All Songs Considered

Let's start with a computer related update. The motherboard of my computer decided, on Saturady, to die. That means my computer is currently deceased, or in a coma perhaps. Either way, repairs are underway and, perhaps by the weekend, I'll have it back again. Until then, besides Wednesday, don't expect too many updates.

I think I read this on Pitchfork. Colin Meloy did his whole solo tour thing, which is really just him doing Decemberists songs, but with an acoustic guitar. This NPR show, All Songs Considered, recorded the last show of this tour and posted it on their website. I only heard the first 3 songs and it was neat. The songs are better, in my opinion, with the whole band. Either way, a Decemberists fan or two might enjoy it. It is available for stream and download.

Side note, anybody have mp3s of the "Colin Meloy Sings Morissey" EP? I'd like to hear it.

Colin Meloy Solo

Final Fantasy

Another Final Fantasy needs to come out and replace my friends for a month. I haven't feel like a geek in over a year. That's totally going to be next fall though, which is forever.

Take the questionnaire.

Happy Birthday Mozart!

Lots of people around the world are showing their controlled excitement for the 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He's been dead so I can't say much. You certainly did well with 35 years. Kind of makes me feel like practicing, but I'm not a genius like him and didn't write my first symphony at 12.

Take the questionnaire.

Part Fem

Fem is Norwegian for 5, which means I bring you yet another survey. This is number 3 and yet part 5. Comment to answer the survey. If you don't know how to comment read the
Comment Post.

1. It is important to always use your turn signal?

2. A gentlemen never tells; is it a good policy?

3. The best smelling flower is?

4. What's the most common misconception the opposite sex has about your sex?

5. Astrology, what's your take on it?

6. The best season is?

7. How important is quiet to you?

8. Assisted suicide?

9. How do you feel about the growing popularity of digital music purchasing?

10. How much do you cater yourself to other people?

11. If you could live the life of any fictional character, whose would you pick and why?

12. Can something ever be too funky?

13. Your OJ, pulp or no pulp?

14. What's unstoppable? Name one thing.

15. Are traditional male roles for courtship still relevant/important today?

Ok, that's done. It took a while. I would like to thank some contributors, Shannon for question 11 and Mick for question 13, couldn't have done it without you.

Not trying to discourage answers, but I prefer them brief. Explanations of your answer should be kept brief, if you think they are necessary. It's just more interesting that way.

Campaign to seize US judge's home

You might have heard of a Supreme Court case in which residents of a small town in Connecticut were fighting to stop the city from demolishing their houses for "public benefit". The city wanted the space for commercial use and not for public use, so basically it was whack and unconstitutional. Unfortunately the Supreme Court voted against the residents and comeuppance was soon in the works.

Residents of the town in which one of the Justices lives in are working to seize his house.

"They want a compulsory purchase order on the 200-year-old farmhouse, and say they will build a hotel in its place."

"Mr Clements needed only 25 signatures calling for Mr Souter's house to be compulsorily purchased, to put the issue to a ballot of the 8,500 residents of Weare.

He says he already has 188 names."

It may not be the kindest thing, but the irony would be absolutely amazing. Can't say I'm completely for it either, but this man can get a new house, I don't know if those Connecticut residents can.

2046

I suppose the immediate reaction to watching the film has been a bit diluted, it was a whole 4 days ago, but I did really enjoy the film. It got some lukewarm reviews, but I thought it was excellent. There's plenty of little bits for film buffs to notice stylistically but the film makes most of its impact through the story. There was something very human about the whole thing, I really sympathized with the characters. I suppose I can't describe it very well, but I thought it was very beautiful.

One note about the film, people say it's a "loose" sequel to In The Mood for Love, but I would suggest watching that film along with 2046. There's plenty of thematic and stylistic parallels and also it might help people understand the story.

Bill Clinton = My Boy

Bill Clinton recently helped cut a deal with Indian and South African drug firms to lower the cost of AIDS drugs, specifically first-line drugs and testing kits. Second-line drugs will still be quite expensive, but it's a step. The article I read did point out that Bill Clinton didn't do much about the AIDS problem while in office, but he's making up for it now. Quotes and such.

"Two drugs used as an early—or “first-line”—treatment for infected people will become significantly cheaper. One (efavirenz) has cost $367 a year per patient, and will now drop to $240; another (abacavir) will fall from $705 to $447 a year. (Some other first-line treatments are already even cheaper at well under $200, though they are of limited use.)"

"Another four companies have agreed with Mr Clinton’s foundation to produce kits for a maximum of 65 cents each, roughly half of the current price."

I might write more about it later.

Source = The Economist. Sorry, the article can only be read by subscribers.

Woman's scent can lure or repel

It seems these days scientists just have to do experiments about gender differences or attractiveness and such. Lots of these experiments are very interesting and may even solve some day to day mysteries.

"According to a report in the journal Ethology, when a woman is at the most fertile part of the menstrual cycle her armpit odour is at its mildest.

But when she is having a period, and not ready for pregnancy, the smell changes to an acute, repellent odour. "

There's those times when someone is amazingly attractive one week and then the next week not so much. That may solve that mystery, at least for people who like women. The only male + sweat experiments say that "dominant" men smell more attractive, but whatever those "dominant" men probably are smelling all gross with Ax, it's too strong people and smells like you poured a gallon of cologne on yourself.

[BBC]

I dedicate D Chord

"I dedicate D Chord" is the first full length album from Japanese indie group toddle. The album is a mix of noise rock and power pop. For the most part the mix works, the massive walls of noise are interspersed with pop hooks and melodies or vice versa. Sometimes things are bit too sugary, but the record, for the most part, holds up very well.



I decided to post the whole album on my radio.blog.
I recommend the tracks:
"I dedicate D Chord"
"hesitate to see"
"oyster"

toddle

Mozart's Music Diary

Recently, a diary kept by Mozart has been discovered. Begun by him at the age of 28, the diary catalogs many of musical pieces. It features the beginnings of many pieces and notes about each one. The cool part is that the British Library lets you view every page of the diary and also has narration for every page and every piece. There are also audio samples of every excerpt. If you like Mozart it's worth checking out, if not, well then you're just a big square. Kidding of course.

Mozart's Diary

Happy Song

Recently, I believe, early demos of what was to become Radiohead have surfaced. Back in the late 80's the group was called On A Friday and they were anything but Radiohead, the music was incredibly upbeat and pop. It's not too shabby, sometimes a bit of 80's campiness gets in the mix, but it's still pretty solid pop music. Reminds me a bit of Elvis Costello. The early demo track "To Be A Brilliant Light" is much closer to Radiohead, but still not quite, the James Brown-esque vocals bits are a dash out of place. Either way, all available for download at the following link.

On A Friday

La Strada

Just finished watching my first Fellini film. "La Strada" was one of his earlier films, 1954. I did really enjoy it. The real essence of the film is the relations between the characters. It really focuses on what they do to each other, how people play off of one another, how someone can make a person realize things they never have.

The version that I rented had an intro by Martin Scorsese, which might have given away some plot points, but helped me understand the whole film. I would recommend watching that intro if you gets your hands on that version. Not to mention Scorsese also says how this film helped influence some of his movies. The man male character, Zampano, influenced the characters of Travis Bickle and Jake La Motta. Always neat to see those parallels. Either way, I recommend it.

Darwinian Poetry

A program was invented to randomly create poems. People are given two poems and must choose which one is the best. The "good" poems are then used a basis to create more poems. The success ultimately depends on whether or not the people judging the poems have good taste, but I do think it's interesting. I would like this to actually lead to interesting poetry. I like the idea that it can't be thought of in traditional ways. You can't possibly go into the symbolism or motives or historical relevance, because they don't exist. That's neat to me.

If you feel like participating, follow the link.

[Darwinian Poetry]

Whoa, This Could Get Awkward

It has been joked about, or used as a way to critisize American culture, many times, but it has finally happened. A movie about events that occurred on September 11th, 2001 has been made. It focuses on the one flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. "Flight 93" is supposed to be a real time account of what happened on that flight. I guarantee, even if the film does a beautiful job of telling the story, that this will be one controversial beast. Either way, here's the trailer.

[Flight 93]

Windows Vista

As you may know the Consumer Electronics Show(CES) is under way in Las Vegas right now. This show is all about premiering new gadgets and technology, for current or future release. Seeing as Windows XP is getting somewhat old these days, especially compared to competitors like Mac OS X, it's about time Microsoft released a new operating system. The new offer is called Windows Vista. As I expected it's trying it's best to catch up with Apple.

Oddly enough it has small specific use programs that can be easily accessed. Hmm, sounds like Widgets. It has massively improved search functions, something which OS X has with Spotlight. You get live previews of content in the taskbar, well I just have no clue what other operating system has that. All the sudden it seems Microsoft wants to simplify things and cut through the clutter, well you can guess which other company has a similar philosophy. Here's a huge shocker for everyone, it now has tabbed browsing, something which Mozilla has offered for years.

Vista does look better, no OS X though, and really adds lots of cool factor. Media is easier to get at, and it's easier to access and switch between programs. It remains to be seem if Windows can be as efficient as OS X, but honestly it shouldn't have taken this long. Another issue is, Apple will soon preview Leopard, their new Operating System, which will probably continue to do things better than Windows ever has.

Another thing, Steve Jobs has a more pleasing voice than Bill Gates.

Here's a video previewing the new OS. I apologize for the geekiness, it's interesting to me. Not to mention, eventually lots of people will have to use Windows Vista anyway.

[Vista]

Jape

Those Queen's English speaking cats over at The Economist have written an article all about the history/art of the prank, which they chose to call a jape. Here are some outstanding examples.

A classic of the genre is a 1957 BBC "documentary" on Swiss spaghetti farmers. Many British viewers asked where they could buy pasta trees.

To prove the point that Germans who break even minor rules struggle with their guilt, a few years back a newspaper in Tübingen announced a new experiment by the traffic authorities. Local drivers who had knowingly exceeded the speed limit in recent days were to turn themselves in, pay a fine and take lessons in safe driving. More than 60 sinners obliged.

In 1996, Taco Bell Corporation of America announced it had bought the Liberty Bell from the federal government and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Cue outrage across the country.

I love that people fell for that spaghetti farming prank.

There are even sponsoring a Prank contest. You can e-mail The Economist pranks, and they will publish the top 3.

[The Economist]

It Was Cuba?!

A new documentary, after 3 years of research, has reached the conclusion that Cuba hired Lee Harvey Oswald. Here's the little bit I find interesting and practical.

Veteran US official Alexander Haig told the filmmaker that Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B Johnson, believed Cuba was to blame and feared a pronounced swing to the right if the truth were known that would keep the Democrats out of power for a long time.

Mr Haig - a US military adviser at the time and later a secretary of state - told the filmmakers Johnson said: "We must simply not allow the American people to believe Fidel Castro could have killed our president."

While this isn't necessarily a new theory, I guess it offers the most compelling case for a Cuba backed assassination. It's a German documentary called "Rendezvous With Death" by Wilfried Huismann. To my knowledge only happening on German TV right now, but it will probably be on DVD in no time.

[BBC]

Drought

My blog has taken on the characteristics of a Sub-Saharan African country, except maybe the corruption and poverty. I just can't find anything interesting to write about I think it's about time I write another questionnaire though, they let people participate. Whoa, whoa someone posted a whole Plastic Tree concert on youtube, onto watching that. I will say, Youtube.com is one of the coolest websites out there.

M83 Review

M83, at the time of this record, was an electronic duo. Based in France, the group mixes elements of ambient electronica and post-rock. Think of My Bloody Valentine but more electronic and with less vocals. I'll continue track by track.

1. Birds
I usually hate intro tracks, but this is a pretty good intro. Bird chirps get taken over by a keyboard swell and a robotic voice. It's works to introduce the record and doesn't just end up being useless, like most intro tracks.
2. Unrecorded
One of the more obviously electronic tracks. Nestled in a blanket of huge sonic atmosphere are these undulating keyboard lines, that have a somewhat cheesy tone to them. I have no issues with the keyboard tone, but it may turn off those who don't really care for electronic music. Overall, I like this track. I feel it still acts as an intro, easing you into the next song.
3. Run Into Flowers

Perhaps the best song on the entire record and also the most obvious example of a My Bloody Valentine influence. Every time I hear this song I'm impressed. My mood has to adjust to this song, the keyboards swells and melodies swell and fly around each other to somehow mesh and yet keep everything moving. Things slow down in the 1/2 way mark, which is where the vocals come in. The soft, repeated vocal line, holds everything together while the music gets more lush and freeform. Fantastic song.
4. In Church
As expected, "In Church" is driven by organs. Massive organ tones take up almost the entire soundscape, but little twinkles and vocal lines sneak in. A synth line then sneaks in to make things even more grand. The track is a great atmospheric piece, but doesn't really go anywhere. 3/5 type of track.
5. America
A quiet pulse and various voices, child and adult, take up the beginning. Then after a short drum fill the song grows extremely tense. A woman speaks frantically, over increasingly harsh music. The song settles down quickly, but then rushes back up to create that frantic, hurried mood over again. This time a guitar throws even more erratic noise over the entire mix, then soon enough it's over. Solid track, and a welcome break some the slow, contemplative pieces of the album.
6. On A White Lake, Near A Green Mountain
In contrast to the title, the song isn't all that relaxing. It doesn't really set any mood. Some songs are good just for background music, but this track is just too average. If not for review purposes, I would skip it.
7. Noise
A washed guitar line fills up sonic space, while a piano note drops in every 4 beats. This pattern continues with variations in other parts. The drums may drop out, or another guitar may be added, but the basic parts stay the same. A bit repetitive, but still an enjoyable song. It does eventually just become lots of guitar and synth noise.
8. Be Wild
Starts with a rather cold synth line. Soon enough, little sounds get sprinkled in, that make things softer and gentler. Eventually the initial synth line gets swallowed up by walls of lush synth swells and twinkling, bell-like tones. The song starts somewhere and ends in a completely different place. Enjoyable listen.
9. Cyborg
Almost staccato blurbs get mixed with a flowly guitar line. The whole thing is rather mid-tempo, but eventually a noisy melody bursts in creating quite a bit of atmosphere over the casual synth blurbs and guitar line. Another highlight of the album.
10. 0078h
Perhaps the most electronic of all the album tracks. It doesn't really scream electronic post-rock. A cut-up vocal line sweeps left to right with a quick, danceable beat. Even though it repeats a decent amount; a catchy track. A winner.
11. Gone
This track is just too slow. A cello note is sustained for quite some time, too much time perhaps. Things just seem too cold. 3 minutes of changes are stretched out to 6, and the results are a dash boring. Maybe worth a listen.
12. Beauties Can Die
Bells twinkle with subtle keyboard sweeps. It starts very gentle and relaxing, the this massive tone soars over the bells and sweeps and carries the track. Massive vocals adds even more push and grandeur. You could complain about the 14 minutes length, but it is the final track, so it's not as though flow is ruined. Things are generally done by the 3:30 mark. A nice track; a palette cleanser of sorts.

The 2nd Disc:
Consists of 6 Bonus tracks and two videos. The only standout is the Cyann & Ben version of "In Church". The organs are played down and a nice, acoustic guitar melody is added in. This version is much more inclusive. Better than the original. The two music videos for "America" and "Run Into Flowers" aren't bad, the "America" video is interesting, but nothing spectacular. A nice bonus for a minimal price increase.

I was in the mood for something contemplative, that I could just get lost in.Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts is one of those records. The moods set throughout, while sometimes overly grand, are heartfelt. A winner.