Cuts Like The Knife

A quick note on a couple solo releases:

Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife released her first solo album today under the monicker Fever Ray. The self-titled debut sounds, for the most part, like another album by The Knife but is also being reviewed as what it may have sounded like had Kate Bush and Brian Eno ever collaborated. If you like The Knife, this is definitely a solid album. Torrent available here. And the video for the first single "When I Grow Up":

Also out today is Pete Doherty's solo effort "Grace/Wastelands". He's sobered up, lost Kate Moss to Jamie Hince, and made an awesome album. This mostly acoustic collection of songs is some of his best work. It opens with a catchy little tune and maintains a steady pace. Torrent available here.

Lately I've been having a hard time finding interest in new music which has led me to listen to a lot of Erik Satie, but these two albums have breathed new life into my playlist. Enjoy.

On Edge

I have recently become enamored with this show. I can't tell if it's just because I'm bored, though I'd like to think it's because I have good taste. The series was co-created by J.J. Abrams, of "Lost" fame (which I think is one of the worst television shows), and deals with fringe science and a series of strange occurrences known as "The Pattern". It's smart, and has an exceptional cast. I encourage you to check it out. There are 11 episodes available on Hulu and there won't be a new one for two weeks which gives you time to catch up!

Fun fact: Zach Whedon (Joss' brother) wrote a promotional comic book series based on the show for DC Comics.

Psssssshhh

I'm supposed to be on a plane.

I'm supposed to be on a plane to Denver to meet my family after which we fly to Costa Rica.

I paid $200 to get a new passport rushed to me, drove to Seattle to file the paperwork in person.

They didn't send it out on time.

I haven't gotten it yet.

At 5:03 my flight will leave without me.

WTF.

I still get to go, I'm just at the mercy of Fedex.


BUT...

I did a fun tattoo this weekend on my friend Derek from Colorado.







I'm coming back to Missoula Wednesday April 29th through sometime around May 13th, to finish some old tattoos and hopefully do a bunch of new ones too. Strangely, I'm kind of excited to see Missoula again.

file sharing

does everyone on URFCKD have a torrent program?  

because sometimes it seems more efficient to just share the torrent locations, rather than taking the time to upload the album, and have you download it.  divshare is reliable, but always slow.  

ben miller often sends me links to other sites where i can grab the pre-lease albums, and thus short cutting all the uploading business.  but if no one has a torrent sharing program, this is a moot point.

and eric, where is my what.cd invite?  or does anyone have an invite to filemp3 or waffles?  i will post more music, if i can get into these sites.  btjunkie and mininova are not exhaustive.  i'm looking for a couple of new albums, can't find them and it's driving me crazy......

anyway i want to trade more music with you all, so please post yr new jams to the blog.  we're all too poor to buy all the music we want....though i definitely spend more on vinyl than i should.......

Oh Music Groups...

This is a long post so I apologize in advance. This is the YBSAT (Your Band Sucks Aptitude Test). It was posted by the website somethingawful.com and I thought all of you would appreciate it. Its a little dated but I believe it to still be fairly relevant and quite funny. I've showed this to some of you already.

1. I’m starting a band because:

a. I’m overflowing with natural talent (+1)
b. I’m bored (-1)
c. There’s this girl I like… (+0)
d. I just got a great haircut (-5)


2. My main motivation to make music is:

a. Fame (+0)
b. My soul demands to express itself (+1)
c. Pussy (-1)
d. The Lord (Automatic fail if you’re white)


3. My bandmates bonded over:

a. Our musical chemistry (+1)
b. Our shared love of They Might be Giants(-1)
c. The desire to record some hilarious novelty songs and post them on the internet (Fuck off)
d. Speedballs (+5)


4. If I couldn’t make music, I would:

a. Work in a record store (-1)
b. Kill myself (+1)
c. Work at Guitar Center (-10)
d. Be a music journalist (Automatic fail)


5. My friends all:

a. Worship me (+1)
b. Encourage me (+0)
c. Encourage me to keep practicing (-1)
d. Rotate instruments like a big musical commune where we can all play our part without being judged (-10)


Part Two: Your Bandmates
Next, we will assess who is in your band and what their qualifications are.


6. I met my bandmates:

a. At a punk concert (+0)
b. In high school (-1)
c. At a performance art “happening” where our future guitarist and our future bassist were screaming foreign obscenities at the audience and smearing themselves with their own (and each other’s) feces and vomit (+1)
d. The Berklee College of Music (Automatic fail)


7. My band consists of:

a. A guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and a vocalist (+0)
b. A guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, a vocalist, and a DJ (-10)
c. A guitarist/vocalist and a drummer (-15)
d. Just me and my MacBook (Automatic fail)


8. My band’s guitarist plays a:

a. Fender (+0)
b. Gibson (+1)
c. Ibanez (-10)
d. We don’t have a guitarist (Then you’re not a band, dipshit)


9. My drummer’s idol is:

a. Keith Moon (+0)
b. John Bonham (+0)
c. Neil Peart (Automatic fail)
d. Animal from the Muppets (+1)


10. My band’s bassist is named:

a. Something normal, like John, Amanda, Charles, or Kate (+0)
b. Christfuck Dahmer (-1)
c. I don’t remember due to his or her irrelevance (+1)
d. Flea (Automatic fail)


11. My band’s vocalist is:

a. A swell guy and an accomplished shower-singer (-5)
b. Not really a great singer, but the best out of the four of us (-10)
c. A megalomaniac asshole (+0)
d. An escaped lunatic (+1)


12. My band’s name is:

a. Something cool sounding that doesn’t particularly mean anything (+0)
b. Something studiously thought-out and filled with personal meaning (-5)
c. Something HILARIOUS like “Ninja Jesus” (Automatic fail)
d. xX You, My Bitterest Sorrow Xx (Double automatic fail)


Part Three: Genre
In this section, we determine your band’s artistic potential by arbitrarily pigeonholing it into a genre.


13. My musical influences include:

a. The Beatles (+0)
b. The Eagles (-5)
c. The Red Hot Chili Peppers (Automatic fail)
d. Obscure German shit from the 70s or postmodern architecture or something:(+1)


14. I would describe my band to the press as:

a. Punk, or some variant thereof (+0)
b. Metal, or some variant thereof (-50)
c. Fuck you, you fat journo faggot (+1)
d. _____-core (Automatic fail)


15. Our subgenre could be described as:

a. Jazz Fusion (Automatic fail)
b. Nerdcore Hip Hop (Automatic fail)
c. Emo or Post-Hardcore (Automatic fail)
d. None of the above (+0)


16. I grew up watching:

a. 120 Minutes (+0)
b. MTV’s coverage of Dan Cortese making boner jokes at a beach house (-1)
c. VH1 (-10)
d. When Animals Attack! (+1)


Part Four: Live Show
Playing live is an important part of any new band’s establishment. This section will determine whether or not your band is cut out for life on the road.


17. Our venue of choice is:

a. The teen center (-5)
b. Impromptu “guerrilla” shows on rooftops because we think we’re clever (-5)
c. Arenas (Automatic fail)
d. We don’t play live because our sonic experimentation can only be captured on recordings, and plus we’re kind of shy (Automatic fail)


17. Before singing live, our singer warms up by:

a. Eating a spoonful of honey (-1)
b. Smoking a pack of cigarettes (+0)
c. Getting too drunk to sing (+1)
d. A circle of high-fives and a pep-chant with his “band brothers” (-10)


18. On tour, we drive:

a. This sweet van that our dad bought us that used to belong to our church youth group (-10)
b. In an old hatchback, bodies stacked like cordwood, PAs jutting into our ribs (+0)
c. Like I said, we’re more of an online collaborative thing so we don’t really play live so much as send tracks back and forth in MP3 format and mix them together in ACID 4.0 (What the fuck are you even still doing here?)
d. Drunk (+1)


Part Five: Miscellaneous
In this section, we will ask vital questions that defy easy categorization in order to determine with finality whether or not you’re cut out to form a band.


19: Upon hearing the term “Nu-Metal,” you get a distinct feeling of:

a. Nausea (+0)
b. Camaraderie (Automatic fail)
c. White guilt (+0)
d. Having just murdered the person who uttered it (+1)


20. If I were to tell you that Freddie Mercury was the greatest vocalist of all time, you would say:

a. Fuck you, grandpa (+1)
b. Who the fuck is Freddie Mercury? (+1)
c. I hear that, man! Fuckin’ A! (Automatic fail)
d. Are you making a pass at me? (+0)


21. If you had to choose between fame and artistic fulfillment, you’d choose:

a. Fame (+0)
b. Artistic fulfillment (+1)
c. I wish… for more wishes! (You can’t do that)
d. Heroin (+2)


22. The greatest punk band of all time is:

a. The Clash (-5)
b. The Sex Pistols (-10)
c. The Ramones (-15)
d. Dude… Johnny Cash was like the original punk, if you think about it.(Automatic fail)


23. The greatest metal band of all time is:

a. Black Sabbath (+0)
b. Metallica (Automatic fail)
c. Iron Maiden (What are you, fifteen?)
d. How the fuck should I know? (+1)


24. Prog rock is great because:

a. The musicianship is amazing (Automatic fail)
b. I can get really stoned and just go on an amazing trip in the land of awesomeness (Automatic fail)
c. I’m a completely worthless, boring idiot (+0 for honesty)
d. I can tell if someone is a completely worthless, boring idiot just by their faded Dream Theater t-shirt (+1)


25. Nas is like:

a. Life or death (+0)
b. I’m a rebel (+0)
c. My poetry’s deep, I never fell (-1)
d. Half man, half amazing (+1)

26. My favorite female guitarist is:

a. Lita Ford (-10)
b. Bonnie Raitt (-1)
c. The one in my band (Automatic fail)
d. What? What the fuck are you even talking about? (+1)


27. I tend to dress:

a. In a zoot suit (-15)
b. In leather and safety pins (-5)
c. In tight jeans, Chuck Taylors, a faded t-shirt and a half gallon of hair-shellac (-10)
d. Like a normal human being (Automatic fail)


28. I deserve wealth and fame because:

a. I’ve worked hard for it (-1)
b. Then I could devote my time and money to important causes, like Bono does(-10)
c. I’m really no dumber or more revolting than any other rock star (+0)
d. I want to build a life-sized replica of Michelangelo’s David out of cocaine, and then get enormously fucking high off it for years or until I die (+1)


29. There hasn’t been any good rock and roll since:

a. 1969 (-1)
b. 1977 (-1)
c. 1989 (-1)
d. Jim Morrison died (Automatic fail)


30. My promotional tool of choice is:

a. Photocopied flyers (+0)
b. Word of mouth (+0)
c. Constant pandering to the press (+0)
d. Myspace (Automatic fail)


Scoring:


-100 to -20 points: You’ll just have to settle for playing air guitar along with Aerosmith albums, you worthless hick.

-19 to 0 points: Don’t start a band. Your appalling taste will doom you to a career of pure humiliation and defeat.

0 to 15 points: Sorry, you may have a few things going for you, but you just don’t have what it takes to start a band that’s anything but totally fucking terrible.

15 points or more: Congratulations! You have the YBSAT blessing to start a band.

for fans of the O.C.

the creator of the O.C. has a new indie rock web sitcom entitled Rockville, CA. Thought you all might be into it, since everyone seems to be a fan of his and Skins.

Click here to jump to the WB website where the first four episodes are streaming.

I'm about to check it out, but apparently the website is running like its servers are from 1995......It might be good, or it might not. But at least in idea it seems interesting.

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Or: I Think I'm In Love With an Album Made By "Old People")

I can't get enough of this album as of late, especially as I walk throughout the city. It's bizarre.

a present from me to you.

click here to visit my new music blog, tiny grooves, and there you will find a link to download the new hipster jam of 2009, MSTRKRFT's about to be released album fist of god.

hope you enjoy.

(postscript.  don't worry i'll still be posting here with quite a bit of frequency.   urfckd is where my heart is.......)

Coming Out

I would like to share a very personal story with all of you, and I hope that you learn something from it. It means a lot to me, and has shaped the person I have become.

Last year, I came out, which was actually not as difficult as I imagined it would be. I thought I might feel isolated. I had never been a fan of wearing clothes in some flashy color scheme, or gaudy accessories, or parading around declaring my pride for something I had absolutely no responsibility in becoming. I knew that I didn't really fit into the group of which I am a part. I was worried, and I was scared. What would people think of me? Would I be accepted? But I knew deep down that with my friends by my side I could do anything, be anyone. And I was right. Sure there were dark times of binge drinking and promiscuity, but my friends were there for me, to lift me up the whole time. They gave me the strength to carry on. They showed me how to put one foot in front of the other. And for that I am thankful, because really, it was my friends that forced me to confront the truth about who I am by dragging me to Butte.

So today, I say to you with pride: I am Irish (not really...)! 

No, but really, I love this holiday, so go drink some whiskey and make out with twenty or forty seven people, because that's what it's really all about.

It's Blitz!

Divshare decided to do its job. Anyone interested can download It's Blitz! here.

Reincarnation

One of the things I'd like to come back as is a bee.

My Words Don't Work

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' new album It's Blitz! dropped today, and though I've had it for a week or so, I'm still trying to form an opinion about it. It's being lauded by some as their "most accessible" album, which to me sounds like a nice way of saying it's shite. And while it most likely is their most accessible, I'm not sure that phrase really describes the album. My favorite review thus far can be read here.

The album listens a bit like a Jock Jams album, which is to say it sounds like it was made in the 90s. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a soft spot in my heart for JJs, but it's not what I expected from these three. The strengths of the album are definitely the slower tracks, namely "Skeleton" and "Little Shadow". I find, however, that I can't listen to the album just once. The first time through I cringe a little, but after that I find that, for what it is, it's enjoyable. Groundbreaking? No. Easy, fun even? Yeah.

For those of you who haven't heard it, I've been trying to upload it for three days now, but divshare apparently hates me. I'll keep trying.

This Is Me in My Twenties

A recent day in my life:

Sleep for four hours.

Wake up.

Drink a bottle of water.

Watch the movie Tron.

Drink another bottle of water.

Eat.

Take my dog for a walk.

Eat, again.

Drink another bottle of water.

Watch the movie Milk.

Eat, again.

Drink another bottle of water.

Work out.

Drink another bottle of water.

Eat, again.

Watch several episodes of Skins.

Eat.

Not smoke any cigarettes.

Eat.

Eat.

Eat.

(I'm no Eugene Mirman. I know.)

Basically all I do anymore is eat. And watch stuff. Quitting smoking (which I am officially trying to do) sucks. Though I'm not entirely sure why I'm doing it. I don't see myself as a non-smoker. When I imagine doing things, like reading, watching movies, sitting in a park, bullshitting with friends... there are always cigarettes involved. We'll see how long this lasts.

Markley, I know you want us all to come out for Pitchfork (I know this because I'm the creepy administrator who checks to see if there are any unfinished draft entries) but I vote that everyone should come out for Sasquatch.

My favorite person of the week is O-Face.

After All, We Are Still Creatures Of Evolution (Or: Maybe Social Networking Sites Won't Destroy Humans [a Naive Thought])

Caught this the other day when I was reading the Economist, thought it was very intriguing and shed a bit of light on the communication habits of the contemporary homo sapien. Discuss amongst yourselves.

While You Were Watching The Watchmen...

I was watching this cinematic masterpiece:



(Only watch the first minute or so.)

Timeless.

is hiphop dead?

i think hiphop may be dead again.  

kanye is in love with synthesizers and robot music.  lil wayne is putting out a rock album.  j dilla is dead.  p diddy was on csi: miami. dr dre's new album will never come out, so he's busy selling headphones.  madlib is mostly making sound collage albums, that's at least what i call his beat konducta series.  eminem is out of retirement to kill what dignity the genre has left with two new albums this year.  chris brown might go to jail.  t.i. is going there already or might be locked up now (and thank you mtv for making this the subject of two seperate reality shows.)  every white hipster kid thinks the hood internet and girl talk is hiphop. and even MIA is on hiatus.  anticon has become its own formula, every release sounding the same.  atmosphere can only breathe life into frat parties.  crunk ate itself.  t-pain spoofed himself on SNL.  hiphop in general became so mainstream that the president gets down to will.i.am.  

it's the same route punk followed.  angsty underground genres make their biggest impact and best music before everyone turns their ears toward it.  then the game is over.

we even have a notorious biopic to kill dead air on vh1 with.  (which by the way i'm about to watch, out of curiousity.)

maybe someone can tell me what new exciting groundbreaking hiphop is out their to listen to.

but my love affair with the genre is dying (or gone already.)  i doubt even the new clipse album will be worth my time--a bad sequel to hell hath no fury.  

kid cudi and the cool kids might finally put out a full length to change my mind, but until then i've lost faith.

please someone give me a suggestion(s).  i need a new hiphop album.  i can't think of anything i really even want to bother downloading.  

it's friday night and i want some jams.  but my mind is blank and disappointed.

What Do You Listen To? (Or: Did I Really Spell "To" With two "Os"?)

Read this today, study done by a Cal Tech student cross-referencing SAT scores with musical taste; here's the outcome:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/149493-science-sez-lil-wayne-makes-you-stupid-sufjan-and-radiohead-make-you-smart

songs i kicked out of my iTunes.

this may turn into a regular posting, but I was just amazed at what shit I let clutter my iTunes.  here is what i needed to kick out of my music library this week.

main target:

all decemberists.  fuck colin meloy.

the following which sounded promising in various music reviews and were a waste of bandwidth:

glasvegas

von bondies

uglysuit

the following miscellany of songs which i have no idea how they got into my iTunes, my guess has something to do with alcohol:

fleetwood mac, eminem, debbie gibson

new album on the verge of the delete button:

the new yeah yeah yeahs.  but i might share it with you first, if you kids want it.  i think it's below par.  like they decided to copy does it offend you, yeah and do a poor job.  if that makes any sense......

I Don't Think They'll Let Us Join...

I've know about the No Cuss Club for a while, but just saw this video:




My favorite part? When the two older gentlemen, after having been scolded by the blaspheme brigade, ask if they can hang with the posse of tweens. Creepy.

A Whole Lot of Snuggie

Let it be said that I fucking hate the Snuggie. I'm pretty sure, seeing as how we're all friends, that you do, too. The second little gem made me spit out soda, not when I read it for the first time, but when I randomly remembered it while watching TV with Christina. Enjoy.

(Note: The video below is a parody, not just the commercial. Watch it.)

Via GraphJam: