recent recommendations

movies: I recommend the darjeeling limited, but rushmore is still THE BEST wes anderson film.

books: I recommend white noise by don delillo, but not manhattan transfer by dos passos (despite what greil marcus says).

life: I recommend reducing your spending significantly, unless purchasing ridiculous plastic halloween figures for your yard. especially figures of the decapitated sort. to be left up year-round.

bob dylan at the qwest center; 10/26

listening to bob dylan's music reminds me that 1) the harmonica is the best instrument ever and 2) I'm only skipping along the surface. (sorry about the blurriness - it was a hasty effort at the threat of being escorted out for having violated the "no camera" rule. boo)

new home; before and after images

it's amazing what a bit of paint and some furniture can do. not completely done unpacking and setting up, but I'm tired of hearing some of you people bug me for pictures (ahem, aubrey).

vertigo

realized today

1. the line between childhood and adulthood isn't as clear as I had expected it would be

2. there is way more external (i.e. friendships, location, etc) continuity between childhood and adulthood than I thought there would be, and way less internal (i.e. definition of self) continuity between childhood and adulthood than I thought there would be.

people 6; saccade

september album notes and recommendations

broken social scene presents kevin drew "spirit if": so, the thing about solo album spin-offs is that you always want them to surprise you with a new sound or new trick - they ought to somehow depart from the band's last album (otherwise, why go solo or have collaborated in the first place?). a good example of nice solo departure is sam prekop's solo albums departing from the sea and cake albums. here, the solo album is kind of falls short - it's basically just another BSS album, which, well who knows, might be what everyone wants anyway.

devendra banhart "smokey rolls down thunder canyon": as usual, distinctly unique from the music that's out there. but, I think this album is one of db's weaker ones.

* emma pollock "watch the fireworks": former singers/songwriter of the Delgados', first solo album. totally great songs, fun to listen to, etc. actually, they are the kind of songs where when you first hear them, you feel like you've heard them before. might be my favorite album of the month. all songs appropriate for singing in the shower.

the good life "help wanted nights": well, it's good and I like it, but I wish tim kasher would go in a different direction or do something different from his other albums. this album is just like - in quality and sound - his other albums, when one expects and hopes a musician's sound to mature over time.

jose gonzalez "in our nature": acoustic guitar, folk-ish singing. pretty good album. very similar in sound and feel to his last album. rainy day music.

iron & wine "the shepherd's dog": pretty good, but I still maintain that I&W really benefits from the type of collaboration heard on "in the reins" (with calexico) - necessary to interrupt the slight sense of monotony on all iron and wine albums. (monotony of melody, that is...this album has fuller more complicated and varied composition, but the melodies remain distinctly pretty, but not extremely interesting, as is typical of non-collaborated I&W albums)

les savy fav "let's stay friends": I generally don't like LSF, but they start to approach, on this album, something I might almost like - that is, they're sort of toning down the harsh post-punk sound. only, why is emily haines on this album too? can someone explain to me why she is everywhere these days?

library tapes, "hostluft": quiet, swarming sounds and scraps of piano melodies. I kind of love the name of the band too. eluvium and stars of the lid and phillip glass type of minimalism.

manu chao "la radiolina": first time I ever heard manu chao, years ago (thanks bk) I had no idea what to make of it, and certainly never expected it to end up on the overly-concerned-with-hipster-hipsterness-pitchfork. anyway, listening to this album is kind of a "fun," "multicultural" experience. (?)

shocking pinks, self-titled: same disjointed, more rhythmic-than-melodic feel as broken social scene. intentionally interrupted and incomplete.

shout out louds "our ill wills": I almost turned the album off after the second song, but good thing I didn't - it gets better. don't expect the same upbeat songs like their last album - this album is about heartbreak.

just to clear up any confusion:

autumn is by far the best season. this is true even if you refer to it as "fall"

people 5; twitch