This Is The Last…

A few weeks ago Against Me! released their third full length album entitled Searching For A Former Clarity. I hesitated for a while to write this review because I was not entirely certain of how much I liked the album.

I’m not a fan of much of the newer punk that comes out, although I grew up listening to so much of it. And I’m still a big fan of punk and hardcore from the 70’s and 80’s, but it seems like most of the bands on punk labels these days are bland and have a hard time identifying themselves.

That being said, I’ve loved everything Against Me! has ever put out… but some feel that they have migrated to a more mainstream sound in the past few years. In the beginning, Against Me! were only a drummer and an acoustic guitar screaming through three minute songs. Now they’re a four piece and have been for quite some time. They’ve gone electric, back to acoustic, and then back again. They’ve always had great lyrics and simple catchy songs that I want to listen to over and over again. Singer and song writer Tom Gable screams every song with so much emotion I can taste blood in my own mouth, and I love that.

Admittedly, the new album does have a different speed to it. It’s still angry and political (the way I like my punk) but not as fast and punchy as it used to be. They incorporated a few country western instruments, but keep singing with the same context. The more I listen to this album, the more I love it like the rest. I could write a book about these guys.

And for my money, they’re the most entertaining punk band to watch live. Check them out when they play the Epicentre in San Diego on October 30th.

Jason told me that the Arcade Fire recently played on David Letterman. I was kinda bummed that I missed it. But lucky for me, Prefix put up the video here.

Many of you probably know that this year Neutral Milk Hotel’s works were being re-released. Pitchfork reviewed the reissue of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. They gave it a perfect 10! I’ve never seen Pitchfork give any album a perfect score. I imagine that Radiohead’s Ok Computer and My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless are probably on that list. Anyways, I thought Pitchfork’s review was beautifully written. It made me want to go back and listen to this album again.

Here’s an excerpt of the review…

Shortly after the release of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Puncture magazine had a cover story on Neutral Milk Hotel. In it Mangum told of the influence on the record of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl. He explained that shortly after releasing On Avery Island he read the book for the first time, and found himself completely overwhelmed with sadness and grief. Back in 1998 this admission made my jaw drop. What the hell? A guy in a rock band saying he was emotionally devastated by a book everyone else in America read for a middle-school assignment? I felt embarrassed for him at first, but then, the more I thought about it and the more I heard the record, I was awed. Mangum’s honesty on this point, translated directly to his music, turned out to be a source of great power.

According to Ultragrrrl, last week on the O.C. they played someone doing a cover of “In the Aeroplane over the Sea”. That ended up being Matt Pond PA. Ultragrrrl also put a link to Dax Riggs doing a nice job of the same cover. You can check it out here.

How is a grave like an ATM machine? I’m sorry I don’t know the punchline you’ll have to ask Courtney Love and the remaining members of Nirvana. We can expect yet another Nirvana compilation album, which will include three unreleased songs and tracks from last years With the Lights Out.

You know guys when someone decides not to release certain songs after recording them it might be because they didn’t like what they heard. Not because they wanted to give you money options after they’ve past away, try life insurance. That probably wouldn’t be an option for Courtney I think most insurance companies have a maximum of three venereal diseases per client. Plus I don’t think they’ll insure a member of the living dead. Careful guys, it seems like this skanky breed of vampire doesn’t need you to be alive to suck your blood. I think someone should excavate Kurt’s grave, she probably has his body in a pod somewhere in her garage with a giant straw hanging out the side.

Won’t somebody please give Kurt his moment of silence? As far as human rights go I think it’s up there with breathing.

You can read more on the subject at Pitchfork.

-Cracked Up Years Ahead

Grandaddy is releasing their 5th album tomorrow. Its entitled Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla. If anyone (besides Jorge) is interested in hearing it before it goes on sale tomorrow you can head over to My Space, where they’re streaming all 7 tracks of this EP.

Last night Jason and I saw the movie the Corpse Bride. Tim Burton has made another dark, beautiful movie. It’s a stop-motion, animated feature. Their use of color is interesting. The animation is awesome, especially the faces of the characters. Danny Elfman did the soundtrack (big surprise) and supplied the voice of the jazz singer in the skeleton band in the underworld bar.

Timid Victor (Johnny Depp) is supposed to marry the sweet Victoria (Emily Watson). The night before their wedding, Victor accidentally marries the Corpse Bride (Helen Bonham-Carter). He is taken down to the underworld. This movie is so good. The characters are interesting. The story is a romantic one. This is classic Tim Burton.

And the best part was we got to see it for free! Right now at Albertsons when you buy $25 of groceries of certain brands (like Kraft, Frito-Lay, Coca-cola), you get 2 free movie tickets. You redeem your tickets through Fandango.

Just one more reason why our next car is gonna be a hybrid.

Here’s an excerpt of what Boing Boing posted today…

The Houston Chronicle’s Rita blog includes a post that points out one benefit of hybrid cars.

As vehicles ran out of gas during the Houston exodus (aka biggest traffic jam ever), one Chronicle employee who drove a Prius completed the 30 hour, 170 mile trek on three-quarters a tank of gas.

Other happy hybrid owners who didn’t have to stop for gas or turn off their A/C weigh in: “My folks drove to Austin from League City in their lexus hybrid and 21 hours of driving later still had 1/8 tank of gas left - plus they had my 87yr old grandfather with them and ran the air conditioner all day unlike most people who ran out of gas. 3 cheers for the hybrid!”

Friday night, Jason, Quinton and I went to the San Diego Woman’s Club to see Cocorosie. We got there just a few minutes before it started and took a seat near the back.

The stage was very dark. Sierra and Bianca’s voices together sound eerily beautiful. Their record label describes their sound as “tiny field mice singing gospel”. I got goosebumps listening to them. Alot of the time I couldn’t tell who was singing. The stage was very dark. Sierra had on a plastic masquerade mask on. On the screen they had psychedelic Care Bear projections. Sierra played the acoustic guitar, the harp, and the piano. The sound of their voices together was haunting perfection. The performance was whimsical and captivating.

Now, I feel I need to temper this by saying they do a few weird things. Like on their last album they used the N word. Another song they seemed to be making light of domestic abuse. I know they were doing it satirically, but that just doesn’t sit right with me.

This week I saw a really cute Quaker Oatmeal commercial on TV. It had a couple of adorable little boys rocking out, singing about oatmeal.

Here’s what Adfreak had to say on the boys…

Element 79 Partners and Errol Morris have teamed up for a fun new Quaker Oats commercial starring a pre-teen rock band called the Blisters. But this isn’t your average pre-teen rock band—two of its members happen to be Spencer Tweedy (on drums) and Sam Tweedy (in the yellow and black), whose father happens to be Jeff Tweedy, the frontman of indie-rock darlings Wilco. The kids’ uncle, Danny Miller, who runs an interesting blog of his own, takes us behind the scenes at the shoot at the Hollywood Center Studios and also reflects on the finished product. He thinks it came out nicely, but then adds: “They cut Spencer’s great line from the commercial, ‘Oatmeal makes you rock more efficiently.’

I read on Pitchfork some bittersweet news about one of my favorite bands the Trembling Blue Stars. They make some of the most beautiful dream pop about being tortured and broken-hearted.

The good new is that they’ll be releasing a new album next year and will be touring in the US this month. The bad news is that after this, they’re all done.

Dates:
09-24 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell’s
09-27 Philadelphia, PA - Mill Creek Tavern
09-28 Washington, DC - DC9
09-29 New York, NY - Magnetic Field
09-30 New York, NY - Rothko
10-01 Northampton, MA - Popfest!