Friday, January 30, 2009

Hmm, Weird/Good, Weird/Bad.

Item 1:
In reference to the previous post regarding my dissapointment with the demise of Indie 103.1 fm Los Angeles: the new, web-only version of the station is better in every way except two: no Steve Jones, and you can't listen to it in your car (actually, Dawn's car- my radio doesn't work anyway). Listen here if you desire.
Awesome surprises- yesterday they played Slint. Fucking Slint! Unbelieveable. And not just any Slint song- Good Morning, Captain is nearly 8 minutes long. Normal Version. Crappy Live Version.
Today- Wire's Ex-Lion Tamer, and not even on Rollins' show. Normal Awesome Version. Not Really Awesome At All Rollins Cover Version. (See how I brought those together?)
Two of my favorite bands/songs ever, but I suppose I shouldn't be that suprised- either of those tracks is probably being played hundreds of times a day somewhere on the internet.
[Subitem A: All the internets were like "lolz, indie sucked, listen to KUCI ftw, icanhascheezburger brb!!!111" KUCI is the UC Irvine college radio staion (No doy, Jack Donaghee). It is just as bad and possibly worse than I remember college radio being. The d.j.s might actually be retarded. Can you be mentally handicapped at the UC level? All they really have to do is comb Pitchfork for playlist ideas or play horrrrrrrrible "World Music." Dear internets: you were so wrong. KUCI=Epic Fail, lolz!!!!111]

Item 2:
I watched some live Nine Inch Nails movie/dvd thing on the HD music video channel the other day and it was APPALLINGLY HORRIBLE, sound-wise at least. Hardly any drums, no synths or guitars in the mix at all, only bass and lead vocals. I'm chalking it up to someone at the TV station fucking it up, because I can't believe there'd be anyway a band would release that shit on DVD- it would be humiliating.

Item 3:
Dear Coachella Festival: Fuck you. I've successfully avoided going to your festival for the last 10 years or so. But those days my be nearly over. Look at this shit! Amazing.
Bands I wanna see: Fri- A Place To Bury Strangers, Conor Oberst, Franz Ferdinand, Girl Talk (meh, maybe), Leonard Cohen, Morrissey, Paul McCartney (!), Patton/Rahzel.
Sat- Amy Winehouse (assuming she's still alive), Glasvegas, Henry Rollins, Liars, Mastodon, Tinariwen, Turbonegro, TVOTR.
Sun- Fucked Up, My Bloody Valentine, No Age, Paul Weller, The Night Marchers, X, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
(I did not plan to bold those just because they are all M's. They're just the ones I'd like to see the most (again). Weird!)
Christ though, $269 for 3 days, plus the need to find somewhere to stay. They have fucking layaway though.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Some Times It Just Takes a While To Get Things Done

Like, say, 6 or 7 years.
Case in point: my turntable. Like any self-respecting young "punker," I've had a record player and the requisite Minor Threat 7"s for years. However, I never had it set up correctly- until last night. See, I never had a stereo with the proper phono input/preamp, so playing records involved plugging the beast into my crappy bookshelf stereo and turning the volume waaaaay up, and listening to records without the proper EQ curve. I could've bought a phono preamp, but who has $50, right?
Anyway, I recently aquired the proper receiver/preamp, bought a classy new needle/cartridge, bought some new speakers (hooray gift certificates!), new speaker wire, etc. etc. etc. After a liberal application of electrical contact cleaner (the balance & volume knobs were corroded, causing distortion and general not-workiness) last night, I'm in business- finally. And it really does sound great. Apparently the reciever I got from my parent's house is very well thought of in stereo cicles (it's a Luxman R-117, if you care. But I know you don't). Fantastic. I don't plan on replacing my (hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of) cds, but when new stuff, or stuff that I don't physically own is available on vinyl, that's what I'm buying.
One thing I've got to get used to: having to stand up and walk over to the record to see the track names.
One thing I don't need to get used to: vinyl really does sound better. I hate to admit it, but it's true.

Records I've been listening to on the beast:
-Hot Snakes: Suicide Invoice (with a rad extended version of Paid In Cigarettes that I'd never heard until now!)
-Mogwai: Bat Cat EP (it's a 12" 45! Those crazy Scots!)
-At The Drive-In: One Armed Scissor single (yes, there were some cool things about my old job.)
-T.Rex: Electric Warrior (I always regretted buying the album from iTunes, and now I've made it right.)
-Big Black: Songs About Fucking (of course I have to have a Steve Albini record on vinyl. It's virtually required.)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

And I Forgot To Mention

Mad Men is the best television show ever conceived.
It's honestly all I think about.

Notable Stuffery

This close to having my turntable set up again. It's been a long while- since I moved out of my Mom's house in college, to be exact. Got some new speakers this weekend, fanagled a vintage receiver from Hall Manor (thanks Ross), still waiting on my new cartridge from Amazon- should be here any day now. I've got a bunch of records that have never been played- time to put a stop to that.

Listening lately:
-(some CD compilations to listen to in the car)
       Mogwai EP Compiliation: EP+2, Bat Cat, My Father My King
       My Bloody Valentine: Glider + Tremolo
       The Clash: Assorted Dub (the only reggae you will ever hear me listening to)
-Sigur Rós: Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
-Hot Snakes: Automatic Midnight

Watching lately:
-Imagine: The Story of the Guitar (BBC Bootleg!)
-John Adams
-Taxi To The Dark Side (Fuuuuuck...)
-Bigger, Stronger, Faster
-Defiance

The Death of Indie 103.1FM:
Bummer. Jonesy's Jukebox was the best radio program ever conceived.

And finally- Blogism
See the sidebar at left for new friend-bloggage. Including, but not limited to: Megan J's Carnival Preparations and Morgan C's drawings of flesh-eating diseases/zombies. Enjoy!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

TiVo HD is the greatest.

Even for someone who's been living the TiVo lifestyle fo sooooo long. Netflix Instant Queue! Amazing. The increased hard drive space and dual recording capability are really doing a number on my free time.
Oh yeah, Time Warner Cable=dicks. It took them a whole day to get the cable card working.
So between TiVo, Netflix, and Call of Duty: World At War, I haven't a lot of time for the internets, sorry.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Ron Asheton

I love The Stooges. I'm very glad I got to experience them live. Thanks Ron.











































(That's me between the left elbow and headstock on either picture.)

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Back To/In The Swing Of Things

As unfortunate as it is, I think everyone gets a little sick of vacation. I've successfully avoided doing very much work (about 3 days worth) in the last 3 weeks or so, and as much as I enjoyed being on a couch by the fire in Paso or on a ski lift in Big Bear, I am more than glad to be home.
Here's what I've been doing since I got back.
-Watching Mad Men (thanks Chase) on the new TV
-Playing Call of Duty: World At War (thanks Michael) on the new TV
-Recovering my sore muscles
-Reading The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain (thanks Tim)
-Listening to these: Roxy Music: s/t, Scott Walker: Scott, Paul McCartney: McCartney, Paul McCartney: Ram, Sonic Youth: Confusion Is Sex/Kill Yr Idols, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Murder Ballads, Explosions In The Sky: All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (thanks Chase).
-Exploring the wonderful world of the Micro POG (thanks Dawn).