At The Party - M83 - M83 - 2001

Instrumental...and a short boring one at that.

Apples in the Trees - Mirah - Advisory Comittee - 2001

If you read this blog, you probably know that I am a fairly cynical person. (Actually, if you read this blog, you probably actually KNOW ME...so that's probably an unneccesary statement). I dislike forced sentimentality or any easy play on my emotions. I find traditions for traditions sake appalling, and I find the state of modern religion to be horrifying.

Having said all that, it might come as something of a surprise that I am a sucker for Christmas. And no, not cause of gifts, I rarely get many. No, I love the whole thing...okay, that's not true either, I hate the crass commercialism of the current incarnation. But I love the spirit of Christmas. The idea of a day in which we celebrate the possibility of good, of charity and love and hope in our darkest hour, the idea that God sent someone to help us...all of this fills me with warmth. I love the lights and the songs and the good cheer. I even love fucking egg nog.

And perhaps absurdly I love A Christmas Carol...and in particular the 1984 made for TV version with the incomporable George C. Scott, which I watched on TV last night.

I remember the Christmas of 1984 when it ran on TV laying on the floor of the living room of my grandmother's house with the other grandchildren (of which I'm the oldest) watching in awe and comforting the younger kids (I was all of 9) during the "scary" parts. And this became a tradition for the may years in which they continued to run it. I remember reading and re-reading the little leather bound copy my grandmother had on her book shelf. To me, this movie is Christmas.

It's memorable for many reasons, probably most for Scott's performance which is never cartoony and just campy enough to be vastly entertaining. You have all of the Dickensian/Victorian trappings...God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Here We Come a Wassaling, bed curtains, Jacob Marley's chains, Mr. Fezzywhig, Belle's punch, Scrooge's maid...and of course Tiny Tim's RIDICULOUS British lisp.

The thing that really struck me the most in this viewing though was that...viewing the film now, as an adult, the reactions of the various characters to the reformed Scrooge are really wonderful. To them, without the benifits of specteral holiday visitors, it must have seemed as if Scrooge has had a stroke and accidentally emerged a better man. They look at him out of the side of their eyes, as if expecting at any moment for the miserable old fuck they knew for all these years to emerge, only to still be talking to this strangely jolly old man. Fred Hollywell can't even figure out why he'd be at the front door. The men from the orphanage wait for the moment where he reveals he's fucking with them, only for it never to come. Bob Cratchit assumes he's about to be fired at any minute.

Really really good stuff, and all in the holiday spirit...and we certainly need that these days. Between world events and the fact that it is 443 PM and already pitchblack here in NYC...we could use a little of the Ghost of Christmas present with his bright torch and jolly ways.

Anyway, this in no way connects to Mirah and her hippie Portland lesbian ways...but while I prefer You Think It's Like This...to the more adventuresome and less succesful Advisory Comittee, this is one of the better songs on the album.

Apple Bed - Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life - 2001

So, it's been a good long while since I've had a proper rant at the MTA. Figure it's about time. Sure, sure I could go on and on about how their bad management means that we are going to have to deal with even more price increases and somehow LESS services next year...but enough has been said about the economy, that I can only be so mad at the MTA for being a part of it.

No, I'm going to bitch about how long it took me to get to and from Astoria this weekend. Now for those of you who don't know...this is a relatively lengthy trip from Brooklyn to Queens even during the best of times. Since the majority of trains are designed to route people from the outer borroughs to and from Manhattan, getting from one outer borrough to the other usually requires some work. The trip should probably take slightly less than an hour.

But this weekend the MTA decided to do a ton of construction (on the weekend before Thanksgiving?!?!) So the trip actually involved taking 4 trains and nearly an hour and 45 minutes. Q to Union Square, N to TImes square (Yes, I know I could have stayed on the Q...but I didn't know the N was terminating in Times Square)...the fucking ancient 7 train to another section of the N that was running just between Queensboro plaza and Astoria. On top of this, it was also the first bitterly cold weekend of this late fall...which meant standing on the above ground platforms in Queens (right next to the east river) was both painful and tedious.

Seriously...are the MTA just bound and determined to make our lives miserable?

Anyway, this is Sparklehorse from the album where all the songs are about post modern cowboys. I like this album when it's upbeat and like it less when it's in it's sort of vicodan coma that Mark Linkous loves so much. This is a slower song, but it's one of the ones I like better. That's about it.

Anything You Want - Britt Daniel - Solo Acoustic at WNYU - 2001

Here's Britt doing a solo acoustic version of one of the sweetest (in the real sense of the word) songs ever. I'll talk more about it when I talk about the album version.

Anhoi Polloi - Most Serene Republic - Phages EP - 2006

There is a story in the New Testament that most Christians with any basic knowledge probably know, but few think about the realities of. On the week before his crucifixion, Jesus comes to Jerusalem to celebrate passover with his disciples. He enters the temple and almost immediately flips his shit. In this place that is supposed to be sacred, he sees commerce. Money changers are exchanging Roman currency for Jewish, animals are being sold for sacrifice at outrageous rates.

Well, the big JC does not take kindly to this and kinda flips his shit. He goes around knocking over tables and grabs a bull whip and drives them from the temple. Most scholars, when attempting to assess the historicity of the Gospels believe this was probably the act that got the guy in trouble with the Romans in the first place.

Anyway, I give you this little bit of bible study knowledge cause it most accurately sums up my feelings about 9/11. Working in the financial district at the time...I saw the tables set up a mere week later. Tables selling hats, and pins and commemorative crap with the two towers and eagles and flags...while the smell of burning flesh hung in the air. It was in that moment, for one of the few times since I've been in NYC that the phrase "What Would Jesus Do" actually held meaning for me. I would have gladly driven the money changers from the temple...except there were all these dudes with machine guns everywhere.

Anyway, Most Serene Republic is like a knock-off Broken Social Scene...they do alright, but nowhere near as good as the original.

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!

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.

Alone, Together - The Strokes - Is This It? - 2001

I moved to NYC when I was 25 (in the summer of 2000). And for the few years after, that was the clear line of demarcation for my life; pre-NYC and post...it was understandable to have nostalgia for the pre-NYC days, but the post days were my undeniable present...but 8 years down the line funny things have happened and my perceptions have changed. This album is an interesting barometer of those developments.

Not to drop an indie-cred bomb, but I was at the first Strokes show at Bowery, when they opened for GBV on Valentine's Day of 2001. (Does seeing the Strokes first show even count as Indie-cred anymore?). My girlfriend at the time lived a couple hours away and valentine's day was mid-week. All of my friends had in town girl friends, so I went to the show alone and watched from the balcony. My feelings about the album that band would go onto release went from "Huh, this is a fun album" to "Oh dear God, if I hear this album one more time I will go on a killing spree" to "Wow, I haven't heard this album in forever, it reminds me of that time in 2001 when..."

And all of the sudden I have nostalgia for a time I didn't even realize was all that long ago...strange stuff.

Anyway, the album actually holds up pretty well. It's not amazing, but it is what it is.

All Down Here From Here - Jim O'Rourke - Insignifigance - 2001

September 18th, 2001...so I worked downtown back then and our office had been forcibly closed for the previous week. We came back to work with a lot of trepidation...not really fear that something else would happen...just the general sense of dismay we'd all had. Our boss told us the company may not be able to survive the tough financial times that were sure to follow. None of us were quite sure why our work mattered. We were surrounded by armed guards, and the smell of burning metal and flesh. One guy in my office had volunteered to take a week off of work to help the firemen collect body parts. It was a seriously fucked up time.

Anyway, my friend Rance and I decided to take an especially long lunch (cause who really cared?) and walk up to Other Music and buy some CD's. I bought Superchunk's Here's To Shutting Up and Rance bought this album. Listening to any song from this album will always make me think of that strange dark time...

Alarmed - Built to Spill - Ancient Melodies of the Future - 2001

So, I remember the first time I heard this record...It was early 2001 (pre-9/11) and I was living in a one room studio on 14th St. btwn 8th and 9th...back before that area was taken over by Stella McCartney. It was my first apartment in NYC and I was the only one of my crew to live in Manhattan, so my place was a frequent hang out. One of my friends had gotten a hold of an advance copy of the new BTS album and we were all excited to see it. Me and two of my fellow UK alums got together in my little room with a few six packs and sat back to listen. In hindsite, AMOTF is pretty lackluster, but I find this track to be one of the keepers. Martch was clearly trying to recapture a little of his Perfect From Now On mojo, bringing back Brett Netson for some fine space guitar, keeping Sam Coomes keyboard contributions appropriately eerie, and rocking the menacing vibe that made that earlier album so great.

As a history nerd, I also find something particularly evocative about the line "keep your lamps all trimmed and burning/might be alarmed at what you see". It speaks to something primordial in us, from before science had explained to us every creepy thing in the dark. I think leaving in early colonial america must have been terrifying. The darkness must have been positively Lovecraftian...

Yeah, anywho...

The Agony of Laffitte - Britt Daniel - 2001 NYU

So, when I think of the studio version of this song in my head I tend to think of it as just Britt and a guitar, but this live version, in which it actually is just that, is actually fairly useful in demonstrating how much atmosphere there is to the studio version. Not that this is a bad version, Daniel has an amazingly persuasive voice, but I find myself missing the multi-tracked vocals, the little bits of ambient noise (the ocean? traffic?), the subtle drums, the xylophone.

Bet you didn't even know all that stuff was there, did you?

After You Left - Mirah - Advisory Committee - 2001

I've now had 2 Mirah songs and still zero Radiohead songs...this should not be viewed as representative of my musical tastes in general.

This one is short, and is accompanied by an exceptionally ominous bass-y keyboard. Otherwise it isn't even a particularly noteworthy Mirah track.

I stayed in, stayed sober, and went to bed early last night...so I can't even regale you with drunken antics.

Aerial - Robert Pollard and His Soft Rock Renegades - Choreographed Man of War - 2001

Of the solo records that Bob has released in the double O's (and there have been a lot of them) this one is the one that probably holds up the best. The rare Pollard track that stretches over 3 minutes, it is of course mostly instrumental. Just a reverb heavy guitar strumming. A little Uncle Bob vocal at the end...nothing to get too excited about, but also not the embarrassment that some later day Pollard can be (Red Ink Superman, anyone?)

Advisory Committee - Mirah - Advisory Committee - 2001

Mirah songs works primarily due to the tension between her gentle indie girl vocals and songwriting and Phil Elvrums crazy production. It seems like such a nice, sweet song, with it's picked acoustic guitar and subdued steel drum backing and then those GIANT FUCKING DRUMS come in at the end...

Aaron and Maria - The American Analog Set - Know by Heart - 2001

By all rights, I should hate this song. Its hushed groove, its delicately sweet lyrics about a couple of trust fund kids in Brooklyn Heights expecting their first child, its adorable lack of realization that these people are probably smug douchebags....but in the summer of 2001, before the world went to hell, I still believed in this kind of happiness.

Plus, despite their mellow vibe, the AmAnSet's can lock into a pocket like nobody's business. I saw them live a few times and was always struck by the way the band all seemed to be in their own world, like they were all in entirely different bands. The bass player wouldn't even look at the rest of them, but they fit together like a jigsaw. Every rhythm fit together perfectly, it was quiet impressive.

So, I like this sweet, quiet, song about rich, entitled white people breeding...go figure.