Purgatory

"Waiting Room" - Fugazi (Peel Session)

This song is probably about nothing.

This song probably won't move you in many ways,

but that's not really the point.

I recently perused Aquarium Drunkard for some music while I neglect going to RadioShack or something to find a missing cable for my external hard drive (which has most of my music), and came across a post about Fugazi's Peel Sessions, which were recorded on December 11, 1988.

I think "Waiting Room" might have been the first Fugazi song I ever heard, and was instantly hooked on the band.  Ian Mackaye has done things for punk rock we probably will never know.

This song here represents the past few months, really.  Just waiting, waiting, waiting in my hometown, at my mother's house to hear back from schools, friends, girlfriends, etc.  Now I'm not longer waiting.  Now I'm in, out...I've got my answer, I've been served.  No more places in line, the doctor's called, and I'm cured.

I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS FORTUNE

some things about me worth knowing:

- I hate receiving compliments because I generally disagree with them
- I am wrapped up in my own state of mind to the point that imagining someone else's perspective is harder than Chinese algebra
- I am genuinely surprised whenever good things happen
- I usually expect the worst

so when good fortune comes my way it gives me a lot of pause. the feeling produced is a mix of trepidation (expecting the worst) and at least a little bit of shock, not enough to bring it all to a halt but enough to slow me down some.

context: through a strange and bewildering chain of events I have organized two free potluck hootenannies scheduled to occur here, in Darien, the first on July 10th and the second on the 19th. strange and bewildering because of the bands scheduled to play these hoots.

on July 10th:

WHISTLE JACKET
THE BOSSETTES
MILO GREENE
MONSTERY

on July 19th:

HISTORY OF LOVERS
VIKESH KAPOOR
NICHOLAS BEAVEN
BRUHDER

and I keep wondering: how did something this great chance?!

last semester I created a myspace page for my music. (seems weird to plug it here, so I won't.) over the course of a few months, I corresponded with several of these people - in many cases, the bands initiated the contact, leaving me a comment or sending a message. it would be overlong to go into how I came across each of these performers, but let's just say that with the exception of History of Lovers (very old friends) everyone was either met randomly in person (at a party, for instance) or met randomly through the web. (I heard Whistle Jacket on Said the Gramophone, but my relationship with them began when Michael sent me a complimentary message, setting off a chain of back-and-forth messages. we won't meet in person until the hoot.) what this all amounts to: serendipity, and more flattery than I like to keep track of.

so I cannot believe this fortune. "whatever can go wrong, will" - some band will have to cancel, some equipment will break. that's the conventional wisdom, or my gut feeling, but fuck it - this is going to be spectacular. just listen to the music and you'll know. even though the shows are in the future, and the line of fortuitous events is far from reaching its eventual conclusion, already so much good has happened that I can't help but feel grateful.

like I said, the hoots are taking place in Darien, at 11 Holmes Court, in Will's backyard. and it's gonna be something else. flyers coming soon!

"overnight indie stardom"

I was just over at Small Town Outside of Boston, reading the post about Pitchfork. Some thoughts:

- Colin's right about the effect of the "Best New Music" tag (he calls it "a coronation and an instant catalyst to overnight indie stardom", which is pretty hilarious). But it's not just that achieving "Best New Music" status is the equivalent to fast-lane hipster acceptance/reverance; that alone wouldn't bother me so much. The problem is that EVERY Pitchfork review counts, and not just the totally negative reviews, a la the new Weezer, but especially the middle-of-the-road ratings. If a band gets a 7.3, it seems as though that's an obstacle, not an advantage: you can only get so far with a score like that. I think it's because the rating system itself is totally fucking ARBITRARY and that the words themselves don't really count; I've read plenty of reviews that were very flattering and positive that haven't even made it into the "Recommended" column. So regardless of how flattering the written review itself might be, it all comes down to a stupid, arbitrary (at best) scoring contest.

Instead of giving musicians exposure, anything less than BNM status does zilch for most indie acts, because the majority of Pitchfork's viewers - which I imagine is a substantial portion of the indie scene - won't even read the review unless it's either no-holds-barred scathing or lavishly approbatory. (And why should they have to? It wasn't listed under "Best New Music"! And for the record, I'm certainly guilty of this.)

- Pitchfork is contributing to the inceasing homogeneity of the entire indie scene, or, you might say if you were being more blunt, its increasing BORINGNESS, by which I mean its increasing resemblance to the mainstream. It's not the music that makes this happen - the music's as great as it's ever been - but the attitudes and the cliques that cluster around the music. Unfortunately, you see Pitchfork syndrome wherever you go nowadays - the rigid, self-imposed (but culturally endorsed) confines of liking only the right music, only the right styles, knowing and saying only the right things. Didn't we worry about that enough in high school?

I guess this isn't so much about Pitchfork as the indie scene in general, but I was drawn to underground or "indie" music at least in part by the overall sense of inclusiveness. Now it seems more exclusive and status-driven than ever before, and worst of all, I don't think we really appreciate what we're losing.

- Have you ever actually READ most of their reviews? Maybe it's that there's too much to write too often (I think they should cut down to three reviews a day or less), and at least part of it is because writing about music is pretty fucking hard, you know, but nine times out of ten I can't even skim that shit.

- Since I don't want to be a negative nancy, I'll end on this note: they're doing a ton of cool shit with the whole Pitchfork TV thing so far, and the Forkcast feature is generally pretty great.

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What do y'all think?

Byrne and the Building

David Byrne is still at it with a new installation in NYC involving an old piano that has keys controlling sounds found in the building. really cool stuff.

David Byrne - "Playing the Building (via Pitchfork Media)"

The ever-lovely Katherine Stoeffel has gone public.

Broadcasting live from Eagles' Mere, PA, Milwaukee, WI, and Providence, RI.

Katherinestoeffel.com. enjoy.

Black Cab Sessions with My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver

Yeah.

Bon Iver

My Morning Jacket

I have another post later coming up.  In preparation; think about the first song you can remember hearing.  Does that song act as the basis for all your music tastes, regardless of if it's your favorite song or not?  

Just something I've been thinking about.  More on that later.

Snippets of Colbert Wisdom.

I would support the robbery of Paris Hilton. this is why:
make the most of robbing Paris Hilton.
HE WAS A NEGRO.
plant a pointing hand in the face of the United States.
Minnesota would be proud.
a river ran through that cold city, regressed, repressed, digressed, and far away from the east coast and far from the west coast, cold and blue-lit by the moon.
wings lit up by pill-bottle lights, orange, blue, cold, plastic.
he deserves it. little toy lights on the ground. hidden between paper hills.
Paris Hilton. he should see it. I bet her blinds are down when she flies.

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cities are not waiting for us, we're waiting for them.

Why Not you Trie Sunshine Heirdryer

YET! and oh yet. Wave Cleanse, Half Pretzel twist hairMAN oldmaN

Horseshoes and the French eyeBAll. HULk HuKl HuLK ThE HULK

- the AND the WAlrus Man BeVested and Detesting.