tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60757912024-02-28T11:57:02.142-06:00CodebreakerMusings on music delivered when I dig myself out.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1160448780645967442006-10-09T21:41:00.000-05:002007-01-31T21:35:28.390-06:00Thanx 4 Stayin'I think it's about time I close this port up for a while. I'm copying everything over to Little White Earbuds, where I've been writing fairly consistently. Join me over there?Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1150358774846344572006-06-15T02:52:00.001-05:002006-07-19T02:27:30.473-05:00Matmos -- The Rose Has Teeth In the Mouth of the BeastMatador Records; 2006After birthdays and holidays, many groaning children are made to write thank you letters to those who fattened their wallets and/or piggy banks. With The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast, Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt of Matmos have attacked a similar project with grateful gusto. The album's ten tracks serve both asStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1148439083704932642006-05-23T21:42:00.000-05:002006-05-23T21:52:23.030-05:00Liars -- Drum's Not DeadMute; 2006Three full-length albums into a solid career, Liars has proven to be predictably unpredictable. Stay with me here. The group first burst on to the burgeoning NYC post-punk revival scene in 2001. Its debut album, They Threw Us All In a Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top, firmly asserted Liars' talent with ambitious concept and execution. The next testament of the Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1148437811816303172006-05-23T20:37:00.000-05:002006-05-24T00:19:44.903-05:00Kelpie -- Hey Friends, It's KelpieBirthday Party Records; 2005When I hear Kelpie, the mental image I get is one of adults having way more fun a their kid brothers' birthday party than the kids: Mashing the buttons in the arcade, stuffing facefuls of cake at a time, and begging Mom for more quarters. This Lawrence, Kansas four-piece (at least at the time of recording) exude that much fun through Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1141954576630452732006-03-09T19:23:00.000-06:002006-03-09T19:37:47.916-06:00Destroyer -- Destroyer's RubiesMerge Records; 2006For the last 11 years or so, Destroyer has been the musical alias of Canadian songwriter Dan Bejar. You might also recognize Bejar's nasal pipes from his work with The New Pornographers, whom he's written a handful of songs for and with. As Destroyer, and with the help of friends and associates, Bejar has released his seventh album, Destroyer's Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1141953726209249712006-03-09T19:16:00.000-06:002006-03-09T19:23:18.556-06:00The Subways -- Young For EternityWEA; 2006Dear members of The Subways,What the hell happened? In 2004, you guys and gal soundly trumped the competition at Glastonbury Fest's "Best Unsigned Band" contest. Full of piss and vinegar (or Red Bull and vodka), your supposedly electrifying performance was enough to score a record deal and an absurd amount of hype. Whether or not one of your dads slipped Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1141953294078213552006-03-09T19:06:00.000-06:002006-03-09T19:16:18.683-06:00Arctic Monkeys -- Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm NotDomino Records; 2006The tale of the Arctic Monkeys' smash success is one that may elicit bitter epithets and flushed faces from veteran underground rockers. This four-pack of working class post-teens from Sheffield, England signed with Domino Records in 2004, only a year after picking up guitars for the first time. A year later, theirStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1138339467048990292006-01-26T22:57:00.000-06:002006-03-09T19:07:04.390-06:00The Strokes -- First Impressions of EarthRCA Records; 2006After The Strokes released Room On Fire, its follow-up to debut, Is This It?, audiences and critics alike politely smiled and scrunched up their noses. Room was very similar to its predecessor, and all the subtle refinements the band made were hastily overlooked. If the band's new record, First Impressions of Earth, is any indication, The Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1133250528428325192005-11-29T01:43:00.000-06:002005-11-30T17:13:27.960-06:00Madonna -- Confessions on a Dance FloorWarner Brothers; 2005Before Ashlee, before Kelly, before Christina or Britney, there was the Material Girl. Becoming the queen of pop by deftly ignoring rules about content, context and sound, Madonna firmly planted herself as an icon of American pop music. And though her kung-fu grip on that sacred title has held strong for 20 years, the very performers Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1132546852720860062005-11-20T22:01:00.000-06:002005-11-20T22:21:35.710-06:00Hometown Heroes To Whom?We've all heard the stories about celebrities who think they're better than everyone else. The sense of accomplishment that comes with defeating the overwhelming odds against "making it" can be like a bicycle pump, inflating the ego with each further achievement. Not to say the famous are bad people for letting this happen, especially when we ourselves haven't a clue what we'd be like with a Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1130995497973926432005-11-02T23:09:00.000-06:002005-11-14T01:32:38.953-06:00Test Icicles -- For Screening Purposes OnlyDomino; 2005How do you feel about your eardrums? Would you prefer them battered and raw from breakdowns and shrieks, or lovingly kissed by melodic butterflies? How do you feel about referential transparency? Would you rather bands pay obvious homage to their influences, or are you a fan of subtle acknowledgment?"Well hey! What's the deal with all these Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1129863878561494882005-10-20T21:59:00.000-05:002006-05-27T17:41:47.323-05:00Brilliance in bloggingIn lieu of a real post, I'm just gonna say that I always knew he was into the crack grind.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1129787992645687402005-10-20T00:52:00.000-05:002005-10-24T00:43:14.256-05:00Bronzer in shoeOR Kelis's cover of The Pretenders' "Brass In Pocket"Is it strange that Scarlet Johansson and her pinky wig spring to mind when I hear this? While it's undecidedly hipster/not hipster of me to say so (fuck you, really), I can't deny it. Johansson has a naturally nice, yet untalented voice that does a reasonable job with the tune. But a Kelis version shouldn't be in even the same karaoke bar, Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1129703799846125772005-10-19T01:30:00.000-05:002005-11-14T01:08:02.186-06:00Espers -- The Weed TreeLocust Music; 2005Folk music is a genre that often gets the shaft from casual music listeners these days. As the genre that's existed since the dawn of music and one that was immensely popular in the 50s and 60s, it's hard to believe how few people care about it today. Besides Bob Dylan, most folk musicians are ignored so completely that their existence is more associated Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1129252683389967022005-10-13T20:09:00.000-05:002005-11-06T14:01:45.833-06:00What do I look like, a Burger King?OR "Have It Like That," the first single from Skateboard P (Pharrell) feat. Gwen StefaniForget Nick Denton; Pharrell's head is its own solar system. If he had it his way, we'd all be planets and moons revolving around his strange take on genius. Maybe 'cuz he still looks like a kid (dude's like, 32?) he expects us to give him diamond-encrusted wowwy-pops. I used to be, like, thee Neptunes fan. MyStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1128658448821140242005-10-06T23:09:00.000-05:002005-10-07T17:15:52.616-05:00Smushed slowly from the sideOR Death From Above 1979's "Black History Month (Josh Homme remix)When I hear that a rock guy's remixing another highly refixable rock band, I'm prone to listen (rock the rockist, ok). Josh Homme may be on a different plateau than your average rock dude (drug choices, drug choices), but he's still pulverizing ears with string-ed instruments. Homme's taking this seriously, though; no Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1128568498502634112005-10-05T22:11:00.000-05:002005-10-05T22:14:58.506-05:00Razor blades, gabba gabba heyOR M.I.A.'s "Galang '05" & other "Galang" remixesNow I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger for making a new video or selling "Galang" to Scion or whoever. As someone sagely pointed out on ILM, these days being the cool music to like (or past tense, depending on how progressive and snobbish you'll admit to being) doesn't pay the bills. And yet, I'm still puzzled why "Galang" needs an update. Yeah, itStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1128476808267403102005-10-04T20:41:00.000-05:002005-10-05T17:18:15.423-05:00Franz Ferdinand -- You Could Have It So Much BetterSony/Domino; 2005Like a green banana or a baby chick still damp from its eggshell prison-break, Franz Ferdinand is in a state of transition. Last year's spunky, self-titled debut offered up historically informed post-punk that inspired hundreds of pinstripe outfits. A little more than a year later, audiences have let the Franz get a little dusty Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1127531939051567562005-09-23T22:12:00.000-05:002005-10-09T17:31:12.006-05:00The Click Five -- Greetings From Imrie HouseLava/Atlantic; 2005 Pardon my paranoia, but something about The Click Five doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps it's their hospital-clean sound, their boyish good looks, or that a handful of their songs were written by established musicians. Something doesn't add up. It's almost as if record label execs took the public's thirst for anything "indie" andStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1126377889798815802005-09-10T13:42:00.000-05:002005-09-10T13:44:49.806-05:00Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- HowlRCA; 2005 It only takes the Black Rebel Motorcycle club 52 minutes to stomp, strum, and coo away any memory listeners have of their signature sound. While dumping all their Velvet Underground and Jesus & the Mary Chain albums at the local record shop, the trio must have stumbled into a fine collection of early country and folk music. Like ratty sponges the Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1125960372770241672005-09-05T17:41:00.000-05:002005-10-09T17:31:43.303-05:00Young Jeezy -- Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101Def Jam; 2005Street cred be damned -- Atlanta-based rapper Young Jeezy's story isn't wildly different from most other popular rappers (Jay-Z, 50 Cent, T.I., I see you!). From a young age, Jeezy made a career of selling "incalculable" amounts of drugs; that is, until his rap career finally became more lucrative. His lyrics sway precariously between Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1121978697240882742005-07-21T15:42:00.000-05:002005-07-21T17:14:34.910-05:00And now I'm all wit' it OR Amerie "One Thing (Siik remix)"I wasn't thinking there was much one could do to improve this track. The beat was straight ferocious -- everything was live and biting. Amerie was fucking impressed with her dudefriend and her single was going to let everyone for city blocks know it. Yeah, producer Rich Harrison copped the track's bombast from his last biggun' you probably heard ("Crazy in Love"), but who's to argue with more of Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1117575171914828132005-05-31T16:27:00.000-05:002005-05-31T16:33:44.086-05:00Fischerspooner -- OdysseyCapitol; 2005Fischerspooner is a joke that is meant to be understood and appreciated for being a joke; and this is what makes them a serious group. Even if the band's carefully choreographed live shows are full of schtick, it's serious business for the performers.The one area of the Fischerspooner collective that is still ambiguous with regards to its "seriousness" is theStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1117136677383721702005-05-26T14:39:00.000-05:002005-05-26T14:46:37.206-05:00High on Fire -- Blessed Black WingsRelapse; 2005It's a real shame what passes for metal these days. Modern rock radio will have you believing that crying about your parents and that girl that got away is standard metal fare, so long as it's punctuated by "pained" screams and supposedly heavy melodies. High On Fire will have none of that. Fronted by Matt Pike, ex-singer and guitarist for doom Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075791.post-1116614697057110072005-05-20T13:30:00.000-05:002005-08-07T13:14:57.376-05:00Caribou -- The Milk of Human KindnessDomino; 2005In 2003, Dan Snaith was forced to change his musical moniker, Manitoba, when he was sued by the lead singer of the group The Dictators, "Handsome" Dick Manitoba. Apparently "Handsome" had recorded an album under the name Manitoba's Wild Kingdom 15 years ago and was worried there would be confusion. Inventive creature that he is, Snaith again lookedStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191183524849075956noreply@blogger.com0