Author: brian

i partly didn’t want to post again until i could proudly display my vacation pictures and gush about all the fun we had in buenos aires, but it’s been so long since i wrote i got guilty. don’t worry, many many photos are coming soon, hopefully even tonight if all goes well.

but to do just a little bit of gushing at least: best vacation ever. so much good food, wine, walking, weather, dancing, sights, all-around fun, and it was SO cheap day-to-day. we had several spectacular dinners for less than maybe 40 american dollars total. that’s for two people, with a nice bottle of wine and a big steak. i more than recommend it; i practically demand you go there at some point.

and since this seems to be turning into a music blog lately — or just because that’s always a good thing to fall back on writing about, because even during the least-interesting of times such as the first week of work after vacation, at least i’m still listening to music — here is a very short review on an album i like.

belle and sebastian – the life pursuit – 4 stars

i never listened to this band because they seemed so wimpy, even after i actually saw them at coachella a couple years ago and thought they were great. i remember back then having my slightly-cooler-than-me roommate say something about how b&s were so great because they made “really sweet-sounding songs with really bitter lyrics”. so since this new album got such great press, and i figured it was about time to make a real decision on if i liked them or not, and “another sunny day” was unarguably fun, i went for it.

then hey, look at that, my roommate, the reviews, and the world at large that is quicker than i am was all pretty much right. this is a really good pop cd with catchy tunes and subversive lyrics to give it a kick, and yes, i have nothing else really original to say about it. it’s just good.

the best example and my favorite track off the album is probably dress up in you (pay day song!), because it sounds like a love song, but it’s so spiteful, i love it. don’t know if i’m so crazy about them i feel the need to pick up a whole back catalogue or anything, but you can’t fuck with this album. now i’m even sadder i didn’t act fast enough to get tickets to their show with the new pornographers next week; another case of me being slow on the uptake i guess. but, we live and we learn.

sorry i’ve been scarce lately… been getting ready for vacation. and now, tomorrow, i’m going on vacation, so it might be another week. what can you do?

here i come buenos aires. see you all very soon.

i think i’ve finally figured it out.

see, i’ve come to the point lately where i have no tolerance at all left for music that bores me. probably a combination of being jaded and overloaded with potential music to spend my time with, as a defensive filter against the hordes of music out there asking to be heard, i’ve simply lost any patience for music that isn’t immediately satisfying on some level.

the best music, for me, has the surface sheen to get me excited and like it upfront — cool hooky riffs, cool beats, catchy choruses, etc — and then gets better and better with further listening. neutral milk hotel is my best example for this; probably the richest album i own that ages like fine wine.

my revelation here is finally pinning down the difference between me, who is fairly into music, and other kinds of people who are WAY into music. not being specific to any individual here, but they are the kind of people who can love animal collective. or the fiery furnaces. or olivia tremor control. or in other genres, bland but lyrically-excellent hip hop tracks, or spectacularly-produced but essentially unmemorable electronic music. whereas i need something to grab me and pull me in, they enjoy diving headfirst right in there, and the deeper they can delve the better. they can get excited about stuff that i have to say, seems dull (common’s be), or just a bunch of noise (blood brothers, ugh), or even gratingly annoying (seriously, i hate the fiery furnaces), because there’s so much going on underneath to make it worth while.

maybe it makes me a worse ‘music appreciator’, but i’m just not like that. sometimes a single song can grab me and lead me into other, deeper waters that wouldn’t have tempted me on their own — say the rest of the tracks within an album with a good couple hits (i would have totally dismissed art brut if it weren’t for ’emily kane’ and ‘we formed a band’). but in the giant listening station that is the internet, if i sample a track or two of a new band and they don’t get to me quick, they’ve probably lost me unless the buzz gets so big i get sucked in against my will. and i’m okay with that, because there’s too much out there for me to have to spend lots of time dissecting things before i get to the point where i can enjoy it. i’m fine with the dissecting; i like it. it’s just that i would have had no time for soaking up aphex twin’s cacophany if they hadn’t expertly dropped those bell chimes into ‘girl/boy song’ to give me something to start with.

all this came to mind today because as many people claimed to love it, i just don’t give a shit about broken social scene’s latest album. i tried to listen to it a half-dozen times and i was so bored i either forgot i was listening to it or i turned it off. sorry! and that feist solo album sounds like a sleeping pill to me too. beautiful vocal melodies yawn yawn snooze.

hooooowever… they had to go and put out this b-side version of ‘mushaboom’, with a hook i don’t even need to hear to be interested in: ‘postal service remix’. neat trick, guys. real nice. i tracked it down, and it’s pretty good. not ‘such great heights’ good, but way more captivating to me than the original now that there’s some, you know, music in there. so do i reevaluate my whole position or just accept this as a fluke? should i fall for their dirty ploy and listen more to her whole sad, spare-sounding album? i don’t think so this time. now that i know my own weakness i’m more prepared to guard agaisnt it.

i am grateful, however, that there’s another track approaching postal serviceness in the world… when are they going to work on a new album, anyway? i just hope it’s before the next death cab album — another band that’s sure on the good/boring fence lately too.

oh yeah, i went there.

can’t believe i left off writing all week with so much fun going on to brag about. like how 11 dudes gathered for a massive poker night last friday with beers and cigars and i got 2nd place, taking home a massive 15 dollar cash prize. or the formal valentines house party saturday where i looked hoooootttt with my date and cut a rug while holding a classy red cup high in the air. or how we celebrated presidents day as it deserves to be celebrated; a barbeque and some beer pong. in case you were wondering, i have totally begun perfecting my ‘stroke’ and won like four games, including an intense one-on-one three cup cagematch (minus the cage).

the rest of the week has kinda paled in comparison so far but i did start a new victorian-era novel last night which might turn out to be cool or a total drag — i guess i’ll find out more once i make it past the editor’s introduction. why do i compulsively subject myself to those things as if they’re going to benefit my general intelligence instead of making me want to go to bed early?

by the way, i’ve been semi-into crossword puzzles lately — not in a daily sort of way, but in a mild LA weekly kind of way — and i thought it’d be cool to try to make my own for this little project i was working on at home last night. having spent easily 90 minutes with basically nothing to show for it, i have concluded that crossword puzzle creators are some sort of super-geniuses that must have huge, bulging foreheads in order to juggle all those possibilities. the only other explanations are that there’s a secret formula to doing it i just haven’t heard about, perhaps a computer program that just spits them out and leaves mere humans to write the witty clues, or they aren’t in fact done by humans at all, but some sort of evil robots.

needless to say i gave that up and went off to watch tv which takes seriously WAY less effort than trying to build an evil crossword-creating robot.

we are scientists – with love and squalor – 3 stars

this is a strange one to review because i’m so aware of the reasons for my own enjoyment of it. if i’d reviewed this the week i got it, and been completely subjective, the album would score somewhere around a 4.5 out of 5 right away. but as i played it once, twice, three times i realized i liked it because it was a new rock band that couldn’t be lumped in with any of the other recent new rock bands being praised for their ‘newness’. they’re not trying to do the strokes-jangly-guitar thing, or the interpol-droning-voice thing, or the arcade-fire-tapestry-of-instruments-thing, or heaven forbid the futureheads/maximo park/bloc party-new-wave-of-britpop thing. they kind of defied easy classification by not being as novel as the other big albums of the past couple years, and i LOVED that. finally, a straightforward rock album i can just enjoy! a whole album about drinking, trying to get girls, and the consequences of getting them for better or worse, which doesn’t feel the need to pretend to be anything more than that.***

so i listened to it like crazy in an intense burst and relished it for what it was: a simple 3-piece power-pop rock band with standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus songs that almost always have a great riff right when you need it to keep you wanting to listen. one of their songs i consistently skip because it sounds too much like hot hot heat and sticks out like a sore thumb (track 11, ironically titled ‘worth the wait’), but the rocking choruses alone make half the other tracks — ‘lousy reputation’, ‘it’s a hit’, and this week’s pay day song, “this scene is dead” especially — definitely crank-the-volume-worthy.

if you think about it, and this wouldn’t surprise me after seeing some of their sarcastic interviews and the humor content of their site, the whole band’s output could be thought of as a parody of the “rock song” formula, and a sly joke on all of us. could be their band name is the hint that they’re really just throwing ingredients in, following a recipe for the a nice standard chocolate cake everyone wants, and they’re totally aware of and okay with that as a method. on an objective level then, no, it’s not an especially moving or landmark album. and you know what? coke isn’t that great either; but sometimes you know what you want, and it’s something simple and satisfying, and when you get it it’s kinda perfect in its own way.

***footnote: this realization i was so proud of, along with a good deal of my review, was all mirrored almost exactly in the review up on pitchfork. i swear though, i had all these thoughts myself on a number of successive drives home from work playing this album on repeat, days before i thought to go look up an actual review. however, i’m not sure if i should feel validated or afraid now that i’ve seen how much they align…[shudder].

valentines day is practically a weeklong affair this year with all the good things going on, and i like it that way. all those bitter single people can say what they will, but i’ve really enjoyed the 14th for years. honestly, unless you’re truly lonely with no hope in sight, what’s so wrong with a day that celebrates love? you get to revel in it if you have it (we did), and if not maybe it kicks you in the ass to remind you how you should keep looking (been there too, and i think it works).

lucky for me i’m dating the coolest girl ever, who indulged me in getting extra-fancy for a deliciously expensive dinner saturday night instead of tuesday. my idea being to beat the rush and be able to stay up all night without concern for the dreaded workday morning after. this plan worked out tremendously, because we came home and popped a bottle of champagne into new sparkling flutes (a gift for her) with handmade paper flowers in them (another gift; do i know how to make them swoon or what?), followed by freshly baked muffins and mimosas in the morning. we looked great and ate well and had a marvelous time.

not to be outdone of course, she had to go and make a delicious dinner herself on tuesday to show me up, followed by hand dipped chocoloate-covered strawberries for dessert, and THEN include the gift of massage oils, which we had to try out. sorry if that’s too much info, but it was such a nice gesture i had to give credit; all i did was buy a fancy dinner and do origami.

of course, there’s a heap of fancy cheese left over, so there’s tonight with another bottle of wine. then a valentines party saturday we’re supposed to get formally sexy for again… and all of this, you’re right, might have been painful without a special someone. very lucky for me then that i’ve got someone i’m crazy about to go through four nights of celebration with and still feel like i haven’t had enough (i.e., argentina in just over two weeks!). yes, i think this week proves it, cements it in my mind, confirms it, whatever you like: i’ve found my best girlfriend yet and it just keeps getting better.

airborne particulates be damned! i’ve got a cold or allergy something-or-other bothering me on valentines day! fucking poor timing, guys. you couldn’t have steered clear of these passageways for another 36 hours or so out of politeness? there aren’t some lonely single people around here you could have bothered with this business? i mean, they’re going to be at home crying and sniffling tonight anyway; they’ve got the tissue stockpiled to deal with you tonight. i’m scheduled to be spending the night with a pretty girl and you’ve got me all blocked up. super uncool.

take the person who told me this morning, ‘i hate valentines, it’s such a hallmark holiday’. not that i’m into wishing sickness upon others, but if ‘this day isn’t any more special than any other day, you should be romantic all the time’, then why can’t she have a cold today and i be sniffle-free?

somehow we’ll manage and i’ll share my own valentines thoughts afterward. happy [snif] valentines [cough] day everybody!

i have to pay monthly now to listen to a non-crappy-sounding stream of WOXY now? that’s a tough one, because i love WOXY and have been playing it a lot on itunes at work lately, but i also love free and would rather spend that money on cookies or something. all i know is this 24kbps stuff sounds like AM radio.

and speaking of that, they just played the new yeah yeah yeahs song, and its badness can in no way be blamed on quality of internet radio stream; that song is just weak. i’m sorry, but i’m pretty sure that band does not and will not ever have another ‘maps’ in them, and they’re practically headlining coachella? bitch please. (if you haven’t heard ‘gold lion’ yet, you can stream it from the their site.)

you know what’s way better than a crappy girl band? a good cop show. to that effect, the shield has been on the money this season. forrest whitaker is creepy as hell and causing major tension. also, my roommate’s lady friend getting him season one of the wire on dvd was the best indirect gift i’ve ever picked up. between the two i want to put bad guys away so bad… or at least just speak gruffly to people to show them i mean business.

i broke my cardinal rule in vegas this weekend and paid the price. you do NOT gamble while sober and during daylight hours. you go in the evening and stay up all night gambling — which we did, not getting back to madilyne’s place until around 7:30am — and if i had stuck by my own better judgment i would have left up fifty instead of down fifty. blast!

definitely worth it though because it’d been over 6 months since my last night in vegas, we gave madilyne a fun birthday night out, i experienced vegas with a girlfriend for the first time (totally works if your girl is as fun as mine) and a bunch of other fun kids i normally wouldn’t go on a gambling bender with, and i saw my first sleepless vegas sunrise. also, having a nice car stereo made the ipod-heavy car ride much nicer.

the super bowl party on sunday, well… i must have had more beers and distractions than i thought, because i feel like i only watched ten actual plays of football tops, and missed several of the commercials people were talking about the next day. i also lost the whopping 22 dollar pool because the seahawks didn’t try for a field goal at the end (idiots). i guess all that grilling and hosting and having fun gets in the way of serious tv watching sometimes, but i’m mostly okay with that.

tonight i get to go see joe’s balls movie though so at least i won’t miss everything people are talking about.

so that i might not ever forget this evening (though i know joe will not), the funniest night out to a bar in a long while went down last friday. not because we were generally in high spirits, or because it was diane’s birthday. pretty much entirely because our (straight) friend joe has the lead acting role in a small feature film in which he plays a role as a gay male, featuring full frontal nudity no less. then made the mistake of inviting us all to the premiere this weekend. things quickly descended after i suggested that at the moment of truth, i would yell out ‘BALLS!’ in surprise as loud as i could; soon after the film came to be referred to as ‘joe’s balls movie’ (apostrophe placement in question: joe’s balls’ movie? as if they’re the centerpiece?). i swear i have never heard a group that was half female make so many genital jokes in a span of half an hour.

a few other funny things i have been considering:

are there going to be a glut of black metal bands (and possibly horror films) all vying for release on 06/06/06, hoping the dark lord will bless them with spectacular numbers, or at least a throne in the underworld, for showing their dedication?

this one is only funny for those who have seen the film, but after watching it over christmas break i thought that if i had wicked flash animation skills i would totally make a spoof short entitled CSI: Rashomon and find out what the fuck really happened instead of watching a bunch of people cry about it.