March 2012
February 2012
Listen
Digitalism - Miami Showdown
i can’t help but feel as if this should DEFINITELY be played as an intro before heat games. miami was in my dream last night; i feel like the setting resembled some kind of post-apocalyptic-ish version of sxsw, and some people wanted directions to a party somewhere, and we looked it up and found out that it’s in downtown miami right next to the american airlines arena, and they’re like…..alright…..LET’S DO THIS! and everyone was all ambitious and excited, and i’m like….you know we’re in central texas, right? and it’s a whole lot farther from miami than boca is? almost 20 hours? anyone?
this track sounds like a gradual build to something, but i guess the journey itself turns out to be the destination once again. it’s a slow burner of a house track, a bit like ‘midnight voyage’ by ghostland observatory, but more static and robotic. actually, it’s fairly similar to some of the less rock-based NiN tracks, now that i think about it. certainly a tune fit for some pyrotechnics, or a game of laser tag at the very least. by “miami showdown,” i wonder if it’s supposed to evoke a dance-off or something.
thoughts on koran burning-related violence in afghanistan
afghanistan is a very religious country, with around 99% of the people who live there identifying themselves as muslims. apparently some US soldiers stationed there threw a bunch of korans in an incinerator. holy book-burning during an occupation halfway around the world. i did a bit of looking around online and decided to use alabama as an example; down there, 80% of the people identify themselves as christians, and 58% attend church regularly. something like that. so just take a second to imagine that there’s an extremely strong military presence from this entirely foreign country over in alabama, and pretend people are WAY more religious than they already are now, less educated, and far more impoverished, hungry, and anti-imperialistic. so in this situation, after years and years of hearing about this foreign military force killing innocent civilians, and even doing so for fun, they start hearing about these soldiers BURNING BIBLES. throwing them in a fucking furnace. no shit there’s going to be violence as a repercussion….would anyone be surprised? you don’t think racists in eastern oregon, nearby bible belt states, and all over the country are going to salute these alabaman ‘freedom fighters’ or whatever they might get labeled as, as heroes, martyrs, and examples of the self-dignity and respect that the rest of the country should show in these circumstances??
my point is, when i watch videos of republican debates, and these fucking assholes, these fucking blindly ignorant, self-absorbed, kool aid-drinking dickheads, they boo ron paul for saying things like ‘anti-american sentiment in iran and other middle eastern countries is our own doing and we need to make a change’…seriously, you people are the scum of the earth. there are pitiless, thrill-seeking soldiers killing children and old people, and burning so-called holy books on land that these people have populated for like 5000 years! and it’s not like we’re at war against afghanistan, this is all under the guise of ‘creating better lives’ and ‘fostering a more benevolent government for the people’ and ‘making americans safer by eradicating terror’ and shit like that. what could possibly be more antagonistic?? information is readily available in the US — how are there nationalist idiots that are THAT far in denial, that oblivious to the perspective of other people??
just finished applying for a summer birthright trip
my dad informed me via text while i was working tonight that the registration ends at 9am tomorrow. i’m 25 now and people with jewish parents can go to israel for free until they’re 26. i desperately want to go overseas, though israel is nowhere near my top 5, for a variety of reasons that i don’t feel like getting into right now. i’m really fucking tired at the moment because it’s past 5 in the morning and i was in work mode today from 2:30 until 1:30. that application took an hour or two. anyway, i guess it’s pretty sweet that i might be able to fly halfway across the world without spending any money and party in the motherland or fatherland or a distant geographic region or whatever. and as soon as someone starts throwing me some pro-military zionist propaganda, i’m gonna hop in the dead sea and blissfully float away for a while. maybe. so apparently i might get to sleep in a bedouin tent and ride a camel and check out jazz shows in tel aviv and whatnot this july.
three new dr. dog tracks from 'be the void,' performed live on a radio show →
minnesota.publicradio.org
these come from minnesota’s ‘the current’ radio station, 89.3FM, and along with the new tunes, there’s also some banter and a slideshow to enjoy as well. funny that when asked about their ‘dream collaboration’ on a hypothetical grammy performance, there’s a pause, and then the answer “……dre?” certainly works name-wise.
also, you should definitely notice the THREE other studio sessions on the page, from 2006, 2008, and 2010, that feature the group performing three tracks each from earlier albums, including now-classics such as ‘the world may never know,’ ‘ain’t it strange,’ ‘the ark,’ and more. i’m literally getting chills thinking back to the live performances of theirs i’ve experienced, with their gloriously soulful exaltations constantly on display.
i think the tracks are alright, upon first listen; i don’t dislike any of them, or dislike pretty much any song these guys have ever made, but they’re not quite psychedelic or eccentric enough for me. their first album toothbrush is a barometer of their sonic potential, possessing the ability to completely transplant me into an entirely different musical era, and they’ve gradually deviated from that in the albums since. the songwriting has always been fantastic, and they’ve undoubtedly stepped up their sound in countless ways over the last decade, especially in ways more conducive to a live setting, but i’ve found them to be at their best at their least conventional. maybe the loss of those early band members made a difference as far as those early sensibilities go. anyway, no need to lament the past, because i’ve still been distinctly inspired by plenty of their music since. the delta blues-inspired track ‘lonesome’ is some sturdy stuff, with tremolo guitars proudly on display instead of their characteristic dual-organ setup, but i’m not sure it wanders around as much as it could. i’d say that the highlight here comes around 16:30, when the beautiful track ‘turning the century’ starts up to close out the set, also fittingly the last track on ‘be the void.’ dr. dog are somehow able to manage this mysterious element of nostalgia in a way that other bands can’t even remotely channel, and they’ll always be special to me for that. i could probably delve into the music theory aspect of that, but i suspect it’s even deeper than the harmonic and tonal qualities. do they strike any of you guys in the same manner?
