and still, the randomness

[edison]

(that said, yeah, that album title could have used some checking)

[Good Intentions]

Oh lawdy lawdy, I just saw Loutallica's performance of White Light/White Heat on Jools Holland, via LPTJ correspondent d_p.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PSQAvA64mss

Are they... are they for real? Like, Lars isn't even on the beat for the first half.

[Good Intentions]

That 'Iced Honey' track of theirs isn't as mind-warpingly turgid as that and 'Lulu', though Lars still can't fucking drum.

[Trousers and Pat]

what do you think we can infer about a given Fall album based on how ugly the cover is and the point to which the title seems completely tossed-off?

[Good Intentions]

Exactly zero. Though I'm quite fond of how Fall album titles play off of a feature of English where it doesn't have productive rules for handling noun-noun compounds (Bingo-Master Breakout, Hex Induction Hour, Imperial Wax Solvent, etc.). Notwithstanding the lack of rules, this type of compound is really popular in a certain type of writing, especially news headlines, but out of context they're entirely opaque. MES hasn't gotten tired of their effect even after 30 years.

The covers are simply butt-ugly, though.

[edison]

The new butt-ugly album is on its way to France as we speak  (It's apparently out early in a number of British record stores). I really like Ersatz GB as a title, I think it sounds very good - you can hear Smith mischeviously chewing into the word as you read it.

[auto-da-fey]

how did you guys argue over the lyrics for "Radio Free Europe" on the last page, I thought Stipe himself acknowledged that the song doesn't even have real lyrics?

[davy]

Well, but wait a goddamn minute. We need to define what a single is if we're to have this conversation. For example, if davy's assertion that Pavement's first single was "Box Elder" is going to stand, then "Transmission" is Joy Division's second single, because it was predated by the four-song 7 inch EP An Ideal For Living. My logic here is the fact that "Box Elder" is actually track two from a 5 song 7 inch EP called Slay Tracks 1933-1969. So if "Box Elder" is a single, then Joy Division's first single was "Warsaw." But if "Transmission" is Joy Division's first single, then Pavement's first single is "Summer Babe," which wasn't released until they'd already released two 7 inch EPs and a 10 inch EP. To my mind, talking about where a group was at the time of their first single implies that the very first thing they ever released was brilliant. But when their first single was their fourth release and their 18th song overall, that implication is pretty incorrect. Hell, it's even incorrect in the case of Joy Division, since An Ideal For Living predated the "Transmission" single by over a year, and hell, even Unknown Pleasures predates it by 6 months.

So yeah, I mean, not to rain on anybody's parade here, but: the importance of defining your terms. You know? I'm just sayin.

I meant to say 7" dude, calm down.

I was working under the "first thing released by band" assumption.

[Nick Ink]

Oh lawdy lawdy, I just saw Loutallica's performance of White Light/White Heat on Jools Holland, via LPTJ correspondent d_p.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PSQAvA64mss

Are they... are they for real? Like, Lars isn't even on the beat for the first half.

I don't know anything about that band at all, but as a Velvet Underground fan, that's tough, tough viewing. I made it about a minute through.

[fishjim]

how did you guys argue over the lyrics for "Radio Free Europe" on the last page, I thought Stipe himself acknowledged that the song doesn't even have real lyrics?

What does Stipe mean by that? He's singing words, and if you listen hard, you hear them.

This transcription seems fair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Usfgs_tQ-w

Though I grant he could probably have sung, "Radio has no borders Radio has no borders Radio has no borders" and I'd have thought the words were awesome.

[auto-da-fey]

I was always under the impression that the syllables were deliberately soft and, well, murmured so as to leave a lot of ambiguity, and I know he changed them up/slurred sweet nothings in concerts just to keep that glaze overlaid. Even on that youtube clip, the poster annotates, "Honestly, the lyrics that I found don't sound like what he is saying so I tried to piece it out from a mixture between what it sounds like he's singing and lyrics on the web. It's not supposed to make any sense..."

another example would be "Sitting Still"--I remember pre-internet debates over what in the hell he was saying "up to par" and ....???

at the same time, I obviously prefer it this way. REM is in contention for my favorite band of all time and I've never bothered to google the lyrics and try to pin them down because, I mean, I don't want to know that "Perfect Circle" is about Bill Berry's dog or something. I find the sense of mystery that swirls about these songs absolutely lovely.

[Lucy]

My dad just summed up my musical childhood better than I ever could:

 me:  how are you?
dad:  There were 8 piggies in a row
Now playing
 me:  awesome
 Peter:  To 2 sleeping boys in my car
Now, Genius of Love

[jm]

sometimes I think Quasi's Fuck Hollywood could have been the secret track on Keep It Like a Secret.

[Nick Ink]

[peacocks]

what if you like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, making love at midnight on the dunes of the cape, the taste of champagne, and have more than half a brain but you are also into yoga and health food?

[davy]

I surprised my girlfriend with this last week!


(This was on the front door.)


(This was in the living room!)

(First person to make a snide remark about She & Him loses! I had "The Christmas Waltz" playing and was pouring her a seasonal spiced ale when she came through the door. She got tears in her eyes. It was awesome. She's never had a record player before, but she's wanted one for years. I had such a good time collecting a starter collection for her, featuring lots of stuff she loves. Besides the She & Him record, I got Jens Lekman's new EP, and then a slew of used records, like the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, a couple of Hall & Oates albums, some Hungarian classical music, an album featuring themes from Elizabeth Taylor movies, etc...)

[Ashley]

that is so cute i could puke

daw

[edison]

Yeah, this is really awesome!

[fishjim]

Awwwwwwwwwwwww

[Nick Ink]

I think you did very well there davy.

[peacocks]

god dammit davy. You are too precious for words. She better cherish you right down to your toes.

[merrittfan]

Whoa, davy, I totally would date you for that setup.  She's a lucky lady, hope she knows that.

[auto-da-fey]

random: was browsing old vinyl at the Philadelphia Record Exchange today, and I thought I recognized the band that was playing on the system but couldn't quite place it. finally I got it, and was all, "hey, is this the Strapping Fieldhands?" dude behind the counter said, "yeah, it's our new stuff."

I guess it makes sense that that's how the pieces of the world would fit together, but I was still kinda  for a second. He didn't seem all that impressed that I'd correctly identified his fairly-deeply-unknown band, but who knows, maybe it happens all the time. I told him my buying-In-the-Pineys-back-in-1995 story anyway.

So, the new stuff hasn't come out yet, but it's really good--guess it drops around January. I'll totally buy it.

[auto-da-fey]

also, yeah, that's a great gift scenario, davy. my lady got me a record player for my birthday last year--I hadn't had a working one in about a decade, thanks to all the moving I do--and it was so sweet I got tears in my eyes too.


her birthday's soon and I just bought her a pegging kit, but diff't dtrokes for diff't folks, that's what she wants. seven-inches of other sorts and all . . .

[peacocks]

I still talk about the feel-do all the time because of this here lptj. hooray for awesome boyfriends who give their girlfriends what they want!