I was listening to Slanted and Enchanted on the train (which won't make you pay $15 to check a bag) a few weeks ago, and realized that my favorite albums fall into two groups: those that continue to surprise me and reveal something new every time I listen to them, and those that I’ve internalized so thoroughly that I just don’t need to hear them anymore. Lamentably, I found that S&E falls into the latter category. As it played, I don’t think I registered for even a moment what I was hearing, but the music did seem to calm me and make me feel at peace with myself. Perhaps this is the greatest compliment I can give an album: that it is a part of me now, that listening to it is like looking at my hand, totally mundane but totally comforting.

But for every S&E, there’s an album like Bee Thousand, which I’ve loved forever and which still blows my mind in unexpected ways. Last time around, I realized that it’s the most beautifully produced album I’ve ever heard, so that its fragile melodies are even more precious (and something about the aesthetic of lo-fi being philosophically sound). And so on. I’m not sure what makes an album fall into one category or the other, but I find the division curious. There are other pairs like this: Up on the Sun (internalized), Double Nickels on the Dime (external wow); Rubber Soul (dusted treasure), Pet Sounds (eternal gee whiz). What are yours? Bonus question: Am I making sense?

so my next post will be about a musical artist currently under the age of 40 i swear, but right now i can't help but share my enthusiasm for the new spiritualized single, from the forthcoming songs in a&e, which i found on the (actually quite good) pitchfork.tv:

the video makes it pretty clear what the song's actually about, but if you only listen it almost sounds like a love song.

not sure if there's been a better album released in 2008 than the new nick cave and the bad seeds record, but i know there hasn't been a more badass one. check the charmingly low-budget and over-acted video for the title track, "dig!!!, lazarus, dig!!!":

and that's probably the seventh best song on the album. if this guy's not on top of his game right now, i don't know who is.

Destroyer is one of my all-time favorite bands. I've spent more time on the Destroyer wiki, spent more money on eBay buying all of the albums, and gotten more frustrated with people not seeing Trouble in Dreams as a nod to early-2000 Destroyer (the rating WMCN's own Liner Notes gave the album was disappointing) than I'd like to admit.

So I was pretty happy to see this Washington Post feature pop up on The Catbirdseat today. It's about as obsessive and nerdy as you can get when you put two huge fans of a band with as much content as Destroyer together to argue about the best album. The article itself reads like a Destroyer song, filled with references such as "Pistols at dawn can only work for so long" and "Destroyer's The Temple."

Personally I've never been able to come to a conclusion with these albums, and usually just give up and go back to City of Daughters.

Thanks for the boost, Aaron. Perhaps we'll soon be seeing posts to help kill precious paper writing time, and pass the precious summer hours, from the following gentlemen, recently chosen for WMCN's 2008-2009 staff.

Corbin Cavallero, Rock Director
Andrew Berger, Rock Director
Reed Boskey, Electronic Director
Nolan Levenson, Hip Hop Director
Sean Hickey, Tech Director

Keep it tasteful, everyone, and enjoy your blogging rights.

finals have been pretty bad this year, and are only about to get worse. but, as with most things (not feeling twee enough, crippling sorrow), i find that a little calvin johnson can help out a lot.

i recently discovered his post-beat happening (there's a reunion that needs to happen) collective dub narcotic sound system. their sound has been called 'indie-funk', as it incorporated a lot of stuff (r&b, reggae, primitive electronica) you didn't see a lot in 90s indie music. "monkey hips and rice" is the most fun example of what they do--it's got a classic motown riff, but it's the most shambolic, unprofessional-sounding motown riff you could possibly imagine. which is to say that it's got that classic k charm.

here's to paper-writing:
dub narcotic sound system--"monkey hips and rice"

April showers bring May flowers. Or make that May post-punk. Here's a video I really dig, by a band I adore...The Chameleons! Even YouTube can't kill the intimacy of the space where they played this charming number, called "Nathan's Phase," back in 1982. Perfect for a gloomy spring day like today...sometimes joy, sometimes despair...it's just a phase we're going through.



Also, congratulations to WMCN's new staff for 2008-2009 (staff listings and blog contributors will be updated soon). Don't miss the last five days of spring broadcasting, or our super sweet spring concert, this Saturday in 10K. We'll be selling more of those t-shirts, which are proving so popular.