Stuff I'd Show My Friends:

Nuevo by Kronos Quartet is one of the group’s more unexpected releases. There are sound effects, distortion on the strings, that kind of stuff. I don’t love every composition, but on tracks like “Perfidy” I’m stunned with how convincingly the quartet can make syrupy cinematic strings sound fresh. I’m not really sure how well this album embodies the traditions of Mexican music, but for the production alone it’s well worth it.

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This video won third place in Ford’s Driving Skills for Life competition. Ford gave each of these girls $1,000 in bonds to symbolize an investment in youth culture. Nice climax at 1:30 with the Ford logo. Really interesting snare sound, nice reference to 2004. Doubled vocal track makes it feel live and important.

Here are some of my favorite Independence Day MIDIs from around the web. MIDI is our national format, standing for Musical Independence Day Is here. This is great stuff to put on while you BBQ.

America The Beautiful

The Star Spangled Banner (great introduction)

God Bless America (excellent trumpet fanfare and snare work)

Hail To The Chief (“piano” accompaniment is a nice touch)

Taps (Epic and moving)

The Harp of New Albion, by Terry Riley, is my favorite solo piano album. It’s basically just Terry jamming on a justly intoned piano (as opposed to the more common equal tempered piano), but there’s a real shape to his compositions. He uses repetitive, Glass like structures, but his jazz background makes them super emotional. And when he hits those justly intoned chords, my heart starts to hurt.

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Just imported all the posts from my first blog, The Hippodrome, which will soon be down. It’s funny to ready back on these posts. But I’ll pat myself on the back and realize that I pointed out some amazing and now famous bands before almost anyone else had. For instance, read my Passion Pit post. Or Boy Crisis. Or MOMS and Women. Lots of nepotism here but whatever.

Anyway more updates are coming more regularly now that I’ve graduated. This colorful Corgi has brightened my mood five times in the last two days:

Here are some my least favorite phrases that I read all the time in music reviews:

the obvious:

• genre bending
• unclassifiable
• %meets%meets%meets%meets
• if%had a child with%and was raised by%
• conjures up
• walks a line

a little more subtle a little more annoying:

• sophomore effort
• tribal drumming
• this outfit
• brooklyn
• monumental, ground-breaking, hypnotic, sublime

My friend Ben Weisgall* showed me The Temptations video of “Get Ready” last night. I hadn’t had much experience — just knew “My Girl” and a few other classics.  But this really blew me away. I think it’s the best song I’ve heard in weeks. The chorus will make you lick your own lips:

*A little about Ben: Ben is an average to tall guy. He’s interested in a lot of different things, but likes music, making pizza, building things, and reading various books. Ben grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, but is known for traveling the coast in search of friends, food, and the occasional magic show.

I’ve been trying to lately to get into  Ween’s “Pure Guava.” Here’s what my friend and Ween afficianado Max* thinks. This is actually one of the best guides to an album I’ve ever read:

Well, you made a good choice with pure guava, my personal favorite.  why you’re having trouble [liking it]? hard to say. lets go through the important tracks to see what you’re missing.

tender situation: classic. state your case, ben, taste the waste.  definitely one of the coolest sounding tracks on the album, a cool grove, what else in the world sounds like it? its actually a legitimately great song i think even if you don’t know that ween is a tongue-in-cheek kind of a band.

the stallion: great lyrics, great melody, great guitar solo. also awesome because its part three of a five part suite about the stallion. yo dude, he’s the staalion.

big jilm and push th’ lil daises are cute and funny i guess, i like em, but i can understand why they dont have mass appeal.  big jilm is just funny because, you know, thats like how big guys out west/down south who drive pick up trucks and drink beer say jim, like jilm.  biggest-digga-jilm-i-eva-did-see-big-jilm.  if that doesnt make you laugh when he says that i dont know what willl.

going gets tough: not a very interesting song, ween at their most satirical.  what are they satirizing? gay people i guess but its still pretty funny i think.

ok skip to sarah, track 10. seriously man, there aint a damn thing funny about this song.  its so sad and haunting and fucking amazing.  one of my all time favorites.  its so short but its perfect.

spring theme is just a cool groove, thats about it.

flies on my dick, another personal favorite, highly humorous but also that guitar riff is soo nasty. lyrics=key.

skip to loving you through it all:  kind fo in the same vein as sarah, but this time its supposed to be funny.  the chord voicings are tight. real tight.

hey fat boy, more satire, you either are down with their sense of humor or you aint.  can’t fault you for that,

don’t get to close to my fantasy: a real winner. ween at their finest.  well maybe not finest,  but this would be a song that like, best categorizes the band.  tongue-in-cheek lyrics, but the song itself is highly enjoyable beyond that.

poop ship destroyer is just a great groove once again.  ain’t nothin sound like that.

anyways, my only advice would be to pay attention to the lyrics, learn to laugh at your music, and also keep in mind that this shit was just two stoned dudes on a 4 track recorder.

*A little about Max:  Max is a tall guy with a really fast metabolism. His favorite foods are hot dogs, pizza, and beer. He is known among friends as a good guy to talk to about school or leisure activities. He grew up in Cleveland, and would some day like to work for LeBron James.

Yeah, more than seven million have seen this and everyone in the world has heard this song. But I challenge anyone to find a better music video made. Show me one seriously.