Garlic, Holy Water, and a good Bloody Mary (the cure for a Vampire Weekend)

No matter how tempted you are, stay away from Vampire Weekend. They Suck. You will be trying the hide these behind your Dave Matthews CD's in a few years. Though CD's are all but obsolete now anyway. And no one can really see even the most embarrassing MP3's that you own, but you should still feel a sense of shame for enabling these dillweeds.

I have repeatedly tried to go give them a chance. They still suck. The only good that has come from their existence is the surreal Hot Chip cover featuring Peter Gabriel and one more easy way to identify a dillweed (which is the term I have chosen from a long list of potential pejoratives to describe both the band and what I assume to be their stereotypical fan base. Douchebag seems like a natural winner, but as that is the curse-du-jour, I am sure most of those dillweeds have been using douchebag like it is going out of style. Which it is.) Though I will say the chick on the cover of their new album is quite cute, so I do not mind at all displaying the picture in these hallowed halls of coolness.

Worth Wasting Time

If you have some time to kill, hell even if you don't, check out the Black Cab Sessions. Definitely worth the price of admission.

I think I like this

I've been away from the music scene for so long that I feel a bit behind. In Rainbows was my last purchase, and that was a full year ago now. So I started poking around, found this and have decided I like it. So there.

Time to dust off my copy of "Catcher in the Rye" and check into the Chelsea

Rumors of a Smiths reunion have blossomed for Coachella 2009. This is not the first time this dreamcloud has been seeded. It seems automatic now that the fanbase will start this whisper campaign, but if the estranged Mancunians turned down $5M before and have a venomous and litigious past behind them, I doubt it is likely to evr happen. The Smiths reuniting would be like Morrissey getting married and serving roast beef at the wedding.

If there were any substance to the murmurings, I would be the first to try to stop it. Yeah, you heard me. The last thing I want to see is The Smiths as a bunch of fat old men sadly grasping at past glory. It is one thing for Moz to make an ass of himself with his continually degenerating (with rare exceptions) solo career, but quite another if Marr were to stand next to him and agree that this is a good idea. If no one else would stop this madness, I would.

In fact, I have long wanted to be the man who shot Morrissey. Somewhere after Maladjusted I thought it was about time to help him become legendary by dying young and pretty at the hands of a crazed fan. Granted, You Are the Quarry was a decent effort, but let's face it - Stephen Patrick has become Fat Elvis. (Pictured here with an even more grizzled St. Ignatious the Popular.)

And Johhny ain't exactly a Salford Lad anymore either. He can hang out with whatever young band he wants to, but he is just Hugh Heffner with four 20 year-old girlfriends. They are all getting something out of it, but it doesn't change any of the facts.

So when you see me on the news with a blank stare and my hands zip-tied behind my back, you can say you knew me as a nice, quiet man that mostly kept to myself.

The Ting Tings and other things

J: My new favorite band ...

... at least for this week.

The Ting Tings

EG: Love that song. In addition to the iPod commercials it has been on heavy rotation on Sirius. Same with "Hot Hot Sex." And Flight of the Conchords must be coming out with something new because they keep playing "Business Time" which I will invariably crank. I also heard "Losing My Edge" by LCD Soundsystem for the first time and immediately thought of you...but in a good way!


EG: Oh, and I also like "Graveyard Girl" by M83 which you would probably hate.


J: Graveyard girl is a nice throwback to the late 80's ... New Order / Ocean Blue ...

I like this Ting Tings song better. They remind me of what Blondie would sound like if she were young and producing in this decade.

I also finally picked up Vampire Weekend. I had downloaded the album and it grew on me so I bought it.

and Al Green's new album 'Lay it Down' produced by ?uestlove of the Roots. Awesome.

EG: After seeing a few of these YouTube clips, I too am now enamoured of the Ting Tings. They are like a lot of things, but nothing is like them.

Vampire Weekend I have already grown to hate. Sorry. In the Blur vs. Oasis war I chose sides rashly and lost (to be fair Boys and Girls and Country House that they were putting out at the time was not their best work.) I stayed on the fence of the pro/anti Strokes debate until they were a foregone conclusion. I did make the right call on Coldplay by abandoning them after It Was All Yellow. So I must also part company w/ VW lest my batting average go down.

J: I'll give you the ting tings album when you come by. Bring a gig stick or something if you have one or else I'll burn you a cd.

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Upon further consideration...

The Grinderman song No Pussy Blues raises a very poignant question:Are there any other kind of blues?

Fuck You Yankee Blue Jeans

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New CD's

Conchords: I don't have cable. I know nothing about these guys. I saw a ten second clip. It was funny. The EP was $5. They seem like a Kiwi version of TMBG playing blue.

Muse: Not sure if the whole CD is string, but come on...SUPERMASSIVE!

WILATU cut 'n' paste

No iPod to Shuffle

CDs I have recently purchased:

First up is the new Interpol. They branch out a little, but still manage to stay true to their sound. They continue to impress me and earn their spot on the top shelf of my CD rack under "Prime Real Estate" alongside Morrissey, the Smiths and Radiohead.

Billy Bragg's Talking With the Taxman About Poetry. He has remastered all his stuff, so I got the new special edition. My collection was sorely lacking this album anyway. "Greetings to the New Brunette" is my new favorite song.

The greatest Ukrainian gypsy punk and performance art band ever, Gogol Bordello, came out with a new album. They have intrigued me from the start, but the song "Wonderlust King" was a must-have.

Potentially perfect songs...

Fools Gold - The Stone Roses

The Killing Moon - Echo & the Bunnymen

Do You Realize? - Flaming Lips

Summer Concert Series

My summer is shaping up to be quite the kick-ass concert viewing experience. Keep in mind that prior to the Morrissey concert that Evil Genius and I saw my last concert was two summers ago, and it was Coldplay (who actually put on a quality show).

In addition to the aforementioned Morrissey, I will be going to see Interpol in a few weeks here in Columbus. I'm planning on heading out to Maryland to see the Decemberists with EG next month, and I just found out that the Violent Femmes are coming. I must try to get to that show as well.

I'm not sure if my old aching bones can handle that much live music, but I'm sure gonna try...

Potentially perfect songs in the region of punk/new wave/college rock/alternative

Blue Monday - New Order (as suggested by Grant)

Such Great Heights - The Postal Service

Lovesong - The Cure

Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics


more to come...

Comments welcome.

Red's additions:

(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding -Elvis Costello & the Attractions

Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes

Bands I should Like, but have never atken to:

The Shins
The Pixies

more to come...

I'm not doing this twice

Very Belated Morrissey Post

On Friday, May 18, 2007 I attended a Morrissey concert with Pezda. It is my duty to cover the music aspect of the concert, while he covers the people watching over at the Daily Dose. I suspect either or both of us will also post on Ultrahip. Maybe not.

Moz is old. He is graying at the temples and carrying a few extra el bees. However he does this with remarkable style. He strode out in his new look suit and tie, but was shirtless by the end of the second song much to the delight of all the aging queens in the crowd. Roses are now tossed in lieu of lillies. Not much else has changed.

This was not the typical aging rock star concert where new material that you don't know is beaten into your brain while the old material is eschewed. Had Boz Booer been sporting a skater mop top with bangs in his eyes, they could have passed it off as a Smiths concert. They opened with "The Queen is Dead." My heart raced with the driving beat.

Not that he didn't play new material or solo material. Of course he did. Plenty of it. He even dug deep a few times which pleasantly surprised me. He played "Disappointed!" But that pales in comparisson to the fact that he played six (6) Smiths songs. This included "How Soon Is Now?" which almost counts as a cover since you can play the notes, but no one has quite the same "guitar voice" as Johnny Marr. Not to mention that the opening feedback that has become as much a part of the song as anything else will never be exactly duplicated.

And then the coup de grace. For the encore he played "Please,Please,Please..." I welled up. It was strange how that song hit me hard. It was surreal. It was like going home and seeing your mother's face as you remember it as a child. It was like being granted the wish of getting to be seventeen for a moment and being able to share the kiss with Molly Ringwald at the end of "Sixteen Candles."

So in honor of this, The Smiths Lyric of the Week is:

"Haven't had a dream in a long time. See the life I've had would make a good man turn bad."

-Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

Spiderman 3- reviewed in detail!

Don't bother.

Thousand Natural Shocks

Thanks to this post on my other site, I am now endorsing this band. Pezda agrees. You will see. Give it a few years. No one believed me about Radiohead either. (Of course the Stone Roses never outshone Nirvana as I speculated at the time.)

Lulu where are you?

You promised!

p.s.
I am referring to MY Lulu, not this Lulu.

30 Rock

This is the only TV show you should be watching. Deny watching any other TV shows. At the conclusion of each new episode call your brother to debrief and be reduced to tears over the comic genius.