The Nightlife Ain’t a Good Life

Strange Boys - Be Brave

The following is a piece of road-journal that I chopped a bit and tried to turn into an album write-up. Pardon its fragmentation.

It’s 1pm on Christmas Eve. I’m supine in the back of a spacious-enough Toyota Matrix barreling down the I-10 somewhere in Texas, swaddled in the scant sleeping equipment of three road-weary existential warriors. We’re about 8 hours into a 30ish-hour drive home from New Orleans. Two of us are driving in shifts, as the third chose to go her own way. We left her in the French Quarter with the end of a Jim Beam bottle and a “so long”.

Aside from a 30-minute detour back to Austin to catch one last breath in the city that made itself the highlight of our trip not a week earlier, we had no time to kill the cruise control (save for filling up and making water, of course, of course).

Anyway, I’m set comfortably enough to both enjoy the desert flowers and to nod off when the mood strikes (sleep becomes valuable in these situations). My last-legs iPod is hanging on with enough battery life to get us through one more album, and right now it’s The Strange Boys’ “Be Brave”.

With Austin on the mind and in the heart, we survivors of the Big Easy find it fitting to reach El Paso with the strained croons of Ryan Sambol and the bluesy jams of what now seems a fitting Texas death march. The band is from Austin—if I didn’t know this before the trip, the multiple incidental encounters with them in diners and bars across downtown Austin removed the doubt.

The album’s a bit different from “The Strange Boys and Girls Club” (pick that up if you haven’t yet) in that it’s slightly more placid. It’s got a sense of heart that carries the flow of things without pulling them away from you. It’s not quick enough to remind you that you’ll soon be back in California with the same problems you left there. The apartment’s still a mess, as it were. It’s sweet in that it allows you to decompress and to cope with the idea that Austin’s done for a while and that you probably won’t make SXSW—at least not this year.

“I’m sorry that I played your piano, but I just had to get somethin’ off of my soul”

It’s a slick album we’re hearing. You might call it “cool”, I guess. But the progression it makes from the playful title track at the beginning to the honesty of “The Unsent Letter” gives it a sense of genuineness that no amount of Pitchfork praise can break.

We hated New Orleans enough to cut the trip short to maybe make it home for Christmas. This drive back is reminding us of the things we didn’t get to do, and it’s showing us how small a distance we really ended up going. I think the most obvious thing to me now is that no matter how vast and countless the mile markers and rest stops and cactus flowers and shrub bugs seem, we’re still just around the corner from the things we tried to shake.

Drive in one direction for a few days, but you’ll still find yourself home on Christmas morning.

-Drew

Counting Down The Minutes - Thom's Top 5

2010 has been considered a shitty year by almost everyone I've come in contact with. As far as music is considered, it also wasn't too spectacular in my eyes. It wasn't bad, per se, just not the flurry of options and groundbreaking albums that 2009 was. There were a lot of really assured albums, some great EPs, and some very listenable stuff that just didn't resonate with being on a Top of the Year list. These 5 albums though, were listenable over and over again for me. A lot of Top Lists so far have been so nauseatingly packed with Best Coast, Gemini, Ariel Pink, Robyn and Arcade Fire (they're indie darlings, I get it, but I don't get it) that I couldn't bear to put these unneededly hyped albums onto my list. For the sake of brevity, here are my Top 5 of the year, which I hope you'll give a listen, if you haven't already.



Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here
The legend himself, poet, revolutionary, and, as he's not nearly recognized enough, wonderful musician. I'm New Here is a short album - a few songs, spoken words, and a history lesson, but it's a wonderful listen that's everything I thought it would be.



No Age - Everything In Between
I love No Age, have since I first had my eardrums vibrated by them back when I saw them close out FYF in 2008. I was hooked on Nouns, but I was blown away by this year's record. Their track Shred and Transcend is more than just an awesome title, it's a mantra for the whole album. As self-pious and eye-roll-worthy as a two-piece formed by LA vegans sounds, their sound is so in the moment it's global; and damn enjoyable.



Harlem - Hippies
I almost forgot this was released in 2010, because I've been listening to it so steadily it felt like I've had it forever. It's just what Harlem has always been - punky, completely unserious, fun, catchy and more replayable than Mario Kart.



Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
This is a close contender for first place, with it's melding of the Civil War as a metaphor for small-town boredom and bad breakups. I'm afraid if I keep reviewing I'll spill my guts out for too long, so I'll just say this - listen to it, and rally around the flag, fellow fighters.



Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
For all his bravado, asshole antics, and auto-tuning to the millionth power, Kanye has never failed be an innovator. This album is not hip-hop in the strictest sense, it's an experiment in genre-bending ear sex. This album is touted as one of the best of the year for good reason - it's fantastic. It's not the perfect 10 Pitchfork jizzed all over, but it's his best album to date. West's boasting and self-patting on the back has come to splendid fruition - basically, the Ego has landed.

Honorable Mentions: The Strange Boys - Be Brave, Warpaint - The Fool, Moonhearts - Moonhearts, The Growlers - Hot Tropics, Small Black - New Chain, Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Happy New Year Everyone,
Thom

Do you think, is it normal, to go through life oh so formal?

Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
The glam-garage teenagers that are Smith Westerns have grown up a lot in the last year, and this album is proof. I'm sure the Chicaho-bred miscreants are still pissing is garbage cans behind venues and fingering young fans on the reg, but their music has improved an obscene amount between last year's eponymous debut and this very assured sophmore release.

The fuzzy, sometimes just flat-out bad production values of yesteryear are gone, and this new record is crisp, clean and completely intelligible. The guitar lines are locked-in and catchy, the vocals are pleasant a heartfelt (who knew Cullen Omori could actually sing?) and the songs are so damn catchy you feel like you won't want to listen to anything else for the next month.

For once I'll keep this review short and say just download this, it's a great collection of sweet, teenage tunes to end the year on.

Merry Christmas, folks.

Gentlemen, On Your Marks...

Gentleman Jesse & His Men - s/t
After a fortnight of a recovery period due to nearly fatal science-overload, the blog is back in full health, with two new posts today! Let's get on with it, shall we?

Listening to this album, it's no shock that these gents started to spread their tunes while opening for Black Lips. It's not the abrasive, smoking in the school bathroom brand of punk Black Lips have explored so well, but it's just the same in that it takes you to a simpler time. I'm going to put this out there right away - there is nothing original or innovative about this album in any way. These guitars, these "won't you be mine"-esque lyrics, the 70s pop production - the whole sound has been done. But here's the catch, it hasn't been this well done in at least 3 decades.

Sure, there's nothing new to behold, but this album has something going for it that almost none do - every song is completely listenable, dare I say, enjoyable. There's never a reason to change the track, because fuck me, you're having too much fun listening to it. It's refreshing this day and age, which is to say, the age of electronic weirdo fuzz and minimalistic masquerade boringness, to hear a band that's having fun, and they are, it shows in every chord on the record. Let me state that I am in not disparaging experimental bands, I'm just a simpler type of guy who enjoys an album that's completely up-front and unpretentious from time to time. I record that makes you wanna drive with the top down, or if you don't have a convertible because you're logical, imagine that you could put the top down.

I know I post a lot of garagey rock and pop, but there is a purpose to this to all this throwback feel-goodery - I want you, dear readers to please, in these harsh times, have some fun - and use this album as the background music.

-Thom

If This is How You Folks Make Art, It’s Fucking Depressing

Andrew Jackson Jihad - People That Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World

We’re certainly not kids that shy away from controversial posts (see the most intense explanation of Vitamin A I’ve ever read), but I struggle to recollect a band that falls more into that “love it or hate it” niche than AJJ. I’ve heard everything from “I can’t stop listening to these catchy fucking songs” to “Those are some of the most hideous vocals I’ve ever heard” and “Not this shit again” about them, and in a way I think all of it applies.

It’s everything you’d expect from acousti-folk played through the fingers and throats of bearded (and fancifully mustached) vegans, minus the self-seriousness. The band largely consists of Sean Bonnette on the guitar and Ben Gallaty playing a feint stand-up bass. They fuck around a lot with other artists that add a lick or two when they record and perform, but it’s really sort of a revolving door. They’re originally from Phoenix or something, but I can’t piss in a circle around here without hitting two people that at least claim to be buddies with them.

Anyway, it’s a bunch of short whines strummed on the guitar like too long a silence means the bus will explode. The songs are funny, pained, and heart-felt. They’re about all of the things you swear you hate in music (politics, social ills, smoking cigarettes) but guiltily relish in.

On a quick tangent here: I thought it fitting to go over some of the clever little bits of verse from the album I found amusing, but I’m too lazy and there’s really too many to name.

Bonnette’s vocals are abrasive and hard to get used to, but they grow on you like a back zit (pardon the image there, but I was trying to be abrasive myself, and the analogy really sort of fits). Listen to the 25 minutes and change of this album and whether you care for it or not, the hooks will follow you around. If you’re not functionally handicapped and can whistle, you’ll soon be annoying your friends like I do.

So it’s really an amalgamation of a bunch of uncomfortable elements that come together in a package that I’m having a hard time making appeal on paper. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, I guess you’ll feel better about yourself… Just listen to the fucking thing. Go see them, too—all of those Asian Man Records guys are pretty cool, and these folk are doin’ it right.

-Drew

QUICK SCIENCE UNO: VITAMIN A

caution: the following write up is amateur, unscientific, and downright immature. but the facts are there, and i had a lot of fun doing it.

THIS IS GOING TO BE INFORMATIVE, QUICK, DRY, AND TO THE POINT. YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SCORE THE FINEST BABE AT THE PARTY WITH ALL THIS SCIENCE-GAME YOU'LL SPIT; AND YOU GIRLS CAN MAKE GUYS FEEL DUMB WHEN THEY'RE SPITTING GAME ON YOU!



WHY DID MOM ALWAYS SAY YOU'LL BECOME A 4-EYED FREAK IF YOU DON'T EAT UR CARROTS?

STORY TIME: WWII PILOTS USED TO HAVE PROBLEMS SEEING AT NIGHT, AND IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT GIVING THEM CARROTS REALLY HELPED THEIR LIGHT SENSITIVITY. THIS LED AMERICA TO BE THE MOST BADASS CUNTRY IN THE WORLD BY KICKING NAZI AND KAMIKAZI ASS.

CARROTS, AND OTHER YELLOW/ORANGE/RED PIGMENTED FRUITS/VEGGIES CONTAIN CHEMICALS CALLED ALPHA/BETA-CAROTENES. THESE ARE JUST SOME FORMS OF WHAT WE CALLED "VITAMIN A". IN ANIMALS, THE "ACTIVE" VITAMIN A COMPOUND IS CALLED RETINOL. THEREFORE WE MUST TURN THESE CAROTENES INTO RETINOL, BECAUSE WE CAN'T USE THEM OTHERWISE.

VITAMIN A IS A FAT SOLUBLE COMPOUND. OUR BODIES CAN'T TAKE UP FAT SOLUBLE COMPOUNDS (WHEN THEY'RE IN SUCH TINY AMOUNTS), WITHOUT BIG GOBLETS OF FAT FLOATING AROUND IN THE GUT. THE SMALL VITAMINS WILL FREELOAD A RIDE INTO OUR BODIES WITH THE BIG FAT GLOBLETS, OTHERWISE THEY WILL SIMPLY FOLLOW THE ONE WAY ROUTE TO THE BATHROOM. SO EATING A BUNCH OF CARROTS ALONE WON'T GIVE YOU ALL THAT MUCH VIT A, YOU NEED TO HAVE HAD SOME REASONABLE AMOUNT OF FAT SOME TIME BEFORE OR AFTER.

SO, WE ATE OUR CARROTS, ALONG WITH A SPOONFUL OF BUTTER (OR RANCH IF UR NOT INSANE). REMEMBER, CARROTS DON'T HAVE THE RETINOL WE NEED, IT'S IN THE FORM OF CAROTENES. THESE CAROTENES HITCH A RIDE WITH THE GIANT PIECES OF FAT IN THE RANCH WE ATE. THEY HITCH A RIDE TOGETHER THROUGH THE INTESTINAL WALL, TO THE BLOOD STREAM, AND TO THE LIVER.

THE LIVER IS WHERE WE STORE AND PROCESS OUR VITAMIN A. HERE, THE CAROTENES ARE TURNED INTO RETINOL. SO WE FINALLY HAVE THIS RETINOL, BUT WHY IS IT A BIG DEAL FOR OUR EYES? GLAD U-ASK!

RETINOL GOES THRU BLOOD TO YOUR RETINA (IN UR EYE). I'M GONNA SPIT SOME MAD SCI ON U NOW THAT UR BRAIN PROBABLY WON'T UNDERSTAND, BUT I TRY EXPLAIN...

ONCE IN THE EYE, RETINOL IS TURNED INTO SOMETHING CALLED RETINALDEHYDE (ITS A SIMPLE CHEM REACTION, DON'T LET WORDS THROW U OFF). STAY WITH ME... THIS RETINALDEHYDE IS INITIALLY IN A CONDITION CALLED CIS-RETINALDEHYDE. MOLECULES CAN TWIST AND CURVE AROUND CERTAIN PARTS, THIS "CIS" STATE IS SIMPLY AN ORIENTATION OF RETINALDEHYDE. IT CAN SWITCH BETWEEN "CIS" AND "TRANS". THEY ARE THE SAME MOLECULE, BUT IN DIFFERENT ORIENTATIONS. ANALOGY: YOU PUT UR ARMS STRAIGHT OUT WHILE STANDING UP, U R IN CIS. YOU PUT UR ARMS STRAIGHT DOWN WHILE STANDING UP, U R IN TRANS.. SO, NOW WE HAVE CIS-RETINALDEHYDE IN THE EYE. THIS COMBINES WITH A PROTEIN CALLED OPSIN, TO MAKE A COMPLEX CALLED RHODOPSIN (RETINALDEHYDE+OPSIN). RHODOPSIN IS PRETTY MUCH RESPONSIBLE FOR CATCHING THE LIGHT THAT HITS UR EYEBALL AND RESPONDING APPROPRIATELY. IT IS WHAT RESULTS IN DIFFERENT COLORS AND DIFFERENT COLOR INTENSITIES.

LIGHT PHOTONS HIT RHODOPSIN, AND HOW DOES RHODOPSIN RESPOND? IT CHANGES THE CIS-RETINALDEHYDE TO TRANS-RETINALDEHYDE (PUTS UR ARM DOWN). THIS FREES IT FROM THAT OPSIN GUY THAT WAS HOLDING ON TO IT. NOW TRANS-RETINALDEHYDE GOES THROUGH BADASS CHEMICAL REACTIONS TO CLOSE SODIUM CHANNELS, ULTIMATELY RESULTING IN THE VISION YOU EXPERIENCE.

RAD! IF YOU DON'T EAT ENUFF OF VIT A, U'LL HAVE FREE AND LONELY OPSINS LYING AROUND, AND UR VISION WILL BE SUFFERING.

SO WHAT'S UP DOC?
NM, I'M EATING CARROTS.

-PROFESSOR LYHD