Monday, June 23, 2008

Golden Age



New Yorkers miss the '70s. Even many nuevo New Yorkers, the post-Giulianis, the ones who have never seen a freshly graffitied subway train or gotten mugged, the ones born in the hinterlands, the ones from the '80s—they all miss the '70s. Specifically, they miss the myth and mystique of the blasted city that was—the war zone of boundless creativity where punk and disco were born kicking and screaming, covered in leather and glitter and glory. Many transplants came to the city to touch the hem of those garments, to grasp at and maybe one day understand or perhaps even capture the city's history of artful rebellion. These are possibly laudable intentions; at the least they are deeply felt ones. So it's worth asking: Why, in the context of popular music, does this passion for historical rebellion so often translate into a sort of time-warped generic straitjacket? And why does said straitjacket feel so right?

Read the rest of my totally non-autobiographical review of Hercules & Love Affair's awesome and troublesome debut over there.

Today in great corrections



Thanks, Slate.

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Devil, You + Me



How best to describe disappointment? And how best to justify it? Now that beloved German laptop-indie act the Notwist has finally released a follow-up to 2002's sublime Neon Golden, what to do with all this wasted anticipation? Those of us who regard that warmly inviting record as one of the decade's best must now sadly reckon with such questions. It's not that The Devil, You + Me is particularly bad; it merely and consistently recalls the band's more emotionally satisfying earlier work, while rarely equaling or surpassing it. We waited six years for this?

Find the stunning answer to my rhetorical question on a Slant.

[Re: photo - for some reason it seems that all the mediocre records have the best covers this year].

Thursday, June 12, 2008

DEY TOOK ER JUBZ!



The AP reports on a timely reminder that Republicans can be protectionists too, as long as the jobs involved are sufficiently 'merican and jingoism can be part of the fun.

Web sites have sprung up opposing the deal on patriotic grounds, arguing that such an iconic U.S. firm shouldn't be handed over to foreign ownership. One of the sites, called SaveAB.com, was launched by Blunt's former chief of staff, Ed Martin.

"Shareholders should resist choosing dollars over American jobs," Martin said in a statement Wednesday night. "Selling out to the Belgians is not worth it - because this is about more than beer: it's about our jobs and our nation."


As I am a card-carrying liberal beer snob, I think it probably goes without saying that I support the sale of Anheuser-Busch to anyone, of any nationality, who knows how to make beer.

UPDATE

SaveAB.com is truly hilarious.
My Fellow Americans,

Like baseball, apple pie and ice cold beer (wrapped in a red, white and blue label), Anheuser-Busch is an American orginal. Founded in St. Louis, Missouri, AB represents the spirit of our country, giving millions of Americans "the pursuit of happiness" through its high quality products and thousands of great paying [sic] jobs. Generations of Americans have grown up loving AB products and have appreciated its commitment to our communities.

Now, our city, our state, our nation and our workers are being threatened with the loss of A-B to foreign investors.

With your help we can fight the foreign invasion of A-B.


In case you were wondering: I've been unable to substantiate the claim that ice-cold beer did not exist before America.

Your morning Kathryn Jean Lopez


Kathryn Jean Lopez, usually no slouch when it comes to proving herself the stupidest person with typing skills, really outdoes herself this morning.

The whole post is enjoyably reasonably incoherent (framed as a response to something else with no linkage) but this part really goes to the heart of the NRO sputtering over Obama:

But Obama hasn't proven himself a leader (I'd give him points if he supported D.C. school choice now or met with Ward Connerly or...), just a candidate for president.


Ward Connerly used to be a University of California Regent. Aside from lacking any sort of meaningful national profile, he's most notable in this context as the right's go-to black anti-affirmative action guy. What does Ward Connerly's pet project have to do with the issues that voters consistently identify as the election's most important? (Those would be: the economy, the War, and oil and gas prices). Oh, you know, nothing. In this post, he essentially functions as KJL's byword for "Obama is a big mean liberal!" A less charitable reading might be, "Only minorities who oppose affirmative action are leaders!" Note that Connerly's granted magical powers, as Obama would get some "points" in credit towards being perceived as a leader if he would just meet with him. Perhaps if Obama curtsied to him, he'd get more points? His people may want to look into this.

UPDATE
I just noticed my second favorite part of KJL's post.

And I'll want an apology from him when he gets in and — mercifully — gets the briefings and realizing he can't and shouldn't do such a thing.


More emoting about Obamevitability from the far right, please. Kthxbai.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Scatterbrain


As he'll be happy to tell you, New Orleans's Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive. He has been for some time—probably since his 2006 mixtape Dedication 2, though there's some debate on the length of his reign. Few, however, dispute the self-evident truth of his dominance. Jay-Z and Kanye West both show up on his latest album, Tha Carter III, and their appearances read like kings paying tribute. When Jay appropriates Weezy's stumblebum free-association on the resolutely kick-ass "Mr. Carter," which features a beat by Just Blaze that would be right at home on The Blueprint, it sounds like a tardy passing of the torch.

More thoughts on Lil Wayne's non-classic are just a click away.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Spiritualized Alive!



Jason Pierce, the singer-songwriter responsible for Spiritualized, claims that his funereal new album was largely composed before the bout of life-threatening pneumonia he suffered in 2005. The claim sounds credible, especially because the album traffics in Pierce's typical themes: addiction, withdrawal and recovery, and agonies and ecstasies both physical and spiritual. But listening to Songs in A&E, which is named for the British equivalent of the ER, it's also sometimes hard to believe. The record's focus on matters of life and death is deepened by Pierce's felt knowledge of the subject, and the overall effect is eerily prescient. Whether you're walking toward or running away from the grave (hey, that's life), the themes Pierce addresses here will resonate.

I'm glad he lived: learn more on a Slant.

This Is Not the Future



On their often charmless third full-length (their first since being dropped by their label), the Futureheads jilt subtlety in favor of balls-to-the-wall rawk. For listeners who initially found them appealing for their Wire-esque off-kilter approach to pop-punk, all the bludgeoning riffage on This Is Not the World might be a tad overwhelming. It's too bad, because the knack the band once displayed for constructing precisely modulated rave-ups was a rare one, but this record is full of bull-in-a-china-shop posturing.

Oh, Futureheads, why? More at Slant.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Today in great typos



I think we can all probably agree that Obama is going to wipe the floor with McCain on fun-raising, no?

When concepts attack!



The answer is no. Thanks, Slate!

Monday, June 02, 2008

The Great Satan


Sometimes polls make me happy. Or, at the very least, give me hope that this country of ours hasn't completely lost its marbles.

Then I remember who is still president.

THEY HATE OUR FREEDOM!

Or maybe they just hate the cavalier attitude our Commando in Chief displays towards murdalizing them?

At least the Democrats have a can't fail shot at the presidency this cycle.

Oh wait.