SOUNDTRACK: HÜSKER DÜ-Metal Circus EP (1983).
After the insane hardcore mess of Land Speed Record, this EP is a bit of a change. It’s still pretty hardcore, but now you can tell that the noisiness of the guitar is deliberate. Bob Mould is playing around with multiple layers of feedback and distortion to create a wall of noise that sometimes hides, sometime accentuates the overall sound.
What strikes me as odd in retrospect is that I think of Bob Mould as one of alternative rock’s poppier songwriters. And yet when you listen to this disc the two poppiest (which is a relative term to be sure) tracks are by Grant Hart.
The first two tracks are fast and furious. But what separates them from 4 x 4 hardcore is, mostly Greg Norton’s bass. He’s all over the place. There’s also some diversity within the songs themselves (a little guitar squeal in “Deadly Skies”).
“It’s Not Funny Anymore” (Hart’s song) is surprisingly upbeat (with guitar harmonics) and is not quite as noisy (although it’s still pretty noisy, and is not going on the radio anytime soon).
The next two track are more of Mould’s screamy hardcore.
The longest song (4 and a half minutes) is also by Hart. “Diane” is a creepy song about abduction and murder (yet with something of a singalong chorus). I actually know the Therapy? version better because I had listened to that disc a lot when it came out. But the Hüsker’s version is even creepier. Wikipedia says it is about a real incident (which makes it less creepy than if Hart has made it up, I suppose).
It ends with Mould’s least hardcore song, although the guitar solo is pretty insane.
And then it’s over. 7 songs in twenty minutes. That’s nearly half as many as on Land Speed Record. You can see the songs changing already. Just wait till the next disc!
[READ: June 29, 2009] McSweeney’s #5
McSweeney’s #5 plays with cover ideas again. On this one, 
the cover idea is actual different covers and slipcovers. The book is hardcover, with three different cover designs. It also has 4 different slipcover designs. The colophon explains that if one wanted one could have requested for free) each of the cover designs because they did not intend to make people buy multiple issues. Click on the covers to see them enlarged on flickr (all images are copyright McSweeney’s).
This is the Koppel front cover.
I will quote from the McSweeney’s site their description of the covers:
As many of you know, the new issue of our print version is out, and by now is in most stores. This issue is a hardcover book, and features four different dust jackets. One dust jacket has on it a man who seems to be suffering from terrible skin lesions. The second cover looks very much like the cover of Issue No. 1, with the addition of a medical drawing of a severed arm. The third cover is blank, with all of its images hiding on the back. Hiding from the bad people. The last cover is just red. Or, if you will, simply red.
In addition, under each dust jacket is a different cover. One features pictures of Ted Koppel. One features new work by Susan Minot. And a third features a variation on the second cover, described above, though this version is legible only with aid of mirror. This inner cover also is featured under the red dust jacket.
I was quite surprised when I took the slipcover off mine, (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: COLDPLAY-Prospekt’s March EP (2008).
This EP was released hot on the heels on Viva La Vida. So hot, in fact, that since our copy of Viva was lost, I listened to this EP first.
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2003).
How do you follow up the fantastic Soft Bulletin? If you’re The Flaming Lips, you simultaneously pull back and push forward. I often thing of Yoshimi as Bulletin part 2 but that’s really not right or fair. Yoshimi has a more Pink Floyd vibe: it’s quite mellow and folky. But nothing the Lips do can be completely commercial, so you get things in every song that add immensely to the sound, yet prevent it from complete accessibility.
SOUNDTRACK: FISHBONE-Give a Monkey a Brain and He’ll Swear He’s the Center of the Universe (1993).
I had actually forgotten about this album, because it was so overshadowed by Truth and Soul and Reality….. When I put it on I wasn’t expecting much (Fishbone had something of a precipitous decline around this time). So, I was amazingly delighted with how much I remembered this album and how much I enjoyed it (which shows to me that I must have listened to it a lot back in college).
SOUNDTRACK: MARILLION-Fugazi (1984).
Ah, the delights of Marillion. My best friend in high school, Al, got me into Marillion. And he started me off with this record. As such, I can’t imagine how I could realistically critique it. I must have listened to this thing hundreds of times at this point. I also got into the other Marillion albums (until the theatrical madman and lead singer, Fish, departed). I did get one post-Fish album, Season’s End, but didn’t think too much of it. Although I still regard them highly, and anyone who names an album Anoraknaphobia is still alright in my book, I haven’t heard a note of anything post-Season’s End.
SOUNDTRACK: THE ATARIS-So Long, Astoria (2003) & THE STARTING LINE-Say It Like You Mean It (2002).
THE ATARIS-So Long, Astoria. I am only reviewing this CD because of the circumstances in which I acquired it. Driving out of my driveway this morning, I was surprised by a shiny thing in my lawn. It turned out to be a CD. This one. Indeed, someone had thrown this CD out of their car (I assume) onto my lawn. [Later inspection uncovered two more CDs, one by a band I didn’t recognize and the other a burned CD with no writing on it… I can’t WAIT to see what it is!] So, anyhow, I had not heard the Ataris before, but had heard of them. And the record is okay. It’s sort of generic pop punk, meaning it is really catchy and fairly fast and I probably would have loved it if I were 18. Or maybe 16. This also features the cover of “Boys of Summer” that I remember hearing on the radio oh so many years ago. The only distinguishing feature of the song is they change the lyrics to a “Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac.” Otherwise, not much else of note.
I Just Read About That... 