all the news that print will fit.
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| notes from underground - societal whispers all the news that print will fit. |
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Wednesday, June 11, 2003 np: fountains of wayne - welcome interstate managers yesterday, being tuesday, was a field day for new music. so, in order to take a small break from the political prostylizing, i'll expound on what i purchased. although don't worry, there's something bile-raising at the bottom of this post. my day's sojourn began with a visit to a store in charlotte to pick up the new radiohead album (hail to the theif). while i was there i also got depeche mode's violator album since it was rather cheap. and has two of my favourite songs by them on it. so we'll see how it sounds. i haven't gotten around to listening to it as of yet. however the new radiohead, based on one full listen through, is amazing. it seems to be the most logical step forward for them as a group. one of the members is quoted in the latest issue of spin as saying that this album is the furthest that they could take this style of music. it makes sense. it seems to be the culmination of what they reached with both ok computer and kid a / amnesiac. people were set to cast those albums as aeons apart, but i really feel they share a lot more than is apparent at first glance. so where and how do they come together? an obvious comparison for me (and bear with me here) is with blur's triptych of classic britpop albums: modern life is rubbish, parklife and the great escape. modern life.. made obvious blur's debt to the kinks and other brit trad-rock, especially with what became (for the period of these three albums) damon albarn's obsession with british social topics. mostly in analyzing the interactions of normal, working folk. parklife began to further explode with their use of horns and string sections to build powerful pop music in that trad. style. and the great escape fused both together, drenching the album in horns/strings and orchestration. it was at that point that they had taken that style as far as was possible without repeating. so, of course, blur was the next result, a drastically different offering which has lead them towards what lately resulted in their brilliant new record think tank. so for me, hail to the theif stands as radiohead's the great escape. it's a conglomeration of what were the outstanding traits of their prior two records and brings them together in what is really invigorating. so now i have two records to be really excited about. first, the next radiohead, as here's hoping that it blows away all their prior conventions. and two, the next sleater-kinney, as they are due for the album that truly puts them above and beyond the amazing peak they've already reached. but that's beside the point. the new fountains of wayne record, welcome interstate managers, continues to prove their dubbing by the onion as one of america's premiere pop bands. if there was ever a borderline perfect pop record to have been released in the last decade, fountains of wayne's self-titled album is high on the list of nominees. and their new one is just as good. i'm also rather taken with their mentioning of numerous funny american town names. (hackensack, steamboat springs..and not a town, but still funny to mention..fire island.) after what i percieved as a bit of a slip in their last record (utopia parkway) this album is a return to fine, fine form. as a side note i also got, on vinyl, willie nelson's to lefty, from willie which is his fabulous album of covers of songs by lefty frizzell. as well as the church's gold afternoon fix which, as was reported to me by allmusic.com, isn't quite as good as either starfish or heyday but is still leagues beyond a lot of things. i traipsed up to greensboro last night to see the carolina theatre's showing of singin' in the rain, easily one of my favourite musicals of all time. the print they had of the movie was outstanding and it was a joy seeing it. kelly, jeremy and i attended it followed by a beer (or tea in kelly's case) at the green bean across the road. i'm beginning to really love greensboro in a way that i haven't before. and i miss it when i'm away. i have some very good friends there. - so now, for the aforementioned bullypulpit: Atrios once again brings us a quite ripe piece of news. The Senate just rejected an effort to strip loan guarantees to the nuclear power industry, estimated at $16 billion, from the current energy bill. The loan-guarantee provision will put taxpayers on the hook for 50% of the cost of new nuclear plants in the event of default. The 50-48 vote was largely party line. find out how your senator or representative voted on the recent child tax credit extension and if they voted against it, call and let them know how you feel about tax credits to poor income families for children versus corporate welfare to the incapable nuclear energy industry. and if they voted for child tax credits, find out how they voted on this and let 'em know how you feel anyway. posted by J. Neas | 6/11/2003 05:32:00 PM
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