Dunno - 6 out of 10 - Maybe

Maybe I'm just a sucker. A sucker for production. For engineering. Perhaps. I'm a knob junky, a sound purist. But....

I do feel I have a decent gut for music. I'm trained, I'm experienced, I'm well versed. I possess context across many genres. But, maybe I'm just a sucker. I know music.

"The Information" is gorgeous. Really. Beautifully created, much props. Perhaps too clean though. Dunno. Unlike the professional music critics (which I am not), I can't tell you much about a record after one or two listens. If it passes the first listen test, then it may get the headphone test. This isn't a formal procedure just how it works. I get the CD or download at work and listen to it on my tinny desktop speakers at a volume just a bit louder than is appropriate for an office setting (stopped caring about that about 13 years ago). Of course that listen tells me absolutely nothing. Never. Ever. I shuffle home thinking that even the most brilliant recordings positively suck.

But.

But, if I drag it home - for whatever reason - I usually listen on some "high-quality" headphones. The usual set-reset response is, "holy shit, this doesn't suck at all!" Here's the sucker: that's mostly because I can suddenly hear everything and only heard remnants previously. I usually LOVE everything. I'm a peacenik hippie on X.

[note: I had hoped to publish today's post with the words "poltergeist" and "doppleganger" - so there you have it]

So, "The Information" (Beck Hansen and Nigel Godrich) sounds beautiful but...eh, doesn't as Mark Foley would say, "give me wood." That's not a knock on Beck either. I've just moved on. Certainly, I appreciate the sound (as I am a sucker for production, right?), but there's a hollowness. Ouch! That sounds much worse than it's intended. "Hey, I like you and I had a really good date. The sex was even really good. But...eh...your mother's a fat pig and your father's a republican. It's probably not going to work out. Hey, that's my phone...gotta cruise. Call me!" There may even be some techniques I'll lift, but - and this is significant - not many, yo.

You see, the Roots just put out a fucking near masterpiece. Bobby Dylan just put out a sweet record. TV on the Radio just put out some serious shit (and I just listened to their first TV joint called "OK Calculator" - kind of Ween meets Big Dave Wave meets Applied Communications). Ghostface is still holding strong. Beck in 2006 just can't compete anymore, Nigel or not. Sorry, dude. But, I've dropped Ben Harper, probably Flaming Lips, and JSBX from the Ty Hardaway music label too.

So, I bought your record. I own the license for "The Information." I have the stickers. I have the DVD. You get my money, okay? We both win here. I get a "good" record and you get some (more) money. But, it's not enough to get me to buy your next joint (unless I hear that it gives serious wood).

I'll listen some more, but "The Information" will probably wind up as the occasional listen as the iPod shuffles through all the rest of my stuff (see Beck, it made the iPod. Don't cry, you're really pretty and smart).

Maybe 5 out of 10. Dunno.

Dreams

when i dream of you
you are always my friend
my lover
my spirit

when i dream of you
i'm always laughing
thinking
living

when i dream of you
i long to awake
to see you and hear you
make you smile

when i'm with you
when i'm awake
it's just like
my dreams

O October (v.03 edit)

It happens every year
Here in the east

October - How I love thee
Cool. Crisp. The approaching rawness
Waning light - Waxing night
The crunching underfoot

Footballs and basketballs
Sliding, sliding toward
Winter's claustrophobia
Productivity of arts arise

O October
My October

Coolassic Quotation

"From the moment he arrived on the scene, many people in the press and politics knew that Foley was gay, among several gays in the Republican Party. As the Republicans demonized gays for partisan advantage, the party became the largest walk-in closet in Washington."

- Sidney Blumenthal, "It's a coverup, stupid"

King George - The Farting President

So you go away for a few days as September becomes October and the whole world’s all topsy-turvy.

Foley. Woodward. Beck. Baseball playoffs. Football. Bobby Brown. Elections.

WTF? It’s an October of surprises and it’s only the third of the month.

Like I said, I was in blackout for four days, played catch-up yesterday and am getting back on track with all opinion all the time.

I leave you, for now, with this:

Perhaps you are puzzled that the president of the United States would embrace so eagerly a genre of humor that the typical male Homo sapiens stops finding irresistible around the age of 12. But Woodward is not the first to report on Bush's fondness for fart jokes, and Bush is not the first member of his family to display this particular affliction.

Things

People

Nature

Food

Trickle Down