Ana - Pixies - Bossanova - 1990

I was talking to my ladyfriend about something and decided I'd go ahead and post this whole story. We were talking about the worst act of revenge we'd ever done to someone...hers was the fairly benign act of subtextually implying that her roommate was fat. I assured her that I could easily best that.

I used to work for a small dotcom run by an Israeli boss. At a certain point he realized that he was too close to his co-workers (me and my friends) to effectively be a bad cop, so he brought in one of his army friends to do the job for him. I hated this man with a passion unparralleled. He simply didn't understand the company we were running. He insisted that all of our customers be above board, not realizing that we were in the business of dealing with criminals. He insisted that we spend all of our time working, not realizing that the point of the dotcom revolution was that busy work is bullshit...and this distaste was mutual, so I was usually the object of his scorn.

So one day I'm going for a coffee run and I ask around if anybody else wants some. He answers that yes, he'd love some tea. As I came back with the beverages I made a stop on an abandoned floor of the building where I preceeded to make literal the expression tea bagging. And yes, it did scald a bit. But it was totally worth it.

Anyway, I always think Bossanova is an underrated album...sure, they were starting to hate each other...but it was still better than most of the albums that came out in 1990.

Amsterdam - Peter, Bjorn, and John - Writer's Block - 2006

Well I'm pretty much stuck talking about Amsterdam for this one aren't I. Well, I've been a couple of times...but I'll save the crazy stories for another time and just talk about the city. Frankly, I was underwhelmed by it.

Sure, I'm all for their liberal policies regarding controlled substances...but sadly I really dislike most of the people that are their to enjoy them. Sometime I'll get good and liquored up and talk about what a blight on humanity British tourists are. Also the red light district, with it's ugly hookers, blind drunks, and spoiled American hippies is just depressing.

Also, it is a beautiful city....absolutely lovely architecture and a real sense of history, you feel how old it is...but their cuisine leaves something to be desired. And also, and I know this is petty...the Dutch language is pretty ugly. It sounds both guttaral and kinda like baby talk.

I will grant them this though...the bike riding is cool. Wish the USA would take a queue from them, but then we'd have to ditch our middle american fear of the city, and the belief that a car is somehow connected to your penis.

Anyway, good song...er, yeah.

Amputations - Death Cab for Cutie - Something About Airplanes - 1999

The ability for music to trigger nostalgia is hardly a phenomenon that requires more discussion...but this song has such a strong association to me...it takes me to a very specific time and place. But what's odd about this time and place is that it's not terribly memorable. I mean, I suppose as a little slice of a time and place in my life, it's interesting...but that I'd have such visceral memory (I can even remember how I felt at the time) is really a fascinating intersection of time and memory and music.

Anyway, it was summer of 2001...It was my second summer in the city, but since I moved to NYC in June, it was my first summer with established friends. My girlfriend at the time had decided to spend the summer doing an internship in Oxford Mississipi...I was not happy about this. But on the flip side, it left me with a certain amount of freedom to do what I wanted. I also was too broke to afford a computer or internet access or Air Conditioning in my tiny apartment (if you've never lived in New York...unless you are wealthy or got a kick ass job, you will spend your first two years here unimaginably, eating ketchup packets and duck sauce poor). I also had a friend of mine crashing in my tiny one room apartment, and he never really got the hint that he should...you know...go out and do something.

On weekend days during that ungodly hot summer I would go to my office and just sit in the free AC, get wasted, surf and write. So that's what this song takes me back to. I'm sitting alone in my old office, ungodly high, writing short stories for writing group, hating my girlfriend, but loving my new crazy life. So odd.

Anyway...

Amity - Elliot Smith - XO - 1998

"And Amity, as you know, means friendship..."

I just can't resist a Jaws joke especially in a tacky segue...the follow up to this post:

http://ocdipod.blogspot.com/2008/07/amber-canyon-magik-brightblack-morning.html

is here:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gGxSXC2jWjGWou8lPsy7d2ZJKrNAD92638380

Anyway, Elliot Smith being a bit more rocky than usual...which if you know me, you know that I am for.

American Girl - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - 1976

Frankly, The Silence of the Lambs very nearly ruined this song for me. And what that didn't do The Strokes "Last Night" did the rest.

But I guess I can't really blame the messenger. And at the end of the day, this is still one of the finest examples of the mid 70's jangle pop ressurgance. And honestly, despite massive overexposure, this song is still just about note perfect. It's syncopated drum rhythm (which, as I mentioned, The Strokes would ride for dear life), it's half reggea bassline, Mike Campbell's 12 string jangle and the dreamy background vocals (always the Heartbreaker's secret weapon) make the song ideal from driving down country roads with the windows down on a muggy summer night. Stuff like this almost makes me miss Indiana.

American Flag - Cat Power - Moon Pix - 1998

Now this is the Cat Power I used to love...batshit crazy, drunk off her ass, morose, barely coherent...music filled with odd ominous sounds and feedback rather than Memphis horn sections and a professional drummer.

I sit here enduring the longest Friday afternoon in human history while my girlfriend sits on the beach. The old Cat Power was right. Life is hell.

Ambush - Figurines - Skeleton - 2005

I am fairly convinced that my Playstation 2 hates me. I've talked to others who share my love for EA Sports' soccer game FIFA 2008 about this exact thing and they have all agreed they game sometimes decides that you simply should not win. And it's usually in ridiculous situations. As an Arsenal fan, I play my "season" as them...so let's say I'm playing Barnet in the League Cup (For Americans, this would be like The Colts playing your local MeetUp team)...by all logic, even with a team of second stringers, I should simply clobber them...but because it's a cup competition, the game decides that all laws of logic and physics should go out the window and the underdogs should be plucky or some shit.

As such, here is my list of the ways in which my Playstation 2 Cheats at FIFA...
* The Unstoppable Free Kick - This has been the prefered method of cheating of every version of FIFA I've ever played. You commit a foul (usually stopping The Battering Ram - see below) somewhere near the edge of the box. The opposition player steps up to take it, and all of the sudden he is Cristiano Ronaldo (who is a douchebag)...the kick curls right over your wall and goes straight into the net. Your keeper stands by idly staring as the amatuers score.
* The Header from A Corner - This is the same basic idea, just another method for doing it. Ball goes out for a corner. The opposition sends it in, and a player you can do nothing to stop heads it into your net. I will say, this is used to be the preferred method of cheating for the game in previous versions, but the new version has replaced it with something even more annoying...
* The Battering Ram - This one is particular to the latest version. You score a goal, the opposing team restarts and their Center Forward takes the ball and runs right down the middle...and you just can't stop him. Every slide tackly you put in will somehow miss, every attempt to hold him back will be easily shaken off. All of the suddden, Angus McDrinkstoomuch becomes Didier Drogba (who is also a douchebag) and will go all the way to the goal and slot it in the net.
* Your keeper shows up drunk - This one is fun. Most of the time your keeper is controlled by the computer, this makes the times when he makes a mistake even more infuriating...cause you didn't do anything. Your keeper is holding the ball and then all of the sudden drops it...or throws it straight to the opposing player. Infuriating.
* The Off-The-Ball Foul - You can only control, at most, two of your players at a time...the rest are managed by the computer until you switch to them. This makes incidents where a player you aren't controlling commits a foul especially galling. It's even more fun when the foul conceedes a penalty. Good times.
* Hand ball - You have absolutely no control over your players arms...so when the ball hits them, how exactly were you supposed to get them out of the way. Again, when this move results in a penalty, it is cause of much cursing at the television.
* Your players can't hit the broadside of a barn - Suddenly, your players just can't hit the back of the net. You can take 300 shots on goal and they will all rocket over the bar, strike the bar, go wide, or go right into the keepers arms...anyone's who's ever actually watched an Arsenal game knows that this does happen in reality occassionally.

Anyway, this is probably the best song on this Figurines album (I never acquired their second record...so I guess that make this my favorite song of theirs?). It does well to combine their cold Dannish style with a sort of rockabilly twang and a catchy chorus. There's also a pretty cool organ part during the outro?

Ambition - Doves - Some Cities - 2005

I saw a truly great chick fight on the subway the other day. I was taking the Q home from work, and had my iPod head phones in. The train was typically crowded for a Brooklyn Bound at 6 o'clock, but not obnoxiously so. It took me a moment for it to sink in, but I became aware that there was a lot of yelling, and that everyone around me was listening in.

It seemed that two women sharing one of the scoop seat, forward facing benches were in a fight about the degree to which the window seat woman was spreading her legs. What was sort of ironic about this is that the aisle seat woman was fairly obesse, making her complaint about lack of space somewhat ridiculous. Also, both women were West Indian, so the level and complexity of the profanity was truly amazing. It never actually came to blows, but it also didn't stop until one of them got off at Atlantic Ave. I was also sort of surprised that in fight with that much ferocity, that the larger woman never used the obvious insult when complaining about a woman spreading her legs too much.

A few people even jumped in, some begging for peace and quiet, others telling the window seat woman to just ignore her, but the battle raged on, scaling the heights of visciousness. Had they been men, blows would have almost certainly been exchanged....but really, what is the ultimate lesson to be learned here? The MTA should do away with the scooped seats. They were clearly designed in the 1970's when people's assess were much smaller. As a broad shouldered guy, the scooped seat is the bane of my existence...people always want to try to squeze in...and why shouldn't there...the scooped seat indicates that there should be room for a third person on that bench. But please believe me, there is not. This is why I usually just stand on the subway.

Anyway, here's Doves doing their thing...not nearly as interesting as Radiohead, but nowhere near as bland as Coldplay. Ambition makes you look pretty ugly...

Amber Canyon Magik - Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light - 2006

So I'm at the beach on Saturday, sitting on a towel with two topless twenty-something girls (no, seriously) and a cold bottle of wine and thinking my life is pretty sweet. It was a hot day and all the tropical storm activity down south meant the waves were pretty intense for a NYC beach, and despite my urban slacker demeanor, I do truly love playing in the waves.

It gets to be about 530 and I decide to take one last turn in the waves. I'm jumping into the waves and riding them into the shore, but at this point the water is crazy. One wave picked me up and threw me, and I knew I was going to end up face first in the rocky sand...so I put my hands out to try to push off. The force of the wave whipped my legs up over my head, causing me to do a, completely unintentional, but basically perfect (and probably cool) back handspring. However, I also heard something in my back go "Pop" and while I was totally fine. There was the few seconds where I was like..."Oh shit, I'm the guy who got paralyzed for life being thrown by a wave" And that was pretty much it for me and the ocean that day.

Later on a man had to be pulled from the water...ambulances and helicopters came in for the rescue and somebody's day at the beach got ruined. Thankfully it was not me.

Anyway, the message here is...don't fuck with nature or she will fuck you up.

Brightblack Morning Light...doing their super stoned organ music thing. Either you like it or you don't. I like it well enough.

The Amazing Dolphin Boy - The Minus 5 - Let The War On Music Begin - 2001

I will admit that I often have problems enjoying songs that I find stupid....perhaps it's the best melody in the world...maybe it's wonderfully produced. But this song is called "The Amazing Dolphin Boy"...I'm sorry, that shit don't fly.

And speaking of stupidity...I went down to the Post Office the other day to mail some bills and realized that all of the stamp machines were shut down. I inquired with one of the tellers about why this was and she told me that the Post Office has decided to discontinue these.

Ok...I know the thinking here...Email and Online Bill Pay has decimated the PO. People (and businesses) know they can get better shipping through private carriers. And even Netflix, which has almost single handedly propped the business up for years have started to switch to streaming. The Post Office is fucked. So rather than risk laying off government employees, they've decided to discontinue the automation of their jobs. If this is not backwards thinking, I don't know what the hell is.

So rather than assist their customers, they've made me even less likely to use their services, by making it less convenient for me...gotta love the Bush Administration...bigger government at all cost!

An Amatuer Thief - Chisel - Set You Free - 1997

Speaking of thieves. So I saw Dark Knight last night...and I must say my emotions are a bit mixed. I hate the way death ensures that you will be over praised (part of my intense ambivalance about Cobain)...but Ledger does give a really great reading to The Joker. His line deliveries are really wonderfully off beat, and he gives him a certain grounding in reality, choosing to make him sort of laid back rather than spastic. But I feel like a lot of the credit given to Ledger is being done by people that never realized that this is simply how the character is supposed to be.

He's not a merry prankster, he's a raving psychotic...and the Nolan bros script gets this write. It's not like Heath wrote the freaking script.

Honestly, I'm not even the biggest comic book person, but I'm friends with enough of them to know what previous films have gotten wrong. I'm happy they got him right, and it was a fun performance...but seriously...an Oscar? If I OD with one of the Olsen twins can I get an Oscar too?

Anyway, this is basically a Chisel snippet...sort of prefiguring Ted's later mod-punk leanings. It's nice enough. I had a different story i was going to tell about Chisel, but I'll save that for a real song rather than a quick throw away about suburban brats stealing shit to "Fight the bourgeoisie" Whatever. I'm sure it was rough growing up in suburban Jersey, Ted.

Am I Wry, No? - Mew - Frengers (Not Quite Friends, Not Quite Strangers) - 2003

I realize that I won't be the first person to state this, but there is simply no way to convey with words how awesome this song is.

As usual when discussing awesomeness I will resort to bullet points
* The drumming. Apparently what they did was take their drummer into a room, pumped him full of PCP and then told him that the snare drum knocked up his sister and didn't call her back. The word ferocious would not do justice to the drumming on this song.
* Second only to the drumming in aggressiveness is the staccato, stabbing, crisply distorted rhythm guitar. I once heard a mix of this song that had neither the drumming nor the guitar...what was left was a maudlin, dragging ballad. But include these two crucial pieces and have a visceral, double-headed attack on your ears.
* The soaring arena rock vocals would be too effeminate in any other context, but surrounded by the perfect instrumentation these Danish kids manage to sound like the bizarre love child of Iron Maiden and Cheap Trick.
* The "Diamond Ring" outtro manages to successfully downshift the song from it's simply un-toppable main section without losing the grove. The lilting little piano melody peaks out from the guitars and suddenly subdued drumming to softly bring the song in for a landing.

Seriously, if you are looking for a way to successfully run that last mile on the treadmill, to get ready to go out for a late night party, or to drive 110 miles an hour down a gravel road, this is the perfect soundtrack.

Aly, Walk With Me - The Ravonettes - Lust Lust Lust - 2007

The Ravonettes are one of those perfect iPod bands. Listen to one of their albums in it's entirity and you will quickly become bored. It's a cool idea, take girl-group/Buddy Holly melodies and produce them with the My Bloody Valentine knob turned to 11...oh and keep the album all in one key if possible. But that very approach gets old rapidly.

But on an iPod, their combination of classic pop songs, sinister instrumentation and Danish cool work to the perfect effect. If no one has used this song on a soundtrack somewhere an opportunity is being sorely missed.

Always Crush Me - Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes - 1995

This is one of those tracks on Alien Lanes that most people think the album would be better off without. There's plenty of GBV weirdness to this track for connoisseurs: the sort of...Orientalism feel to the guitar track, like the attempt to play the sound track to a Charlie Chan movie, the "up two octaves past his range" last verse, and of course the gold mine of mid-period Pollard lyrics to be found within.

Always Crashing The Same Car - David Bowie - Low - 1977

For my most recent birthday I made a mix with one song from each year I had been alive. I started the mix with this song (the mix was not chronological).

Between the ages of 16-24 I managed to have 4 moderately serious car accidents. I drive too fast and usually with the radio on too loud, and when you are young and think you are indestructible, this is a bad idea.

The first one was literally my first day out driving by myself, I changed lanes without checking my blindspot and a pick up truck barrelled into the passenger side.

The second I was driving home in the rain, and a bunny jumped out in front of me. Rather than simply saying "tough luck Buggs" I swerved to miss him and fish tailed right into a mail box.

The third is the only one I will debate my guilt in. I made a left turn at a yellow light just as a suburban mom gunned it to make the light. She admitted to having taken cough syrup, but she was a mom with a baby in the car and I was 19 and scruffy. This is also the only wreck in which the air bag deployed...dispite the impact occurring at maybe 20 mph. If this has never occured to you, let me tell you...the explosion that causes the air bag to burst through your steering wheel is basically a shot gun shell. If you are gripping the wheel, be preppared to have powder burn on your fingers.

The forth was actually the scariest. I was driving my father's mid life crisis mobile. It was another rainy night and I was driving the notoriously hilly and windy streets of Cincinnati on balding tires. I took a curve WAY TO FAST and the luxury sedan fishtailed. The entire car swung around and smashed into a telephone poll. When it was over, I put my hand behind my head and felt a telephone poll in the back seat, as if it were the driver's side passenger. As it stood I got away with a broken rib, some cuts from the broken glass, and a yelling at by my father...but another foot further down the hill and I don't know that I'd be blogging right now.

I haven't had a wreck since. Granted, I now rely almost exclusively on public transportation, and have been doing for the past 8 years, but also anytime I have been behind the wheel, I have been very aware of the potential dangers of a car.

Anyway, that was the humor of me starting the mix out with this song.

Oh shit...I've already written about this:
http://ocdipod.blogspot.com/2008/04/airbag-radiohead-ok-computer-1997.html

Oh well...

Aluminum - The White Stripes - White Blood Cells - 2001

A fairly pedistrian White Stripes instrumental.

On one hand it does sort of pre-figure some of the later developments to the band's sound, on the other the developments to the bands sound have been relatively minimal.

Altogether - Slowdive - Souvlaki - 1993

So I have to take this online quiz for my job about workplace harrasment (It's required of everyone, it's not like I did anything)...here are some of the questions...

Roquefort "Rocky" Barnes, an African-American salesman at Chez-Cheez, is highly offended by the racial jokes that circulate occasionally on the company's e-mail system. The company's anti-harassment policy provides for employees to file complaints with either their immediate supervisor or the Human Resources manager, but Rocky is not comfortable speaking about this to either of them. What's his best course of action?
- Mention the behavior to his friend Patti Melton, a manager in the Marketing department.
- Do nothing, because the jokes were intended to be humorous and therefore don't violate the anti-harassment policy.
- Mention it to his friends at lunch and hope one of them tells the senders to stop.

Marie Brie is a line-worker in Chez-Cheez's processing plant, where she works next to loud-mouthed Lotta Fondue. Lotta has five dogs and talks about them often at work. She preaches that all good Americans should have a pet of some kind, and she constantly calls Marie a "loser" and a "failure" for being "petless." Is Lotta breaking the law?
- Yes, she is discriminating against Marie.
- Yes, she is harassing Marie.
- No, she is not breaking the law.

Billy Chevre's supervisor, Frank Feta, was always making derogatory remarks about Catholics and Jews. Although Billy is a Presbyterian, he found the remarks highly offensive and reported Frank to the Human Resources department. Eventually, Frank was told of the complaint and responded by transferring Billy to a Chez-Cheez subsidiary in rural North Dakota. What should Billy do?
- Report Frank to Human Resources again and ask that the transfer be reversed.
- Nothing. That's what he gets for being a complainer.
- Nothing. Frank is his supervisor, so Billy must do as Frank says.

For months, Paige Turner, a black employee, passed by a group of white men drinking coffee and telling racist jokes around a table in the Chez-Cheez cafeteria. One day, Paige spoke up, telling the biggest loudmouth that she found his jokes offensive. The next time Paige entered the cafeteria, the loudmouth announced, "Here comes the Gestapo. Let's go over in the corner so I can tell you the one about that black guy and the gun...." Which of the following statements is the most accurate?
- The employees' behavior violated the company's anti-harassment policy, and Paige should report it.
- The employees' behavior may have violated the company's anti-harassment policy, but Paige has no complaint because she tolerated it for so long.
- The loudmouth has honored Paige's wishes and moved away from her, so Paige has no basis for complaining.

Curt Senway, Karl Jarlsberg and Ramona Romano are all line employees at Chez-Cheez. Curt is 52 years old; Karl and Ramona are 32. To make the day go faster, Karl likes to tease Curt for being the "old" man in the department. Ramona has encouraged Curt to report Karl to Human Resources, but Curt doesn't want to cause trouble. What should Ramona do?
- Tell Karl to stop teasing Curt and, if that doesn't work, report Karl to Human Resources.
- Nothing. She's not the one being teased, so it's not her place to do anything.
- Make Karl just as uncomfortable by teasing him about being "ugly."

Glen Gouda, a disabled employee in Chez-Cheez's distribution center, is repeatedly late for work and has failed to meet his last ten deadlines for filing paperwork. He just received his semi-annual performance appraisal, which highlighted his poor attendance record and failure to meet deadlines. Glen was placed in the first stage of performance counseling and was required to submit an action plan for improved performance. Glen has experienced —
- Harassment and/or discrimination on the basis of his disability.
- Retaliation.
- A performance appraisal that accurately reflected his performance.

Suzy Cheddar, a female quality-control inspector at Chez-Cheez, has accused co-worker Adam Edam of harassing her by repeatedly twisting her arm and blocking doorways. Suzy has seen Adam do the same things to other female workers as well, but never to males. Suzy has admitted that Adam didn't say or do anything to indicate that he was after sex. Could Adam be disciplined for sexual harassment?
- No, because his behavior was not offensive enough to be considered harassment.
- No, because he did not ask Suzy for sex.
- Yes.

Bria Benton bumped into Leslie Leiderkranz, her manager, by the water cooler. Leslie saw that Bria was upset and asked her what was wrong. After Leslie prodded a bit, Bria explained that a company vice-president had just offered her a promotion in exchange for a series of moonlit "walks." As Leslie was leaving, Bria said, "Please don't tell anyone," and Leslie nodded and smiled. Later that day, Leslie reported the incident to Human Resources, which began an investigation. Should Leslie have kept Bria's incident a secret?
- Yes, because Bria asked Leslie to.
- No, because Leslie had a responsibility to the company to report the matter promptly.
- No, but she should have investigated the matter herself.

Which of the following scenarios represent "real world" cases involving workplace harassment or discrimination?
- A woman employed at a shipyard complained that her co-workers covered the walls with offensive "art," including a dartboard with a drawing of a woman's breast as the bull's eye.
A bank teller's supervisor made repeated sexual demands of her, which included fondling her in front of other employees and following her into the women's restroom and exposing himself to her.
- A large corporation fired several employees for sending harassing e-mails.
- An auto maker agreed to pay $7.75 million to 900 women to settle complaints that they were groped and subjected to crude comments and graffiti.
- An investment bank that ignored complaints of racist jokes circulating on the company's e-mail system was sued for racial harassment.
- A woman truck driver learned that her male co-workers had established a "club," the purpose of which was to see who would be the first to have sex with her.
- All of the above.

Alright - Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes - 1995

Ok, so shortly after bitching about how few GBV songs I've gotten to write about thus far in the project, this will be the second of three that have come this month.

The true genius of Bob Pollard is in his ability to capture great little moments from the canon of rock music and make an entire song out of them. Granted this can lead to some horrible frustrations, or the feeling that Pollard could have done more with his little gems...but few songs capture this more than "Alright".

Pollard seems to have said "you know that bit at the end of your random arena rock song that makes people wave their lighters in the air and sing along? What if that bit was THE WHOLE SONG!"

Genius I tell ya.

Already Dead - Beck - Sea Change - 2002

I've never been that big of a Beck fan, preferring the moody Mutations to the goofy, sample happy Beck that so many are quick to praise. But in the winter of 2002-2003, Sea Change simply blew my mind. It helped in part that the album was produced by long time Radiohead producer and unofficial sixth member Nigel Godrich. It also helped that it was Beck at his moodiest, without even a whiff of the "get crazy with the cheese whiz" dude.

But mostly I loved this album, cause I, like Mr. Hansen, was going through the most painful break up of my life at the time. And this album is one of the key reasons that I did not drink myself to death during that time (I also had some very wonderful friends and family to help me out, but you know...Beck helped too). The downside to that is that while I think this album is amazing, I rarely want to listen to it.

Alphabet Pony - The Kills - Midnight Boom - 2008

For a period between March 17th 2003 to February 20th 2004 I worked a job that required me to take a 1 hour and 40 minute commute each way. Specifically I had to take the G train about 10 minutes, then the E train for about 40 minutes to the outer edges of Queens. I then had to ride a bus for about another 40 minutes into Long Island proper, and then finally I had to walk about a mile and a half from the bus stop to the industrial park where the company I was working at was located. On the plus side, it was, at the time, the most money I'd ever made....still that didn't make the commute any more tolerable, particularly given my feelings on the MTA.

For the first 9 months of this job I did not have an iPod...just an old faithful CD player. During this period I got moderately into The Kills first album. I bought the CD for two reasons, first of all I'm a sucker for an angry, dark-haired, rocker girl and secondly, I generally like bluesy british riff rock. I liked the album well enough, but it never really stuck with me.

Recently while cruising the indie rock bulliten board I saw that they had released a third album (I missed the second one) and was not surprised to discover that the third album sounds pretty much like their first one. Nice enough, but nothing too exciting.

And for those that are curious, I remember those exact dates because I started the job on St. Patrick's day (The Iraq War would start on Friday of that week) and finished the Friday before my birthday.

Alphabet - The Notwist - The Devil, You, and Me - 2008

You ever been to a show, wherein the opening band was bad that they almost entirely eclipse your memory of the band you were actually there to see....as a fairly seasoned concert goer I've had this happen to me several times...enough so that I actually have a list of the WORST opening band experiences...at #3 on that list is a band that called themselves Themselves...they opened for The Notwist at Bowery Ballroom back on the Neon Golden tour and they were unbelievably bad.

Imagine a German version of Fishbone...and I really think that is all the description that you need.

Okay one more thing, their lead singer had blue dreads...blue dreads for christ sake!

Anyway, the only redeeming factor was that The Notwist was actually a much better live experience than I would have credited them for. Energetic and engagely experimental, and just German enough to be charming, but not enough to be off putting. Anyway, their new album is pretty good...if perhaps lacking the high points of Neon Golden.

Alpha and Omega - Boards of Canada - Geogaddi - 2002

I had something of hellish Saturday night. My British friend and former co-worker Pip turned 40 and we took him out for a good time. After a lovely dinner and a pleasant time at the first couple of bars things began to take a turn for the worse...

Pip, like many of his countrymen, simply doesn't have an off switch when it comes to booze. Now, I'm sure you've noticed by now that I like the occasional drink or two...but I'm rarely out of control. Pip will keep driving right into the wall. Soon it became messy...and worse still, I had volunteered to let the man crash on my couch.

Shortly after he got us thrown out of O'Connor's (A feat I never thought was possible) I had to basically carry him home down Flatbush. What would normally be a 15 minute walk became a 45 minute walk...but the true nadir came when he insisted on trying to walk himself and then almost immediately fell backwards and head first down a flight of stairs. There was honestly 5-10 seconds in which I thought he was actually dead. And I was going to have to tell his wife that his son was an orphan...it was ugly.

Fortunately Pip was a bit banged up, but otherwise fine...I had to endure a fair amount of anti-Irish sentiment, but I can take that.

Anyway, Boards of Canada making blippy music. Perfectly acceptable