Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Modest Mouse Show
Well, I ended up going by myself to Modest mouse yesterday, but it turned out ok. The drive to Portland takes about an hour and 45 minutes and was complete hell. It had been raining all day and still was, so the roads were shit, and the visibility at night was really bad. I could feel the car start to hydroplane a few times which is scary at 55 MPH. Needless to say I slowed down at that point. When I got there I parked, peed in Powells and managed to wander my way back to the venue. I sold my ticket on the way for $20 (the extra ticket).

Crystal Ballroom is a pretty decent concert place because its not too huge. They divide it down the middle for over and under 21, and I stayed on the under side because its usually more friendly and actually a lot less crowded. I sat on a bench against the wall right next to the merch table and suffered through the first two bands. The Vells played first and were terrible, and the next band was the thermals (I think) which were a lot better but the singer had an annoying voice. Also all of their songs had the same tempo and style which is really dull.

My little bench seat was pretty far back, and I usually like to get up front but MM is so big here in their hometown that it gets abit like a Metallica concert up there. The good thing is that while standing on the bench it makes me like 8 feet tall and I can see over exactly everyone in the show.

They played a pretty decent mix of songs, mostly from the new album. They played 3rd planet, walls are paper thin and one other from moon that I forget exactly. From Lonesome crowded west they played out of gas, cowboy dan and styrofoam boots. One think I noticed different from April's show was that there were six people on stage. They had a backup "drummer" and an extra vocalist/standup bass player. The extra people really let them pull off the songs from the new album better since there are a lot of extra instruments on about half of the songs. Backup vocals were a nice touch too. One thing that was pretty funny was that they butchered Float On. It started with a super loud electronic bass beat, and Isaac sang it with weird enunciation so you could tell that they were sick of that song. I imagine from touring around and playing that one song over and over on talk shows gets annoying. After 7 or 8 CD's that song is going to be their "creep" (Radiohead).

Anyway it was a fine show even without my better half, and the drive back was dry and easy. I listened to Mitch Hedberg and laughed for 45 straight minutes.
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Monday, December 13, 2004

man o man
You know you're sick when you lay down under 4 big blankets and your teeth are chattering, yet your head still feels hot. Add nauseous into the mix and its quite a fun time. Thankfully I'm 95% well as of today. My productivity has been shot to hell though, so I will likely not be here much (the interweb) so all please just continue on as if I never left.

At this point I'm crossing my fingers for modest mouse because although I am well, the wife is ill... :(
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Friday, December 10, 2004

Sick
Sick and tum tum no feel good for last few days. Be back for updates on Monday or maybe this weekend if I am bored.

Actually Modest Mouse is playing on monday so maybe I'll review the show for y'all unfortunates who can't go.
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Wednesday, December 8, 2004

....ANYTHING
Sorry, not much of an update today (if it matters). I'm going to my advisors house tonight at 6pm, our whole group is going to hang out and have a dinner. Me and my wife made homemade wheat bread for the occasion but cooked it not long enough so it was uncooked in the middle. Well that sucked, after putting so much time into it but not much can do at this point.

It should be interesting to go to, One of my fellow lab-mates is a close friend, but I like pretty much everyone else at least a little. I guess some of the undergrads cn be annoying but thats to be expected (pesky undergrads).

Oh, and I saw America, world police yesterday and it was hilarious. If you have ever enjoyed south park at least a little then check this out. Just mind that you might be offended if you dislike graphic puppet sex. There are some really great songs in it, like the world police theme "America! FUCK YEAH!!" which then goes on to some crazy lyrics like suck my balls or whatnot. Funny stuff.

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Tuesday, December 7, 2004

I've got a couple more of the Years best.
Modest Mouse: Good News for Anyone who loves bad news.

Modest mouse is my all time favorite band. If they are not completely infallible then they haven't shown any signs of it yet. They have seven albums, andhave been consistently good throughout all of them. They were basically the kings of the indie scene when they were on subpop and a lot of peoples favorite album is Lonesome Crowded West. After that album they were signed by a "major" label, and there was a bit of fallout for it. I don't really think that there music changed any more than any band does between albums, but scenesters can be pretty dumb about the whole selling out BS. This new album marked their MTV/Radio success, which i have to admit is pretty weird. Having Float on crank out of some frat dudes Escalade at a stop sign is pretty damn strange. Its a damn catchy and admittedly "poppy" kind of song so its not really suprising, but I still hate hearing it in the background of Road Rules episodes.

The new album is still 100% classic Modest Mouse and definitely one of the best albums of the year. Modest Mouse is the kind of band that you can buy any of their albums to start, then pick up all the rest of them when you get obsessed with them. Isaac Brock's side project band Ugly Cassanova is also worthwhile checking out. Its a bit different from MM obviously but is also really good after a few listens.

That being said, I get to see MM nextr week Monday in Portland, but also I just found out that they are playing in my home base in Eugene in January (28th?) and I have tickets for that. This will be times 4 and 5 of me seeing them live. I am damn excited!
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Sunday, December 5, 2004

Weekend love
Litle bit of down time late this Saturday. I went and made bead necklaces for christmas presents (they actually look pretty good and l\not like cheap crap) for my rents on teh cheap. I'm also making a photo album for the folks, because they love pictures of their kids, and face it I'm super attractive!

Ha ha ha! Well I'm at least one step up from ugmo.

Justice League was just on and they parodied the superfriends and had Black Vulcan, Apache Cheif and the wonder twins (a version of them anyway).

I think I still have a few best 2004 albums. I'm going to do honorable mentions for ones that are new to me, but not from '04. Then I guess its on to videogames.

Please list one semi-embarrassing thing you do:

Me, I play Yugioh cards.....only at home though but I still feel silly when I buy them in Target.
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Friday, December 3, 2004

Number 2
I'm going to have to go with Muse for the next pick. Its an obvious choice, but just because they're so damn good.

Muse: Absolution
Listen to: www.muse.mu (album plays on first page)

Honestly I bet just about everyone here has heard this CD, or at least one of theirs. Whenever I play it at school though I get the "Is this Radiohead?" question. I don't think that any big fans of either band would ever make that mistake, but its slightly annoying. I love Radiohead, but I think Muse has surpassed them in terms of the most recent albums. I do remember when Showbiz came to the US and they were billed as something to listen to until the next Radiohead album comes out.

Above all else, Muse is the best band out there that uses a piano. It just leaves any Coldplay or Ben folds or whatever in the dust. The songs are so very powerful, it feels like a climax to a movie or something.

Hopefully I'm just preaching to the converted on this one, but if you can get the second album, Origin of Symmetry online somewhere then do it. Its well worth the import price and just as good if not better than Absolution.

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Thursday, December 2, 2004

+++
Feel free to list off some favs from this year if you think to!
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Best of what I like
I'm going to start a list of my favorite albums from 2004.

Ratatat (self titled)

Listen to: http://www.audiodregs.com/ratatat/
Click on the main page image, then go to the link AUDIO on the bottom and listen to seventeen years.

This may be my favorite album of the year. I really have never listened to instrumental music before, but this is different. If you've listened to the sample song, you may know what I'm talking about. Its super-catchy, and the rest of the album is on par with seventeen years. The album is inbetween really rocking and mellow, and plays well all the way through. I also got the chance to see them live, and its a two member band, basically them on stage with guitars. Live they have the drum beats running off a computer, but a lot of the sounds they make with guitars which is always impressive.

They have a remix album out which I haven't really listened to. One of the members of the band is more into the rap side of music, so they did a bunch of remixes of rap songs. They are a NYC band, and toured with Mouse on Mars when I saw them. They were pretty much the bright spot in the middle of a bunch of boring instrumental bands. They don't go off into 12 minute droning self indulgent tunes, which is refreshing compared to what a lot of bands tend to do.

I think if you buy this album you won't be disappointed.
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Wednesday, December 1, 2004

The quickie
Wednesdays are my busy days at school, I have to teach 2 sections of General Chemistry Lab in a row, and it kinda sucks. This is the last lab for the quarter though so I'm happy about that at least. This is my break in between the two to eat my PB&J and get my shit together. Grape jelly rocks by the way. Stay away from that stuff that has peanut butter and the jelly in the same jar though, its bad news. "Goober Grape" I think it was called? I don't know if they still sell that crap. Its no Mustardayonaise thats for sure.

I think tomorrow I'll have time to slack off and write my favorite albums of the year thing. I'll try to give links where you can go and hear a song or two online if I can find them. A few bands I'm trying to drum up support for because they are simply ridiculously good and people should hear them no matter what.

As a teaser, go to www.sayanythingmusic.com and click on view the e-card. You can listen to 4 songs from their album which are all very good in my opinion.


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