Saturday, February 12, 2011

Half-assery, and it's cousin, Lack of Motivation.

I keep re-reading the first words of that last entry: 'I don't do anything half-assed.' Turns out, the one thing I have been WAY half-assed about is keeping this blog up. Like everyone, I have a lot of things cooking right now--it gets easy to put 'ROOOOAAAARRRR!!!' on the backburner for weeks at a time. Now I am sitting around with some Toasted Sesame Wisecrackers (where have these been all my life?!), ruminating on how I've been totally undisciplined about posting here. Luckily, the situation is easily remedied; so, y'know, in case you were wondering what I've been getting into lately, here are the most recent and notable additions to the music gallery I call my life.

1. Pictureplane - Dark Rift : This album is blowing my mind lately. I had it in my DJ book forever and I used it for sweet bass/drum loops that I could adjust the timing on because they sounded good at any speed/pitch. Now that I've been listening to it for its own sake, I am loving it. Equal parts Crystal Castles' iconoclasm and NIN's psuedo-Goth, the beats are heavy and the vox hauting.

2. Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo : I had an idea of this album as a bunch of young kids making rock music, which is kind of how it's treated in the press, but there are such examples of layer and subtlety in these songs, it belies the image of a bunch of shaggy kids. I dig this--it sounds as "Pacific NW" as anything coming out of Seattle/Portland right now, even though the band is from California.

3. Ride - Nowhere : Yes, the P4K review led me to get this re-issue on vinyl--not so much because of the strength of the opinion or the review (which were both very high), but because it pointed out that I have very little music I can appropriately characterize as "shoegaze" and it seemed like a good addition, if only academically. I have been floored by this thing--the drums are cavernous, the guitars extremely melodic, the voices hushed and fluid. The album art almost perfectly encapsulates the quality of the sound. What I thought was more of an "academic" purchase has turned out to be one of my favorite finds of the past few months. God, I love surprises.

4. Decendants - Somery : This is the culmination of a years-long search for me. Ever since I moved to Seattle 6.5 years ago I have been looking for this album. I didn't care which format I got it on, or where I could find it, or what condition it was in. Many, many times I have made a bee-line to the "D" section of any one of several local record stores hoping each time was the time I would find this 80's punk classic. Never did. Until a couple of days ago. And in a testament to the often truly serendipitous nature of finding music (which is why I will NEVER give up record stores), I wasn't even looking for it. I was just casually flipping through vinyl, and there it was, smiling at me (don't ask me how)--brand new on vinyl for 12.99. Cue the sigh of relief. This album means so much to me. Part of the reason is that my very first concert ever, at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, KS on the night before my 16th birthday was Descendants headlining with The Suicide Machines opening. It was, I believe (?), their first tour after Milo came back, and it was everything I had ever dreamed a punk show, or any show, could be. That memory still is one of my Top 10 ever, several boots to my head notwithstanding.

5. British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall : I know what you're thinking, "Finally, something new on this list..." Well, I'm sorry. For me, it's just as fun to write about things that affect you differently over time as it is to write about brand new work. Anyway. Speaking of how things affect one over a time, it is hard to tell where this will rank in the pantheon of BSP's work. Their debut album, "The Decline of British Sea Power", is, I am pretty sure, my favorite record of the previous decade. It is a true album, a masterpiece of shifting tempos and atmospherics. "Open Season", the second album, may be one of the biggest sophomore slumps ever committed--if it were any band other than the band who had recently made "The Decline of...", it would probably be seen as a really passable effort, but given the circumstances it is sort of a monstrous letdown (That said, I do still enjoy it from time to time--as I said, it's not altogether bad.). "Do You Like Rock Music?" is the nearly-epic third album, and it shifts away from "Open Season", lending itself to a messiness found on the first work, but reaching for much greater heights--and at times, reaching them. So where will "Valhalla" squeeze in. Ask me for an official answer in about 3 months, after it's gestated long enough. For right now, I am calling it very near the quality of "Rock Music", and time could push it above. Another "Decline", it is not. But that's OK--part of what I love about "Decline" is the palpable sense of catching lightning in a bottle, the feeling that no one could ever replicate it, even the same people who originally birthed it. The greatest albums all seem like they could never be made again.

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