I spent the last few hours doing this, and I consider an excellent use of my time.
My friend Joy just passed on a fantastic rant on the music being peddle by hipstery b.s. music blogs these days:
http://www.yourmusicisawful.com/2013/04/hey-kids-grow-a-pair-how-music-blogs-neutered-indie-rock/
This kind of debate always elevates my pulse by about 90 bpm, so I couldn’t help but leave a comment:
“This isn’t about angry/heavy vs. folk/low-key music. This is about honest, raw & original vs. boring, uninspired music that is, in its must offensive characteristic, “non-offensive.” The movements of the past were the kind of music your parents hated, from Elvis, the Beatles, Zeppelin, through early punk and up until to Nirvana, NIN, riot grrl, and albums like Radiohead’s “OK Computer.” Any “folky” Leonard Cohen track has more depth, edge, and insight than the rehashed washed-out hipstery sounds hand-fed by Pitchfork. What marked each generation were the voices that made the previous generation uncomfortable because they expressed something we felt in unchartered territory.
And we haven’t had that voice in many years.
I’ll put on The Lumineers or some comparable non-offensive stuff in the background, and maybe my mom can sing along – but there are so few bands that I stop everything for just to sit and listen in my room like we once did when music was the foreground. There are few bands that the baby boomers would be horrified by the way they were when “Smells Like Teen Spirit” displaced Michael Jackson or when Wu Tang and Public Enemy broke through.
Great article. Great insight. Who knows, maybe this is just our disco era before the new wave of something amazing knocks us over. (Fingers crossed.)”
What I would add is that “heavy” and “ballsy” or “interesting” are not synonymous. There is plenty of heavy music that is just god awful, boring, and unoriginal. I do sound for a lot of hardcore touring packages and think - god, how are people still making this kind of music? Nothing new has been added to that sound since the 90s, and as a result, it’s lost its guts. It’s nothing but anger, and that, for me, is not any more compelling than one-note, trite sound of the recycled 80s that the hipsters have claimed…
Meanwhile an artist like Lana Del Rey is writing lyrics like “My pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola,” and “Baby, we were born to die,” sung over seemingly benign trip hop. Brutally raw, even beneath the covers of a mellow sonic blanket. At least it’s a start.
“The photograph of Kurt Cobain in tears has been extensively published. Tilton watched Cobain smash his guitar through an amplifier and walk offstage. He followed him backstage. The pent-up emotion ‘just had to go somewhere,’ says Tilton, and Cobain burst into tears. ‘What I really love about it is that it is a very real moment and he allowed it. Other artists would have said, ‘Not now, Ian, please.’ It is very unusual,” adds Tilton, ‘for anyone from a band to show such vulnerability.’”
(via haave-you-met-ted)
blossoming sea: frost flowers - “ice sculptures that grow on the border between the sea and air”.
nature is amazing.
via npr.org
I giggled at this. Clever cartoons & a second up of delicious coffee = #awesomemorning
(Source: crimesagainsthughsmanatees)
I would go out of my way to commute through this.
sometimes this is what it takes for a weekday morning commute: 1,497 coffee mugs
“urban portal” in mexico city, the caffinated brainchild of michael rojkind
via mymodernmet.com
Top 5 Love from Micki Gamez of 92.3 NOW in NYC.
So, Donna & I have been getting emails asking for advice on how to enjoy Dinah Shore. Taking into consideration that we are old married ladies now, and not the fun threesome-having kind (!), I thought it might be helpful to share some thoughts as someone who is in a monogamous relationship and who may be tamer than I was in my early 20s, but who still has some happy lesbian partying left to do!
Of course, you might have seen the fun little pool party parody we put up for Somer Fridays:
Yeah, I might avoid trying to sneak that newly-packed bag through security….!
In all honesty, we were relatively tame during Dinah Shore weekend, but it was far from boring. Part of the time was spent at the parties, some was consumed by filming (though we did avoid the camera frenzy at events like the White Party, choosing to forgo the hive of activity in the VIP room in exchange for fun on the dance floor), and mostly we enjoyed the town of Palm Springs, the gorgeous weather & scenery, and the company of friends. Here are some highlights & advice.
I would plan to go to at least one pool party and one evening event. There’s nothing like being surrounded with thousands of other lesbians; it’s normalizing, for one; our close friend who made the trip with us was somewhat transformed by the experience of it being so open, being engulfed in the sea of homo-excitement. How often to we get to experience the feeling of our subculture being mainstreamed? Plus, everyone is there to have fun dancing, interacting, and taking in the view in this momentary escape from routine. But…one of each event was probably filling enough for me & the wifey. If you’re single or a party-lover, you’ll probably be more likely to want to indulge in every party.
So what’s a girl to do if they’re only hitting up one or two of the big events? We spent a lot of time checking out the town, fun places to eat, and the desert. There’s a vibrant community a few blocks from all the party action, and my favorite memories were having brunch at a Mexican restaurant down the road and hanging at one of the dive bars after ditching the Saturday night convention center party. We had great BBQ (conveniently attached to our hotel) and decent seafood (downtown). Sure, we could meet friends for brunch or divey drinks here in Brooklyn - that’s not a new concept! But doing it in an oasis that happens to have been taken over by lesbians was pretty awesome.
And don’t underestimate the joy of chilling poolside in one of the non-Dinah-party hotels! For one, it allowed everyone to share their stories as the weekend unfolded, but it also made it feel like was a real vacation. Getting away from everyday life is sort of a treat on its own, and having that down time to balance the party adventures was key.
In sum, just because you’re not a single, boozy dancing queen (ah…flashbacks to my youth!) doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy Dinah Shore weekend.
I discovered Pinback in college when someone had illegally downloaded a few of their songs to the computers at the local cluster where I was writing a paper. I’ve been hooked ever since and sometimes it’s the only music that fits my mood.
“Tripoli” is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. Lush intricate layers of guitar, beautiful chord changes, and this epically heroic undertone. If I made a top 10 favorite tracks of all time, this would be on it.
“Fortress” is just a super rad song that is subtlely danceable, indie pop sweet, and has a phenomenal music video.
Finishing up, a couple more standout tracks, “Loro” and “Crutch.”
Sometimes only certain music fits the soundtrack of your life at a particular moment. The last few days have been all about Warpaint. They happen to be an all-female band from LA. It’s post punk psychedelic awesomeness.