Why to be a music fan

I just played 'Rain' by the Beatles for somebody for the first time. Do you know what that feels like?

In college, my friend Tim & I decided we would drive up and down the streets of Philadelphia blasting 'Debaser'. We never did. Instead, we became funny pyromaniacs.

Music's a language, and songs are snapshots. They're Polaroids. Anyone can make them, and everyone who can does, or should.

We would all be better off if we could fit our favorite music into shapes we could carry around with us. We'd find a cheap porch somewhere and empty our pockets.

"The Balls Are the Posse of the Penis!"

- Dave Attell

Happy Valentine's Day, gentlemen. Grow 'em back.

working for the church

Here's a clip of the Arcade Fire, not sucking.

Dive and Recover

For the long wintry weekend, I'm posting another Microdot pre-production. I came up with the verse, Misanthrope came up with the chorus.

See Red Rock West and listen to Calexico's The Black Light (scroll down to 1998), do both those things before you listen to this song. And if you can prove you did so, I will reimburse you for your troubles.

Beagles

One letter removed from my favorite band of all time, yet much sweeter, better groomed, and never wrote 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer'.

At this year's Westminster Dog Show, a beagle won Best in Show for the first time ever, in 131 years of competition.

For the 1 or 2 people who read my blog who may not be tracking the progress of Misanthrope's sweet Maggie, who is probably the most kind, enigmatic beagle on planet Earth, I accept this award on her behalf.

Recorded Music

Rock is not dead. You just love the music you listened to from 16-25.

Everyone shut up.

Ok, just you, Tony Alva.

If you love music, you look for bands. For every band that you hate, there are 900 bands doing the exact same thing that you also hate. And for those 900 bands there are 90,000 bands doing shit you don't care about.

But for every 90,000 bands there's a band that is worth it. It doesn't have to be a new band. That is the glory of recording. You can enjoy a recording from 1974 as much as you can enjoy a recording from 2006. (And, as a betting man, I would give you odds if you gave me '74.)

Nothing will ever match up to the music you heard when you were of the right age. We had a snow last night in New York, and a friend emailed me about the best songs to listen to while shoveling snow. All the songs mentioned came out when we were 25, earnest, and impressionable.

Let the kids have their fun. Otherwise, I'll have no one to make fun of.

NO ANIMALS

For me, closing credits had completely lost their allure. Until now:

ONCE

Now that I've pretty much given up on new music, it's going to be difficult to insult new bands. I can informatively tell you not to buy any record released by an album label affiliated with the RIAA. Profits go to shareholders, not artists. Chrispy, please read that last line again.

So instead, I'll champion music I love. And tonight it's from a musical, featuring a singer/songwriter. I hate musicals, I hate singer/songwriters, and Once features both, and is the best movie I saw in 2007.

Once suggests something near and dear to my heart: music is not an art form; it's a form of communication. Unless you're a genius like Mozart or Bright Eyes, writing a song is translating, not creation. That's why the best musicians are humble, because they know they're not originators. That's why you can throw out Jim Morrison.

In Once, we get Glen Hansard. He fronts The Frames, and this movie makes his songs essential. The scene where he enters a music store and duets with Marketa Iglova; he plays a song that is phenomenally beautiful. I would be remiss to not telegraph that beauty to the 5-6 people who read this blog.

Watch Once.

A LONG DISTANCE DEDICATION

This one's for Tony Alva and Jackson.

60 REM SONGS BETTER THAN TEXARKANA

Radio Free Europe
Gardening at Night
Talk about the Passion
Sitting Still
Windout
Find the River
Driver 8
Sweetness Follows
Oddfellows Local 151
Whats the Frequency, Kenneth?
Just a Touch
Wolves, Lower
Country Feedback
Me in Honey
King of Birds
Finest Worksong
Begin the Begin
Harborcoat
So. Central Rain
Fall on Me
Nightswimming
Try Not to Breathe
It's the End of the World
Flowers of Guatemala
The One I Love
How the West was Won and Where It Got Us
Call me Leper
Shaking Through
Perfect Circle
Cuyahoga
Green Grow the Rushes
Belong
Orange Crush
Get Up
that untitled song from Green
Catapult
Moral Kiosk
Maps and Legends
I Believe
Departure
(Don't Go Back to) Rockville
Crush with Eyeliner
E-Bow the Letter
Try Not to Breathe
Carnival of Sorts
World Leader Pretend
Laughing
9-9
7 Chinese Brothers
Turn You Inside Out
Camera
Feeling Gravitys Pull
These Days
Be Mine
Half A World Away
Bandwagon
Crazy*
Superman*
Strange*
King of the Road*

*covers