cause a rockslide = discussion of album covers, lyrics and other music eclectica

My Toenails Episode 6: Dan and Paul are Back!

2010-06-21T14:54:00.040-04:00

My Toenails Episode 6

Official Episode Summary:
The most mendacious podcast on the internet is back! Celebrate the first day of Summer 2010 with the scorching hot return of My Toenails, featuring special guest Rob Tyner, numerous feel-good tunes, and more new segments than you can shake a stick at! (Seriously. Paul tried shaking a stick while Dan was recording a segment. Paul looked foolish.)

Keywords: Summer, The MC5, Laundry, Oasis, Paul Pines, Hilarity, Objects That Can Be Folded, Car Crashes

Download Episode 6 (Right click + 'Save Link As...')

XML Feed
To follow the podcast, cut and paste this URL into your favorite podcast program, such as Winamp.

iTunes Link
Use this link to subscribe to and download the show through iTunes.

New releases discussed by a normally oblivious fan

2010-04-16T16:26:00.069-04:00

I'm not good about keeping up with new music. I typically don't pay attention to musical journalism, blogs, band websites, and the like. Then I see a poster in a store window and exclaim "So-and-so has a new album? I didn't even know one was expected!!!"

This has it's benefits. Occasionally I log onto the new releases section of Amazon or iTunes and it's like floating in an uncanny world of never-before-seen cover art. It's like traveling through time to the future and seeing what new albums famous bands have made. (Although one could make the point that living through the present is always a bit like traveling to the future.)

For some reason, the best albums by a given band always seem to have come out before I was a fan. New releases by a band I like tend to let me down; maybe this has to due with high expectations, or maybe I tend to prefer a band's early material. Let's focus on the positive, though, because this article is about new releases by artists I like.

I haven't heard most of this music yet, so I can't really vouch for it. I will, however, predict whether I think the album will be good based on listening to 20 second sound clips. If it seems like this article was compiled by quickly skimming a couple key music blogs, record store websites, and bookmarked myspace profiles, it's because that's exactly what I did. To be fair, this isn't your average new releases list, because it focuses on my own tastes, and I've included a lot of sweet shit that isn't often talked about.

Oh yeah, and if some of this is old news, it's just because I'm a bit old-fashioned.

New releases discussed by a normally oblivious fan

I'll begin with the most surprising tidbit I found: David Byrne has made an album with Fatboy Slim featuring a bunch of musical guests. How'd this happen? Who knows! I feel like I'm living in a bizarro world. Actually, the more I think about, it makes perfect sense that the creator of "Funk Soul Brother" should team up with the creator of "Making Flippy Floppy."

The collaboration is called Here Lies Love. Guests include Sia, Santogold, and a host of others. Is it any good? Probably. One can listen to clips of the whole album on David Byrne's website. I favored the track that featured vocals by Byrne himself, and the one with Natalie Merchant (note to self: acquire more music by 10,000 Maniacs).

I was delighted to discover that personal favorite I Am Robot and Proud has a new album of remixes from his awesome 2008 album Uphill City. I know remix albums tend to include a bunch of filler designed to cash in, but IARaP is kind of a master of the creative remix, infusing the original song with his own sense of rhythm and melody.

Furthermore, I know from previous collabs that IARaP tends to consort with other innovative musicians, and I get the feeling Robot brought in an assortment of his pals for this disc. That being said, I'll still probably only buy the 1st and last tracks off the album at $0.99 each (the ones done by I Am Robot himself) and run. These 2 tracks sound the strongest based on the clips (they sound pretty sick nasty, actually) and I just don't think I'd listen to a full remix album as much as I would Robot's original material.

Here's 401k Circuit by I Am Robot and Proud, off Uphill City (2008):

The National has announced a new album. I haven't heard a damn thing from it yet. Based on the cover, I have a feeling it will have a more cuddly indie sound with dreamy Broken Social Scene-esque atmospheres. That's precisely how I don't want The National to sound, so I'm hoping I'm wrong and that they're back with more moody, slow burning rock best-suited for dim bars and intimate clubs.

The band Braid has had all their albums re-issued on CD and Vinyl. This means it's the perfect time to start listening to Braid, something most people never did, and probably never will. I can't claim to be a fan, but have always found something tempting about their melodic brand of post-hardcore. I might check one of these albums out in some form. Much more my style is:

We Are Scientists. A band I love, for some reason. Probably because they can do no wrong in the field of technically proficient dance-rock with amusing lyrics and catchy hooks.

I might even buy this new digital single featuring 2 new tracks for $1.99. We Are Scientists are such masters of the over-the-top pop tune that they can release a measly 2 songs after 2 years of inactivity and I'll consider it a cataclysmic event.

I wanted to see if the relaxing electronic duo Freescha have any new releases either available or planned, because they haven't done anything since 2006's Head Warlock Double Stare which hit the spot, musically.

You can see what I mean in this YouTube video for 'Moving.'

It turns out they do have an album planned for 2010, with not much info available. Perusing their record label's site, I discovered that they released a rarities collection in 2007. It's called Freeschaland.

I haven't heard it, but I have no reason to assume it's bad, as Freescha has been solid from the get-go. Not that it matters. I'd forgive Freescha of nearly anything because their album covers are so nice.

While on the website for Attack Nine, Freescha's label, I discovered this crazy anomaly by Casino Versus Japan.

CVJ has apparently given their upcoming album "Night On Tape" the star treatment with a Limited Deluxe Edition. Featuring 2 colored LPs, a CD, a T-Shirt, Buttons, an embroidered bag, and some other stuff, I don't know who the hell could afford this. I'd be curious to know the price, but the label hasn't listed it yet. I always thought Casino Versus Japan seemed cool, as they have a similar aesthetic to Freescha and Boards of Canada, but I was never that blown away by their music. However, they seem to have a cult following, so creating this deluxe package may prove a good move on their part.

Speaking of electronic music, I recently discovered that Midwest Product released a digital EP on Ghostly international back in 2006. I had previously believed they only released 2 solid albums and disappeared, so it's nice to know I have something new to check out by them when I get a chance.

Midwest Product were a live electronic trio (ie: a live drum kit, electric guitar, and synthesizers) that did everything right. Their songs are grooving and anthemic with lots of interesting parts. Here's a song from their first album, Specifics.

I logged onto the myspace of the band Dartz! to see if they randomly decided to reunite after their crushing break-up this Fall. No such luck. However, I did discover that, even after they announced they were disbanding, they went into the studio to record three new songs dubbed "The Sitting Room Sessions." This is proof that Dartz! knew they were so destined for greatness that they didn't even want to break up. Two of the tracks "Nylon" and "Dedalus" are available on their myspace (http://www.myspace.com/darts).

In my research, it came to my awareness that Kele from Bloc Party has a forthcoming solo album.

See that object he's holding? That indicates that this album will be bad. Okay, that's a bit pessimistic. I'll remain open-minded until I hear the music, as I wouldn't mind hearing some good pop music from Bloc Party's frontman. I generally like his vocals and lyrics. However, I've always found it perplexing that Bloc Party became so obsessed with electronics and drum machines almost to the point of becoming a techno group. They had some serious chops on their real instruments, and they seemed like just the rock band that was needed in 2005.

Here's another amusing find. Not music itself, but music related:

David Gedge, singer of the Wedding Present and generally cheeky lad, is a guest editor of Magnet Magazine. He has a feature called "The Thing The Wedding Present’s David Gedge Likes Best," in which he writes about things he enjoys, including food, music, tea kettles, and comics. Quite amusing. Granted, you probably have to be a fan of the Wedding Present to be interested in this, and even then it's a stretch.

LINK (scroll down a bit to find David Gedge's ramblings).

Another band I like with a new album is Magnetic Fields. I listened to one of the new songs and it made me wish I wasn't just listening to one of the new songs, but to all of the new songs. It sounded like this:

New Projects From My Favorite Indie Rockers

2010-04-01T15:53:00.020-04:00

Nothing pleases me more than members from defunct bands resurfacing in new projects. I recently discovered that members of the Australian shoegaze band Ides of Space resurfaced in Line Drawings, and members of Settlefish resurfaced in A Classic Education.

Here's Switchboard by Ides of Space.

I was also quite pleased to hear about Vacations, the new project from the singer of Chin Up Chin Up. CU CU released two great albums in 2004 and 2006, albums I consider classic. Their trademark winding guitar lines, hard-hitting and danceable rhythms, softly-sung vocals, and unique melodic sensibility always resonated with me.

Here's a mesmerizing video of Chin Up Chin Up performing Why Is My Sleeping Bag A Ghetto Muppet?, off their first album We Should Never Have Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers.

Jeremy Bolen's new band Vacations has a new 7'' called 'I Was Bikini / But Rain Afraid.' The album is also available digitally on a "pay as you wish" sliding scale. You can even pay zero dollars.

I Was Bikini / But Rain Afraid

I listened to a track on myspace and it sounds great! Similar to CU CU in tunefulness but more eclectic, lo-fi, acoustic (with some synth and harmonium), and with something of a worldbeat vibe. It sounds kind of like Q and Not U unplugged.

Another band that has spawned a side-project is Sorry About Dresden. Although SAD is on hiatus, singer Eric Roehrig has been performing with Eerie Choir for a few years. I've always admired Eric Roehrig's voice, lyrics, and ear for melody, so discovering Eerie Choir was a treat.

To see the man in action, check out this video of Shake Your First, a new song performed by SAD in 2008. Sorry About Dresden hasn't released a proper album since 2003, although they did release a mind-blowing single, Leviathan a couple years later. I, however, have my fingers crossed for a new SAD album, because the intensity of their songs only seems to grow as they age.

A band I'm really jonesing for new material/live shows from is forgetters, featuring Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil. I'd like to see what kind of songs that guy is writing these days, and I hope forgetters doesn't fizzle out before coming to prominence like his last band, Horns of Life.

Tan Album Covers

2009-11-08T14:24:00.080-05:00

I've always liked tan album covers. If an album has a tasteful tan cover, I'll want to buy it.

If that album cover is just a blank square cut from a brown paper bag, I'll still want to buy it. Why is it that tan has such a strong effect on me? There are many reasons.

The color tan is versatile as hell. How can one not admire something that has myriad uses and always looks sharp? Let's take a look at some stunning usages of the wonderful color tan.

Tan can evoke cardboard, yielding a low-budget aesthetic, as on "Shellac at Action Park".

The cardboard look is perfect for Shellac's gritty, self-deprecating, creative music.

Tan or brown paper is a tradition for artists making woodcuts, prints, and stamps. This "hand-stamped" style has been appropriated by many an album cover designer. It looks elegant and artistic. It makes an album's packaging look more like a handmade art object than something mechanically printed en masse.

I'm nearly ga-ga for Codeine's cover of The White Birch.

Tan can be nostalgic, like faded photographs and memories. The tan photo on the cover of Red House Painters perfectly captures the subdued yearning of the songs within.

Tan works well for the quiet, nostalgic music of The Weakerthans. They sing about garage sale items, forget-me-nots, and all the detritus of our past lives.

Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot made quite a splash in 2002, mostly due to it's beautiful tan cover featuring the Marina Towers of Chicago.

Tan, or beige, is classy. One never gets tired of a simple design or illustration with a tan background.

This can be accredited to tan's neutrality. According to About.com, "On its own, the color beige is a calm neutral background. Beige is a neutral color with a bit of the warmth of brown and the crisp, coolness of white."

Paint your room tan if you want a relaxing color for your walls.

Tan takes the attributes of other colors it accompanies, so it's flexible.

Wonder (color) and sophistication (tan) collide in the music and artwork of "The Album Leaf."

I've always liked tan in combination with maroon. This explains my long-time adoration for the cover of Last Days of April's Angel Youth.

Mmm... I almost want to eat that cover. But instead I'll listen to the cathartic, wintery, European music within.

In general, I think tan looks just fine by itself. Lots of tan. This article is about predominately tan covers.

Tan is earthy. It can give a feeling of naturalness. More rust than tan, Selected Ambient Works II by Aphex Twin evokes moss, lichens, and soil, like Aphex Twin's organic-sounding electronic atmospheres.

Tan can be old-timey, like a faded map. It is also well-suited for country and bluegrass music. This is due to films like "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" asserting that the past was slightly tan-tinted.

Tan is vintage. It is appropriated by bands who want to be associated with classic Rock, Blues, or Jazz.

Tan is just cool. Tan with some flecks thrown in looks like a sidewalk. This is perfect for subversive, underground, and passionate music. If you look at it this way, tan is unbearably exciting.

Tan is serious. This makes tan intense.

I'll never get tired of tan. That would be impossible, due to the brilliant, multi-faceted nature of tan. Tan! Sweet tan!

Tan, somehow, is life. Perhaps the dirt-clouded primordial broth from which the early traces of human life crawled was, in fact, tan.

Moments are tan. Look at this dramatic cover from the band Jesu:

Damn! I'm weak in the knees. Tan knees, as tan is also a nice color for pants.

My Toenails Are Getting Too Long and They're Ripping Through My Sock: Airing The Dirty Laundry

2009-07-22T11:12:00.005-04:00

My Toenails Are Getting Too Long and They're Ripping Through My Sock Episode 5

Official Episode Summary:
Paul Pines, the My Toenails producer, picks up the slack while host Dan spends his summer on Saturn. Previously tethered to a job of obscurity and behind-the-scenes drudgery, Pines proves himself an able radio host and DJ. Insults run rampant as the disgruntled producer relentlessly lambasts Dan, airing Dan's dirty laundry for all to see. This episode, the fifth chapter in the unpredictable chronicles of My Toenails, promises to be the best yet.

Keywords: Saturn, residency, Oxford University, toenails, vitriol, synth-pop, insults, Prince, theme songs, revenge, Metro Station, Wu-Tang Clan, tea

XML Feed
Either cut and paste this URL into your favorite podcast program, such as Winamp, or follow the link and download the MP3.

iTunes Link
Use this link to launch iTunes and play the podcast automatically.

2009-07-14T17:12:00.020-04:00

Update from Paul, the producer of My Toenails...

Greetings, fans of our podcast, "My Toenails are Getting Too Long and They're Ripping Through My Sock." This is Paul, the producer of the show; I've never written on this blog. Dan has granted me access in his absence (his password is, curiously, smokecrackeveryday1). We have been receiving an epic amount of fan mail. Many of the letters are desperate pleas for song suggestions; people think Dan has time to send them personalized musical recommendations to stimulate their "torpid, cubicle-dwelling brains" (Dan's words, not mine). As a man that does Dan's laundry (he has 47 pairs of underwear, and twice that in bathing suits), scrubs his pet donkey, and picks up the scattered rubberbands he perpetually flings about for enjoyment, I assure you he is an extremely busy, international double-celebrity. In the eastern hemisphere, he is well-known for his radio hosting, and in the west, he's a household name for his innovations to the sport of Fire-Swallowing.

However, 99% of the e-mails we've been receiving are from fans wondering where Dan is and when there will be a new episode. Dan wanted his location to remain a secret, but I prodded him to be transparent with his fans. After much verbal lambasting and shrieking at me to "cut the flanger" on his voice, of which there was none (we were speaking on a very solid cell phone connection), he complied.

Dan has taken an Oxford-funded residency in a remote district of Saturn (on the rings, to be specific). He is studying the effects of Saturn-based isolation on the human psyche and, apparently, trying to invent a sport called "ring-skiing." Luckily, Dan has found the time to e-mail me an update on his status, to be posted on this blog, in the interest of making contact with our fans. I wish I could say the cryptic, almost scrambled nature of the letter was due to 2,232,557 lightyears of space-static interfering with his internet signal, or at least some sort of space dementia, but Dan typically writes me in this style.

14:43 SATURN TIME. WESTERN RING, 3RD QUADRANT.

TO PAUL, YOU ROSY-HUED EARTH DARLING:

MAKING QUINTESSENTIAL PROCESS IN MY STUDIES. *BLOOP* ISOLATION ON SATURN CAUSING ASTONISHING EFFEDCTS IN AREAS OF OXGENATION TO THE PELVIS AS WELL AS RIGHT-HANDED PENMANSHIP EVALUATION. *BEEP BOP* THE RINGS ARE COVERED IN VISCOUS RESIDUE, GUMMING UP MY RING-SKIING EFFORTS. LISTENING TO A LOT OF MOS DEF AND SMASHING PUMPKINS'S FIRST ALBUM (IT HAS A SONG CALLED SPACEBOY). PLEASE FORWARD ME ANY AND ALL SONG REQUESTS; I'M BORED AS HELL. DON'T FORGET TO SCRUB AMOS.

POSSIBLE EPISODE THEMES:
- AIR (BOTH THE BAND AND THE SUBSTANCE)
- ANALYSIS OF POPULAR AND NOT-SO-POPULAR HAIR STYLES
- SOMETHING ABOUT HOW I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TIE A NECKTIE OR USE COUPLINGS (COULD BE QUITE POIGNANT)

SMOKE CRACK EVERY DAY!

-DAN

PS: TWO FLIES LANDED IN MY COFFEE. I PICKED THEM OUT- SHOULD I STILL DRINK IT? IF THIS WAS EARTH I WOULDN'T BLINK AN EYE BUT YOU CAN'T BE TOO SAFE WITH THE INSECTS HERE.

There's Dan's e-mail, faithfully reproduced through cut-and-paste. Thanks for your interest in us and The Toenails show. I will do my best to bring Dan back to coherence when he returns to earth; I've ghostwritten a stockpile of future podcast episodes, which I'll slip into his filing cabinet. He'll think he wrote them.

Cheers,

-Paul, the producer

The 'Cast is Back! Episode 4: First Songs

2009-06-09T15:10:00.014-04:00

My Toenails Are Getting Too Long and They're Ripping Through My Sock Episode 4

Official Episode Summary:
"Host Dan brilliantly returns to form, jockeying a molten hot playlist of Track 1's. Each song originally appeared as the first track on it's respective album. Dan, while keeping it lean on the pontification of Episode 3, delights by responding to fan mail, reading the tag inside his shirt, and quarreling with his bumbling producer."

Keywords: toenails, sock, The Kinks, linen shirts, philosophy, Animals On Wheels, Band Of Horses, Number One Tracks, hilarious, existentialism, podcasting, podcaster, indie rock, electronic

XML Feed
Either cut and paste this URL into your favorite podcast program, such as Winamp, or follow the link and download the MP3.

iTunes Link
Use this link to launch iTunes and play the podcast automatically.

DEFUNCT BAND: Chewy

2009-06-07T20:41:00.031-04:00

When I was 16 I fell in love. It wasn't the first time, nor the last, but the feeling came on so unexpectedly and intensely that I had difficulty paying attention in school. My obsession lasted at least 2 years.

Who was the object of my affection?

The obscure Swiss rock band, Chewy, of course.

I discovered the band through reading stupid amounts of "Listmania!" lists on Amazon. Listmanias are lists of recommended albums created by zealous customers. Some guy in Switzerland had cited Chewy along with a bunch of other bands I liked, so I devotedly streamed their album's audio clips. I did this sort of thing all day.

Upon first listening, the chorus of “Second Hand Magic” sent chills up and down my spine. “This rocks,” I noted.

Chewy was virtually unknown in America, which is probably why I was drawn to them. Mystique wasn’t the only reason why I latched onto the band. Chewy possessed a medley of cool qualities. The first and most dominant, was the unique illustration on the cover of their 2000 album Whattookyousolong?

I thought this was the coolest cover I'd ever seen.

It employed an interesting harmony of line drawing and digital photo manipulation. I wanted to steep myself in it's teal, abraded atmosphere. My imagination was also stirred by the not-particularly-complex human interactions depicted in the album art.

I hate to say it, but the cover seems a bit commonplace to me now. However, this is only because Chewy, while not exactly geniuses, were ahead of their time, predicting a musical and aesthetic style many bands of the 2000's would employ.

The visual style extended to their website, which I loved, now immortalized via archive.org.

Chewy's awesome website circa 2001, screencapped for posterity.

They compared themselves to Placebo and Dinosaur Jr. Elements of alternative rock and noisier 90's indie are obvious in their sound. Their music isn't remarkable, but has great melodies, a strong rhythm section, and an all-around air of likability. Most notable are their singer's high pitched voice, and their sardonic, clever and innocent lyrics. They also had a particular knack for writing driving chord progressions.

They're the first rock band I heard utilize drum machines alongside distorted power chords, a sound which blew my mind. Admittedly, this became an overdone trend among many emo-pop bands, such as The Get Up Kids and All-American Rejects.

However, Chewy had the odd sensibility to sing about how they weren't cool enough use "trendy electro beats", while simultaneously using those very same beats:

you say my pain lost its relevance
and my songs all sound the same
yeah there are no trendy electro beats
nor windsurfs where i remain

Chewy clearly set out to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Often their lyrics were so silly, they came right back around to being good:

i put my stupid heart on a platter
you said how cute and started to slaughter

They also had a fascination with nature, change, and adventure.

come on and lend a hand
come on and pick the fruit off the fat of the land
drop by my turnip farm
the country air can do no harm

And, of course, they spoke heavily of heartache and unrequited love.

Their singer willfully and repeatedly depicted himself as pathetic, but he was so honest, the music so soaring, that even now I can't help but get swept up in it.

Chewy were smart cats. Their lyrics, though youthful, were self-aware. They didn't fall victim to the pathos of less mature emo and pop-rock bands.

Prior to Whattookyousolong, Chewy had one self-titled EP (1998). Additionally, Whattookyousolong was followed in 2002 with Somanydynamos. Somanydynamos employs even more use of drum machine and synthesizer, and is more uneven than Whattookyousolong. (Note: the album Somanydynamos is not to be confused with the St. Louis band So Many Dynamos, which I didn’t become obsessed with until 2006.)

In what remains the most ravishing moment of my life, I nabbed all three of Chewy’s CD's, sealed, for one dollar each, on the international used CD site, GEMM. Some guy in Switzerland promptly mailed them to me with combined shipping.

At the height of my Chewy obsession, I had the impression that they were fairly well-known in their native Switzerland. Their albums had top-notch production, all their releases had professional graphic design, and their website sold merchandise and listed tour dates. They had a strong internet presence. However, after they bit the dust around 2003, their website went down and they seemed to fade from the internet. In 2006, they seemed so forgotten, that I had to create a page for them on Wikipedia, because they didn’t have one.

It still exists, and a few fans have thankfully added to it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewy

The idea that I have become a type of biographer for unknown bands I had no tangible connection to is quite thrilling.

Fantastically, the wiki now cites a Chewy reunion and new album for 2009. I hope they make it big, so I can expound endlessly, and to all that will listen, about how I knew about them before anyone else did.

It should be noted that the Swiss Chewy is not the same as the American band of the same name, who has albums titled "Chew Thousand Chew" and "Super Spin Punch," which, surprisingly, I’ve never checked out.

Links and Audio:

Chewy Discography via archive.org
My own Listmania circa 2003, apparently and disconcertingly read 531 times: Listmania!

I wanted to pepper this article with some tantalizing MP3s of what I consider Chewy’s best songs. Regrettably, I don’t have my Chewy CD’s with me.

Here are the only Chewy songs I could find on the net, captured from a last.fm stream. They’re from Chewy’s 1998 EP. These two songs were re-recorded and included on the watershed album, Whattookyousolong, in much improved versions. They're accurate depictions of the band's sound, though less developed than their best work.

ALL OVER THE PLACE (MP3)
SECOND HAND MAGIC (MP3)

USED CDS: THE SEARCH FOR THE UNKNOWN

2009-05-31T13:34:00.028-04:00

I've always considered shopping for used CDs to be a universally desired activity. As I've grown wiser and more mature, I've re-evaluated this belief.

There have been several instances where I've led myself and a friend or acquaintance into a used record store, street sale, or second hand store, only to find them unenthused or uncertain about what to do. Their hands fell limply at their sides like a sheepish kid, their left foot shyly covered the toes of their right, their eyes turned up to the ceiling or sky, away from all the glorious CD's.

Through experiences like these, I've come to realize not all consider looking through bins of old CD's to be an ideal plane of human existence.

Obviously, not everyone has the same interests. If a new friend asked me if I wanted to take an educational tour of the Federal Reserve Bank, or to go grab some gourmet lollipops as a snack, I would stare at them in befuddlement. However, I've found that even among diehard music fans, those who salivate over looking through a pile of unsorted compact discs are in the minority.

Another concession I've made after repeated CD scavenging, is that buying things used is very rarely as satisfying as it promises to be. I can think of very few used CDs I've bought that earned heavy rotation, or made it into my heart as a "favorite album."

Conversely, there are a decent amount of CD's I've deliberately gone to the store to buy, paid full price for, and ended up enjoying for years to follow. The reason is obvious: when faced with exciting bargains, I compromise my tastes and buy stupid crap.

That's a simplification. There are at least seven traps I fall into when buying used CDs. Trawling through used CD bins isn't simply alluring because I can get stuff for as low as $0.50. Used CD bins offer several temptations that I can't resist, most of them exploiting my taste for esoteric or unfamiliar stuff.

TRAP 1

The first trap I fall into, is buying music I've never head of. If I find a CD by a band with a poetic name, a cool cover, and enticing track titles, odds are I'm going to want it. If the recording is clearly by a group or artist that never achieved notoriety, and is horribly defunct, the item will become even more desirable to me, and more so still if the album looks like it was self-released by the band.

If the band’s name and album title are printed in a foreign language, I’ll buy it instantaneously and run home with urine trickling down my leg.

Pluxus: a bizzare four man synth pop group, sounding like a gentler Kraftwerk with no vocals. I really want to like this, but can only get into a few tracks.

A CD like this tempts me with the unknown. What will it sound like? It could sound like anything! It could be a band of bagpipe players with a dozen clacking typewriters for percussion, and a singer who raps while playing the electric banjo behind his back. The possibility of discovering a genius songwriter that went totally unrecognized, and probably now lives on the fringes of society, wearing stocking caps in summer and eating uncooked cans of beans in a large unfurnished apartment, is too appealing to me.

However, 90% of the time the band turns out to be a straightforward alt-rock group that never quite hit their stride. They'll likely sound like R.E.M. or the Pixies or whichever band was most admired the year they recorded the disc.

Occasionally, I've discovered albums that are somewhat interesting, having several striking or unique songs, but are unsatisfying on the whole. This, for me, is the most prevailing feeling caused by CD shopping: a vague sense of dissatisfaction. It's easy to forget that the reason people sold the music back to the store in the first place was that they found it so-so.

TRAP 2

Another trap is looking at used CD's when I don’t want to buy music to begin with.

I went for a walk and came home with U2's Pop, which I never listen to.

It’s a bit like going into a grocery store and buying a bunch of produce because they’re having a produce sale, when you already have a bunch of produce at home.

Sometimes I just like to look at rows of colored jewel case spines, to pull them out and see their covers and flip them over to skim their track listings. In short, I like to remind myself what bands exist.

I like to see a Fleetwood Mac CD and remark to myself, "Oh, yeah. Fleetwood Mac. They're a good band." I'll envision the expressive arm movements of Stevie Nicks when she sang, and the cool, white suits their guitarist wore while playing remarkable solos, and make a mental note to blast "Go Your Own Way" later on.

This must have to do with the basic satisfaction one receives from recognizing things. It begins as an infant, when you learn to associate a fragile, yolk-filled, white sphere, with the word "egg," and evolves into the ego-inflating ability to recognize literary references in Woody Allen movies.

Shopping when you don't need anything is always a fool's move. Used CD shopping is particularly dangerous because, as a rule, used CD bins are watched by hawklike, decrepit old men whose stores are racing towards bankruptcy. I don’t have the heart to walk out of a business after I've been seen scrutinizing various items for 45 minutes. I prefer not to admit I was killing time and had no intention of buying anything.

I often cave in instances like this, buying whichever CD I wanted most. However, it's more likely that, regardless of the watchful owner, I'll fall into one of the traps detailed in this article.

TRAP 3

"Hey! The Faint - Wet From Birth. I enjoyed their first two albums. That's gotta be good."

I really liked the first track, and that was it. (A common used CD phenomenon)

Buying albums without researching first is an easy trap to fall into. Sure, you could go home and think about your potential purchases before returning to the store, but who has that kind of self-control? We're talking about spending twos of dollars. This is another important facet of used CD shopping: there’s only one of everything. If you don’t snatch something up, someone else might, or so it seems.

Not every good band puts out consistently worthwhile albums. The world of musical criticism, which I generally take with a grain of salt, is at least useful for identifying albums that should be avoided at all costs. I've taken risks and bought albums by solid artists like Frank Black, Enon, XTC, The Cure, and even Yo La Tengo, only to find myself surprisingly dissatisfied. I later searched on the internet, and discovered that I’d purchased what was widely considered the band’s weakest album.

TRAP 4

Buying stuff you don't realize you're sick of.

Good album, but you already know it by heart.

"Hey, Rage Against the Machine's first album. That's killer! How can you go wrong?" What you're forgetting is you've heard all those songs on the radio a million times. You’ll remember when you hear the familiarly bombastic opening chords of “Killing in The Name,” identical to how they play out in your memory. You don't need to own albums like this, their music exists in our culture's collective consciousness.

TRAP 5

No quality control.

I once found myself standing outside Kim’s Video in Manhattan on a fine summer day. It was around 11:59 A.M., and a suspicious crowd began forming in front of the store. Suddenly, two burly men began dragging milk crates brimming with CD’s out to the sidewalk. They made several trips back into the store, each time returning to the sidewalk with more cargo.

The crowd descended upon the crates like vultures. Within seconds, each person had five CD’s in each fist. They brayed and moaned the names of their findings: Jazz Saxophonists, Singer/Songwriters, and 70’s folk bands the likes of which I'd never heard.

A drooling man told me the CD’s were $1.00 each, and that the store offers this special every Friday at noon. Additionally, they weren’t just the rubbish CD’s that had been sitting on the racks for years, they were all the buybacks the store made that week that they didn’t have time to sort and price. So, swept up in the frenzy of the moment, I dove into the crowd and purchased 11 CDs.

After you hit the jackpot, stop looking.

I actually got some good finds: Nirvana, Primal Scream, the Lemonheads. But seeing the new, two foot tall stack of CD’s in my apartment diminished my enjoyment of the music. The three quality CD’s were tarnished by my greed and extravagance, and I wished I’d only purchased the three best ones.

TRAP 6

Irony and nostalgia.

I like the songs "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty," but there's no need to own this.

This desire is mostly outgrown as one matures, however, I'll always have a vague desire to buy CD's by bands like Genesis, The Real McCoy, or the Spin Doctors, just so I can blast guilty pleasures or downright cheesy songs on the car stereo, in hopes of amusing myself and others. Also, there's a perversely fascinating quality in the prospect of hearing the non-singles by one-hit-wonders. Believe me; it's never worth it.

TRAP 7

This is perhaps the most relevant pitfall today: buying stuff you would’ve been better off downloading.

The Cure is not well-known for their late 90's material. I should've downloaded this and deleted the tracks I don't like.

Piracy is so prevalent in our lives, it's almost transparent. Do we really need to own physical copies of the music we love? I'm all for supporting the bands I enjoy, but bands don't get royalties from used CD's. Sometimes it's best to avoid all the trappings and download the MP3s, borrow from a friend, or stream preview clips from iTunes before buying the digital downloads.

CONCLUSION

Perhaps I don‘t need to tell anyone to scale back their used CD purchases, because no one is making any. Even I scarcely buy CD's these days. The thrill of kneeling on a dirty tiled floor, weeding through cardboard boxes of cracked jewel cases, is a scene receding into to the dusty corners of my memory. I realized I was looking for something that couldn’t be found. The hunt became unfun, though I look back on it fondly.

First Talk of the Podcast and Myself, then of Music

2009-05-24T20:51:00.011-04:00

Hello all.

Happy Valentine's, I mean, Memorial Day.

Thanks to everyone that's told me they like the podcast, discussed various aspects of the podcast with me (I particularly enjoy this), discussed aspects of the podcast with others (I particularly enjoy imagining this), told their friends about the podcast, and things like that.

New York City is so humid this weekend that if someone invented Sponge Clothing and went outside wearing it, it would become super-saturated with moisture and thus too heavy to wear. So I guess the inventor would either scrap the invention or wait until Tuesday to give their porous clothing a second chance. Their call.

I'm not certain when the next episode will drop, or what it will be like, but I do intend on doing one fairly soon. I don't believe I ever professed My Toenails to be a weekly program, however, I don't think I ever professed it wasn't. To clear this up: it's not necessarily weekly. After I finish an episode I'm typically mentally and physically exhausted, or at least "tired out" and definitely less interested in Podcasts than I normally am.

Today, in a grocery store, I reached for a pear and squeezed it, checking for ripeness. My thumb breached the pear's completely mushy side and went in and in, my thumb deep past the knuckle in a thumb-shaped pear hole. It was revolting and shocking. This goes to show that checking fruit for ripeness has become an overly presumptuous activity. I don't know about other people, but I certainly presume a fruit to be unripe before feeling it. This dangerously ignores the possibility of fruit being ripe or very ripe.

On that note, if you want to keep tabs on me and my thoughts when I'm not on the radio, one thing you can read is the twitter for the podcast: http://twitter.com/MyToenails.

NOW, TO TALK ABOUT EELS

If I had to choose one band to listen to for the rest of my life, I would consider Eels. They have at least five main albums, some of which are double albums, and I bet a million B-sides and obscure recordings for the super-fans.

They even have a song called "I Write the B-sides," in which the singer declares

I write the B-sides
That make a small portion of the world cry

With an album called "Beautiful Freak" and song titles like "Dog Faced Boy" and "Lone Wolf," Eels seem to fancy themselves a voice for the lonely and dejected, or at least the obscure. However, their music incorporates a variety of moods, and borrows from a variety of genres.

Their albums always contain at least 50% solid material. Sometimes their songs can be a little dull, but I like listening to them anyway, to see what Eels have come up with. Perhaps their singer has become familiar to me, and I want to see what he does next, as if he were a friend of mine. If one's gonna choose a band to listen to for the rest of their life, this is a good quality for it to have.

E, the songwriter from Eels, is a fairly conventional songwriter, with an interesting persona and, evidently, intense feelings. He paints himself as a lonely outcast, something like Kafka. I imagine him as the type of guy who eats in diners and has a hip comic book collection. Musically, he has restraint and good taste. His voice is gruff but casual. I always believe what he's saying, and his music is expressive if nothing else.

Eels's music is generally bluesy, crisp pop. Often it's conspicuously depressing, as E has had a difficult life, and suffered the loss of some close family members, which is what my favorite Eels album "Electro-shock Blues" deals with.

It has a cool cover. The cover is illustrated in the overdone childish/storybook style but I believe the picture to have genuine and original feeling, like the music of Eels. Look at the sky.

As often as it is down-trodden, Eels’s music is incredibly soaring and upbeat and mega-happy. Usually the lyrical content of the upbeat songs talks about rising out of a deep funk and embracing life. Eels are masters of the "cool-sounding" song- the song for driving with the top down, or playing on a dewy Saturday morning, or just bobbing your head to at your desk.

One thing that makes sampling the vast pool of Eels material worthwhile is the attention to detail and creativity in their production. I'm sure they have a high studio budget, and their songs are quite polished, but I commend them for their use of interestingly textured percussion, xylophone, and synthesizers. Their guitar sounds are always interesting, whether it be finger-plucked acoustic guitar, or crunchy electric guitar.

Despite being mostly organic, I would say Eels's music is heavily influenced by electronic styles like drum and bass, hip-hop, etc. They dabble in sound sampling, as did other major label 90's bands, such as Soul Coughing. "Electro-shock Blues" has a cut-and-paste feel, where songs build through the addition of drum and percussion loops.

One can tell the songs are written on acoustic guitar and built up with various arrangements. A lot of synthesized bells, strings, and other reverby things are used. Some of the songs on the “Electro-shock” album have a Beatlesy "Strawberry Fields Forever" feel, probably due to the style and timbre of the strings they use. Some of the songs on their later albums are more overtly techno, using straight up programmed electro beats, achieving motivating results.

Some of my favorite songs are “PS: You Rock My World,” “Hospital Food,” “Hey Man Now You’re Really Living” and "Last Stop, This Town."

Eels is a band I've periodically forgotten about and revisited, and repeatedly found satisfying. They're a band teenagers may be drawn to, but their music is mature enough for one to mature along with.

In conclusion, Happy Memorial Day, and if I had to choose one band to listen to for the rest of my life, I might choose Eels.

The Third Thrilling Episode of "My Toenails..." Podcast

2009-05-12T13:24:00.012-04:00

My Toenails Are Getting Too Long and They're Ripping Through My Sock Episode 3
You asked for more banter: a wish I've granted! (and in the process reaffirmed the necessary existence of the phrase, 'be careful what you wish for.')

Official Episode Summary:
"Host Dan celebrates his hat-trick of Podcasts by explaining the origins of "My Toenails...", expounds on subjectivity apropos of art, discusses a great film, describes a cat, plays music, and more."

Keywords: toenails, sock, Pi, A Place To Bury Strangers, philosophy, Harvey Danger, The Swirlies, hilarious, existentialism, podcasting, podcaster, indie rock, electronic

XML Feed
Either cut and paste this URL into your favorite podcast program, such as Winamp, or follow the link and download the MP3.

iTunes Link
Use this link to launch iTunes and play the podcast automatically.

A SHORT DREAM (A EULOGY TO THE AEFFECT)

2009-05-09T15:10:00.046-04:00

Last night I dreamt I was writing a short tribute to the band The Aeffect. I was seeing the neon yellow font of their logo, and the evocative black and white landscape on the cover of their first EP, "A Short Dream." The forlorn strings of their orchestrated, digital pop played the soundtrack to my R.E.M.

My dream provided enough inspiration to make me go through with writing such a piece. The fact that I'm still dreaming about a defunct, obscure Floridian Synth-Pop band that was only active from 2000-2005 points to two things: the fact that their music has a residual nature, and the fact that their music is inextricably associated with dreams. I suppose I should've said three things: it also points to the fact that their music was damn good.

I suppose it says a few things about me, too.

I. INSOMNIA

I first heard the Aeffect (officially spelled The Æffect) in 2001 on a record sampler from Fueled By Ramen Records. Fueled By Ramen releases mostly punk rock (though I commend them for their eclectic band roster in 2001, before they became significantly more commercial), and The Aeffect's song, "Insomnia" stuck out like a sore thumb. It was dark and moody, with a fat, bouncing synth bass line, the singer's voice deep and brooding. The beat was a four to the four dance beat, a slow one, that sounded rigid and programmed, but was played by their drummer on electronic drums.

The Aeffect were a three piece band from Gainesville Florida, a flourishing musical scene home to semi-well-known bands from various strains of punk, including Hot Water Music and Less Than Jake.

I've never been sure how to correctly pronounce Æffect. When I say it in my head, I say "Ey-fect," but I remember reading on the band's old message board that the band pronounces it both my way and as plain old, "The Effect."

I believe my original sampler from Fueled by Ramen had them listed as "The Effect," which is puzzling, as Aeffect is already a typographical compromise from Æffect. This makes one wonder if they had changed their name from The Effect early on, because the name had been taken. This would explain the cryptic use of Æ, but this is sheer speculation on my part.

The lyrics of "Insomnia" are thoughtful and clever, slowly unfolding to describe the discomfort of a man who can't fall asleep. The singer's voice is casual, but expressive, and his lament is strongly felt. I later discovered the vocalist, Aaron Feibus, has had trouble sleeping all his life.

The chorus is a drastic change of melody from the verse, with twinkling synth arpeggios, delicate, like the light of taunting stars. The song culminates in a dizzying and slippery synth solo accentuated by pounding toms, building and releasing tension at the end of each measure.

The song was bewitching. I knew the Aeffect's sound was influenced by an era before my time - 80's new wave - however, it wasn't just the Aeffect’s sound that appealed to me, it was the unlikely melodies, the mixture of casual and climactic moods, the thoughtful lyrics.

"Tossing in bed
throw the sheets overhead
To aid in getting rest
A curse of the mind
A sign of the times
Most often suppressed"

The words came to me on sleepless nights, common the summer before my senior high school year, when I slept long into the day and was restless at night.

II. A SHORT DREAM

In October of 2001, The Aeffect released their debut EP, A Short Dream. I eagerly bought it online, as I bought most of my CD's; my musical wish list was often too esoteric to be found at the local Tower Records. At 17:08 playing time, containing 6 songs, two of which where instrumental interludes, A Short Dream was indeed short.

The EP includes the aforementioned “Insomnia,” admittedly the highlight of the EP, but new songs "Oh You Didn’t Say" and "Always Artificial" are equally good. “Oh You Didn’t Say” kicks the record off with snappy, taut drums (the snare drum sounding like a quick release of air, which intensely overlaps itself when the drummer does a stare rush), slithering synth bass, and smooth sine waves that float, twist, and meander, as Feibus leads the instruments into encircling choruses.

He's as witty and on point as on “Insomnia,” and his voice is smooth, floating from high to low altitudes. The songs are upbeat while still being shadowy and foreboding, and are perfectly illustrated by the album's cover, a high contrast photograph of the sun moving behind a dark cloud. The overall production sounds high-tech and electronic but there is a human groove, owed to the live instrumentation. The arrangements are full, having many layers of strings and synth.

I read an interview with the band at the time, in which the singer talked about opting to record on analog tape, as it gives a fuller, warmer sound than digital recording. This is clearly noticeable in the music, and another reason why the sound is distinctive. "A Short Dream" is a soundtrack to a dream, as organic as your heart beat.

I always imagined the Aeffect self-recording their EP, the three of them surrounded by electronic gear and cables, in a small bedroom at night. In actuality, The EP was recorded at Flying Blanket Studios in Tucson, Arizona with Bob Hoag who had also manned the controls for label-mates The Impossibles and Recover. This explains the high production standards of the recordings.

The two instrumental numbers "Third Level of Existence, Pt. 1" and "Third Level of Existence, Pt. 2" are eerie, but placid piano pieces, classical in style, which ebb and flow. They set the dreamlike tone of the EP and greatly enhance the flow of the songs. Part 1 flows perfectly into Insomnia, which, when I received the EP, gave me an excuse to revisit “Insomnia” over and over in a new context.

The whole EP is conspicuously cohesive, and perhaps the best EP a new band could hope to create. Fueled by Ramen was marketing the band properly, selling an awesome t-shirt, poster as well as buttons on their website. Like everything the band had done up to this point, their t-shirt was original, cool-looking and mysterious: a black t-shirt, where the logo had been screen printed on the inside, so the shirt had to be worn inside out, displaying it‘s seams. Beside the band name, it said "ALT-0198", the key code to type the Æ logo on a computer keyboard (try it, holding alt, and using the number pad on the right of your keyboard).

A Short Dream was generally well-received by online critics, and drew many warranted comparisons to 80's new wave bands such as Depeche Mode and New Order. However, at this point, a band admitting they never stopped listening to 80's music wasn't cool. Coming out the same year as Ladytron’s first full-length, and a year after The Faint’s “Blank Wave Arcade,” the Aeffect was right on the cusp of the New Wave revival explosion, but their music was far more expressive, intimate, and original than the bands that would become it's poster children.

III. FOUR SONGS

In summer of 2002, the Aeffect played the Vans warped tour. This seemed a continuation of their role as the odd synth-pop band amongst punk bands. Fans of A Short Dream were surprised they were on the bill, not only because they were such a small band, but because they weren't punk rock, and The Aeffect seemed surprised themselves.

At this time, the band also posted a new song, "Burning In the Bed of Fire," on their website. The song marked a somewhat new direction for them, which blew my young mind. Stabs of punk rock electric guitar had been added (think, the Clash's London Calling), the drums were more hard-hitting with even more of a live feel, and the atmospheric synth strings of A Short Dream were traded for buzz-saw synth leads. Their melodies turned at sharp angles, rather than the bouncing and meandering of A Short Dream. The arrangements were stripped down, clearly designed to be played by three people. Perhaps this new, more visceral style was conceived for the sole purpose of rocking the Warped Tour. Again, this is speculation, but if it were true it would be testament to the ingenuity of the Aeffect.

The nocturnal, introspective nature of Feibus's songwriting became more impassioned and daring, speaking bitterly and abstractly of relationships, the songs climbing to climaxes even more glorious than the "A Short Dream" material.

On "Burning In the Bed of Fire", the cut and paste spirit of electronic music is maintained, as blinking synthesizer motifs play in call and response, and Feibus' lyrics whip into swirling rounds as his voice overlaps himself, repeating desperate phrases and pleas, harmonizing with himself.

The band’s website alluded to a CD-R containing this song and several others being sold at their Warped Tour shows. It was shortly leaked as MP3s to various file-sharing programs, under the moniker "Four Songs." Reports of how rocking the Aeffect’s live performances were at the Warped Tour rolled into the Aeffect’s message board. All who heard the new songs, or had seen the band live, were spellbound, tracking the bands movements through the internet, and waiting in tortured anticipation for a full-length album. It seemed with their rocking, punk-infused synth-pop, that the Aeffect was anticipating a new era of Dance music. And they were, but by the time the genre exploded onto MTV and the airwaves, with bands like Hot Hot Heat, The Rapture, and who cares who else, the Aeffect were a forgotten blip on the radar.

Four Songs contained the songs "Burning In The Bed Of Fire", "Complex Complications", "Magnificent Curse" and "Multiplies," and is probably the Aeffect at their best. It's difficult to describe why I was so fascinated by this material, but I think it has a lot to do with the way the drums interacted with the instruments, which seemed totally new for electronic or even synth-pop music. On "Burning In The Bed Of Fire," the simple "bass/snare"-style synth drums (like Nine Inch Nails' "Closer") of "A Short Dream" are totally gone, and the drums sound like a live drum kit, utilizing crash cymbals and toms, though occasionally melding with sampled thuds, shakers, electronic bursts and the like. Many songs contain an orgasmic breakdown where a lone synthesizer plays a simple motif as the drums smash and pound, before going back into the churning verse.

Around this time another new song, "Where Did You Go?" surfaced on Fueled By Ramen's Feed Your Ears Vol. 1 compilation. It was as good as the best moments of Four Songs, but a little more polished, and even pointed to the band gaining more control of their new sound. Fans were becoming more rabid, longing for the band to get some recognition, and to be given full artistic reign in the studio for a full album.

IV. THE MAGNIFICENT CURSE

In fall of 2003, the band periodically updated their website, speaking of the forthcoming full-length. I waited throughout 2003, dreaming of the new heights they’d achieve when they went all out in the studio. I imagined what their new album cover would look like. I replayed the five new songs I had. For some reason, the Aeffect released their own Winamp skin, so one could give their MP3 program the same visual style as the Aeffect’s website. I loaded up all my Aeffect songs and played them on repeat, in my Aeffect-themed Winamp.

Most people probably forgot about The Aeffect during 2003. They probably bought “A Short Dream,” enjoyed it, then shelved it. I, in my innocent youth, was unable to appreciate all the wholly satisfying Aeffect material I'd heard thus far, and wanted more. There was a portentous darkness looming over all things Aeffect. I walked around at night, listening to A Short Dream on my iPod.

Then the unspeakable happened. Aaron Feibus left the band.

Their website announced that he would be going to Grad School to study law. The keyboardist/background singer, Steve Kramer, would be completing the record himself. A track listing was announced. It contained three of the old songs "Burning in the Bed of Fire" (though the title was curiously changed to “Burning In The Bed ON Fire“), "Multiplies", and "Complex Complications." A release date for October of 2004 was specified. I was a little shaken at the loss of a member, but the Aeffect boat had only tipped, it did not sink. I didn't consider the artistic role of a lead singer/songwriter in a band, and what his absence might mean for the music. All that mattered, to me, was that an entity named "The Aeffect" existed in some form.

The band licensed some songs to MTV Real World and Road Rules. They made a video for "Burning in the Bed of Fire." Their new album was going to big, I could feel it.

Finally October came. I ordered it. The padded mailer came. I tore it open. I played the CD.

Damn.

The only songs I liked were the re-recordings of the old ones from Four Songs. And the original recordings had been much better. More lively. The original versions didn't have any extra bells and whistles that couldn't be played live. I didn't like the new singer’s voice at all. He sounded melodramatic; at times it seemed he may have used Auto Tune to stay in pitch. He tried to hit too many notes, like an R&B singer. The sounds and timbres of the instruments were cheesy and cliché. It's just wasn't the same band. Feibus sang like he had just rolled out of bed. Kramer was wholly self-conscious.

I threw the disc (even the cover was uncreative- just a pink glow on a black background with the album title on top, Secrets & Lies.) in my dorm room drawer and forgot about it. I still listened to the pre-existing 11 songs by them, appreciating them for their innocent, vivacious glory, but I knew from hence forth the band I knew as the Aeffect was gone.

V. WHERE DID YOU GO?

In 2008 I thought, "Whatever happened to the Aeffect?" I looked them up on Wikipedia and discovered they broke up in 2005. I had ambivalent feelings. Secrets & Lies had been getting decent reviews and I wished the remaining band members success, even if I didn't prefer their new material. The three re-recordings, though inferior to the originals, were undoubtedly strong by any standards. People who hadn't heard the Aeffect before deserved to hear them; those songs would've destroyed anything else on the radio. Perhaps the remaining members felt how I felt- that something was lacking without their frontman. Perhaps they only intended to finish off the album they'd started, knowing they would disband after.

Now it's 2009. I still think about and listen to the Aeffect from time to time. I wonder how a skilled songwriter can give up music in favor of a career in law. As I search Aaron Feibus’s name on Google and look through pages of results at work in an office on the 12th story of a skyscraper, I wonder if I'm somewhat like Feibus. I, too, put some of my creative pursuits on the back burner in order to make a living.

Many people look to rock stars and musicians for inspiration, as a symbol that if you’re determined in your creativity, you can make something great. Rock stars send the message that authority and the working world can go to hell; all that matters is artistic passion. A musician I admire quitting music to become a lawyer sent the opposite message of rebellion. Knowing the eventual outcome, for me, makes the Aeffect’s music even more gloomy, it’s feelings more ambivalent, but, I suppose, sweeter in it‘s rarity.

I did manage to find one new Aeffect song in my searches. In 2003, before Aaron left the band, they recorded a cover of the song “Boxcar” by Jawbreaker for a tribute album. It’s good. Stylistically, it has the guitars of Four Songs and the synthesizer bleeps of a Short Dream, but it’s a cover, so Feibus’s voice mostly evokes Blake Schwarzenbach, and it can‘t be considered an original Aeffect song.

Then my exhaustive internet searches lead me to an oasis. Feibus had a short-lived musical project after the Aeffect! It seems he didn't give up music entirely, but began a band called Platelets with a female songwriter during 2006. Where the hell was I? Time sure does pass.

Platelets had a very cool blog in which Aaron commented on a range of topics, including recording. But they lapsed in their updates and musical output, and eventually allowed their domain name to expire. I was only able to read the Platelets blog on archive.org, a site that archives everything on the internet, so it can be browsed after it disappears into oblivion.

One Platelets blog post discusses recording a new single with a certain producer, and then the next post describes the producer canceling due to some personal emergency. Are all of Aaron Feibus's projects doomed? Plans for a new album are discussed, but eventually dropped. The final incarnation of the Platelets webpage on archive.org is simply a white HTML page that says "byebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebye..." ad nauseum in Times New Roman font.

The Platelets did, however, record two songs that were put out on compilations. They’re available on iTunes, and are fantastic. The murkiness of the Aeffect has mostly dissolved (though the mystery has not), and Feibus's smooth, creative vocals flourish with a new maturity. The instrumentation is as careful as the Aeffect, but more textured. It would be nice if Aaron Feibus would surface with a new project, hopefully to stay, but if it’s not in the cards, I just hope he's happy and finally able to sleep at night.

Audio Samples and Links:

INSOMNIA via Fueled by Ramen
BURNING IN THE BED OF FIRE
MULTIPLIES

Buy The T-Shirt
The Official Website

Back by Popular Demand: "My Toenails..." Podcast

2009-04-21T20:09:00.005-04:00

My Toenails Are Getting Too Long and They're Ripping Through My Sock Episode 2

Official Episode Summary:
"In the stunning second episode of "My Toenails..." host Dan debuts two new segments. In the first, he plays one old song and one new song by the same band. In the second, he verbally describes a famous painting off the top of his head, over an atmospheric hip-hop beat. Musical selections include Dartz!, the Hard-Ons, and John Vanderslice."

XML Feed
Either cut and paste this URL into your favorite podcast program, such as Winamp, or follow the link and download the MP3.

iTunes Link
Use this link to launch iTunes and play the podcast automatically.

"My Toenails are Getting Too Long and They're Ripping Through My Sock" Podcast Episode 1

2009-04-15T16:41:00.013-04:00

Featuring Frog Pocket, The Joggers, my own witty banter, and more!

If you don't know what this is: it's essentially a radio show, hosted by me. I play around seven songs and talk about them extremely, extremely briefly.

The theme for this episode, the first episode, is "Bitter and/or Sweet songs to start your spring."

I also spin a few songs from my relaxing albums article.

XML Feed
Either cut and paste this URL into your favorite podcast program, such as Winamp, or follow the link and download the MP3.

iTunes Link
Use this link to launch iTunes and play the podcast automatically.

Five Killer, Relaxing Albums

2009-04-13T13:06:00.007-04:00

Maybe I'm getting old, but sometimes I want something soothing to listen to while I'm working over-caffeinated on the computer, or painting late at night, or doing something similarly concentrative. However, I have a few requirements for relaxing music to work to. It can't be watered-down easy-listening that I'll tune out. I need music that possesses a driving pulse, without being jarring or explosive. Something with interesting textures and melodies. Strong lyrical content helps too, but is not a must.

Another requirement I have for this type of music is that it be organic, lively, warm. Post-rock, electronic, ambient, and Sigur Ros-type stuff, although it has it's place, can be weighty and isolating. When I'm beaming white light into my retinas, interfacing with a computer screen, it's nice to maintain a human connection through music.

Selection number one:

Travis - The Invisible Band

I know Travis, at times, has come dangerously close to flimsy commercial Brit-Pop like Keane and Coldplay. However, I maintain that they haven't crossed the line, especially on this enjoyable album. The thing that has always appealed to me most about Travis is their careful rhythms. The lead guitar parts are soulful but restrained. The songs unfurl at a deliberate pace and build in drama.

Take the first track "Sing" as an example; it kicks off with plucked banjo arpeggios leading the band through a gentle groove that would be satisfying even if it looped ad nauseum and the soaring chorus never happened. Similar arpeggiated motifs reoccur through the album, such as the shuffled guitar lead in the chorus to "Pipe Dreams."

Perhaps the most pleasing part of this album is the shit-hot production. Endless reverb, without sounding thin. Ambient sounds whir and flutter through the background, feedback gently screeches, and warm synthesizers bubble and drone. The singer's voice is smooth and likable. His lyrics aren't the deepest I've heard, but they're somehow clever in their simplicity.

***

Now let's take those grooves into more overt territory.

The Sea and Cake - Nassau

I'm sure any Sea and Cake will do you good while you're working and relaxing, but this one has a roughness around the edges that I like. It opens with sustained organ chords and churning drums reminiscent of some of the more hypnotizing numbers on Yo La Tengo's "I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One."

From there it gets a little more jazzy. The vocals aren't easily discernible and turn at unexpected angles. The drumming is a highlight, ranging from light, swinging ride cymbal grooves to funky, pounding rhythms that echo and occasionally threaten to drown out the band. At these moments the beat becomes the focus: a distinctive move on Sea and Cake's part.

The guitars are shimmering, metallic, and have the improvisational spirit of jazz, often working in call and response with the drums. However the music maintains the unity of pop rock, the chords often locking into the melodic aesthetic of indie, while retaining a looseness that gives the music mystery and depth.

***

To move away from the shadowy territory of Sea and Cake, let's go for something unexpected.

Limbeck - This Chapter is Called Titles

Limbeck is a Southern Californian band that plays a mixture of power-pop and alternative country. I'm not sure what level of fame this band eventually achieved, but this is their first album and it's delightful.

Pop-hooks galore. The first track "Back To Racine" is charged up and catchy while still being free and easy. Like some of the other emo of the era, their lyrics reference geography and travel. However, Limbeck's music has aged more gracefully than bands like Phantom Planet and the Get Up Kids, perhaps because Limbeck's songs have a certain maturity. The singer is bright-eyed and optimistic while still seeming to have been around the block, or across the country, a few times. This album evokes the sun, wide open skies, and road tripping through the desert. When you listen to it, everything will be fine.

***

I would say, "let's take it down a notch," for this next selection, but all these albums have been pretty "down." Nevertheless:

Air - Talkie Walkie

This album was quite well-received when it first came out, and in my opinion hasn't lost luster in the way other records billed as instant indie classic have, such as You Forgot it in People, or Funeral. The whole thing is just so tasteful and atmospheric that I don't know how one could get bored with it.

The arrangements are sparse and clean, but occasionally build to climactic, reverberated glory without any pounding beats or abrasiveness. A highlight is around a minute into the song "Run," where the percussion drops out and synth strings soar to ravishing heights as a loop of the singers voice repeats his last word, "Run-run-run-run-run" to the beat.

Many songs on Talkie Walkie include interesting use of synthesizers, and enter creepy, spooky territory while remaining emotionally true to life. "Biological" has a rocking, plucked banjo part in the chorus that Travis would approve of. It later builds to a slow, awesome, atmospheric jam, similar to "Run."

Of course, the album has a few upbeat dancey cuts, such as "Surfin' on a Rocket" that would make other Frenchmen like Daft Punk, M83, and Justice proud.

***

And now for some power:

Elliot Smith - Figure 8

This album has majorly depressing subject matter, but the musicianship and songwriting is just so good that the end result is more life-affirming than the opposite. Elliot Smith took his style into more eclectic, at times Beatlesy, territory on this album. His voice is as haunting as ever, but the arrangements swirl with tinkling piano, organ, fat electric bass and crunching electric guitar.

It's deliciously soulful and moody from start to finish. Smith's singing leads the band up stairs of intense crescendo, only to smolder in self-defeat. For an example of what I'm talking about, check out the climax 1:45 into "Stupidity Tries." This album makes Bright Eyes seem like they don't know what they're doing, but that's beside the point. It's an expressive and soothing piece of work, quite beneficial to listen to.

MY TOP 5 NEW ORDER SONGS THAT AREN'T BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE OR BLUE MONDAY

2007-05-28T15:24:00.001-04:00

One of the items on my list of things to accomplish this summer is, “Check out all the New Order albums I haven‘t heard.” (The other items are slightly more impressive.) This basically boils down to the albums ‘Movement’ and ‘Brotherhood,’ both of which I've now listened to. Once I heard the first couple seconds of “Dreams Never End,” I realized I’d been missing out on a decent chunk of really rocking, older New Order. It inspired me to make a list of my favorite New Order tracks.

To elaborate on the title of this post: I’m not discrediting those two songs, Bizarre Love Triangle, and Blue Monday, because of their popularity. They literally are my two favorite New Order songs. They are obvious picks, though, so I’ve opted to eliminate them in favor of deeper cuts.

Let’s go.

5.) Ceremony

An awesome track to start off a record. It begins solely with the bass line, which builds tension, then crashes into swaths of sustained, distorted guitar chords. My favorite moment, though, is the ascending vocal melody in the chorus where he sings: “Heaven knows its got to be this time.”

4.) Perfect Kiss

The Substance version. I know this track has it’s faults, like the extended Latin-infused jam section (complete with agogo bells), the samples of frogs croaking in one of the breakdowns, or the fact that it’s 8 minutes long, but the first 1:17 or so is great. It starts with a funky, interlocking bass/drum pattern, then a huge tom fill interrupts and transitions into an arpeggiated synth progression that absolutely kills me. Those few measures of layered, blinking synthesizer are dance music at it‘s best, and I wish they would keep it up for the whole song.

3.) Broken Promise

I guess most of this song is standard New Order, but at around 2:00 a distorted guitar lead kicks in and they just start shredding. Extended guitar licks are not exactly something I associate with New Order, but the last 1:30 of this song is just the most climactic guitar soloing. It might be the hardest I’ve heard them rock.

2.) Leave Me Alone

Lyrically heart wrenching, musically mesmerizing- note the delay on the snare drum. This track has threatened to make my younger self tear up several times. I feel this is an often overlooked New Order tune, but not as overlooked as my number one pick:

1.) Procession

I’ve never heard anyone talk about this song in any context, ever, which is criminal. It’s right there on Substance- disc 2, track 2! It’s hands down my favorite New Order song (other than the two restricted from this list). Their “heart-on-their-sleeve but still cool” lyrics are at their best with, “Your heart beats you/ late at night.” I don’t even know how to describe the music, except that it’s more atmospheric than is perhaps typical of them. It opens with buoyant synth drones that continue behind the whole song, and the guitars fall somewhere between the sloppy, sustained chords of Ceremony, and the shredding of Broken Promise.

CAUSE A ROCKSLIDE

2007-05-28T15:06:00.001-04:00

I guess I should say what this is all about. I'm starting a blog about music I like.

There must be thousands of songs and lyrics and bands that influence me. I’d like to, once in a while, document how I feel about them. I’ll also post sound clips, write brief album reviews- that kind of thing. Sometimes, when I hear a band for the first time, I get very excited and I want to tell everyone I know about them. I'll still pester people to check out bands, but it will also be interesting to try and express my feelings about music with the written word.

I get ideas for funny or obscure lists about music, like "my favorite songs that employ a drum machine hand clap sound." I also have a mental list of bands that have bland verses to their songs, but incredible choruses. For example, the Psychedelic Furs songs 'Love My Way' and 'Run and Run.' On the flip side, I think some songs have great verses but disappointing choruses, like 'Little Red Corvette' by Prince or 'Sleep' by Azure Ray.

I'd like to write something about drummers who use their tom-toms or ride cymbals creatively. These are ideas I want to document, out of my own interest, if no one else's. I think other people will dig reading it, though.

I’ll write about lesser known bands on here, or about deep cuts from bands I think people might be overlooking. My main focus, though, isn't just to dish out music tips. The focus will always be on my personal opinion on music. I suppose that, true to the blog spirit, this will be a form of journal.

I’ll discuss some paintings, books, and other things too.

So if you're interested, check out the first post:

MY TOP 5 NEW ORDER SONGS THAT AREN'T BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE OR BLUE MONDAY