All Imperfect Things

Antony and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now

Last year, this was one of the best reviewed albums of year. Lots of people simply looooooved it.
My opinion? It kinda sucks. I gave it plenty of chances, but it never grew on me. I just don't get it.
Any other opinions?

Antony and the Johnsons: "I Am a Bird Now"

Friday 5-Pack! Cover Songs Edition!

95% of the time, cover songs simply destroy the original. We can all agree on that.
Here are 5 indie-rock covers that I think aren't too bad. Judge for yourself.

Before you start downloading the songs below, try downloading them with Rapidshare. All 5 are contained in one .zip file. If your able to do that, it'll keep this site's download limit down, which is good.
Click Here: Friday 5 Pack! 2/24/06

Now, here are the songs:

1. Jose Gonzales: "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division Cover)
2. Arcade Fire: "Naive Melody" (Talking Heads Cover)
3. Iron & Wine: "Peng!" (Stereolab Cover)
4. The Shins: "Strange Powers" (Magnetic Fields Cover)
5. Mike Doughty: "The King of Carrot Flowers" (Neutral Milk Hotel Cover)

Let me know what you think.

David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust...

About 3 years ago, I found myself at a family reunion at my brother's house.
My uncle Rick was there. He's a cool guy with a wicked record collection. Lots of rare psychedelic and classic rock records. We generally make a rule out talking about music for a little while whenever we see each other.
This day, he asked me to go with him out to his car. In his trunk, he pulled out a stack of about 20 records and gave them to me. There was some good stuff, some bad stuff , and some weird stuff. All in all, a nice gift from the Rick.

One of the albums was "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars". Believe it or not, i'd never heard it up until then. I'd kind of made a conscious decision to avoid it because up until that point, i'd hated everything i'd heard by Bowie.
He informed me that this was his favorite album of all time.
I asked him, "If it's your favorite album, why the hell are you giving me your copy of it?"
He replied, "Don't worry. I have 19 more copies of it."
I went to his house for a party last year and looked through his record collection. And you know what? He had 19 more copies of this album! All from different countries and on different labels. Now THAT, my friends, is devotion.

Anyways...
I loved this album from the first time i dropped the needle on the record. It even inspired me to go get copies of Aladdin Sane, Hunky Dory, and a few more classic era Bowie albums. This is a must own album, no matter how you cut it.

David Bowie: "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars"

The Decemberists - Picaresque

Here's one of my favorite albums of last year. I've been a fan of them for several years now after being blown away by "Her Majesty, the Decemberists". In my opinion, this album isn't quite as good as that one, but it's still incredibly good.

The Decemberists: "Picaresque"

Link of the Day - 2/23/06

I don't know if anybody read, or even cares about what i wrote yesterday under the link of the day.
But here's a quick follow-up. Looks like lots of people were pissed off about the possibility of WMUC being taken off the air.

WMUC At Risk of Losing its Airwaves

(Incredibly Sad) Link of the Day - 2/22/06

I am an alumnus of the University of Maryland at College Park. For 4 years, I paid good money to the school to get my learn on. It was a standard school. Nothing incredibly great. Nothing incredibly shitty. I had some good times and some bad. Took some great classes and some horrible ones. Made some good friends and some asshole friends. All in all, I'm happy with my decision to have to gone there. No regrets.

Through all of it, one particular experience stands out.
For 3.5 of my 4 years there, I was a DJ at the college radio station, WMUC 88.1FM.  I started out with one of the bitch slots in the very early morning on a weekday and gradually worked myself up to a primetime slot that actually had a decent amount of listeners. I even had a position my senior year as the Assistant Program Director. I didn't actually do much as the Assistant PD, as all of actual "work" of it was taken care of by the actual head PD. But it gave me something good to put on my resume once i entered the life of a real, live grown up.
For all my years there,  i found a great deal of solice in the fact that i had a place to  go and actually have some fun, make some friends, and spread the word of what i consider to be great music. Everybody that worked there worked towards a unified goal. That was to preach the gospel of non-corporate radio, as well as to give a cold shoulder to all the Creeds, Avril Lavignes, and Verve Pipes of the world. We were a pretentious, yet fun loving bunch of slackers who knew the difference between good and bad.
When I finally graduated, I left school and never looked back. The only thing that i truly miss from time to time is WMUC. Sometimes, when I get a new album that I think is particularly great, I think to myself how much i would have taken pleasure in playing it on my show. Or I think about the words i would have used to write a review of it on the front cover before we cataloged it in the "new" bin of our CD drawers. All in all, I loved WMUC. It was one of the greatest places in the entire world.

Here is why i suddenly draw attention to this...
A couple old chums today alerted me to this article. It about a newer, larger station based in Baltimore called WYPR. They're aiming to create a larger area for their public radio station. They want to expand more in Baltimore and even dip their feet into the Washington, DC market.
Now don't get me wrong, i've always loved the concept of NPR. Hell, on my Sirius Satellite tuner, National Public Radio is the only FM based stations that I have set into my pre-programmed options.
But the problem here is that they have recently received clearance to take over the 88.1fm frequency in Washington. Yes, the exact same frequency that has been used by WMUC, in my appoximations, forever.
Here is the take home point on the article that is located on the second page:

"WYPR, with headquarters on Baltimore's North Charles Street, also is planning to transmit to the Washington suburbs. The station has gotten permission from the Federal Communications Commission to push aside a low-wattage student station at the University of Maryland, College Park that already occupies WYPR's signal on 88.1 FM. (Brandon and Bienstock both said they would help the college station move its signal to the Internet.)"

This makes me terribly sad for obvious reasons. I know that there must be plenty of people working at the station as we speak that take as much pleasure in being there as I did while I was there. They deserve the same experience that I had.

Besides from that, fuck these Brandon and Bienstock fellows. If they knew the first thing about WMUC, they'd know that they've already been streaming over the internet for about 10 years. So their jesture of good will means nothing. Anybody can throw music out there over the internet. But there is something about being broadcasted over the actual radio dial that makes you feel a little more important and appreciated. This will break the hearts of anybody that has every worked there or is currently working there.

I've run out of things to say. This just really sucks.

If anybody out there from WMUC is reading this and needs help fighting this in anyway, just know that i'm here. I've got my gloves on. I'm ready to scrap.

Jose Gonzales - Veneer

I really like this album. If i'd heard it back in 2005, there is a good chance that it would have cracked my end of the year Top 10 list.
It's just very pretty, well crafted indie-folk music. It will satisfy fans of Kings of Convenience, Iron and Wine, Nick Drake, etc.

One click download RAR file. Just click the link below...

Jose Gonzales : "Veneer"

Link of the Day - 2/17/06

Over the course of the next 15 years, Sweden plans to become the earth's first Oil-Free Economy.
I have a feeling that the U.S. is going to attempt the same in the near future...Ah...a boy can dream, right?

Go read about it.

Sweden Aims for Oil-Free Economy

Unwound - DISCOGRAPHY!!!

Unwound is a loud, ferocious, feedback ridden, in your face rock band.
I haven't listened to them in a while. But after finding this open directory containing their entire discography, something tells me i will be listening to them a great deal start right.............NOW!

Unwound: EVERY ALBUM!

Friday 5-Pack! Music Video Edition!

Ah, the beauty of YouTube. You can just spend hours and hours finding interesting crap to watch.
So today, I'm present 5 videos taken from that site, as opposed to offering MP3s.
All of these were carefully chosen for their mega-awesomeness. I hope you enjoy them as much as i do.

1. At the Drive In: "Arc Arsenal" (live)
2. The Shins: "Saint Simon" (music video)
3. The Zombies: "She's Not There" (live on UK television)
4a. The Dillinger Escape Plan: "Sugar Coated Sour" (live)
4b. The Dillinger Escape Plan: "Panasonic Youth" (music video)
5. Kings of Convenience: "I'd Rather Dance With You" (music video)

Enjoy.