golb

Marcus is a big Wussy fan

2011-12-02T09:40:00.006-08:00

And today, Wussy knows it. :)

Wussy mentioned my fanvid of their song "Little Miami" on their Facebook page. But the real reason you should check the link is you will likely discover you are a fan of Wussy too. They are awesome. Wussy fans also hang out here: Wussy on Twitter.

You can get their album "Strawberry" online.

Wussy is, since Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore broke up, the best band in the universe.

The two hundred birds that flocked to my window for a minute and half one Saturday afternoon in October were also pretty cool. Not quite, but almost, as cool as Wussy.

CLICK TO HEAR "LITTLE MIAMI"

Saint Etienne - 19 Bacharach

2011-07-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

2010 - a very good year for new music!

2011-01-02T12:01:00.003-08:00

LIFE PROWLER (NO AGE)

RUDE BOY (RIHANNA)

CALL YOUR GIRLFRIEND (ROBYN)

RUSH TO RELAX (EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING)

ESME (JOANNA NEWSOME)

RATTLING CAGE (FOREST SWORDS)

ALEJANDRO (LADY GAGA)

CHINATOWN (DESTROYER)

CHINATOWN (WILD NOTHING)

REAL LIVE FLESH (tUnE-yArDs)

FLOATING VIBES (SURFER BLOOD)

ALL AROUND AND AWAY WE GO (TWIN SISTER)

ALL AROUND AND AWAY WE GO REMIXED

ANGEL OF DEATH (HONEYHONEY)

I ONLY KNOW (WHAT I KNOW) (JAMES BLAKE)

MEXICAN BOYFRIEND (BEST COAST)

GIVING UP THE GUN (VAMPIRE WEEKEND)

JAIL LA LA (DUM DUM GIRLS)

O.N.E (YEASAYER)

I CAN TALK (TWO DOLLAR CINEMA CLUB)

ROUND AND ROUND (ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI)

VCR DEMO (The XX)

KIDS (SLEIGH BELLS)

INFINITY GUITARS (SLEIGH BELLS)

DESIRE LINES (DEERHUNTER)

DANCING ON MY OWN (ROBYN)

GIRLFRIEND (TY SEGALL)

Why isn't this EVERYWHERE YOU GO?

2010-04-19T14:42:00.001-07:00

Honeyhoney - Sugarcane from Brandon Aviram on Vimeo.

The Rogers Cup 2009 in Montreal: Another opportunity to watch the girls do their thing

2009-08-14T04:11:00.014-07:00

Roger, Rafa and the Djoker, they were all there. But it takes some of the ladies of tennis to really demonstrate the power game going on at Stade Uniprix this week.

Tennis babe power game inflicted on Novak Djokovic:

Power shots.

More power shots.

Of all his peers, Novak stayed around the longest by far for more power shots.

Recently married Roger Federer also couldn't resist and fell victim to a few power shots from the ladies.
Tennis babes made their shots and scored.

New Sonic Youth recording "The Eternal" is now released - buy it in your local record shop this week!

2009-06-08T08:23:00.011-07:00

Poison Arrow - Rockin' and deconstructionalist, classic rock sendup, the most subversive track on the album. Sounds so fresh but recalls a bit of a Daydream Nation strut. Thurston vox are pure rockstar. Kim coos background refrain, and Lee too by the sounds of it. The unattainable woman is the subject, which is not a new lyrical offer after Marilyn Moore, Mary-Christ, Self-Obsessed and Sexxee, Lights Out, etc, etc however the metaphor adds some nice abstraction.

Calming the Snake - A summation of tricks owned by band with a feel for the band's early 80s sound. Kim barking orders to shiver. Then listing corpses, drapery, wrestling, sliding. Fast, slow, propulsive, major chords in clock strike midnight with intentionally sawed-off ending. Great finish. No new ideas here, except for the supreme confidence and polish used in the assembly of this song that makes it sound like a touchstone. This one's for people who know what they like.

Antenna - Chiming mid-tempo thumper - props for Thurston's vocals, whose voice sounds as steady as Lee's tenor for the first time, Steve's drums shine throughout. Overall this song has a new shiny sheen to it and doesn't immediate hearken earlier material though the track development is Sterling cookie-cutter grunge.

Sacred Trixter - Dissonant lurching opening, with thrash guitar. Peppy immediate vocals. A good choice for single. Chugs along, even when a second verse improv is attempted. Third verse accelerates to a final stanza and sudden stop just past the 2-minute mark.

Walkin' Blue - Headphones a must. An utterly lovely melody from Lee. Delightful repeated riff is a bridge to backup vox on chorus, which is less striking than the verse, but equally beautiful. This could be a Mamas and Papas song. Outstanding contribution to the band's oeuvre. There's a key shift when the song could be over and the band works out a new very elegant drawn-out structure for the song with Steve diligently keeping the time, urgency at the finish.

Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn - Explosive number. Thurston's breathy signature style backed by Kim vox. Also contains signature SY riffs and a melodic bounce. Very very Goo and very very good too.

Massage the History - Yo La Tengo nod as the SY penchant to go Fleetwood Mac-y on slower dirges sounds a lot like Matador label mates here, with atmospheric guitars reminiscent of I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One until strumming starts. Kim continually reaching for high notes and otherworldly sighs, emoting as is her nature. Dreamy and Sonic Nursesque. Laiden with meaning(s) about going "to the other side"... she sings it to its gut-wrenching finish in a stunning performance. Guitars reference Shadow of a Doubt.

What We Know - Uniquely lead by bass line. Lee song #1 backed by Kim vox. Familiar noise breakouts layered in, deconstructed down the bassline and rebuilt up to final verse.

Anti-Orgasm - Arpeggios and power chords with guitar pyrotechnics for the fans. Kim and Thurston share vox and do call and response in what really seems to me to be one of the most effortless SY songs ever. They laid it down and it's perfect. With grunting, looping riffs. Could be the new model SY. Autumnal coda a la "The Sprawl," is a less dazzling idea, but if I was the author of "The Sprawl" I would want to reference it all the time, every day.

Malibu Gas Station - Extended bucolic intro, autumnal. Then jammy parts light in "Reena" mould. So that makes it A 1000 Leaves + Rather Ripped. Kim's vocals chime in perfectly in sync with the drum beat. A catchy as My Friend Goo (stripped down it is the very same song but they are doing more sophisticated structured things to it). The most interesting progression of any track on The Eternal and lyrically it's the fall of Britney, which after the fall of Joan Crawford, Karen Carpenter, Mariah Carey, etc. is also not new ruminative territory for the band.

No Way - Stereo separation leads a breathless and careening Thurston track. Like a EJSTANS piece, done up with a fuller sound, more noise workouts and big production and ends up recalling Murray Street or Dirty's "Purr."

Leaky Lifeboat - A weird monotonal verse with la-la-la refrain that both Thurston and Kim sing. Conventional song structure. Also EJSTANS in sensibility with updated sound. Perhaps the most different of the 12 entries on the album. Has the most potential as a radio single, and also best leaves off where Rather Ripped placed them. Could be their first indie hit?

Yes, Pet Shops Boys' King of Rome and other tracks I'm loving thanks to "My iPod on YouTube"

2009-03-26T05:33:00.008-07:00

Can I be the only one to have thought of this? I doubt it. But I love it.

I am listening to Dragon Queen by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, although their record company would never let a person listen to it on YouTube. So you don't get it here on my playlist called My iPod on YouTube, which reminds me... Not listening to music restricted by big corporations is becoming an important quality. I'm so glad Sonic Youth just jumped to Matador Records, because UMG is nasty.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Drag on Queen (It's Blitz! 2009)

2009-03-11T20:58:00.002-07:00

Smaller version of video file for quicker caching:

Pitchfork 100 Best Tracks of 2008, Pazz & Jop '08 and now this: My top 10 picks in pop from the last year

2009-02-06T12:24:00.005-08:00

This year-end list is late -- many weeks late. Music fans practically had to be experts in copyright law to successfully blog your YouTube faves this last year. Behemoth record companies made it the year to make poor choices. Warner, for instance, disassociated from YouTube all music ever recorded its the label. And then Universal tried to squash its customers -- fans like me.

What kind of fan am I? I am the kind who will buy releases. So when I purchased a CD from Free Kitten on the Ecstatic Peace! label, I asked for and received their permission to upload to YouTube my copy of a track. The permission came directly from the label. Universal stepped in, being the multinational company that it is (perhaps multi-galaxy company based on its impressive name). I guess Universal efficiently and relentlessly publishes all of the music from the various labels it owns, from here to the most distant sun.

It's surprising, but after several months, I actually won the content claim slapped on me by Universal. Thanks to eventual win, I can do what I wanted to do in the beginning: Point to it and say check this out, it's really cool, and people like me will want to go out a buy the entire album, go to the shows and buy the t-shirt. And fans like me will curse the day their favourite band ever had to make a decision that involved in the machinations of Universal, Warner or other outfit globally staffed by lawyers who want jab at me, their customer, the fan of the band who's on their roster.

I wonder what the bands think. For fans, eventually it's just like, whatever. Legalese fatigue. It eventually makes you uninterested in sharing music you like with your friends. And that might be the most important feedback UniWarner can get. But I'm not expecting a thank-you to follow the fuck-you.

Whatever -- read on below for my list of what I was a big fan of in 2008.

It's hard not to notice that in my top ten or so there is strong evidence of many fans who like me persevered in the face of a YouTube browbeating. As I said, I'd like to hear what the bands have to say, but I almost suspect that in 2008 the stories of the fans are better than those of the musicians they choose to promote on YouTube. If only their stories were known. I'm sure that these fans stories are more exciting that my dealings with the copyright lawyers. I'm thinking of...

The fan who donated the video concept for Britney's best release from her big comeback album;
the fan whose homemade MGMT video was better than the real one that took ninety times as much time and money to make;
the fan who made Jayne Mansfield dance a sublime dance to the sounds of Beach House and probably managed to offend both a major motion picture studio and a recording industry lawyer while doing it.

So here are my top picks - 10 plus 5 more...

No Age - Eraser

Award: Artist of the Year - "Nouns," multiple single and ep releases, a great tour and memorable spot on Craig Ferguson make No Age my favourite artist in 08.
Un-award: Teen Creeps was my pick for best song of the year, but the lead single Eraser (above) helped make MTV subversive again with a video that didn't ever seem like it was going to start and it still wrapped up in a very punky three minutes.
Why YouTube gives No Age props: Features a virtually note-for-note version of the album Nouns, consisting almost entirely of uploaded fan videos... >>> Go now to the No Age "Nouns" playlist
Why YouTube lets No Age down: Pitchfork.tv posts prime material exclusively

Nouns playlist

The Roots - Rising Down

2009-02-01T23:23:00.007-08:00

Award: Recording of the Year - "Rising Down" the album sounds to me like one of the best releases I've heard in many years (so I really don't understand why I hear say 2008 was not a memorable year in music)
Lack of award: It's hard to pick one track from the album as a favourite, but Rising Up (below) is a high note that ends the album and makes a nice counterpoint to the track above.
Why YouTube lets The Roots down: Universal Music Group now has YouTube automatically stripping out any audio from the Roots on any fans video, à la upload of small child singing Winter Wonderland.
ASAP: Sample these tracks while you can...

Rising Up

75 bars

Get Busy

I Can't Help It

Criminal

I Will Not Apologize

Free Kitten - Surf's Up

2009-02-01T23:22:00.002-08:00

Style: Far-out guitar rock
Example: 3:00 into the track when it sounds like J Mascis and Kim Gordon are rocking out on a beach on Mars.
Reference: Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and nothing else
Remix: My own fan video. (UMG pulled the plug on it when they claimed the content even though I had the permission of the record label, Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace!)

Annie - I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me

2009-02-01T23:21:00.002-08:00

Style: English cliches and idioms with a Swedish twist
Example: Life's too long for you to get it wrong; other relationship advice from Annie.
Reference: Pet Shop Boys' "Can You Forgive Her?"
Remix: As good or better, with fan-made video edit.

Tokyo Police Club - In A Cave

2009-02-01T23:20:00.006-08:00

Award: Top Canadian recording artist for 2008 (and for Desperate Housewives)
Other notable mention: Real video is actually a fan video! Well not exactly: Olan Rodgers is an amateur filmmaker who won a campus contest to work with the band... (says Olan's web page about making videos: "It's about all we got. Olan has a decent computer.")
Another notable mention: Homemade video has MTV video ID stamp at its beginning and end; real MTV video above has no ID stamp at its beginning or end.
Final notable mention: Even though the track is titled "In a Cave," the lyrics include the title of the band's album "Elephant Shell," sung during the bridge. This is a known good technique because it causes listeners who are aware of the album title to have the hairs on the back of their neck stand up. I'm pretty sure album name-dropping in lyrics is a proven phenomenon but I think there's a minor chord progression happening during the bridge that might also optimize the effect. Or something.

Britney Spears - Break The Ice

2009-02-01T23:18:00.006-08:00

Fan video style: Life imitates art - Children's pastime set to Britney's comeback track.
Official video style: Art imitates life - When Britney is institutionally admitted, cartoon Britney fills in for her.
Helpful reminder: The fan vid came first.
Other notable mention: Second-best song from album (The best song from Britney's Blackout record -- "Radar" -- would've been released as a single had "Womanizer" not been rushed to the market to sully the Britney comeback with a cash grabbing crap follow up.)

Los Campesinos! - Miserabilia

2009-02-01T23:12:00.003-08:00

Style: Mekons-ish and featuring a male frontman with the playful sensibility of Stephen Malkmus and emotive thurst of Conor Oberst
Content: Has some, unlike those who like to trash the band.
Fan video style: Desperate
More on the concept: Desperation is not a barrier to being heard, but rather a conduit.
Background: Nothing is being done to promote this release other than touring. Thanks desperate fans!

Robert Forster - From Ghost Town

2009-02-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

Style: Haunting
Sounds kinda like: Really good Neil Young

MGMT - Electric Feel

2009-02-01T23:09:00.005-08:00

Award: Fan video of the year - A fan makes the video; song subsequently becomes a hit; official video that follows pales in comparison after record company finally decides to start promoting it (I'm not even going to bother to supply that link).
Who is that fan? Cece - vitalnonsequitur channel on YouTube.

Janet Jackson - Rock With U

2009-02-01T23:04:00.011-08:00

Song style: Incomprehensible lyrics, inebriating groove
Fan video style: with enunciation
Song weakness: Doesn't have the pop thrust of first single "Feedback"
Song strength: Continues the metaphor of words being second to body language, the language of love, yadda yadda.
Fan video strength: Complete fan vocal of the song, a capella
Fan video weakness: No dancing, no group hug at 2m30s.
Official video style: Robert Altman meets Quincy Jones - lighting and blocking (all done in one take?) and a convincing cohesion between dance numbers and scenario not typical of the Jackson repertoire.
Other notable mention: She hasn't made a video this good in 18 yrs.

Kate Nash - We Get On

2009-02-01T22:39:00.009-08:00

Style: Simple, with layers of intrigue and neurosis applied
Typical fan base: Simple but applied
Fan video style: (As of May 12, 2008) Incomplete
Official video style: (As of Jan 1, 2009) Incomplete.

Beach House - Gila

2009-02-01T22:35:00.003-08:00

Genre: Soul
Strong point: The vocals
What complements its strength: The spaces in between the vocals
Official video doesn't suck because: It's all lizard-like, hence the title.

Randy Newman - Potholes

2009-02-01T22:33:00.003-08:00

Context: Immediately approachable song sticks out on an album of great depth populated by vibrant, real people.
Fan video style: Desperate (see also Miserabilia)

TV on the Radio - Halfway Home

2009-02-01T22:31:00.003-08:00

Style: Intensely harmonic yet inventive and, luckily, similar to today's best symphonies that somehow survive being over-produced and proggy.
Fan video style: Just proggy.

Laura Marling - Your Only Doll (Dora)

2009-02-01T22:24:00.006-08:00

Style: British folk vocalist hall of fame
Video style: Multi-fan video
Multi-fan video gets kudos because: It's hard to tell what this fan liked more while creating this - "The Nightmare Before Christmas" or this Marling ballad - the two are carefully and thoughtfully matched.
Also good: Videography in this live backstage version.
Also also good: Fly on the wall take from this tiny record shop performance version.

Diane-fan, you can suck it

2009-01-12T08:55:00.003-08:00

Diane-fans everywhere: You can suck it! 30 Rock is a Golden Globe lock!

Free Kitten - Surf's Up (Ecstatic Peace!)

2008-12-01T18:45:00.006-08:00

+ My unblocked YouTube videos

Saint Etienne songs useful in illuminating New York City architecture...

2008-10-20T15:59:00.005-07:00

STOP AND THINK IT OVER

... not just good for the portrayal of West Coast mid-century modern homes.

Ahsha Rolle deserves win over Alexandra Stevenson at Rogers Cup qualifying tournament in Montreal

2008-07-27T17:59:00.025-07:00

A very big I'm sorry to Ahsha Rolle who today faced a Montreal crowd that loudly booed her victory as she left the court. Rolle hails from the vicinity of Miami, Florida, and has never had a match win in Montreal before this weekend. I'm ashamed of my fellow spectators for jeering her. If Rolle had her own website, I'd post my apologies there but she has no public fan forum, so I'm posting it here. I hope she has tennis fans of a higher quality in attendance for her first round match against Alisa Kleybanova on Tuesday.

But while I'm posting about the mistreatment of Rolle, who won her match by out-executing her opponent on important points, here's a look at who she played -- Southern California tennis player Alexandra Stevenson (above). It wasn't a great day for Stevenson since it ended with her bundled out of competition in singles, angry tennis mother on the sidelines yelling at the WTA tour officials. But there's more to the story than just that (though that would be enough).

Before that, there was a small rainstorm, shown here being mopped up by Rogers Cup volunteers and tennis officials. This was nothing compared to what was brewing.

To begin at the beginning, Stevenson was contesting a spot in the main draw of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament. She met Rolle for the final round of qualifying on Court 9 at Montreal's Jarry Park. After splitting sets with Rolle, Stevenson was serving at 5-6, trying to take the third and decisive set to a tiebreak. But if you take a look in the background of the photo above, you'll see that Stevenson was broken in that service game, allowing Rolle to take the third set 7-5, claim the match and secure a spot in the main draw.

This did not sit well with Samantha Stevenson, who is shown here in the straw hat. "Don't shake her hand, Alexandra!" said Samantha when Rolle kindly offered a hand to her daughter after the match. This is 100% verbatim and all the spectators heard it. It was the kind of trash talk that helped foment boos from the stands when Rolle walked off the court. It was astounding.

Then Samantha Stevenson paced the tarmac alongside the court. She berated the umpire. She wanted match point to be played over again. With no opponent for her daughter to contest the point against, she was fuming.

The contentious point was recounted over and over again, and at Alexandra's beckoning it was escalated and retold with more and more officials listening in. Basically all parties involved had agreed on a version that was accurate: On match point, Rolle hit a ball to the baseline that Stevenson hit back while screaming "Out!"... This much is what everyone -- Stevenson, three officials and the ump, all pictured above -- agreed on had happened.

But what Stevenson did not agree with is why screaming "Out!" is worse than screaming other things while the ball is in play. Or why a player screaming "Out" is any worse than grunting loudly, which was an example she used in her defense: I could've said "Out" or I could've grunted. The officials tried explaining it to her yet again: Yelling "Out" while the ball is in play is a considered a hindrance and players who do it can forfeit the point.

Problem is Stevenson thought she had some "added wiggle room" since the ump responded to her sudden outburst by immediately saying "Let" (he then corrected himself by saying "Game, set, match: Rolle"). Stevenson argued at length for a reversal back to the "Let" call, which would allow her to replay the match point. No can do. (Think about it... Everyone would shout "Out!" as they were about to lose and no match would ever be decided.)

Problem is Rolle was now long gone by this point, something Mama Stevenson was keenly aware of as she jumped up and scurried to the officials, pointing out the direction that the winner of the match was last seen heading. (Actually, I think this was an accusatory finger-point that is pictured, but with Samantha, it's always something, isn't it?)

So Team Stevenson finally appears to give up. Alexandra goes back to the bench and grabs her bags, calling the umpire "a fucking idiot" while Samantha appears to be reaching for her cellphone and the lawyer who she keeps on speed dial (that's just my best guess -- I didn't get that close).

Alexandra lets out the "fucking idiot" comment once more as she passes the umpire's chair. (When you're really pissed off, it's fun to use insulting epithets on someone who is not allowed to respond to them!)

Here Samantha is saying: Hey Alexandra, not so fast -- now off the court with the awaiting club cars, the furor erupts yet again. "Wait Fabrice," says Samantha, who obviously is on a first name basis with Fabrice Chouquet, the WTA Tour Supervisor, "I can't believe you're letting this happen!"

Even Alexandra has grown tired of it by this point and twice orders the club cars to go, each time only to have Mama immediately shut them down for further negotiations. Finally, the officials insist that they must leave and go to a private rather than public place if Samantha wants to discuss the matters further. The club cars sputter to life and Alexandra attempts to take a strip off her mother as they drive off.

Postman's tour of the tract homes of LA

2008-05-04T20:34:00.020-07:00

This is a Saint Etienne fan video for the song "Postman," featuring photographs of renowned American tract homes I took just after dawn along Meier, Beethoven and Moore streets in Los Angeles on April 14, 2008.

ABOUT THE ARCHITECTURE

The north-central tract of Mar Vista upon which Gregory Ain, Joseph Johnson and Alfred Day built three blocks of cost-efficient housing exemplify modern architectural design circa 1947. These buildings are now preserved by the city's Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.

For other great photographs from the Mar Vista Tract and of other Los Angeles tract housing, see this gallery.

For a look at interior photographs and floor plans, check out Gregory Ain Model Home Redo & Add On.

(In fact, the only indoor shots in my clip are of my motel bathroom at the Marina del Rey Hotel, which, though modern and stylish, was probably not contemporaneously built, seeing as Marina del Rey -- today's largest man-made marina in the world -- was constructed in the late 1950s and formally commemorated in 1965.)

ABOUT THE VIDEO

"Postman" is a suitable soundtrack for the route I followed that morning among the tract houses -- residences famous for their mid-century simplicity and streamlined design.

For one thing, the song title could be taken as a reference to the postwar modern era that the homes were a direct descendant of. A postwar dwelling for the "post" man.

Secondly, as I already mentioned, I did not get a tour inside the homes. My route around the tract was much like a postman's so there's a very literal connection too.

And finally, there's the sleek shiny cool of the band...

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS

Though a British band with a French pop element, Saint Etienne sing many songs that evoke or pay homage to postwar California.

"Downey, CA" is about the town that Karen Carpenter grew up in; on an album focused on urban planning and architecture (Finisterre), the track "The Way We Live Now" is introduced as Los Angeles Armageddon.

Earlier in the band's career, Saint Etienne made frequent use of sound collages taken from Hollywood cinema, while at the same time cranking out idyllic ballads like "California Snow Story" and Beach Boys covers.

And much of their 1998 album named Good Humor (with its characteristic US spelling), evokes California living and chasing the American dream. It's the collection of songs from which "Postman" comes.

Despite whatever connections you might find between viewing the work of Gregory Ain and hearing this Saint Etienne song, "Postman" is above all mood music, plain and simple. And so, like many Saint Etienne compositions, it might sound as if it were written to accompany a film (something the band is seeking to do more by collaborating in filmmaking).

That's really why I put this track on top of the tracts I walked around that morning -- its jaunty beats, verses like "walked down our street" and an overall retro shimmer seemed to gibe with the visuals quite nicely.

Top 10 pop songs (plus two more) in 2007

2008-01-08T20:23:00.001-08:00

12. Melody Day by Caribou
(from the album Andorra, first single)
Daniel Victor Snaith grew up where I was born. But I still know nothing about him except that he is a nutter, or perhaps used to be one back when he was known as Manitoba. There's some criticism that his recent recordings are too mainstream but who can even tell what he's on about. It's intrigue, a good thing. A compelling release -- that says it all really.

11. Silver Lining by Rilo Kiley
(from the album Under the Blacklight, second single)
The build-up is below the surface -- just like the iceberg theory used in good fiction -- and then come the final notes, which on this track sound like the best ones recorded all year. It's fresh retro, and that -- whenever it's not a total impossibility -- comes close to perfection. So tell me what's with the people who diss this?

10. 1 2 3 4 by Feist
(from the album The Reminder, second single)
The song is a standout. The video is exceptional. Combine them and then at 2:03 into it all, something amazing happens. It's not the synergy of sound and vision. It's something similar to adult-onset athleticism: a mind-numbing rush and a sharp cry . . . damn, I WANT TO BE IN THIS VIDEO!

2008-01-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

9. 2080 by Yeasayer
(from the album All Hour Cymbals, first single)
Playing La Sala Rosa with MGMT on February 10. Touted for keen confluence of Middle-Eastern mysticism and enlightened thinking, but I'm loving the Roxy Music verve supplied by rolling bass and smooth vocals reminiscent of Bryan Ferry. This live performance dissects the exotic sheen. Plus it preps me the early concert event of 2008.

8. White Chalk by PJ Harvey
(title track from the album)
The stirring harmonic dirge pummels your ears ever so sweetly. But it's not just a lyrical mood piece, I tell you. It's often great art when you find it impossible to separate the music from the musician, and seeing PJ Harvey perform this song it's clear no one else can do what she does.

7. Silly Crimes by the Tough Alliance
(from the New Waves EP)
This year's greatest subversion. Balearico beats echoing the synth of Saint Etienne's "Kiss and Make Up" -- but in terms of meaning it's taking a rather different route. There's no forgiving in the Tough Alliance.

2008-01-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

6. Love is a Losing Game by Amy Winehouse
(from the album Back to Black, fifth single)
There's so much to like about this track. The verses are tight and the songs scans well. There's not an unnecessary word or syllable uttered. It's an economical track to be sure. The vocal phrasing and tone is very effective. Every beat, every cadence is carefully meted out and miserly put into place. Lovingly too since it's an homage. But more than that, Amy's observing the world that's around her, so it's an equally astute portrait of life lessons learned. And the visuals are just as crafty-yet-effortless as the song is.

5. Peacebone by Animal Collective
(from the album Strawberry Jam, first single)
Inhabiting a nurturing space so stand back and watch what happens.

4. Competition by Dragonette
(from the album Galore, unreleased single)
This appeared ready to take America by storm on an earlier indie EP. Fast-forward to the majors: Mercury UK botched it and has now dropped the band, who have returned to Canada, where their first single "I Get Around" ended up being a bit of hit in 2007 anyway. Basement Jaxx fucks the Divinyls -- a sluttily, heavily borrowed pastiche that turns every trick in the book into moderately successful pop gestures. The racy conceits that come across as actually felt rather than posited postures are the true winners. Namely, what you see here and the gem of an album closer "You Please Me."

2008-01-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

My favourite three songs might be coloured by my current obsession with "Pirate Jenny," the Threepenny Opera song written by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht and most notably sung by Lotte Lenya, but also done in a rocking, martial version by German actress-singer Hildegard Knef and most recently last year by American cabaret and stage singer Anne Kerry Ford. In the song, the chamber-maid protagonist seeks revenge -- her menial labour as a housekeeper is a meager living and the men at the hotel where she works humiliate her, making her plight inhumane and unjust. She describes that when a eight-sail, 40-cannon pirate ship docks in the town harbor, the townspeople she serves are sent to be massacred at her command and the the entire village is flattened. "That'll learn ya," she says.

Promises of "That'll learn ya!" haven't fallen out of fashion in popular music. Today, almost a century later, a plan for vengeance still can make a great pop song. Why not? It's partially what pop music is good for. So while many a Pirate Jenny has taken a chance to vent and plot over the years, in 2007 I am struck by three songs in which worlds -- so evocative, unique and hearteningly rendered -- are are illuminated by their injustices.

Before seeking out revenge, the victim suffers an injustice that maps out alienation or estrangement, subjugation, and then finally desperation. These events allow the victim to be clearly presented and even conscious of being the "other" (the other class, in Pirate Jenny's case, but also the other sex, the other sexual orientation, the other nation, and the other ethnic background in the tracks shown below), and that acknowledges the tradition in Brecht's original depictions of the Marxist struggle in civilization.

3. Paper Planes by M.I.A.
(from the album Kala, fourth single)

2. Going to a Town by Rufus Wainwright
(from the album Release the Stars, first single)

1. Na Na Na by The Knife
(from the album Silent Shout, fifth single)

MOFFITT or LEAVITT: To accept the heroizing of carbon footprints and bloody headbutts

2007-09-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

Do standards of journalism drop sharply when you reach the New York Times Sports section?

This is a question I've never pondered more than I did during the last week. And so I post this at the risk of being bitched out like Jenni Carlson by Mike Gundy on an Oklahoma Saturday night. See bolded article excerpts for the parts I'd like to emphasize as most whack.

September 22, 2007
Linebacker and South Florida Make Long Commute to Success
By PETE THAMEL

BUSHNELL, Fla., Sept. 17 — As the morning sun burns through the last traces of predawn darkness, Ben Moffitt contorts his oversized frame into his economy car.

It is not long after 7 a.m. when Moffitt, a senior linebacker for the South Florida football team, hums down County Road 629 here in his itsy-bitsy Toyota Yaris.

It is the first leg of his 55-mile trip to Tampa. By living so far away, Moffitt has assured a more comfortable, family-oriented life for his wife and two children. But that sacrifice means a 110-mile round trip every day. He leaves as early as 3:30 a.m. for winter workouts and arrives home as late as 7 a.m. after a road game. Moffitt has driven a Kia into the ground (“It didn’t scream linebacker,” he joked of the car), has compiled about $200 in U.S.F. parking tickets and has traveled well over 100,000 miles.

Along the way, a country kid has evolved into one of college football’s top linebackers, and a commuter university that started football 11 years ago has found a spot alongside the nation’s elite.

“I can’t imagine what he’s gone through, the sacrifices he’s made,” the defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said. “But he’s totally committed to both his family and football. He’s always put his family first.”

Family is what prompted Moffitt to move back to Bushnell after he and his wife, Shauna, lived in Tampa during his freshman season. Shauna — with son Trevor, now 5, in tow — drove to Bushnell every day that year so she could work as a data specialist at the Sumter County Property Appraiser’s Office.

Shauna and Ben also returned on weekends to spend time with family and go to church.

“That was a hard eight months,” Shauna said. “It was such a culture shock, it was so different.”

The Moffitts missed walking into Wal-Mart and Winn-Dixie and seeing familiar faces. They decided to move back after Ben’s freshman year and soon welcomed a daughter, Rylan, now 3. They rented for a while before building a house, where Ben proudly showed a visitor that he had hand-built the shed and the wooden garbage can holders.

Moffitt, who has helped U.S.F. grow into a power, acknowledges his most important teammate.

“She’s an awesome woman,” he said of Shauna. “She helps me so much. If I didn’t have someone like her to support me, it would be hard to do what I do.”

Moffitt, 22, began working for his stepfather’s tree company when he was 8, hauling brush before graduating to chipping. He was eventually cutting limbs while being supported by a tree strap or standing in a cherry picker. When Moffitt wanted to buy a $300 hunting rifle at age 9, his stepfather made him earn the money.

“Child-labor laws didn’t apply to me,” he said with a smile. “It taught me very good life lessons, like how to work. If you want something, you have to go work for it.”

Inman Sherman, who coached Moffitt at Sumter High School, said: “Ben has always had a bullheaded determination to get done what he wanted to get done. He’s never wavered.”

Moffitt found the perfect football program and coach to match his work ethic, signing with South Florida and Coach Jim Leavitt without really looking anywhere else.

Leavitt’s first impression of Moffitt came early on in his freshman season when U.S.F. was going through summer workouts. Moffitt had arrived out of shape, and Leavitt saw him struggling in a conditioning exercise and yelled, “Moffitt, you’re lazy.”

Moffitt glared back at him and said confidently but politely, “One thing I am not, Coach, is lazy.”

Leavitt laughs at the story now. “Ever since then, he’s certainly convinced me of that,” he said.

No one will accuse Leavitt of being lazy either. Becoming the first head coach at South Florida, a commuter university built on a practice bombing range, in 1996 was not exactly a prototype move after being Bill Snyder’s defensive coordinator at Kansas State.

But Leavitt’s old-school, intense demeanor, which belies his youthful looks and spiky hair, has helped him build a powerhouse. Leavitt is so fiery that Moffitt recalled him once busting open his nose and bleeding profusely after head-butting a player’s helmet trying to get his team fired up in pregame warm-ups.

“It about knocked him out,” Moffitt said.

Leavitt is known to run each set of wind sprints with the players during practice and to stay in his office well past midnight, guzzling Pepsi in 20-ounce bottles.

“He’s crazy,” said the former South Florida linebacker Kawika Mitchell, now with the Giants. Mitchell recalled the U.S.F. football offices being in trailers and team meetings taking place in dormitories. U.S.F. now has a multimillion-dollar athletic facility. And a program that 11 years ago did not have a tee for the kickoff of its opening home game reached the top 25 for the first time last week.

“It’s amazing,” Mitchell said.

Moffitt committed to U.S.F. during Mitchell’s last season, 2002, when the team went 9-2 but did not reach a bowl game because it did not have conference affiliation.

The Bulls played in Conference USA in 2003 and 2004 before moving to the Big East in 2005. They blew out Louisville in their Big East debut. The program’s signature moment, though, came from a victory at No. 17 Auburn in overtime two weeks ago.

“I said in the first interviews I even did that I wanted to take the program where it’s never been before,” Moffitt said. “It’s pretty surreal, it’s pretty awesome.”

Moffitt has started 32 consecutive games and is fast enough that he chased down West Virginia quarterback Pat White from behind last season.

But what really impresses those who know Moffitt, who has a 2.5 grade point average, is how he balances football, classes and family.

“He carries himself on the field and off with the maturity of a guy who is 40 years old,” the U.S.F. assistant Dan McCarney said.

On Monday, Moffitt dressed Trevor and Rylan before slipping out to U.S.F. He then made the drive before attending two communication classes, which included a discussion of the difference between Wal-Mart and Target.

“Knowing how far he has to come and how much else he has on his plate, it was always almost amazing to see him there every day,” said Michael LeVan, one of Moffitt’s former communication instructors. “He was always there, awake and alert.”

Moffitt then rushed off to buy a sandwich at Subway, but had time to eat only half. That was because an hour of weight lifting and 90 minutes of film work awaited him. After a two-hour practice, Moffitt showered and got in his Yaris, a 2007 with more than 25,000 miles, for the ride home around 6:30 p.m. It was an easy day compared with most Mondays, when he returns home at 10:30 p.m.

Moffitt does not think what he is doing is a particularly big deal because his classes at U.S.F., a university where most of the 45,000 students are commuters, are filled with students who juggle families, jobs and class work.

“People ask me how you do it with a family,” he said. “Well, a lot of these people have families. Everyone has to get to that point in their life sooner or later when you have a family and a job. You get used to it, it becomes second nature.”

And after a while, Moffitt and U.S.F. have found that long rides can help them reach unexpected destinations.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

* * *

By the way, the day that sports story was published this metro news soundbite should've been the NYT Quote of the Day:

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"They’re not from here. They come here for a better life, and they died. But now that they changed the windows, everything is O.K.”
-- A touched witness to urban bird deaths outside the midtown Manhattan postal depot

A Feisty birthday present

2007-08-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here's the Feist playlist I created for my friend Heidi on the occasion of her birthday. Heidi, I hope you can download the image below and insert into the CD tray.

I wanted to remain true to Feist's albums, but because I ran out of room on the disc, I re-ordered the track listing of her current album, which I still am not sure will live up to expectations (Though "Honey Honey" -- a track I omitted here -- is slowly revealing its offbeat bluesy charm as a part the somewhat successful new direction of this album... but truthfully I think overall there are many jammy, imprecise, and seemingly thrown-together songs that fail to find their spark and simple focused deliveries as witnessed in the vocals on "When I Was a Young Girl" or the measured production values of "Leisure Suite".)

It's clearly hard to match a strong debut with pop gems like "One Evening" and "Secret Heart" not to mention the title track, the album's lead singles and deft handling of French chanson. In any case, from that debut album I happened to come across some bonus tracks in my dad's collection at just the right moment and so I ended up with a substantially different tracklisting for Let It Die as well. I think the programming of both albums is improved this way!

I guess the real way to we be true to an artist is by buying the albums and giving them as birthday gifts to your friends. But I think that's what Heidi might end up doing herself actually, as a result of the playlist I made for her. The Reminder on sale in stores now has additional tracks and some interesting album artwork. I know what I did is copyright infringement but I don't think for a second it's not promotional at the same time and might stimulate a purchase where there might never had been one.

Speaking of promotion...

Picking up from where the last post left off (and from what I mentioned to Heidi on the weekend), Dragonette is a really great Canadian band with a slight problem getting themselves off the ground in the UK, where they are based. The buzz on "Competition" is stratospheric and it's on the album Galore to be released in a couple days. While no domestic release is evident at the moment, I finally heard "I Get Around" on the radio while in a Montreal magazine shop this morning, so obviously that is going to change. So watch for the album release near you... it's worth getting for what I've already heard and read here and here.

Dragonette released! Video tame.

2007-04-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

The April single release date for Dragonette's debut has come and gone.

Too bad such a stellar band like Dragonette injected a little bit too much Toronto into their video for "I Get Around". They ended up producing a reason for wide-ranging Brit-dissing and Oh-well-I-really-prefer-Mika nonsense.

People make mistakes, though these ones are hard to accept.

This Dragonette video does not however, and I will love it forever despite having no clue who Lana Lang is.

Bad trip?

2007-03-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

Garbage Season!

2007-03-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

If snowbirds fly away for the winter, where do exasperated Montrealers flock now that Garbage Season has officially started? Morocco, of course!

Royal Air Maroc certainly makes a strong case for Casablanca in March with this advertisement in a bus shelter outside the airline's offices at Sherbrooke and St-Urbain. Take a seat and only six hours later you'll be free of Montreal in its ugliest phase of the year -- a melting, zombie-ish period in which the detritus from last November rears itself.

Be careful which seat you take though. You might end up at Métro Villa-Maria in half an hour and that's no Morocco.

The 20-year x-factor: Sonic Youth, Pet Shop Boys and Prince kill 2006

2007-01-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

These musical dudes could've moved on, faded away, or a at the very least adopted a more age-appropriate recording name. But the Youth stay Youth, Boys will be Boys, and despite a worrisome name change period, Prince keeps his diminutive moniker and high-pitched shriek. So came to pass in 2006 their inimitable reign. And these people are older than my parents' parents! Crazy. (Must be global warming.) HEY CHECK THESE CLIPS FROM 20 YR+ ACTS IN 2006...

NOTE: Black and white stripes were huge in 2006. Sweet, it's 1986 again.

Sonic Youth: #1 in '06 (their fourth album had already been released by 1986, btw). This track tops Teen-Age Riot and their current full-length beats anything in their catalog pound for pound.

Top Tracks of 2006: 1. "Reena"

Pet Shops Boys: Bookending 1986's West End Girls with a hit in 2006.

Top Tracks of 2006: 2. "Minimal"

Prince: In '86 he gave us Kiss, for 2006 he adds an awesome new synth layer to that same staccato song.

Top Tracks of 2006: 3. "Black Sweat"

Even if he was only 5 at the time, Justin Timberlake is a obvious disciple of Janet Jackson circa 1986 (and who can forget their eye-popping changing of the guard when she handed over Control to him at Super Bowl 2004). His extended mix video with dramatic dance sequences is shades of Janet -- miss you much JJ. Bottom line, JT likes stripes in 2006 too. Nasty boy.

Top Tracks of 2006: "My Love"

That makes three US entries and one British. At this point, the list of best 2006 pop breaks out to newer voices in (A) Sweden, and in (B) Canada, before going back down to (C) Williamsburg and then to (D) San Francisco.

Love Is All "Busy Doing Nothing"
(A)
Still in stripes here you'll notice. Love Is All wear their influences on their sleeves: garage, Roxy Music, ska, Johnny Rotten and Johnny Boy.

Final Fantasy "He Poos Clouds"
(B)
Our national Sufjan Stevens... yup, that's why Canada is better than your country.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Turn Into"
(C)
Totally underrated album, group and song -- and most distinctive single of the year. No moment of this song sounds like anything else you've heard.

DJ Shadow "3 Freaks - DJ Shadow/Keak Da Sneak/Turf Talk"
(D)
It's fun. And it's DJ Shadow. That's like a free ride and Michael Schumacher is driving. Get the fuck in!

English Goldfrapp have their pretty little ditty go against the fine grain of their primetime L'Oréal ad here -- it's a totally brilliant vid and that makes me feel better for falling hopelessly in love with a sleeper song (yes, last year's album; yes, rechanneled via a cosmetics campaign, I admit it). You may recall that Technotronic's "Move This" was the last sleeper song to be tapped by L'Oréal for rejuvenation by airing it in a televison commercial with pretty ladies in makeup. So I'm a sucker. I fell for it then and I'm falling for it again now. But hey, did I mention Goldfrapp's own visual for the song? It's L'Unréal! Check it out!

Top Tracks of 2006: 9. "Fly Me Away"

The Coup rock. They just ooze it. They're from the US. Good year for American music.

Top Tracks of 2006: 10. "We Are The Ones"

JAN WONG WAS WRONG

2006-09-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

Planet Wong has been officially nudged a little more off its wonky axis.

Jan Wong's Dawson College news story, which bizarrely let fact and fiction intermingle, has finally been labelled wrong by the journalist's employer, Edward Greenspon, editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail.

Hmmm... It took Ed one week and one hundred thousand denouncements to come out with it? What's up with that?

That's something to broach another time -- I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Although an explanation from the author herself is absolutely compulsory now that her editors have had their say, this smackdown of Jan Wong is good for what ails me, many Montrealers, and anyone at all interested in news that's fit to print.

Everyone has a headache; imprecise, and hard to cure / Gotta shake it, what ails you -- the lines are blurred
- "The Neutral"

Five days of profound sadness in Montreal last week were topped by another five of seething choler when Wong's version of the events in the Dawson rampage made big waves. Those waves came crashing in courtesy of journalism's worst nightmare: a reporter who plays fast and loose with the truth in order to get her own viewpoints printed.

Reporters can have opinions, to be sure. I would never discourage Wong from airing her hypotheses but I certainly hope she would know at this stage of her career that she's got to be on the Op-Ed page to do what she tried to do in her report, a kind of as-it-happens play by play of the shootings. In the end, she compromised a front-page report and sent lies and conjecture to A1. Lies about what was really witnessed in the school atrium that afternoon and conjecture masquerading on the record as fact. I'm sure I'm not alone in being bothered by this god-complex reflex present in big-britches reporters like Wong.

An opinion piece offers Wong the freedom and space she needs to do her thing. But at this point, how can we all not realize what a horrible thing her thing is: to use her tenure at the Globe to shout out the truths of Planet Wong, which are the truths of a strange and distant world, where trees are made from newsprint and dead gunmen whisper their psyches into the ears of reporters.

Thanks to Ed, "Get Under the Desk" is now a choice relic of Planet Wong, relegated to history as a mistake. While it doesn't persist to me irk me with its gall, its mishmash journalism, tainted but now put behind us, will surely not be forgotten all of the sudden. Will anyone be ready to wrestle with Wong's unique feelings on the cause of Montreal's massacres or the nature of Quebec society? Her readers have had a rude awakening. We've all seen the journalistic standards by which she signs her byline. All of us, that is, except those who have for so very long recognized that Wong is a known quantity who operates with questionable methods. These people make a habit of ignoring Wong, 24/7.

As of this post, am I one of those people who recognizes Wong as a key voice to ignore in the Canadian media (though I can only pray her editors will be a tad more alert next time). Copy editors aside, Jan Wong is worth the same amount of attention as a slogan on an infomercial, which is to say, pay no heed. Nothing more than an indication that the channel needs changing.

Wong-free living starts now! I feel better already.

JAN WONG IS WRONG

2006-09-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

More than once. And in big ways.

I'm wrong a lot. But that part is not so bad because usually I'm wrong in my assumptions like "No, I don't need to buy eggs" (whoops, fridge eggkeeper is bare) or "Yes, I do believe the Globe and Mail reports accurately" (double whoops, Soundgarden is actually one word, not two).

Jan Wong, who wrote "Sound Garden" in Saturday's paper, doesn't stubbornly contend that the seminal Seattle grunge band should be spelled the way she thinks the band should be spelled. Or at least I doubt she does. The fact is we all make little mistakes -- I'm sure she realizes that -- and maybe that was the copy editor's fault anyway. What she does contend in the article is an entirely different mistake. It's one that's not nearly as forgiveable as the little fuck-ups like forgetting to buy eggs or misspelling someone's name. Jan's got much more than that on her hands. She authors a huge conceit about the mind of a killer she's never met! Fiction much? And she fills up the mind of a killer -- someone whom she doesn't know any better than the book behind a cover that she vaguely recognizes -- with ideas based entirely on coincidence. Give her a glimmer of recognition of her long-past episodes in Montreal and she'll tie it to recent tragic events and then ride it for all it's worth. I'd expect more from the palm reader I offered 50 cents to. And this is the crap she stands behind in a "front-page report" with her name on it.

Not good. Very very wrong.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060916.SHOOTMAIN16/TPStory/TPNational/?query=

I think her hypothesis is wrong, but I absolutely know for sure that her methods are. How about you?

Single of the summer: Sonic Youth's Incinerate

2006-07-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

Methinks the radio/tv edit is even better than the album track: the way Thurston enunciates the lyrics, the tight live jamming, just seeing the band rock out. Sonic Youth is better than ever.

The video for the track is not as strong. Best video of the summer has to go to Yeah Yeahs Yeahs with their singalong version of "Cheated Hearts".

Nancy Silverman Nancy Silverman Nancy Silverman

2006-06-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

Nancy Silverman of Thornhill is a real genius performer. Basically, the whole idea could be summed up as this: she remains completely at ease on the stage while her audience gets put on edge. Brilliant! Best discovery of the Idol season so far. I've only seen her do Michael Bublé and Jann Arden and can't wait to hear her next interpretation.

Doktor Weingolb: The legendary Meatloaf Sandwich, Piemonte-style

2006-06-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

Doktor Weingolb: The legendary Meatloaf Sandwich, Piemonte-style

Taxi diaries: Confessions from the back seat

2006-05-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

Taxi diaries: Confessions from the back seat

Diplo is great but...

2006-02-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs don't need any help to get things started. I hadn't heard anything this year until Karen opened her mouth. Gold Lion is a great track. It gets the best original recording by duo or group. Or hey, even a single person! Check them out.

As for adaptations, Mary J. Blige doing U2's "One" is impossibly good. Blige can rock out. What's with all the weepy soul when she can kill a track like this? This song should be playing everywhere forever. What else is going on?

Turns out that Ms. John Soda's "No. One" was made in 2003.

Thank godless Sonic Youth promise a release in the spring.

2005: The top ten pop songs

2006-01-02T15:57:00.001-08:00

The best pop tunes in 2005 were major love songs. In a teaser posted on December 31, I presented the top three tracks by saying they all share the letters B and G. This played up the fact that the best cover song I've heard in recent years done by Feist is a Bee Gees song. Those songwriter initials are reversed for 2005's runner-up, the Go-Betweens, a storied duo that goes back almost as far as the Bee Gees. Norway's Annie takes the top spot with her refreshing musicmaking (her last name, which she drops, is Berge.
That's a minor coincidence. Here's the "major love" part:

Heartbeat - Annie

This track is perfect. Annie sings her little story of finding fleeting fulfillment on the dancefloor. When she lets her memories recount the events, it begins to ache with a sense of love lost, but it also announces the joy of living in a moment, seizing the day, living life to its fullest -- "with every beat of your heart". So the heartbeat in the title is more than just a rhythm that makes you dance. No. 1 with a bullet, in this or any other year.

Finding You - Go-Betweens

A simple yet tremendously evocative song. Verses could suggest many different situations but at its core carries longing and uncertainty. Another fine bittersweet love song. Heartbeat reminisces about a moment of exuberance; this track seeks to rekindle it.

Inside & Out - Feist

Loving You Inside Out is the Bee Gees' original version of this remake. I played it for my parents thinking they would like to hear this familiar hit redone. They didn't care much for the trip down memory lane; they immediately wanted details on Feist, the Canadian singer/songwriter/interpreter and guitarist. The hype is she's the new Norah Jones and seeing that there is always one of her lamentfully boring discs in my parent's CD player, Feist is quite a coup for me and those who suffer with me (my brother, my sister... anyone who visits the house). Despite what you might think, the AOR approach Feist embodies in this track only gets better and better with each listen.

The Negatives - Hood

Most original group out there in 2005. Hip hop beats with orchestral flourishes. While they have taken flak for an alleged penchant for the melancholy, The Negatives refers to rolls of film not bad attitudes. Even if they were as sad-sacked as some say, I'd stick by them with a concoction this stimulating.

Jetsetter - Morningwood

Chantal Claret and her boys from New York City make for the only American act on my list. That means there are just as many Aussies, twice as many Canadians, and lord knows how many more Brits than Yanks represented here. I happen to think that Morningwood has got real chops. This video is smashing and the song, brandishing heavy, emotive rock-outs and intimate well-penned lyrics, sticks in the head.

Side Streets - Saint Etienne

I said it before and I'll say it again: This is as political as I get. In a study of crime-prone areas of London and its sociological effect, the Et get on the same soapbox that they used when they crafted a song solely out of the words of mayor Ken Livingstone. This time the results are among their level-best stuff: smooth as silk, poignant and even humorous.

Do The Whirlwind - Architecture in Helsinki

I know more about architecture in Helsinki than I do about Architecture in Helsinki. A kind of fun Down Under Moldy Peaches by the sounds of it. Innocuous perhaps, but fun-loving, warm and fuzzy and extremely danceable all in four minutes. Makes me miss Frente, so say what you want.

G.P.T. - Martha Wainwright

Along with Fiona Apple's, these are the best vocals of the year. A beautiful song about cutting loose turns to gold when it's sung by voice like Martha's. A true artiste. See her live in Montreal next week!

Ooh La La - Goldfrapp

These guys really rock on this one. I thought Strict Machine would be the pinnacle for these stylists. Not even close. Ooh La La builds to a boiling point and Alison Goldfrapp gives a perfectly studied delivery. That could be taken as a slight if they were on the other side of this retro musical influence that is touching everyone from Rachel Stevens to Madonna. They are ambassadors, not an embarrassment.

Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers (featuring Q-Tip)

And it galvanizes. The linked videogame above says it all. Don't hold back.

Hear the songs in my "Best Of" mix. They are large files even though the list is split in two. Ctrl-click or right-click to save file. Top Pop Songs I | Top Pop Songs II

Heartbeat Finding You Inside And Out

2005-12-31T12:18:00.000-08:00

I love a New Year's Day countdown. The Casey Kasem kind. You know, the big annual ranking of the hits you heard on the radio all year long, introduced and played. The suspense builds as you await the number one song, the one that hasn't yet been heard when the ten top starts up. I grew up with a DJ as a dad, what can I say?

No suspense this year. I offer immediate gratification. I present to you my medley of the top three tracks from 2005. I call it a B and a G because each song is written by artists with prominent B's and G's in their name. Yes, B-G's... Now I've practically given away the ending. Go ahead and listen to the m4a file (split into two halves) and enjoy! Happy new year.

2005's best pop songs: The B and G medley

Go to the Yahoo briefcase login screen and enter...

Yahoo ID: golb58
Password: Click here and I'll tell you
(from there, click on Briefcase address http://ca.briefcase.yahoo.com/golb58)

Create a wine blog, get a Bordeaux address

2005-12-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

The above report tracks the location of visitors to this site. Visit 17 was me. I now am considered a resident of Bordeaux. I suspect it's a distinction awarded to me to honour the oenologistic Doktor Weingolb. So in lieu of an interim report on the status of new wine blog, I pass on this little bit of welcome praise from the nice people at Site Meter and say: check moi, là!

The doktor is in

2005-12-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

Wine blog (1)

Doktor Weingolb does not replace golb so please continue to check back here from time to time for posts, however infrequent they may turn out to be.

The calling

2005-11-29T04:58:00.000-08:00

Over the last six weeks, golb has featured entries that could be categorized as:

Music and music commentary (1, 2, 3, 4)

Concert review (1, 2)

Film criticism (1)

The fashion industry (1, 2)

Photography (1, 2, 3)

Art review (1)

Graphics and design (1)

The bloody weather (1, 2, 3)

Other, wtf? (1)

I'm not saying I should maintain categories for the site - just the opposite actually. Spouting off about all manner of things is fun. There's great freedom in that, but I've always intended to use this space as a testing ground. It's good to specialize and now I can say for certain what areas I can't or wouldn't like to focus on. Don't worry - I won't be unveiling a weather blog, but on Thursday I will launch a new chronicle on a single topic.

Meteorologist 1, golbologist 0

2005-11-25T19:40:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I claimed that the extreme 14-day weather forecast was the greatest racket in all of science. Now, about 14 days later, the results are in. I was wrong. The weatherman was right. Almost 100% right.

The yellow line indicates the forecast; red indicates reported conditions. The only errors with the Nov 11-24 forecast were minor. Its stingy scattering of the promise of sunshine wasn't stingy enough. Even the stingiest of scatter never actually happened - during these past weeks or at all this entire autumn. Can't shoot the messenger for that.

Even when I finally had the past weather results in my front me, I was sure the 14-day prediction was going to be incorrect. So maybe it's my long-term memory that's faulty, not the long-range forecast. Maybe I'm a fairweather amnesiac. This fall, I can't remember the last time nice weather has been predicted and it actually panned out. Maybe I could plot out my condition on a graph...

Or maybe I couldn't. Yet again the line between science and fun budges not.

It is full-fledged winter here now, still a full month from the winter solstice, the season's actual start. Only three days away is a reliable forecast of a large warm front, bringing rain and rising temperatures. Perhaps that means the tornado slated for the 20th (or is that the 21st?) won't be one of those snowy whacked-out jobs from The Wiz.

Career Mom

2005-11-23T19:16:00.000-08:00

It's my mother's birthday this week. Which gets me to thinking. What would it mean if Janet Jackson was the mother of 18 year old?

that uniform from her warrior-dancer-of-the-future Rhythm Nation video wasn't poorly designed and ill-fitting - she just had a bun in the oven

an exposed starburst titty at the Super Bowl actually says more about the woes of beastfeeding than it does about wardrobe malfunctions

the sexual revolution of 1993's janet. wasn't about finally losing inhibitions and putting it out there - it was about finally losing the pounds from her secret pregnancy

signing deals with A&M and then suddenly jumping ship to Virgin was more than a matter of artistic freedom; Janet had a desperate anti-DeBarge message to send subliminally: "Ms. Jackson touts a new label legacy - AM ... Virgin"

The crying subject of the OutKast song "Ms. Jackson" could actually be Janet's daughter, Renee

Meet the mushups: Next generation mashups

2005-11-20T22:37:00.000-08:00

The Processed Press is a bastard pop bootleg of DJ Shadow's The Private Press. First appearing this summer, it was attributed to Prosac but the site that hosted the album recording removed it a while ago. Prosac is now busy with much new fine material, apparently. But luckily, a lot of the individual tracks are still out there, including my favourite "Mongrel Galang..." - (DJ Shadow vs M.I.A.). It's a simple overlay - more of a mushup than a mashup, but not that that's a bad thing.

For a while it was hard not to be jaded by mashups. I got the feeling that after the right amount of tinkering, one song's beats could be eventually be mapped perfectly onto any old track. In the worst cases, it was all math and no poetry. When the goal is to come up with something that is greater than the sum of its parts, arithmetic ain't gonna get you there.

Mushups more or less have two tracks playing together and just let the sparks fly, which exactly describes Prosac's "Mongrel Galang...". Because it's a track with vocals laid down on an instrumental there's a seamlessness like an A vs B, yet it offers so much more: One voice, two rhythm tracks that compliment each other, and as an added bonus, Prosac brilliantly pulls in M.I.A.'s nonalbum self-titled track towards the end. DJing masterstroke! You know you've spun it right when you'd rather hear these three tracks together than on their own. The word is synergy.

The g58 mushup...

Until I get some proper webspace for hosting, it is the same lame routine to hear the sound file (at least this m4a was done with Audacity rather than Wiretap):

Go to the Yahoo briefcase login screen and enter...

Yahoo ID: golb58
Password: Click here and I'll tell you
(from there, click on Briefcase address http://ca.briefcase.yahoo.com/golb58)

The Swanson continuum

2005-11-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

This is going to sound really stupid. But never mind that, I'll cut directly to the part that you don't know.

Swanson came out with TV dinners in 1953 and hasn't looked back since. The frozen dinners recently celebated a 50th anniversary in 2003.

Gloria Swanson's career essentially ended in 1952 with Three for Bedroom C. It was her last big American role (barring a brief comeback for Airport 1975).

Coincidence!?

Swanson: Yesterday's silent star of the silver screen has become today's silent star of television viewing enjoyment!

Into cubism

2005-11-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

I was alone. It was 6 o'clock in the morning. I had to leave.

The streetcars in Prague were returning from the Old City to Vysehrad and the outskirts beyond it. They edged along narrow tracks and though they did not move fast you could not get a good look inside them. Walking beside them, I wondered if there were commuters on their way into work. Were they sitting or were they standing? The windows seemed to catch a glare and hold it. It didn't matter what angle keen peering eyes had. It was as good as all the tourists in the city gazing into the Charles River, which flowed behind the cars. Perceiving anything past the surface was impossible.

Very soon, I would have to board one to get to the airport.
But not immediately. I walked on. Josef Chochol's buildings were not far along this line. They often faced the traffic. You couldn't miss his houses, even though at first I wasn't sure if had already passed others like them on the street leading to Libusina 3.

Libusina 3 was guarded and had entrances on two streets. It was not far from the intersection that Neklanova 30 presided over. Silent, steely and boastful, I was surprised to find that the dwelling at Neklanova 30 was unlocked and I slipped inside.

Josef Chochol finished this apartment house in 1914. Interiors echoed the outside. The hall was completely empty and quiet. Flat features like ceilings and glass doors had geometric relief. Every surface wanted to be a corner, a joist, any point at which two planes could meet. I opened an the inner door on the vestibule. I hoped the sound I was making did not carry. I crept up a darkened staircase.

There was no elevator. I debated how many floors I should go up. The third was no more interesting than the second. Maybe the fourth would reward me. Occasional small windows offered some dim light so I could determine that each landing had a few units. Not the slightest movement - was this building vacant? For my own sake, I hoped the apartment doors I eased past were thick. It was now only 6:30. Not knowing much convincing Czech, how could I explain myself on the fifth floor, sputtering camera in hand? One last photo and I wouldn't have to give it another thought. The batteries had gotten so low that my flash was not working. I noticed the lights overhead and wished they were turned on. I saw the switch on the wall and hit it. A buzzer rang. It was loud and long. Much longer than I had held it. Much longer than time I stood stunned, remarking at the strange distance between a Czech apartment buzzer and its door. It lasted even longer than I could hear it resounding down the staircase but my pounding feet on each descending cubist step kept me from knowing that for sure.

*Cubist architecture is inspired from the paintings of Picasso and Braque. Their basic idea was to convey three dimensions when their canvases only had two by not adhering to a single perspective. Cubist theory is not particularly germane to architecture, but Joseph Chochol, among others, were taken with cubism's unique geometry as well as the reduction and fragmentation of planes ... Worldwide, the Czech Republic is the only home to cubist houses.

Signifier identifier / siigi)iifiieir iiolei)l-iifiieir

2005-11-14T06:51:00.000-08:00

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u s e .

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vv vv vv .. ii ol e i) l- ii f o i) l- .. c o i)).

l- fj e s ii l- e c a l- a ll o g s i)) a i) y l- y p e f a c e s
h o vv e v e ir a i) i) ii e ii s i) o l- y e l- o i) e o f l- fj e i)) .
[[ a ol ii f f e ir e i) l- l- y p e k i) o vv i) a s '' l- u g lo o a l- a i) i) ii e ''
ii s ll ii s l- e ol - - ol o i) " l- i)) ii x l- fj e l- vv o u p . ]]

Rollercoaster thrills

2005-11-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

Extreme weather time. What's been going on lately? Hurricanes at maximum force line up to take one kick after another at a recordbreaking '05 season. Then once they are finished, level-one tornadoes swoop in for another piece of the action, which is bizarre because these guys have a season that runs before that of the hurricanes, not after. So this extreme weather - it's a bit extreme. Especially when it starts hitting places it usually doesn't.

On Hamilton mountain, it's currently volleyball season so imagine the setters' and spikers' surprise when a twister shoots through the gymnasium roof ("There's no twisters in volleyball!!" - it's no wonder there aren't with all the debris they send down onto the court... kneepads won't make much of a difference).

Hamilton is in an area of southwestern Ontario normally sheltered from major weather happenings. Occurrences are so rare here that it took the meteorologists a whole day to finally confirm what spawned all the wind damage.

And with this extreme weather comes extreme weather monitoring, which so far this year has been the part that concerns me. Extreme weather monitoring is not "let's go tornado-chasing in Niagara Falls this Thanksgiving," but rather endlessly looking at charts, reports and forecasts that detail the projected atmospheric conditions of next twenty days. And of course those long-range forecasts are never right. I don't know why I read them. They never mention 'tornado to hit gym' or 'you're going to see a few snowflakes come out of that passing thunderstorm'.

Tiny Builders

2005-11-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Tagged as dots...

Tiny Builders is the title of a new solo exhibition of paintings by John Drew Munro. His pieces, like "Accretion 6" (shown above), inhabit a space between two worlds: they are paintings, but the way colour and texture have been applied is far from a typical brushstroke technique. Thousands of dots scatter onto his canvases in a way that suggests something more like printmaking than painting. For Tiny Builders, Munro used a workmanlike reductive technique: he went at layers of beeswax with drills and chisels and then reapplied more wax to fill the voids left by his tools. The result offers depth similar to inlaid glass tiles with suspended globules or flecks of glitter. Other times the materials protrude from the canvas and suggest sculptural relief.

But not only is the medium a bit of a hybrid. There is also an interesting relationship between science and his art. Conjuring up images of solar systems - but also at times microscopic single-celled organisms, colour blindness tests and psychiatric ink blots - Munro's dots illustrate the world of scientific discovery. They are the builders of the exhibit's title, a reference to the small specks (atoms) that combine to create the reality around us.

Notes from the exhibition explain how old high school textbooks inspired Munro, and when you take a closer look at the Accretion Disc series, it's a lesson in astrophysics. The astronomical sense of the term “accretion” describes how matter is pulled into a body (such as a black hole) as it spins. This idea is the show's central conceit: "The wax surface becomes a form of solid light," Munro writes, "while the dots may be considered as matter constructing itself." Nietzsche wrote that treating science as art makes humankind more comfortable with its knowledge of the world. And Einstein could be seen as an artist whom Nature enlists to convey her works. Munro’s work is in line with those lofty and, at times, celestial ideas.

Tiny Builders opened this past weekend at the McClure Gallery and will run until November 26.

Shania and Britt

2005-11-03T06:03:00.000-08:00

Shania Twain and Britt Daniel don't share much, I keep telling myself. Google tells me so too. Petite international songbird from Timmins, Ontario; lanky indie-type of the pop margins. Shania often performs live in front of a wind-tunnel fan, giving her locks a breezy take-my-photo look; with Britt you should be warned to keep the lens cap on for fear of flying spittle.

But last night, on the moistened stage at Club Soda, Britt Daniel, lead of Austin-band Spoon, hit his nasal falsettos with Shania-like regularity. He strummed along in an incredibly dreamy, slowed-down version of "I Summon You" that did something to me only "Forever and For Always" has done before: Took an annoyingly high pitch, overly repetitive verse and sang it over and over until I caved. There's just something about a little vocal tic they both do - Shania's is kind of a "aghhh-uhhhh" while Britt goes more like "uhhh-honnh". Sold!

Like Shania, Britt Daniel makes for a very charismatic performer - even when he stops singing. He praised the audience which was filled with young'uns in t-shirts who bopped along enthusiastically to grooves like "They Never Got You", a choice Hall & Oates-inspired cut. Earlier, after a five-song set to start the show, Britt waxed nostalgic about the last stop in town - Fall 2002 at Casa del Popolo, he recalled - and then made it no secret that a crowd twenty times Casa's was getting him pumped up. He spat (respectfully to an empty area stage-left - another potential Shania-like bit of politesse though I've yet to see her spit), he danced (often with his guitar in an interesting bit of choreography), he said goodnight by way of a shrieking and sincere 'wo-hoo!' and then he exited into the night leaving adoring fans screaming for another encore. But no, the echo of the heavy-duty rockout of "My Mathematical Mind" would be final song of the evening and never again the Twain shall meet.

Save the models (for later)

2005-10-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

My friends are right. I've been spending way too much time trying to the save the models. Kate Moss, I wish you luck, but this may be the last I speak of you.

It's hard justifying one's focus on the social ills of such a highly-specialized top-flight industry. The world oppresses many and all kinds. I mean, what about the wannabe supermodels? Who stops to think about them and the ilk depicted in thesocialcavity.com? (Please refrain for calling them poser posers - that's just mean.) Think of the injustice when their dreams crash out in the jockeying-for-IMG roundabout!

Ellen knows their plight and chronicles it with aplomb. Ellen is one of them. And perhaps the one who needs the most help. Seriously, for a girl who pronounces those around her as "unintentionally hilarious", she herself makes for a good furtive laugh or two. Stealthy humour Ellen, but not stealthy enough! Model down indeed.

*****

Speaking of London, October was shite. Let's see, the hourly daytime weather data recorded for the month was...

Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Clear Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Haze Haze Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Haze Fog Haze Haze Haze Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Clear Mainly Clear Cloudy Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Cloudy Rain Rain Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Fog Drizzle & Fog Fog Mostly Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Rain Showers Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Drizzle & Fog Drizzle & Fog [fleeing Russian model] Drizzle & Fog Drizzle & Fog Drizzle & Fog Drizzle & Fog Drizzle & Fog Drizzle Drizzle & Fog Drizzle & Fog Cloudy Rain Showers Cloudy Rain Showers & Fog Rain Showers & Fog Cloudy Rain Showers Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Rain Rain Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Cloudy Rain Showers Rain Showers Rain Showers Mostly Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Drizzle & Fog Drizzle & Fog Drizzle & Fog Drizzle & Fog Fog Cloudy Rain Showers Rain Showers Rain Showers Rain Showers Rain Rain & Fog Rain Cloudy Rain Rain & Fog Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Clear Clear Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Rain & Fog Rain & Fog Rain Rain Rain Cloudy Rain Rain Cloudy Rain Showers Rain Showers Cloudy Rain Rain Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Cloudy Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Ice Pellet Showers Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Mainly Clear Mostly Cloudy Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mainly Clear Rain Showers Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy

Inspired by the Times

2005-10-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

If I was appointed Halloweenie to the stars, Bjork would be more than just a swan this year. My approach would be much more Zen. Mariacarla Boscone, I would advise you that Kate's out of rehab now so she might have dibs on that get-up you've got. And all those grunting girls on the women's tennis tour, isn't it time to return what you borrowed from Monica Seles? Go for a new disguise. This October 31, I foresee a little more synergy in the air. Something that might get Alec Baldwin's name back in bright lights.

Or something that would keep Gwen Stefani out of No Doubt. Permanently. Please?

I never liked her band much. If she's this big of a hit on her own, why go back? I don't have the numbers but this kind of success is not often repeated. I think of Gwen as the Garbage of this decade: Butch Vig's now-defunct band came out in 1995 the track "Vow", and somehow made each of its three followups bigger than the previous one. "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" outplayed "Queer" and then "Stupid Girl" streamed out of every open car window in a bid to be become the official song of summer. After three solid singles, "Cool" is Gwen's ubersmash. You hear it EVERYWHERE, and the more I hear it the more I think I've heard it before. "Hungry Eyes" is definitely there - that's no secret - but what else is behind the mask?

Which brings me back to costumes. Some might suggest that Gwen just dress as herself for Halloween - she did well as her original brunette self in Sophie Muller's great video for "Cool". In fact, some may go further and say Gwen's a constant shapeshifter - altering her image regularly while still stamping it "Stefani". But I say cut the self-reflexive crap; do something fun! Gwen should go as Whitney Houston. (Whitney sang "I'm Every Woman" at one time, you know.) Why Whitney? No real reason. I've just been sniffing out traces of Be My Baby Tonight in Gwen, and as Whitney knows (and Kate too), there is no better time to come clean than right now.

My m4a blueprint for Gwen doing Whitney

If blocked, navigate to http://ca.briefcase.yahoo.com/golb58 by clicking here and logging in with:

Yahoo ID: golb58
Password: Click here and I'll tell you
(click on Briefcase address from there)

Extra extra

2005-10-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Kate Moss got the boot from H&M because she did cocaine. That sucks. H&M sucks. Some "moral code" was quoted in Moss's release, like her employer just couldn't be associated with drug use. Hello, H&M? Have you heard of anorexia, bulimia, obsessive compulsion, narcissism, anemia, racism, sexism, male white corporate oppression? What's your role in making those things moral?

Have you heard about supermodelling? Maybe a titch about heroin and how it keeps the weight down enough to satisfy designers, photographers and fashion editors?

So these H&M folks, would-be Vikings of the runway, seem to have swooped down from Scandinavia just long enough to pick up that winning ability to capture the vacant stare and sell it to their customers all the while this PR fracas plays out. H&M plays industry-dumb; the optics are great.

Yesterday a replacement was announced for Moss. Moss is in Arizona reciting verse as rehabilitation, so, unveiled as the new coke, is Mariacarla Boscone. I hope she's read the fine print because she sure has got a lot of moral standards against which her smile shall be measured. I think she's crossing her fingers in this shot.

*H&M loosely translates to "hers and men's" ... Karl Lagerfeld (photographer, inset) peddled his wares last year in an exclusive H&M line ... H&M's most infamous majority stockholder is the Church of Sweden.

Stabbings

2005-10-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

"A History of Violence" by David Cronenberg is an amazing movie and if you haven't seen it, you might want to read this, and then go.

Before I went to see it, I heard the name of my street mentioned on the radio during a homicide report. It is a street barely two blocks long so it makes for some pretty shocking news, at two levels. Shock, as in I can't believe there's been a MURDER three doors up my street; and shock! - I can't believe there's been a murder three doors up MY STREET.

Days later, I see the film. In it, a household deals with murder in its midst, except - unlike my scenario - repeatedly so ("History" repeats itself), with fewer degrees of separation (it's within the family), and where I had a radio newscast, they've shotguns and ammo. But really, these are not distinctions I entertain at the time. In fact, I don't even make a connection because the movie is immediately engrossing - a Hitchcockian thriller of the 21st century if ever there was one, with strong aspects of drama, tragedy and comedy - and because it's quite pleasing to be removed from personal concerns for 90 or so minutes. But, from the last scenes, I note the absence of a final act. Somewhat unsatisfied, I scan the credits for Canadian names I recognize, get up and leave.

Later, another stabbing is reported on a strip of sidewalk outside the cinema complex where just months earlier I walked with my parents, who live out-of-town. This assault was equally surprising to me: the weird city-mouse association it made to my country-mouse parents and the fact the victim was attacked midday in plain sight during typically bustling weekend matinee schedules.

Those matinee audiences, what shock would they feel as they emptied out past blood spilling on the sidewalk? Would it be more of the first kind of shock mentioned above - a Hitchcockian shock, if you will - or would it be the shock! that seems to arrive with the idea that you, a mere passerby, can figure into a crime scene? For the sake of this argument, Hitchcock's shock is Hollywood: Thrills and spills, macabre and mindbending, and dreamlike because the feeling is so cinematic - it's realer than real. The other shock is totally reality-based: analyzing personal motives and their impact on a society - the "My Street" factor.

Watching the Stahls, the fictional family, sitting around the dinner table in the movie's final minutes, motionless, speechless, as if in a courtroom heavy with the anticipation of a verdict, one wonders what they have thought and how they will go on.

As I posit this I begin to overlook my misgivings concerning Cronenberg's ending. Silent, virtually actionless and without tangible judgment, the film's conclusion forces a judgment out of the audience. My own judgment keeps changing, but at least I know this: "A History of Violence" is not so much a work of Hitchcockian nature as it is a Cronenberg film that references Hitchcock, Western culture and its relationship to violence. What I initially thought was the classic type of cinema that has something for everyone - laughs, startles, dread and melodrama - is actually a movie that puts everyone into it. And in that, it seems to me, Cronenberg has taken a readerly text and done it great justice while at the same time layering it with epic writerly challenges to the viewer. Which really blows my mind the more I think about it.

But that's just my stab at it. Here's a good resource for Barthes-driven realism in film.

The Celebrity Moment: Darkest before dawn

2005-10-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

Annie is a wonder. What makes her tick? For one thing, she can't seem to take a bad picture. She comes from Norway, where celebrity culture is an oxymoron. Fame is handled with great modesty, she says, or ridicule is sure to follow.

To be fair, ridicule is what she's got. After her six-song set late last month in Montreal, there was also disappointment, disapproval and regret. Maybe her approach was too modest for North American audiences. Maybe the show was too rudimentary to be kicking off the annual POP festival. Maybe she's the type of celeb who is not afraid to risk failure.

...music was so harsh and shattering that the entire audience sat on the floor with their fingers in their ears. A woman who lived up the street came over in her bare feet, shaking, and complained about the din. She was incredulous as to how this was happening unregulated on her block. In tears she pointed to the ear plugged audience watching Lee and David kill. "What the hell is this?" - she was so confused. — Thurston Moore, "Noise Trip: memoriez of Noise Fest" via Banana Nutrament

Kim Gordon once said the best show to see is one where the band falls apart as they play. The band she and Thurston lead may have given shows like that. Some might argue that this is what happened with Annie's show, but that's not why I was reminded of Sonic Youth during her performance. In the middle of "Come Together," Annie started playing an electronic gong. It would punctuate the heart of her song, reverberating as she counted down the lyric: "If we... BASH! If we all... BASH! If we all come... BASH BASH!! If we all come toget... BASH BASH BASH!!!

Confusion, gaping stares, the parts of the audience that were congenially bopping along to the music suddenly stopped. Disco paean to happiness becomes an art-rock jolt. I thought it was great idea. I'm sure she's not a weirdo killjoy (backstage, Annie would later talk about her total admiration of her Seattle fans, who were literally pulling their hair out when she took to the stage). But was it a big flop to the majority of her fans?

Annie never was a pop princess, as she warned us all along. Her record at first deceives, but you can hear a proclamation of her freedom from marketability and the pop format in "Me Plus One," which is, well, poppy and very marketable and which she glaringly omitted from setlist.

A long-time DJ, Annie wants to spin Anniemal for the world. But even though she's given up her turntables for a live microphone and spotlight, she's still spinning it her way.

Cloud banks

2005-10-18T05:28:00.000-07:00

It's a twelfth day without sun, and it looks to soon be a fortnight, true Wimbledon-style. But I like tennis as I like lemonade, so here are some images from grey days. Light is the photographer's greatest ally but being consistently denied it in tangible amounts can eventually inspire, as I found out in capturing these two shadowy scenes.

Fair Dealing

2005-10-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

The upload servers that offer space to golb and other blogs end up making better cemetery plots than self-storage; their custodians are better adoptive parents than babysitters. I know this now, "at this time."

It was a mistake when I hastily uploaded a readily available digital image to photos1. A mistake, because the image I clicked on, which I've been worshipping all year, was a photograph by an artist named Catherine Bodmer. Whoops. Bodmer's photograph is certainly much more than the shots of European vacations and my sister's cat that I have handy on my PC. I can't help but be reminded of the great Railowsky puddle-leaper when I look at Lake 1 [Sans titre (Lac 1)], somehow capturing exquisite beauty amid squalor. Unlike Cartier-Bresson's work, its decisive moment is less the snap of the shutter than the trigger in the viewer's mind that renders the paradox: majesty within the everyday; the mysterious and familiar coalesced into one. I love to talk about it, but choosing how and where it would appear publicly was clearly and obviously not my right. Yet there it was uploaded and ready to display upon command. Reproducing Bodmer's image in a milieu like this one might be considered what is known as fair use or fair dealing, but I simply consider it a mistake, and unfortunately, only my first one. I erred again thinking that whatever test graphic I uploaded I could just as easily remove from the server. Not so.

"At this time", neither I nor the rightful owner, the artist, has real control over the reproduction. It is in cyber-limbo, indefinitely. I have some consolation for bringing this on: the full URL to the image on the server is my own little state secret. Every now and then, I go about busily typing in the address like it's a password without the sympathetic keystroke masking, hoping that maybe "at this time" the image is erased. But it won't erase. I say this because Andrea at Blogger Support, who I fear is a robot, told me so, first by explaining "It is not currently possible to remove published pictures from the photo server" and then, when prompted, by getting down to her brass tacks and squeaky wheels: "Unfortunately, even we are not able to remove published pictures from the photo server at this time."

Why don't I believe the babysitter?

Dragonette

2005-10-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

Dragonette rocks.

Fluxblog found out and posted "Competition". He added some sweet sounds of his own, especially the nice bit about wanting to live in a world where the song is a hit.

From the moment I saw the band play "I Get Around" I was enthralled:

I know your friends and you know mine too
You don't tell on me I won't tell on you
Seconds to your elevator from the station
How can I resist that kinda invitation?
Here I come when I better go
I say yes when I oughta say no
Quietly slide away off the mattress
Find my clothing on the bedpost
So I tiptoe out of this mess
As I slip back into last night's dress
Put a little lipstick back on my face
Blow a little kiss to you from the doorway
Walk the hall back right past the staircase
Take the elevator back down outta this place

I transcribe the verses just to prove to myself there's no magic. No fairydust in this recipe. It's the tight, well-honed technique of Good Humor-era Saint Etienne. A beat dictates the length of the vocal line and the phrasing evokes the story. Martina holds it all together, and then, as layers of instrumentation pile on to the track, it seems certain that this song is also a film. I haven't felt anything quite like it since "Woodcabin".