December 2011
76 posts
I think it’s pretty interesting and maybe even telling that the only people still going on about the Grammys, at least in my feeds, are those who are against it and are so goddamn flabbergasted that the awards still exist while those who don’t take it too seriously, those who don’t see it as a threat to the existing musical flags they wave (whether it falls into what the Grammys celebrate or not), those who know that it is the record industry patting itself on the back but they aren’t really doing too well anyway so let them have their fun while they still can and while they’re at it, those who are sitting at the sidelines can participate to an extent while not losing sight at the frivolity of it all, have pretty much moved on.
Burning
Wild Beasts
You drag me burning across the coals.
I’ve just been so negative lately so why not post something I like? I don’t think I do that often enough. Here’s a band that somehow slipped through my radar until lately, what with all of us doing our catch-up on stuff we’ve heard about but want to listen to before the year is over. Anyway, Wild Beasts. I like them. Their theatricality is not an end in itself (ahem, Decemberists), they’ve got interesting things to say about masculinity, sexuality, etc. Basically, I’ve got nothing new to add to what others have said for now. This song of theirs, “Burning”, is my favorite off Smother. It’s got a bit of Bjork’s Vespertine with latter-era Talk Talk which, yeah, I know the band and their press releases love to namedrop them but it’s true.
Usually, it’s Hayden Thorpe that gets most of the word count when it comes to pieces about this band but this song proves that Tom Fleming deserves more praise for what he brings to this band. If I could make a slightly unfair comparison for a moment, I see him as the Big Boi to Thorpe’s Andre 3000. He’ll always be underestimated until they both put out solo albums and everyone realizes that Big Boi’s album is more cohesive, has better songs, etc. Actually, thinking about it, I wouldn’t mind if Wild Beasts did a Speakerboxxx/The Love Below-ish double album. The band reads Tumblr posts from random nobodies about them, right? (Also, if you guys are reading this, no offense to Hayden, you’re still great.)
I am watching the Grammy Nominations Concert (look, there isn’t a new episode of Revenge tonight) and it’s not insulting enough that a band with the name Lady Antebellum exists in 2011, they had to show us the terrible irony of a black woman saying their name on national TV.
November 2011
42 posts
“This is a problem one of David’s contributors, Ryan O’Connell, seems eager to address, though his ebullient piece about blogging and bloggers frames the mind of a man who turns the lights on and off for inspiration. People like Ryan, and Choire Sicha (whose piece about not interviewing Sean Combs was so awful, I couldn’t finish it) conjure images of old, gold-and-black New York, of the the Seagram Building, more than their own experiences or ideas. They reek of imperious editorialism and decadent entrenchment: of aspiration, but for reputation and power—the power to declare a thing and be taken seriously; to be believed and to believe it—rather than intellectual or artistic accomplishment.”
—So many shots fired. I’ve always thought of O’Connell’s writing as being based on his own experiences for better or worse (mostly worse, rite guys) so what Chris Ott is saying up there is new to me. Also, Choire as collateral damage, oof.
Had I known you then and had you posited the question "should I fly to Vancouver to see Will Oldham play for three nights?" my answer would have been (and would still be) a resounding yes.
It was pretty amazing. He played in an old church (which was by then a community center), two hour set each night, each set almost completely different save a few songs carried over each night. I remember how before the first show, I accidentally cut the line and wandered into the venue, where he was standing there, talking to a girl that just gave him a painting of himself (HE’S GOT FANS). Anyway, after she left, I went up to shake his hand and my legs were shaking. It was my first “starstruck” experience ever. Since then, I’ve interviewed him twice for various things and I’d like to think we’re pals (no).
Also, did you see the shirt of his that I bought a few months ago? It’s pretty… interesting. It’s a few pages back. Check it out if you haven’t.
Re: T.I. being a homophobic asshole.
Yeah, I was pretty upset that Vibe gave him a platform to spout his vile, uninformed thoughts on how hate speech is free speech (and also his vile, uninformed conspiracy theories but that ranks a bit lower than hate speech IMO) but then I looked at the sidebar to the right and their third most-read story is about whether Drake’s new album is “too-emo” for men because, you know, masculinity is masculinity and then I just went seinfeld dot gif forever.
Is there a bigger embodiment of white guilt than Jesse Thorn?
What an aggravating human being.
(Note: When I say “white guilt”, I don’t mean to say that “white pride” is preferable, of course not, but I’m talking about the “white guilt” that manifests itself in his fetishization of some sort of “authentic” black experience that’s found only in his head. If there’s a better term for the above than “white guilt”, I’m all ears.)
So yesterday, I watched part of an episode of Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers (that’s a show that exists that I have now watched to some extent) that featured a panel of experts on various topics - so think Oprah’s experts, but probably even less qualified to dole out advice on what they supposedly know about - answering audience questions. One of the panelists was a veterinarian. Anyway, one audience member asked her why her dog kept on passing gas and she explained how saturated fats are responsible for flatulence in dogs and now I can’t stop thinking about how if you rearrange the letters in “saturated fats”, it becomes “faaaeurtttss” and oh shit, I forgot the “d”, forget this post exists, okay?
Insert post here about how if it was another band other than Fugazi that got on the NYT front page, the level of unbearable outrage there would be, and what that says about us, how myopic we are, etc.
what about the ones about tents being ok in mall parking lots but not ok in “occupied” parks? i think those are more about capitalist critiques than anything else
OK FINE.
That feeling when you don’t know if the Black Friday jokes (at least the ones unrelated to the pepper spray incident) about how those stupid poors are going to injure themselves have a whiff (so yeah, no pun intended) of casual classism to them or if you’re just being overly sensitive as the internet has trained you to call out everything for the slightest hint of offense but you do know they are very unfunny so take that shit elsewhere, most of all off my feeds, thank you.
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