tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:16:30 +0000The title says it all.http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Barry)Blogger637125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-3650093755749292636Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:14:00 +00002009-11-12T11:15:20.170-05:00Pitchfork: What about the place of humor in Kraftwerk's music?RH: It's really good humor, I think it's also very serious. It's simultaneous. So I don't know; I can't express in words, but it's in the music, and it's in the words, and I think people understand. It's also what I call "black humor", because we wear black shoes.He blindsides you with that line and plays it completely straight, but http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/11/priceless-bit-from-ralf-hutter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-7837797865125729864Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:25:00 +00002009-11-12T06:26:20.475-05:00Orbital returned to gigging this year and amidst all of the bug-eyed excitement over the setlist, I quietly noted that it wasn't all that different than what they were playing over the last few years of their career (including the often wretched "Doctor" as an encore), plus, no tracks from "Snivilisation" and the worst track from "Middle of Nowhere" does not add up to my dream anything.And of http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/11/orbital-live-at-manchester-academy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-1723516849530230173Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:04:00 +00002009-11-12T11:30:54.225-05:00The musician in question is John Taylor of Duran Duran, and he actually makes a good (albeit not particularly original) point.The internet has not stunted our collective musical growth, so ignore that slightly batshit comment for the moment.However, there is unquestionably "immense power in restriction and holding back". Celebrities are celebrities because we, who are not famous, revel in http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/11/old-fart-musician-complains-that-things.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-368019717628478672Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:10:00 +00002009-10-29T13:11:01.338-04:00There is plenty of like on this massive, 32-track compilation. Start with Samiyam, "Return", and its irregular lurching rhythms that would have fit perfectly on virtually any release from Wolfgang Voigt's dearly departed Profan label. Or Darkstar, "Need You". It features playful, almost carnival-like melodies, and vocoders that Daft Punk would certainly be proud of. It also unites those http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/10/various-five-years-of-hyperdub.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-2143802088620692548Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:21:00 +00002009-10-25T12:22:23.994-04:00Depending on who you want to believe, this album either continues YLT's career resurgence, or is simply a fine albeit forgettable record. I don't understand the "resurgence" narrative because it's not like ten years passed by without a good albums, in fact the only widely acknowledged stinker in their recent catalogue is 2002's "Summer Sun" (although they also released the very good "Nuclear Warhttp://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/10/yo-la-tengo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-1690564539106343112Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:04:00 +00002009-10-18T18:07:50.466-04:00Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" and Lady GaGa's "Paparazzi" are two of the biggest singles of 2009, and both are fantastic, as good as any megahits to hit the charts in any year this decade. BEP have always straddled a line between addictively catchy pop pleasure and wretchedly unlistenable annoyance, but then the fantastic David Guetta produced them, and all was good. In fact, I thought http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-really-belated-two-cents.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-259019740395967842Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:11:00 +00002009-10-14T06:11:10.056-04:00Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, or Michael Jackson's five AMA nominations, including Artist of the Year and Album of the Year?Both artists promised big things this year, but failed to deliver. Obama may yet deliver on his foreign policy initiatives (which may or not actually bring peace if he does manage to deliver on them).Michael Jackson has already been given these honours at countless award showshttp://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/10/which-is-more-ridiculous.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-6826684736068609957Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:51:00 +00002009-10-09T16:51:27.924-04:00In sports, they say that flags fly forever, which is another way of saying that you're more likely to be remembered for one outstanding year than a number of merely good years. The quickest and safest route to history is to burn excessively bright for a short time, just ask the Sex Pistols (or even the blasted Libertines).New Pornographers didn't release a world-conquering album that stands http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-pornographers-in-2000s.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-6076051045801846136Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:16:00 +00002009-10-02T16:16:25.356-04:00Various comments about the top ten albums on these lists ...Pitchfork10. The Avalanches, "Since I Left You"I don't think I've knowingly listened to any of this (except the title track) since it came out ... it always struck as the sort of album Norman Cook would make if he was more into hip-hop. I like bonkers albums. I do find it remarkable that this album had so much staying power, http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/10/end-of-decade-lists-p4k-and-uncut.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-1825815206147857437Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:54:00 +00002009-09-29T13:55:21.556-04:00Or maybe you haven't heard about how parts of "Kid A" were made with computers, thereby making it a prophetic statement on the futuristic info-age that we now live in. Causality vs correlation, people! Anyway, let's just prepare to take our medicine and move on to the 010's.I'm getting some bad vibes so far from that list (through 200-101). There are some placings that seem inconsistent with http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/2004-was-strange-year-plus-pitchforks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-1685207534966391936Sun, 27 Sep 2009 08:17:00 +00002009-09-27T04:18:44.251-04:00Last night I found myself watching back-to-back-to-back movie musicals (none of which I had seen before), although I use the word "watching" very loosely because there was quite a bit of muting/listening to other music/putschking around the house/five minute naps while in the vicinity of the TV during those five-plus hours. Especially during the first film, "Mamma Mia".I love ABBA's music, and http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/musical-triple-bill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-4693624757244882688Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:00:00 +00002009-10-03T08:30:48.051-04:00I'm finally getting a move on with all my End of the Decade musing, which has involved revisiting a bunch of music from that 2000-2002 bygone era that feels like it happened twenty years ago instead of ten. I heard Fluxion's "Vibrant Forms II" for the first time in probably five or six years and was happy to discover that it still sounds incredibly fresh. This actually isn't so surprising, http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/cloaks-versus-grain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-744077854458381670Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:26:00 +00002009-09-25T11:03:05.893-04:00Jake Houseman: Don't you tell me what to see! I see someone in front of me who got his partner in trouble and sent her off to some butcher, while he moved on to an innocent young girl like my daughter![silence]Johnny: [angry] Yeah, I guess that's what you *would* see. He had so many great lines in that movie, and this exchange is surely one of the most underrated. I always found THAT line and http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/shes-like-wind.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-6699873720345791838Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:13:00 +00002009-09-13T19:13:19.575-04:00Every once in a while, I remember that it's 2009 and I'm supposed to be working on some kind of splashy best-of-the-decade thingy, complete with charts compiled using a ranking/calculation scheme that makes sense only to me. That chart would take shape over several months, as I stare at more or less the same shortlist of albums every day, glacially evolving the rankings by performing the most http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/its-starting-to-feel-lot-like-90s-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-5142003643205139665Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:41:00 +00002009-08-30T19:43:09.490-04:00Tom Ewing's essay for Pitchfork is one of the best pieces of criticism that site has ever published. Unlike most "review"-style articles on P4K (including year-end lists), he doesn't attempt to fool the reader into thinking that a year or decade can be neatly summed up into simple "year X was the year of Y" proclamations, as if pop (or any other type of music) could be conveniently summarized http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/decade-in-pop.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-8822278147210492244Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:38:00 +00002009-08-27T12:38:45.877-04:00This one-hour special, containing near-complete clips of PSB TV performances interspersed with contemporary comments by the duo, is easily the best music-related airplane viewing I've ever seen (the second best would be ... well, no comparative examples come to mind, actually, but the PSB collection was quite good on its own and is well worth seeing even if you're not stuck on an airplane for 7.5http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/pet-shop-boys-live-at-bbc-and-rip-ellie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-7338144710431623077Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:40:00 +00002009-09-30T19:37:43.600-04:00I always struggled to define my relationship with Blur. I searched for definitions, and they were the band I liked the most without ever really loving. They effortlessly churned out one amazing song after another, they were versatile, they had longevity, and they were great live (for a long time, their 1996 Toronto gig at the then-Warehouse was one of my top five favourite concerts ever). Theyhttp://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/blur-live-at-hyde-park-july-3-2009.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-3800323033556625830Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:10:00 +00002009-08-15T01:11:06.675-04:00I don't even know where to begin with this one, and judging from the writing I've seen over the past two days, it doesn't look as if anyone else knows where to begin either. Les Paul basically invented the electric guitar and multitrack recording, so virtually all music that was recorded over the past fifty years bears his fingerprints. Now go, write 500 words summarizing exactly that. Jeez. http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/rip-les-paul.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-7045653530458223096Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:47:00 +00002009-08-07T00:48:00.257-04:00With the last two days, plus Michael Jackson's death last month, the 80's as a whole are all but dead as well.John Hughes was the Tycoon of Teen for the 80's, his movies defined the decade for anyone who lived through the time and was born after 1968. He made Molly Ringwald. John Candy was at his best when working with Hughes. "Planes Trains and Automobiles" is one of the funniest movies ever http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/john-hughes-rip-bimble-rip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-1924290207511997840Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:57:00 +00002009-07-26T09:59:39.539-04:00As anyone who regularly reads this site would know, I'm not the sort of person who callously nitpicks reviews and reviewers, but:1. Full disclosure: I haven't heard the new Fiery Furnaces album, and I don't consider myself a fan of the band. 2. It's fairly well known that the reviewer is a huge mark for Fiery Furnaces3. Knowing #2, this website gave the reviewer a ">platform for fawning over http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/random-stuff.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-2712236906079027429Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:23:00 +00002009-07-20T08:24:57.228-04:00This is another new release that simply isn't resonating with me ... I love the idea of three techno mavens picking up guitars and exotic percussion instruments and going all jazz/dub on us, but there's just nothing going on here, it's all style and atmosphere with none of the risk taking that makes for quality improvised music. I feel as though I'm supposed to be impressed and find myself lost http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/moritz-von-oswald-trio-vertical-ascent.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-4656668403119920107Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:21:00 +00002009-07-15T09:24:56.834-04:00Yeah, yeah, Berlin is changing all the time, but the biggest changes these days aren't with the buildings, but with the people. The city is jam packed with tourists -- I think there were even more tourists in the city this month than there were during the World Cup in 2006 -- and Berlin's newly mainstream appeal means everything in the city is a lot more expensive than it used to be. Beer http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/musik-in-berlin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-1276723060811041864Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:46:00 +00002009-06-28T19:46:24.037-04:001. Samael, Sepultura, Kreator, and Lordi all played in Sofia this year. Within a few weeks of each other. In wintertime, of course (did you really have to ask)? Dream Theater are playing in July. With metal, it's business as usual in Eastern Europe. 2. Everyone who wasn't singing along with the Czech folk songs in the Czech pub in Nessebar was grinning like an idiot. 3. Our conference http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/few-random-musical-happenings-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-6669712758926846982Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:01:00 +00002009-06-26T12:05:00.765-04:00I'm typing this in Nessebar, Bulgaria, participating in a bubble of science that exists within its own bubble in this beautiful little vacation spot where people go to bake on the beach, wander among centuries-old ruins, and generally feel cut off from the world. I suppose this is how they feel at Glastonbury (minus the occasional mud and rain), where everything happening out "there" is somehow http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-rip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9867328.post-1080416491590616822Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:21:00 +00002009-07-19T10:32:51.256-04:00I can see where a lot of the praise is coming from with this one, i.e. Sunn O))) break with formula and add strings and angelic choirs to their already dense sound, but any album that begins with drudgery like "Aghartha" will dampen my enthusiasm to some degree. It's not such a horrible track, but the vocals are downright risible at times, and what's more, appear annoyingly upfront in the mix. http://diaryofmusicalthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/sunno-monoliths-and-dimensions.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Barry)0