the new york times reports....

"Mstislav Rostropovich, a cellist and conductor who was renowned not only as one of the great instrumentalists of the 20th century, but also as an outspoken champion of artistic freedom in Russia during the final decades of the Cold War, died in Moscow today. He was 80 and lived in Paris, with homes in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London and Lausanne, Switzerland."

wait, he was still alive?!? well, at least we still have yo-yo ma and lynn harrell

23

quick comment on the new blonde redhead: it's good, but they've sort of lost that "edge" that I love in their older albums. They've also lost some of the noisy crap as well, which I'm not complaining about. but the new album sounds a bit too polished and controlled (a pity: I had such high hopes). though, I have to say this is consistent with their trajectory

fox confessor

neko case show last night at the barrymore: neko case is a very good live performer. specifically, she's very good at making subtle changes to her songs without ruining them (unlike andrew bird who sometimes sings the harmony rather than the main melody, so if you don't know the song, it just doesn't make any sense and if you do know the song, you're just disappointed).

February/March Album Reviews

do make say think "You, you're a history in rust": good instrumental stuff. sounds like tortoise and the sea and cake. recommended.

field music, "tones of town": upbeat, neat piano lines. new pornographers-sounding vocal lines and harmonies. but, no one song was extremely memorable. still, nice stuff going on musically. sort of confusing though : the vocal lines don't seem to go exactly with the character of the instrumental stuff.

papercuts, "can't go back": voice sounds like billy corgan's. first song is really good, but then its all down-hill after that. kinda boring.

postmarks, self-titled: album starts out slow, but gets much better in the second half. these songs really grow on you. the song "you drift away" is especially good.

explosions in the sky "all of a sudden I miss everyone": another solid album from explosions. no surprises (in a good way).

apples in stereo "new magnetic wonder": ok, I just sort of find apples in stereo annoying with the exception of the song "the benefits of lying (with your friends)," which might be one of the best songs ever. unfortunately, that song wasn't on this album. but still, the great melody lines keep me from completely writing off this band (that and my respect for the elephant six collective)

dexys midnight runners "projected passion revue": kind of fun, but not really that good.

andrew bird "armchair apocrypha": expectedly good. I cant imagine andrew bird actually putting out a bad album at this point, though I was hoping he'd step it up and do something surprising.

panda bear "person pitch": might be secretly good, but every time I listen to it, I end up daydreaming or paying attention to something else. so, I guess what I'm saying is that it might be good background music - it just doesn't hold my attention.

air "pocket symphony": very good, but maybe not quite as good as the last two albums.

eluvium "copia": pretty forgettable, but I still do like it. I think most would say that it's perfect study music; nothing distracting in it, and it has a very calming effect. I especially like the prelude. I will say this, though: the perfect place for a mediocre composer is in the indie-rock music world (though it's completely derivative, it's at least derivative of music unfamiliar to the rock world)

low "drums and guns": usually I don't like low, but this album deviates (in a good way). it's a bit slow in the beginning, but the last half of the album is actually pretty enjoyable.


P.S. tap tap is a band I sort of missed...pretty good, worth listening to. sorry I missed it when it came out.

up and coming albums worth buying/listening to: blonde redhead and voxtrot

L'Etoile

finally made it to L'Etoile - a french restaurant in Madison that has been ranked one of the top 50 restaurants in the nation. the food was great, although, I do wonder how they rank these restaurants...there have got to be at least 30 restaurants in Chicago that are at least as good (I imagine...really, I have no idea since I'm not in the habit of wining and dining in such a(n expensive) fashion). some pictures of the eats below:

Baha’i temple - Wilmette, IL

one of seven Baha'i temples in the world - a fact I actually remember from my 7th grade field trip (finally got around to photographing it)

i make a difference

accomplished today: saved 1 worm from sidewalk demise.

question

why does my downstairs neighbor keep shovelling water - three, sometimes four times a day!?

for the love of god, please stop scraping that shovel on the concrete - its annoying and weird and you're not accomplishing anything

under the radar

I've lost the will to post. I may get around to february album reviews in april when I review the march albums. until then, you should all go listen to classical music; I recommend faure's requiem and anything by mendelssohn, but especially his quartets.

voxtrot

the song "missing pieces" on the Voxtrot 'Raised by wolves' EP is GREAT. also, I hear they are finally working on a full-length album - very excited about it.

Milwaukee Art Museum

the 1950s Francis Bacon exhibit was impressive. the real attraction is the building, though:

belly of a mountain

did any of you go to the sparklehorse show at the high noon last night? I was not very impressed, but I can't even really put my finger on what it was that was disappointing. The music was flawless and the instruments were perfectly balanced. It may have been a bit too clean - like they might have just been playing the cd through very loud speakers. anyway, it wasn't memorable at all.

I'm getting really bored with all of the pretty-good-but-not-great music out there. really bored. my measure of whether music is really good or not is based on whether I find myself daydreaming about being in the band while listening, and that hasn't happened in a while.

three ways to become cooler

1. listen to the new Arcade Fire album
2. start smoking
3. live in the house pictured below
(hint: its so ugly and ridiculous, its cool...?)

(click to enlarge image - its worth it)

January Album Reviews

The shins, "wincing the night away": they've just recycled their past two albums, only this album doesn't have the coherence of their first album, and lacks the really catchy, great songs of their second. this album also doesn't sound as nostalgic as their last two. but its the shins, they have a good sound, so I like it.

Menomena, "Friend and Foe": overall its pretty good, although there's some sporadically lame stuff on this album. in fact, if you listen to this album, just skip track 1 altogether. some of it reminds me of 90 day men (esp track 7).

Of montreal "hissing fauna, are you the destroyer" - probably good although I can't say I remember; I started playing it, and then all of a sudden it was 52 minutes later and I realized I had just been daydreaming about disneyland which is exactly what happens to me when I listen to Apples in Stereo - and I don't even like disneyland. too much of that "power pop" sound for me.

Clap your hands "some loud thunder": very average. maybe kind of irritating to listen to, which leads me to believe that their first album may not have been very good (I was obviously taken in by the novelty of their sound. they got me).

Deerhunter "cryptograms": wall of sound. track 2, 5 = stereolab, except not catchy. lots of pointless noise. boring. stupid repetitive shit.

Beirut "lon gisland EP": amazing. go buy it.

Hammock "raising your voice...trying to stop an echo": not very memorable. very mellow - I might have fallen asleep while listening to this album. good in the way that taking a bubble bath is. but without bubbles.

Husky Rescue "ghost is not real": Broadcast w/ folk flare. carefully composed. underrated, this album is actually pretty good. though, at times a little bit too "delicate" - two minutes into the album, there's a moment where you think it might turn into something. voice sounds like the singer from blonde redhead, but not as angry

The long blondes "someone to drive you home": stop trying to be the organ. ok, but since you are trying, you're doing a pretty decent job.

don't bother with: fennesz, sally shapiro, or the silent years