Sunday, June 19, 2005

Ramble Tamble

It's been a little while since I've posted last, so I'll do another rambling post just to meet my quota.

Oh and thanks to CCR for the title of this post. That's my favorite Fogerty song.

First, let me respond to basically everything Cory has talked about it the last month or so. I finally got around to picking up the Bloc Party album. With as much hype as I have been bombarded with concerning this album, I feel it is my duty to like it.....and I do. I may not be quite as nuts as Cory about it, but it's still a very solid debut. It's so very not complex, and that's okay. With all the complex music I love, it's always very comforting to have something I don't have to concentrate on as I listen to it. That's not a barb. I really do like it. The one thing that is hard for me to get over is the dude's voice. It reminds me so much of when I was in high school and British comedy was my obsession.....shows like Red Dwarf and the Young Ones. Of course I'm much smarter now. Okay.....Bloc Party gets the Sunless Suitcase seal of approval. Nice work, Cory!

I need to say happy anniversary to John and Heather. One year ago today. Hooray!! I guess in John's case it would be a "ham"iversary.

I have to talk about the new Coldplay really quickly. I'm really confused by it. I'm not digging it as much as I should. It's great, don't get me wrong, but I'm not as crazy about it as "A Rush of Blood to the Head." I can't figure out if it just isn't as strong an album as the last, or if I'm just in the wrong mindset to be listening to Coldplay. I just don't know. Maybe it's just that it just kind of squeezed into this long stream of great new albums and it just isn't like the others I've been buying. I don't know. Somebody else tell me. Help!!

Has anybody seen this show Animal X on Animal Planet? Definitely the most unintentionally funny show on television at this moment. It's a show about cryptozoology, something I'm very interested in. However, this show is so over the top that it's difficult to take it seriously. First, the host is biggest ball of cheese I've seen since I first time I saw a Ronco infomercial. He never leaves the studio and lets his younger cronies do all the work (a la Marlin Perkins). He's just ridiculous. Second, the two little field reporters are a couple of the worst scientists I've ever seen. I love how they constantly jump to conclusions, then they actually have to tell themselves to stop jumping to conclusions. Here's an example from their bigfoot hunt in timeline format:
-They set up a bunch of different types of cameras in the woods (infrared, motion detector).
-They hear a howl....and of course they say it's bigfoot.
-A camera catches some animal drinking from the water.....they think it's bigfoot because it's HUGE!
-They try to recreate the camera shot and determine it's actually an armadillo.
-Obviously embarrassed to mix up a bigfoot (7 ft. tall) and an armadillo (2 ft. long), they decide to not jump to anymore conclusions.
-As they are packing up, the girl sees something brown run off into the woods nearby. She says she thought it was bigfoot. That's science!

Have you bought your Sufjan Stevens yet? Well get on it!! He's unreal and becoming a very big obsession of mine right now. In fact, I'm listening to him right now. Just to give you his concept, he's a very talented multi-instrumentalist (24 listed in one album) that wrote an epic album about his home state of Michigan. It got tremendous reviews, so he decided to write an album for every state in the union. Yes, EVERY SINGLE ONE!! His new one is "Illinois." It, like "Michigan," is incredible. Both are basically suites that last well over an hour. Think of it as a folk symphony. If Iron & Wine played a cross between Gershwin and the Peanuts theme, you would have Sufjan Stevens. His music is very complex, layered. It can be difficult to listen to because every song just blends together. You can't just listen to it on the way to work. You have to actually prepare to sit and concentrate for over an hour. It's difficult, but extraordinarily rewarding. It's funny, too, that the concept of this project seems to be like a history lesson. However, the way he writes is more of putting the burden of these people (historical or ordinary) in his heart and letting his mouth tell their stories. It's something truly beautiful and very folksy. Plus he's still got 48 more albums to go in this series!!

Okay, off to bed. I hope that catches everybody up.....on what, I don't know.
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