Short Fuse

Commercial jingle

In lieu of an actual update, I give you... song lyrics.

You could travel for a lifetime
And still stay where you are
You could wait until the right time
Resolve to make or mar

People tell you what they know
They're mostly wrong from the word go

It's under the surface and it's up in the sky
That's why you won't reach it, so don't even try

The lines are old, yet still not weakened
You don't kow what to do
Cause everyone else around is sleeping
The choice is up to you

Now you better watch out what you're saying
These words could cut like swords
You better watch out while you're praying
Find out what you're praying for

People tell you what they know
They're mostly wrong from the word go

Cause it's under the surface and it's up in the sky
That's why you won't reach it, so don't even try

It's so unexpected, now how could it be true
I never would detect it, if it hadn't been for you
Now I got this notion, and it's bottled up inside
A swamp of emotions, there's no need to hide

It's under the surface and it's up in the sky
That's why you won't reach it, so don't even try

People think they know where you are, based on where they've been. But however much they might care about you, they don't know and can't know. You have to find your own way.

Mark Kozelek live

Last night, Mr. Sun Kil Moon / head Red House Painter came to the Middle East upstairs for a solo acoustic set. It was the kind of dependably enjoyable show that I've seen Mark Kozelek put on. He was segueing smoothly from song to song, while covering much of his back catalog - everything from Grace Cathedral Park and New Jersey to Duk Koo Kim and Gentle Moon. He did seem less chatty than usual. Perhaps it was his health - he had cancelled some of the dates on this tour after losing his voice. He sounded great last night, though.

In one of the memorable moments, he added these lines to Glenn Tipton:

Some like Michael Hedges more than George Winston
Judas Priest was gayer than Iron Maiden
There's a fine line between Pauly Shore and Hayden

Here is a nice photo-diary of the Kozelek show in San Francisco on 1.22.2004.

Short cuts

Savath and Savalas - Apropa't

I was having a hard time getting into this record in the past few weeks. It's not as catchy as the last Prefuse 73 album, and maybe I was missing that incredible immediacy. But I guess this one is designed to be a very different record.

Then things came together two nights ago. Earlier in the evening, I wanted to talk to her, badly, but I couldn't find her. Later that night, I listened to the album. And it clicked. It made perfect sense. I could barely do anything but listen.

Sorry if that sounds really corny. I'm just grateful when that happens - when I feel like a piece of music has come along at the right time, and was there for me at the right moment.

themilkfactory.com review

LFO - Sheath

Confession: I don't own Frequencies. I'm not even sure if I've ever listened to the whole album from beginning to end. Sure, I've heard the singles oh so many times. But I've been guilty of praising the greatness of the album without remembering much of the details. It's lazy but easy to get away with, given the universally accepted status of Frequencies as a classic.

So when I listen to Sheath, and I feel nostalgic, I guess it isn't nostalgia for Frequencies. It must be for the mood, or the general sound of it all.

I would also like to use this as yet another occasion to deploy one of my favorite quotes about music: someone said of Kraftwerk that perhaps it's enough for an artist to have changed history once in a lifetime, and it's too much to expect him or her to keep doing it. With Sheath, Mark Bell isn't trying to make history again, and I don't mind at all. Sheath is fun because Bell seems to be having fun - albeit in a dry, English-techno-boffin sort of way.

Warp site

Short cuts

Stasis - Past Movements

After all these years, Steve Pickton gets a well-deserved best-of treatment. As Stasis, Pickton was part of the early-'90s UK electronica scene, along with the Black Dog / Plaid, B12, As One and Carl Craig. Pickton was supremely consistent in his high-quality output; I'd buy everything produced or remixed by him that I could find. For fans of Detroit-flavored IDM, this is one of those must-have "blueprint" collections, along the lines of the ART label's Objets D'art 92::95 and Carl Craig's Elements 1989-1990.

Boomkat page

M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts

French kids try to cover My Bloody Valentine using Casio keyboards. I like the results, but after a while, I just end up wanting to listen to Loveless instead.

Pitchfork review

Pixies - The Purple Tape 2

Worth it for the first track alone, the unreleased I Can't Forget. Scratchy guitar licks hint at the Police's Every Breath You Take, while Black Francis sings "I've loved you all my life / That's how I wanna end it / ... / The summer's gone / But a lot goes on forever". So good.

A note about sad songs

The best songs for times of heartbreak have a little of the sweet mixed in with the bitter.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, especially if you're a fan of High Fidelity, which explores the link between listening to pop music and feeling the blues.

It's best to wallow on the shallow side of the pool, not the deep end.

2004 preview

Movies
2046
Kill Bill Volume 2
The Ladykillers
Spider-Man 2
Hellboy
Howl's Moving Castle
Innocence: Ghost in the Shell
The Incredibles

Music
Savath & Savalas - Apropa't
The Avalanches album
Boards of Canada album
Wilco album
Plaid DVD
Pixies reunion (or at least the DVD)
Sonar 2004

2003 review

Movies
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Kill Bill Volume 1
American Splendor
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Albums
Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher
Four Tet - Rounds
Manitoba - Up in Flames
Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway
Ellen Allien - Berlinette
Radioactive Man - Booby Trap
Broadcast - Haha Sound

Songs
Manitoba - Jacknuggeted
The Go! Team - Ladyflash
Erlend Oye - A Sudden Rush
Plaid - B Born Droid
Lali Puna - Together in Electric Dreams
Prefuse 73 - Storm Returns
Sun Kil Moon - Gentle Moon

Disappointments
Mystic River
Demonlover
Cremaster
Johnny Marr and the Healers - Boomslang
Massive Attack - 100th Window
DK2: The Dark Knight Strikes Again - Frank Miller and Lynn Varley

Discoveries & Rediscoveries
24 Hour Party People
Ping Pong
Cowboy Bebop
Herbert - Bodily Functions
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Guided by Voices
Talk Talk
John Tejada
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon
H2 - Mitsuru Adachi

I Still Don't Get It
Coldplay

Rest in Peace
Steve Benton
Leslie Cheung
Anita Mui
Gregory Peck
Katharine Hepburn
Stan Brakhage
Kinji Fukasaku
Elia Kazan
Jean-Yves Escoffier
Elliot Smith

Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway

A month and a half to go before deadline, Mark Kozelek and his new band have released one of my top 10 albums of 2003. This is on a par with the best of Red House Painters. As an album, it's possibly better: the RHP albums suffered from songs too long or too similar, but there isn't a single duff track on this one. As for the odd band name, I think it's meant to be a Korean name, and not a literal, star-vs-satellite sort of thing; one of the songs is Duk Koo Kim, about a real-life Korean boxer who died after a fight.

The sound has not changed much. What distinguishes the record is the way Kozelek uses a range of styles and instrumentation - folk and '70s hard rock, string sections and glockenspiels. This sort of variety was lacking on the last RHP album, Old Ramon, whose latter half dissolved into one murky soup. The shift in texture from song to song on this album avoids that problem gracefully.

Kozelek has a reputation as a sad lad. This time around, his sepia-toned nostalgia keeps its distance from pain and depression. There's even a sense of optimism in songs like the gorgeous Gentle Moon, where every note seems to ache for a happy ending.

I don't listen to much rock music anymore, save a few bands. Kozelek is one singer-songwriter who has been special for a long time. (Has it already been eleven years since Down Colorful Hill?) His songs helped me through tough times in college, then kept me company when I moved to San Francisco, which happens to be Kozelek's adopted home. The sparse and open Ocean Beach was a constant soundtrack to my days in the Bay Area. I'm happy to hear him continue to make such beautiful music.

Warp USA tour

It's here. Oh boy.

Plaid, Luke Vibert, Chris Clark

11/6 NEW YORK, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
11/7 NEW YORK, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
11/8 BOSTON, MA @ Paradise
11/9 MONTREAL, PQ @ SAT
11/11 TORONTO, ON @ Opera House
11/12 DETROIT, MI @ St. Andrews Hall
11/13 COLUMBUS, OH @ Wexner Center
11/14 CHICAGO, IL @ Abbey Pub
11/15 MINNEAPOLIS, MN @ The Quest
11/18 SEATTLE, WA @ Chop Suey
11/19 VANCOUVER @ Commodore Ballroom
11/20 PORTLAND, OR @ Plan B
11/21 SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ Mezzanine
11/22 LOS ANGELES, CA @ El Rey

Also wandering around America at the moment: Prefuse 73 / Dabrye and Broadcast / Manitoba.

Weekend recap

Went shopping for CDs and comics for the first time in 2 months. Predictably, I went a little overboard.

Saw Otomo Yoshihide at the Cambridge YMCA. Plucked strings, static grooves off two turntables, no visuals. Despite the seeming promise of untethered musical exploration, there's something predictable about this sort of abstract electronica. I had to leave early so I missed his improv sessions with a Boston collective. Maybe that would have been more captivating.

Watched Intolerable Cruelty at the Boston Common. I'd write about it, but this Sight and Sound review says pretty much everything I want to say. In a nutshell, it's a ton of fun, but a letdown when seen in the context of the Coens filmography. At times, it felt like someone else tried to make a Coens film, and did a fine (if not amazing) job at it. Really nice suits on Clooney, though.

Had my first mojito. Disappointed.