The Dead Part of You

You know what I forgot to do? Write up what I think of all the records I've been buying over the past few months. At least I keep up with the shows.

Stereogum Presents Enjoyed: A Tribute to Bjork's Post. As much as I love their OK Computer tribute [I skipped the Automatic for the People tribute], this does nothing for me. Most of it's entirely too no wave for my current frame of mind. The only stand out tracks are Liars' "Army of Me" for being so bland and expected, and Xiu Xiu's "Isobel", for being the best track even though it's still pretty mediocre.

I was passed this a few months ago, and it was in pretty heavy rotation then. Better than "Plans", more of a "Transatlanticism" vibe. They're playing in Boston tomorrow, but I'm not going.



Tom Waits on crack. Brilliant. I didn't think their energy would translate onto record, but it did.



Eh, certainly not bad, but not really compelling either. A nice document, I enjoyed it more after seeing his live show.



Not nearly as weak as initial reviews made it seem. Not really compelling either. Do you like music from the 1980's? The standout track is definitely "Graveyard Girl" but not in a good way - the spoken-word breakdown is absolutely cringe worthy.



I'm off to see El Perro del Mar tonight actually. The new record is just as good as her first record, so tonight's sad Swedish girl-group extravaganza should not disappoint.



I love the first two Elbow records, but haven't had the time to consciously sit and listen to their fourth in it's entirety yet. What I've heard is great - I never really bonded with their previous record "Leaders of the Free World", and I'm kind of afraid that's going to happen again. What they need to do is play a goddamned gig in Boston and beat the songs into my head live.

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip is free, and kind of worth it? I love that he rationalizes "This one's on me", which is EXACTLY how I rationalized taking In Rainbows for free - like a frequent buyer punch card. But is it good? The hyper-aggro-industrial-"March of the Pigs" first half does nothing for me, the lush-dreamy-ambient-balladry-pop-trance-"A Warm Place" second half is absolute godhead. The halves are starting to fit together - would the second half be as amazing without the assault of the first half? I think not.

I've Hype Machined the bottom half of the Lollapalooza poster, and not much at all has jumped out at me. I keep liking the Tally Hall songs, I will definitely checkout Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves [holy crap - they're local? And on tomorrow's DCFC bill? Allston rock city represent!] as long as there's no major conflicts, and I just heard Foals today and might have to search them out. Mostly, there's going to be a lot of bottom tier acts to avoid.

So Monday night Dave and I went to see Death Cab for Cutie over at the Orpheum Theater in Boston.

It pretty much confirmed that I’m a crappy photographer, and that I am downright amazed at what I can do with Photoshop [tm].

During some songs, Nick would look all sad. I knew that I could comfort him, if only those pesky bouncers wouldn’t get in the way.

Also, when you sit in the second row, you notice weird things, like Ben spits. A lot. Like a chawin’ ball player. He doesn’t spit on the audience, but hey, that would have been cool with me. Death Cab For Cutie sweat a lot on stage.

The set list wasn’t especially creative. I can tell you Boston has missed out on “Styrofoam Plates” and “Why Would You Want to Live Here” twice in a row now, which is too bad. “Blacking Out the Friction” was dumped this time too, a highlight of the last show, for me.

Of the new songs, “Different Names for the Same Thing” was most impressive live. “Marching Bands of Manhattan” was pretty good too.

“Soul Meets Body” actually sounded bad to me. I’ll give him that it seems like a tough song to sing, and that this was the 7th show for them in as many nights.

OK - Have we figured out that I am totally crushed out on Nick Harmer yet? His favorite colors are darker blues and brown. His favorite food is Thai, and most Italian. He’s dreamy, and totally ready for his Tiger Beat close up.

Most of the show seemed rushed, probably due to the 7 shows in 7 days with the next day off. The way normal folk get all spacey on Friday afternoon? Yeah, that’s how this was. By the encore, well, they just weren’t even trying anymore.

How come I’m only now noticing that “Expo ‘86″ is one of their strongest songs.

And before “The Sound of Settling?” Ben came over to the people sitting down near us and asked them if they could stand up. It was then I realized how weird it must have been for him - 2000 people standing up except the 10 directly in front of him.

A good time was had by all at the big emo show.

so it was a busy weekend. last night i went to see death cab for cutie and they were good! they were very good, better than i expected! they play their songs very well live. and man those boys are hotties! and sensitive! seriously - they could have stayed in my bed back before they had $$$. the show was sold out which means it was wall to wall people. kids actually. when the lights went up eric and i were the oldest people there by far.

i didn't like ben kweller's schtick, but his music was ok.

i saw hellboy friday. it was ok. well, ron perlman was a very good hellboy, and actually, that's all the movie really had going for it. it was kind of an ok night, kinda sad, re: unrequited affection. i'm not talking about it. i'm just going to hide it inside until i burst into stars and cry.

man, i am SO 15 years old.

also friday i took SQL to the vet. mostly, i learned that if my shoulder hurts after carrying an 8 pound cat (and crate) to the bus stop and back, man, no way would i ever make it on survivor. THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN.

however, i could probably beat lex simply by not voting off my friends.

np: 'freeze' by recoil