Uhhh.......

Karl Rove rapping! That's all I really have to say.

Album du jour #12 - Compijubulation

Groove Armada - Another Late Night (2002)

I found myself in trouble when I get shuffle...the first result was Bjork's Big Time Sensuality, which is a 13 minute EP, which doesn't qualify. But the second result was Groove Armada's Another Late Night, which is a compliation album. I had intended to skip past albums that are mostly compilations - it is technically a "DJ mix", but not enough editing was done to really achieve the level of uniqueness that I would normally mandate. But I decided to go through with it, because 1. I felt like listening to it 2. They're a fairly important band for my music history, and 3. The next album was a random Jefferson Airplane one (I felt the need to get their discography the other week, for some strange reason).

Prior Relationship to Album: I first encountered Groove Armada - as most do - with their popular (and frankly, annoying) club tracks. They cropped up here and there, but I didn't explicitly listen to any of their albums until I started my job as the RPM genre director for my college radio station (aka, I would get the new electronica stuff and be in charge of selecting what goes into rotation and reviewing it and whatnot). One of the first albums I got was LoveBox, which made me realize that Groove Armada was a chillout group that liked to get its tentacles into the occasional rock and hard house tracks. I've listened to Another Late Night in bits and spurts. ALN is a series of DJ mixes designed to showcase the artists inspirations, not unlike the DJ Kicks series.

High Point: #13 "Strawberry Letter 23" is amazing, I think. A mix of folk rock and disco, it achieves a breezy but moving balance..and then ends the song with a 2 minute synth/sleigh bells solo. #08 "Memory" also needs to be mentioned; admist a sea of picturesque chill-out tracks, this one brings with it the most complete accompanying image. For me, that image is a proud stroll down the city streets of Philadelphia on a summer dusk, and anticipation for the possibility of love that can only be felt on such environments.

Low Point: #10 "Raise the Dead" wins the "good idea, didn't go anywhere with it" award. The “Breathe” remix by Open Door can be great, but it alternates between engrossing and jarring.

What I Learned/Realized: That Four Tet, Jamiroquai, Belle & Sebastian, and Kid Loco all have entries in the Another Late Night series...and I have none of them! This will be remedied shortly.

Future Relationship to Album: I can't forget one of the bands that got me into deep house and downtempo music...and as this is an album of their influences, these are roots that grow down to tickle the feet of my soul!

I've been listening to Menomena's Friend and Foe over and over again the past few days..because Jon and I are going to go see them play tonight! None of my friends know who they are, but they're the type of experimental indie music that I can really get into. I'll have a review of that album, as well as my show thoughts, tomorrow.

Brian and the NBA

I've been writing a number of post drafts - ideas for things to flesh out later. Many of these are just titles; since the title is the most important part of any piece of writing, I've always believed (which has led to my bad habit of working in at least one pun into the title of nearly every academic paper I've written). One of the common themes of many of these have been blurbs detailing background information on my relationship to various aspects of my life. I decided to finish one of the less pertinent but more fun ones, especially that the high point of the basketball season is upon us.

I also chose to finish out this post because of an amazing finish to the Detriot/Denver game tonight. It wasn't on TV, but I saw the recap - 'Sheed, fresh off of serving a suspension for having a league-leading 18 Technicals, made a MIRACLE half-court 3 to force overtime and helped the Pistons win. One in a million shot, check it out on ESPN (or whenever it goes up on Youtube).

My relationship with sports has always been tenuous. I was an avid baseball fan in my youth; the kind of kid who had to collect every single baseball card from that year's set (go Topps, screw you Fleet and Upper Deck!). I would go to Angels games when I was 6-8 and living in Riverside...Anaheim being closest, and the team that my neighbour and friend Warner was a fan of (I was way more into the Dodgers due to Orel Herschiser). My real favourite team was Oakland - I was NUTS about Jose Canseco back when Mark McGuire was seen as his Robin. I was too young to be cognizant of the fact that he was a figure of mockery even then (at one A's game someone sitting near me threw a nude blowup doll onto the field while shouting his name).
While I played baseball for 4 years following my move to Oregon (I was a good hitter, and passing shortstop, I had a hard time doing things like running...lack of willpower to push myself. Also I was a social outcast and didn't like my teammates), my enthusiasm for the game dwindled a great deal. Without a MLB team in Portland, this was hardly shocking. Going to a few Mariners games wasn't enough to keep the passion alive. While Portland is destined to recieve a pro baseball team in about a decade, all they have now is basketball. And a fairly proud history it is, given that after winning their NBA title in 77, the Blazers were in the playoffs every single year until 2004. I moved to Portland at the perfect time; the early 90s Blazers led by Clyde the Glide Drexler (now on Dancing with the Stars! Which I would watch if I was immortal and life wasn't too short) made the NBA finals, losing only to Jordan and the Bulls. You couldn't go anywhere in Portland without seeing gigantic "Rip City" posters everywhere. It is strange, but Oregon is perhaps the second biggest basketball state aside from Indiana (whose importance is dwindling) - Nike and Phil Knight reside there, which is why U of O football and basketball players have better facilities then perhaps any other team, college or pro. And Paul Allen, the owner of the team, is one of the richest people in the world.

Of course, I was only somewhat interested in the Blazers at that point. Too poor to attend many games, but I watched a ton (and my mother's ballroom dance troupe performed at a number of halftimes). Sports in general lost any and all importance in high school and college, and I went some 4 years without watching any TV whatsoever - but my love for basketball remained. Unlike the anonymous warlike strategical grit that permeats NFL games, and the slow pace and largely individual hitter vs. pitcher duels that comprise baseball, the NBA holds by far the largest entertainment factor for me. I think it comprises the best dynamic between team cooperation and individual triumph.

I'll cut the history lesson for now, and get into what I originally intended to do - list my teams in ranking of favourite to least favourite! My determination for this is, all other factors being equal, which team would I prefer come out on top. I'll explain a little bit about my relationship to each team.

1. Portland - Mostly above. While I loved them even in the "Jail Blazer" era, their recovery from that - highlighted by the impressive 2006 draft maneuvers to get the best two rookies of the year, Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge, for essentially nothing has made this an exciting and very promising rebuilding time. Soon the Blazers will be back in the elite Western Conference teams. (Update. I was just talking to josh about why Zach Randolph, despite putting up career numbers, needs to be traded. Here's a pretty good reason why).

2. Detriot - Partly due to my Trail Blazer affiliation. My favourite player of the time was Rasheed Wallace, and I transfered my affection to the Pistons when he moved there. This trade brought the Pistons together, the trade that won them a championship. And even more importantly, they ended the reign of the hated Lakers Dynasty at a time when I was increasing my focus on basketball (aka, out of college and thus had a TV). Most hate their slower style of play, but I absolutely adore watching them play. Not just because of their players - Detriot plays a style that is unique. Other teams play great defense, but no one else can just break down their opponents capacity to play the style of basketball that they wanted to. It isn't just that the other teams plays are well defended against; you can really see their planned execution getting ground up and spit out. The only team, announcer, and crowd that really thrive off of that gritty, smashmouth kind of feeling. Brutal and beautiful.

3. Dallas - Not a team I've supported for long. The sheer dominance of Dirk Nowitzki that even increased after Nash's departure has made them a fun team. A young and awesome coach, and a team so impressively deep. Like the Pistons, the team can be won by any number of different players. The Pistons probably have less consistency in who their leading scorer will be any given night than any other team (Hamilton? Billups? Wallace? Tayshaun? C-Webb? who knows!). Dallas used to be the same, although now Nowitzki has raised his game to the level where he's almost always throwing down 20 or 30. Which is why he is far and away the MVP this year. I just want this team to get a ring, especially since they got robbed last year. My interest in them will dip after they manage that.

4. Denver - Why Denver? Because they're fun to watch offensively, they're kind of underdogs, and Carmelo Anthony is far and away my favourite of the '03 draft wonder children. I'm real into AI as well; paradoxically, his departure from the 76ers this year made me like BOTH teams vastly more. I just wanted Iverson to play for a contender very badly, and for the 76ers to get into rebuilding mode.

5. New Orleans - Simple: CP3. Chris Paul might be the likable player in the league (well, tied with Brandon Roy). Plus I'm a big fan of Tyson Chandler now that he's improved so dramatically (making the Ben Wallace trade look even dumber for the Bulls).

6. Phoenix - The most joyable team to watch, ceratinly, thanks to Steve Nash. He didn't deserve the MVP the past two years though...I would rank this team higher, but Amare isn't very likable (although you have to root for his remarkable knee surgery recovery), and Marion is too sullen to like that much. Raja Bell and Barbosa are my two favourite players on this team, easily. It would anger me greatly if this team didn't win a ring in the next year or two, though...if Dallas wins one this year, then I'll shoot Phoenix ahead of them in terms of teams I want to succeed. Nash et al deserve one before they have to break apart this current lineup.

7. Toronto - I like Bosh, and the wacky Europeans here. Plus they're Canadian, big underdog factor.

8. Houston - In my more overt sports hating days (now I just have contempt for the NFL, and an interest in the stories about baseball but not really watching baseball itself) I used to think that sports were utterly unimportant in the bigger picture (I was more into, say, Fantasy Congress Leagues in college.) But Houston's a big example why this isn't always the case. People have talked a lot about the future relationship of the US with China, wondering how events will shake out given our past and their growth in power, soon to eclipse our own. One reason why this China as the new superpower thing doesn't concern me too much has to do with one simple fact: Tracy McGrady has the best selling jersey in China. The Chinese are becoming more and more obsessed with basketball, and due to Yao Ming being on the Rockets, the Chinese have really responded to the NBA and the Rockets in particular. I don't think it is at all implausible that two 7 footers, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian (who will be drafted in the 4-10 range in the upcoming NBA draft), will be crucial players in US-Sino diplomatic relationships in the future.

9. Boston - I live here, shouldn't I like them more? Well, geography doesn't mean everything. I hope they improve though. Getting Kevin Durant would bump them up a ton.

10. Washington - Gilbert Arenas! Agent Zero! The most honest athlete ever, and the first to blog extensively. Just check it out and you'll fall in love with him.

11. Utah - I liked them back in the Malone/Stockman era, just because they put up a valiant effort against the Lakers and Bulls.

12. New York - Mix of likeable and really hatable players on this team (screw you, Starbury). But for such a storied franchise, they really deserve more success.

13. Minnesota - Mainly because they were a foil to the Lakers. And KG deserves a ring.

14. Orlando - Darko!

15. Atlanta - I root for underdogs, and the Hawks are, well...underdogs.

16. Seattle - Washington State love. Although they'll be in Oklahoma in a year or so...

17. Golden State - Some interesting players this year (Ellis, Beidrins, Peitrus). Don Nelson's the coach, so they're basically a 2002 era Mavericks team with less talent and more injuries.

18. Sacramento - I used to like the Kings a lot more. Then Bibby fell from grace and they traded for Ron Artest.

19. LA Clippers - The not-Lakers LA team. Also, Sam Cassell has huge balls, and will demonstrate this fact.

20. Charlotte - 'Stashe!

21. Philadephia - Hope they rebuild.

22. Memphis - This is the NBA city I'm most likely to live in from 2008-2010, sadly. So I feel some hope that they'll get better in time for that.

23. Milwaukee - I have less feelings about Milwaukee than I do any other team in the league. Utter neutrality.

24. New Jersey - Their most likable player is Jason Kidd...and he beat his ex-wife (although to be fair, she beat him a lot too).

25. Chicago Bulls - All the signs of a team I don't really like. Former overly-long dynasty? Check. Pistons rival? Check. I hated Ben Wallace for leaving to them, because he transitioned from underpaid workhorse anti-hero to over-paid underperformer on a team I didn't like. Glad the Pistons didn't pay him, but sad to see him go.

26. LA Lakers - From the above comments, you'd think they'd be in last place. But while I still am not a huge Kobe fan, it is much harder to hate the 2005-2007 era Lakers, with their young talent in Bynum and Farmar, and Walton progeny (aka, son of the greatest Blazer ever). If Kobe left this team, I'd be a much bigger fan.

27. Indiana Pacers - Brawl, 'nuff said (see bottom).

28. Cleveland - Ok, so I'm not a Lebron fan. I have a hard time accounting for this. Just my dislike of the universally annointed King? I'm not sure.

29. San Antonio Spurs - The Spurs don't have any one dislikable (except perhaps Robert Horry and Bruce Bowen), but they put me to sleep. Duncan has more rings than he does smiles in his lifetime, Parker suffers from the fate of French and Spanish players to be much less jovial and amusing than the German/Eastern European ones (although the rap album he recently put out in French was pretty hilarious). I just want them to stop winning. It is getting boring. If they win the Western Conference this year and shut out the deserving Suns and Mavs, I will be PISSED.

30. Miami Heat - Part of this lingers from last year's ridiclous Semis and Finals...I feel like I should like Wade, but I don't. And while I LOVE Shaq as a person, I can't stand any team he is on. Basically he carried a good percentage of my Laker dislike on his shoulders with this transfer, fair or not.

And while this post is roughly 50 times larger than I had planned on, one more thing I have to share...since I like to bury the entertaining stuff at the bottom. Apparently in Finland they have a test all high schoolers have to take to graduate, and one of the questions was on identifying art. Apparently on these tests and government documents they meant to put Picasso's Guernica, but instead they put a mock basketball version of the painting that blog Wizznutzz created to commemorate the infamous Pistons/Pacers brawl (note 'Sheed's baldspot):


See the full story here

Update: My friend alterted me to a great video of Sheed practicing these ridiclous shots (I've seen other footage of him working on that 3/4ths court shot...he has such amazing arm strength he can actually shoot that far with a quasi-regular stroke) which I have seen before, but forgot to include here.

Album du jour #11 - 5.1derfulicide

The Killers – Sam’s Town (2006)

Prior Relationship to Album: I had never heard Hot Fuss, so The Killers were new to me when Pitchfork et al reviewed this album to relatively high acclaim. And since I haven’t really listened to the first one yet, my listening won’t be coloured by the “letdown by comparison” phenomenon that seemed to be prevalent amongst most reviewers.

High Point: I almost went with “Bling”, but I have to pick #07 “Uncle Johnny” for this spot. Mainly due to the relaxed and more confident energy that really makes it stand out from the rest of the album (or maybe I just like the bass line more).

Low Point: #03 “When You Were Young.” I have a hard time distinguishing this song from “For Reasons Unknown.” Like, I will switch back and forth between the two and they sound nearly identical. So maybe my feeling that WYWY is derivative exists because I think it sounds too much like a song on the same cd that I feel is slightly better. I don’t know. (Not surprisingly, this was their biggest hit single to date).

What I Learned/Realized:

- Brandon Flowers was “inspired” to try adding a guitarist to his band by going to an Oasis concert. I think Oasis deserves royalties for a brilliant idea like that!

- The Killers have a rivalry with Fall Out Boy. Which kind of reminds me of third grade when I used to shove around the quasi-retarded boy.

Future Relationship to Album: On first listen through I enjoyed this quite a bit, but I feel the need to doubt myself a bit. You see, I just picked up a new sound card and 5.lderful speakers, and it kind of makes everything sound utterly amazing. (Also, my new 22 inch LCD monitor makes winamp look *really* cool, but I don’t think that is influencing my judgment nearly as much). But then I put on Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise just now, and it is blowing me away. (If he does Oregon, I will go fucking crazy). So maybe I’m just going to over-estimate all music until I adjust to my new toys.

Album du jour #10 - japtastic

Lili Haydn - Lili (1998)

I haven't done one of these in a few days. Computer foibles, St. Patrick's day, frantic weekend paper writing, March Madness, and Hegel grad student conferences (or, the skipping of) all conspired to limit my time.

Prior Relationship to Album: JP and I went to see Page and Plant perform at the Rose Garden in the summer of 1998, obviously a big event (especially given how Led Zeppelin obsessed I was at the time...not that I am any less so now). Lili was the opening act, and I don’t think I’ve ever been as enamored of an opening act as I was of her. But what were the chances of me being interested in a gorgeous, dark haired, angsty rock violinist? Somewhere between one hundred and ten thousand percent, to be precise. I bought her cd and got it signed – even though waiting in line in order to do so meant that I missed the first few minutes of Page n’ Plant’s intro. (Interesting sub-thought: I’ve officially declared the cd format to be dead to me, since the thrill of owning something physical has worn off, especially since it is really no less physical than the part of my hard drive that I ripped this album onto…but while you can transfer cover and booklet art to the computer, I can never transfer her signature. Will people struggle with the loss of that kind of attachment to a physical, temporal object in an increasingly digital world?)

High Point: #03 “Real.” It is tough for me to reconcile the fact that I pay almost no attention to the sense of lyrics of music that I’m listening to (I’m interested in the musicality of the voice, but rarely what is said, which is why I don’t mind singing along with “Jesus is just all right with me” or misogynistic blues lyrics or whatever, but I don’t give a shit about compelling personal stories told via indie rock)…but this is an exception. The defiant feminist tones here I cannot specifically relate to, but can generally (is this similar to how white people can be moved by, say, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man?). Is this just because it is a female singing? A strange relationship to the (m/)other I have indeed! But even without all that crap, this song rocks hard.

Low Point: #09 “Daddy.” Still very good, just a tad repetitive. And not nearly as technically interesting as the instrumental that follows.

What I Learned/Realized:

- George Clinton called her the “Jimi Hendrix of the violin.”

- Her parents allowed her to choose her own name. For awhile, she went by the name “Helicopter.” Cool! I might have to steal that. The letting my child pick her/his own name part, not the calling myself Helicopter part. Although…..Helicopter Ward. Has a ring to it!

Future Relationship to Album: Never lending it out to a girl to try and impress her with my soulfulness ever again. I did that once with a girl I dated very briefly in college….took me months to get it back.

Philobracketology

So my original philosophy in approaching the bracket was to make a few daring and crazy picks, figuring that the only way I could win would be if those insane things went down....since otherwise you basically have to get every early pick correctly.

Well, now I feel stupid, because I almost *have* gotten every early pick correct. My daring moves were Gonzaga in the sweet 16, Long Beach over Tenn, and Oregon to the finals. If I hadn't have been trying to go for intentionally crazy moves I would have picked UCLA over Gonzaga, and I wouldn't have picked Long Beach (who just lost by 40 points). But I got the UNLV and Winthrop picks right this morning...if I can get Creighton over Nevada, then I'll be in pretty damn good shape. But it is all for naught unless Oregon makes a really, really deep run.

I'm beating the crap out of most people though. #1 among all BC students! The way Facebook compares you to your friends, schools, and networks is really cool. I'm just enjoying mild success while it lasts (and avoiding the blizzard outside).


Update: I went to Whole Foods to buy some fancy cheese with my new loan money (I am very fiscally responsible...), and as I was walking back in my room to catch the end of the Creighton/Nevada game, one of the announcers was saying "....was arrested for marijuana possession...". I love basketball.

Meanwhile, my standings aren't doing so hot after Creighton lost. Oregon won in a surprisingly close game, which might help serve as a wakeup call to push them to do better in the next few rounds (Porter won't always shoot 30%). I'm at 20-3, and have tumbled from #252 on all of Facebook to #25,000 or so.

Album du jour #9 - Would you like a jar of flies with that?

Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies (1994)

Utterly outstanding weather. A whistle-while-I-work time at the office. A little shopping, a lot of wine, some sublime correspondence, the best NBA game of the regular season (Dallas and Phoenix in double over time, Phoenix won but I can't complain too much), a little God of War II, and now my favourite Alice in Chains album to top it off. A la Ice Cube, I'd have to say it was a good day.

Prior Relationship to Album: I associate Alice in Chains predominately with late angsty nights as a frosh in college. In particular the songs on this album...just mesmerizing. I don't even know how to describe it, but some music for me has a dark, harmonic, just immensely powerful feeling - and this is the epitome of that type of music (DJ Shadow being another).

High Point: In a "Nutshell": listening to this song (and Rotten Apple, and Whale and Wasp, the other two nearly tied for the top spot) after midnight, on max volume on headphones, when you're coming down from being drunk and/or high (although not the latter anymore!), breathing in the night breeze as it wafts in through the window....bliss. I have goosebumps big time. This and "Midnight in a Perfect World" are the last two songs I'd want to listen to if I was seconds away from death.

Low Point: No, it is all necessary. I refuse the question. I'm sure if there were more than 7 songs there'd be one that wasn't absolutely essential, but it is a tight grouping.

What I Learned/Realized: Jar of Flies was the first and only EP ever to reach #1 on the Billboard US album chart. And this is the first work of theirs to feature bassist Mike Inez!

Future Relationship to Album: Try to have it available at all times in case impending death is imminent. Am I the only one who has "just before death, press play" songs?

In other news, I finished my NCAA bracket this afternoon. Now, I'm not trying to go for complete accuracy. My theory is that it is impossible to win any kind of pool or competition if you go with the likeliest picks (not that I am in any actual non-online pool - my philosophy friends don't like sports, my roommates don't like college basketball, and my co-workers...well, after a scandal in which BC bball players were throwing games due to betting pools 3-4 years back, they make a HUGE stink about disallowing any such pools). This is because everyone makes those same picks - so even if you get the final four right, to have any shot at winning everything you have to get every single early round pick correctly, which is basically impossible.
So instead, you have vastly greater odds to gamble on a long shot and be one of the people who picks some crazy shit. For example, I have Oregon going to the final round. Now this is partly loyalty for my home state (I was born in California, but that doesn't count...and I've spent hours and hours arguing with JP, Russ, and Paul about this), but mainly because I think they have a fairly decent shot considering the versatility of their guards, etc....and if they actually do make it that far or even to the Final Four, then that will get me a leg up on nearly everybody else. In any case, here's my bracket for anyone interested.

Insane weekend! I'm looking forward to every bit of it (and yes, the weekend begins the minute I get out of class Thursday evening).

Album du jour #8 - Stealers of arctic-circle candy

Fragmentorchestra - Fragmentorchestra (2002)


Prior Relationship to Album: So after watching and falling in love with Linklater's philosophy-major-ego-stroking movie Waking Life, I wanted to find more stuff like its soundtrack. The Waking life sountrack was played by the Tosca Tango Orchestra, and is a jazzy, trippy tango shuffle that is really amazing. But knowing nothing about any form of classical music - let alone unique ensembles that played avant-garde piano/viola numbers - my only lead was to go looking for other bands that had the word "orchestra" paired with something that sounded weird. Lo and behold, I stumbled across something that was in fact nothing like what I was searching for, but was still pretty good. Fragmentorchestra, a little known group that does acid jazz (and when I talk about "acid jazz" here, I don't mean real acid jazz, where a jazz band just does weird shit...I mean a combination of acid jazz, house, and prog house. A more accurate title is "European nu-jazz", but "acid jazz" is commonly used for this kinda stuff because people get the genre lines fairly blurry).

High Point: "De Muse" and "Sambita" both take the cake. The band really lives up to its name; intricate elements, traces of things. Lots going on for anyone whose listening ear doesn't automatically turn off when it comes to electronic "chill out" type music. (and most people do shut off their attentiveness when there aren't vocals, punchy rock hooks, etc...which is unfortunate).

Low Point: "Spirits Voice" is just so-so.

What I Learned/Realized: Earlier attempts to find out info on this band have been in vain because they're Italian, and not many people state side are aware of them. Also because the internet is divided over how to spell their name.

Also, from the myspace page of one of the guys in the band, they have a really weird fascination with some ghetto Italian version of Alice in Wonderland....




Future Relationship to Album: Probably the same. But I'll be more wary of Italians. It is pretty good, the openminded amongst you ought to check it out.

Album du jour #7 - Faux-incest, real rock

The White Stripes - Elephant (2003)

Prior Relationship to Album: Oh, well, everyone knows this album. Myself included. That's kind of handy, since I should be writing anyways (hooray for all-nighters! Although this is more designed to correct my atrocious and random sleeping habits than a helpful means of getting work done).

High Point: I'd like to say "Black Math" or "Ball and Biscuit", but I have to go with the plebs on this one: "Seven Nation Army" is clearly the best song on this cd, and edges out those two. So I'm boring, fuck you.

Low Point: "Hypnotise".

What I Learned/Realized: All five albums (six if you include forthcoming Icky Thump) have songs with the word "little" in the title!

Future Relationship to Album: "[It's] got [me] in [its] pocket".

In other music news, I don't get the Arcade Fire. I didn't get Funeral, and I don't get Neon Bible. Is this a temporary mistake? Perhaps - I haven't listened to either very extensively yet. I detested Modest Mouse when I first heard them in college (although I took a liking to other indie groups immediately...), so repeated listenings might make me change my mind. And given the universal lavish praise, I clearly have to give Neon Bible at least a decent chance to convince me. But I just can't get over how little I care about the music when I'm listening to it, and usually I have a very visceral reaction to things that move me......so I don't know. If I could land it as an ADJ then I could go into more depth on the subject, but the almighty Album Shuffle button does not heed petty mortal concerns in its decision making process.

Phonograpic (continued)

A few odds and ends before philoso-rambling:

- Since this blog in large part revolves around a gimmick having to do with albums (albeit a gimmick interesting only to myself), I have to give big props to the clever idea the folks at Merry Swankster had. In the vein of the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament, they're having a March Madness showdown of the top albums of the '90s. Go check it out and vote on the matchups that have occured thus far - I'm banking on Daft Punk's Homework and Magnetic Fields to succeed well beyond their rankings and go far...who's the Duke of this bunch? Neutral Milk Hotel feels like Syracuse to me for some reason, and Radiohead is clearly the Tar Heels. Nirvana = Florida? (if Joakim Noah shoots himself and prevents a repeat of the NCAA championship, don't say I didn't warn you).

- Speaking of college basketball, I'm watching the Pac10 semis game between Wazzu and USC. I would LOVE a Wash State v. Oregon finals, but USC has managed to hold the lead for 3/4ths of the game. At least Cal did away with UCLA - meaning the Ducks are almost certainly winning this thing. UPDATE: Damn it, USC won. Well, that will make tomorrow's game more exciting, since I get to root for a team I like against a team I hate.


And now to continue the train of thought from the other day. There I laid out a brief sketch of Schopenhauer's thoughts on music, to touch upon the notion that there might be a connection between truth and music...could music have significance not only for aesthetics, but for epistemology?

Speaking very broadly, the common conception of truth is founded upon the model of vision. A thought or state of affairs is seen as one intricate image (or, if it temporally complex, akin to a video clip), and its veracity lies in the extent to which this mental picture comports with a real picture of the physical world. It has always been recognized that appearances can be decieving, but to address this problem it was assumed that the fault lay with the incomplete capacities of the human perspective, but the "divine mind" would have a perfectly clear picture of all Being. The notion that thinking is basically a kind of mental seeing (insight) has persisted in a number forms. The metaphysical was always built upon a bedrock of the physical being most pre-eminently visual (hence the close connections between eidos, forms, ideas, images, etc.)

Phenomenology differed from this insofar as it sought to subvert the dominance of metaphysical systems; most of the disputes that rage within the phenomenological tradition as to how successful each figure was at this. One way of reading the unfolding of thought amongst these figures is to see them as working to subvert the metaphysical assumptions made by their predecessor. In Derrida's view, Husserl and even to some extent Heidegger were affected by a metaphysics of presence. For Derrida, giving primacy to what is present to the senses in lieu of absent is a mistake; every phenomenon is instead a spectrum of presence and absence. (To defend Husserl, this may have been a reductionist view of him, given his emphasis on how every impression relies on forward protention and retention of the past). But confusion over how to interpret this reigns, largely because vision as a model for truth does not give leeway for there being a spectrum; either you can see something or you can't. Blurriness doesn't suffice (it doesn't incorporate the temporal element of differance, for instance).

Could this confusion be cleared up if we saw truth as more analogically related to hearing? Unlike sight, hearing operates not as an on or off switch, but only due to a complex concordance of spacings, distances, echos, resonances, etc. A thought is more like a musical chord than anything else - synthetic thought takes disparate moments in experienced life, joins them together, and rings forth their combined essence. As Heidegger rightly pointed out, untruth is not the privation of truth, but instead the same notes out of order...a note played in the wrong mode! Every truth contains untruth, just as every chord contains a number of octaves and off-tones (I don't know the technical terms for these things, I've forgotten most of my music theory background) that are subsumed into the dominant harmony.

This relationship has crept into language in a few specific ways. A "sound" theory is not just a "good" one - if you call a theory sound, then you are saying that it achieves a form of coherence not only internally, but also with the world at large...it is not just logically valid, but also an organizing principle that "rings true" with experience at large. And it is no accident that Husserl, when writing about the phenomenology of time, switched from visual examples to melodies, since no moment can appear as a moment unless it the mind also intends in any given moment the temporal contextual surroundings of the moment, the past and future knit together, the horizonal limits against which each tone reverberates so as to be heard at all.

The difficulties that one runs into trying to compare competing discourses of truth vis-a-vis experience are obviously much more complex than this, but perhaps finding more common ground is less a matter of trying to determine who is more metaphysical than whom, but instead seeing that many of the differences turn around the difficulty of trying to boil down thought to one of our senses, when our mind is comprised of a number of richer processes that interact in myriad ways.

Album du jour #6 - Dial "Brian" for Pointlessness

Bonobo – Dial “M” for Monkey (2002)

Prior Relationship to Album: Bonobo is a downtempo artist…I got this album back when I was working as the electronica genre director for my college radio station. It was a kind of fun gig, because basically I would get all of the electronica albums that labels would send us, and I would write labels asking for more…and I would get to copy everything before putting it in the cd changers. Although most of it was junk and didn’t end up in. Anyways, Ninja Tune sent us this record, and is one of my favourite labels. I know I’ve listened to some of this album before, but it has been so long I don’t remember a thing about it.

High Point: 06 “Pick Up”. I can’t think of any interesting ways to describe how and why this song is great, so I’ve asked They Might Be Giants to pinch-hit for me:

Low Point: The second half of 03 “D Song”. Starts off strong, and then turns into that Lunesta commercial where the magical green butterfly puts you to sleep.

What I Learned/Realized: Bonobo’s real name is Simon Green, is my age, and is from the UK (Brighton, to be precise). And he became one of the new “downtempo pioneers” at the age of 18. At the age of 18, I was playing a lot of Heroes of Might and Magic and thinking that I was cool because I would order the “feminine energy” booster pack with my Jamba Juice. I could be doing more with my life.

Future Relationship to Album: Try to listen to this album more….after I get published. (Although technically I have been – but that doesn’t quite count).

Album du jour #5 - Streaky Elipses

!!! – Myth Takes (2007)

Prior Relationship to Album: JP first told me about !!! after seeing them at Coachella in 2004, saying that he loved their live show, and that it was the kind of band that “you would definitely like” (A dubious compliment, usually, but !!! is thought of at the forefront of the dance-rock scene because of its ambitious melding of indie rock, funk, and an energetic performance style). I did like Louden Up Now, but I felt that the album, and even the songs itself, were uneven and trying to force the “live act” feeling. I haven’t even read any reviews of Myth Takes yet (it came out 3 days ago), way to go, album-shuffler thing!

High Point: “Yadnus”!!!! (that was me saying the band’s name with an exclamation mark at either the end or beginning of it. I won’t reveal which). It really represents the new direction this album takes in trying to pluck all of the band’s high flying ideas and ambitions out of the air and really ground them. Even the radical changes like trying out standard rock verse/chorus progressions in “All my Heroes” and “Sweet Life” come out well.

Low Point: #05 “Heart of Hearts.” Here’s what the second half of this song is like:

“Heart of, Heart of, Heart of, Heart of, Heart of, Heart of, Heart-o” SHUT UP!!! It sounds exactly like a B-side from Louden Up Now.

What I Learned/Realized:

- The name isn’t exclamation points, but instead the pipe with dot used to indicate the mouth clicks that are used in aboriginal language (insert Ange’s Bushmen bashing here)…the band was inspired by The Gods Must Be Crazy.
- They did a collaboration with The Magnetic Fields called “Take Ecstasy With Me.”
- Elise doesn’t like it when I forget that it is 11:30 and play dance-rock at super-high volumes. Whoops.

Future Relationship to Album: Unlike Louden Up Now, which I had on frequent-mp3-player-rotation for just a brief spell, I think I’ll be listening to this for a long time whenever I require pick-me-up groovy goodness that I wouldn’t feel embarrassed about around my non-dance-music-liking roommates (assuming that I hadn’t lost my sense of embarrassment years ago, of course).

I’m currently watching the Kings-Spurs game…I normally wouldn’t bother, because I hate the Spurs and the Kings aren’t exactly fun to watch these days with the bright exception of Kevin Martin (Oh Mike Bibby, how far ye have fallen). But the Kings have kept the game nearly tied, and it would be fifty kinds of exciting if they could end the Spurs’ 10 game win streak. Keep letting Bowen and Robert Horry shoot the ball…yes, excellent….

Baudrillard died....or DID he?!?!?

It is kind of foolish for me to feel the need to make notes about philosophy news - since there's not a great need to alert a readerbase that is, as of yet, still zero....but what the hell.

Jean Baudrillard, post-structralist thinker who wrote "The Gulf War Did Not Happen" as well as proclaimed that we need to "forget" Foucault...passed away yesterday.

Album du jour #4 - Leggo my Layo

Layo and Bushwacka!'s Nightworks

Prior Relationship to Album: This is one of those dancey albums that most of my friends stateside aren’t going to recognize. And since my sole Brit friend only really likes 80s hair metal, that means I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head who likes this stuff. But I do – it is an appealing combination of (mostly) British tech-house/breakbeat leanings with a dash of American deep house thrown in. It is not an album that has ever gripped me for a period of time, because it just isn’t that kind of music – but it sure is worth the occasional spin.

High Point: This is a boring pick, as this is one of the top singles these guys are known for…but #13 “Love Story” is definitely the best of the breed. If I had to pick just one song to represent an epic Saturday night at 2am where anything seems possible…I can’t think of a better choice.

Low Point: #10 “Sleepy Language”. This track sounds like one Four Tet hook repeated ad nauseum without any embellishment or intricate movement.

What I Learned/Realized:

- Layo’s full name is Layo Paskin, while “Bushwacka!” is Matthew Benjamin. I guess Layo is cool enough to not have to change?

-When I had just glanced at the playlist before, I thought that #14 “2mrw” was some weird kind of geometry equation (I saw the m as the symbol for pi…which is stupid). Then as I was listening just now I thought Ooooohhhh..tomorrow! Those kids and their abbreviations.

Future Relationship to Album: Probably the same, although this listen-through has done a lot to remind me that unlike a fair amount of electronica, this album does a spectacular job in the “cohesiveness” department. I recommend it to any Four Tet fans.

Bonus link du jour: Colin showed me this the other week, and I’ve been forcing it upon others ever since. Joe Mathlete is a genius. Is not the epitome of comedy taking something pitifully unfunny, and applying reason to it – also not funny – and resulting in hilarity? It is like adding two even numbers together to get an odd.

Album du jour #3 - Jazz Just Does Understand (That Hilary is Hot)

DJ Jazzy Jeff's The Magnificient (2002)


Prior Relationship to Album: Big fan. I can't for the life of me recall how I decided to get a DJ Jazzy Jeff album. Like your average white kid, I would remember DJJJ for his Will Smith sidekick role and nothing else. But I got ahold of this album, which is a collection of collaborations with a host of lyricists and hip-hop artists (Chef Word, Pauly Yamz, Erro, J-Live, etc.), and I adored it! Jazzy Jeff is really quite skilled in the neo-soul "hep"-hop that is all kinds of smooth going down. It has been one of my more listened to albums since I stumbled across it.

High Point: The highest point might be Jazzy Jeff's scratch solo in #05's "Break it Down"....although it outshines the rest of the song. As far as songs go, it is a dead tie between #14 "A Charmed Life" - a super groovy, small jazz-club kind of moving bass line and accompaniment of a track that is impossible not to like - and #03 "For the Love of the Game", a great take on the typical "commercialism in hip-hop bad" song.

Low Point: #12, "Mystery Man" featuring the Last Emperor. BBOOORRRRRIIING. The lyrics are uninteresting, The Last Emperor is not nearly a good enough lyricist to even start to disguise that fact, and it just keeps going forever. After listening I was shocked to notice that it was the shortest track on the album. Felt like the longest by far.

What I Learned/Realized: His real name is Jeff Townes. He got Jill Scott started!! And there's an album called The Return of the Magnificient coming out this year!!!!!!

Future Relationship to Album: I will push it on my friends. Aside from being really good, I think it is one of those albums that is uniquely for white kids to have in their arsenal. I realized while listening that this album might well reside in the "sweet spot" in terms of being black enough to play during wooing/sex and feel way suaver than usual, while not edging into "so black I feel slightly threatened and/or sexually insufficient in front of my woman" territory.

To help explain what I mean, I decided to rank some black artists according to the extent to which they seem threatening to the average 30 year old Republican. The rankings are from 0.0 to 10, with 10 being the most threatening (I figured low scores should be good since the whitest sport is golf)

10 -Krucial from Crack Status Productions
8.2 - Young Jeezy
6.9 - Tupac's ghost
5.7 - 50 Cent
5.2 - Ice Cube
4.3 - Ice-T (Pre-Law & Order, 2.2 Post)
4.0 - Jurassic 5
3.2 - Outkast (Pre-Hey Ya, 1.3 Post)
3.0 - The Roots
2.2 - Michael Jackson (When still Black)
1.9 - Seal
0.5 - Chubby Checker
0.0 - Ray Charles
-1.0 - Humpty Hump (Nose looks jewish)
-4.0 - Sammy Davis Jr. (Actually is jewish)

I would rate this Jazzy Jeff album somewhere in the 4 territory - the lyrics come from unfamiliar black artists who are doing some form of "rapping", but wrapped in groovy/jazzy beats - which is the perfect spot for indie kids who are trying to use non-depressing mood music that has not had its sexiness potential devoured by irony. Hey, we gotta use what we can.

Phonographic

Since my two greatest motivating influences behind these words shall be music and philosophy, I thought it would behoove me to say something regarding the intersection of the two.

Typically the only times one would consider the role of music in philosophy would be through aesthetics. Two prominent examples are in Kant and Schopenhauer. The former does not delve into music with too much detail, but simply put it is a representational artform if it derives from notation, but not representational otherwise. Music is vastly more central to Schopenhauer's philosophy, but Kant's general positions on aesthetics are still crucial for accessing the baseline assumptions of Schopenhauer (along with most other subsequent aesthetic theorists). In a super-tiny nutshell, Schopenhauer's philosophy in World as Will and Representation stems from a (kind of crappy) reading of Kant's distinction between the thing in itself and the objectified representational world that humans can sense. Only moral feeling gives us any access to the "real" world (since our senses are mere representations of this world), and this "real" world is a single, unitary, Will that is ever changing and ever devouring. This Will has nothing but need, and Schopenhauer sees this as the root cause behind all change...a never satisfied, bleak, and hopeless desire for re-formation.

Schopenhauer's main interest, then, lies in how to escape from the clutches of this Will. While his ultimate solution lies in some weird combined mystical/Christian/Buddhist meditation stuff that isn't important here, the main "distraction" for Schopenhauer lies in aesthetics. Because art is a manner of appreciation without particular desire (stemming from Kant's theory of how art awakens a "purposive-less purpose", since beauty is not a need or want that seeks fulfillment), it temporarily frees one from being subjected to the Will as desire. He then ranks the arts in order of how objectifying they are - meaning, how much they put someone in the purely contemplative state. Music ranks highest of all the arts on this scale, for a few reasons: 1. There is no "material" to sound, which means there is no matter that can be desired as a particular and thus break one out of the desire-less contemplation. An example of what is meant here could be seen with the statue of David - the kind of pleasure one takes in comprehending the work as a whole is quite different from the pleasure one might get from rubbing their hands on the cool marble. (This distinction will be collapsed in interesting ways by Heideggerian aesthetes). 2. Because there is no object to which a musicial performance is tied to, it is freed to picture and objectify the Will in any particular mode in which it shows itself (When I speak of "mode" here, think kind of Spinoza...in fact, Schopenhauer is in many ways a Spinozist who thinks that substance is kind of vaguely evil, and uses Kantian distinctions and theology to try and find a way out of it, strange as that description sounds). Thus, a rousing line from the trumpets can represent the start of a historical battle without being tied down to a particular "this" or "that", which objectifies the Will to the highest extent, and thus allows for the highest form of aesthetic contemplation.

When you step back from the terminology for a second, it is clear that Schopenhauer thinks that music offers a solution to his very particular kind of mind-body problem...music is free to represent mental objects in a way that sculpture, art, dancing, and even poetry cannot. While poetry lacks any sort of physical material, Schopenhauer sees the words that comprise poetry to be sedimentary in a sense, in that they refer directly to specific things...music has no referent in the phenomenal world at all. But he still insists that music "makes sense" even if nothing else particular existed at all...the upswell of Becoming sounds out in the roll of a timpani, for instance. Music is a non-representational mental connection that bears a different relationship to language than any other art form.

Oops, I meant to just namedrop Schopenhauer before moving on to the relationship between music and truth...but that kind of unfolded on its own. But that's ok, it is relevant - I'll just continue this train of thought tomorrow (and anything related to both philosophy and music I'm going to call "phonographic", which is a word play that is in one way obvious but also means a "clear musical insight", or perhaps "musically clear insight"...what is musical vision?)

Album du jour #2 - One Beat, Three Crushes

Sleater-Kinney's One Beat

Prior Relationship to Album: Eager anticipation. I'm a late comer to Sleater-Kinney, having only started listening to The Woods late last year. I perdictably fell in love with it, since not only does it represent those rock tendancies I enjoy, but is a female only group. And I will prefer almost anything with female lyrics over male ones...(is that strange? Hmm...) But this is my first listen through One Beat - I've been getting a TON of new music lately (What I haven't been doing lately: catching up on schoolwork).

High Point: Hard to choose, but I have to go with track 07, "Combat Rock" (I thought the title track was a lock until I got to that one). Amazing hook, even better progression, and wonderful lyrics mockingly painting Uncle Sam as a dirty rapist. How often is it that the best song on a rock album is also the longest?

Low Point: The fact that they're finished as a group, more than anything else. But if I have to choose something from this album, I'll go with "Step Aside", #06. I hate to pick the one with the trumpets, because I like what they're doing there...but overall it just didn't work for me as well as the rest of the tracks.

What I Learned/Realized: Sleater-Kinney's last performance was at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, a building that means a lot to me. It is a place I've seen many concerts, including Elliot Smith's final Portland show...and also a place where I've taken ballroom dance lessons. Also, I am in love with Sleater-Kinney.

Future Relationship to Album: I need to listen to it like a hundred times more to match my plays of The Woods, because I can't tell at this point which album I like more. As JP just pointed out to me, Woods speaks much more to my roots in classic rock, and I don't think this can match its high points...but One Beat might have a higher overall quality due to the number of consistently good tracks. Time will tell.

Bonus pretentiousness du jour: Before I start handing my friends the link to this (I wanted there to be a tiny bit of content first), I should explain the name. I wanted to pick something short and sweet...otherwise, of course, I would have gone with "Brianisthegrandpoobahoffunk,andwillbereadinthe philosophycanonformillenia.blogspot.com".

My original choice was "bemused", which they said was taken (but doesn't appear to exist). I like this one better, though.. The word plays that I intended at the time:
-musings on being
-the act of being mused, turning it into a verb of ambiguous direction
-linking be-mused to a-mused
-being used
I'll be sure to retrospectively go back and claim I "intended" any other plays on my title that I can think up.

Bonus link du jour: Courtesy of JP. Click on that if you have an affinity for loud flash games, flying toasters, and rainbows, and would like to see the three joined together.

Album du jour #1 - So Long, Bluegrass

Alison Krauss & Union Station's So Long, So Wrong

Prior Relationship to Album: None. The first album that came up in my shuffle is the perfect justification for why I’m making myself do this. So Long is a bluegrass album I got from Josh a few months back, but haven’t listened to yet. I’ve never listened to 48 straight minutes of bluegrass before in my life. Or perhaps even total.

High Point: Track 6, "Little Liza Jane". It is a vocal-less, short, hyper-fast banjo pickin’ little ditty.

Low Point: Track 7, "It Doesn’t Matter". The drop from lightning-fast-Southern-jamboree to ploddingly slow lyrical ballad is a sharp one. Like Splash Mountain, if only they combined the part where you're falling through air with the part where retarded country bumpkin animatronic bears are singing at you for like an hour.

What I Learned/Realized: Alison Krauss exists, and evidently has won more Grammys than any other female (20). Also, that my enjoyment of the bluegrass medium is almost wholly dependent on the BPM of the song.

Future Relationship to Album: I can’t see myself listening to it again of my own volition, even though I liked the 3 faster tracks more than I thought I would. But I'm glad I've been made aware of those songs on here in case the house needs to throw a pick-me-up hoedown.

An Album per Day Keeps the Homework Away!!

So part of the reason why I just created this blog is to catalog something of a resolution I made to listen to a different randomly-chosen album every day.

I hit upon this idea when I realized that my "completed albums" folder had hit the 1000 album mark. You see, I'm cursed with the fact that while I have absolutely zero organizational impulses when it comes to the areas of my life that could use them (I have completed my taxes in June and August the past two years...), I'm an absolute anal weirdo when it comes to my music collection, all of which has migrated over to digital format over the course of time. I've gone through a number of different organizing mechanisms. First by genre; where my classic rock lived here, and my trance there...etc. Then I lost the energy for that, and just had different areas of my computer that were haphazardly organized by when I acquired the files...this sorta continued the genre theme, since I would tend to acquire music of a particular sort at any given time (the stuff I got in 2001 was mostly prog house, in 2002 mostly deep house, 2003 mostly ambient and acid jazz...).

But obviously that wasn't a tidy solution, and somewhere along the way I started disliking just having a random assortment of files in random places. I wanted only full albums, and I wanted them to be formatted in a particular way, with album art...I became a completionist. And increasing my collection became more important than listening to a lot of it. A good amount of my music I have only listened to partially...and I'm convinced that even in this era of digital distribution that there is virtue to the album format (or at least the potential for bands to make important aesthetic movements with that format).

So, I'm going to *try* to, once per day, set my album list on winamp to shuffle and see what comes up. My list of rules (malleable at my discretion) is that I'll listen to whatever comes up no matter what, but no EPs, no live bootlegs, no demo cds, no random DJ mixes....basically, nothing that hasn't been actually published as a full album. And no repeats, of course. I have doubts as to how interesting most of my little write-ups will be, but I'm doing this mainly to force myself to closely listen to things I otherwise wouldn't (I'm presently stuck on Henrik Schwartz's DJ Kicks album, the New Pornographer's first album, and the Doobie Brothers, strangely enough). The first album in the next post.

(dot)Commencement

This "blog's" raison d'etre:
(I use scare quotes because I've never really come to terms with my dislike for the word "blog", but there's really no going back, so I might as well succumb to its inevitability...but I wanted to register one formal complaint when doing my first official "blogging")

- Because I am an ego maniac who wants my various thought-lets to be gazed upon by others

- Because the only place I've written things online up until this point has been Myspace, and I felt like changing that up for no particular reason

- Because I am listening to Jethro Tull's epic late-era masterpiece of an album "J-Tull Dot Com" at 3am, and that makes this make perfect sense somehow

- Because I wanted to reduce the amount of information about myself that Google didn't have

- Because I want another thing I can do at work when things are slow. (There is nothing I have ever really done in my life for any purpose other than procrastination...desires are nothing but things I find to be relatively more immediately interesting than whatever it is I ought to be doing).

But the spark that really incited the thought that I should maybe start such a thing (the "sufficient cause" I would say if I liked Aristotle at all...which, fortunately, I do not) was my resolution to do a gimmicky thing where I made myself listen to one of my many albums at random, and then write things about it (more on this later). I needed a place to host this process, and myspace didn't seem apropos.

So what will you find written here? Aside from the aforementioned ramblings about my massive (ego) mp3 collection, most of what I write here will likely either be my quasi-philospohical ambulatory thoughts, awful jokes, thoughts about my growing basketball watching addiction, or really awful jokes. And stuff about academia and whatnot. Or anything that I envision people reading and then saying "Oh, that Brian!" in affectionate tones. Which has never happened before, but who knows.