Saturday, July 30, 2005

Half way round the year

Half way through the year. What have I been listening to you (didn't) ask?:
1) Lou Barlow - emoh
2) System of a Down - mesmerize (well, 4 or 5 songs of it)
3) Ben Folds - songs for silverman
4) Fruit Bats - spelled in bones (well, the first 2 songs are amazing...)
5) Foo Fighters - The new single is great. Haven't heard the rest yet.
6) Red Door Exchange - s/t
7) Jennifer O'Connor - the color and the light

Things I've been listening to a lot that didn't come out this year:
1) Lightning Bolt - wonderful rainbow
2) Owen - I do perceive
3) Mastodon - leviathan
4) Miles Davis - kind of blue
5) Killswitch Engage - the end of heartache
6) Poison Idea - feel the darkness
7) Elliott Smith - either/or
8) Lunatic Dub - on myspace only. Click on the name to listen for yourself.

Things from 2005 that I just don't get:
1) The White Stripes - The drummer sucks, period. The singer guy seems to be so concerned with image (very reflective of the corporate music world) that it's hard for me to take anything he says seriously. If I wanted to listen to 1987 Aerosmith then I would listen to 1987 Aerosmith. Because that's exactly what the 10 or so songs I've heard have sounded like. Oh wait, no I wouldn't. I hate Aerosmith.
2) Son Volt - A new record. A completely different lineup than the band from Trace (which was amazing). So these unispired songs are nothing more than a solo Jay Farrar album. Apparently he can't sell records anymore under his own name and has tried to make up ground by reverting back to his last bands' moniker. Lame.
3) Coldplay - They wrote a really good song. Then kept writing it for 3 or 4 records. I don't turn them off the radio or anything but I can't tell you how aggravating it is to listen to this guys sad attempt at writing lyrics. They are the dictionary definition of trite.
...all those signs I knew what they meant
something you can't invent
Some get made, and some get sent
oooooh words go flying at the speed of sound
to show how it all began
birds came flying from the underground
if you could see it then you'd understand
oh, when you see it then you'll understand

No I won't, jackass.
4) The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, The Hives and every other blantantly 80's band. I was never much into knitch or kitsch when it comes to music. The only band I've heard do something like that even remotely well is Hail Social. It's all over compressed, radio ready milktoast to feed the children. Don't even get me started on that band Jet. They might rival some of the horrible 80's hair metal bands as being the most thoughtless, heartless, passionless bands of all time.
5) Has anyone heard this band Seether? I'm not even remotely shocked that major label folk are still blind, deaf and dumb (and always will be), but this is pathetic. It's not humanly possible to sound anymore like Nirvana if you tried. I think it's time for someone to shoot the messenger.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've heard a couple Fruit Bats songs and they're pretty great. But I know nothing else about this band.

That's pretty rare these days. Usually I hear all this hype about a band and never hear the music.

Mark Schwaber said...

Hello,
Sadly, the new Fruit Bats is a big letdown for me. The first 2 or 3 songs made me think it would be one of my favorite records of the year. The rest of the record, however, gets really shmaltzy and a little indie-pop contrived. I loved their last record though. Well, that's not even really true. I thought their last record was pretty good. This one isn't. Love is a pretty strong word.

Anonymous said...

Right on! re: Stripes/Aerosmith.

It's too bad about Son Volt. I completely love Trace, and was disappointed in everything after that. But I was lucky enough to see them cover Cheap Trick's "Downed" at a show once.

nomis said...

I agree with most of your comments (funny as heck too... especially the White Stripes comments - with the Aerosmith comment).

I actually do like what I've heard of Franz Ferdinand, but maybe because it goes well with other stuff on the Jukebox