Boy Chucker

Adventures in American Capitalism presents...Things I Bought Yesterday:

1 copy of the Daily News: 50 cents
1 packet of extra-strength Excedrin: 75 cents

Total expenditures for Monday, August 11, 2008: $1.25

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Call me a romantic, a traditionalist, even a fool if you'd like, but I prefer my Morrissey songs to be full of melody, grandiose and sweeping melody without shame or restraint. And as much as I enjoy the pulverizing bass of Morrissey's new single, All You Need is Me, his best work--both as a solo musician and with the Smiths--has always taken advantage of pop music's jingle-jangle sensibility and love for restlessness that only melody can provide.

To be fair, though, Morrissey's most recent records have corrected some of the missteps that the singer took in the 90's (Southpaw Grammar, anyone?), which means that there is much delight to be had in tracks like "First of the Gang to Die" and "Irish Blood, English Heart." (The latter also relies upon rock'n'roll bombast.)

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Don't you just hate it when things are just so painfully obvious? To wit:

To treat cyanide poisoning, use nitrites to oxidize hemoglobin methemoglobin, which binds cyanide, allowing cytochrome oxidase to function. Use thiosulfate to bind this cyanide, forming thiocyanate, which is renally excreted.

from First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2008

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Is it to much to ask for a decent, well-playing baseball team, or at least one that plays up to the expectations of its $200 million payroll?

[D | R]

Transmigration

A few weeks ago, while waiting in LM's car, I turned on the radio, something I hadn't done in years. While running through signals of stations playing poor, mid-90's metal, alternative rock, and other sounds that only seem to exist on the far-left end of the dial, I heard a song done in the vallenato style, a type of folk music native to Colombia. I was instantly riveted, as though my brain was receiving a line through the aural conduit of my ancestral homeland. I've since discovered that the song, called "Eres" (Spanish for "you are"), is performed by Alejandro Fernandez, a Mexican pop singer. That last bit may not appear all that interesting, but I find it fascinating that there can be, in this world of light-speed communication, so many cross-cultural exchanges, so many opportunities for creativity to reinterpreted and reshaped.

The accompanying video, which has an overnight security guard going on a rampage of joy in an otherwise empty shopping mall, is also fun.

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Perhaps it goes without saying, but human stupidity seems to know no bounds:

"Homosexuality...is the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism." - Sally Kern, Oklahoma State Representative, as quoted in Equality, the magazine of Human Rights Campaign.

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Good night, and good luck...

[D | R]

Swan Song

Bo Diddley (1928 - 2008)

Summery, Hot Und Sweaty

I've been playing around with my new D-SLR, a toy for boys and girls. Thank you, thank you to L., Monsieur Crosby, and cats Edgy and Obi.




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The schedule for this year's Central Park Summerstage has been announced, and boy is it a doozy. Aside from the likes of Sonny Rollins and Sharon Jones and her Dapkings taking to the stage to play freak-out jazz and nu-soul, there will also be a reading from Junot Diaz. What's great is that most of these concerts are free of charge.

Now, I don't know about y'all, but I know where I'm going to be on Saturday, August 16 from 3pm to 8pm. That's right--I'll be front row, center to see three of my favorite bands on a single bill: BLACK DICE, BATTLES, and GANG GANG DANCE. How sick is that? Also, did I mention that this is a free concert?

Man, you have to love New York for stuff like this.

[D|R]

Panix

I'm sending the new Portishead record, Third, through my ears right now, and can surely say that I've never felt so creeped out listening to music. This album, which bears very little of the signature trip-hop sound which made Portishead famous, sounds positively psychedelic, with fuzzed-out guitars, organ stomps, and Beth Gibbon's mood-dulling vocals push, push, pushing me into my myself.

If I were to describe what this album sounds like to a stranger (perhaps you are one), I would use the following phrases: panic room, negative space, and Christ, I'm suffocating in my own presence.

Seriously, I feel uncomfortable.

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The fine(r) folks over at McSweeney's are having a sale this week: today, all items in their store are 30% off; tomorrow, all items will be 20% off; and all items on Thursday will be 10% off.

I think I'll treat myself to a couple of books by Stephen Dixon which, as a bundle, are being sold for a grand total of $15. Go forth and help our struggling economy!

http://store.mcsweeneys.net/

[DR]

In Heavy Rotation (Deep Spinner)

1. Thom Yorke - The Eraser - [XL; 2006]
2. Daft Punk - Alive 2007 - [Virgin; 2007]
3. Against Me! - New Wave - [Sire; 2007]
4. The Black Keys - Attack & Release - [Nonesuch; 2008]

Refuse to listen at yr own peril.

Tragically yours,
[DR]

Pop Matters

The fine folks at Fence--following the model that Radiohead used last year for In Rainbows--have announced that they are accepting subscriptions to be paid at whatever price level that readers decide is appropriate. I might just have to drop a shiny gold $1 coin for this one...

http://www.fenceportal.org/support/

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My brother, Steve, did really well in his interview at Hunter College, and has been accepted into the MFA program at the school. Congratulations, Steve!

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I was listening last night to the 25th anniversary edition of Michael Jackson's landmark Thriller album (released in 1982 on Epic), and was taken by how fresh the songs sounded despite the massive changes in pop music since Quincy Jones set the tracks to tape. And did anyone remember the 3-4-5 listing of "Thriller," "Beat It," and "Billie Jean"? Seriously, you just can't fuck with that shit.

Sick, sick, sick.

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Anti-pop Consortium, once disbanded, has reformed. Hurrah! for underground, progressive, weird, and simply strange hip-hop. Their video for "Ghostlawns," taken from Arrhythmia, is the GMC Video of the Day.

[ d | r ]

Recognize the Poison of My Heart

I was going to write about The Kills' latest album, Midnight Boom, until I read that Portishead, a band which, along with the likes of Tricky and Massive Attack popularized a sub-genre of electronic music known as trip-hop, had released the video for "Machine Gun," their new single (released in advance of their forthcoming record, Third--their first full-length recording in ten years). The song, propelled by Geoff Barrow's flurry of sixteenth notes played on and distorted through a drum machine (lending the track something of an industrial feel), is slightly different than what one might expect to hear from this group, even though Beth Gibbon's strangely inviting voice is still quite present.

Third is out on April 29 via Mercury.

[dr]

Cold Spells

I would like to be congratulated for being the last person in the known universe to have acquired a high-speed internet connection, which is pure genius. I can now download all sorts of songs, recipes, and instructions for constructing ray-guns without having to wait for what feels like weeks.

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Cat Power's version of "New York, New York" (simply "New York") makes me tremble: If this is emotional tyranny, then I don't want freedom.

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cold-drill, the journal of the MFA program at Boise State University, has accepted "This Medicine May Cause Blurred Vision" for publication.

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After seeing Il Postino again (with Laura, this time), that terribly sweet film about love and exile, I remain convinced that poetry does have some sort of purpose, that it does, indeed, have a place in the lives of the [un]common, the now.

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Currently in rotation:

Sons & Daughters - "Chains"
Bruce Springsteen - "Radio Nowhere"
Paul Westerberg - "High Time"
Asian Dub Foundation - "Naxalite"

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The poet, whose name I cannot recall at the moment, says:

We love what we cannot know...

[d | r]

Hot Wax - May 2007

Pressure Drop - "Theme for the Outcaste"
Radio 4 - "Dance to the Underground"
Young Love - "Discotech"
Liars - "It Fit When I Was a Kid (Don't Techno For an Answer Remix)"
!!! - "Yadnus"
CSS - "Alala"
Battles - "Atlas"
Moa - "Joy & Pain"
DJ Shadow - "Red Bus Needs to Leave!"
Tricky - "Demise"
Jarvis Cocker - "Tonite"
Sean Lennon - "Wait for Me"
Johnny Cash - "Further Up On the Road"
[track deleted]
Bruce Springsteen - "O Mary Don't You Weep"