September? Seriously?

Ugh. I can't wait that long!

The sound last night was pretty bad, which is annoying for all the money they throw at the Tonight Show, but McCready was on fire as usual.

This is just nuts

AI improv marimba.

(h/t Gizmodo)

Memories...

Anyway, there's your theme for the weekend.

The Rat Pack

Last weekend we went to see The Rat Pack - Live at the Sands.

Great, great show. The performers were quite convincing, but Erica and I disagreed on our rankings. When we spoke at intermission, Erica liked "Dean" the least, while I thought he was the best, by my "close your eyes" test. Erica thought "Sammy" was really good, and I liked him least. "Frank" was fantastic, and truly looked the part too.

The setlist:
Luck Be a Lady - Frank
The Lady is a Tramp - Frank
I've Got You Under My Skim - Frank
For Once in a Lifetime - Sammy
That Old Black Magic - Sammy
Mr. Bojangles* - Sammy
It Don't Mean a Thing - Burelli Sisters
That's Amore - Dean
Sway - Dean
Everybody Loves Somebody - Dean
Angel Eyes - Frank
Falling in Love Again - Sammy
Shall We Dance - Dean and Sammy
Style - Dean, Frank, and Sammy
New York, New York - Dean, Frank, and Sammy & the Burelli Sisters

intermission

When You're Drinking - Dean
Volare - Dean
An Evening in Roma - Dean
My Kind of Town - Frank
Fly Me to the Moon - Frank
Too Close for Comfort - Sammy
Me and My Shadow - Frank and Sammy, then Dean and Frank
What Kind of Fool Am I? - Sammy
Medley - Dean, Frank, and Sammy
I Can't Give You Anything but Love
Too Marvelous for Words
Pennies From Heaven
A Foggy Day
Birth of the Blues
Mack the Knife - Frank
That's Life - Dean, Frank, and Sammy & the Burelli Sisters
My Way - Frank

Hell of a show.

The banter was pitch-perfect too, which was quite interesting. I'd describe it as friendly ball-busting of a quite un-PC nature, with a couple of the one-liners even making me think "wow." Stuff that wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in the 60s and 70s, certainly, but a little jarring to hear today. Most of the crowd got it, as the laughter had a tinge of hesitance/discomfort to it, but of course there were a couple people who enjoyed jokes at Sammy's expense a little too much, if you know what I mean.

The band was amazing, and the sound at Proctor's is impressive. It doesn't have a reputation like Troy Savings Bank Music Hall does, but I found it to be quite warm, and perfect for this kind of music. The drums were crisp, the brass sparkled, and the bandleader's piano was mixed to the forefront just right.

A wonderful experience, overall.

*An otherwise touching song that has the laziest, stupidest, most ridiculously laughable line in the history of lyrics. I seriously hate this song because of 9 words. I almost laughed at the concert when "Sammy" sang the line, but managed to control myself. "The dog up and died, he up and died." Really? That's all you've got? It's supposed to be sad, but it comes out like a joke.

Cheap cheap!

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.

Put it Down

Mike Doughty's new video!



And here's the backstory.

Monty Python shows MPAA/RIAA how it's done

Give people access to your content on-line, then link heavily to places where the product can be purchased.

Duh.

There are maybe 15 artists whose CDs I'll buy the day they come out, no questions asked. I trust the value I will get.

But I never would have purchased dozens of CDs if I hadn't been able to listen to them first. I would have never spent $25 or so on Against Me! if I hadn't "found" some MP3s online that duly impressed me. Hell, I never would have heard of them! I found Thrash Unreal and Stop! on-line, listened to them non-stop, and went out and bought the whole album. How could I not? Then I went and bought a couple previous EPs too!

Put some free songs on your web sites. Nice bit-rate, no DRM, no registering on the site, nothing. You want 3 million people e-mailing the files and the links to each other. You want those songs on everyone's iPod or whatever. Ever heard of free publicity? Jeez.

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.

Shivers and goosebumps

As Phydeaux says, "Music Is."

中國民主 Part 2

And here's the best negative review that I've found. Just for balance.

I highlight this one because it's obvious this guy really listened to the album. He's quite specific in his criticisms. I may disagree on some points, but I respect the effort. I've seen a couple reviews that are nothing more that "this took 15 years," etc.; no specifics, just general snark.

中國民主

Chuck Klosterman penned one of the best album reviews I've read in a long time.

Reviewing Chinese Democracy is not like reviewing music. It's more like reviewing a unicorn. Should I primarily be blown away that it exists at all? Am I supposed to compare it to conventional horses? To a rhinoceros? Does its pre-existing mythology impact its actual value, or must it be examined inside a cultural vacuum, as if this creature is no more (or less) special than the remainder of the animal kingdom? I've been thinking about this record for 15 years; during that span, I've thought about this record more than I've thought about China, and maybe as much as I've thought about the principles of democracy. This is a little like when that grizzly bear finally ate Timothy Treadwell: Intellectually, he always knew it was coming. He had to. His very existence was built around that conclusion. But you still can't psychologically prepare for the bear who eats you alive, particularly if the bear wears cornrows.

I haven't gotten through the whole album yet, so I'll withhold comment for a little while. But I can agree that the guitar solos are nuts.

This album is surrounded by so much strange, it's been a punchline for almost 15 years. Will it sound dated? Overworked/overproduced? Just plain irrelevant?

Klosterman asks those and many other questions, and provides some answers. Check it out.

Short music reviews

AC/DC - Black Ice
Angus Young is a great guitar player, a riff-writer extraordinaire, and a great showman. Why this band bothers releasing albums (even if every 9 years), is beyond me. This thing sucks. Just tour until Brian Johnson's wheeze gives out for good, and be done with it. These songs took 9 years to "perfect?" Godawful.

Rise Against - Appeal to Reason
This, on the other hand, is very good and rapidly growing on me. I've only been through it three times so far, but there will be more. Vital, political punk-rock that engages from start to finish except for one poor attempt at a ballad at track 10. Fortunately, 11-13 pick it right up again. It's funny that as I get older, my rock actually needs to rock harder. Anything less (see above) is just a waste of time. I want my ass hammered and some lyrics at least two steps above pure drivel. This delivers. Big time.

Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads
These guys are critical darlings, and each of their albums has at least two fucking outstanding, addictive, catchy, hooky masterpieces. The rest, though not bad, just doesn't grab me for some reason. I don't know why. Solid tunes, solid melodies and hooks, nothing generic/boring, and yet it doesn't stick. I'm looking at my iTunes now, and here is the "Play Count" for this album, in 4 days: 2, 12, 2, 3, 4, 9, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2. Yup, pretty much like the other albums: two songs that'll be in my road trip playlists forever, one of them in my "Kick Ass" playlist, and some other songs that are just fine but that I'll forget about soon enough.

Rachel Yamagata - Elephant... Teeth Sinking Into Heart
She was featured in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, and it sounded like something I'd like. Not even close. If I remember correctly, the article even used the word "rock." ¿Que? There is no rock here. I put the thing aside for a couple days to regroup. Obviously, I had been mislead, and my expectations were not met in the slightest. Not her fault, I'll try again later. {Tries again} Fucking terrible. Boring and self-indulgent.

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
An astounding collection of songs, but my enthusiasm has been tempered by the compression. Not as bad as Metallica, but still, muddy. I'll be buying the remasters in a few years. I'm not sure where they land yet, but this band is in my top 5, without a doubt. I've been too tongue-tied and too busy to put the time into a full-on review, but I will soon.

Metallica - Death Magnetic
Arguably the second-worst sounding album of the compression era. It's neck-and-neck with Rush's Vapor Trails, but I give the nod to Rush because they're better musicians, and make better music. They should be producing perfect, bell-clear albums. Metallica, on the other hand, is mostly noise. Good noise, but noise. If you bought the CD or iTunesed this, I'm sorry. Of course the band doesn't give two shits, they're rich already. Maybe if they deem you worthy, they'll sell you the remastered version in a few years. Meantime, go torrent the GH3 version. Orders of magnitude better. Sad, but true.

OK, on to the songs themselves. I've never heard Load, Reload, or St. Anger, but from what I gathered, I didn't miss much. This new one is decent, though only a couple songs have truly impressed me so far. I really like All Nightmare Long and End of the Line; powerful, razor-sharp riffs that take you back to the old days. Those are keeprs. On the other hand, did we really need Unforgiven III? Signs point to no. I'll pop it in every now and then, see if anything else sticks.

------------------

I've also been getting into everything Josh Homme does. You're probably familiar with Queens of the Stone Age's Little Sister:


Or maybe In My Head:


Heavy, filthy, sexy, booty-shaking grooves are Homme's stock in trade, and few do it better. In fact, the stated goal "is to create a heavy sound based on a solid jam, and just pound it into your head." Mission accomplished, sir. On all five albums.

I delved into another of his projects over the weekend, The Eagles of Death Metal. That stuff is quite good too, but horribly produced. Those need to be not just remastered, but re-recorded. They have a third album coming out soon that's been well-reviewed, and I wonder if they hired a real producer or not.

Here are a couple TEoDMs:

I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)


(yes, Homme is on the drums in this band)

Cherry Cola


Is that the most fantastically awful video or what? It makes Warrant's Cherry Pie seem like a feminist tract. Maybe it's something about the word "cherry."

Anyway, good times. No pretense, just rawk.

Must. Win. Lottery.

In this age of soulless digital downloads and MP3 mumbo-jumbo, we gleefully turn to that treasured icon of our American pop culture childhood: the 45 RPM vinyl single. And since we're in the once-in-a-lifetime business, we giddily present our exclusive, definitive collection. To be clear, it contains each and every 45 RPM vinyl record that was listed on the Billboard Top 100® Rock and Pop charts from Jan. 1, 1955, through Dec. 31, 1990. Absolutely every disc for 35 years, every No. 100 up to every No. 1. There are some 18,400 records total. Some are even autographed. How about the Beatles' 1964 hit "Ain't She Sweet" with picture sleeve, worth a cool $500; or the Beach Boys' 1961 hit "Surfin' Luau" worth $200. There are literally hundreds of extremely collectible 45s — Elvis, Joplin, Hendrix, you name it — and the collection in its entirety is priceless.

This is a little good

Lupe Fiascon, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams.

(h/t Ezra)

It's ectoplasm!

Splooge...

Further adventures in the death of music

I've known and been ranting about over-compression of music for a few years now, since back when it was only a topic covered in audio-nerd magazines and blogs.

The last year or two, though, awareness of the problem has spread nicely. Not enough for a critical mass of people to stop buying crap and force the record companies to actually take advantage of the talents of music engineers and producers, but still, you gotta start somewhere.

I'll say though, this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen:


(image from Gizmodo)

At the top, you see a segment of one of the new Metallica songs as heard on Guitar Hero 3. At the bottom, the same segment off the CD.

Holy carp! Nuance? Dynamic range? Who needs it?! (And spare the jokes about metal and Metallica and nuance, blah blah.)

So Activision got the masters as envisioned by Rick Rubin (see below), and left them alone. Metallica's record label squashed the shit out of them to make it LOUDLOUDLOUDLOUD. No wonder I quit listening after midway through the 4th song. I couldn't stand it anymore.

For background, here is one of the best articles you'll find, and the comments are top-notch too. Wiki has a good one as well.

Well, I'm sure glad I didn't pay for the new Metallica. I'll have to wait for the anniversary remaster next year.

UPDATE: Found a cool video demonstration. Of course, you kinda need to listen through decent speakers or earphones.

UPDATE UPDATE: More on the Metallica album. "In comparison, the released CD version is - to coin a technical phrase - smashed to f**k." I'm disappointed to find that Rick Rubin had something to do with this. It's usually the label's mastering engineer at the end who does this shit, after the producer and the band are done.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE: Sure enough, uncompressed FLAC files from GH3 are "out there," if you know what I mean. Report forthcoming.

I'm dying over here

A little UB40 faux-reggae, a little Bosstones bass-line, a bit of Madness in the rhythm, and you have... this?

You were never a good lay

When I say dance, you'd best dance, motherfucker!

And live:



Not that I'd pay for it, but that's gotta be a fun show.

She claimed she was five-foot-two.

A little Saturday tuneage for all y'all.