Guess which of these parties I generally enjoy more? Dr. Pepper promises a free can of its soda to everyone in America if Guns n' Roses release Chinese Democracy before the end of year. Read this. (Kudos to Paul Thompson for saying both are prune-like. Ha.)
Do you live within driving distance of Athens, Ga.? Do you like the New Pornographers? How 'bout Okkervil River? Cable and Tweed's givin' away tickets.
This is funny because I was about 30 feet away interviewing Aaron Dessner, also from The National as this interview was taking place. Go Grooveshark!
Here is a blurry picture of The National that I took at Langerado:
And finally, I very much recommend that you check out Have You Heard. They've really been kickin' ass lately
I have returned from Langerado! I'd like to tell you all about it, but I'm so exhausted from all the driving (SOOOO much driving!), the constant show-going, the eating, the hand-sanitizing, and most of all, the extensive blogging the other Paste-types and I did the whole time, that I'm pretty much tapped out. We're almost done with all the entries. I've finished mine. So instead of revisiting everything I already wrote about (painstakingly and on very little sleep), I'll have a link fest here! Yay!
The music media's still celebrating the tenth anniversary of Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (as well they should...), and today Pitchfork put up this interview. When I first saw it, I thought for a second that it was a recent interview with Jeff Mangum and nearly fell out of my chair. It's not. It's from '97. But it's still interesting! The best part is toward the end (and please read the rest as well. Click on link above.), when the writer reprints a fax of Mangum's interview responses he found from a decade ago. Mangum didn't reproduce the questions when he responded, though, so they're answers without questions. Here they are:
"Answers Without Questions: Jeff Mangum Interviewed via Fax Machine by Mike McGonigal
The other week I found these sheets where Jeff Mangum had typed up a bunch of questions to answers that I'd sent to him. Number 45 is likely, "What's the last lie you told?," a question I asked a lot of people around that time. The faxed interview appears to date from in between the release of Avery and the recording for Aeroplane. He didn't answer all of the questions. 1. 25
2. My earliest memory is of going to the potty all by myself for the first time while my parents were out to dinner. I remember the difficulty I had of knowing whether or not I was doing it right and of wiping my ass a hundred times to make sure something awful didn't happen. Later that evening, I remember telling my mother of what I had done and she placed her hand on my head and told me how proud she was of her little boy.
10. Since 1983
11. Since 1989
14. My oldest living relative is Jefferson P. King who is 86 years old and lives in an extremely small Texas town with a player piano and an assortment of animals that are no longer living and most mornings when I would visit, I'd hear him in the other room talking to old photographs of the only girl he ever loved and who he married in the early 1930s. She passed away two years ago in a hospital in Dallas saying she was the descendant of an old world ruler of the planets and told the nurses not to fool around with her or she'd put a hex on them all. She was a sweet woman with a strong belief in angels and I'm sure she's on a cloud or in a baby carriage waiting for my grandfather to show up on the side that she now exists in.
16. For some reason my father seems to like the noise the best. He says it sounds like Buddhist monks chanting which I don't particularly understand, but I'm happy he doesn't hate it. It's a little embarrassing because my father is sending CDs to my aunts and uncles and I'm hoping they don't read the lyric sheet and get creeped.
22. The basketball game where you punch your opponent.
24. Chicago
25. I was a telemarketer in Denver spending most of my time with my phone disconnected or hanging around in the bathroom pretending to have had an upset stomach. Eventually I was physically thrown out of the place by my boss who didn't appreciate my appearance and for some reason seemed to think I was a drug addict.
27. That song by Faust about the banana.
28. I prefer for people to make up their own meanings to my songs and apply them to their life and relate to them the way that they choose.
31. I have pretty specific visions for the next two "pop" oriented albums, and then I'd like to just set up a little musical workshop somewhere and record whatever comes to mind. I'm also working on an organ-oriented album about a horse's life and his interaction with the other animals on the farm and in the end he gets sent to the glue factory and ascends to heaven. This particular one won't end up under the Neutral Milk Hotel name since it's a little ridiculous and some of it sounds like Smurf music.
32. We will soon be getting a little group together with Scott playing the guitar and hopefully baritone if we can dig one up and Julian playing his little French accordion, banjo, and air organ and Jeremy on the drums. We'll be traveling to Arizona soon to practice and we're hoping to come up with something we all like enough to take on the road.
33. The cover is an old photograph from 1910-- and unfortunately I don't think the photographer's name is known although I am researching it-- and the back cover is from the late 1800s.
45. I told my grandfather that his driving wasn't scaring me."
2. I'm not sure I ever posted this when it surfaced in the fall, but it's funny.
3. Grizzly Bear's MySpace. Enjoyable because in the spot where you can put forth a motto or favorite quote or album release or whatever (ex. "Because I said so..."), Grizzly Bear has simply declared "Yay!"
It'll be on news racks and ledges under windows across the Southeast in the next couple days, but here's the web links to all the stuff I wrote for SEP this month!
Live Reviews: The New Sound of Numbers, The Selmanaires, and Pylon at The Earl (Show of the Month!) Of Montreal on Halloween at the 40 Watt!
(Note: It says John Harris is the drummer from The Selmanaires. I don't know why. It's Jason Harris. Sorry Jason.)
Here's my record review. I'm actually kinda proud of it, so I'm copy-pasting here. Indulge me. The New Whole Usuals - Martin Moeh Produced by Andrew Dolfie and Daniel Scobey Recorded, mixed and mastered at ITC Productions
The New Whole Usuals, a Murfreesboro, Tenn. oddball group with an inclusionary philosophy, declare that “you too can be a new whole usual.” This idea extends beyond general hospitality to tonalities, instrumentations and styles. The band’s latest release, Martin Moeh, encompasses as many different sounds and ideas as is really advisable. Through 15 tracks, the album runs the gamut from Brian Wilson-esque multi-part vocal arrangements to harpsichord counterpoint and to bizarre experimental sound effects. Obviously using heavy classical influence, the eighth and ninth tracks, “Big” and “Small,” for example, fluctuate between cartoonish wind sequences and baritone-heavy vocal textures, sometimes expressing discernable lyrics, sometimes not. The New Whole Usuals definitely seem to have employed a full orchestra’s worth of ideas in this effort. Jazz chords and sudden time and key signature changes don’t frighten these adventurers. The very next song, “You Will Become,” transitions into sweeping ‘70s rock ballad territory, with banjo and electric guitar, followed by the psychedelic rock of “Microscopic Pete vs. The Angry Duck.” The latter incorporates trumpet improvisations over a rambling sing-a-long and full brass section. Andrew Dolfie’s vocal stylings are equally changeable, varying between delivery reminiscent of Barenaked Ladies, Belle and Sebastian and Elliott Smith, alternately harsh and intimate. “My Friend Sheila,” the only track credited to both Andrew Dolfie and Daniel Scobey, includes an almost Debussy-inspired piano part and Smiths-like confessional lyricism. Never adhering to strictly one idea, the song incorporates whispering and other various sound effects. The words “At last” are uttered before the song slows and suddenly becomes a circus waltz complete with bells, then gives way to the acoustic guitar, laptop rhythms, and soft crooning of “Go to Bed,” a tale of insomnia and arguments. At first off-putting, this infectious album ultimately crawls under the skin. It’s quicker than listening to 12 separate records, but it packs the same punch. (Me and the Machine Records)
www.thenewwholeusuals.com
-Julia Reidy
And finally, my very first spotlight! It's about Atlanta hip-hop artist, Teabag da Herbalist.
The rest of the issue is excellent as well, and (as you can see) features Black Kids on the cover! Check it out!
Adam and Bradley at Have You Heard are chugging along and amassing listeners by the day, and deservedly so! Their latest episode is their 2007 top 20 countdown, and an excellent rundown of music of the year. If you've got an hour and 22 minutes, hit it up! They have several selections I agree with completely, and several they're talking about so glowingly that I'm starting to change my mind. Especially their bit on Menomena. I had trouble dealing with the majority of the Menomena record, except their song "Rotten Hell" which I effing love! Observe, and PLEASE listen all the way to the end:
A&B talk about a different track which they really like, as well as the origin of the band's name (muppet-based, no kidding!), and I may be starting to come around to a wider liking of the band. I'm easily convinced, perhaps.
They also talk about Of Montreal, which as we all know, I adore. And they mention my trip to the 40 Watt to hear/see them play (the review of which appears in January's? SEP.) Thanks, boys :)
And the National. Oh, the National. Can't. Stop. Listening. Have. Tried...Can't. The guys call Boxer "a grower" and they're dead right. This is my absolute favorite song right now, and it's not the one in the podcast:
The guys talk about tons more, but I won't ruin it for you. Have a listen!
I'm going to be a guest on Have You Heard next week, as far as I know. (If they ever let me know about those albums...ahem.) So be sure to listen in! This is the Atlanta independent music criticism community at its best, y'all!
Been feeling a bit scattered lately, as evidenced by the lack of posts. It's not that I don't have any ideas, it's that I've got too many.
Here are some of them:
1. A tribute to Of Montreal - themed multimedia, including ridiculous videos, Daytrotter sessions, live performance journal, etc. Really, it's just so easy to talk about them because they're just so interesting (read: "insane" and "musically prolific"). I think this one'll have to wait a couple days.
2. Inspired by the lists upon lists upon lists, I was going to throw a few of my own favorite videos of the year on here...one of which was from Of Montreal...maybe I really do need to do that post...and two of which were directed/animated by the aforementioned Brothers Chaps from homestarrunner.com.
(Heimdalsgate Like a Promethian Curse, Dir: Brothers Chaps)
3. I thought I might point you lovely people toward particularly well-designed record label websites, especially Kindercore's. This Athens label's page is just too cool for words. But to preclude that, I've instead started a lovely link section (to your right) just for neat labels. The criteria for making my label list include, "Do they produce music I want to listen to over and over again?" "Are they nice?" and "Do I want to hug them when they meet me unsuspectingly at shows because they've contributed so much to our little musical bubble?....ahem...sorry, Mike." (Side note: I think it's funny, in my travels through Southeast record label cyberspace, how many different ones carry at least one release by Neutral Milk Hotel. Yeah, they're unequivocally incredible. But...still. Everyone can't claim them as their artist...Merge, etc.)
4. It's the holidays. This calls for Christmas music. I want to post some mp3s, and I will soon, but for now, visit Y O U or Casper and the Cookies, for some of the best indie X-Mas jams I've heard so far. They're cheesy. They're synth. They're twee. It's good times.
Casper and his cookies:
Aren't they festive?
5. Thought I might marinate on the naming of record labels a bit. Especially one such Cephalopod Records out of Nashville. I like this idea of classifying things based on their number of appendages, and apparently, so does this record label. I wanted to support these efforts.
6. A tribute to the Take Away Shows seemed to be in order. It still is. This is definitely one I'm doing.
Beirut performs "The Penalty" in a French bar:
7. Lastly, I thought I might weigh in on the whole Bradford Cox blogging thing. Maybe I won't, though.
Happy Christmakkah, everyone. Stay tuned. Oh, and what I'd really like for the holidays are comments on my blog.
Courtesy of Under the Radar, definitely one of my favorite music mags. Tasteful, intelligent, etc....not snarky (I hate the word snarky, but by god, sometimes it applies...)
The article that goes with that picture's worth reading, too, if one has the time.
Got the tickets for NYE with Band of Horses. Yay!
This week, I saw Of Montreal play for the second time in 20 days. It was at the Variety here in Atlanta and it was completely worth it. Their show is...trippy, and much better on the larger stage where all their props and light panels could be utilized. I especially enjoyed when Kevin Barnes returned after his costume change halfway through. Two words: thigh highs. That is all. And both times they played "So Begins Our Alabee," one of my favorite songs of all time. I know it's difficult to make statements like that (because I have a ton of "favorite songs of all time"), but this time it's absolutely true.
This week, getting started on Stomp and Stammers venue ads for December, writing an article on The Selmanaires (hooray!), and hopefully attending Band Together (Morning State, The Pendletons, etc.) at The Earl and S&S's 11th birthday party, "Atlanta's Burning" at the Variety w/ Black Lips, Snowden, Deerhunter, and The Selmanaires.
Freelance music journalist/graphic designer for places like Tiny Mix Tapes, Creative Loafing Atlanta, Paste Magazine, Stomp and Stammer, Athens Magazine and Atlanta Music Guide. Former resident of Athens, Ga. Reluctant restaurant employee for nearly a decade.
