Ironic Twist
seeking irony, because sarcasm clashes with my outfit
Thursday, November 17, 2005 :::
The Washington Post's Nightlife Agenda calls The Hard Tomorrows "D.C.'s own version of Death Cab For Cutie." That makes me happy. The band was really good when I saw them Saturday night, and I wish they'd played a longer set, but they weren't headlining. They played with five musicians instead of four, and the keys on "Put Yourself Out" were a welcome variation. The new songs sounded good -- can't wait to hear the recorded versions. I didn't want to interrupt the dancers up front to take pictures, but Ms. lauriebot took a break from dancing to snap a few.
I didn't go see Love Is All last night. I wanted to, but instead I watched The O.C. (a good episode, if a bit too meta) and fell asleep really early.
Morning commute music: Lady Sovereign, Vertically Challenged EP.
This eight-song EP contains "Random" and "Ch-Ching (Cheque 1, 2 Remix)" -- the latter was on the grime compilation Run the Road -- two songs I'd heard before, plus "Fiddle With the Volume," "A Little bit of SHHH," "The Battle" and some remixes, including one by Adrock. I really like Lady Sovereign, and I have a feeling I'll be listening to this EP a lot. She's clever and has a cool voice and a unique delivery and a lot of the beats are really catchy, reminding me of something Timbaland would lay down for Missy Elliott. Not all of songs here are as dance-party-friendly as her previous single, "9 to 5" (which Pitchfork called "de-grimed, de-rapified, toothless pap") but every song is worth multiple listens.
I'm really looking forward to the weekend (except for the part where I descend back into lilac-colored hell for more bridesmaids' dress shopping) because a) there's bluestate at the Black Cat and b) I'm going to go see Walk the Line. Did anyone else see the tribute concert on Wednesday? I'm still trying to get over Sheryl Crow's unrepentant slaughter of "Ring of Fire." After that, I really couldn't enjoy the rest of the show because I knew everything would just sound good by comparison.
Question of the day: do I want to go see Love Is All at DC 9 tonight? I know, I know, how could I not go see a buzz band from Sweden? There's a lot of hype, of course, which is sort of a turn-off, but I also happen to like what I've heard. On the other hand, I might be on the verge of getting sick, and I really want to stay in and watch The O.C. and go to bed early. And I can't just stop by the show for Love Is All's set, because it's going to sell out, so if I don't get there early enough to see all of the bands, I'm not going to get in. It's a tough decision.
Speaking of The O.C., my mother told me there's some sort of controversy surrounding last week's episode, but she didn't have time to tell me what it is before she had to go to a meeting. Anyone know?
Wednesday, November 16, 2005 :::
Information Leafblower's third annual Top 40 Bands in America Today is now posted. Go forth and argue in his comments.
I nominated Kelly Clarkson, We Are Scientists, Kanye West, Giant Drag, Fiona Apple, Scissor Sisters, Gwen Stefani, Green Day, Trent Reznor and The Gossip. Most of them actually made it into the Top 40. I'm not sure how I decided which musicians to nominate. I think it was mostly a combination of popular bands that I couldn't avoid (but didn't mind having to hear on the radio all the time) and up-and-coming indie bands that really impressed me with their live shows.
When I told my brother that I was working on this list, we got into an argument about how no one is really qualified to make a judgement about the best of anything because no music blogger has heard every band and album in America right now. True, there are probably many, many great bands that I've never heard of, but I don't think that's the point of the list. In fact, I think a large part of the point is that the list includes musicians most people have heard of. To me, part of being a top musician is getting your music out there, whether it's on pop radio, Internet radio, music blogs, etc. If your music is good (and you know how to promote it), in most cases it will eventually be heard in more places than one music blog, or one Internet radio station, or in the venues of your hometown. Sorry, but if you're the best band in America and a large segment of America's most-read* music nerdsbloggers nerds just haven't heard of you yet, you're not one of the best bands in America.
And while my nominations will seem fairly mainstream and obvious, I started out with a much longer list and cut bands that I think are great but could be greater by next year's list, or bands that I just haven't been listening to as much this year. (It didn't help that I've spent most of 2005 listening to Scandi-pop.) I'm fairly certain that some of the other bloggers chose to nominate bands that you (and I) have never heard of. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when Kyle will post the entire list of nominees.
* I'm not claiming to be one of America's most-read music nerds. I'm talking about everyone else who nominated bands and gets much more traffic than I do. I'm just a plain old music nerd.
Morning commute music: Franz Ferdinand bonus CD, which contains the B-sides from the "Do You Want To" singles, parts 1 and 2: "Your Diary," "Fabulously Lazy" and an acoustic version of "What You Meant."
I got this CD last night when I was dropping off bluestateflyers at Revolution Records. It comes with a You Could Have It So Much Better purchase, and it's a nice bonus. If you haven't picked up your copy of the album yet, "Your Diary" makes it worth going to Revolution Records for the album and bonus CD. I didn't buy the Franz Ferdinand album last night, but Nayan gave it to me anyway because I'm at the store all the time buying other albums. One thing I haven't done yet is go to one of their in-store performances, which I really have to do. Nayan explained that they move all of the CD racks out of the back room to create a fairly large performance space that holds about 40-50 people. Some of the musicians play as a warm-up before their performance at a club later that evening, while for others the in-store is a good way to play in front of an audience without worrying about being able to fill even a small club. So, if you're a musician and want to play at Revolution Records, go to the site and get in touch with Nayan about booking. Aside from creating a performance space in the store, they're also making available snacks and drinks of the non-alcoholic variety, although they're looking into getting a liquor license that will allow them to sell drinks during the performances. How cool is that? Record store/concert venue/bar. Very cool.
Nayan's band, Gist, just released their new record Diesel City on Red Stapler Records, with a release party coming up over Thanksgiving weekend. I've seen Gist twice now, once at a DCist Katrina benefit and once at Velvet Lounge a few weeks ago, and they rock really hard. I love watching their bassist, because he plays like there's no tomorrow. I can't think of a band to compare them to, so I'll just say that if they weren't on their own label, they'd be on Dischord. It's not always catchy or melodious enough to keep me 100% into it, but it's interesting enough to keep me interested, if that makes sense. Check out a song from the new album:
01/05: Taint and Bliss present INFAMY, 9:30 Club
01/10: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton, 9:30 Club
01/19: Benjy Ferree, Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, Greenland, Black Cat 01/24: Hej Hej, Cafe Saint-Ex
I got this CD last night when I was dropping off bluestate 
Nayan's band, 
