no one knows: January 2005 Archives

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January 31, 2005

NY Blues

The first night I was in Chicago, around September 5th, I returned the U-Haul, took the train back to my new neighborhood, and went to D'Agostino's Pizza for a brew and a few slices of a pie. While I was there, while reading the Onion, I found out about a artistic chap named Vincent Gallo. The man was an artist in the finest sense of the modern term, artist: he writes, he directs, he composes both album material and original soundtracks. His work for the most part was all critically acclaimed. His first movie, Buffalo 66, was one of those articles of the critics' affections. The article was actually about the hoopla surrounding his new movie Brown Bunny and an argument with Roger Ebert, but that's another story for another time.

Buffalo 66, on the other hand, is out on DVD, and I recently watched it. The movie has the desperation of a good independent film, complete with a dull color pallete, interesting camera angles, really wierd but believable characters, and a semi-famous, well regarded co-star in Christina Ricci. This desperation turns out to be the theme of the film: people with nothing to live for but the frail relationships and strange love that stems from those relationships. I can't say whether Gallo is a brilliant actor or just a really wierd guy playing himself in his own film: Clint Eastwood or Woody Allen? Either way the film makes it happen in the same way that the characters in Requiem for a Dream makes it happen, sans the drugs.

Posted at 09:55 PM | Comments (2)

January 25, 2005

Tuesday: Arguably Worse Than Wednesday

Tuesdays are beginning to drag on me. Wednesday has always, in my mind, has always held the place of "worst day of the week". Despite it's title, Wednesday, affectionately dubbed "Hump Day", has the pleasure of letting the optimists be happy. The "glass is half full types", which I usually include myself in, can say "at noon the work week is half over". Tuesday , on the other hand, does not lend itself well to anyone, optimist, pessimist, or otherwise. Wait, I take that back. Tuesday lends itself well to sadists. An observer of Tuesdays (which is all of us, one day of the week) will notice that those using the slack-off appeal of excusing poor work ethic with "Sorry, it's a Monday" have no such comfort on Tuesday. The majority of the week lies ahead, with no day off or weekend in sight. Maybe that's why Domino's has that Tuesday special now. On a side note, I haven't seen a Dominos Pizza since I moved to Chicago, which is probably a good thing. Cheap, poor quality pizza has no place in a city with good pizza joint abounding.

Also tangential to my Tuesday rant: I found a good list on Pitchfork that sums up my childhood music tastes well. Also, after reading the list, look at Menomena's Website, quite possibly the oddest thing I've seen on the Internets in several years. Happy Tuesday, all.

Posted at 12:33 PM | Comments (6)

January 21, 2005

Gracias A Deos Es Viernes!

Today is a good day. I didn't expect it to be so, after a late night (a weeknight no less!) of drinking and playing pool. But the caffeine induced euphoria that I find at my desk this morning is just fantastic. The music in my headphones sounds like heaven, and the desire to do precisely jack shit right now is a good feeling. And for you non-spanish speaking out there "gracias a deos es viernes" is a little ditty from Spanish 2 in high school - literally translated: "thanks to God, it's Friday". Word.

Also, if you are a self-respecting music fan, you should read Stylus Magazine Top 50 albums from 2000-2004. There is some gold in there!

Posted at 09:38 AM | Comments (1)

January 17, 2005

King Geedorah | Take Me To Your Leader

Not for a good long time have I had so much fun listening to a hip-hop album. Like the cure for the common cold: MF Doom, the rap mastermind who I saw in concert not too long ago, breaks through the wave of ganster hip-pop that sweeps the country and feeds off teenage white boys listening to 50 Cent and the Game on MTV. Ish. With 2003's Take Me To Your Leader, MF Doom comes out with his King Geedorah guise to release a sci-fi storm of rapping over monster movie beats and midtempo soul. The music never takes itself too seriously, and rap tunes are interlaced with samples from old sci-fi flicks, commercials, and Foghorn Leghorn. Rule number one: keep your fazers on stun.

Posted at 03:20 PM | Comments (1)

Here to serve

On Saturday, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I went with Darryl to a 1,500 person service rally-project-thing. The program started out with a nice program featuring a gospel choir, some TV news-anchor guy, Mayor Richard Daly, MLKJ's friend and treasurer (who had a very graceful, slow candor in his speech), and Democratic-wonderboy Barack Obama. The man drew screams and cheers from the crowd upon walking on the stage, waving at the crowd, being introduced, finshing his speech, and walking offstage waving at the crowd. Certainly this man has captured the hearts and minds of the City's citizens. He was even introduced as the next president of the US. With this kind of support, I'd believe it. The homefield advantage will do that for a guy I guess.

Either way, that's not why we were there. Our group filed on to a school bus, which I had not been on in a long time. I was surprised to see that while seatbelts were now in the seats, the little half-seat all the way in the back on the right was still there. Man, those kids that got to sit there in elementary school were cool. Our bus proceeded to the South side (and when I say south I mean 92nd Street south (for those of you who aren't familiar with Chicago the south side is a highly urbanized, highly ethic area rife with rough neighborhoods and high crime rates (you may hear Kanye West talking about a south side, well this is it))). How's that for use of parentheses? We ended up at the South Chicago Towers, an independent living facility to a group of largely black and hispanic elderly folks. We painted pots and potted flowers, had a lunch, in which I had my first experience with Chitlins, and then played a rousing few rounds of bingo. It was nice to get out and serve people again, which I haven't done for several years. The elderly with met with were a very interesting bunch, some senile, some not, all with story to tell. And the Bingo, well, the volunteers didn't get to play, but wow, I didn't know one could talk smack while playing Bingo. Believe when I say it happens

Posted at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2005

The n.o.k. Top 20 Albums of 2004
or, You Know I'm Right MMIV

Updated!

So another wonderful year of music has come and gone, and here to recap, it's me with my first annual best-of-the-year music list. These albums listed below are my favorites from the past twelve months, and any of them would be worth your listen.

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Black Keys - Rubber Factory
Eagles of Death Metal - Peace Love Death Metal
Interpol - Antics
Two Lone Swordsmen - From The Double Gone Chapel
The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
AC Newman - The Slow Wonder
Death From Above 1979 - You're A Women, I'm A Machine
The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
Madvillain - Madvillainy
The Futureheads - The Futureheads
TV on the Radio - Desperate Youths, Blood Thirsty Babes
Iron & Wine - These Endless Numbered Days
The Beta Band - Heroes To Zeroes
Tom Waits - Real Gone
Air - Talkie Walkie
Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
Ambulance Ltd. - LP
The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives

The extended entry below will provide details on each of the listed.

Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand
Scotsmen go uptempo, burn the house down.
Fav. track: 04 Dark of the Matinee
Black Keys
Rubber Factory
Dayton duo tighten up blues-rock recipe, with delicious results
Fav. track: 01 When The Lights Go Out
Eagles of Death Metal
Peace Love Death Metal
Queens of the Stone Age leader hits the skins, new project does sleazy rock right.
Fav. track: 13 San Berdoo Sunburn
Interpol
Antics
NYC group's sophomore release does not disappoint.
Fav. track: 02 Evil
Two Lone Swordsmen
From The Double Gone Chapel
UK techno-heads make dirty electro with as many real instruments as electronics.
Fav. track: 03 Formica Fuego
The Arcade Fire
Funeral
Album full of little epics makes for an indie rock gem.
Fav. track: 02 Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Animal Collective
Sung Tongs
The Beach Boys are reincarnated as a goofy troop of animal-suited harmonizers.
Fav. track: 01 Leaf House
AC Newman
The Slow Wonder
New Pornographers frontman makes more upbeat rockin' pop tunes
Fav. track: 07 Come Crash
Death From Above 1979
You're a Women, I'm a Machine
*Last minute entry* Canadian two-piece makes a break-up album that will rock your ass off.
Fav. track: 11 Sexy Results
The Fiery Furnaces
Blueberry Boat
Brother, sister, and co. blow the mind with whacked-out indie rock.
Fav. track: 01 Quay Cur
Madvillain
Madvillainy
Underground uber-producer/rapper MF Doom teams with Madlib for an essential hip-hop outing.
Fav. track: 03 Meat Grinder
The Futureheads
The Futureheads
Garage punks n' Harmony: way better than those "meet you at the crossroads" guys.
Fav. track: 07 Danger of the Water
TV on the Radio
Desperate Youths, Blood Thirsty Babes
Urban harmonics meet dirty electronics: results unique and beautiful.
Fav. track: 06 Ambulance
Iron & Wine
These Endless Numbered Days
It's folk music. Yep, folk music. Good folk music.
Fav. track: 05 Teeth In The Grass
The Beta Band
Heroes To Zeroes
Pure British awesomeness. Shortly after, the band broke up. Boo beta.
Fav. track: 01 Assessment
Tom Waits
Real Gone
Waits keeps on coming with it. See him also in Coffee & Cigarettes.
Fav. track: 02 Hoist That Rug
Air
Talkie Walkie
Gorgeous electronica.
Fav. track: 07 Another Day
Dungen
Ta Det Lugnt
Beautiful musical textures. Not in english.
Fav. track: 03 Festival
Ambulance Ltd.
LP
New Yorkers do chilled-out rcok right.
Fav. track: 02 Primitive (The Way I Treat You)
The Hives
Tyrannosaurus Hives
The Hives are the law, you are the crime.
Fav. track: 08 Diabolic Scheme

Posted at 10:47 AM | Comments (4)

January 10, 2005

Tweekend

Dang, what a weekend. No, there are no ridiculous stories to tell. Just seems like this weekend was really long for two days, and a lot of stuff happened. Not important or noteworthy stuff, just a lot got done. For starters, I've discovered the loveliness of the Soulseek p2p network through a little Mac program called Solarseek (warning: the website for solarseek isn't much to look at. The network is rife with people who have lots of good new indie music, so I downloaded a bunch of new stuff. Devendra Banhart, Mirah, The Go! Team just to name a few.

Also have been watching Band of Brothers, a good HBO series drama about some guys in 101st Airborne Division in WWII just after Normandy. Good action, good acting, and that guy from Office Space. Also checked out House of Flying Daggers, in theatres, recently. Anybody who saw and enjoyed Hero should definitely check this film out. More crazy kung fu action in beautfully colored locales with lots of strange twists and turns in the story.

Tomorrow is Monday. Hoo-rah.

Posted at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2005

Winter Wonderland

We're in the process of getting an expected eight inches of snow. The city is now covered in a beautiful blanket of white, and there's a crisp smell in the air. Quite lovely indeed.

Posted at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2005

The Holiday Hangover

Instead of the normal long holiday as you collegians are so happy to have, I had a two short ones, one for each of the recent annual celebrations. Despite the difference, the holiday hangover still kicked in this morning, that great first Monday after New Years. The morning was a hazy fog of non-productivity.

In other news, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes took home a victory in the Capital One Bowl on the 1st. The Hawks won the game in heart-stopping fashion with 56-yard touchdown pass as time expired to win, 30-25. Frankly, it was ridiculous. Check out the skinny, complete with video highlights here.

Posted at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)