Campus Music Invasion 2009

Well, CMI, it's been fun. After spending this entire semester promoting these 16 bands, it's hard not to have a favorite, and also many that I really don't care for, to put it nicely. But I won't talk about the latter today, maybe some other time. I'm actually really glad, though, that I'm a part of this project, because otherwise, I probably would not have discovered The Gin Riots. They are an amazing punk rock band from England, which is probably sort of a cliche by now, but they are sort of in the tradition of The Clash, The Ramones, etc. Their influences also include The Pogues, The Velvet Underground, and The Cure, which automatically gives them a few million bonus points in my book. They have a very upbeat and energetic sound, which is best displayed on the songs, "I Didn't Mean It" or "Polka." They're pretty big in the underground music scene in London, but their popularity hasn't really spread to the U.S. yet. So here comes the sales pitch: go check out their music, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Now if you'll excuse me, there is a spider in my printer that I really have to attend to.

my war on clutter

So after a hellish week of not having internet, all is well again. I had a bit of a "Welcome Back Wireless Connection" celebration, which basically consisted of downloading a whole bunch of shit onto my computer. Mostly music, but also 4 seasons of the Justice League. How awesome was that show, right? :)

Which brings me to my next point: I have decided that I am going to do some spring cleaning for my music collection, which currently stands at 34.13 GB, and 22.39 GB of it has never been listened to! I think I have a problem of keeping too much music I don't like, in hopes that it will grow on me, because some music is like that. I’m especially reluctant to delete bands that receive a lot of hype, since I can’t help but feel that there is something I’m missing that allows everybody except me to appreciate it. But this ends today, or sometime in the near future! So I hereby vow to give a fair listen to the following bands, and if I still don’t like them, to the Recycle Bin they go. Regardless of what all the music critics in the world think.

1) The Decemberists

2) Bright Eyes

3) Arcade Fire

4) Arctic Monkeys

5) Architecture in Helsinki

6) Band of Horses

7) Beirut

8) Au Revoir Simone

9) Black Mountain

10) Broken Social Scene

11) Dinosaur Jr.

12) Drive-By Truckers

13) Eels

14) The Flaming Lips

15) Hot Hot Heat

16) Husker Du

17) Metric

18) The Residents

19) Sonic Youth

20) The Soviettes

21) Sunny Day Real Estate

22) Tunng

23) The Unicorns

24) Vampire Weekend

Was that necessary, enumerating all of them? I’m sure you don’t think so. Admittedly, when I started, I didn’t think it would be such a long list. If I legitimately obtained all my music, I’d be pretty unnecessarily broke.

an indie music movie soundtrack

Looking at my past posts, I think I've been using the word "love " a lot. I mean it 100% though, always. For instance, I love it when books I...love...get turned into movies. Or more accurately, I'm initially excited. I suppose I don't always love the end result nearly so much. For example, EVERY DR. SEUSS BOOK SO FAR that has been made into a live action movie has thoroughly creeped me out (Jim Carrey as the Grinch?). And Coraline was sort of disappointing too. It was really beautiful, but too kid-oriented. Yes, I know it was a kids' book, but that's no excuse, and if you read the book, you'd understand. SO A QUICK AND SLIGHTLY OFF-TOPIC THING, I just discovered that in 1970, a movie version of The Phantom Tollbooth was released, and I am absolutely going to watch it, and it should be amazing. But the actual point of this was, Where the Wild Things Are is coming out in theatres later this year(!). Maybe you've seen the trailer? It features an Arcade Fire song, "Wake Up." This is apparently a big deal in the music world. I'm not a big Arcade Fire fan myself, but I do love it when movies feature indie musicians in their soundtracks. I never understood people who like keeping really great bands to themselves. Like all those hipsters who got upset when Garden State came out, and all of a sudden mainstream America loved The Shins. I think it's fantastic when a band I like succeeds, because they absolutely deserve it, and I think it's pretty immature and selfish to want to deny them that just so I can have an unwarranted sense of superiority. I really despise indie kids sometimes, and I don't by any means consider myself to be one. I don't even like Animal Collective, which is basically the indie community's prodigy this year, right? But despite all this, here is my--you've been waiting for this since you read the title of this post--indie music movie soundtrack. It's not perfect, but I actually chose it myself instead of falling to the temptation of setting iTunes on shuffle. Which produces some pretty fun results, but I guess that's for another time.

Opening Credits: Rilo Kiley - "A Better Son/Daughter"

Car Chase: Stars - "Soft Revolution"

Love Scene: Stars - "My Favourite Book"

Ending Credits: Dizzy Balloon - "Young Love"/Badly Drawn Boy - "Four Leaf Clover"

That was pretty fun. I'd like to have a job where I can just sit at a conference table and talk about music I like. I could make movie soundtracks, or choose songs for Rock Band. "I LIKE THIS SONG," or "FALL OUT BOY IS LAME, AND NOT IN A COOL NOSTALGIC WAY BECAUSE THEY'RE FAIRLY RECENT." Maybe I'll go make up some business cards offering my services as a Music Consultant. No, I probably won't. I just Googled it, and the title is already taken for a less-cool job.

here are some things I love (and some I don't)

I love the smell of spring, living in California, and daylight savings. And days like today make me wish I knew San Jose like the back of my hand, i.e. where all the cool restaurants and cafes and really chic boutiques are. My actual hometown is so incredibly suburban, and it's simply not a fun way to spend an afternoon, choosing whether to sit at this Starbucks or that one, or maybe try something really offbeat like going to Peet's instead. Really.

Springtime even makes reading Virginia Woolf enjoyable. But for fairness's sake, I can't tell if it's the good weather or the actual literature. I think after having to read Gertrude Stein (only 3 pages of it!), anything is a blast. Reading "Tender Buttons" absolutely made me want to cry; it was so frustrating and nonsensical, and I even Googled "How to read Gertrude Stein," but it didn't really yield anything that helpful. If you're ever feeling particularly masochistic, go check it out.

I LOVE STARS.

Stars receives a disproportionate amount of the total plays I have "scrobbled" on Last.fm, approximately twice as many as any other given band. Yes, more than The Beatles, more than Queen, more than Blondie, more than anything else I've so far professed to love. I saw them live at the Fillmore this year, and it was an absolutely amazing night. I think Stars is the perfect music for young people because it's so romantic and dreamy, and it makes you want to stay that way too, instead of falling into cynicism or practicality as so many people do. They sing about love, and heartbreak, and revolution, and they do it so sincerely, which I think is hard to find in music now, when everyone's trying to look so detached and ironic. I believe that the music you listen to definitely has an impact on who you become, and I don't want to become jaded and tired of life, so this is what I choose to listen to. Maybe it won't have this effect on you, but I really wish everybody liked Stars as much as I do. It might even make the world a better place. My favorite album is "In Our Bedroom After the War," but "Set Yourself On Fire" is a close second. I would absolutely recommend these two albums to anyone.

Live Nation Entertainment?

Many people are (quite reasonably) upset over the recent news concerning the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger. I count myself a member of this group, and there are so many reasons why you should too. If the merger should happen, it would eliminate virtually all competition in the ticketing industry, and essentially give one company total control over almost all ticketing for major artists and venues in the U.S. I know everyone always panics about mergers, but trust me, this one is really worth panicking about. The ticketing industry has been nearly monopolized by Ticketmaster until Live Nation created a ticketing service, and now that these two entertainment giants are being all buddy-buddy, it means bad news for concertgoers. Ticketmaster and Live Nation have been ripping us off for years with their ridiculous "convenience fees," which sometimes cost as much as the concert ticket itself. But the new plan may be to sell tickets on a secondary market instead of a primary market, meaning that rather than selling tickets for a fixed price, ticketing will operate auction-style. As a college student, I dread the day this happens. I don't expect to be earning much for at least the next couple years, and the elimination of fixed-price ticketing virtually wipes out my chances of seeing any big-name artists. I can't even cling to the hope that if my internet connection is fast enough, I will be able to secure those coveted tickets, because now I won't stand a chance against those enviable People With Disposable Income. I know the secondary ticket market already exists in the form of Craigslist and scalpers, and some people think it won't be a big deal because it's something we've all had to live with, but I think this is a poor argument in favor of the merger. Live Nation Entertainment could make the majority of ticketing happen in their own secondary market, allowing them to scoop up the surplus previously enjoyed by other companies or private assholes. Oops, I mean sellers. Private sellers, sorry. The upside is that tickets for the more obscure artists may be cheaper than they currently are, but it's a small consolation. While this new ticketing option would eliminate shortages, it really puts many concertgoers at an unfair disadvantage by essentially taking away their privilege to see some really great live shows.

Wanted: Tickets to Coachella

Thinking about summer music festivals always makes me sad because I never get to go, for some reason or another. There's the obvious geographic problem, i.e. what is there worth going to in Northern California? But Coachella (in SoCal), on the other hand. Look at the headliners. Paul McCartney, The Killers, and The Cure, which are right up my lane. Although I tend to view Paul McCartney less as an independent artist and more as a former Beatle. I can't help it. Unlike, say, Dave Grohl, I don't think Paul's solo career will ever overcome the fact that he was one a part of Something Really Big. This week I was supposed to decide which summer music festival I would most want to attend, and for a bit, I was sort of torn between Coachella and Bonnaroo. I think there were maybe three deciding factors. One: I don't really want to go to Tennessee. It's completely not worth the long and expensive flight, made all the more unbearable by the inevitable five-hour stop in Denver, Colorado, or somewhere equally not-my-destination. And Two (see Exhibit A): Bonnaroo does not have The Cure, now does it? It almost makes up for this serious flaw by having Bruce Springsteen, who I've been dying to see live if only my wallet could take it. But I don't love Bruce Springsteen anywhere near as much as I love Robert Smith, who I have a somewhat irrational crush on. Irrational because he's 30 years older, not to mention married. But he's brilliant, and witty, and I imagine he would be a great conversationalist. And Three: the other headliners for Bonnaroo are kind of lame, in my opinion. I would so much rather see Paul McCartney and The Killers than Phish and the Beastie Boys. So it's decided. Now if only I had tickets. And a way to miss class for a couple days without getting screwed. Seriously, whose idea was it to have mandatory attendance for college classes? I thought they weren't supposed to be babysitting us, so what gives?

Exhibit A: