Hard Like Algebra

Around and about the fall of 2001, I subscribed to CMJ New Music Monthly, based on two things that I knew to be true:

1. The first issue I ever got, back in December 1994, contained a compilation that I still rank as one of the best, if not the best, compilations ever.
2. The issue I got before deciding to subscribe also kicked a ton of ass, introducing me to a lot of singles (including a Marilyn Manson song I actually liked, and “Weekend,” by the Black-Eyed Peas, pre-hype) and bands I thought that perhaps I might want to check out further.

I kept my subscription for a while but eventually felt like the samplers–the biggest reason I subscribed at all–were increasingly off the mark for me.

This is a long way of saying that all the way back when, I discovered a great song called “Lines in the Suit,” by a band no one really seemed to know named Spoon. I loved the way the guy sang–almost talky, a bit raspy–and somehow the weird tromp-glomp of the guitar-drums-and-sometimes-piano stuck in my brain. I started including it on mix CDs left and right, and Girls Can Tell was one of those albums that I would watch for whenever I browsed at record shops. Eventually, when the next album came out and everyone was very very Spoon-smitten, finding their albums became easier, but I never bought any of them, for some reason.

Soon my lack of Spoon become comical–almost embarrassing. Here was a band that was seemingly adored by every critic, and even some of my internet pals(still a new thing to have just a few years ago). Their album covers (especially for Gimme Fiction) seemed nearly ubiquitous in all the publications I read, and even most record stores (note to self: figure out who their publicist is if I ever want to “make it big”). My lack of (much) caring about the fact that their intriguing singer (named Britt. Britt!) lived in my new home of Portland was odd, too.

By the time 2007 was coming to a close, it was clear that Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was another critical success, and I had, predictably, been intrigued to the point of curiosity but not to the point of purchasing. I also had decided that no, I wanted to be all chronological about it, and get the album I should have gotten years before, start with that awesome song “Lines in the Suit,” and work forward. No, I would not bow down to (Ga)5–I would experience it all in order, diligently, methodically.

And then my girlfriend got way into that song “The Underdog,” I started hearing it on the radio, and it was great, in all its Billy-Joel-but-fresh sounding glory.

So, yesterday, I gave up. I used a bunch of eMusic downloads, downloaded both Cinco Ga’s* and Girls Can Tell, and I plan to enroll in Spoon School. So far Ga was too much for a post nature-walking day, but “Lines in the Suit” was still crispy as just poured cereal wth lyrics like “It could have been good by now–it could have been more than a wage, yeah” and that repeated use of “At such a tender age now.”

Brilliant stuff.

*I know I know, it’s just too much fun.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

***

Related:

Video for “The Underdog”

Britt Daniel so totally sings “Veronica,” on Veronica Mars

So, for a while now I’ve been referring to my “Big Three” of favorite bands: The Hold Steady, The Mountain Goats, and Wilco.

I think it’s safe to say I narrowed it down to one.

Darnielle and the boys had so much fun.

It should go without saying that we did, too.

Sleep now. More later.

According to a recent Seattle Weekly article, in November Google VP Sukhinder Singh Cassidy “predicted that by the year 2015, a storage device the size of an iPod will be able to hold 4 terabytes. In seven years, every song ever recorded in the world will fit in our pockets.”

Now, this doesn’t say “and that will totally be an affordable device for the typical consumer,” but then again, it’s also possible that we’re going to be all Shadowrun-ned up with chips in our head. For perspective, keep in mind that blogs as a phenomenon (rather than just a sort of niche market) didn’t exist seven years ago.

The article goes on to talk about a few things, such as:

–having a ton of choice leads to being dissatisfied (sort of a grass is greener approach — if you could torrent a new yard)

–this glut will lead to a transition from actively choosing to just picking from what’s readily available, and

–this leads to an over-reliance on filters (top 40 lists, trusted music sites, social network sites) to give leads on what to choose (or pick).

The writer even astutely notes, “I now find myself getting bored, even in the middle of songs, because I can.”

What’s really intriguing for me, though, is this idea that too much choice still means too much. I’m taking the Buddhist precepts in a few weeks, and a lot of the success I’ve had stemming from this interest has come from trying to live in the present moment. I think that’s probably what a good song and a good show and a good “____” does to me, too–puts me in the present moment.

So how does a big old music fan discover what really, truly moves them, when the choices are vast, attainable, and ultimately producing a feeling that “this is pretty good but I bet if I just keep looking….” It’s thrift store shopping without the physical objects, and in that way, something is lost.

To me this is intriguing in that it reflects how much technology continues to drive music listening. This has been true pretty much since recorded music began, from format (such as how CD’s led to more album filler, or how downloading has moved folks back to singles) to players (quality shifts as radio moved from tinny AM radios to better, FM radios). As each shift takes place, you’ll have people (Luddites? Rabble rousers? Grumps?) that bemoan the change, wonder what we’ve done, on and on. Hell, one of my best friends loves cassette tapes, frequently scours eBay for the best walkman models, and will defend passionately the superiority of the medium.

Tapes were also the first medium I used as a young music fan, and then CD’s. But still, the vinyl albums I really listened to in college have stuck with me because of the fact that I wasn’t about to skip tracks, and because of the ease in which I’d play the same album side over and over. It takes some concentration these days to make sure that I make it to the end of any album I download — and that even means that sometimes i go see “favorite artists” play and realize that what I thought was a “great album” was really “a great first five songs, and sometimes I’d hear the rest,” or, even more accurately, “a great x minutes of songs, where x is the amount of time it takes to get to work in the morning.”

One of the guys over at Yelling About Music wrote quite an amazing post* that relates to all of this, about his music purchasing. For him, the availability of music in general has made his disposable income purchases of music nearly, well, disposable (I say nearly because, like many music fans, he can’t quite get himself to get rid of previously favorite discs).

I have been buying albums more in the last year. Like, vinyl. I love it. I love the huge album jackets, the artwork, the heft. I love that there’s no way that the sound is coming thru my computer (even though it is actually coming thru one tin(n)y built-in speaker), that it’s a conscious decision to put on Last Light again, or Tupelo Honey, or Get Lonely. I think it also makes me appreciate these albums more than the ones that I download from eMusic or Bittorrent; I think I love that part, too.

And yes, I love that the labels caught on…and they finally are including codes for downloading mp3’s of the same vinyl albums, in the packaging.

After all, I still can’t fit a record in my pocket.

*Seriously, “Harry,” I wish I knew how to contact you to tell you how well this was written.

There are many shows coming up in my life, and today I found out that Iron & Wine (well, just Sam Beam) is playing at Wheaton College the night I fly in to Chicago. For those keeping track at home:

feb 15 iron & wine (wheaton, il)
feb 16 wilco (chicago)
feb 17 is my 30th birthday wtf
feb 18 st. vincent (back in portland)
feb 19 mountain goats album and vampire weekend vinyl are released
feb 25 mountain goats
feb 26 mountain goats
mar 25 vampire weekend (my new band crush)

Helluva time for music.

Related awesome forum post of the day:

So is Iron and Wine a Christian band or something?

***

I lost my weird misplaced integrity by downloading the new Mountain Goats album. I tried to not listen to it until I could listen to it all in one sitting but that’s really hard shit to do, yknow? Really hard shit. And now I am getting sick and I’m not gonna lie: if I have to take sick days it’s gonna be all about me, an asthma inhaler, and Heretic Pride over and over and over.

***

It makes me really happy to know that Adam Voith is responsible for booking the Mountain Goats.