the show goes on without you, jazz showcase

steve colson & ernest dawkins at the velvet lounge, july 14th.

"The intricate textures and gnarly harmonies of his work certainly attest to the influence of the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of CreativeMusicians (AACM), a music collective that was in its first ascendancy when Colson arrived here in the late 1960s..."we've always stayed connected to Chicago," says Colson, who considers the city's penchant for the farthest reaches of jazz experimentation one of its greatest cultural assets." -- Howard Reich, Tribune arts critic.

May/june album recommendations

minus story "my ion truss": one of the many things I like about this album is that none of the songs sound like each other, and the album as a whole is really well-arranged.

maps "we can create": good album and not memorable all at the same time. weird.

Hallelujah the hills, " collective psychosis begone" : this band makes great use of different instruments (the cello!). though, you have to wait till halfway through to get to the good stuff.

Andrew Pekler "cue": mellow post-rock. good stuff, though repetitive.

the shaky hands: sounds a bit like wilco at times. this album is GREAT and totally under-rated.

electrelane: awesome. their best album yet - more coherent than other albums. each song and even the album as a whole. on par with stereolab (of emperor tomato ketchup) as of this album. esp like the tempo pickup on track 3. nice.

handsome furs: pretty good, but not great. I think its actually more creative than his work in wolf parade, but maybe less catchy.

slaraffenland "private cinema": this is a pretty damn good first album, but not something that I'd actually really recommend - yet. I think they'll probably put out a really solid album at some point. I sort of feel like they aren't used to playing together yet - the problem might be that each of the members of the band haven't totally settled into their roles. anyway, there's some good stuff worth listening to here.

merzbow/carlos giffoni/jim o'rourke "electric dress": I'm not actually recommending this album, but I wanted to mention it because I respect O'rourke's work (esp the first sam prekop album). anyway, I'm not sure if the rock world is ready for 52 minute musical works. I guess expectations really drive perception - I can sit through a 52 minute symphony, but I can not sit through 52 minutes of something that is supposed to be rock music (or, post-rock, as the case may be) .

people, 3; whisper

people 2

people, 1

he's only the coolest 93 year old I know...

the picture below pretty accurately depicts my life:

free trolleys are a good idea

no external hard drive = no access to my music = no May music reviews (yet). but the (unrelated) good news is that I found out that there's a free trolley that goes from Union Station to the NU downtown campus area. thank you, city of chicago for saving me from unnecessary exercise.

Milwaukee Domes

my external hard drive is probably f**ed and will cost hundreds of dollars to fix it. contents: thousands of songs, saved emails, original music, writing samples, class notes, resumes, photos of my life over the last several years - basically, digital memories of everything that's happened to me for the best 5 or so years. gone. the "computer guy" told me to try putting it in the freezer all night and then plugging it in in the morning. seriously? did he go to school for this? because this sounds like something I'd make up. next he's going to tell me to spread peanut butter all over it and then throw it down the stairs.

what music looks like + cat

minneapolis

accomplished this past weekend:

1. attended another (yes, another) shaky hands show (great)
2. visited the walker art museum and some other big art museum in minneapolis
3. boat riding
4. relaxing
5. read the ginger man by j.p donleavy
6. the consumption of great amounts of food and gary's ice cream
7. got a sunburn

delays

...shutting down my computer; turning off my phone; leaving to-do lists unchecked, dirty dishes in the sink, and emails unanswered...and trying not to think about the gas prices...

wrinkled

accomplished today

1. cleaned my apartment
2. saw the shaky hands at the high noon saloon
3. completed law school

thwarted

how I felt today

April album reviews

the rosebuds "night of the furies": this is a really f-ing fun, high energy (yet nostalgic and melancholy) album. really great catchy melodies. listen if you like 80s music (and even if you don't)... best album of the month for sure - I can't stop listening to it.

lost in the trees "time taunts me": strange combination of styles of music and singing, and at times not really integrated very well. but I really like it. it sounds like it should be the sound track to something.

bright eyes "cassadaga": conor oberst's lyrics have really matured. I've always liked his music, but thought his lyrics were a bit too melodramatic...he's toned down the melodrama, though, so I actually kind of like this album.

the twilight sad "fourteen autumns and fifteen winters": love the accent, but the songs are a little boring.

cloud cult "the meaning of 8": I had hoped they'd finally get it together and put together an album of a reasonable length. 19 songs is too many to digest. but don't be put off by that, there's some good stuff in there: mostly I'm referring to the music, the lyrics need a bit of work.

thee more shallows "book of bad breaks": I'm ambivalent; this album constantly wavers between creative and cliche. in its better moments, it sounds like a cross between the flaming lips and john vanderslice.

dr. dog "we all belong": good example of pitchfork messing up on the ratings. one wonders how dr. dog could get such a low pitchfork rating, while joanna newsome...

stars of the lid "and their refinement of the decline": well, I'm not sure that this really qualifies as music - it seems like it should be in thrown in a category with the calming sounds of rain or babbling brooks...the short of it is that I could probably fall asleep to it. maybe that's what they were going for?