge to keep calm, but he listens the vast majority of the time and is pretty good about going into his crate for the day when we go to work. On walks, he tends to be more of a challenge. He knows that, inside the house, he's not the boss. He's still trying to be boss outside. It could be worse, he could have a bad attitude and be aggressive. Thank heavens he's not. Instead, he's just a fantastically welcome addition to our household.

That's A Record! My Favorite Albums of 2008 vol. 2

2009-01-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

Due to personal commitments, work and playing futbol 2 nights a week, I'm doing this in 2 installments. As I said before, these are not in any order because the climate in 2008 seemed to honor the collective good rather than a prevailing trend. It seems a bit lazy to word it like that, but hey, I'm writing this and you're not. :)

Here's the next 10:

Hauschka - Ferndorf

In my life, a lot of things have seemingly chose me under whatever the circumstances were at a given point in time. Through music I was listening to at the time and an obsessive desire to beat my friend in FIFA (one the N64 iteration), Liverpool became the team I would grow to love. The same has often been true when walking through a record shop. I saw this album on a shelf at Borders (it could've been somewhere else too - I don't remember at this point). It was all by itself almost asking someone to look at it like a dog in a pet store. Of course, the album wasn't preview-able at the store which put a happy spin on things, but I was bound and determinted to listen to the music within its package. Whether I was duped or not, I was absolutely absorbed into the piano work on this beautiful album. I don't know much about Hauschka, but in trying to find out, I learned of his 'prepared piano technique' where objects are placed between the strings and hammers and such. I always did that to the piano that my sister played when I was a kid. All I can really say without further relating via anecdotes and stupid stories is that this album is sublime. That's all that matters really.

Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair

Remember those commercials in the early 90s with falsely amped up 30-40 somethings optimistically musing about how disco was making a comeback? More than a decade later, we can finally be glad those crappy advertisements might've actually been on to something. Is this the disco of Donna Summer, The Village People or KC and the Sunshine Band? Is this the soundtrack to debaucherous, coke-laced celebrity shenanigans on the floor at Studio 54? No. It's better. Oh so much better. Hercules and Love Affair saturate their stellar debut to the brim with an unavoidably danceable mix of R&B, Krautrock and funk for days. While the immediate standouts may be sung by Antony Hegarty ("Raise Me Up," "Blind," "Hercules' Theme," etc.), there is no missable moment within this album. If THIS is the disco that's back, long may it live.

Now, I'm going to simply cut my losses and just list the rest because a) I've taken too long and b) It's ridiculously late to be adding a best of 2008 to a blog. If anyone actually reads this, I apologize and will try to get better about this in the future. Here's the rest of what I thought was great about 2008 from a music standpoint.

Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
No Age - Nouns
Portishead - Third
Ruby Suns - The Sea Lion
Stereolab - Chemical Chords
Times New Viking - Rip it Off
TV on the Radio - Dear Science,
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

It's a shame that I failed to get in gear on this. The final 8 contained some great albums that I sincerely recomend to anyone who likes music. If you're reading this and haven't heard any of these, do yourself a favor and give 'em a shot. You won't regret it.

Now, if you want the story as to why this entry took so long. That's my next entry. Till then, peace.

That's A Record! My Favorite Albums of 2008

2009-01-15T09:09:00.000-08:00

(Yes, I actually began this on December 19th. Then travel, moving, exhaustion and work got in the way. My apologies, but better late than never as the old adage goes)

It's Friday, December 19th and I've been in the final year of my 20s for a few weeks now. I still don't feel old, I don't care what anyone says. Moving is coming along, and we're on the cusp of getting a truck to move our big stuff to the new place. But that's not what I'm hear to talk about. I'm hear to shout into the vacuum that is the internet my opinions that, let's face it, don't really matter to anyone other than me. But hey, I'm going to do it anyway.

Now, the countdown begins. Much like my list in 2007, football was at the center of my thinking. I thought about actually numbering them and trying to pick the best album, or taking a note from a really great book I read this year - Brilliant Oranje: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football by David Winner - and putting the numbers in a random order like a team sheet for a football team, but I settled for saying these are my faves as they are and listing them alphabetically. The quality of music coming out in 2008 across the board was so consistently good that I see no other way to do this. If you read this, I hope you don't think it sucks. Here's the first 10.

Air France - No Way Down

Standing strong enough on its own as a 6-song EP, No Way Down has more beauty wall-to-wall than most albums that have come out this decade. Air France has released a second straight suite of brilliant dance music that can both provoke thought and shuffle feet. It almost makes me afraid what'll happen if a full album actually comes out from this artist. In an odd way, the cuts on this album seem to build on the sonic textures that the Chemical Brothers created with "Star Guitar" and augment them with a euphorically tropical sheen and whimsy. The opener, "Maundy Thursday" fades in with imagery of someone frenetically typing as baroque synths seem to wisk the listener away like a daydream. With "Windmill Wedding" waking said listener as it fades with distant church bells and a low, hissing scratch, they'll have no problem hitting play another time to dream again.

Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

I'm a big fan of music that can absolutely haunt others. While, like most, I don't want to be scared whilst listening to music, I like music that can really etch itself in the walls of one's brain. Bradford Cox over Deerhunter's brilliant 2007 effort Cryptograms and this, his solo debut, has shown that ability in spades. Who ever thought that a child telling an innocently precious and cute ghost story could loom so darkly over an album? The opening cut, the aptly titled "A Ghost Story" comes of as something so simple, but maintains a monolithic presence throughout this warmly isolated and almost cerebral collection of songs that come off like the subject of R.E.M.'s "Life and How to Live It" putting his heart and soul to tape. Cox's vocals are nestled in ethereal synths and guitars in a mix that simultaneously huddles in a distant corner while reaching for the stars.

The Bug - London Zoo

This album would be perfect to listen to on vinyl (though it's probably long enough to spread over 2 LP's). While the production is completely controlled chaos and the songs are thunderously in your face over the first half. The second is more muted, sludgy, dubby and even trippy at parts. In a manner that's crazy off the chain, "Angry" kicks things off in a fury of reggaeton and modern dancehall as Tippa Irie sounds off on what pisses him off. No, he's not going to talk about stormy weather or the state of traffic on the highway, he rails against the ignorance of the American government to Katrina, the rape of Africa and terrorism amoung other things. "Fuckaz," just after the midway point in the album, features Spaceape sounding off against the inherent hipocricies in society today. On top of those, there's a wealth of replay value within this album for a long time to come.

Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

Be it dance, rock, electro or something else, there's not really a match for a truly perfect pop record (as in a single, not an album). Often in music, albums full of great songs that stand on their own don't always match up to what the sum of their parts should be (it's a funny contradiction, but there's some truth there). In Ghost Colours is an album full of perfect pop songs from "Feel the Love," "Out There On the Ice," and "Lights and Music," all the way through its final cut, "Eternity One Night Only." As my friend Rob said, "They make the same leap from Bright Like Neon Love that New Order did from Brotherhood to Technique." Cut Copy, however, is doing it earlier in their career. While it wasn't them that made dance music cool again, I'd place money on them keeping things interesting for years to come.

David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

There's something about reconnecting with old friends even for a short time that's gratifying. Nearly 30 years ago, Brian Eno and David Byrne had the universe at their feet. After working on a string of brillian Talking Heads albums and Byrne's solo debut, they did an album, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, together that was as far ahead of its time as it was brilliant. So, at the sound of rumblings of another Byrne/Eno effort, expectations easily went high. Not only were those expectations met, but exceeded as well and with only little glimpses at their past. This was clearly an album of songs rather than ideas that their work in the 80s tended to be. Lo and behold, David Byrne can still write and sing and Brian Eno is still a studio wizard. Byrne is clearly in sage mode on "Life is Long," "Home" and "Everything That Happens" imparting wisdom through pseudo gospel-toned lyrics. Let's just hope it's not another 30 years before they come together again.

Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.

With Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, it appeared that Bradford Cox himself was on a streak. With both the size and quality of this simultaneous release (Weird Era Cont. was released as a bonus disc for Microcastle), it's abundantly clear that the individuals in Deerhunter are just as ambitiously creative as he is. With this effort being the most accessible Deerhunter-related album to date, one can't help but notice the coinciding arrival of guitarist Whitney Petty with a double suite of songs that bring together the worlds of experimentation and pop song craft that the band has displayed to a possibly frustrating yet fascinating result thus far. Here everything coalesces into an ornate, widescreen, yet intimate and rewarding experience. Cox and company draw from a massive well of innocent 60s psyche-pop, krautrock, shoegaze and jangle to create trippy, beautiful soundscapes with a C-86 sort of intimacy. One can get lost in this album for days, weeks, maybe even months at a time and not get bored. Well, at least I did.

El Guincho - Alegranza

This is an album that helped warm my bones during the winter months in which it was released. There are so many sunny, inviting melodies here that it was almost impossible to be cold when this album was on. "Palmitos Park," "Antillas," and "Fata Morgana," with there seamless blend synth grooves, latin and calypso tempos and a stomping beat that's never out of place - although, "Fata Morgana" is the somber track of the 3 - form one of the most memorable opening trios of the year. "Kalise" propels things along in a joyous, canival-sque manner without ever feeling tacked on. Then there simply sublime, head-bobbing beats like "Cuando Maavilla Fui" and "Costa Paraiso" that may not quite get the feet moving as much as those previously mentioned, but they're still stellar. As almost a sonic grand finale, "Prez Lagarto" brings the thunder back to the party before "Polca Mazurca" closes things of in a "Happy Trails" sort of way. While the fact that it's all in Spanish may be considered a deterrant, if you're not worried about not understanding the words, the music is more than a sufficient reward for giving this album a shot.

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Part One

Erykah Badu was one of the hardest artist for me to actually give a fair shout to. I'm not going to go into why, but it was a pretty stupid reason that maybe only a few people may know or even remember. What finally did it was Worldwide Underground, with its modern, seemingly improvisational take on the 70s soul legends of Al Green, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. While there are sign posts in that album to those artists, she never once sounds derivative. With New Amerykah, she takes notes from the expansive masterpieces of Isaac Hayes, Parliament and Funkadelic. It's been a long time since a stone groove, Afro-toting funk masterpiece has been on the cards. Some have tried and come close (Outkast came close, really close), but Badu made astute choices in both style and sound, and has almost made it impossible to wait for Part Two.

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Who'd have thunk that appalachian mountain folk filtered through indie rock sensibilites and sprinkled with Phil Spector-esque production and reverb-laden vocals would work let alone be provide one of the most inviting and haunting listening experiences that came from 2008. What's more is how full of hope everything sounds. Much like Grizzly Bear's Yellow House in 2006, this album feels like it came from another time, but Robin Pecknold comes across as stronger, more confident and with more belief in his music. The most eerily alluring thing about Fleet Foxes is their choices in album art. As with their EP, Sun Giant, they have the most oddly fitting choice of painting for the cover of this effort. While Sun Giant's cover looks like something out of Brigadoon and Lawrence of Arabia, Fleet Foxes has a religious painting which portrays either the 10 commandments or the 7 deadly sins (Thank you Mike A.). While there is a deep spirituality eminating from the music, it's in feel alone. All the hype that's surrounded this band this year may be overbearing, but you can't say that the music doesn't deserve it.

Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life

Punk and all of its factions hold on so steadfastly to traditions that they've almost reached the religious fanatic level hypocrisy. There were those at the time that reviled the ability of The Clash to look to a more expansive sonic palette, or said that The Jam weren't punk. We also shouldn't forget that everyone and their mother in the punk community criticized The Minutemen as well as Husker Du for incorporating 'outside-the-box thinking' and catchiness to their respective oeuvres. Heaven forbid those who formed a band without knowing how to play develop a sense of forward thinking, right? With The Chemistry of Common Life, the paths of pop and hardcore cross just as they did for Bob Mould and company 2 decades ago. However, Damian Abraham brings piss and vinegar by the bushel to the mix with a delivery like the cookie monster amped up on anger and red bull. Every song here from the epic "Son of the Father" to the closing title track like a siren from The Odyssey; the melodies bring you in while they pummel your eardrums with volume, speed and intensity.

The next 10 are coming soon...

The End of 2008 Has Arrived, I'm Pulling Out My Soap Box

2008-12-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

It's a cold Thursday in the city of brotherly love and we're exactly 7 days from Christmas. While there's no real news to report, it's time to start the end of the year festivities while I have some time. Unfortunately, I'll only be doing a music list this year. I'm not sure what really happened, but 2008 saw me seeing little to no movies. I saw The Dark Night and that was outstanding, easily one of the best super hero movies ever made. I saw others as well, but trying to appraise the year's films wouldn't be fair because I just didn't see that many.

Musically though, 2008 was as my editor in chief would say, "A motherfucker man!" A lot came and went, but a lot stuck around as well. There were some comebacks both successful (Portishead, My Bloody Valentine) and failed (The Verve) and plenty of new faces that'll keep those who already love music talking (for those just coming to music, there's plenty of inspiration for further exploration). As with 2007, music that made it easy to move the feet was the predominant order of the day, but thinking man's art played a stellar role from where I stand. There were out and out rockers as well as socially conscious club bangers. The only genre for me that seemed not to have a huge presence at the party was hip hop. Sure, Kanye brought out another fantastic album in 808s & Heartbreak, but anyone who's made that journey knows it's not a hip hop album. The Roots brought out the equally awesome Rising Down, but that wasn't without its shortcomings. The only really long lasting hip hop impression for me came from an oldie but a goodie. You'll just have to wait and see.

Because I was seemingly drowned in good music to listen to this year, I've got a couple lists. First is a group of albums that really burned bright and made an impression that either didn't sustain for long or I just didn't have enough time with the album between when I heard it and now. In any other past year, these might've really been top contenders, but alas, 2008 just wasn't to be for them in my opinion (as if that ever mattered anyway). Here's my first grouping of 2008 talking points.

In No Particular Order:

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

This album has everything in its right place in such a manner that it should be criminal. Many critics seem to want to give this album more sophistication that it deserves. Then again, maybe I'm the only philistine in the room. There are plenty of great songs here from "Oxford Comma," "A-Punk," and "Mansard Roof" to "Walcott" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" that'll welcome repeat listens. As much as I hate to do it, I have to agree with what Popmatters said. They're an equally bouncy, just as indifferent New York replacement of The Strokes. Instead of channeling 60s era garage, they're aiming at Graceland-era Paul Simon and nailing it in a way that's nowhere near derivative and smacks the bullseye of astuteness. I must say that, if any of that is to be regarded as true then let's just hope they make better choices than the band they replaced. If possible, then long may it continue. Hopefully the next time around won't see the album's quality suffocate in the hype of the blogosphere.

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

A mere minutes into this album, the phrase "You've got a face perfect for radio" came to mind. Switch a couple things around and it fits perfectly. This is an album made for music videos. Just check out some of the videos on YouTube and you'll see what I mean. Girl Talk is definitely not a bad mash-up man because this album is full of head-knodding, dancefloor filling tunes. This album does raise the question, "Where does creative sampling end and copyright infringement begin?" Not that I think this album shouldn't exist, but is this great music in itself or just the mixing and matching of music that was relatively great already? If one doesn't mind-fuck this one too much, it's really entertaining. However, I tend to do that a lot.

British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?

Since I started writing about music in 2005 (holy shit! has it really been 3 years?), I've fallen into the same trap several times. I guess it's easy when you're a fan of a band and try to forgive them a lot. While I thoroughly loved this album upon first few listens, by the time it came time for me to review it, all of its flaws really came to the fore. I really have to talk about it though because I still feel it's worth a shot for anyone who likes robust, arena-size guitars and has a penchant for huge, sweeping ideals. BSP really got their art-rock/stadium pop schizophrenia to sonically work together, but history repeated itself here. With The Decline of British Sea Power, convention got the shaft. With Open Season, many say it was their artistic integrity that got the boot. In gaining both of those back for Do You Like Rock Music?, I think it was the lyrics that were left at home.

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

If there was ever an album more workman-like this year, I missed it completely. It seems constantly vogue for a band to really flash up, over-conceptualize and be as hyper-literate as possible for them to get any credit. I came really late to this album this year and completely missed their 06 effort Boys and Girls in America. This is the living, breathing article that proves it's okay to just be good at what you can do and not necessarily explore what you cannot. The Hold Steady embody there name with their muscular brand of alt-rock that uses straight talk rather than extended metaphors and euphemisms. Had I not only had a week with this album, it would've made the main list for sure.

Osborne - Osborne

This is another sad casualty of me arriving late at a party. Sadly, that tardiness cost another album entry into my final list for 2008. Osborne's self-titled debut would be another shoe-in if I'd come to it earlier. This one I've only had for a day. That's how good I think it is. What starts with a droning, minimalist, pseudo-Kraftwerk epic consistently grows and evolves over 15 tracks. The end result, in my opinion, plays like an after party for a Hercules and Love Affair show. Some may still want to dance and others may just want to chill and this is a solution that can satiate both of those needs with plenty to spare. The major striking point on this album is its construction. With its beginning in "16th Stage" described above, every additional cut seems to add something, creating the idea of watching an architect build or painter paint. While other album's are louder or more stylistically diverse, this disc plays like its at peace with itself and hopes you enjoy the sounds as well.

Fennesz - Black Sea

When someone has taken the kind of scholarly approach to listening to music that I have (many claim to have, but few can back it up), discovering something totally new doesn't nearly stack up against discovering something you've missed. Fennesz has been around for a long time and Black Sea is my first entry into his oeurve. It's also an album that makes me want to see what else he's done. Black Sea is not really a collection of songs so much, but more like a sonic collage that feels like transmissions or audible signals from either the far reaches of the universe or some post-apocalyptic future. While the melodies can create a sublimely contemplative atmosphere for the listener, I found myself getting lost in the static that often clutters or even buries them. It reminded me of waking after dream to find yourself in front of a snowy TV, not quite sure where I'm at but being able to still find my bed. I always wondered how that could sound musically, Fennesz provides a stunning answer.

DJ/Rupture - Uproot

Very much in the vein of Fennesz, I was completely unaware of DJ/Rupture before Uproot. I've not really expressed it within this blog, but I'm not a fan of modern reggae at all. It almost seems like it's been in a series of holding patterns since the 80s. However, this year brought a lot new entries for me into what's going on in the genre. Now, this is NOT a reggae album, but a suite of beats and melodies with true international feel. The dubstep and reggae vibes permeating this LP make the Jamaican musical pastime the most immediately identifiable sound, but not the only one. For me, this album is the natural evolution of the downtempo/chill-out electronica culture that painted itself into a corner a couple of years ago when the likes of Thievery Corporation and others seemingly ran out of ideas (but not quality). Uproot is a complete package with tranquil beauty and a bit of muscle perfectly balanced and coalesced into a thought-provoking package.

Wale - A Mixtape About Nothing

Throughout junior high and high school, Seinfeld seemed to catch hold of my peers in a weird way with each passing year. I took it upon myself, as I did many other aspects of those years in my life, to arbitrarily go against the grain and refuse to like it. In the age of DVR, I've come to see the error of my ways. Oddly enough, hearing Wale's Mixtape About Nothing was the strongest catalyst. While those who know me well will attest, I really do love hip hop as a way of life, an art form and a genre, I don't pretend to be a part of it nor does it hold too heavy of an influence over me. However, Wale's album struck a chord with me for its sheer artistry and style. The opener, which samples the Jonathan Wolff theme to the show, features the MC delivering smart rhymes in the manner of the titular character's "What's the deal with..." way of beginning a joke. While I can't say his flow is the most intricate on the market, he seems to have the Talib Kweli knowledge of self. He speaks about not being signed, racism and a myriad of intra personal topics and coalesces them into his own transformation of the sitcom that even has an appearance from Julia Louise Dreyfus (thank god she doesn't rap though).

So Little Time...

2008-12-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

It's Monday December 15th. That means 10 days till Christmas and my first trip out west to see my parents in their new home for the first time, probably the only time too. I've never been to the west coast. So, I'll at least be able to say that I've been out there. I feel like I've been running since I returned from abroad in May. Now with the post-Black Friday Christmas rush in full force, I'm starting to find myself behind an 8-ball of sorts in terms of my holiday obligations. I just purchased my first Christmas presents for other people. That's not good.

I must say, that this has been a most eventful holiday season so far. Beginning with my birthday in mid-November (what I like to call the holiday season's Community Shield), I've seen old friends re-appear, current friends convince me into something new and even decide to relocate. That's right kids, we're moving into a house. No, we're not buying. I'm not ready for that kind of permanence. But, we're moving into half a duplex in Roxborough with 2 living floors, a finished attic, dry basement, 1.5 bathrooms, washer, dryer, deck, garage, shed and heat. We're currently halfway through moving all of our little things and plan to get all the furniture over a weekend in the very near future.

Now, with album/song of the year season in full force, guess what's coming before I leave for Chrismas? Keep an eye out.

Once again, I get going and work steps in. Take it easy.

I Ain't Dead Yet, Shit!

2008-11-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been here for 29 years now. My life has seen the tail end of the 70s, the 80s, 90s and a new millennium. Like Lewis Black, I still feel a bit screwed - No flying cars. Frankly, I'm not all that sure what I'm supposed to feel about this. Am I to feel anything? Through movies and TV, I've been told that, if I'm a girl, I should feel old, ugly and decrepit. However, I don't have a vagina. The few instances in entertainment where a yarn has been unraveled about a dude in this age (though I usually think it's either nearing 40 or 50), there's been some completely manufactured reason for them to be something other than just apathetic.

Several have asked me today how I feel. I don't feel old, but I am rather tired and have been dealing with a persistent, uncooperative headache. I'm not complaining just stating an answer. I do have to say that I don't mind this. I'm very calm about what I've got and where I'm at. Though it's all-too-soon to take a look back, I've been doing it since high school and I don't really see a barren, empty abyss in which my life has merely disappeared. In fact, every year has, either through mistake or measured thought, seemed to liven up and enrich my view of the world we live in, for better or for worse.

I don't really want to end it like that, but I've got some work to do...

More to come on this. :)

Ok, it's 11/20 now and I'm back to finish, or at least add to yesterday's thoughts.

Oddly enough or maybe even typical for me, I can't bring the words to the page that would add to what I said yesterday. However, I would like to say thanks to all who gave me gifts and best wishes. While it wasn't the best gift I received, I was given a book called The Guitar Bible. This gift has really put some gas in the tank of my leaning toward actually buying one and learning how to play. Now, if only they didn't cost so damn much. :)

Sorry the additional sentences were so anti-climactic. Have a great day!

Mr. Obama Goes to the White House, and it Still Rains!

2008-11-05T12:47:00.000-08:00

I'd grown so impatiently exhausted with the way our nations media handled this election that it gave me migrains to watch anything other than The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Maybe the root cause there is that our media feels the need to appeal to the lowest common denominator or, in order to be the most frank, the stupidest people in the room. I'm not saying it's wrong to do that, but it's my firm belief that if you speak intelligently without pandering, your message will get across. The fact that there has to be shows that air with the ethos The No-Spin Zone or Cutting Through the Bull could actually speak to the size of the problem. Sure, for some, the message may come a bit slower than others, but that's natural selection, people. Then again, some folks in the republican camp of politics may not subscribe to that.

Before anyone decides to really sink their teeth into the fact that I'm not the first on this, save your breath and energy. Believe me, I know and every 4 years I get really sick of it. It's just a cycle that will probably continue every 4 years till I exit this mortal coil.

Back to what I originally wanted to say. I'll be the first to admit that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report aren't the best news sources for anyone to rely on because they miss so much. However, the fact that they zero in on how the news is presented and lampoon those responsible is what I find a vast amount of solace in. I'm just sayin', that's all.

So our 44th President is Barack Obama. I'm happy for 2 reasons. 1) The right man for the job got the job. I'm not going to go into why, that's just my belief and I will stand by it until he proves me wrong. If he does, I'll stand up and admit it. 2) This is more of a personal one for me. I remember a conversation that I had with my mother at either Christmas of '07 or another time I was seeing them. We were in the van and they said, "Who do you like for President?" I said, "You're not going to like it, but the next president will be Barack Obama. He's a guy this country needs." The ironic thing in all of this is the fact that both of my parents agreed with me. Of course this was at a time before primaries had begun and there was no credence to my thoughts and my parents could've just agreed with me to shut me up. That wouldn't be a first.

I will say this, for the first time (my 3rd election), I felt like it mattered when I walked into the voting booth and made my decision and I think that feeling will probably reside with me for some time. I don't know, maybe it's just because when I voted in other elections, there didn't seem to be anything that would affect me like the current calamity we face as a nation seems to. There's also the fact that I was genuinely apathetic back then. This time I really tried to pay attention. Plus, it's always good when the person you vote for gets elected, we might as well be real about that. Whether it's perceived as superficial or not, I feel that something seemed to matter when I voted this time. I didn't feel that before.

As for me, I'm fine. I find myself thinking about Brixton a lot more lately. It really sucks when I open the door and the apartment is still empty. I don't know...

Other than that, I've come to some realizations as of late. My interest in movies has almost completely vanished. Not sure why, either. I think that, since I started playing football (soccer) again, I just don't want to sit and watch a film anymore. This brings a paradox to the table in that, I will sit for 2 hours and watch Liverpool or Barcelona or Valencia. I won't even start on how much time I've spent lately playing video games.

Speaking of video games, I have to hand it to my wife. This is even weirder because she's been anti-video games for most of the time I've known her. I started talking about the possibility of a FIFA 09 tournament shortly before the game came out in October. Then she uttered some interesting words, "Would you teach me to play?" Absolutely flabbergasted, I said I would and that she'd have to work at it to get good. It lasted almost 2 full lessons before she gave up. That's when something even weirder happened. I wanted to get a wireless lan adapter for my Xbox 360. She, a friend and I went to Best Buy to do so. As I grabbed what I needed and started to walk out, I hear "Oh, and we're getting Rock Band as well."

This requires a bit of precursing, ever since I became aware of Guitar Hero I wasn't even close to interested in it. I took that pseudo-high road approach, subscribing to the belief that, if I wanted to play music, I'd learn to play the real thing. So, I was against that and Rock Band on a matter of what I thought was principle. Then again, marriage does funny things to dudes. As I tried to question her statement of intent on acquiring a video game, I had her, my friend and a vision of my father in the back of my head all looking at me like, "You know the outcome of this: You can either argue or go along quietly, but either way you're carrying that gigantic Rock Band box to the register and the car." So, I did what any self-respecting husband would do. I listened to my spouse.

The shitter is, she was right. She had to go help our sister-in-law that day, but my friend and I got home, we hooked everything up and proceeded to have an absolute blast playing that game. It was only a couple weeks before I'd unlocked all the songs and decided to purchase Rock Band 2. Now, I'm completely addicted. In fact, that game has gone a way to convincing me to finally give in to my thoughts of actually learning how to play guitar. Let's not mince words, here. I don't want folks to think that because I'm addicted to Rock Band that I think I'll be a natural at guitar or any other instrument for that matter. I'm completely grounded in real life here. I know it's going to be challenging and frustrating, but I think I'm ready to take that plunge.

Oh, and because I mentioned it earlier, FIFA 09 is amazing!

Campeones! Campeones! Ole, Ole, Ole!

2008-09-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Last night saw the end of a 4-team round robin soccer tournament put on by the Philadelphia Falcons soccer club with my team, Soylent Green, coming out on top. I don't really care what anyone would have to say about the tournament as a whole. Sure, it was a predominantly friendly atmosphere to jazz up the normalcy of Wednesday night pick-up. This little 6-week outing ended up bringing the competitiveness out of every team in it. There were games that were absolute grinds, there were absolute blow-outs and there were a couple of downright thrillers to participate in.

We may not have gotten a trophy at the end of it all, but I think I achieved some growth as a player, especially in the defensive department. I feel that my ability to see the progression of an attack coming at me grew exponentially, especially in the final game against the yellow team. Unfortunately, the only 2 wrong steps I made ended up being goals. There were a couple of moments where I was able to get on the ball and try a few things, which I'm also happy about. I hope another little tournament like this happens again. It really was good fun to play in it. I'd say that even if my team hadn't won it.

Credit to all members of Soylent Green. We ROCKED!

On Going to Spain, Movie Watching and a Little Bit of Antonio Gaudi

2008-09-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

For those who don't really know, I've been toying with the idea of moving to Spain over the past couple of years. For those back home whom haven't heard me mention this, yeah it's true. No, I've never been there and the best Spanish I can muster is from broken, faded memories of taking the class in high school. In fact, I can't really say I have a whole lot of reason behind the idea, if boil it down to brass tacks. Nor do I have any plan, were I to actually go through with it.

So, what's the deal with Spain? Why not move back closer to home or just another city? Truth be told, I feel the need for a complete revamp of the world around me. I've lived here for almost 6 years and, while it's given me a tremendous amount of good things (the absolute perfect wife, great friends which led to greater opportunities and plenty of life experience), I can't get around the idea of what a completely different frame of mind would show me about this world of ours.
Will it happen? I'm not sure. But I knew I wanted to move here in order to be with the woman I love and that couldn't have worked out better. So it's possible.

This past weekend, we sat down and watched Antonio Gaudi. A film by one of my favorite Japanese directors, Hiroshi Teshigahara. Now, I'm not going to say that anyone should run out and watch this film. It's not even really a film, but an unobtrusive tour through the work of who many call the greatest architect in history. This film is essentially 98% silent. There's a score, but there's no narration, explanation or verbal insight into the absolute beautiful work that is shown on screen. The only dialogue comes near the end when an old man (I believe a colleague of Gaudi) briefly goes into detail about the Sagrada Familia.

Now, I don't know thing one about architecture. I barely understand art in general. I think I can feign a certain amount of intellect in terms of music and movies, but I don't know much. Bearing all that in mind along with the hesitance I had as this film got rolling, this was actually an easier watch than one could expect. The absence of the most necessary details required in a documentary (see the prior paragraph) actually gives the audience a bit of freedom. We were able to comment on his style, notice little details, pause at our leisure or go back to a previous shot without feeling like we're interrupting something.

***A little side note: I detest doing all the things I just mentioned during a movie. I prefer to just take it all in as it comes. I'll go back only during foreign films in instances, though very rare, wher the subtitles are moving to fast. All that aside, with this film being the way it was, these things I can't stand just felt natural. Now, I'll return to what I was talking about.***

In this film you see all of Gaudi's major works including Casa Vicens, La Pedrera, Palau Guell, Casa Batllo and the Barcelona icon, the Sagrada Familia. Teshigahara's camera gives each work an admirable gaze from many angles and set-ups with the kind of attention to detail that immortalized this artist on film when it was made in the 80s. Gaudi's style operates on the principles of nature. His columns resemble trees more than support structures, the shapes of rooms resemble caves and he was unafraid to try anything new. Nothing of his looks typical or normal, but all of his work is visually alive and all the details pull the eye over the entire surface with out looking messy. If anything, this film sort of added to my desire to live in Spain so I can see what these look like with my own eyes.

What's most interesting to me as film nut, is how appropriate this film's maker and its subject seem perfect for earch other. Hiroshi Teshigahara made films of astounding quality, but in a manner that is as equally off-kilter as their essential premise. His visual style is brilliant, the screenwriting is poetic and the music is eerie and otherworldly. Of course, he's only one third of the trifecta that included Kobo Abe (screenwriter) and Toru Takemitsu (composer). The Criterion Collection put out a box set (The aptly titled Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara) that brings together the three films put together by these 3 individuals. Pitfall, the masterpiece Woman in the Dunes, and Face of Another with an additional disc of supplements paint a picture of the filmmaker almost as an Antonio Gaudi of cinema and all (except maybe the supplements) are completely worth the watch.

This is where I completely fail as a critic: I can talk about why I like something forever. I'm not all that great at selling it. I don't know why, but it's always something that's been lost on me. If anyone reads this, they probably won't want to go to their friends/family/significant other and say, "Hey! Let's watch a movie with no dialogue that showcases the work of an architect from Spain!" If it does happen, I'll shut my mouth.

Friday Thoughts on Politics (Unfinished)

2008-09-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

It's Friday and I'm here to do a bit of writing. What purpose? Not sure. At the moment, for some odd reason, politics are weighing heavy in my head. No, this isn't going to be some manifesto or diatribe as to who's right or wrong. In fact, I'm at my absolute limit in terms of tolerance for any rhetorical bullshit from either side of our political system. Things in that arena have gotten so ridiculous that I'm starting to get convinced that my vote means absolutely dick.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to turn out and exercise my right in November. I'm actually going to vote for Barack Obama, if you're going to ask. That's my choice. Make your own and don't listen to whatever anyone wants to say about how wrong you are.

To be honest, I'm not sure Obama will be that good of a president and I'm not all too convinced that McCain will be that bad of one in terms of the choice laid before me. I actually think since our congress is democrat-controlled for the next 2 years, we have the best chance of getting anything done with a democrat heading up the executive branch. Does that mean loads of change and hope will rain from the heavens? Absolutely not. It could very well mean that the only thing that really changes is the salaries for senators and representatives for the next term. Still, I feel it right - however naive it may be - to put my faith in the system.

I do want to say that in terms of entertainment value, the republicans sure got their convention right. Like a trooper, Rudi Giuliani rode his 9/11 train into the sunset, Leiberman and Thompson really earned their respective Droopy the Dog and Foghorn Leghorn labels astutely given by The Daily Show and Sarah Palin placed herself high in the running for best stand-up performance in 2008 politics. I've never laughed so hard at what sounded like jilted sorority hobag rant in my life. The one republican I've come out of this respecting more than I thought I would is Mike Huckabee. Sure, the evangelism is...well, just that and, stemming from that, are a slew of ideals that border on fanatically hypocritical, but he had the balls to make Stephen Colbert his VP candidate if he got the nomination. That shows simultaneously a strength in character as well as a sense of humor and that he knew what the score was. Subsequently, every time I've seen him on TV doing an interview, he's shown his intelligence in terms of where everything else stands in this chaos that will decide who leads our country. Though I may not agree with him on creationism or his religion-imbued politics has become beside the point due to that.

Don't get me wrong, the democrats aren't exactly riding white horses to rescue our country from the problems we face. Their mudslinging is just as ridiculous, but nowhere near as funny. Barack Obama has the gravitas to keep people's attention and charisma to boot, but the democratic convention was like an awkward moment at a family reunion between sections that just don't like each other. Those with big families know where I'm coming from. Watching the Clinton's give their back-slapping, aren't humanity neat praises to Obama was just weird.

What's more is, and I could be very wrong on this next statement, there doesn't really seem to be an overt direction with this shouting from the mountains for hope and change. That's what scares me more than anything. The one thing I've always noticed about republicans is their sense of discipline towards their party. Now, becuase of the acrimony of Clinton supporters, democrats could once again spend from September to November tearing each other limb from limb while McCain just focuses on his core constituents and waltzes into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January.

If I offended anyone in the previous writing, I do sincerely apologize. I never claimed to know anything about what's happening in our country, nor be an expert on the subject. Just wanted to write. Unfortunately, it'll remain unfinished because it's time for me to go home.

Peace y'all.

It May Not Be the Best, But I Think it's My Favorite...

2008-07-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday saw me finish The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess. It's the first Wii game I've bested (I bought the Wii and the game in May) and this franchise, once again has demonstrated its ability to sweep me away in wonderment. With the exception of the GameCube's Wind Waker and the myriad of Zelda titles that have popped up on portables over the years, I've taken care of them all. From the games humbly amazing origins on the old NES and its not-nearly-as-good first sequel through Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. If I've missed important events in the series by what I've not played, I don't care.

This one, while not the masterpiece of gaming in both innovation and entertainment that Ocarina of Time was 10 years ago chose its path very wisely and became, in my opinion, the most entertaining Zelda game ever. In the 10 years since playing and finishing the N64 title (I don't remember Majora's Mask all that well), I've grown a bit and changed as a person, but playing Twilight Princess proved that the creators had, with few exceptions, decided to grow the franchise as well. Here we get fabulously shot cutscenes that don't overstay their welcome and take a darker, more adult edge at times. There are great characters from the kids of Ordon Village to Midna (though she gets annoying at times) and the abominable snow couple. The enemies are throwback (as they should be) to previous games, but this time they actually look like living things as opposed to cartoon-ish as they've been in the past. Hyrule is a vast, dangerous and wonderous world full of life and you can go almost everywhere in it. The levels themselves take on the traditional map/puzzle format with, usually, a mini-boss and a boss. Defeating the former usually yields an item, while defeating the latter earns a heart container. What makes this game a joy is that the levels are thoroughly engaging and the puzzles are challenging and the design is amoung the best I've seen ever in a video game. Mind you, I wouldn't consider myself a gamer.

The issues I have with the game are almost nitpicky. Gamers don't need to hear Midna's whining for the duration of Link being a wolf. On the same token, the next great leap - not only for this franchise, but across Nintendo's core franchises - is giving a voice to these characters. Maybe Link doesn't need to speak, but seriously, the script for this game was one of Nintendo's better creations in a while, spoken dialogue would've pushed it into the pantheon reached by Ocarina of Time and beyond. Super Mario Galaxy would benefit the same way (I'm working on that one right now). I also think the bosses of each level could've been a bit more lethal if possible. I found myself not really dying against any of them. I'd get hit here and there, but I was pushed to that edge where losing that last ounce of life was at stake. The last little gripe I have is in terms of scoring - Galaxy benefited from this exponentially over every other Mario title because the music, though still repetitive is surprisingly inviting. Move away from highly produced midi arrangements. They aren't easy on the ears and lose their luster rather quickly.

While I'm sure I've not gone into the amount of detail required to give this title proper due, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess further continues this franchise in fine style with its ability to entertain the kids while being equally inviting for adults. It utilized the gimickry of the Wii controller so intuitively that it was easy to get used to. Thumbs way up on this one. Honestly, I think that I'll probably beat it again. For all of its flaws, I had more fun looking and playing this than any Zelda previously.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

2008-07-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

July is winding to a debilitatingly humid close this year and every time I step outside work its like a wall just drops on me. At least I remember the humidity back home being a lot worse. That's a little heartening.

Enough with the small talk though, I'm not sure where this writing's going to go. I just sort of started with no clear intent and am going to see what happens. Nothing all that new to report really. We saw Hellboy II: The Golden Army last weekend. I must say that it's amazing how far comic movies have come. I was clearly the sole member of a minority that thought it was better than the first in our group. I don't think it was without flaws, there were plenty. The love stories of any of the characters didn't really work, but I don't think they were intended to draw people in. I think they were there solely as plot devices for character motivation. On that level they did work, because they provided a reason for everything to push forward. Hellboy's snappy one-liners in the action sequences as well as conversations were lacking the wit they seemed to have in the first installment. In fact, the dialogue as whole was a bit shoddy. After all, it's still a super hero flick.

Flaws aside, here's why it succeeded for me: this time around, the plot was constructed not in the manner of hero vs. villain (even though that element is the premise), but rather more in the vein of the second installment in a fantasy trilogy. Where the first film showed the audience who these characters are and the world they live in, this one shows them playing around and exploring in that world. Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz and Manning were all well-established and developed in the first film. Now, they just seem to play around in their personas. Guillermo Del Toro's experience with Pan's Labyrinth has heightened his visual style and sensibility yielding some of his most creative ideas in this film.

Backtracking slightly to the whole fantasy idea - I never really wrapped that one up - here the main characters are thrust into an odyssey of sorts very similar to the second installment of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars here the characters go through trails and have to figure out and make decisions based on who they are. That's something that's not easy to do in the confines of the hero film. Looking back, there are really only 2 hero films that I can think of that did it well: Spiderman 2 and Batman Returns. That worked from a critical standpoint for the former, but the latter was pretty much a failure for critics and audiences, but my memory may be mistaken. Hellboy II takes an intellectual high ground with the fantasy angle, but also a shortcut because, at its core this is all sci-fi/fantasy and the rigidity of audience expectation may not allow for this kind of change. I'm biting off more than I can chew here because I'm a film lover and not too experienced in film criticism. Either way, I loved it. I hope whoever else may see it does as well.

In other news, Sporting Philly has actually had a great summer season thus far. Our first game had the potential of shenanigans because 2 players left without much notice, but it was a friendly affair. Probably one of the more good-spirited games I've played in. Our second game was plagued with a late start and a long halftime because of a rugby tournament that made mistakes of not playing on their correct fields. We drew 0-0, but should've scored at least 4 times. Luck wasn't on our side at all. However, I still wonder how a dude on the other team got man of the match. Their keeper, the only one eligible at that point didn't do anything impressive and had all the post assistance he could handle. They only had one clear shot on goal and never really made it out of their own half. I can't really say who should've been the MVP, but it wasn't one of them. Then there was game 3, we started with 8 players and others came late. I started out in goal and did ok for my first competitive game appearance in that position. I let in one, but I should've stopped it. Then Zaire went on a tear and played the game of his life. He only scored once, but he was essential in our 3-1 win.

Then there's our new logo (above) that was designed by my wife. I think she did an amazing job on rather short notice. She rocks. I personally think she did a great job in incorporating the Liberty Bell into Sporting Lisbon's crest. Sure it could be called a rip-off, but still. It didn't take her very long and she didn't even have to do it in the first place. I personally love it.

Then it comes to music. Not much all that revelatory here. I'm working on getting more staff for the newswire at mxdwn.com. I've posted 2 reviews (Explosions in the Sky's All of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone and Wolf Parade's At Mount Zoomer) recently and am working on the reissue of U2's The Joshua Tree
and K-Os' Atlantis: Hymns for Disco concurrently at the moment. The latter's not all that great and the former is a masterpiece with a bunch of unnecessary bells and whistles attached. Other than that, my time with mxdwn.com is always good and I still enjoy doing it.

As for the subject of what I'm listening to, I've found it really hard to escape 2007. There were so many great things that came out of last year that 2008 really seems a bit of a downer. The potential that Black Kids showed on their EP Wizard of Ahhhs was completely passed over on their debut full-length Partie Traumatic. Sure, it was the entire EP plus other unabashed guitar/synth pop that owed much to The Cure that sounded pretty, but the best songs were the 4 that came from the EP. Wolf Parade's sophomore effort proved to be better than 2004's uber-acclaimed Apologies to the Queen Mary and No Age, with Nouns, more than trumped last year's Weirdo Rippers, a collection of their 7"-only EP tracks that made me amoung others stand up and take notice. There are plenty others that I've been digging this year. Here's a list in no particular order:

1. Air France - No Way Down
2. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
3. No Age - Nouns
4. El Guincho - Alegranza
5. Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping
6. Portishead - Third - Probably the most perfect album released this year.
7. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
8. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
9. British Sea Power - Do you Like Rock Music?
10. Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances

There are plenty more, but my memory is kind of shot.

The only other thing I can really mention is that I'm so bored with football not going on. The season starts August 16th and it can't come soon enough.

Peace y'all.

Farewell, My Friend...I'll Never Forget You

2008-07-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. I wonder if anyone checks this anymore. Did they ever? Probably not, but I have to return with sad news. Our dog, Brixton left us on Saturday, July 29th. After 2 and a half weeks, I still wake up looking for him.

In my life, I've had many best friends leave me. I think I've even left a few myself. To those whom I've left or have gone away, I still remember you and will do so always. I remember the good times and the bad, but that's life. It's a double-edged sword that serves up sweet as much as sour, if not more of one than another. Unfortunately, we have no choice which one to eat. We have to take what's given and get on with it.

Brixton came to us via my sister-in-law and her friend on cold November 29, 2006. I still remember the night. I'm involved in an intense game of FIFA 07 and the doorbell rings. Next thing I know, Diana shouts excitedly from the door, "Look what we got!" I was frustrated at the game because I was losing, so I turn expecting something insignificant and see nothing more than an eight-week old brindle boxer running as fast as his tiny legs will carry him towards me looking as happy as he could be. Immediately, everything else disappeared. I'll never forget how happy my wife was to see him. She was even happy when he peed on the rug. We knew he was one of us right away. He jumped up on our shins and into our laps, licked our faces and stole our hearts in one short night.

We named him Brixton after where my favorite band formed (I'm glad that my wife agreed with this) and one of the first full days I spent with him, I actually just listened to music and played with him. We'd take time to just sit for a bit and he would stare attentively at the speakers leading me to believe he was even okay with the name as well as the music that spawned it. He sat with us as we watched movies, tv and on weekends he would wake up with me, I'd take him out, give him his food and he would watch football with me all day long. He was there for me when I was at my most scared and most happy and, no matter what, he always wanted to make everything better.

We were there in his best and worst times too. When he was fixed, all we wanted to do was make him feel better. When we found out he had a heart condition, we tried everything we could to keep him as calm as possible. He had Boxer Cardiomyopathy (if that's spelled right), which is basically additional heartbeats that shouldn't be there. For this, he had to take medication everyday. We found that out when he was fixed. Subsequently, he collapsed because of that condition and his heart problems really became at the forefront of our thoughts. We saw cardiologists that said he's contracting this at amoung the youngest ages they've ever seen. He had to wear a Holter monitor over a weekend which made him look like a terrorist with a bomb strapped to his back which was another heart-wrenching experience for us. He hated to see us leave the house when he had that on him and all we did all we could to let him know that he was a good dog and that we loved him. From outsider eyes, this seems to sound a bit crazy, but Brixton was worth every penny of every doctor bill and the cost of every ounce of food and the annoyance of every squeaky toy we ever bought him.

Then on June 29th, he collapsed and just didn't wake up. Diana saw him collapse and called for me. I got into the room to comfort him. I started petting him and trying to console him before we took him to the emergency room. I watched his eyes as he looked at me, gave one last, strained whimper as if saying "I wish I didn't have to say goodbye."

I wish I knew what he was thinking...now that I look back. I'd like to know what he thought of us, our friends, the neighborhood, the fact that the dog park near our house closed. Did he enjoy our company as much as we did his? Most of the time, this is just blind faith and hope. The fact that he still came to us when we called should probably be an indicator, but I'd still like to know more. I still wish that he'll be there when I get home from work, I still look for him when he doesn't come to the door and I still here him walking around our apartment when it's all quiet. I also still look at his collar and remember his expressive face staring back at me.

Last Friday night, I watched Errol Morris' Gates of Heaven. Still the best documentary I've ever seen, by the end I was in tears as these individuals speak of their deceased pets, estranged kids and problems with their pets' graves being moved. Despite the corniest analogies of this idea, I found the experience very therapeutic. In the one of the closing montages that shows the headstones of the graves, I lost all composure when it cut to a headstone that read, "I knew love because I knew this dog." Indeed and I'll remember it forever. I know that I've probably not shed my last tears in rememberance of Brixton, but that the year and 7 months he was in my life were full. He got to see the ocean, he had a girlfriend Lily, he got to play with Tasha and Alley, he got to try some good beer and he had 2 owners and several of our friends and family that loved him. Not bad for a puppy.

You Can Crush Us, You Can Bruise Us, But You'll Have to Answer to...

"Brixton"

10/7/2006 - 6/29/2008

On Those European Nights, On the Pitch at Anfield...

2008-04-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

The opening track on Godspeed You! Black Emperor's sophomore album Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antenna's to Heaven is probably the only close description of what watching Liverpool play Arsenal at Anfield in the quarterfinals of the Champions League last night. What began with a nervous internal quiet built to gloriously ecstatic cresendo in an absolute thriller of a contest. It was the 2nd leg following an enthralling 1-1 draw on Arsenal's turf 6 days prior. While most of the press would deem this 'advantage Liverpool' because of the away goal, I found myself nervous all day yesterday.

Most football and Premiership fans know that Arsenal play a brand of the game that is a class above the reds. I'm not even a supporter but I can't resist watching the gunners play every week. I never got to see Ajax play in the 70s, so this could be as close as I'll get. Sure, the argument could be made for Manchester United as well, but Ajax's Total Football was an ideal that stated no one player was more important than another - even with Johann Cruyff clearly in the driver's seat of that team, he could be subbed and play would run the same. While Manchester United do play fabulous, free-flowing and downright fierce on the attack, without Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney on the pitch, it's just not the same.

Back to my point, I was nervous because Arsenal know how to run at teams and keep their ability to pass short and long with pace in tact. Even with the horrific injury to Eduardo earlier in '08, Sagna in the previous week or so and Van Persie succumbing once again to the treatment table, I knew that it was only matter of time before Arsene Wenger had his men performing their artistic beauty on the field. I was also on edge because Liverpool at times cannot keep up with that. They buckle like a belt against Man United every year in the league because of their workman-like approach and while they may not lose to Arsenal, they don't win either. Last year, the 8-foot toothpick Peter Crouch scored a perfect hat trick in a win over Arsenal that I couldn't see coming. There was no way to see it because in both cups, Wenger's men came to Anfield twice and smacked us around like seniors to freshmen in high school - 6-3 in the Carling Cup and 3-0 in the FA Cup if I remember correctly.

The game kicked off with a rumble in my head. It felt kind of like in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the boulder got rolling. I knew there was no way to turn back. Arsenal opened scoring in the 13th minute with a great run by Abou Diaby as he dribbled by Xabi Alonso and the recently acquired Martin Skrtel and delivered a goal of of keeper Pepe Reina's left hand. Immediately nerves set in and the voices in the back of my head chanted "The reds are going out." It took a long 18 minutes for an equalizer to come from Liverpool, but Sami Hyypia delivered a decent reason for a contract extension. He found space in the box on Steven Gerrard's corner and arced a header into the back of the net. We go to the break at a tension-filled 1-1.

In the 2nd half, both teams came out intent on winning the match. Arsenal set on its attacking flare with Liverpool doing absolutely everything possible to keep it at their preferred pace. In the 69th, a hard pass forward was gathered by Fernando Torres only for him to quickly turn around Philipe Senderos and Kolo Toure and put a beautiful shot by Manuel Almunia with absolute class. The roar from the Anfield crowd was unlike anything I'd heard before as was the joy on the Liverpool players' faces the picture of pure happiness.

Then, in the 83rd, the Arsenal sub Theo Walcott showed why he has had a hype machine surrounding him since World Cup 2006. After gathering the ball just outside the box in his own half he proceded to, over an 80-yard run, leave 3 red shirts in the dust to set up Emanuel Adebayor for an easy shot into the back of the net. Then, super sub Ryan Babel charged into the Arsenal box only for Kolo Toure to (controversially?) bring him down. Gerrard took the penalty kick as only he could putting Liverpool up 3-2. As Arsenal through everything they could forward, the reds caused a mistake and were able to catch Ryan Babel on the break for the 4th. For the 3rd time in 4 years. Liverpool are in the semifinals.

A Junkyard Masterpiece and Other Treasures: Beck's Odelay

2008-02-15T09:34:00.001-08:00

Upon hearing the 2-disc Deluxe Edition of Odelay immediately makes me want to talk historical context at length about the album. Given that the album was huge, full of hits and inescapable for the alt-rock crowd, I'll feel better resisting the temptation beyond barring some thoughts. If folks haven't heard it, they should. To this day it remains Beck's most singular expression of not only what makes him tick, but just how deep the pool of influence he pulls from actually is. Plus, it was an album that captured the entire scope of 90s music, all of which looked back while moving forward.

From the opening swagger of "Devil's Haircut" to the somber denoument of "Ramshackle" everything great about this album remains true, pure and completely ageless from its release 12 years ago. Cuts like "Hotwax" and "Where It's At" can still rock a party. "New Pollution" still induces humming along. And others like "Jack-Ass," "Novocane," "Sissyneck" and "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" still show that Beck was at a creative peak that few will say he's matched since. Basically, for those who've not heard this album, seek it out.

The tail end of disc 1 begins supporting why Special Editions are completely worth the trouble. The 3 cuts that close out the first half of this release are the absolutely phenominal "Deadweight" and the non-lp cuts "Inferno" and "Gold Chains." The first, though rightfully left off of Odelay, deserved to be on the album becasue it's on par with its best moments. However, his movement from the funk here hinted at his long term direction while his next proper album Mutations would baffle, yet again. It's heartening for me to see this on a Beck release because for 10 years I successfully avoided buy the soundtrack to A Life Less Ordinary, thank heavens. More foreshadowing comes from the other non LP tracks. While Mutations, Midnite Vultures and Sea Change would feel like clear departures, "Inferno" and "Gold Chains" (albeit to a lesser, folkier extent) cover the same funky, 80s atari-lined digi-funk that Guero would bring forth 9 years later. This is why special editions can be so valuable: In 3 tracks recorded around the same time, we see the artist growing towards the future.

In fashion that is pure Beck, we receive not 1, but 3 arguments against special editions. Disc 2's opener, an UNKLE remix of "Where it's At," is literally 13 minutes you can't get back. UNKLE does its big beat, sci-fi thing with "Where it's At" playing underneath it. Aphex Twin's and Mickey P.'s respective remixes of "Devil's Haircut," to me just don't cut it. Of course, that could be my love for the original talking, but I'll stick by it. Following these 3, disc 2 really seems to take off with "Clock," "Thunder Peel," and "Electric Music and the Summer People." These three are made in the spirit of Odelay with there balance between hip-hop and indie rock, but sound altogether different than the album. In fact, their sequence on the disc plays like a spectrum from one to the other that takes a turn to experimental electronica at the end.

This different sound takes us back to why special editions are useful. Sure, they show what, for better or worse, didn't make the cut. However, some of the experiments concocted and extremes reached on disc 2 in songs like ".000.000," "Lemonade" and "Erase the Sun" show that Beck could've released 2 albums simultaneously that sounded completely different a la One Foot in the Grave and Stereopathetic Soul Manure in 1994. Sure, if one ended up being Odelay and the other something else, simple deduction leads us to what the better would've been. This isn't to say that disc 2 isn't worth its salt. In the 'sketches-in-a-notebook' sense it truly is something to behold. The tangents, sounds and ideas that Beck was playing with at the time will continue to spark discussion among fans and those who give them a chance. But ultimately, the right decision was made and a masterpiece was unleashed at the sacrifice of several gems who's destiny was the cutting room floor. The fact that we can hear and enjoy them in one place without having to try and hunt down the various singles they might've appeared as b-sides on is great service to both fans and collectors. Beck is one of a severe minority of artists whom this type of reissue can achieve a maximum result because he pulls from such a vast range of ideas and influences and even his throwaways are better than most of what tops the charts.

Super Bowl XLII: Yes, I Enjoyed It!

2008-02-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

I'm going to preface this by saying a few things.
1) I'm not a fan of American football fan. I haven't been in years.
2) Though I can't argue against the NFL being the best run professional sports league in the world - in terms of treatment of players, fans and teams - I'm of the persuasion that the Super Bowl is traditionally one of the most boring events in sport. Hate all you want, this is a preference.
3) Most of all, I can't stand how long the games are. I don't care about the different positions and following the game, to me, is about as dull as dishwater.

The point of all that is to show that, I'm probably the last person some would suspect to watch the Super Bowl and its ads, let alone clean the house and invite people over in its spirit. However, that's exactly what I did. My wife and I spent Saturday afternoon into the night cleaning, running to the store to get munchies and beer and I was simply buzzing with excitement for it.

How does that happen? Well many factors come into it. Even though I avoid the sport like the plague, I still couldn't escape hearing about Tom Brady and his Patriots as they destroyed teams. Sure they had a speed bump or two along the way, but they refused to be beaten. So, up to the final game, they were 18-0. If they win the game, they'll be the second team to go completely undefeated. The Miami Dolphins were the first back in the 70s. They only went 17-0 (More teams = more games = more perfect). So there's that, which is half of it. On the other side of the 50, we have the New York Giants, the team I got behind to win. The reason for that takes a story.

When I followed American football, the team I HATED was the Packers. Rich coming from a 49ers fan is the reasoning. I picked my team watching players like Roger Craig, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and John Taylor at different times. However, there was a game I saw when I was 4. It was in the regular season and I remember being in trance because of the red and gold uniforms that won the game. It was only later that I really learned what I could at the age 5 about the team and retain. By the time they won the super bowl in 1984, I'd watched them enough to call them mine. Now, I say that because when the Packers started winning again in the 90s, everyone and their grandmother started coming out of the woodwork saying they'd been Packers fans forever and every other team is garbage. Sure, a select few had seen their team be terrible and stuck by them, but bandwagoners come at you like there's no other option while the true fans will compliment their team, but don't get in anyone's face until they win because it's only fair.

Now that I've trailed off, my reason for getting behind the Giants to win was because they kept Brett Favre and his cheese-headed band of morons out of the super bowl. Win or lose, I was greatful when I read that piece of news and supporting them against the Brady-loving Patriots fans was the least I could do.

So, for the first time in a while I was excited to watch a Super Bowl. You know what? It actually delivered the drama that it's hyped itself up to be all these years. Usually, the game's over by halftime. This was a tense affair where no team gave up its pursuit of the trophy. In all fairness, The Patriots were clearly the better team, Welker was probably the most active player on the field. The Giants did what they had to do to win and that's all that matters. The commercials were once again average at best. This was not only the first Super Bowl I enjoyed in a long time, but probably the best one I've ever seen. Sure, I watched my 49ers win some doozies, but I wasn't old enough to care in '82 when "The Catch" won it and I don't remember the '84 game all that well anymore. Even though they won more, the games were never the crescendo that this one was. Eli Manning pulled that game from the jaws of defeat in that last drive and it was brilliant. He deserves any accolades he'll receive.

However, it's not over for Tom Brady. If the Patriots don't break apart in the post season, they'll be back in force and he'll be in the driver's seat again. He's a great quarterback and will get better. All of 'em have moments where they blink, unfortunately his was on the biggest stage possible and on the brink of perfection. The future will see him as one of the greats and his career isn't even over.

As a neutral, I enjoyed the hell out of that game. But I'm happy to go back to hating it and enjoying 'proper' football, or as Howard Rogers would say, "Euro-style kick ball." But all congrats go to the Giants.

A Trip Down Memory Lane: My Secret Love of Dance Music

2008-01-30T09:38:00.000-08:00

Music took on a rather strange role in my life as I grew up. No, I wasn't a really ignored child or cast aside by parents with issues. I just always seem to grasp the epic powers of sounds that I heard growing up. On rides to school when mom would crank the oldies station, I never failed to get lost in the sounds of Motown, Doo Wop, Stax, bubblgum psychedelia, garage rock or the occasional surf gem that would haunt me throughout the day. Then there was my aunt who, without her knowledge, played a role in acquainting me with a fledgling MTV when she would babysit my cousins and I. She was still in her teens and, thankfully for me, she didn't understand the impressionability of kids. Thus, I was exposed to the early 80s synth pop/new wave revolution that caught specifically because of the network. The moment that made me want to understand where it all clicked came shortly after my mother remarried. I was at my new grandparent's house playing in the basement while grandpa worked at his desk. "Do you mind music?" he asked politely. I don't remember how I answered, but he then pulled out a metallic disc (what I eventually learned was called a 78) and introduced me to jazz, specifically swing, by playing Benny Goodman's masterpiece "Sing, Sing, Sing." I was six and the year was 1985.

Somewhere between 5th and 6th grade (91-92), I had another little revelation. I was introduced to techno music. I choose my wording for a specific purpose. I remember hearing "Get Ready For This" by 2 Unlimited at an Iowa Cubs game and trying so hard to find out who that was. Next thing I knew, I was trying to get hold of every beat heavy, synth hook-laden pseudo anthem I could find. Then I tried to label all the various tapes I'd amassed from late night radio as well as friends and music store junkies. This is where it all really hit. This stuff sounds exactly the same. I felt a bit stupid. Luckily, this little fever hadn't lasted enough for me to give massive financial investment outside the couple of cd's of 2 Unlimited that I'd already bought. Naturally, in a fit of anger, I took magnets to all the recorded tapes and found myself lured away into the Native Tounges vibe of hip-hop simultaneously with 70s funk and disco. My newfound knowledge of fickle techno ended up being slowly washed away by tides of James Brown, Parliament, Funkadelic, De La Soul, Brand Nubian, The Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest among others. The difference was that this whim was dictated by scrutiny. Therefore, the groups I fell in love with ended stayed with me because of their quality as well as the fact that I took time going in rather than diving with reckless abandon. Now, all that's left of my stupidity is a couple of 2 Unlimited discs and I don't feel like I miss anything.

1996 saw the delivery of some retroactive vilification from my friends when I began raving about Daft Punk. "What is it with you and all this techno bullshit? What happened to loving Zeppelin, Floyd, Pearl Jam and that other band you like that no one else does? Hello, disco died. It was killed by all those baseball fans, remember?" Those are some of my favorite remarks when I tried to get "Around the World" into rotation at the radio station I was on. Unfortunately, there were other meetings where I tried to get The Melvins some airplay that fell on deaf ears as well. Thus, I sort of retreated into my own little dance-loving world. Which, unless you're a severe club-hopper - and believe me, I'm not - tends to be an uncrowded affair.

In 1998, I learned how to actually love dance music, if I didn't know before. One night in the summer before I went to college, I received the last great gift MTV would ever give me. It was after a rather dreary encounter with my girlfriend at the time. I don't think it was a date, I think we would've been hanging out at her place and I decided to come home early. I watched a movie and still wasn't tired, so I threw on MTV (which still played music late at night)while I doodled in a notebook. Surprisingly, I caught the show Amp which I'd never seen before that day and couldn't catch again because it's timeslot constantly seemed to change. After a few videos, I started yawn. After making a decision to call it a night, I heard the opening guitar twitches to "Music Sounds Better With You" by Stardust. Completely captivated I stared at the screen trying not to blink and not to hear anything but the gliding disco beauty that track is. This was the moment that affirmed any reservations about liking dance music. It's simple chorus of "Ooh baby / I feel like music sounds better with you" over a simple, sunny, disco groove said everything about everything to me that night. I immediately wrote down the artist/song title over my drawings that had filled the notebook page and spent weeks trying to find it in stores. I eventually found it at a place called CD Now which peddled used discs about a year later. That disc would eventually get stolen by a close friend of mine at the time. But like Mr. Burns to his teddy bear, Bobo, my love for that song would never ever falter.

I eventually learned that it's the brainchild of Thomas Bangalter, half of Daft Punk and realized I didn't want it any other way. It's also interesting how this single pointed the way to Discovery for them. It also closes the set to the masterful Alive 2007 album. Without hearing this cut, I would've missed out on Air, Cassius, Dimitri from Paris and others while simultaneously not really gave a damn about Electronica as a whole. That means no Orbital, Aphex Twin, Autechre and I probably would've never tried an artist like Herbert whom I absolutely adore. I couldn't imagine my life without this track. Sadly, but possibly for the better, Bangalter never followed this single with a full project. The optimistic heart still probably thinks, "Maybe someday..." But I doubt that'll ever come. How I came to write about it like this you might ask? I was browsing through my iTunes last night and realized it's been around for 10 years, so happy birthday.

Sometimes the Year Doesn't Start Till March

2008-01-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

A pop culture year is very much like the average human week. Most Mondays are slow, boring and dealing with leftovers of the weekend, Tuesdays seem bland and mechanical and on Wednesday, the week begins to take shape. At that point we all know exactly how this week will be remembered, if at all.

January can be a boringly horrid month for someone like me. I hate the cold, I just returned home from vacation and another is too far off to think about. However from a personal vantage point, '08 is getting a kick start compared to years past. A friend turned me on to Times New Viking's Rip it Off a couple of weeks back as well as Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut and I had the pleasure of getting to review Dub Trio's new album, Another Sound is Dying. Now, I'm not going to get ahead of myself and say that these will be around come Album of the Year time, but at least the wheels are moving at idling speed for now.

Now, since January is usually the Monday of any year, most of it is spent following up on previous year leftovers. Certain art house films that were massively praised by critics mid-year are just now seeing American screen time next to also-ran blockbuster (supposed) releases that just weren't good enough to see light in the last set of 365. Last year about this time is when masterpieces like Caché and Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada saw their releases. These were give deserved praise by critics, but forgotten by audiences by the time they hit theaters which is a shame.

Music is a different kettle of fish altogether. Sure, blogs start buzzing about albums rather early, prophecizing the coming of musical saviors and/or disasters that readers could probably take or leave, but sometimes proper exposure never comes till the next calendar year. Such is the case of the album Here Comes the Future by The Honeydrips. I'm not saying that this album is a lost masterpiece or one of the best albums of the year by any stretch, but it's sweet, groovy little dream pop gem that could've gone a long way with some push behind it.

In fact, that album is the reason for this writing. While I chose my top 20 very much in the vein of Rinus Michels' coaching methods for Dutch Total Football in the '70s - where every player barring the keeper, should play every position with the captain as the leader on the pitch - it's common sense that every football team needs substitutes and most leagues allow 5 on the bench. Thus, here are the 5 substitutes if my 20 starters couldn't get a proper result. Shockingly, the inspiration for this piece didn't make the cut.

S1. Tomahawk - Anonymous

With the first substitution slot usually slated for a goalkeeper (in the off-chance they might need him). I can't think of more important musical figure that I could bring on with more confidence than Mike Patton. Though I can't say I'm a Mike Patton "fan" yet because I simply don't meet the requirements. I've not followed his every move ever nor have I been able to hear even half of his output since Faith No More. Hell, I haven't even heard all the Faith No More stuff, either. However, Tomahawk's Anonymous continues a tradition of consistency that's evident in all of his work as well as the hallmarks of all things Patton. No one can say it better than Patton Superfan Raymond Flotat, "It defies name, genre, convention and heretofore all expectations for the group. Anonymous is a marvelous achievement. It's unique and enjoyable in the best way possible, an attempt at pushing boundaries of which Tomahawk should be proud."

S2. Black Kids - Wizard of Ahhhs

I can't claim to be an expert on bands who've pimped themselves to success via the internet, but I can say that the best work I've heard from a band where the internet was the sole means of exposure exists in the 4 tracks from this EP. The band's mix precious, lo-fi indie rock augmented with synths and lyrics of pure romantic yearning is also one of the best examples of EP usage in a long time. There's no time for it to overstay its welcome and never boring over repeat listens. I would encourage anyone and everyone with a love for good-hearted rock and power-pop balladry to give this a shot. Not since Big Star's Radio City or Chris Bell's I Am the Cosmos has a band embodied all of the beautiful possibilities of romantic guitar rock. Couple that with C-86 preciousness and you have a unique package that I can't wait to hear more from.

S3. Joanna Newsom - The Ys Street Band

Then there was the darling of 2006. To me she came out of nowhere. I'd no knowledge of who Joanna Newsome was before I heard Ys. After the first listen, I couldn't have cared less. However, something in that album held on tightly to the back of my mind and waited ever so patiently to tap into my 'Must go back and Check' sense. When I went back, I still wasn't totally bowled over by what many raved as the best album of the year. Frankly, I'm still not sold. But I can't consider her overrated or overhyped as all the accolades she's received are deserved on some level or another. Ys getting album of the year, for me was probably how some felt when Annie Hall got the Oscar in 1977. There were better albums in 2006, but I don't think any of them touched it in terms of sheer songwriting intellect and bravery. The Ys Street Band EP may serve as overrun for that album, but this is a display the could prove Newsom's worth. "Colleen," the leftover from Ys coupled to live renditions of older Newsom tunes shows her at full strength in studio and on stage. At only 3 songs, she'll leave many of her fans absolutely salivating for more. Too bad the wait will probably be long.

S4. Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy

If there's anyone who could write a book on how to age gracefully, it would be this man - The book would have its forward written by James Murphy. His band Sonic Youth have made waves for nearly 3 decades and have failed to falter. Sure, some of their albums aren't as good as others, but they continue to move forward without stagnating. In fact, the only times laurels are ever rested upon seem to be on his solo releases and, seeing since there aren't many, it's never a bad thing. Trees Outside the Academy may be on the heels of SY's latest masterpiece, Rather Ripped, but it's another song-driven affair full of pop hooks and trademark Sonic Youth noise. What's so great about Thurston and SY is that though they get older, their music, however linked to 90s alternative it might be, still seems ageless after all these years.

St. S5. Vincent - Marry Me

Rob, if you read this, thanks for this one. This was an album that I didn't listen to based on my childish tendency of looking at the cover. While that tendency has gotten me into many a great band (Massive Attack, Portishead, Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa, etc.), it has failed me on several occasions as well. This was one of them. Annie Clark really delivered here. Lush yet chaotic arrangements would seem out of place if not for her beautifully full voice. While I've not heard anything previous to this release except The Polyphonic Spree's Fragile Army, which she appeared on, I can say that I've not heard a more idiosyncratically masterful album in quite some time. Song's like "Now Now," "You're Lips Are Red" and "Jesus Saves, I Spend" reveal an artist of truly original talent. While this effort is consistent, clever and absolutely lovable, I would pick this woman as highly likely to drop a creative masterpiece in the near future. While Marry Me has laid a strong foundation for the future, it still feels like a rose at half-bloom. Once this woman reaches full confidence, there's not going to be much that'll stand in her way.

Even with an extra 5 entries, the list doesn't feel complete. Of course, I could go into others still left off like Grizzly Bear's Friend EP, Air's Pocket Symphony and the aforementioned album that inspired this writing. I declare that to be an utterly pointless task. That could raise questions about the fruits of this labor. For that, I can provide no other answer than I really dig writing about music, among the other things that this series of writings might contain.

The Carling Cup: It May Not Be Much, But What A Game Tottenham v Arsenal Was!

2008-01-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

Football is sport of beauty, art, strategy and athleticism combined. No, this is not about the upcoming Super Bowl. On January 22nd, I had the pleasure of seeing a souvenir moment. I saw a North London derby of immense proportion in the second leg of the Carling Cup semifinal. Sure, in terms of silverware on offer to be won in England the Carling Cup may not garner the most respect, but still, a trophy is a trophy. Anyone who has anything bad to say about it is jealous they didn't win it. The stage: an absolutely buzzing White Hart Lane. The combatants: Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. Before I jump into the action, a bit of background.

The 2007-08 season began with sheer anticipation for the white half of North London. Spurs still had Martin Jol at the helm, Gareth Bale, Younes Kaboul, Darren Bent and Kevin Prince-Boateng were purchased in the summer and Dimitar Berbatov was celebrated at the Lane as last season's best signing. Couple that with pundits confidently touting Tottenham as the team to take 4th spot in the league away from Arsenal without hesitation and things were looking up. While the big names weren't coming to Arsenal over the summer, that's no surprise because they almost never do anyway. However, mystery surrounded the signing of Eduardo da Silva, the Brazilian-born Croatian that Arsene Wenger brought in to replace recently departed legend, Thierry Henry.

2007 was a year of pain for Arsenal. They lost the Carling Cup final to Chelsea, were out of the title race and within 10 days were sent packing from The Champions League by PSV Eindhoven and muscled out of the FA Cup by Blackburn Rovers leaving them with essentially nothing to play for. They got themselves into 4th place so they could qualify for Champions League play and went into autopilot for the remainder of the season.

Determined to rectify that season, Arsenal kicked off 2007-08 in flying fashion refusing to lose in the league till December when the hapless Middlesborough would somehow rise up and take them down. However, that doesn't blemish their season in the least as they are still in the title race, level on points at the top with a Manchester United side almost without weakness. Leading into the match at hand. Tottenham's season started bad with a loss to newly-promoted Sunderland and got worse as they lost one after another to opponents they should've put away without a breath. Though they participated in several thrillers. It was not enough for Martin Jol to keep his job. Enter a new era of change with the hire of 2-time UEFA Cup winner with Sevilla, Juande Ramos.

There was the birthday miracle where they went 4-1 down and clawed their way back in the final 10 minutes. Also the Fulham game where they went up 3-0 and crumbled in the second half and came away only with a draw. Of course, how could I not mention the 10-goal thriller that was Spurs' 6-4 victory over Reading. It was the Reading game that really signaled Tottenham's intent to finally start outscoring opponents.

Then came the Carling Cup semifinal draw that pitted Arsenal against Spurs over 2 legs. The first leg was an open game with attacking flare from both sides that finished 1-1, but saw Arsenal very lucky to come away without conceding another goal. In the build-up towards leg 2, there was something in the air about Arsenal coming to White Hart Lane this time. The stoic Juande Ramos had been the picture of absolute confidence on the sidelines and as time has passed in his tenure, Spurs look more the business every time they play. Even the squad selection by Arsene Wenger showed his nerve. Sure, he's used the Carling Cup to give his younger players experience, but after that first leg he knew he needed Gallas and Gilberton in defense and put his big guns Fabregas, Adebeyor and Eduardo on the bench. This had to have thrown the youth off. The rest is for the highlights.

It was great to see Tottenham finally get the better of Arsenal. I'm not a supporter of either club, just a lover of the game. So what's next for Spurs? Well, they get to play Manchester United in the FA Cup and probably lose. It would be really hard for God to go to Old Trafford and get a result against that team. Then they need to try to climb back up the table to the top 7 where the should be. Of course, the Carling Cup final will be a tough ask as well since they'll be pitted against a damn near indestructible Chelsea side that, without its huge stars, still refuses to lose. At least they can say they finally beat the gunners and for the first time in 9 years, Arsenal and Arsenal Reserves have to make room for Spurs in their monopoly of North London.

That's A Wrap! Films of 2007

2008-01-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

If there was ever a thing for me to kick myself about in 2007, it's the movies that I didn't get to see. Over the past few years, I'd been developing an almost natural ability to see somewhere in the area of 50-75 of the movies that came out that year. For those who don't know, that's really saying something. The average film critic will review 175-250 movies a year, not including blurbs they write at film festivals. However, not the case this time around.

After scouring through various sources on the films of 2007, I topped out at just over 20 films. So, basically, I could do 2 lists: The 10 that I saw and 10 that I most wanted to see. So, without further ado, here's the best half of the films that I saw.

10. The Simpsons
Directed by David Silverman
Written by Matt Groening and others

Well, it happened. It actually happened. The oft-fabled movie project came out and, in my mind, turned out to be the best movie to come directly from a TV show that I can remember at the time of this writing. There's enough focus on Springfield's first family, the massive cast of secondary characters as well as enough attention paid to the idea that it exists totally outside the show. Granted, that's not to say it could be as good without it.

9. Ratatouille
Written and Directed by Brad Bird

This film along with Monster House, is as close as big studio animation companies can get to B-movie material before their bottom line is in danger. I mean that as an honest complement. Look at the concept; A rat that's a top drawer chef in Paris and running a restaurant. From the outset this film is on thin ice in terms of suspending disbelief. The fact that Bird deals with this content so honestly and without deluding the characters to stupidity is why it succeeds. That Patton Oswalt delivered a sincere, human performance as the voice of Remy makes it all the better.

8. Superbad
Directed by Greg Mottola

Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

What seemed in previews to be somewhere between American Pie and PCU ended up being a smart, human tribute to friends that ultimately grow up and apart. Though the novelty of McLovin and various one-liners spewed out by slack police officers will eventually wear thin and go out of style, the heart of this movie lies in the performances of Michael Cera and Jonah Hill that gently display a wealth of talent below the obvious molds their characters create.

7. I'm Not There
Directed by Todd Haynes
Written by Todd Haynes and Oren Moverman

Hearing about this film was simultaneously sickening and intriguing. It has art-house gimmickry written all over it with multiple actors in the lead, color and black and white usage and Todd Haynes at the helm. That this film is about Bob Dylan set it up for failure. Surprisingly, instead of exposing all that is behind Dylan, this film shows the Dylan that most of his fans already know and puts the mythology of his career on display in all of its contradictory glory. Sure, the names of all involved have been changed except for Allen Ginsberg, but if attempted in different fashion, the need for absolute fact trumps all and all of the myths don't work in thrilling fashion like they do here.

6. Zodiac
Directed by David Fincher
Written by James Vanderbilt

This is a police procedural in the vein of JFK. This mystery won't be solved and I'm not ruining anything by saying so. This film is about passion for the work. Gyllenhaal and Downey Jr. reminded me of Hoffman and Redford in All the President's Men in their display of relentless drive to find the answers and possibly impending doom from the publicity surrounding them. Apart from the content here, Fincher is displaying his directorial prowess with digital photography. This is one of his best films.

5. The Golden Compass
Written and Directed by Chris Weitz

I did not see this one coming but am I glad I tried it. In my opinion, Chronicles of Narnia fell on its face and The Lord of the Rings just became a bloated leviathan of a trilogy. I didn't even know about the His Dark Materials books, but I wish I did and I plan on familiarizing myself with these before the next movie comes out. This film, like Pan's Labyrinth is perfect for CG and vice verse. This is a film for everyone as well as a nice idea for the science vs. religion debate. Could the ideas that give us supposed salvation be the very things holding us back? Discuss.

4. Juno
Directed by Jason Reitman
Written by Diablo Cody

Massive acclaim from critics and audiences can often be smoke and mirrors, but every so-often, everyone really gets it right. Expect to see this earn some awards. I doubt it'll take the biggies, but Ellen Page and Michael Cera deserve noms as does J.K. Simmons and Diablo Cody produced the best dialogue of the year without a doubt. This is the film where Jason Reitman steps out of his father's shadow, though it may not mean much. This film is full of humanity and wit rather than just being funny.

3. There Will Be Blood
Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

There's a shot in There Will Be Blood that says it all. It's composed of Daniel Day-Lewis' oil-covered face staring in wide-eyed, with flames lighting it up against the night sky. This shot personifies the monster that we know he is with an insatiable thirst for money from oil. There's a poignancy in this film about certain peoples' values that have come to the fore in recent years. I'm not going to go into it, but no actor could embody that soulless juggernaut better than Daniel Day-Lewis. If his masterstroke of a villainous portrayal deserved an Oscar for Gangs of New York, then he should be a shoe-in here. This is a brutal, meditative epic of coruption, deceit and greed that stretches for almost 3 hours. And it's a masterpiece.

2. No Country For Old Men
Written and Directed by Ethan and Joel Cohen

The Cohen brothers fell pretty far from grace there for a while. What a righteous return to form this film is. Javier Bardem will be there come award time due to his performance of pure, merciless evil in this crime film turned character study. His narrative is played against Tommy Lee Jones' aging state patrolmen who relentlessly presses on to do the right thing while slowly building to the realization that he may be well in over his head. Josh Brolin is caught in the middle as n'er do well who's unafraid of adversity and all are on a collision course towards each other. The result is an austere, beautiful film that is in every sense perfect.

1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Written and Directed by Andrew Dominik

Here's a film that marks a high point in the modern western. Easily the most beautifully photographed film of the year, it's subject matter encompasses the spirit of the old and the intelligence of the new in equal parts. Where The Proposition saw the outlaws have to pay for their crimes and law's fallibility exposed in the land of lawlessness that is, for lack of a better word, hell, this film harkens back to heroes and villains and how they were often on the same side. However, their interaction was often deeper than suggested. Casey turns out to be far and away the better Affleck as Robert Ford. He so blindly worships Brad Pitt's Jesse James to the point that it shades into lust. Jesse James is aware and understanding of the threat he poses while indulging in his fame as Ford follows his every command. The scene mentioned in the title is almost Bresson-like in its beautiful depiction of what both characters saw coming since they got to know one-another. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck reminded me of John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in their camaraderie, the idolism and the inherent sexual undertones that come along with the worship. Andrew Dominik struck gold with Chopper, but catapulted himself into a pantheon of greats with this, the best of 3 perfect films I saw in 2007.

That's A Record! 2007 Is Over and I'm Back On the Internet

2008-01-07T09:55:00.001-08:00

The last time I wrote a blog, some bad things happened. Let's just say that lives were destroyed and in a maze of implications, governments were brought down. Like in Mr. Arkadin, what began with a dead naked woman on a beach, though not literally, ended with a pilotless plane flying somewhere over the rockies rather inexplicably. But, I've decided to make a return. Those few survivors who were courtside as the empire crumbled have marched on with little to no psychiatric damage and I'm now in a better place.

All that said, what a year 2007 was for music. From my little corner of the world, I was simply dumbfounded on a frighteningly frequent basis as marvels in album form spewed into the world one after the other like lemmings treading fearlessly to the cliffs of my ears. There were so many that came out that I could make 3 unique Top 20's, all of which could inspire rampant argument. After some stress, I figured out my own little approach thanks to the help of David Winner's book Brilliant Orange. Instead of "ranking" these, I just decided on the 20 that I would want to hear again the most and, in the Rinus Michels coaching style at Ajax, simply give them a number, but keep in mind that the numbers are not labels determining position. For the numbers are unimportant, it's the players that matter. However, on the field there must be a captain. That is the only ranked album on this list. Obviously, the captain is very important, so I put it at number 1. My top choice is the one album the leaped out at me above all others.

Now, to the list.

20. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

This won't be the only time I say this here, but I'm not one to suckle at the teet of all that is Animal Collective. I dig their style and their methods, but that alone won't win me over. With Feels, they seemed to be getting soft to me. Many of those songs sounded, well, normal. Here, they're back to their indulgent and odd ways. This album makes a case for them as one of the VERY few Felliniesque bands I've ever heard.

19. Chromatics - Night Drive

This album really captured a feeling for me. I've always kind of felt an outcast in my family. Not really in a bad way, but whenever I take a trip home, it usually involves me taking a 2-3 hour drive at night just to relax and think. This year at Christmas, there was no time for one of those, just a quick trip down memory lane with my wife, but listening to this album proved very therapeutic in that sense for me.

18. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime

There were plenty of times when I looked at this jacket while listening to this and being surprised that I wasn't looking at an Aphex Twin/Richard D. James composition, though that's not to say it's derivative. All comparison aside, this is one of the beautiful masterpieces in ambient techno that I've heard, but I'm no expert in the style.

17. Radiohead - In Rainbows

It's been a decade since the last time I was truly comfortable with a Radiohead release. I'm not going to go into the particulars because it would take way to long. Let's just say that's good enough for me.

16. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Six albums in and these guys refuse to get worse. Spoon is the Mr. Reliability when it comes to concise, efficient, true blue rock and roll.

15. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

I came to the party on Funeral quite late. I can't really say that I've ever really come around to calling it the masterstroke everyone else wasted no time doing. Neon Bible is a different barrel of monkeys for me. There's enough heart and sheer belief on this album and it goes a very long way.

14. No Age - Weirdo Rippers

It's odd how white noise and distortion can provide accessibility to abstract rock experimentation. This album has an ebb and flow that, like the tide, sees ocean waves of post-rock splash against the rocky shores of that alternative rock sound and then back out into the sea.

13. The National - Boxer

With Matt Berninger's beautiful lower tenor voice and music steeped in American indie rock with touches of Joy Division here and there, this record is packed to the brim with goodies. The haunting opening piano on "Fake Empire," the claustrophobia of "Apartment Story" and solid rockers like "Mistaken For Strangers" and "Squalor Victoria" have paradoxical qualities that could both wake one up in the morning as well as put you to absolute rest at night. They're also addictive enough to have everyone come back for more.

12. The Good, the Bad and the Queen - The Good, the Bad and the Queen

What do you get when you take 2 Brit-poppers (Damon Albarn and Simon Tong), add a dub-loving former punk rocker (ex-Clash bassist Paul Simonon) and the former drummer for Fela Kuti (for those unaware, Fela was funkier than James Brown, Sly Stone, Parliament and Funkadelic put together)? You get an un-named supergroup (according to Damon Albarn) that dropped one beautifully murky album that sounds in and of itself and not being born or influenced by anything but its creators.

11. Panda Bear - Person Pitch

To be honest, I could take or leave most of what comes from Animal Collective. Still, that doesn't stop me from listening to all they put out because their heads and hearts are in the right place. Panda Bear from said group truly astonished me on this one. I completely missed its arrival. This was another that I was lucky to hear because of my affiliation with mxdwn. Person Pitch is the first time I can remember hearing Wall of Sound-style production and not wishing for the angelic voices of either Darlene Love or Ronnie Spector. Songs like "Bros," and "Comfy in Nautica" have such a heavenly quality about them - as do the rest of the cuts here - that makes them irresistable.

10. Caribou - Andorra

Dan Snaith sure put the ball of wax into this one. This album succeeds in that XTC way of bringing very distinct ideals together and almost creating something better. While XTC focused more on the lyrical stylings of The Beatles and Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys-style production, Caribou takes aim at Odyssey and Oracle by The Zombies and Forever Changes by Love. It's one of the few contradictions that could exist in music. A sunny bleakness or a happy sadness, if you will.

9. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

Finally, an album containing truly GREAT SONGS rather than one novelty and a bunch of ideas. Cuts like "Get Innocuous!," "All My Friends," "Someone Great," "Us vs. Them" and even "North American Scum" are simply dazzling. However, the only fault for it at this time is that I literally heard way too much of it by the time of this writing. This is the album that James Murphy will be remembered for. "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" put him on the map, but this elevates him to artistic legitimacy; something hard for a modern day dance rocker to achieve.

8. A Place to Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers

Ah, that good ol' big guitar sound. APTBS should just use this album's opener "To Fix the Gash in Your Head" as a business card. Similar to "Just Like Honey" by The Jesus and Mary Chain, this band may have a hard time escaping the beautiful darkness and sheer repeatability of this track. Very rarely does an opener capture the essence of an album so well while still leaving room for exploration over the rest of it. Even more stupefying is how consistent the remainder of the album is.

7. King Khan & The Shrines - What Is?!

I love the Nuggets boxes with a passion. Sure, that's no excuse to champion something. Derivative can often be a bad thing, but King Khan & The Shrines don't imitate. Much like Justice to Daft Punk,
they understand their influences and adore their style. What Is?! has unfathomable love for all things '60s from its use of fuzz to Motown-style bass and Stax-style horns. Songs like "Welfare Bread" and "Land of the Freak" astutely use all at once. At times, King Khan sounds like a modern day Captain Beefheart minus the abstract lyrics. This album is a testament to how love and adoration of the past can go quite a way to sounding more inviting than self-imposed limitations, but I'm not going to name names.

6. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals

To quote fellow mxdwn-er Brendan Welsh, "When every member of a band sings at once it can be great or terrible. In this case, when coupled with varied instruments and creative production techniques, it creates the raucous, psych-pop atmosphere Yeasayer needed to complement their complicated, inspired and ambitious songwriting." I'm not a huge fan of using others' words, but if it weren't for Brendan nominating this for our Album of the Year poll, I probably wouldn't have heard this majestic disc.

5. Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline

To me, Stars of the Lid seems to be an almost pragmatic successor to the ambient throne of Brian Eno. Rather than tackle the environment construction and moods of the former Roxy Music man, this duo tackles a penchant for space. No, not the heavens, but abstract space within songs and even notes. Much like the ethos of how Ajax dominated world football in the '70s, Stars of the Lid find sheer beauty in space rather than structure and over 2 discs and 2 hours, this is one stunning work.

4. M.I.A. - Kala

Talk about comin' back wit powah powah. I was unfortunate not to have heard Arular before hearing this bombastic sound cornucopia of an album. However, I was immediately won over by M.I.A.'s approach to production and overall use of sound. Very rarely does an album sound so vibrant and alive. Even the sampling of "Straight to Hell" by The Clash sounds completely new in her hands on "Paper Planes." There's even a nod to The Modern Lovers with her monotone delivery of "Roadrunner, Roadrunner / Moving hundred miles per hour" in "Bamboo Banger." M.I.A. uses so many different sounds and noises and churns out a beautifully kaleidoscopic disc.

3. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

Now here is a guy that not only knows his strengths and weaknesses, if any. Lekman uses these 12 songs to brilliantly place his voice, words and sheer pop knowledge on display. From the Sinatra-esque "And I Remember Every Kiss," to the sly lyrics of "Sipping On the Sweet Nectar," to the bluntly honest "I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You" and the beautiful "Kanske Är Jag Kär I Dig," his voice shines through clouds of any bad day. He also has an astute knack for creating oddly human, interesting characters in "Shirin" about a meloncholy hair stylist and in "A Postcard to Nina" about the protagonists inability to lie about dating her to hide her lesbian romance. "The Opposite of Hallelujah" with its sunny,bouncy melody rises above all as a truly human take on worrying about a younger sibling.

2. Justice - †

While Daft Punk created a disco euphoria in 2002, the ominous album artwork and "Imperial March"-esque intro almost pave the way for a Darth Vader-like villain in French house. This duo's debut is consistently dark, funky and groove-heavy while chainsaw-like synth groans and grinds tear the mix apart in a chaotic, anything-goes manner that is equally entertaining and invigorating. Pepper this with an immediate smash in "D.A.N.C.E," a sweetly melodic "Valentine" and the near-annoying "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy" and we have a complete package. I must say that this album was the only candidate for vice captain.

1. Daft Punk - Alive 2007

In April of 2006, this robotic French duo landed in California just in time to give Coachella spectators what would be the most unexpected and talked about live surprises until...well maybe people will eventually stop talking about it. It became like all those other backwoods country UFO sightings with the exception of the audience being smart enough to take pictures. As that show reached mythic status, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Hommem-Christo decided to take it to various other stages around the world. Stunning as the images were, what came to shelves in December '07 surpassed them far and away. The real oddity here is that it's a live album from a dance artist. Hardcore cynics might have a point when they say all an electronic or dance artist really has to do is show up, press play and let the lasers entertain. However, just as Daft Punk did 10 years ago on Alive 1997, they mash up and deconstruct their material brings new life to material from the already masterful albums, Homework and Discovery while simultaneously making cuts from their lone misstep, Human After All interesting and worthwhile to listen to.