Vacant Horizon

I thought it was a pretty great speech, but I also found many of the problems he says are due to race have more to do with poverty.

right on. i think he alluded to this when he validated white resentment of welfare and affirmative action, but it was very slight.

Well, here's where the firestorm begins.

 

 

 

 

As for me, I think that this is the kind of speech that, at least in days past, would find its way into the history books. But today, with soundbites and pundits taking every phrase out of context and parsing the thing to no end to meet their own agendae.... well, we'll see what becomes of it.

 

But, take it as a whole and I think it's as powerful a piece of oratory as we've had in four decades or more.

thanks for posting the text. this whole thing with his pastor is being blown out of proportion. there are much more liberal churches out there than the one he comes from. hell, the right wing churches are utterly extreme in their views on homosexuality, divorce, women, capitalism. no candidate is getting lambasted for going to a church where a minister out right condemns 10% of our society for who they want to love.

pastor wright sound bites are way out of context. anyone who has any sense about mainline theology is at least familiar with black theology. just like we have black music, feminist theology, latino music, latino theology, black psychology, feminist psychology. the list goes on. it's no surprise at all that a black church, a church of an historically oppressed group, would define their own theology in the midst of a 'white society'.

did love the speech, but sad he denounced his pastor while espousing the basic tenets of black theology; reconciliation, unity, and healing.

Andy Whitman's stuff is usually pretty solid. His is usually the first articles I gravitate towards.

Just poking through Paste's latest edition last night and noticed they've changed the layout a bit. Not sure how I feel about that yet.

 

I decided to forgo the "pay what you can" subscription incentive last year they offered since I actually look forward to picking it up at a local bookseller. Thinking that would also benefit the publisher in the long run... I'd hate to see Paste fail too.

i gotta say i always look forward to paste, but i end up getting frustrated. they cover all this MOR adult pop as well as the obligatory indie rock that i could care less about. they also cover the big ones like wilco, but everyone does that. i am always wishing to find some hidden gem, but to no avail. the writing is touch and go critical at all. this is all so ironic to me with it's whole 'signs of life' tagline. they really just highlight all this crap out there when there only a few bands these days worth really getting into. i think that is why these mags are going under. we get the latest news on the web. by the time harp covers a new wilco album, damn, all of us here have been talking about it for months. this, along with the dirge of really good stuff out there these days. for this, i blame the record industry as they focus on corp rock and make it so difficult for major and indie label artists to grow. i also blame consumers for jumping on the band wagon with every new wining indie rocker, dance band, or brittany and the ridiculous overblown pretension that goes with the former. really, when is punk gonna end? i mean, how long are we gonna settle for bad = good. noise equals music and off key equals innovative. i could go on, but i have already said enough to get lambasted on this board. oh well. it's an interesting time in music.

We are aware they are one in the same?

of course eradicator...care for a game of squash?

just wanted to make sure people were paying attention...since no one else seems to be willing to talk about this except to correct my error, which was intended as a joke.

 

loving this album, guys. loving it.

trevor, you joker. doesn't palace sing on this album too?

man, this is growing on me already. vocal harmonies throughout are top-notch, especially the ones with bonnie prince billy and will oldham.

i wonder which songs have will and which have bonnie billy

1. David Gilmour

2. Jimmi Hendrix

3. Jimmy Page

4. Chuck Berry

5. Jerry Garcia

6. Pete Townsend

7. Keith Richards

8. Greg Allman

9. Eddie Van Halen

10. Neil Young

 

 

The rest don't matter.

Duane Allman? Greg plays too, but not like his brother

He may be hit or miss solo, but he's not terrible. I've seen him put on absolutely stellar shows before too.

 

As for a band... i'll believe a full band Sun Kil Moon show when i see it in person, because it's yet to happen yet (i know it's supposedly going to happen later this fall though).

 

As for April... i didn't think it was possible to come close to Ghosts, but so far this most certainly does. how can you say something isn't memorable after listening maybe what, 2 times so far? *shrug*

to each his own. he's at least touch and go live. playing all songs in the same key with no distinction between songs. starting and the stopping songs. talking to people during a song. just not what i was expecting after hearing such meticulously produced records.

as far as April goes, yes i am reviewing it. why not? paste, with it's new system, said it was a Masterpiece. the review highlighted all these classic rock riffs etc. well, the album is pleasant, but is just not blowing me away like Ghosts.

My wife is tormented now. She pre-ordered the album, and the book and bonus CD yesterday. Needless to say she is a HUGE Kozelek fan. She is seeing him in Minneapolis in June as well.

 

She is torn between listening to the myspace stream and waiting for the arrival in the mail.

unfortunately he is terrible live solo. i hope he is better with a band. as far as the album, Ghosts was a lot better. more memorable.

in no order....

Jerry Garcia

Bill Frisell

Pat Metheny

Richard Thompson (subtle and amazing)

Tom Verlaine (although hate his voice)

Neil Young

Eric Clapton (actually hate his songs etc, but love his solos!)

Jimmy Page (very sloppy live, but king of riffs)

Steve Hackett (not into genesis anymore, but love his tone, sound)

Stephen Stills (kind of a hack, but just an amazing tone)

Trey

John Fahey

Michael Hedges

Joe Walsh (love his sound)

Jeff Pevar

Peter Frampton (straight rock solos!)

David Gilmour!!!!

cant think of anymore.

Sorry, yeah. I think of an iPod as just a hard drive, I'm referring to the iTunes downloads.

okay, i am with you.

I don't own an iPod b/c I think they sound like ass. That said, I totally agree with bjorn that eventually they will not, since as memory gets cheaper and cheaper there is just no cause for the undue compression. And I definitely do NOT consider myself an audiophile. I just think the iTunes versions sound so much worse that I am still the guy at work with (literally) 80 CDs all over the place.

 

What's ironic is that I am a songwriter doing the myspace thing to get my songs out there, and generally b/c of the file-size restriction, I have to compress my songs beyond what iTunes does. Yes, I would prefer to be able to run higher-quality audio. But I'll be damned if there is a more efficient way to get your content out to a lot of people, fast, with little expense to the musician and the audience. I guess I'd rather have more people listen to degraded versions all my songs as I put them together, than to have just my very-closest friends and family get a CD of my tightest efforts every 8 or 12 months.

 

Bottom line is that mp3s suck audio-wise, but have other characteristics that can be considered a valid tradeoff for some musicians. Admittedly, I can see how that applies more to indie / semi-pro musicians than folks who are up to their eyeballs in real studios though... Less to lose when your start-point is relatively lo-fi.

do you think ipods sound like ass or do the tunes bought from itunes sound like ass? on can rip a cd, using itunes, onto a computer in a lossless format and sync this to an ipod. it's exactly the same audio as on the cd, just on the ipod. now what does sound like ass are regular itunes songs at 128kbs, to some ears. and transcoding results in unlistenable music.

he said "I Love Punk Rock... and I was the first"

 

it was fairly tongue in cheek and he was smirking while he said it, but even despite that, it could easily be argued in Lou's favor imo.

 

the Tribute was a lot of fun. MMJ, Dr. Dog, YLT, Thurston Moore, Joseph Arthur, Moby (w/ Lou), etc.

 

as for his thoughts on mp3s, relating to the quality issues... i agree with Lou 100%. just because MOST people can't tell the difference between 256kbps and CD quality, doesn't mean I want to accept or pay for lesser quality.

 

I will never ever ever ever EVER pay for a product that is inferior quality as long as another option exists (and if some day it doesn't, then I'll probably just stop buying new music).

 

Look, mp3s, ipod's, etc. are all very convenient, but to me sound quality ALWAYS trumps convenience, call me anal all you want, i don't care.

good points. 128kbs at itunes for 99 cents is a total ripoff. should be 25 cents. unfortunately, they don't have much incentive to change as people keep buying them up. 256 is nice, but i wonder if we will ever be able to download lossless for 10 bucks. that would be pretty good.

http://www.lincomatic.com/mp3/mp3quality.html

solid test on 256 vs cd.

I actually met my old band through an ad in the Chicago Reader and it worked out really well for about 10 years or so.

But yeah, the plan is to have mostly folks that I know... or that I'll get to know before heading into the studio.

sorry, i was projecting all over that post. have fun!!

From those quotes, I think he may be attacking technology less than he is the way that people are using the technology. He knows there's high quality mp3's out there -- he's going after people for being so content to listen to the shitty ones.

well said.

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/articl...t_id=1003725203

i think lou is a bit misinformed here. not all mp3s are shitty quality. itunes, yes, amazon, no. he kind comes off as a dick. guess he showed up at his 'tribute' show and said he was the first punk rocker.

c

I'm pretty psyched.

This first song is gonna be pretty much all me; and I have another one that will be mostly me, too. But, as it goes, I'll be doing lots of different sessions in lots of different studios all over Chicago and wherever. They're also gonna cover lots of different styles.

 

I'm hoping to get it all done and mixed by the end of the year or early '09 for a mid-'09 release. Whatever. Still, it's been a long time since I've been excited about playing music, so this is nice. Next month I'm heading down to Champaign to recerd one of my old punk songs with a buddy's metal band backing me up. Should be cool.

 

But, if any of you play an instrument, please let me know, becasue I need all sorts of musicians in all sorts of styles to help me cover the bases: rockabilly, bluegrass, pop, electronica, and probably more before it's all done.

 

Well, back to the original topic of the post: I'm psyched.

don't do it! having other folks in the studio, especially those you don't know, can be a real disaster.

Thought you might be up to some asshattery here...but since you are playing it (semi) straight, I'll play along:

 

Bruce Springsteen --- The Ties That Bind (a late 79 version of what became The River)

 

Dwight Twilley Band --- The B Album

 

Neil Young --- Home Grown/Chrome Dreams. Although most of the material here eventually got released, the orignal versions in their original format and vision would have been great at the time)

 

Prince --- Crystal Ball

 

The Beatles --- Get Back

 

The Rolling Stones --- Cocksucker Blues

speaking of neil, i would love to hear island sun which was supposed to come out in 82 but was axed by the record co. ironically, they had no problem with Trans, which took it's place!

c

 

Human Highway (1974) ~ CSNY. This was going to be the cover of the album. At the time they could all write and sing so who knows. It could have been pretty good.

no doubt this would have been a classic...Taken at All, Pushed It Over the End, See The Changes, Love Art Blues...etc.

Just passed these on to a fellow board member, so I might as well post them here. The 2 Real Emotional Trash B-Sides from the pre-sale. Some of my favorite Pavement and Stephen songs ever were B-Sides (All My Friends, Harness Your Hopes, and Dynamic Calories come to mind immediately). I'm absolutely loving Walk Into The Mirror., Mr Jolly not as much (but I still loves me some pretty female backing vocals).

 

 

Walk Into The Mirror

 

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ovcf8a

 

Mr Jolly

 

http://www.sendspace.com/file/27157b

 

 

 

Great stuff. Thanks for the links!

c

I listen to alot more than them, just kinda saying that if those 4 were all there were, I'd be cool. As my tired brain recalls, people were discussing earlier in the thread how much time & energy they'll put into an artist that's new to their ears. With me, I don't try real hard. If there's not an instant connection (most recently Band of Horses have become a fav for me), I just move on to something new.

right on. it seems that if i just relax the good stuff just comes to me. good movies, music, books etc. when i look hard i get tired and pissed. this also happens with concerts.

I know, I know. I just haven't been able to stop playing this album since it leaked. I'm a big fan of the guitar indulgence. I know a lot of people are put off by his recent forays into AOR territory, but I say crank it dude!

AOR is why i love this album. totally rocks with that warm production and phat guitar sound. it's produced much like the last two wilco records and the last loose fur. good stuff. don't know any of his other stuff, just heard about this in paste.

c

Yeah, I agree with you Lou. It actually took me a long time to realize that I should listen to music that I want to listen too and not what's in the top 100 of 2007 or what every critic raves about. This is what I usually cross-reference a lot or connect the dots between artists because I find it usually works wonders.

Lou, WaronWar, Lammy, everyone, thanks for the great posts here. really validating. actually, connecting the dots with bands led me to sonic youth because of jim orourkes involvement etc. and of course, the year end lists that just make me crazy because i usually don't 'get' what the critics get. anyway, rock on friends. gonna listen to some wilco and prolly some neil young now. peace.

Hey Rider I totally empathize with you. I've given both SY and Radiohead (among many others) honest efforts and it just doesn't click with me either. I definitely agree that you shouldn't have to try to like a band/genre/category/style/ whatever. It's either there or it isn't.

 

Valiant effort though, man.

thanks for the support lammy. a kindred spirit! at least we got wilco

well dudes, just can't get into it. been trying to get post-rock, radiohead, and sonic youth for sometime now and after this last effort, with some great input from y'all, i am giving up. i mean, some stuff out there is worth 'trying' to get into. for example, have been trying to get into Television for years, and it has finally clicked. Sonic Youth is just too alternative, if you catch my drift. just not pleasant enough. my wife is always telling me i shouldn't have to work at liking music, that it should be at least partly pleasurable. so i am sticking with the shit i like. ironically, some of that may not be as accessible to others, ie howe gelb, but it's where i stand.

loving music can really be a double edged sword. it's awesome and a huge part of my life/identity, but also very anxiety inducing. i worry over missing out on something great and underground, i get frustrated that i don't 'get' stuff that others really dig, ie, radiohead, and i end up not really enjoying the stuff i really like. the ipod has actually been a part of this. having all this music at my fingertips is just overwhelming at times. so, hopefully this is a turning point for me.

anyway, this post has been cathartic.

If you're not really into noise, then you might want to hold off on the EPs.

some of the stuff is melodic, but yes noisy, from what i have heard. seems a lot more intentional than a lot of the post rock i have attempted to get into over the years.

So far I have Rather Ripped and the deluxe editions of Goo and Daydream Nation. Part of me wants to rush out and buy more, but I'm enjoying taking awhile to digest them. I have no idea why it's taken me so long to get into Sonic Youth. They've been a band I've been marginally aware of for years, and one similar to a lot of things I like.

same with me. have always known about them, but never gave them a chance. i also have to pace myself with new music. just gotta get one at a time and digest it before i get into something new. it's hard though.