so i did the big time grad student thing yesterday and attended my 1st university guest lecture event. it was everything a post grad could wish for. a blueberry and raspberry friand, some bottles water, black coffee, chit chat with classmates about the future of the us supreme court, and avoiding my professor who is grading my mega research paper right now thats worth 50% of my grade all the while waiting to be adressed and have some q & a with francis fukuyama author of many many books on us foreign policy and us politics.
i loved hearing from dr fukuyama, but i detested the overly academia stigma that was attached to so many of the questions that were being asked. i mean it was like a squander opportunity that was wasted because people wanted to hear their own voices. this lecture and most of my time this first semester has only helped to solidify my thoughts on what to do next after graduation; not become a university professor.
fukuyama's wikipedia page
5/27/2008
5/26/2008
monday's mandatory music (pt 7)
i'm sticking with the female theme to make up for all of the years that i brushed female singer/songwriters aside, plus since i have stared writing about chick musicians 'disco files' has experienced a significant spike in the female 18-25 demographic and an unexplained spike in the male 40-49 category.
this next band is not a chick band by any definition, but their front-person is a chick and she is awesome. the band i want to talk about this week is rilo kiley and their latest album,'under the blacklight'.
rilo kiley is a unique band formed by 2 former child stars turned indie rockers,
jenny lewis and blake sennett who stared in troop beverly hills (ill admit that i used to love that movie as a kid) and camp salute your shorts (again another old favorite) respectively. luckily the 2 have decided to give the acting gig a rest and take on the calling to be awesome indie pop rockers making very hip music.
the album opens with a anthem tune called 'silver lining' that has a driving rhythm to it that helps introduce the sharp guitar licks of sennett as well as the gorgeous voice that jenny lewis brings to the table. 'silver lining' is followed by a much more rock oriented tune that is more indicative of the rilo kiley style named 'close call'. the 3rd track, 'moneymaker' has one of the best opening drum guitar intros out there.
the next 3 tracks are more mainstream and represent the indie pop section of the album. the first of these tracks is called 'breaking up' and is a track where lewis shines through and really conveys her strong will/nature/attitude. i have this image in my head that 'breaking up' is the track playing on the ipod of all those confident women i see walking through the streets of sydney.
the title track, 'under the blacklight' is next and shows the the softer rhythm acoustic range that rilo kiley can switch in and out of - also shows more vocal range for lewis. the next track, 'dreamworld' is straight up an amalgamation of the cure and and the vocal harmonies of fleetwood mac. in other words really good music.
the final section of the album turns a little more funky and fun. there are more samples and more synthesizer in tracks like 'dejalo' which flexes the bands latin funk muscle and the folkie based song '15' which addresses the same topic as the police's dont stand so close to me and nabokov's 'lolita'.
the tracks 'smoke detector' and 'the angels hung around' focus more on the acoustic strumming and the country honky tonk twang that jenny lewis can pull off. and the album finishes with quite a unique electro-pop gospel themes song called 'give a little love' which encourages the listener that "you got to give a little love to get a little love."
'silver lining'
and i'm not going back
into rags or in the hole
and our bruises are coming
but we will never fold
and i was your silver lining
as the story goes
i was your silver lining
but now i'm gold
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now I'm gold
and I was your silver lining
high up on my toes
you were running through fields of hitch-hikers
as the story goes
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now i'm gold
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now I'm gold
and the grass it was a ticking
and the sun was on the rise
i never felt so wicked
as when i willed our love to die
and i was your silver lining
as the story goes
i was your silver lining
but now i'm gold
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now i'm gold
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now i'm gold
but now i'm gold
but now i'm gold
this next band is not a chick band by any definition, but their front-person is a chick and she is awesome. the band i want to talk about this week is rilo kiley and their latest album,'under the blacklight'.
rilo kiley is a unique band formed by 2 former child stars turned indie rockers,
jenny lewis and blake sennett who stared in troop beverly hills (ill admit that i used to love that movie as a kid) and camp salute your shorts (again another old favorite) respectively. luckily the 2 have decided to give the acting gig a rest and take on the calling to be awesome indie pop rockers making very hip music.the album opens with a anthem tune called 'silver lining' that has a driving rhythm to it that helps introduce the sharp guitar licks of sennett as well as the gorgeous voice that jenny lewis brings to the table. 'silver lining' is followed by a much more rock oriented tune that is more indicative of the rilo kiley style named 'close call'. the 3rd track, 'moneymaker' has one of the best opening drum guitar intros out there.
the next 3 tracks are more mainstream and represent the indie pop section of the album. the first of these tracks is called 'breaking up' and is a track where lewis shines through and really conveys her strong will/nature/attitude. i have this image in my head that 'breaking up' is the track playing on the ipod of all those confident women i see walking through the streets of sydney.
the title track, 'under the blacklight' is next and shows the the softer rhythm acoustic range that rilo kiley can switch in and out of - also shows more vocal range for lewis. the next track, 'dreamworld' is straight up an amalgamation of the cure and and the vocal harmonies of fleetwood mac. in other words really good music.the final section of the album turns a little more funky and fun. there are more samples and more synthesizer in tracks like 'dejalo' which flexes the bands latin funk muscle and the folkie based song '15' which addresses the same topic as the police's dont stand so close to me and nabokov's 'lolita'.
the tracks 'smoke detector' and 'the angels hung around' focus more on the acoustic strumming and the country honky tonk twang that jenny lewis can pull off. and the album finishes with quite a unique electro-pop gospel themes song called 'give a little love' which encourages the listener that "you got to give a little love to get a little love."
'silver lining'
and i'm not going back
into rags or in the hole
and our bruises are coming
but we will never fold
and i was your silver lining
as the story goes
i was your silver lining
but now i'm gold
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now I'm gold
and I was your silver lining
high up on my toes
you were running through fields of hitch-hikers
as the story goes
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now i'm gold
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now I'm gold
and the grass it was a ticking
and the sun was on the rise
i never felt so wicked
as when i willed our love to die
and i was your silver lining
as the story goes
i was your silver lining
but now i'm gold
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now i'm gold
hooray hooray
i'm your silver lining
hooray hooray
but now i'm gold
but now i'm gold
but now i'm gold
5/19/2008
monday's mandatory music (pt 6)
after a week off (it never happened remember) i wanted to do something different for this week's installment of MonManMu. i wanted to go for a thematic approach this week. with that idea running through my mind i was trying to come up with a suitable theme, and after much turmoil and deliberation i have decided to pick on of my favorite things in the world as this week's theme: women.
even as recent as a year ago i was a self proclaimed 'woman hater' when it came to music. let me explain for my female friends before they decide to feed me to the lions. female musicians simply didnt do it for me. there were none on my radar and none that i thought deserved a spot on my radar for that matter. you will all be happy to know that over the past 12 months there have been 5 albums that have helped reshape my musical radar and helped my cross the proverbial line at a middle school dance to embrace the fairer gender.
the 1st woman centered band that i want to introduce to you is
grace potter and the nocturnals and their august 2007 release entitled 'this is somewhere'. this chick can rock and this chick can sing! her voice is something else. it has these deep tones of the south (Even though she is from the north) it has this assertiveness to it but yet is still vulnerable.blues based rock and roll woman for sure and you can hear this in the politically charged track 'ah mary' and the album's 2nd track 'stop the bus'. her softer side can been found in the tracks 'apologies' and 'you may see me'
here's a little sample of grace potter
she's skilled at the art of deception and she knows it
she's got dirty money that she plays with all the time
she waters the garden but maybe she just likes the hoses
she puts herself just a notch above human kind
ah Mary
she'll bake you cookies then she'll burn your town
ah Mary
ashes Ashes but she won't fall down
she's the beat of my heart
she's the shot of a gun
she'll be the end of me and maybe everyone
yeah
she's the beat of my heart
she's the shot fo a gun
she'll be the end of me and maybe everyone
call her a bully she'll blow up your whole damn playground
pour her a drink and watch it go straight to her head
she'll take you so high she'll cover her eyes as you fall down
then in the morning, don't be surprised if you're dead
ah Mary
she'll bake you cookies then she'll burn your town
ah Mary
ashes Ashes but she won't fall down
she's the beat of my heart
she's the shot of a gun
she'll be the end of me and maybe everyone
she's the beat of my heart
she's the shot of a gun
she'll be the end of me and maybe everyone, ohh Mary
even as recent as a year ago i was a self proclaimed 'woman hater' when it came to music. let me explain for my female friends before they decide to feed me to the lions. female musicians simply didnt do it for me. there were none on my radar and none that i thought deserved a spot on my radar for that matter. you will all be happy to know that over the past 12 months there have been 5 albums that have helped reshape my musical radar and helped my cross the proverbial line at a middle school dance to embrace the fairer gender.
the 1st woman centered band that i want to introduce to you is
grace potter and the nocturnals and their august 2007 release entitled 'this is somewhere'. this chick can rock and this chick can sing! her voice is something else. it has these deep tones of the south (Even though she is from the north) it has this assertiveness to it but yet is still vulnerable.blues based rock and roll woman for sure and you can hear this in the politically charged track 'ah mary' and the album's 2nd track 'stop the bus'. her softer side can been found in the tracks 'apologies' and 'you may see me'here's a little sample of grace potter
she's skilled at the art of deception and she knows it
she's got dirty money that she plays with all the time
she waters the garden but maybe she just likes the hoses
she puts herself just a notch above human kind
ah Mary
she'll bake you cookies then she'll burn your town
ah Mary
ashes Ashes but she won't fall down
she's the beat of my heart
she's the shot of a gun
she'll be the end of me and maybe everyone
yeah
she's the beat of my heart
she's the shot fo a gun
she'll be the end of me and maybe everyone
call her a bully she'll blow up your whole damn playground
pour her a drink and watch it go straight to her head
she'll take you so high she'll cover her eyes as you fall down
then in the morning, don't be surprised if you're dead
ah Mary
she'll bake you cookies then she'll burn your town
ah Mary
ashes Ashes but she won't fall down
she's the beat of my heart
she's the shot of a gun
she'll be the end of me and maybe everyone
she's the beat of my heart
she's the shot of a gun
she'll be the end of me and maybe everyone, ohh Mary
5/18/2008
excuses, excuses, excuses ...
folks im sorry for being such a slack blogger. lets just pretend that last week never happened. it started off with me battling the flu. had to get some work at the coffee shop in to earn some multi colored cash (its not all green over here). had a bit of drama back home that was difficult. i also had 2 presentations for class last week. and then on top of all that i got sick again this time with strep throat on thursday that ko'ed me for another 3 days. all excuses. all probably valid, but in the end i need to keep writing.
with that being said i am going to 1289753445% have monday's mandatory music for you all this week!
with that being said i am going to 1289753445% have monday's mandatory music for you all this week!
5/07/2008
5/06/2008
another reason why i love hobart, tasmania ...
it was during their last day in hobart (monday) that 'the nurse', 'the lawyer', and 'the student of life' took on the feat of doing a self proclaimed cafe crawl through the bustling streets of the states capital. on this coffee crusade 'the student of life' found himself sifting through a bin a bargain cds when he stumbled upon a diamond in the rough for only $4 aussie dollars ...
thats right i freaking scored john lee hooker's double cd entitled 'highway blues'.
thats right i freaking scored john lee hooker's double cd entitled 'highway blues'.
monday's mandatory music (pt 5)
hold onto your seats, mess up your hair, grab some fluorescent sunglasses, and throw on your hipster dancing outfit cause this week we are coming at you with the hippest uber layered and composed punk dance-tronica. hows that for an esoteric genre!?!? but no seriously thats the best way that i can describe the music of lcd soundsystem off of their 2007 album 'sound of silver'.
lcd soudsystem is not your 'usual' band and as a result do not create your 'usual' music. the band doesnt exist, rather it is a collaboration effort headed by james murphy who acts as vocals, producer, craetive genius who drives the lcd soundsystem train. the band comes together to play live shows through out the world, which during this past tour has seen them head to australia, europe, and all throughout the states leaving a sweaty trail of over danced and rocked out hipsters in its wake.
these guys eat complements and articles heralding murphys musical genius as being the most innovative man in indie rock, and quite frankly they are pretty spot on. but lets cut through quickly and move past all the hipster 'holier than thou' bravado bull shit and let me tell you how much this cd rocks the house!
the grammy winning 'sound of silver' (best dance album in 2008) is exactly what the dance/elctronic music movement needed to burst onto the main stage and unite music fans with electronica buffs and dance freaks all around the world. the cds complex and creative beats are layered so perfectly that the sounds and beats blend together in ear soothing sounds. the open track of the album, 'get innocuous!' demonstrates this layering perfectly and deliberately. the track begins with a simple drum kit beat, followed by a couple of keys, then the bass line, then more keys, then the guitar, then the drum set, and wham the music is in full effect and you get introduced to some hauntingly inviting murphy lyrics. its electronica 101.
the opening track is then followed by 'its time to get away' which is a great example of why i use the 'punk' in lcds uber layered and composed punk dance-tronica genre - its stripped down, jagged, and has a bit of edge. the satirical and elevated level of lcd soundsystem is on display during the anthem 'north american scum'. upon looking at the track title you would think they are simply like the rest of the world and hate the us, but lcd soundsystem dispels all the rumors that they are british and proudly proclaim that they are infact 'north american scum' while demanding "wheres the love?!!?".
the next tune, 'someone great' is a beautiful track that i use all the time as my bait to get people to bite on the lcd fishing line! its got everything gorgeous lyrics, that air tight composition, and the flow that makes the song very linear starting narrow and ending very wide. the single off of the album is the next song entitled 'all my friends' and in my eyes deals
with the late twenties/mid thirties angst of the awkwardness of growing up and separation from where you have been before as you move on. but lets face it the lyrics are only half of this song the driving force like the rest of lcd soundsystems tunes is the composition and production of the music.
'us vs. them' the longest track of the album topping out at 8minutes and 30seconds and just comment on the fact that there can not possibly be more cowbell on track! i love it. 'watch all the tapes' comes next and again hints unashamedly at the groups punk influence all the while doing it in a electronic/dance setting. the title track comes next and with its thumping bass drum, high hat hitting, and driving beat makes it a dance anthem for the ages. the final track of the album is the lyrically driven tune called 'new york i love you but you are bringing me down'. the name of the song gives away murphys feelings and it wonderful to see or rather hear through the song the love hate relationship that exists for the composer and his home town. i can relate.
if i knew more about the production process of music i would of been able to of given this album its proper due. for now i will tell you to get a hold of the album, put it on the best audio system you can find, and turn it up real LOUD!
All My Friends
lcd soudsystem is not your 'usual' band and as a result do not create your 'usual' music. the band doesnt exist, rather it is a collaboration effort headed by james murphy who acts as vocals, producer, craetive genius who drives the lcd soundsystem train. the band comes together to play live shows through out the world, which during this past tour has seen them head to australia, europe, and all throughout the states leaving a sweaty trail of over danced and rocked out hipsters in its wake. these guys eat complements and articles heralding murphys musical genius as being the most innovative man in indie rock, and quite frankly they are pretty spot on. but lets cut through quickly and move past all the hipster 'holier than thou' bravado bull shit and let me tell you how much this cd rocks the house!
the grammy winning 'sound of silver' (best dance album in 2008) is exactly what the dance/elctronic music movement needed to burst onto the main stage and unite music fans with electronica buffs and dance freaks all around the world. the cds complex and creative beats are layered so perfectly that the sounds and beats blend together in ear soothing sounds. the open track of the album, 'get innocuous!' demonstrates this layering perfectly and deliberately. the track begins with a simple drum kit beat, followed by a couple of keys, then the bass line, then more keys, then the guitar, then the drum set, and wham the music is in full effect and you get introduced to some hauntingly inviting murphy lyrics. its electronica 101.
the opening track is then followed by 'its time to get away' which is a great example of why i use the 'punk' in lcds uber layered and composed punk dance-tronica genre - its stripped down, jagged, and has a bit of edge. the satirical and elevated level of lcd soundsystem is on display during the anthem 'north american scum'. upon looking at the track title you would think they are simply like the rest of the world and hate the us, but lcd soundsystem dispels all the rumors that they are british and proudly proclaim that they are infact 'north american scum' while demanding "wheres the love?!!?".
the next tune, 'someone great' is a beautiful track that i use all the time as my bait to get people to bite on the lcd fishing line! its got everything gorgeous lyrics, that air tight composition, and the flow that makes the song very linear starting narrow and ending very wide. the single off of the album is the next song entitled 'all my friends' and in my eyes deals
with the late twenties/mid thirties angst of the awkwardness of growing up and separation from where you have been before as you move on. but lets face it the lyrics are only half of this song the driving force like the rest of lcd soundsystems tunes is the composition and production of the music. 'us vs. them' the longest track of the album topping out at 8minutes and 30seconds and just comment on the fact that there can not possibly be more cowbell on track! i love it. 'watch all the tapes' comes next and again hints unashamedly at the groups punk influence all the while doing it in a electronic/dance setting. the title track comes next and with its thumping bass drum, high hat hitting, and driving beat makes it a dance anthem for the ages. the final track of the album is the lyrically driven tune called 'new york i love you but you are bringing me down'. the name of the song gives away murphys feelings and it wonderful to see or rather hear through the song the love hate relationship that exists for the composer and his home town. i can relate.
if i knew more about the production process of music i would of been able to of given this album its proper due. for now i will tell you to get a hold of the album, put it on the best audio system you can find, and turn it up real LOUD!
All My Friends
5/04/2008
live from tasMANIA ...
yeah hey, steve is down under down under. ive been hop, skipping, and jumping through this unbelievable state ... will have much more to write on later when i return to sydney
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