MEGA-POST!!!

I enjoy this blog, and I am glad I was asked to contribute. I'm blown away at the rate that you guys consume music. It's very impressive, and I've been trying to check out as many of your recommendations as I can. This post is going to be more of a comment on the past 15 or so posts - or a comment on comments that have been made, but I will also make an addition or two, and I have a few thoughts about classics.

After Don's Sun Ra post, I got all pumped up only to discover that I only have one Sun Ra record in my iTunes (Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy / Art Forms Of Dimensions Tomorrow). It is pretty awesome, but I know that he has a vast catalog, and I thought I had more of it. It must have been on my computer at work (before I quit). I used to work at Wellesley College, and their music library has a great collection that I raided on occasion. You vinyl people would have a nut explosion in their stacks. Seriously, NUT EXPLOSION!!! Anyway, I'll be getting more Sun Ra soon, and your favorites have been noted.

As I write this, I'm listening to the Iggy Pop song on Dark Night of the Soul. I definitely don't think this is the best one on the record, but it reminds me of an advertisement I saw on a bus on a recent trip to London.

Forgive me if I am not insightful enough. My intentions are to add some context to my listening history, and also to illustrate how people's opinions of things change over time. New thoughts? Not so much, but I wanted to talk about a mix that I made once. It consisted of all the George Harrison songs while he was in the Beatles. I don't think that makes this a Beatles post. If it does I am sorry, but all the recent Beatles blog controversy reminded me of my lost George Harrison mix. It wasn't complex, just the GH Beatles songs. I called it By George - hehe. All the songs were in chronological order. If I were to make the mix today I would make a cleverer arrangement of the tunes, but I don't plan on doing that. I made it because George is awesome, and being the #3 song writer in the Beatles must have been pretty hard for him. I bet it bummed him out sometimes, though I've never read anything about George's thoughts on the matter. Maybe it was nice that there was no pressure for him to write a ton of songs. Anyway, George Harrison-Good songs-Nice guitar work.

One band I did read about in high school was The Doors (this is not a Doors post either). I fucking loved them ever since I was a child falling asleep in the car to Riders on the Storm. The swirly mellow keyboards soothed me, and i wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics. I know that sounds corny, but it's a nice memory for me. Also, Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton brings back nice childhood memories, but I'll spare you the details. On to the point... Around the time the Doors movie came out, John Densmore, The Doors drummer wrote an autobiography that centered around his time in the band. The Doors were signed to Elektra, and John was super into label mates Love. When I read the book I had never heard of Love before. When I finally got around to checking them out, I must say that I didn't like them. I thought they sounded like a bunch of pussies, and I didn't understand why they were considered important or influential. Well, I have since developed an appreciation for them, and I like it more every time I listen. Recently I've listened to Forever Changes several times. I am impressed by its clean precision. The songs are quite complex, but the production is so good that it doesn't sound cluttered or overworked even with the abundance of kind of pussyish orchestration. The lyrics aregood, too. Yeah man. Classic rock.

Dirty Projectors. I dig them. I dig the new record. I dig the last record. Sometimes the guy's vocals are a little intense for me, and I understand why some of y'all aren't feeling it, but I think he and they are pretty awesome. So far I like the new record more, though I feel that the title track off the last record is a better song than any on the new record. That said, I'm really feeling Useful Chamber (track 6) on Bitte Orca. I like the way it changes direction. It moves from section to section, or movement to movement smoothly. I truly enjoy the way the simple drum machine beat gives way to an intensely unmechanical drum explosion during the crazy guitar parts toward the end. Shit man, these guys know what they are doing. It's very engaging. Simply stated, they are sick.
Here's the title track I mentioned above. It's called Rise Above:

PJ Harvey and John Parrish. Marleen calls PJ my girlfriend. I just missed her playing in Amsterdam. It sold out fast, and the cheapest scalped tickets were selling for 80 euros. I've paid more than that in the past, but I wasn't unemployed then. Anyway, TJ River said that the title track "made his boys shrink up" or something like that. Yeah man, I feel you. That's kind of the vibe that the PJ/Parish collaborations have. There was a song on the first one called Taut that had got to be in the running for creepiest song ever. It's scarier than Diamanda Galas, and that shit is scary. I think it's scarier than Careful With That Axe Eugene too. I think her songs (A Woman A Man Walked By/The Crow Knows Where All The Little Children Go, Taut) are creepier because they are personal. Not personal to her, but to the characters in the songs. The obsession with the man's chicken livered parts and her vengeful need to have his ass is dark and scary, but not beyond the realm of belief. Likewise, the odd and seemingly abusive relationship that the woman in Taut talks about is crazy and strange, but it is totally fathomable that there is a person who feels that way. Then there's the creepy way she sings these songs. I love her.
Here is Taut:


here is the one TJ River called a ball shrinker:

I have checked out a bit of the YaHoWa 13 stuff. Last year there was a story about those guys on NPR last year when one of the Source family people wrote a book. It's cool so far, but I haven't listened to much of it yet.

Ty Segall is reverby and garagey and retro, but you can tell that it is not old. I found the band on someone's year end best of list. They are raw and I would like to see them live. Don't expect amazing songs. Expect fuzz, reverb, and more reverb with some reverb on it. I don't recommend listening for long periods of time with headphones on. It is better experienced through speakers. Also, I think the album art is very cool.
You're Not Me:

A music blog aggregator that you may find useful- http://totallyfuzzy.blogspot.com/
I don't know what this guy's deal is, but he updates several times a day, every day. I subscribe to the RSS feed, but I find myself ignoring most of the posts because they add up so quickly. You won't be interested in everything, but you will find something on there. Also, look at it over time. It seems to go in cycles. One day there is tons of jazz, and the next could be all grunge.

Thank you for listening/reading/posting.