music

Disco Demolition Night

I was born during Disco Demolition Night, a Chicago White Sox home game in 1979 where unwanted disco records were collected and blown up in center field, causing a near-riot.

When it exploded, the bomb tore a hole in the outfield grass surface and thousands of fans immediately rushed the field. Some lit fires and started small-scale riots. The batting cage was pulled down and wrecked and the bases literally stolen, along with chunks of the field itself.

The police broke it up and the game was forfeited to the Detroit Tigers. It is considered a symbolic marker of the beginning of the decline of the musical fad -- I was born on The Night Disco Died.

Sat, 07/12/2008 - 10:44am
  • Two guys programmed The Rocka-fire Explosion, the animatronic band for Showbiz Pizza (later Chuck E Cheese's), to perform Usher's "Love in this Club." Here's a video of their performance. As a kid, I used to go the Showbiz in southwest Michigan all the time -- the gorilla keyboardist was my favorite. (thx, jesse) (5) #
    7/1/2008
  • According to Al Billings, who received an advanced reader copy of Anathem, Neal Stephenson's upcoming new novel, the book came with a CD of seven musical tracks with titles like "Proof Using Finite Projective Geometry" and "Sixteen Color Prime Generating Automation." Writes Al:
    [F]rankly, this is some weird shit... The musical styles are all over the map except that they all only use human voices (and occasionally hands).
    I wonder if they are algorithmic compositions of some sort. I'm once again anxious to read the next 1,000 page Stephenson novel. (6) #
    6/24/2008

2007 albums I overlooked

At the end of last year, I posted a list of my top 20 albums of 2007. Today, nearly six months after I posted the list, I want to mention three albums that I hadn't yet heard when I made the list, but should have been on there.

*Of Montreal -- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
With melodies that are catchy as hell, great production, and a Bowie influence that doesn't detract, I can't believe I missed this one. There's something fascinating about upbeat and poppy music coupled with depressing lyrics. "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" is an awesome centerpiece. (thx, matt)

*Stars of the Lid -- And Their Refinement of the Decline
Probably the best ambient album I've heard in nearly a decade.

*St. Vincent -- Marry Me
I had heard a track or two from this before making the list, but it didn't sink in enough for me to try the album. Eventually I got to it, and instantly dug her constant inventiveness and poppy aesthetic.

So what would I lose from my original list? Probably The Arcade Fire, Iron and Wine, and Okkervil River, the last of which hasn't held up well to multiple listens.

Fri, 06/06/2008 - 11:44am
  • Music video for "Mirando," a track off Ratatat's upcoming LP3. For those of you who have fond nostalgia for jungle action movies of the 1980's. (0) #
    5/23/2008
  • "The Rip" -- from Portishead's new album coming out next week -- is my favorite track in recent memory:

     Portishead – The Rip

    (3) #
    4/24/2008
  • Only 18.3% have chosen to pay the $5 for Saul Williams's Niggy Tardust so far, a disheartened Trent Reznor reveals on his blog. Williams, on the other hand, is more optimistic in this CNET interview, explaining the reason they released the numbers:
    But really [Reznor's] whole purpose of releasing that statement was that we could avoid some of the pretentiousness of some of the other groups that have perhaps done something similar, like Radiohead keeping numbers to themselves and us wanting to say, 'Hey, look this is an open experiment that all artists should know.' I think that this information is essential for all artists trying to do what we're doing and figuring out whether this is something that will work.
    (5) #
    1/11/2008

Top 20 Albums of 2007

It takes me awhile to catch up with a year's output of movies, and I'll never be able to grasp a year's worth of books. Music is really the only art form that I can make sense of by the end of the year; that's why I'm posting my top 20 albums of the year, and no other lists.

Flea mocked my posting this list by calling it self-aggrandizing -- perhaps it is, but then so is maintaining a public blog. Compiling my top albums each year is a way for me to get a sense of how my musical taste changes with time, and of how the splintering music world is evolving. And maybe I'll encourage one of you to listen to something they wouldn't have otherwise, and vice versa. My list in 2005 led me to listen to albums recommended in the comments section that I wouldn't have found otherwise.

One more thing: I didn't post a list in 2006 because I was woefully behind in music discovery due to my employment at Nevada's Question 7 campaign. If you're curious, my top 5 from 2006 is here. Now, onto 2007:

The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
20. The Arcade Fire -- Neon Bible

The disappointment of the year (next to maybe the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah followup), yet it still barely qualifies for my top 20 by virtue of several killer tracks. There's no room for me in this Bruce Springsteen revival, but excise the Boss and you have a pretty good album.

Favorite tracks: The Well and the Lighthouse, No Cars Go


Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
19. Iron & Wine -- The Shepherd's Dog

It was initially offputting for me to hear Sam Beam add tropical and African rhythms to his compositions while maintaining his soft and measured vocals, but I eventually came around. Perhaps it was the realization that this album resembles 1980's Paul Simon only superficially.

Favorite tracks: House by the Sea, Resurrection Fern


The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
18. The Field -- From Here We Go Sublime

Another grower. I don't usually give uhn-tse-uhn-tse electronic albums repeat listens, but the glitchy repetition and floating vocals kept me interested. It's Fennesz with a backbeat.

Favorite tracks: The Little Heart Beats So Fast, Silent


Caribou - Andorra
17. Caribou -- Andorra

How does one assign Caribou to a genre? He started off with jazzy electronica, moved to shoegaze and psychedelia, and played around with motorik. allmusic.com uses the term "Dream Pop" -- sure. I'll just say that it's melodic, percussive, and infectious. And "Irene" is one of two songs from 2007 that make me feel drunk just listening to it.

Favorite tracks: After Hours, Irene


Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
16. Spoon -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Even Stranger than Fiction -- the mediocre Will Farrell film -- couldn't ruin Spoon. They can still make an album where every single darn song is catchy.

Favorite tracks: Rhthm & Soul, The Underdog

Sat, 12/08/2007 - 12:35pm
  • Pitchfork just published their "The Year in Photos" list, a collection of photographs of musicians and performances from 2007 -- and there are some damn good pics. (2) #
    12/7/2007
  • "Time Piece" (1965), an experimental, 9-minute short film by and starring Jim Henson. (thx, jonmay) (2) #
    11/21/2007
  • An interview with Trent Reznor and Saul Williams on the eve of the online release of The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!
    What do you think about OiNK being shut down?
    Trent: I'll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often... If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now. iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don't feel cool when I go there. I'm tired of seeing John Mayer's face pop up.
    Awesome. They also ask both of them how much they paid for Radiohead's In Rainbows. Saul: $7; Trent: $5080. (1) #
    10/30/2007

Saul Williams's Niggy Tardust coming on November 1st

I just got a mass email from Trent Reznor announcing the release of Saul Williams's Reznor-produced album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!

A word on the way we've chosen to release this. There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just released their new record and the way we've chosen to. After thinking about this way too much, I feel we've improved upon their idea in a few profound ways that benefit you, the consumer. You obviously will be the judge of this in the end. One thing that IS very different in our situation is that Saul's not the household name (yet!) that Radiohead is, and that means we need your support on this more than ever. If you like what you hear, spread the word.

I love Saul Williams, I love Trent Reznor, and I love the album's title. Put this on your radar.

P.S. And for those of you who don't remember my earlier post, Michael Williams, the guy who plays Omar on The Wire, is Saul Williams brother.

P.P.S. Here's the music video for "Black Stacey," a track from his previous album.

P.P.P.S. Reznor's right -- the way this album is being distributed is much more well-thought out than with Radiohead's In Rainbows.

Thu, 10/25/2007 - 3:39pm
  • The invite-only OiNK, one of the world's biggest and most efficient BitTorrent music sharing sites, has been raided and shut down. DJ /rupture, one of the musicians whose music was distributed on the site, has some interesting thoughts about what Oink meant to him. (thx, jds) (10) #
    10/23/2007
  • In Rainbows, Radiohead's latest album being released independently online with a pay-what-you-want system, is available now. Hear it at the same time as the critics. (25) #
    10/10/2007
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