November 6, 2011

Connotation Masturbation

The other night, driving back from one of my many trips to the store, avoiding AM sports radio because I was DVRing the Blackhawks game, I was forced to turn to my longtime nemesis – FM radio. If you don’t live in the Chicagoland area, you would not be aware that FM radio options for fans of rock have become a desolate wasteland. To think such a large city would have such terrible radio stations seems an impossibility, but one by one the rock stations have been dying leaving people like myself with almost nothing. Granted, I usually plug my mp3 player into an FM adapter when the drive is going to be long enough but this was just a 10 minute round trip.

So out of the three choices, there are two classic rock stations (97.1 and 97.9) and one contemporary rock station (93.1). I chose to stick with 93.1 because it happened to be the one not at commercial. A song came on that a lot people find enjoyable for a lot of different reasons. To many its lyrics are extremely touching and I’m sure a lot of people have made out to it in their car or put it on mix tapes in the hopes of getting a person to make out with them in a car.

The song is “Do You Realize?” by the Flaming Lips and I hate it. Continue reading →

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October 12, 2011

Thoughts on Theo’s Arrival

So it appears that Theo Epstein will be the next general manager of the Chicago Cubs. The inept, woeful franchise that I cannot stop watching because of some disease that I’m not even sure how I acquired (my Dad leans toward the White Sox and the Cubs were lousy for almost my childhood) is about to do something surprising. That is, to say, they’re about to hire someone widely considered the best man for the most important job.

When Tom Ricketts purchased the club a lot of fans got excited. They assumed that he’d change the culture for the better. It hasn’t happened yet. We witnessed two years of mediocre to terrible baseball and a lame duck front office who never really had a chance to fix what they’d already broken. Continue reading →

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October 3, 2011

PJ20 – A Review of Sorts

Last night, at the very interesting Gene Siskel Theater, I was able to finally sit and watch Cameron Crowe’s documentary on the twenty year existence of what is probably my favorite band ever, Pearl Jam. PJ20 is exactly what I would have wanted a documentary on Pearl Jam to be. I have spent plenty of lonely evenings combing through the vast archives of the Internet looking for rare and early footage of the band I’ve grown up with and here Crowe has expertly put together so much of it, including tons I had never seen nor even dreamed I would get to see.

Interestingly enough, being a metal kid in middle school I wasn’t too enamored with the alternative music movement that began taking place sometime around my tenth or eleventh year on this planet. Being that young and not having had the privileges that Google affords me now, I didn’t have any access to music other than what was on MTV, radio and what my friends told me to check out. My friends loved metal ergo I loved metal. When Pearl Jam started getting huge I was not supposed to be impressed – but in one of those memories that sticks with me for whatever reason, I was in my friend Steve’s living room and the video for “Even Flow” was being shown on MTV. It was all the rage. And I’ll never forget Eddie Vedder looking batshit insane ready to leap to his death from the scaffolding while the band ripped. Standing in Steve’s living room watching that video might not be my first ever exposure to Pearl Jam but it’s my first concrete memory of them. From there it dawned on me that listening to the same three bands was pretty shortsighted. Continue reading →

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September 13, 2011

Kyuss – Gardenia

So I’ve been sitting on a few longer pieces that I’d really love to finish some day soon. Some of the topics stray from the general music theme of the blog and I’m really excited about a couple of them. Bringing these ideas to some kind of a coherent completion is the issue I keep running into. I have so much respect for bloggers that not only churn out regular content but don’t hate it passionately before hitting post. Even more impressive is the way some of these people seem to post brilliant stuff without errors. I usually have to edit what I write a few times to make sure it makes sense. You folks are impressive and I want you to know. Continue reading →

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August 3, 2011

Isis – Weight

Isis can safely be called the greatest purveyor of post-metal in the history of Earth, can’t they? Any research into the genre ends up in reading blurbs from Isis front man Aaron Turner, so I’m going to go ahead and call him the Godfather of post-metal. Haters of overly-specific labeling of musical styles can unite in their scorn but Isis’ song Weight, from their 2002 album Oceanic, is definitely the best post-metal song ever created. When Isis includes vocals in their work it’s generally Turner’s harsh growl. Instead, as Weight builds we are treated to female vocals that aren’t a vehicle for lyrics as much as an addition to the crushing atmosphere the song creates.

Please take eleven or so minutes out of your day and give this one a listen. If it floats, go ahead and listen to the entire album.

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July 26, 2011

That Metal Post

This fall is shaping up to be an outstanding season for metal fans all over the world. I realize I run the risk of pissing off people who think certain bands aren’t metal but I really don’t care. With that aside, there are a few albums that I’m really excited about and some that I’m hoping will surprise me.

The album I’m most excited about is the new Mastodon record that’s going to be called The Hunter. They’ve released a track called Black Tongue that sounds like a mix of their last three records. From all accounts Brent Hinds and Co. have decided to let it all hang out on this one and some of the track names give a strong indication as to the mood they were in during the creation of the album. Names like Blasteroids, Stargasm, Curl of the Burl and The Octopus Has No Friends don’t leave any doubt that this is going to be a fun ride. Also, here’s the cover of the album:

Boner. Continue reading →

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July 21, 2011

Soundgarden – Slaves & Bulldozers

Having just seen Soundgarden play Chicago I’ve been going through some of their other live performances on YouTube and stumbled across a fantastic performance of one of my favorite songs of all time. Slaves & Bulldozers is super sludgy and features what is most likely Chris Cornell’s finest vocal performance of his entire career. He can’t completely pull it off live the way he does on the record but he still does a fantastic job. The fact that no mortal should be able to sing like this gives him a lot of slack.

Anyway, here’s a clip from what must be a stop on the Badmotorfinger tour. The clothes and sound all fit and there’s no date listed, so that’s what I’m going with. Check it out and look for the special shout out to Eddie Vedder around the six-minute mark. Enjoy.

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July 21, 2011

Radiohead – Separator

Now that I’ve gained a fresh perspective on King of Limbs, I’ve got a new favorite Radiohead song that I had previously ignored. It’s the final track on the album and it’s called Separator. Thom Yorke sings if we think it’s over then we’re wrong. That’s fine by me. Come to Chicago in short order and keep putting out music.

 

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July 10, 2011

King of Limbs – Live From the Basement

Radiohead’s latest album, King of Limbs, was released rather suddenly earlier this year to mixed reviews. It’s Radiohead, so it’s great – but no one’s out there trumpeting King of Limbs as Radiohead’s best album. Here, as they did with In Rainbows, the band returns to The Hospital Club’s TV Studio in London’s Covent Garden otherwise known as the filming location for the show Live From the Basement.

Perhaps the live performances of these enigmatic songs will flesh out more than the album versions did. Judge for yourself. Enjoy.

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June 21, 2011

Getting To Know You: Lollapalooza 2011 – The Aftershows

The overlord of summertime musical fun has spoken as the aftershows, where the word ‘after’ apparently could also mean ‘before’ or ‘during’, for Lollapalooza weekend have been released.  It seems like the promoters just threw a bunch of bands into a hat, picked a random Chicago venue and said, “Go play there”. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason as to why these bands are grouped together but such is life.

The key aftershow is Titus Andronicus on Saturday night at Reggie’s. I’ve been told I have to see  Titus Andronicus but they play at the same time as blog favorite The Joy Formidable and that isn’t a trade I’m willing to make. Now everyone can  go see The Joy Formidable tear up the stage and we can all go to Reggie’s at 10 o’clock to continue the good times on Saturday.

I’d also love to hit up the Death From Above show on Thursday night at the Metro but that would require some serious people moving on my part. What aftershows look worthwhile to you?

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