Short of a mail order Russian bride the coolest thing you can get in the mail is a set of tires. Watching the FedEx guy come to the door with a tire under each arm is fucking great. i run around like a little kid on Christmas "My tires are here, my tires are here!"
This is the second time now i've ordered tires online and i can't recommend it enough. Affordable and fun as hell. Coolest thing i've gotten in the mail since the Betty Page magnet set.
Apr 5, 2007
Apr 2, 2007
What's That Yellow Sphere In The Sky?
As we approach that period of the year where it seems to rain more often than not, and i start to listen to too much English music like Radiohead, The Verve, and The Cure (my how the English love to put 'the' in their band names) i realized something. i don't consider rainy days to be 'inclement weather'. Maybe it's because we spend so much time indoors now that it doesn't largely impact us, or maybe because compared to winter's snowstorms rain is just a minor inconvenience. After all, when was the last time rain caused you to not be able to get somewhere?
Sure sporting events may be canceled but unless you're a witch getting a little wet shouldn't kill you. The rain is not the tough part, it's the day after day of no sunlight that gets to you. All those gray days start to help you realize how all that English music ends up the way it does.
The real kicker is not being able to ride the Vespa. Rain drops at 50+ mph are not the most comfortable thing in the world. It's like little needles without the benefit of a styling tattoo at the end.
Sure sporting events may be canceled but unless you're a witch getting a little wet shouldn't kill you. The rain is not the tough part, it's the day after day of no sunlight that gets to you. All those gray days start to help you realize how all that English music ends up the way it does.
The real kicker is not being able to ride the Vespa. Rain drops at 50+ mph are not the most comfortable thing in the world. It's like little needles without the benefit of a styling tattoo at the end.
Apr 1, 2007
Influential
The other day a student hanging out in my room after school, waiting for practice, was looking for new music to listen to. We listen to some of the same bands so he asked for 5 albums i recommended. i've done a top 10 album list here before and it changes slightly from day tp day but this made me think of something new. As i thought about what to recommend for this student i started to think about influential albums. Where did the stuff we both now listen to come from?
As the 'elder statesman' here i felt the need to bring up and expose to current generations some of the influences on current indie, punk, emo, screamo, or whatever you want to call current music which is an alternate to pop. So here you go, a quick, off the top of my head list of influences on the bands i am currently listening to.
Top 10 Albums Influencing today's music (no particular order, just as they came to mind):
1. Jimi Hendrix: "Axis Bold As Love" - If you listen to any guitar based music today it has been influenced by Hendrix. Fuck the Beatles. Fuck the Rolling Stones. They did't influence what i listen to. Hendrix, however, changed everything.
2. The Ramones: pick any album, i still recommend a greatest hits, but any one really. - If it's got punk influence of any sort it all comes back to The Ramones. That energy. That attitude. That simplistic music, yet so accessible a melody and lyric. When i die i want Joey Ramone singing "What a Wonderful World" played at my funeral. The Ramones are one of only a hand full of artists, like Louis Armstrong, that anyone can enjoy. Go ahead, try it. Find someone who can't enjoy "Blitzkrieg Bop". i double dog dare you.
3. Sunny Day Real Estate: "Diary" - This is it. This album is to Emo (or whatever you choose to tag it with) what The Ramones are to punk. There may have been seeds planted before, but this is where it really took root. Put this on shuffle amongst any of today's new punk/emo/screamo and you couldn't tell it pre-dates them by at least 10 years. Absolutely amazing! To think this was made while grunge ruled the land. An alternative to the alternative. These guys deserve so much respect. So good a band, Dave Grohl adopted most of them into his post-Nirvana band 'Foo Fighters'. Yes indeed kids.
4. The Pixies: "Surfer Rosa" - Nirvana prayed at the alter of the Pixies. The whole loud/soft dynamic of today's song structure was first perfected here. i could go on but i'll just say, good stuff here.
5. Quicksand: "Slip" - Very simply, THIS IS POST-HARDCORE. Much like SDRE these guys are mentioned all the time by today's artists as an influence. Much like 50's bebop jazz, Quicksand took punk influenced music to a new level which we still haven't been able to surpass today, and maybe never will. Also much like 50's jazz, this new sound was rhythmically based and drew it's power from those rhythms. The lyrical style created here was something never heard before. Not so much a yell as a voice demanding to be heard with an almost dis-jointed word selection as if trimming the fat of sentence structure to get to the point that much quicker.
6. Pearl Jam: "Ten" - With so many bands just purely ripping off this album this band deserves a big spot on this list. Listen to it and you'll see. This reminds you that at it's best, music can save lives.
7. The Clash: "London Calling" - The album cover alone has had more of an influence than most bands' whole existence. Every punk influenced band that takes a political stance is influenced by The Clash as well as many of the bands on this list. The power, the swagger, as if their life depended upon it.
8. The Verve: "A Storm In Heaven" - Much like SDRE these guys never achieved the fame that so many that followed in their footsteps did. The heavily effected, airy guitar, weaving through the anchoring rhythm section is now frequently seen in the second guitar work on many of today's albums. The goal of transcending the audience onto a higher plane, to become one in the music.
9. Radiohead: "OK Computer" - Another band frequently ripped off. Listening to it now it just fits in with many other albums out now, but at the time it came out of nowhere and has obviously been incredibly influential. I chose OK Computer because Kid A and Amnesiac have yet to significantly change things but you wait, they will. They were just so far advanced that it will take a while to set in.
10. Minor Threat: "Complete Discography" - What Would Ian Do (WWID)? Not only musically influential but almost more importantly, this changed the style, the limits, and the message of anything to come after even attempting to be punk. Do It Yourself (DIY) at it's finest. No compromising of ideals in any way. Stand for your beliefs and never back down. No fluff, no big colorful mohawks, just east coast righteous hardcore idealism. If you want to do something, step up and do it. No excuses.
There you go. A quick list of albums i see as having been a significant influence on the current young batch of bands i'm digging.
As the 'elder statesman' here i felt the need to bring up and expose to current generations some of the influences on current indie, punk, emo, screamo, or whatever you want to call current music which is an alternate to pop. So here you go, a quick, off the top of my head list of influences on the bands i am currently listening to.
Top 10 Albums Influencing today's music (no particular order, just as they came to mind):
1. Jimi Hendrix: "Axis Bold As Love" - If you listen to any guitar based music today it has been influenced by Hendrix. Fuck the Beatles. Fuck the Rolling Stones. They did't influence what i listen to. Hendrix, however, changed everything.
2. The Ramones: pick any album, i still recommend a greatest hits, but any one really. - If it's got punk influence of any sort it all comes back to The Ramones. That energy. That attitude. That simplistic music, yet so accessible a melody and lyric. When i die i want Joey Ramone singing "What a Wonderful World" played at my funeral. The Ramones are one of only a hand full of artists, like Louis Armstrong, that anyone can enjoy. Go ahead, try it. Find someone who can't enjoy "Blitzkrieg Bop". i double dog dare you.
3. Sunny Day Real Estate: "Diary" - This is it. This album is to Emo (or whatever you choose to tag it with) what The Ramones are to punk. There may have been seeds planted before, but this is where it really took root. Put this on shuffle amongst any of today's new punk/emo/screamo and you couldn't tell it pre-dates them by at least 10 years. Absolutely amazing! To think this was made while grunge ruled the land. An alternative to the alternative. These guys deserve so much respect. So good a band, Dave Grohl adopted most of them into his post-Nirvana band 'Foo Fighters'. Yes indeed kids.
4. The Pixies: "Surfer Rosa" - Nirvana prayed at the alter of the Pixies. The whole loud/soft dynamic of today's song structure was first perfected here. i could go on but i'll just say, good stuff here.
5. Quicksand: "Slip" - Very simply, THIS IS POST-HARDCORE. Much like SDRE these guys are mentioned all the time by today's artists as an influence. Much like 50's bebop jazz, Quicksand took punk influenced music to a new level which we still haven't been able to surpass today, and maybe never will. Also much like 50's jazz, this new sound was rhythmically based and drew it's power from those rhythms. The lyrical style created here was something never heard before. Not so much a yell as a voice demanding to be heard with an almost dis-jointed word selection as if trimming the fat of sentence structure to get to the point that much quicker.
6. Pearl Jam: "Ten" - With so many bands just purely ripping off this album this band deserves a big spot on this list. Listen to it and you'll see. This reminds you that at it's best, music can save lives.
7. The Clash: "London Calling" - The album cover alone has had more of an influence than most bands' whole existence. Every punk influenced band that takes a political stance is influenced by The Clash as well as many of the bands on this list. The power, the swagger, as if their life depended upon it.
8. The Verve: "A Storm In Heaven" - Much like SDRE these guys never achieved the fame that so many that followed in their footsteps did. The heavily effected, airy guitar, weaving through the anchoring rhythm section is now frequently seen in the second guitar work on many of today's albums. The goal of transcending the audience onto a higher plane, to become one in the music.
9. Radiohead: "OK Computer" - Another band frequently ripped off. Listening to it now it just fits in with many other albums out now, but at the time it came out of nowhere and has obviously been incredibly influential. I chose OK Computer because Kid A and Amnesiac have yet to significantly change things but you wait, they will. They were just so far advanced that it will take a while to set in.
10. Minor Threat: "Complete Discography" - What Would Ian Do (WWID)? Not only musically influential but almost more importantly, this changed the style, the limits, and the message of anything to come after even attempting to be punk. Do It Yourself (DIY) at it's finest. No compromising of ideals in any way. Stand for your beliefs and never back down. No fluff, no big colorful mohawks, just east coast righteous hardcore idealism. If you want to do something, step up and do it. No excuses.
There you go. A quick list of albums i see as having been a significant influence on the current young batch of bands i'm digging.
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