Why The Fuck Has This Not Been ReMastered? Episode One

Sunny Day Real Estate: Diary
For fuck's sake- this is one of the greatest records of the 90's, and it sounds terrible. Luckily for all of us, the excellent songcraft shines through the horrible, muddy mix. Jeremy Enigk needs to get over himself, do the respectable thing by making the record sound like it should, and even, as a side benefit, make some fucking cash (everyone knows Nate Mendel had to pay for the first Fire Theft record).
Ratings in it's present form: Songs: 9.5, Mix: 2.0.
Jeremy/Sub Pop- DO THE RIGHT THING.

Good Night & Good Luck, My Old Friend.

So, it finally happened. I lost one of my oldest and dearest friends this last weekend.


Yeah, I know... traumatic/dramatic. She required a princely sum to get running again, in addition to untold future investments- so I decided the do the economically smart thing and invest it in an otherwise more reliable vehicle:

And so now I join Maine residents and various other hippies as the proud owner of a Subaru. I am very proud of my absolutely pragmatic decision making.
Dawn played DJ on the way home (ipod connectivity!), and after the obligatory round of Hot Snakes, she made the best possible choice: 99 Problems- immediately easing my separation anxiety from the Red Dragon, at least temporarily. The first record you listen to in a certain situation is very important, I think. (Also noteworthy- the first song I heard on the car's radio was Q-Tip. I didn't even know he got played on Power 106 these days. Even so, a very good omen.)
So, I say a tearful goodbye to my friend of 12 years, and bid a bittersweet welcome to a new one.

I've Got 96 Tears In 96 Eyes

I new something was up with my car this morning. Come to find out, it was bummed about Lux Interior's passing. Well, that makes two of us, Jeep.
Sadly, I've got no pictures of me lurking out-of-focusly behind Lux. Oh well- check out the youtubes instead.
My favorite two Cramps songs:
I Was A Teenage Werewolf

& Human Fly


[Update: I came across what I thought is the best eulogy for Lux- written by none other than The Mighty Sw@mi  himself:

"no way only 95,000 people bought Bad Music. i'm guessing it's 10 times that. as important as the ramones or mozart. the cramps not only taught us songs but a way of life. no one will ever be cooler than lux. he was badass lethal and outrageously hilarious until the end i mourn"]

I had finally come up with a plan to replace my car- however, it required my car to be driveable until at least September. Hopefully this is an easy (and cheap) repair, but that doesn't usually happen.

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.

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.)