I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.

-from On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Don’t mess.

Staple art.

Hey week!…

Over the past 18 months or so I’ve become increasingly tired of lyrics. That sounds like an over generalization and a bit melodramatic, but I love just spacing out and getting into the groove with a strictly instrumental group these days. Call me a shoe-gazer if you want, but these types of band (think Explosions in the Sky) are right up my alley when taking in live musical soundage.

Red Sparowes are among some of my current favorite bands. I was sad to see Josh Graham go, but more thrilled about them bringing in a chick to fill the void in Emma Ruth Rundle – I’ve also been partial to chick bands as of late. They still have their same great sound and it might even be more listenable – time will tell. The trailer for the latest album is wicked awesome. Gut-pounding, melodic riffs that build and sustain before taking it down a notch into a sliding “Darkside of the Moon” sounding musical soliloquy. Take a listen below and maybe I’ll see you at the Minneapolis leg of the tour (full schedule dates are under the seats).

Enjoy!

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While cleaning out my email a couple of days ago I restumbled across this little nugget of unbelievable, courtesy of an irritated (but beyond patient) customer and the product of a public education system in the United States. This call is from about three years ago, so hopefully Verizon has sent their employees back to elementary school by now before bringing them back to the job. If you got through 5th grade match class, this call will entertain and frustrate you to no end. If I didn’t get my cell phone through work, this recorded call would be enough for me to terminate my contract with Verizon immediately. I can’t express it any better than that in words.

This customer is unbelievably patient with the operators on the line. If this were me I would have either exploded at one point or asked for someone else (again and again) until I get someone who was hired at Verizon that made it through elementary school with at least a C average.

The audio explains it much better than I can, so just have a listen here.

[display_podcast]

You can read and hear follow-ups to this situation over at Verizon Math. If you head over to that blog, it appears in the comment section that this is still a problem – years later! It is absolutely unbelievable! How can a company recognize there is a problem (again, a simple, elementary mathematics problem) and not have it fixed almost three years later.

Sorry state of affairs here.

Jumper.

Febuary 19th, Duluth MN

Picture by Clint Austin/caustin@duluthnews.com

Back in 2001, Wilco brought their special blend of Americana Alt rock to First Avenue and treated the enraptured audience to a thrilling set of fan favorites and some less known treats while filmmaker Sam Jones was filming a little known documentary entitled “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”. At the time, I didn’t realize these shows were being filmed, but it was a thrill nonetheless to know you were at a brilliant show that was captured for a celebrated documentary about one of your favorite bands at that moment in time. In recent years, as Jay Bennett “left” the band, and others after him, Wilco had become to me in modern days something of a curio. Something to look at for a couple minutes, and put back down while being reminded that they were once a group capable of writing interesting, melodic songs with fantastic arrangements. As the music went a simpler route (Sky Blue Sky), and I recognized fewer band members, I fell out of love with the band.

On Friday, February 19, 2010 I was reminded why Wilco matters, and why they keep getting more popular. Ripping through a two and a half hour set pulling from all points of their career, this is a band clearly happy and excited about where they stand in todays challenging musical climate. On a personal level, I loved the Jeff Tweedy/Jay Bennett version of Wilco to the point where once Jay was gone, I went a little bit ignorant on the bands music from “A Ghost Is Born” on. I never thought I would see how the group could be better than that group I saw at First Avenue back in 2001. I couldn’t have been more wrong. From the guitar work of Nels Cline to the drumming of Glenn Kotchke and all the way across the board, this is a group at the absolute peak of their powers and career arc, live and in the studio. The new songs work so well in a live setting, and it has made me re-discover “Sky Blue Sky” gems such as “Walken” and “Hate It Here”. Early on in the show, Tweedy joked that some teenager (Fresh faced Duluth Mayor Don Ness) had come up to see the band and made them an honorary Duluth band (a deserved honor as some of their swag purchases were being used to support Duluth area charities). Throughout the night, Tweedy would hold up the folder he was given by the mayor to cheers from the audience, bringing laughs from everyone in the house, every time.

One of the highlights of the night of highlights was Nels Clines guitar work on “Impossible Germany” now a staple of most recent Wilco shows. “Bull Black Nova” from last years Wilco (The Album) was another standout, a dark song on record, it felt even more ominous in a live setting. The fans carried “Jesus, etc” singing the songs first few verses and choruses, with Tweedy conducting frome the stage. They even dusted off rarity “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard” and played a superb “Handshake Drugs” from the “More Like The Moon” EP.

The encore was a ridiculous joyride starting with “Via Chicago” (which at points devolved in to a complete noise freakout only to come out on the other side right on key and in time), “Kingpin” was played for some laughs as Tweedy tried rhyming “Living in… Duluth”, and ended with a guitar duel between Nels Cline and the understated sideman Pat Sansone on “Hoodoo Voodo” pushing the solos to a new level. This was a top notch concert, by a top notch band with a rabidly intense fanbase hanging on every note and I can’t wait for the next swing through Minnesota, wherever they want to play, I’ll be there.

Setlist:
Wilco (the Song) / A Shot in the Arm / I Am Trying to Break Your Heart / Bull Black Nova / You Are My Face / One Wing / Kamera / Ashes of American Flags / Wishful Thinking / Nothingsevergonnastandinmyway (again) / Sonny Feeling / Impossible Germany / California Stars / Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard / Handshake Drugs / You Never Know / Jesus, Etc. / Walken / I’m the Man Who Loves You / Hummingbird

ENCORE: Via Chicago / Airline to Heaven / Hate It Here / Heavy Metal Drummer / Kingpin / Casino Queen / Hoodoo Voodoo

New Quin Twin video off current release Sainthood! Although one is forced to ask…WTF are they wearing?

(hat tip Stereogum)

EDIT: Okay, in searching for the YouTube version of this, I also found a live performance with a long banter/story section in which Sara tells a mostly unrelated story about her first girlfriend (when they were five) and how it somehow connects very randomly to “Alligator” (which she wrote). It is hilarious. Now I want to see them live, if they have this kind of funny awkward banter a lot, and it sounds like they do. That live video is tucked after the jump. Long, but like I said – HILARIOUS.

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Well, “Heart of Stone” is not quite my favorite Raveonettes song, but I can easily say the just-released video for it is the best of their music videos so far, thanks to the terrific animation from Blind’s Chris Do and his team. The video tells the story of a dejected young man’s trek through a surreal steampunk world, and does so with great style and heart. Blind has some storyboards and concept art here. Great work all around.

One of the most listenable albums I’ve acquired over the past six months gets a really nice, simple video from the very much adorable Glen Hansard and Czech singer/pianist Markéta Irglová who make up the key components of The Swell Season. Their album, “Strict Joy” is a record that can’t be ignored. If you dug the soundtrack to Once (which if you didn’t you’re either not reading this site, you’re deaf or are a likely an idiot), you gotta pick this one up as well. Anyway, on to the video. I like.

This video has been going around the interwebs for the past couple of days, mostly eliciting variations on “WTF???!!” It’s Kirsten Dunst as “Akihabara Majokko Princess” in a short video directed by McG, and produced by Takashi Murakami. The song is a cover of “Turning Japanese,” by The Vapors. Images from the shooting began popping up a couple of months ago, and here’s the whole thing, with Dunst bouncing around the Akihabara district of Tokyo. There are some hentai images in various shots, so the video’s slightly NSFW.

WTF cries aside, I find myself strangely entranced by the video. And not even in a bad kind of way.

EDIT: The video’s been removed by the copyright holder. Bummer.

(via The Playlist and Boing Boing)

In the zone.

In my space.

This isn’t a brand-new video (it’s been sitting in my feed reader for a couple of weeks), but it’s worth posting even late. I mean, late in internet terms. It has more of a framing story than most music videos, as comedy team Thunderant (Fred Armisen of SNL and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney*) plays the owners of a feminist bookstore inviting Annie Clark to come play a show. They kind of steal the show from Clark even during the song, but the song itself is gorgeous.

*Thanks to a commenter on You Ain’t No Picasso for this info!