Well...

I know it's been awhile since anythings been posted, but I know I've had a lot of work as of late, and I think something big has been going on at Michaels campus. Hopefully he can fill us in eventually. I'll be posting some mp3s of my shows eventually. In the meantime, enjoy this article I wrote for Eleven, the music magazine here on campus at WashU. The magazine itself isn't that great, not that my article is, but it really seems like a way for the founder to stroke his own ego. But hopefully it will get better, I can see it happening. So heres the article:




Something frightening is happening to music today - the album is dying. Yes, the album, the novel of music, just isn’t what it used to be. You used to have people sitting down and listening to things like “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Now all people listen to is “Crank That” or “Gimme More” or whatever the latest single is. Now some people may think of “Crank That” as great music, but listening to it instead of a good album is like reading a single chapter of a novel instead of the whole thing. Most artists still release albums, but these “albums” are best described by John Darnielle in his cover of “The Sign”: “They wrote a song, and then they wrote nine other songs to surround that one song.” And not many people listen, and I mean like sit down and make an effort to listen, to the decent albums that are out there.

So what’s caused the decline of the general population listening to albums? This is something that has a lot to do with the format that music is delivered now. With vinyl, if you wanted to skip songs, you had to get up, lift the needle, find the track you wanted (maybe even flipping the record), and then cueing the record at the start of the song. That’s a lot more work then just simply listening to a 3-4 minute song. The vinyl format as a whole is more conducive to actively listening to music. On vinyl an album is more then just the music, it’s an experience. You have this cover, 4 times the size of a CD jewel case, with art on it. There can be inserts and colored or even etched vinyl. It’s a more manageable time commitment; Vinyl only holds up to about an hour, with each side only being about 20-30 minutes. Albums were shorter, because they had to be. With vinyl you have to pay attention when you listen, if you don’t you end up having the needle stuck in the center groove of the record.

CDs are a completely different story. A CD (mind you not a DVD-CD or dual-sided CD) can hold 80 minutes of music. That’s a whole 33% more. And a lot of times artists feel compelled to fill as much as they can. This usually means songs that wouldn’t have found a spot on a vinyl album easily make their way onto a CD album. This usually translates to an overall not-so-good quality song quality, and who wants that? Not really that many people, and that’s where a few “album killers” come into play. The first is the skip button. Don’t feel like listen to a song, or get sick of it half way through? Press the skip button and poof; you’re at the next track. But even here, a CD only holds so many songs, and who wants to switch CDs every other song? So people will listen to more, if not all of an album.

It’s things like the iPod and iTunes music store, which have truly done albums in. Now before I continue, this is not to say that these aren’t great wonderful amazing tools, they just changed the way people listen to music. With an ipod, you can have hundreds of albums, thousands of songs, all at you fingertips and ready to be played. So the laziness factor is gone. You can skip around to different songs, albums, artists, and genres, all you want. You can even put that extensive library of music on shuffle. I can’t stand shuffle; it’s just a bunch of (almost) random songs from your library. It has no idea how to find songs that go together; it’s missing a human quality to it. Still, a lot of people just though on shuffle and don’t even care about albums. Even Panda Bear of Animal Collective uses shuffle (that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing). There’s even an ipod that all it does is shuffle. What the "bleep" is up with that? But the biggest nail in the coffin for the album has to be the ITunes store. With the iTunes store, you don’t even have to buy a full album to get the song you want anymore. You can buy only the single, and never even think of the rest of the album ever again. And unless the album that you want to buy has eleven or more songs, you don’t even get a discount for buying the album.

So some one might be thinking, but I don’t really like all of the songs on any single album. This could be for two reasons, one the albums you listen to suck, and two you haven’t spent enough time listening to the albums. A good album has its highs and its lows. You’re not going to have an album with each track being as amazing as all of the others. But you will find albums with songs amazing compared to other albums. And sure you may not like one song on an album as much as the rest, but you wouldn’t skip a chapter in a book, so you shouldn’t skip a song on an album. The whole point of the album is that it’s the way the artist wanted you to hear it. So you should keep it that way.

If you’ve made it this far, you probably will fit one of these categories: You already listen to albums and want to see if you agree with me, you don’t listen to albums but now you kind of start, or you don’t listen to albums, don’t want to, and you only read this far to see how pretentious I am about music. No matter why you’re still reading I’ve decided to help out. I’ve made a list of some good full albums to start you off with. Some amazingly good albums: Neutral Milk Hotel “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”, My Bloody Valentine “Loveless”, Manu Chao “Proxima Estacion: Esperanza”, Radiohead “OK Computer”, Neil Young “On The Beach, The Mountain Goats “All Hail West Texas” and “Tallahassee”, The Long Winters “Putting The Days to Bed”, The Hold Steady “Boys And Girls In America”, and Jeff Buckley “Grace”.

The moral of the story here is that you should dedicate more then just three or so minutes to an album, artist, and music in general. Music is meant to be an experience. So make it one, find an album and listen to it with friends, it’s what’s known as a listening party. If you’re really adventurous try to get a copy of The Flaming Lips “Zaireeka” going. No matter what, just sit down and get immersed in an album; it’s truly a beautiful thing to experience. Oh and try to actually pay for the album.

The A-Sides, Silver Storms

So you probably haven't heard of The A-sides. Maybe you were lucky enough to catch them with Ted Leo recently, but they are worth finding. They have a new album out, "Silver Storms", and it's good. If you want to know what they sound like, think "Everything All the Time" Band of Horses mixed with The Walkman. It's lush sweeping relaxed sound that just takes over your ears. The vocals are perfect for their sound; he just seems comfortable singing. And what more can you ask of anyone? The combined relaxing melodies and vocals make the album a perfect listen for anytime you just want some down time.

Standout tracks:

Diamonds: This is one that stuck with me at the concert. It's one of those songs with the sweeping guitar in the background and passion in the lyrics. I really feel at a loss for words on how to describe this one, but it's one of my favorites on the album.

My Heroes Have Always Been Crazy: In addition to having a great title, this track is a nice simple song with a tambourine keeping time. It builds for a bit before going into a nice instrumental ending.

Sinking With The Ship: Another one of the songs I remember from the concert. The closer of the album. The perfect place for their sound; you have organs, violins, guitar and cymbals. The lyrics "We're all sinking with the ship/we all taste the salt on our lips" is tragic, but calming. It's as if we're happy to finally be done, we need the break ahead of us.

Again, I suggest you look out for this band, with two albums under their belts, I can really only expect better things to come.

Grade: A-

In Rainbows - The Radio Cure Review

One week after its abrupt release, I found it apt to review Radiohead's latest masterpiece, In Rainbows.
1. 15 Step: My favorite track from their Bonnaroo show, 15 Step is notably the only track that makes heavy use of the disjointed computer beats of the previous three albums. It stands out from their earlier material however with a jumpy little guitar line that flows throughout. Key Line: "Won't take my eyes off the ball again/You reel me out then you cut the string."
2. Bodysnatchers: Hailed as "the rock song", "Bodysnatchers" is full of distorted guitar and Thom Yorke wails. I read one review that called this track a sort of sequel to Kid A's "National Anthem", but I view it more as a rebuttal to "Creep," another song about feeling displaced that the band has somewhat disowned.
3. Nude: An older, mellow, hypnotic track, "Nude" is one of the first songs to suck you in to the brilliance of In Rainbows in your first listen. Bringing his voice to the highest key it seems to reach, Yorke is at his most soulful. For die-hard fans, this song was worth the wait.
4. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi: This is not only my favorite track on the album, but also the most layered. With dueling guitar lines over Phil Selway's steady drumming and under Yorke's echoing voice, this song builds to a crescendo of escapism before rolling to a halt. This song parallels some of the best total songwriting of the last 20 years, with each member of the band distinctly heard.
5. All I Need: A somber, dark love song, "All I Need" seems to be the anthem for discontent lovers, but builds to an explosion of noise and light that suddenly takes the song to new heights and adds a bright, optimistic ending.
6. Faust Arp: The only mystery track for eager fans, this is the second closest Radiohead has come to mimicking The Beatles (#1- listen to the beginning of "Wolf at the Door" and then The Beatle's "She's So Heavy"). A softy ditty that recalls The White Album's "Julia", but with strings and distrust.
7. Reckoner: Another old track, "Reckoner" seems to remind us that Phil Selway is still an important part of the band. His echoing, jangly drumming provides the base for Thom's falsetto, soulful singing and soft piano and a chilled out guitar riff. If any other artist had played this song, it might have been a generic Top 40 hit, but again, the Radiohead touch keeps it uniquely beautiful, especially in it's warm climax.
8. House of Cards: This track is gorgeous. Another mellow, laid back track, "House of Cards" sounds like the love song of the couple that's been stuck in a rut, ready to break free. I will always associate this song with its performance at Bonnaroo, in which fans started throwing glow sticks around in the darkness. When they started landing on stage, a smiling Thom playfully threw them back. It seems symbolic of the position Radiohead is in now: content.
9. Jigsaw Falls Into Place: I find this track the most aggressive on the album, though I've heard it described as just being loose. Listening to it, you get the feeling of running away, like the band is driving at something. Unlike "Bodysnatchers" which is a direct rock song, "Jigsaw Falls Into Place" seems to be the confused cousin of Amnesiac's "Knives Out."
10. Videotape: Prior to the release of the album, this track had two incarnations. One had the whole band building it to a dramatic, sweeping climax, while the other was a haunting version with only Thom at a piano. The version that made the album finds some middle ground with the slow piano being coupled with small drum bursts. The result is the most haunting album closer Radiohead has ever used.

OVERALL: In Rainbows has been said to show a return to the more guitar driven music of the OK Computer era. I see it a bit differently. This album represents less Radiohead's return to an old era than it does the start of a new one. The band has already rewritten the book on rock music, and here again, they have showed themselves to be true innovators. Though it isn't as weird or experimental as the last four albums, there isn't anything else out today that is remotely close. Only time will tell if this becomes my favorite Radiohead album or not, but it looks like it might be.
GRADE: A+.

No, I Can't

So I've scored an interview with The Mountain Goats! It's only an email interview, but I mean I'm excited to interview one of my all time favorite artists. I'm writing it for the music magazine Eleven here on campus, but hopefully I'll be able to reprint it here for anyone that stops by and reads the blog. I know we've been a bit behind in posting here, but it's going to pick up. I'm also going to start writing for the KWUR blog, so check that out. Until the interview drops just keep stopping by, it's nice to see you once in awhile. And remember to listen to our shows. I'll have the post with the mp3 of todays show up later.

P.S. try and find the Mountain Goats reference. I even gave you a little hint.

In Rainbows is Amazing

Here's the show

http://www.mediafire.com/?fdwx9nzn9lm

Surprise!

That's the best summation of my show today. Hopefully I surprised you all with a lot of new/unreleased material, and I got a surprise myself today. If you missed listening, I had some guests on the show today in the form of Plastic Parachute, a "female-lead power punk" group from L.A. I guess they had a show here last night, and were stopping by campus to drop off a copy of their self released album. I was in the middle of my show when Mikey (KWUR GM) walks in and asks if I want to have a band on the air. Of course I agree, what you'll hear in my show is what happened. After listening to more of the cd, it's pretty good. I'll be sure to play more of them in the future. They'll also be playing in St. Louis again on December 11th at Cicero's. But you'll hear more about that as it gets closer. That's really it for now, if you missed the show, as always here it is:

http://www.mediafire.com/?9fmjosijxjx

RADIOHEAD!!!

Amazing news, no? Well if that's not good enough, and you can't wait to hear the new stuff, listen in to my show tomorrow. I'll be playing one of the new songs from their set at Bonnaroo two years ago. And then you can bet I'll be waiting up next Wednesday to download the album, so you'll be able to hear a new track that day. You won't even have to go to their website and not pay anything to get the album! That's about it for now.

P.S.
I got the discbox. Yeah it was expensive, but each one is made to order! Plus you get the extra disc and vinyl and all that jazz.