summer

I find it interesting that I write more about music and pop culture than what's going on in my own life anymore. Maybe it's because there's such a strong connection between what I'm listening to and how I feel. Finding new music makes me feel optimistic and up-beat and excited about art and creation. Unfortunately, I haven't had many thrills as far as music goes lately. Jonsi was definitely a high point as was the new Yeasayer. Then there was a lull. I postponed my emusic account and there just wasn't much music worth paying attention to. Lately, however there's been an explosion in new and exciting stuff.

Starting with the new LCD Soundsystem. I listened to "This is Happening" a few times on-line and loved it. Then watched video of them performing at Bonnaroo. Songs like "I Can Change" got stuck in my head and, of course, I had danced myself clean to "Dance Yrelf Clean" more than once. So I bought it and loved it instantly. Great for driving. He has a way of expressing hard-to-define feelings in a way that at once sounds like your dad giving you advice over a drink and like wishing you were in love with someone just do you could break up with him and return to your record collection or a drunk night of dancing for solace.

Then came Big Boi's "Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son of Chico Dusty." I knew this one would be great. I've spent a few drunken afternoon's listening to this one on the front porch. This album is long overdue. Not just the fact that it's release was delayed almost two years, but because we've need a universally good rap album that everyone can get behind. Other than Jay-Z's new album, there hasn't been such a record that sounds immediately like an instant classic and makes you wonder how we lived without it all this time.

Then Brett bought the new Beach House album "Teen Dream." I've heard talk about Beach House for a while. I casually caught samples of their earlier stuff, but this one has definitely won me over.

Then I decided to get back on emusic to find out what I've been missing. I heard about a compilation called Broken Bells with the lead singer of The Shins, James Mercher, and Dangermouse. It's good, solid stuff. It actually sounds more like a Beck album mixed with early Shins. Good stuff all around.

Then I checked out the other "Bells" band, Sleigh Bells. I love me some dance music, and I love me some pop. I've been listening, half-jokingly, half-ironically, half earnestly, to female pop singers like Ke$ha and LaRoux. Of course, there's a certain degree of embarrassment to listening to such pop drivel. Although I've adopted a "no stigmas" attitude toward listening to music, it's still not something I'm proud of.












Sleigh Bells offers me the thrill of Crystal Castles with the pop vocals of Ke$ha with the 808's of a rap producer. It's pretty thrilling actually. It's similar to Ratatat but vocals and more concise and directed songsmith. I've spent an evening going through the indie buzz band releases and this album has been the fruit of my labors.


Music aside, it's been a pretty lazy summer. I don't have a steady job and no hope for a job in the future. I'm sad that I won't be going back to Dear Old Roanoke in the fall, but I'll also have more time to work and actually make some money rather than borrow it. It's looking more and more like I'll be subbing in the fall and finishing up my certification. I missed the deadline to sign up for the two final classes I needed and need to take one more test in order to finally get my teaching license. This doesn't surprise me much. I got so used to having no responsibilities this summer it kind of showed me that maybe I'm not ready to be in a classroom yet. Maybe it's just my way of rationalizing the fact that I fucked up and am too irresponsible to do the few little things that needed to be completed over the summer.

Fuck it. Something will come along. It always does.

Twitter and Vegetarianism

I went to the gym today and picked up a magazine to read while I worked out on the elliptical. The cover story was about Twitter and how it was changing everything. I looked through some of the articles and realized that the magazine was a bit dated (about a year old). The article explained how Twitter is becoming a more efficient way of finding new information on topics than Google. Google's search engine is based on how popular a website is. If I search for articles, I'll get the top rated or viewed web page, but not necessarily the most up-to-date.

It explained how Twitter has changed based on the way that people use it. For example, users began using the #hashtag to mark topics that are popular or in the news. The more people put the #hashtag in front of a certain topic say, #worldcup, the more it becomes a Trending Topic. Currently, the top Global Trends are all soccer players...I think. The United States Trends are Edward Scissorhands, Paul McCartney, Argentina, World Cup and BET Awards. So, simply by looking at my Twitter page, I know that these things are happening and being talked about. I click on Edward Scissorhands and learn that some ass-hole is trying to do a re-make of Edward Scissorhands with that ass-hole from the Twilight movies Robert Pattinson and that people are pretty upset about it...as they should be. I learned that Paul McCartney is streaming a live show from London to benefit HIV research/prevention. Good on him. I learned that Argentina played Mexico in the World Cup and won 3-1. And that the BET Awards are tonight.

Would I have learned all of this on cnn.com, my usual destination for news? After much searching and sorting I might have, but not as quickly. I started thinking about the ways that I could use Twitter to find out more about the world. I mean, people are efficient search engines of the internet. They spend hours looking through web articles, blogs, web sites and essays. They love to share what they find and Twitter is a great outlet for that especially when it's something that they care about. FYI: since I wrote about the BET Awards, 60 more people have tweeted about them.

I haven't eaten meat in two weeks. My mom gave me some noodle salad with tuna which I ate, but that's about it. I knew my brother would have something to say about it. Mostly concerns about health. "You should consult a doctor to make sure your body doesn't react to not having meat. You need to do some research to make sure you're getting the right vitamins." He's right about that. Not that I'm going to consult a doctor. Why would I do that? The internet is full of articles about vegetarianism. I searched "vegetarianism" on Twitter and found 5 articles about people's questions about not eating meat. Many of them concerning ethical issues and many concerning health issues. Which is better for yourself and for the world?

Many people tweeted about how they just started their vegetarianism. Silentpad3d is "Considering calling off my vegetarianism for the bird that just shat on me." DrTwitterheimer said, "My response to the claim that vegetarianism is unnatural for humans is You're right. Go out, make a weapon and butcher animals for food" One woman posted a picture of her baked rigatoni with eggplant.

Then there were the articles that people had posted. Articles published in science and health journals, breaking down the benefits for not eating meat. Ethical, environmental, health, religious and economical reasons. There are forums, support groups and tons of information on it, including petitions to stop factory farming and force the government to hold certain corporations more accountable for their butchering practices.

So, within minutes, I'm connected to the network of vegetarians out there. People who are trying it for the first day, people who treat themselves by breaking their streak and eating meat, people who think it's ridiculous and pointless, people who want to share their recipes with people. Whereas, the top three sites on a Google search were: a Wikipedia article (obviously), Goveg.com which appears to be part information part PETA-type activism (with a McCruelty logo at the top of the page), then Kidshealth.org which features a brief article on the drawbacks and benefits of raising kids on a vegetarian diet. Which yielded the better results? Which one allowed me feel more connected to other people going through the same problems, questions and temptations? It's an interesting experiment nonetheless.

Next time you want to learn something about a subject try it. Search it on Twitter, then on Google and decide which one was more helpful.

New Music

I usually post a "Top Five for the Moment" list on Facebook. When I first got on facebook, back when it was just for colleges and no one's moms and dads had profiles, I went to great lengths to post as many bands as possible. There were too many to post. So now I list five at a time.

I noticed that there's an option on iTunes where you can categorize your music by times played. It's always interesting to see which songs you've played the most. For me, it's "Plasticities" by Andrew Bird, followed by various tracks by Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit and Dirty Projectors. I've listened to "Plasticities" 79 times in a little over a month on my computer.

Brett showed me how to make a Smart Playlist that's made up of songs never been played. Currently, I have 4080 songs that I've never listened to at my computer. That's almost 45 days of solid unheard songs. I like to put it on shuffle and start knocking them off the list. But I believe it's mathematically impossible to listen to more songs than I add to my computer.

Anyways, here's my top 5 for the moment*

*now with album art!
Titus Andronicus "The Monitor"


I read about this band on emusic. The band name is taken from a Shakespeare play. They said it was inspired by the Civil War. It was about self-identity, self-loathing. I listened to a few 30 second clips and decided it was worth the 10 downloads. Added bonus: it's 65 minutes long.

I burned a copy and listened to it on the way to Middle School every morning and no matter how tired I was, it got me pumped for the day. Something about screaming "Tramps like us, baby we were born to DIIIEE!!!" on the way to teach 8th graders made life good.

I've realized it's about how much of your identity comes from where you call home. Since leaving my childhood home in Chatham, I've lived in 11 different places for more than a month. My identity has been molded by all those moves, but none so significant as living in Roanoke. It's been almost two years since I've been back from Germany. The lead singer Patrick Stickles sings about and channels his home in Newark, New Jersey and puts a lot of his home into his art. I feel like I've known the guy for years after listening to the album. So I didn't feel to nervous about asking him for a Pall Mall after his show in Charlottesvile.


Local Natives "Gorilla Manor"



If you could combine all of my favorite bands of the last two years into 45 minutes, it would sound exactly like Local Natives. Their harmonies are the best of the Beach Boys, Panda Bear, Grizzly Bear and Port O'Brien. Their drums are the dodos through and through combined with the shades of Vampire Weekend (if the drummer was a member of Greasers and not the Socs).

I listened to this album on the way to and from teaching third grade. I would put it on Track 1 in the morning and everyday, the music started lining up with my drive. Same songs in the morning, same songs in the afternoon. "Airplane" playing at the stoplight at Starkey Rd. Seeing "Wide Eyes" and banging on the steering wheel on the way home.

Yeasayer- "Odd Blood"


I greedily consumed Yeasayer. It started with a video on La Blogotechque. Them singing "Red Cave" in the Paris Metro, banging out "2080" on a piano in a loft and having 20 people crammed into a little room screaming the inscrutable chorus. Then the incredibly beautiful "Tightrope" which just an infant of a song and wouldn't be released for another 2 years on the Dark Was the Night Compilation which, after having bought All Hour Cymbals, I bought.

To say that I was looking forward to this album was an understatement. I saw them play at Bonnaroo for 45 minutes and it was, in many ways the best show of the weekend. Brett, Jenny and I, all in agreement that Bruce Springstein sucks, stood and stared at an empty stage while Bruce played "Santa Claus is Coming Tonight" 200 yards away. We watched them set up their own gear and got more and more psyched. Then they played 2080 and I became one of those lucky few to scream the chorus at the top of my lungs.

That was June. In January, I downloaded the new single "Ambling Alp" and then promptly created mix CDs to facilitate listening to that song in my car. Then I realized that if you pre-ordered the new album on vinyl, you could download it a month early. So I did. I've listened to it, I loved it, I couldn't wait to get my vinyl copy. But I had to wait. Yeasayer live in New York. New York was buried by snow for like an entire month. They couldn't ship out the albums. So I had to wait. Not long after I got my vinyl copy, Brett and I saw them play at the Orange Peel.

But....I still want more. Luckily there's a remix contest for O.N.E. All of the remixes are posted on-line. That means I get to listen to that song get torn apart and reconstructed. Basically hearing the full extent of that song's potential. So, until I can get the next fix, I'll just have to listen to this and sit on my hands.


Jonsi "Go"


I can't believe that I used to write off Sigur Ros as "whale noises." It only took me actually listening to an album and seeing them live for me to get into them. Now Jonsi has taken it a step further and actually added a beat, a pulse and English lyrics. I always knew his lyrics would be really good, but I never took the time to learn Icelandic or Hopelandic, so I could never understand him. Now I know what's in that Elvish heart of his. Turns out he sings a lot about nature.

Sample lyrics "We all want to grow with the seeds we will sow...We all want to know when we are meant to go." I played it for Jenny and about a minute and half in, she snaps out of whatever beautiful trance she was in and said "Wow, I just went to my happy place" or something to that effect. Truly amazing stuff.



Grizzly Bear "Veckatimist"


I've listened to this album about about 30 times on iTunes. I was surprised at that, considering I wasn't the hugest fan of the album. Then I realized that it took me that many times to actually start to like it. I was searching through the hundred or so CDs I keep in my car. I was looking for a mix that had "Two Weeks" on it. Instead, I fond the actual album, complete with the little green Bonnaroo insignia on it. I've listened to about a dozen times since. I like it now. A lot. Maybe after 30 more listens I'll be more able to wrap my mind around this album.

"Do you still write?" Jenny asked me. "No, but I think about writing a lot." This coming from a guy who just taught 8th grade English for 8 weeks. I encouraged those kids to write. Write more. And I wasn't writing anything myself. Nor reading for that matter. Life gets busy. Things get in the way and I retreat. I become an introvert. Thinking things all the time like scribbled notes that just get thrown away. No documentation of an idea. She wants to start a Writing Hour. The premise: meet once a week for an hour, drink coffee and write. No talking, music is allowed and we share what we've written at the end. I can't wait.

I used to write a lot while I was in Germany. I posted stuff on my blog about my adventures in Europe. I felt like this connected me to people back home. Instead of having an hour-long conversation with 5 different people about Paris or Amsterdam or seeing bands, I would write about the experience.

Now I keep things to myself.

Or maybe I just don't have anything interesting to say.

It's so freaking hot. It's 9:15 and it's still 85 degrees. Not happy about this.

The year is already over, but I thought I'd post my top 10 albums of the year. While the internet was abuzz with Animal Collective fever, Merriweather Post Pavilion left me feeling at time ecstatic, but mostly just confused and bored. Most of the year was spent catching up on the past two decades of hip-hop. Biggie Smalls, Nas and Kanye lived in my car for most of 2009, but a handful of albums caught my attention.

10. Wale-"Attention Deficit"
9. Here We Go Magic-"Here We Go Magic"
8. Animal Collective-"Merriweather Post Pavilion"
7. Jay-Z-"The Blueprint 3"
6. Neon Indian-"Psychic Chasms"
5. Phoenix-"Wolfgang Amadaeus Phoenix"
4. Girls-"Album"
3. Passion Pit-"Manners"
2. Grizzly Bear-"Veckatimest"
1. Dirty Projectors-"Bitte Orca"