COMING SOMEDAY

Tonight I was going to debate the merits of compilation albums / physical music versus those of the internet / digital music as a means of finding new jams, but it’s actually a pretty boring topic. Basically, it’s about the same. When I bought “Punk-O-Rama III,” it was a focused, effective product. Over the course of that summer, I got like ten new favorite bands through that disc. (There were 25 bands on the CD.) Now, with the internet, I might check out songs from 25 bands a month but really love only a couple of them. It’s a broader, more scattered way to find things, and you have to wade through much more nonsense. Anything I like, I go buy. I don’t download much music because it takes away from literal and emotional investment. No artwork, no money spent, no reason to try and get anything out of it. I can just put it on while I write a stupid blog about something insignificant, and it fades to background noise and is quickly forgotten. I like buying records for the whole experience. In fact, records are some of the very few products I find to be completely worth their price. Compared to a movie, which is about 2 hours of entertainment for 10 bucks, a record is an awesome deal even at $20. Compared to Taco Bell, even if you’re eating from the dollar menu, records are still a great deal, because I could spend $20 there and still want more.

I recently bought the FLOOR 8-CD discography collection “Below and Beyond” for $40. So far I have only listened to the self-titled disc, because I can’t stop long enough to try any of the others. Money well spent, and they were awesome last week at the Empty Bottle. It isn’t really worth explaining their sound, because it’s too big for words. I’ve said it about Pelican before, but maybe not here — it’s like they are sculpting the sounds that come out of their amps. It’s as close as I’ve ever gotten to “touching” noise. Glad I had my earplugs.

I could go for 20 tacos right about now.

That reminds me: “Desolation Bowl” is officially in the research/pre-production stage. As promised a while ago, I will be producing an artsy cookbook. It will be available to you and all award-giving literary organizations within the next 12 months on Teenage Robotomy Press.

I’m listening to “Phoning It In” right now. It’s a compilation from Hydra Head Records, home of Torche and a good number of other bands I like (Pelican’s longtime home as well). I’m about halfway through right now and I’m enjoying most of what I’m hearing. It’s free, so check it out. Even though the label is known for doomy, sludgy, heavy, hairy rock music, there’s a huge range of sounds on here, including an acoustic number (Steve Brodsky) and something that sort of sounds like jazz, I guess. I wouldn’t really know, but I like it (Bohren & Der Club of Gore).

It has me thinking about the old days. I still remember picking up “Punk-O-Rama III” at Hot Topic after my last day of middle school. These Hydra Head bands sound very little like the old Epitaph stuff, but it’s reminding me of that spirit of discovery…

“Punk-O-Rama III” probably changed my life, or at least made it more awesome. Standing there in Hot Topic with a vague notion of what kind of music I liked (Social Distortion and Goldfinger shared time in my CD player with Bush and Soundgarden), I was moments away from buying some random ska compilation (“I like Reel Big Fish, so I like ska. I’ll probably like this!”). As I reached for my chainless wallet — I never felt cool enough to get one — I spotted this other CD with the word “punk” in the name. I weighed my options. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were ska, and I loved “Let’s Face It,” but I was pretty sure Green Day was punk, and they were my real favorite band. Besides, “Punk-O-Rama” was a dollar cheaper, savings enough for a stop at Cinnabon. The cover also had a lady with four boobs on it.

I bought it, and it was amazing. I spent that whole summer in my room with my PlayStation and that CD. Intermittently, I would head to the record store and buy an album by one of the bands on the compilation. I probably now have about 60 records from the different bands featured. They were the right songs at the right time. Vaguely political, individualistic, thoughtful, and humorous, they embodied everything I wanted to be as I looked toward my future as a high schooler. They were all fast as hell, too, which was obviously sweet. I always say that without “Dookie” I might not be the same dude I am today, but without “Punk-O-Rama III” I’d probably be a lamer version of him.

This doesn’t really have an ending, except that I grew up but never really out of “loud and fast.” Epitaph did, but not in a good way. In fact somewhere in late high school they started to sign some really shitty bands, a trend that continues to this day. Labels like Fat and No Idea picked up much of the slack though — no big deal. Of late, Epitaph has made a seemingly earnest attempt at redemption, signing a few cool bands and releasing the latest Off With Their Heads record (which I may be in love with). They’re scheduled to release the next Social D album, too, which I guess brings this to some kind of nice resolution. (Another great memory from around this time period: the simple pleasure of driving alone and listening to “Mommy’s Little Monster” with the windows down in my dad’s car.)

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It’s true that I still love and listen to the old records from bands like Pulley and NOFX, but it’s sort of a mix between brand loyalty and nostalgia that drives me to consume any new things they make. It’s weird to think that ten years ago I would buy anything that sounded like it came from a skateboarding video. If it was fast and clad in Dickies shorts, I was all over it. Now, that style doesn’t appeal to me very much when new bands do it — A Wilhelm Scream and The Flatliners are very good at what they do, but I just don’t care. I’d rather listen to something noisy and disturbing. See, now, in grad school, I’m still vaguely political, individualistic, thoughtful, and humorous, but I’m also totally avant-garde and ironic.

Okay, that was kind of a joke. What I really meant is that in 1998, Pennywise was something totally new to me. They blew my mind. If I was still getting my mind blown by songs about, you know, The System, well, I’d probably be bored/boring. Which is why I like all these Hydra Head bands when they sing songs about being bored and boring (and dead). Sometimes the music even borders on being boring, but it’s just so much more exciting… yeah.

As the last note of the new Torche song closes “Phoning It In,” I’m sure you can guess which CD I’ve reached for.

Yep, “Frampton Comes Alive!”

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NEXT TIME: Why compilations are better than the internet!

School’s out! MASSIVE INDIFFERENCE played its first show last night.

Our neighbors were asleep when we wanted to have band practice last night, so we decided to take it on the road and go play somewhere that wouldn’t be a bother to anyone. We plugged Mike’s bass into Akemi’s car and let it rip for about an hour under the train yard at 15th and Wood:

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A couple people came by on their bikes and hung out. They said we were better than the gig they were riding home from. I only experienced minor paranoia regarding legal recourse during this midnight stunt, and a security guard for the train yard did indeed show up.

He told us he was bored as hell at his lame job and wanted to be where the action was. He plays guitar; we exchanged numbers. As always, thanks to Akemi for the photos.

News and notes from around the World of Waste!

- I rode my bike to school Tuesday and today. Despite rain this morning, it was still the right decision. It’s getting “warm” around here!

-I’ve decided that my upcoming book is going to be 1500 pages, kinda like a dictionary. So far, I have 0.3 pages.

-I’m going to see PELICAN tomorrow with a couple of the people who read this blog. Then on Saturday, another regular reader arrives from San Francisco. On Wednesday night, two more dudes who read this will be getting here. Aside from maybe two of you, that pretty much covers my readership. I’m thinking we can all get together and talk about my blog? Spring break? More like Focus Group!

Speaking of Pelican, tomorrow’s show is particularly exciting because they’ll be selling copies of their latest album, What We All Come to Need, which was just released on vinyl (I’ve had mp3s since late last year). The album is already quite great, and the LP comes with extra tracks, and the package is a really gorgeous gatefold (I would expect nothing less from Southern Lord), so that’s all good news. In fact, the thickness of the 2xLP jacket might actually force my record collection to overflow into a third milk crate. Nerd alert! (Although if I remember correctly, one of the absentee readers of this blog has way more wax than my ass.)

I’m pretty sure I saw one of the guitarists from Pelican at the Fucked Up show a few weeks ago, so that is cool too. It’s always nice to know that someone you like likes someone else you like, as long as it doesn’t get messy. To the peculiarly knowledgeable but unrefined reader, that may serve as no surprise — loud musician from Chicago listens to other loud musicians when they tour through Chicago — but I’d say to you, first of all, nice job knowing that Pelican is from Chicago, but more important: perhaps Fucked Up and Pelican are not so similar, despite being rock bands with huge guitar sounds. I might go so far to say that they are artistically quite opposed to one another. One band has no singers, the other has a giant fat guy who yells all the time. Put that in your coffee grinder and brew it!

A new song. This one is about the disaster in Haiti, as told from God’s perspective:

What the Hell’d I do last night
My fun has turned for worse
I might have learned a lesson
‘f’I could just remember first

The wagons have full-circled
All sights are set on me
Not saying I’m no idiot,
But my mind is so cloudy

Chorus
I’m sorry! I think
I’m sorry! I stink
I’m sorry! I drink
I’m sorry.

It must’ve been a big one
‘cuz I can’t get no sleep
Word on the surface spreads so fast:
I acted like a creep

Repeat Chorus

I wish I could have helped myself
The whole thing would have changed
Instead I went and fucked it all
And rearranged her brain

I’m sure there’s a perfectly unreasonable explanation!!!  <GUITAR SOLO>

I’ve often said, “if not for you,
I’d drown in apathy,”
No idea how to fix it
The joke’s on fuckin’ me
And even though I don’t recall,
I’m so God-damned sorry