This totally made my day:

Monday Minor Annoyance: The Killers

I didn’t feel this warranted an entire SBS, but I had to get this off my chest:

Wow. The Killers really suck.

Recently, I’ve been listening to rock radio during my drive to work (I know, I know, there are better ways to appease my inner masochist). Before, I didn’t care too much about The Killers. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to them, but I wouldn’t be terribly upset if one of their songs came on at a party or whatever. Not the best band ever but fun, inoffensive, mainstream rock.

That was all until I heard their latest single:

What the hell was that? “Are we human or are we dancer?” That’s like asking “Do The Killers suck or are they shitty?”

The answer (obviously) is “both”.

New music!

Well, I didn’t write it but whatever.

Enjoy my cover of “Enjoy the Silence”, which was recorded for a friend’s birthday:

Enjoy the Silence

Score!

Yesterday I finally got the melodica I’ve been wanting for months now (which provided me with hours on fun once I got home). AND I wandered into a record shop down the street from the musical instrument store and they had The Queen is Dead by the Smiths on vinyl, in really good condition.

Thanks universe!

Sunday Bitter Sunday #10

I’m currently fighting off a cold, but I’ve got irish coffees and Bitter Batman to help me.

He fights crime... and colds!

Tonight’s topic is massive enough to write several books about, but I’m going to focus on a recent example I came across.

Sunday Bitter Sunday #10: Blackface

I like Of Montreal. Sure, their song titles are pretentious as fuck (“Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games” anyone?) but the music is poppy, psychedelic fun.

I was listening to the album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?“ again last week and got curious about the inspiration behind the music, so I did a little digging on Kevin Barnes, the brains behind the outfit.

Turns out Hissing Fauna… is all about Barnes dealing with depression and a near nervous breakdown by “transforming” into Georgie Fruit, a black transsexual:

Barnes as Georgie Fruit. Hate crime?

Now I’m sensitive to the pain that comes from depression. I’ve been there more times than I’d like to remember and I know what a terrible place it is to be. But goddammit I am sick of white people appropriating blackness to work out their shit. I know that songwriters sometimes adopt other personas to help with their creativity (with Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines being the epitome of failure at this strategy). But from what I’ve read, Barnes seems unwilling or unable to question what it means for him to adopt the Georgie Fruit persona. And this is a problem, particularly in the context of the ways in which race and gender play out in our society. In an interview here Barnes says that “If I’m Georgie Fruit, I can say whatever I want — I can be raunchy and rude and insensitive, but it’s not me.” Blackness is a chance to be loud and to be sexual. It plays into all the old tired stereotypes.

Earlier this year, I remember looking at the website for Transgender Day of Remembrance and being incredibly disheartened by the fact that a) the violence is at a level where we need a Trans Day of Remembrance and b) so many of the transfolks we’ve lost this year seem to be black and brown people.

So. A straight, white man takes on a black trans persona while actual black transpeople are beaten and murdered, just for being who they are.

This is not a fucking game.

“you’re the color, you’re the movement and the spin”

On Monday night, I went to see The Notwist, my favorite German electronica/ambient/indie band. I was coming down with a bit of a cold, but I said “Damn it, I bought these tickets back in August, I’m going to this fucking show!”. And I’m glad I did. They put on a really good show and did a lot of songs from “Neon Golden”, which is my favorite album of theirs. Highlights were “Neon Golden” ending in an extended jam which then led into “Pilot”. My only criticisms would be that sometimes they got a little too jammy for me. For example, at the end they brought out the opening acts and proceeded to have a long, noisy, extended jam. Fun for them, but since in general I don’t like noise rock or jam bands it wasn’t as fun for me. But overall a good show.

Flashback Friday #3

Hooray for 90s “rap” songs with nonsensical mumbling!

Sooo 90s. I love the picture in picture effect and (of course) the Scatman’s ridiculous moustache. And don’t forget this one:

“Ickyboomboomnow” is now officially the word of the day.

Good news:

a) Joe Biden pwned Sarah Palin. And b) bland rock poster boy James Blunt has said that he’s willing to stop torturing us all for enough cash:

“If someone is prepared to pay me enough, I’ll stop.

Sure, the U.S. is in dire straits financially, but this is our chance to put an end to James Blunt once and for all! Imagine getting rid of James Blunt and Bush in the same year.

Things are looking up.

Flashback Friday #1: Joey Lawrence

Whoa! The flannel. The acid-wash jeans. The roller skates. The random acrobatics. The early 90s were a simpler time…

“It’s in our nature…”

Aster already mentioned this today, but last night we went to see Jose Gonzalez perform at Yoshi’s in Oakland.

Amazing.

I’ve always thought his music was beautiful, but when you see him live there’s a whole new level of intensity in even the quietest of his songs. It’s amazing that such a full, rich sound can come from one man and a guitar. And he makes it all look so effortless.

Highlights for me we “In Our Nature,” “Killing For Love,” “Down the Line,” and “Crosses” (which is still one of my favorite songs of his). Plus he did “Heartbeats” as an encore.

He was joined by 2 other musicians who did a great job with percussion and background vocals. One of them also played this:

A melodica/mouth piano. I found one online for like $30 and I’m so going to jam own it.

Folk instruments = awesome.

I leave you with some Jose: