Love songs to records.
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4.8.10 - Sonic Youth, Sonic Nurse. The tracks "New Hampshire" and "Stones" are perfect. If angels played electric guitars, they'd sound like this.
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4.10.10 - Saves the Day, Stay What You Are. Rediscovering my record collection. It's been raining a lot here lately and macabre pop fits the bill nicely. Been singing "Nightingale" on my walks home.
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4.18.10 - Hour of the Wolf, Obsolete 10". The A-side of this record is not to be trifled with. The Wolf says, "Cause hearts were meant to hold only blood." I wore out my turntable with this one.
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4.27.10 - Defeater, Lost Ground 2X7". A hardcore concept record. It's about time, Universe. Complex. Heavy. Reminds me that you don't have to be a writer (used with the worst possible connotations) to pen something moving.
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5.9.10 - Converge, Jane Doe and beyond. Saw Converge tonight. Got punched in the face by a kid hardcore dancing. It's time my metal phase began.
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5.24.10 - La Dispute, Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair. "We imagined our bodies were fashioned from stone, but they chipped at the brick and the mortar and we found out were just layers of skin hiding bone" - from the song "Bury Your Flame". Saw at Lincoln Hall 05.19.10 and 10.11.10.
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8.29.10 - The Pixies, Bossanova. I've been on a major and uncontrollable Pixies kick lately. I'm doing the discography on repeat. From Come on Pilgrim to Trompe Le Monde, I've got 3.4 hours of majesty. I know Surfa Rosa and Doolittle are critical darlings, but I'm a sucker for surf. Bossanova on the beach is like a bowl of cereal before bed. It hits the spot. I owe a good portion of my first summer in Chicago to their jams.
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11.22.10 - Man Or Astroman?, 1000X. At just over twenty minutes, this 10" is one of the last records Star Crunch played on before departing the band. I like to refer to this record as late middle-period MOAM and, in conjunction with Made From Technetium, represent their most mature and interesting work. I've loved this band since I was a freshman in high school. I've journeyed with them through their sci-fi Ventures period, through the aforementioned Sonic Youth in space era, and even into the depths of post Star Crunch weirdness. The Astromen travel many distant galaxies and probe the depths of the universe, but when they settle into this orbit, I feel they are most at home.
It is the sign of a great band to have distinct eras. I've grown up with them. As a child I enjoyed the gimmicky, fun, and playful astromen. Now I'm in love with the complex, minor key, adult astromen. Fast forward to the rewind, Boys. Godspeed.
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11.26.10 - Eminem, Recovery. I've been waiting a decade for this record. Melodrama, sensationalism, and forced misogyny left me sighing through his catalogue. Once or twice every record he'd let his genius slip, finding six minutes every LP to take himself seriously. I wanted to write him off completely, but I couldn't. Em kept me on the hook. It was getting easier with Encore and Relapse, but the aging icon recaptured my attention.
Eminem's Recovery reverses the ratio of silly to serious songs. By and large, it is populated by sober, honest, and impossibly clever. It wouldn't be an Eminem record if he didn't stop now and then and say something outrageously moronic, but I get the feeling he's posturing at offensiveness. Rage isn't in his heart; it's a publicity stunt.
This record is nowhere near perfect; it feels uneven and flat at times. But, creatively, it's a shuttle mission. It takes Eminem farther than he's ever dared. He won't win over the world with it, but those who are interested in hearing a human being attempt to articulate and sort through his life will be handsomely rewarded. Those interested in the fake tirades of a psychopath can revisit The Marshall Mathers LP.
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01.13.11 - Depeche Mode, Violator, Songs of Faith and Devotion, Music for the Masses. I'm in a Depeche Mode.
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