Mike Doughty put together an interesting list of music videos made on the cheap, not the half-million dollar budgets everyone had when music videos were masquerading as movies.
I have to quibble a bit with the Madonna video. Getting a crew to Venice isn't "cheap," even though the actual shoot was basic.
Showing posts with label Mike Doughty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Doughty. Show all posts
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, January 02, 2009
Best of 2008
Music
Here is everything I listened to that was released in 2008, ranked.
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious - Hands down. I listened to this more than all the below combined, probably.
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night - Great songs. Damned compression...
Rise Against - Appeal to Reason
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Guns 'n Roses - Chinese Democracy - I'm still shocked. This had disaster all over it. It's really good!
Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!!
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads
Weezer - The Red Album
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
REM - Accelerate
Beck - Modern Guilt
Metallica - Death Magnetic
Judas Priest - Nostradamus
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
AC/DC - Black Ice - Blech.
Rachel Yamagata - Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart - Blech.
Other stuff, not released in 2008 but new to me:
Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild (soundtrack). Mellow and meditative, good instrumentation and singing. I haven't seen the movie yet, but this sounds like it would be just about right.
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights. Wild, funky, soulful, amazing album. The Dap Kings are part of the period-music movement, playing vintage instruments and recording on vintage analog equipment. You may know them as the band on most of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black. Sharon Jones was a struggling backup singer, discovered by two members of the band. Awesome.
I completed my Queens of the Stone Age collection. I fucking love that band. Pure unadulterated id.
10 Years - The Autumn Effect. My buddy the IT guy at work was talking these guys up, and let me borrow this CD. They're a real good band, but just didn't grab me with any emotional connection. I listened to the album a few times, and they show up in a shuffle every now and then, but nothing made me say WOW!
Movies
I only saw two movies that were actually released in 2008. So, here are all the movies I saw, ranked:
Life is Beautiful - yes, I know I'm just a decade or so late to the party.
Walk on Water
Children of Men - wow.
Speed Racer
The Girl in the Cafe
Juno
Pi
Simpsons Movie
Harold and Kumar 2 (2008)
The Squid and the Whale
Ready-to-Wear
The Break-Up
The Incredible Hulk (2008, with Ed Norton) (Hey, I was trapped on an airplane. Just awful.)
That's all I can remember, with the help of the Netflix history. I'm sure there are a couple movies I can't remember that we DVRed and watched.
Here is everything I listened to that was released in 2008, ranked.
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious - Hands down. I listened to this more than all the below combined, probably.
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night - Great songs. Damned compression...
Rise Against - Appeal to Reason
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Guns 'n Roses - Chinese Democracy - I'm still shocked. This had disaster all over it. It's really good!
Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!!
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads
Weezer - The Red Album
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
REM - Accelerate
Beck - Modern Guilt
Metallica - Death Magnetic
Judas Priest - Nostradamus
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
AC/DC - Black Ice - Blech.
Rachel Yamagata - Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart - Blech.
Other stuff, not released in 2008 but new to me:
Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild (soundtrack). Mellow and meditative, good instrumentation and singing. I haven't seen the movie yet, but this sounds like it would be just about right.
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights. Wild, funky, soulful, amazing album. The Dap Kings are part of the period-music movement, playing vintage instruments and recording on vintage analog equipment. You may know them as the band on most of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black. Sharon Jones was a struggling backup singer, discovered by two members of the band. Awesome.
I completed my Queens of the Stone Age collection. I fucking love that band. Pure unadulterated id.
10 Years - The Autumn Effect. My buddy the IT guy at work was talking these guys up, and let me borrow this CD. They're a real good band, but just didn't grab me with any emotional connection. I listened to the album a few times, and they show up in a shuffle every now and then, but nothing made me say WOW!
Movies
I only saw two movies that were actually released in 2008. So, here are all the movies I saw, ranked:
Life is Beautiful - yes, I know I'm just a decade or so late to the party.
Walk on Water
Children of Men - wow.
Speed Racer
The Girl in the Cafe
Juno
Pi
Simpsons Movie
Harold and Kumar 2 (2008)
The Squid and the Whale
Ready-to-Wear
The Break-Up
The Incredible Hulk (2008, with Ed Norton) (Hey, I was trapped on an airplane. Just awful.)
That's all I can remember, with the help of the Netflix history. I'm sure there are a couple movies I can't remember that we DVRed and watched.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Be still my beating heart
Tomorrow night, at this time, I'll rocking out in Troy, listening to one of the best.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Album review - here goes nothing
I've been avoiding this for weeks, because I don't express my emotions/feelings well, verbally or in writing. I get complimented all the time on my business/technical writing, because I speak English, which for most people is a welcome change from "out-of-the-box thinking to utilize our core competencies" bullshit. Try to express something real, though, and I go all Billy Budd.
Anyway...
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
(links are to the lyric sheets)
Fort Hood
“Fort Hood is the Texas Army base that has lost the most troops in the Iraq War,” Doughty says. “I visited some of the wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. and wondered what was going through their minds. When I first thought about using ‘Let the sunshine in…’ as the chorus, I thought it would be funny, but when I sang it, I felt myself tearing up. [‘Let the Sunshine In’] draws an obvious parallel to past quagmires, and all the vets who are suffering from PTSD. Once again the damage being done will not only be in lives lost, but in how those losses affect family, friends and society as a whole. The bridge laments the fact that instead of going to the prom, they’ve been given a burden they’re going to have to live with forever.”
“I'm not going to try to add anything to that," said Angelos, to no one in particular.
But then he went ahead and decided to snip this lyric:
I see them coming back; they’re motionless in an airport lounge
I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing
Guy's playing a bar, a party, any small, crappy gig. It's cash, and you do what you gotta do. 90% of the people aren't paying attention. But there's always that girl up in front, dancing like inhibition isn't in the dictionary. This is a love song for her. An affair of the imagination, about 3 sets long, every night.
Blue girl, dance for me
The empty floor, and I said (ba-rum-pa-tum-pum)
Put it Down
Cut by the thorns, oh I must loosen my grip
Got to let the flower fall from my hand
and
My mind’s aggrieved and my belly’s ablaze
I have swallowed all the words that you said
Time to end it, girl. Typically, one does not feel the urge to do the butt-dance in one's chair while listening to a break-up song. But Doughty can do that to you.
More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle
Um... this is a toughie. I, as a hard-core fan, get it. I've seen him live once (twice, come April 12th), and have 6 or 7 live shows downloaded, as he allows taping. To a Doughty noob, or a reviewer who was just randomly assigned this album, yeah, I see your "WTF?" and grant it to you. Basically, what started as a joke (FIRETRUCK!!!!!) has, over the years, morphed into a fantastically entertaining jam. Doughty has this keyboard where all the keys play pre-recorded vocal bits, and he just goes apeshit, with the drummer McNeal driving the pace. It has to be seen to be believed.
27 Jennifers
An oldie, from his solo acoustic demo days, reworked for a band. Funny, and true. Hell, my workplace of 26 people had 4 Jennifers at one point.
“When I went to high school everyone was named Jennifer, Michelle or Heather,” Doughty explains. “This is a salute to them.”
Fun groove, another total dance-in-your-seat song.
The nerd in me hates this line though:
You might be the one that I’ve been seeking for
"seeking"? Really?
I Wrote a Song About Your Car
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.
Dogged up by the rain
And at your door again
Seeking anything
I’m a roustabout
And I’m bound to roust you out
I Got the Drop on You
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.
Sorry isn’t good enough.
Wednesday (Contra la puerta)
A day in a lost life? An ode to the city?
Beep Josh on Sunday
Charm him into driving in from Queens
Coming up the staircase
Bringing tiny envelopes to me
Like a Luminous Girl
Another song of unrequited infatuation. Or is it? Is she really just the model in the big poster, or is she real?
Saw you in the subway station
Shining with a strange light
Girl, you’re like a weird vacation
How am I gonna make you mine?
Nectarine
My favorite of all themes. "Let's you and me get the fuck up out of here." Pretty much Born to Run, but 107 strangely twisted words instead instead of 3000 (OK, 302, I checked). And funky. Don't forget funky.
Navigating by the Stars at Night
Ennui. Depression. Shallow people. A touch of 'get the fuck out of this place.' And gimcrackery. Don't forget the gimcrackery.
Medicating in a minivan
...
Roll the road alone.
OK, I need to go to bed now, but I will continue this tomorrow, with a discussion of the overall feel of the thing, and I will try to explain how/why it means so much to me.
Anyway...
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
(links are to the lyric sheets)
Fort Hood
“Fort Hood is the Texas Army base that has lost the most troops in the Iraq War,” Doughty says. “I visited some of the wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. and wondered what was going through their minds. When I first thought about using ‘Let the sunshine in…’ as the chorus, I thought it would be funny, but when I sang it, I felt myself tearing up. [‘Let the Sunshine In’] draws an obvious parallel to past quagmires, and all the vets who are suffering from PTSD. Once again the damage being done will not only be in lives lost, but in how those losses affect family, friends and society as a whole. The bridge laments the fact that instead of going to the prom, they’ve been given a burden they’re going to have to live with forever.”
“I'm not going to try to add anything to that," said Angelos, to no one in particular.
But then he went ahead and decided to snip this lyric:
I see them coming back; they’re motionless in an airport lounge
I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing
Guy's playing a bar, a party, any small, crappy gig. It's cash, and you do what you gotta do. 90% of the people aren't paying attention. But there's always that girl up in front, dancing like inhibition isn't in the dictionary. This is a love song for her. An affair of the imagination, about 3 sets long, every night.
Blue girl, dance for me
The empty floor, and I said (ba-rum-pa-tum-pum)
Put it Down
Cut by the thorns, oh I must loosen my grip
Got to let the flower fall from my hand
and
My mind’s aggrieved and my belly’s ablaze
I have swallowed all the words that you said
Time to end it, girl. Typically, one does not feel the urge to do the butt-dance in one's chair while listening to a break-up song. But Doughty can do that to you.
More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle
Um... this is a toughie. I, as a hard-core fan, get it. I've seen him live once (twice, come April 12th), and have 6 or 7 live shows downloaded, as he allows taping. To a Doughty noob, or a reviewer who was just randomly assigned this album, yeah, I see your "WTF?" and grant it to you. Basically, what started as a joke (FIRETRUCK!!!!!) has, over the years, morphed into a fantastically entertaining jam. Doughty has this keyboard where all the keys play pre-recorded vocal bits, and he just goes apeshit, with the drummer McNeal driving the pace. It has to be seen to be believed.
27 Jennifers
An oldie, from his solo acoustic demo days, reworked for a band. Funny, and true. Hell, my workplace of 26 people had 4 Jennifers at one point.
“When I went to high school everyone was named Jennifer, Michelle or Heather,” Doughty explains. “This is a salute to them.”
Fun groove, another total dance-in-your-seat song.
The nerd in me hates this line though:
You might be the one that I’ve been seeking for
"seeking"? Really?
I Wrote a Song About Your Car
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.
Dogged up by the rain
And at your door again
Seeking anything
I’m a roustabout
And I’m bound to roust you out
I Got the Drop on You
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.
Sorry isn’t good enough.
Wednesday (Contra la puerta)
A day in a lost life? An ode to the city?
Beep Josh on Sunday
Charm him into driving in from Queens
Coming up the staircase
Bringing tiny envelopes to me
Like a Luminous Girl
Another song of unrequited infatuation. Or is it? Is she really just the model in the big poster, or is she real?
Saw you in the subway station
Shining with a strange light
Girl, you’re like a weird vacation
How am I gonna make you mine?
Nectarine
My favorite of all themes. "Let's you and me get the fuck up out of here." Pretty much Born to Run, but 107 strangely twisted words instead instead of 3000 (OK, 302, I checked). And funky. Don't forget funky.
Navigating by the Stars at Night
Ennui. Depression. Shallow people. A touch of 'get the fuck out of this place.' And gimcrackery. Don't forget the gimcrackery.
Medicating in a minivan
...
Roll the road alone.
OK, I need to go to bed now, but I will continue this tomorrow, with a discussion of the overall feel of the thing, and I will try to explain how/why it means so much to me.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Saturday, March 01, 2008
I am not remotely qualified...
So... Mike Doughty's new album, Golden Delicious, came out 10 days ago (2/19). Eager with anticipation, I stopped at Best Buy right after work. Their new releases are usually $9.99 loss-leaders, and I have some Rewards coupons. I figured I'd walk out of there with a $4.99 album. They didn't have it. In fact, they didn't have his first album either. Not even a Doughty section in the Ds. WTF?!?! Walk over to the S area, and sure enough all the Soul Coughing stuff is there. Fuck me.
Drive home, all pissed off.
See if I can find a torrent. 1 seed, not working well at all. Nothin' doin'. Go to Amazon, order the fucking thing. Wednesday, I wake up to an e-mail that my purchase has been shipped. Awesome. Sometimes, when you select free shipping on Amazon, they throttle your order at the warehouse. But once it hits the mail, you're golden.
Stupid me, being optimistic. Friday rolls around, still nothing in the mail. Fuck that noise. Back to the torrents. A few more seeds available by now, and by 10pm, I had it.
Seven days, 20+ listens, and I'm still working on a review. I just can't express my love for this album in words with which I am happy.
Up with a mediocre review, I shall not put!
So, you'll just have to wait. Meanwhile, go buy this album.
Side note: The CD came Tuesday. One week in the mail. Of course, as I was sitting in my 2.5 hour commute that day, I realized that I had picked up his first album, Haughty Melodic, at Barnes & Noble, where they're much more likely to carry more esoteric stuff. AAARRRGGHHH, why didn't I fucking think of that a week ago?!?!?!? I am a big stupid.
Drive home, all pissed off.
See if I can find a torrent. 1 seed, not working well at all. Nothin' doin'. Go to Amazon, order the fucking thing. Wednesday, I wake up to an e-mail that my purchase has been shipped. Awesome. Sometimes, when you select free shipping on Amazon, they throttle your order at the warehouse. But once it hits the mail, you're golden.
Stupid me, being optimistic. Friday rolls around, still nothing in the mail. Fuck that noise. Back to the torrents. A few more seeds available by now, and by 10pm, I had it.
Seven days, 20+ listens, and I'm still working on a review. I just can't express my love for this album in words with which I am happy.
Up with a mediocre review, I shall not put!
So, you'll just have to wait. Meanwhile, go buy this album.
Side note: The CD came Tuesday. One week in the mail. Of course, as I was sitting in my 2.5 hour commute that day, I realized that I had picked up his first album, Haughty Melodic, at Barnes & Noble, where they're much more likely to carry more esoteric stuff. AAARRRGGHHH, why didn't I fucking think of that a week ago?!?!?!? I am a big stupid.
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