Monday, May 31, 2004
(1:53 AM) | Anonymous:
The Real Truth About It Is No One Gets it Right
A few posts back, Adam Robinson described himself as being on the middle rung of philosophy. If that is the middle rung, I must be somewhere amongst the dung heap. I mean..if I'm taking a class, where the prof invites questions and hits main points, I can be a leader in that class, and lead discussion of certain books. But, even given that, I can't escape tutelage, which is probably, or probably should be, the ultimate goal of the educational system.I need that person telling me which parts to pay attention too..or what this and that inside reference is. Who know, maybe, as the very cool head of the poli. sci department at YouCock has said, cojones are the most important tool of philosophy. To just step out and assume you understand what MOTHER FREAKING Plato was saying seems crazy to me, but is somehow necessary. Still, I feel like those Amazon Listmania! Lists where they're like "The Republic is a pretty good beginner, even if Socrates whole criticism of Cephalus' idea of justice was so waaaaay totally off man!" I mean..what? This is freaking Plato..and you're an undergrad at like, East Wisconsin University? You're right..you totally grasp him well enough to casually brush aside his work. Anyways, I'm attempting to gain some philosophical confidence, as I think it's probably necessary to think you understand something before you can really understand it.Yet, it's crazy how one can go from glancing over words without understanding, to suddenly having a light turned on. Really. I started reading Slavoj Zizek's "The Ticklish Subject" like..2 months ago. At the time Mr. Kotsko advised me to just keep reading and feel no mercy for the stuff that made no sense, rather than, as I was, re-reading pages some 15 times. This made good sense, but eventually i couldn't take it. After reading 50 pages and then realizing I couldn't tell anyone any main points, I decided to start over. I got to about page 30 before I had to quit for a while. So, I read 6 novels in 6 weeks, and now feel back to a point to do philosophy of this sort, though maybe only at a 15 pages a night pace. Which is pretty daunting, considering I watched Kotsko sit on Adam Smith's sucky-cushioned wrap around couch and devour this book within 3 days of receiving it in the mail.
Still, I'm not Adam Kotsko, and I don't have the background he did before reading it. And, really, I sort of enjoy the fact that it took me a while to "get" the language of the book, to where now, I think I'm actually understanding it. It's like how you could simply get online and get a map to get through that part in Zelda: Ocarina Of Time where you have to switch boots 760 times to get through the Water Temple and be done within the hour..or you can spend months throwing controllers and cursing and hating everything around you, being in terrible moods all day because of stupid games and wishing you could die rather than see those stupid iron boots again..but finally defeat it on your own and be euphoric for at least as long as it took you to beat it.
There's something about finally reading a page, and then being able to think "MAN! Heidegger REALLY IS only right about Kant's 'retreat from the abyss of imagination' in so far as Kant is in effect trying to ground imagination in a system of Rational Ideas whose status is noumenal! FOR SERIOUS DUDE!" that is really satisfying, and worth the cursing and headaches that came along with the first weeks spent trying to get familliar enough with the language to understand what's being said.
I like the CD Change post because it allows me to take up space with stuff that otherwise wouldn't be worthy of blog-space under the guise of a pre-cursor to the musical talk. I think this is actually from 3 weeks ago, and I did the one from 2 weeks ago last time. Once we get through these 6, though, there is only last week and this week to go. Then, finally, all will be caught up, and maybe I can get into a routine for the first time in my life.
The Blood Brothers - Burn Piano Island, Burn
I made fun of The Blood Brothers a month and a half ago. Jordan, Johnny, Cody, Mark, Morgan - I apologize, fellas. The thing is..I'd only heard your album once at that time..and then I heard from MTV News or somewhere that you were produced by the guy who did Slipknot and Linkin Park..and I just sort of assumed. I didn't know you had such a history..I didn't know you were skinny white guys not trying to be anything but skinny white guys. I just saw the crazy screaming and associated it instantly with that mound of suck that takes up all the "rock" show hours on MTV2. But then, you got into my car. Then, in spinning Billy Ocean around, you got out of my car, and into my dreams. Hey - Hey - You - You..and all that.
The thing about the Blood Brothers is that every single instrument seems to be playing it's own song. Heck, even the dual screamers seem to be on different pages. And it is chaos. It's ridiculous, yet at the same time there's some sort of brilliant organization to it all. And..there's at least one moment in each song where somehow it all comes together and leaves you in awe wondering "where did that come from?" and it's all the more great for the chaos that spawned it. I still can't call this a favorite CD, as it's still somewhat out of my style range..but in certain moods, on certain days, it's a CD I can love. Even if all the kids who pimp The Blood Brothers pimp them for the wrong reasons, I have to say that the band seems to be doing it for the right ones. I can handle screaming..I just can't handle it when the band obviously sits down before hand and goes, "You know..it'd probably add a lot to the emotion of the song if you could sort of scream this part where you're singing about the pain of losing that girl, and stuff. Or at least like..sort of half-sing/half scream?" This is Creed-esque. This is Saliva-esque. This is an evening at the feelies in a Brave New Suck. Basically, I take any attempt at manufacturing emotions when even the singer doesn't feel them as a bit of a slap in the face.
By contrast, The blood Brothers just scream a lot out of habit, or because they can't really sing well and still want to be a band, because they grew up listening to hardcore, or because it just seems to fit the music amazingly better than singing. Any or all of these may be the real reason, I'm not sure, but it's truth that somehow the spazzy music would suck without the spazzy vocals, but together, they're quite good.
So, it's for stuff like this that I put "questionable" stuff in my car for closer listening. For every 10 Glennwoods or otherwise troublesome CDs I have to put up with for a week, it's worth it all to find out I was wrong about another band.
Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co.
Jason Molina is the man. This is gospel, and everyone knows this by now. Somehow Songs:Ohia seems to perfectly walk the line between country and rock..without becoming Country-Rock or alt. Country. There's not a hint of Cracker or Wilco here really, yet they undeniably draw from the same roots. However, I think this album shows that it's the vocals of Molina himself that make this possible. He seems to feel no need to throw in a country twang, or any other concessions to make even more obvious that he's borrowing some from country tradition. Yet, there is a little bit there, but it'd be there no matter what, even if he were a hardcore singer..it's just how he sings. And I like that - just because you're taking certain instrumentation and riffs from an established style doesn't mean you have to go out of your way to make sure people know this. It's obvious enough as it is.
What made me come to this revelation was the two guest vocal tracks on this cd. Both are very traditional country singers. Lawrence Peters sings on "Old Black Hen"..and he might win a Twang-off with anyone on CMT. And that's cool, but the songs sort of sucks due precisely to the vocals. Laying it on so thick just destroys whatever it is that works here.
On the next track, "Peoria Lunch Box Blues", Scoutt Niblett is on vocals. From what I can tell, she's brittish and a bit like PJ Harvey. The people seem to like this song a lot, but I think that's just because Scoutt has indie cred. galore from being on Secretly Canadian Records with Songs:Ohia...cause..I hate this song. Something about it just drives me through the ground. And it could be perfect if Molina had just ponied up and done the vocals himself.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the way he sings ties it all together, like that rug in The Big Lebowski. Some people call him a knock off of Neil Young, but if I were to get drunk and mope, this would be the kind of music I'd get drunk and mope too. Instead, I just mope to it, which isn't nearly as fun.
Elvis Costello - Mighty Like A Rose
Remember when I ridiculed that guy on Amazon who supposes he can criticize Plato? Well, I'm about to go to hell, as I, with no recordings under my belt, except MC Mirror & Tinsel's ever upcoming album, now tentatively titled "The Circumstances Of Human Communication Made This Argument". am about to critique freakin' Elvis Costello, man.
There seems to be two schools - those who like the earlier 'poppy' Elvis Costello, and those who like the later, 'serious songwriter' Elvis Costello. Like many times before, i've flunked out. Yeah, I think I hate Elvis Costello, but I'm working on it. Admittedly, this is widely regarded as his worst album, so maybe this isn't fair to say. But, I haven't heard much else, even on the Greatest Hits CD I own, to convince me otherwise, even after repeated listenings. Like with Slanted & Enchanted, I seem to have missed whatever it is the world's going crazy about. Don't get me wrong - Elvis has his place. There aren't really any bad songs. In fact, in making a mix tape, I think adding an Elvis Costello song is almost essential to the flow. And I could take any single song, and enjoy it. The trouble comes when 10-20 of these songs are bunched back to back.
It's not the Everclear trouble..where you suddenly realize that they're playing the EXACT same song at a different tempo with different fills (seriously..listen to Santa Monica followed instantly by I Will Buy You A Garden..), the songs aren't really even similar. But somehow, it's like Elvis is reusing the same tricks. The same vocal stylings over and over..or something. It's really hard to explain, but I can't take more than 2-3 songs back to back. It's just that what's cute, or cool, or musically great the first time, somehow loses it's splendor that second and third time, even if it's done in a totally different way. This may be a problem with me personally, and I'll work to correct it if possible, but I'm starting to think..yeesh, can I say this?..Elvis Costello, one of the Godfathers of so-called "Punk" music, is OVER RATED (clap clap clap-clap-clap). At least the comments section should take off. If anyone can help me define whatever my problem is here, or show me how to get past it so I can feel good about myself again, it'd be highly appreciated. Thanks.
The Beatles - Anthology 3 (Disc 1)
The Beatles. The White Album/Abbey Road era Beatles. What am I gonna say here? Seriously. That this much greatness could come out of one group still astounds me, as much as we gloss over it because it's been said so many times before. I heard a guy actually call the Beatles overrated once. What the heck?
I guess all I really noticed from this "demos" cd was that John seemed to have his songs a lot more together before entering the studio for refinement than Paul did. At least, with Paul's songs, most of those defining riffs are missing, and the tempo just seems all wrong, but that's probably just because I like the old versions too much to be objective. John seems to pretty much have everything, and then just adds a few layers for the final versions.
I'm not really sure what that says about the greatest writing duo to ever live..but, it makes me look with scorn on that time back a few years when McCartney was trying to claim he wrote all the songs, and John just tagged along. It also makes me want to believe that song John wrote after the breakup where he said all Paul ever did was Yesterday..Not to side totally with John..but from these demos at least, it seems much more likely that John added more to Paul's songs than Paul added to John. Either way..still..haters step off, the Beatles are great, and just because we all know it doesn't make it any less true.
Camerata Academica des Salzburger Mozarteums f. Geza Anda - Mozart: Piano Concertos 13, 15 & 17
Yay for Mozart! Yay! Yay! It's really good, and pretty, and yay! for classical. Gosh..I wish I knew more about this stuff. 8 small paragraphs about it shouldn't be enough for me to run out of anything to say about freaking Wolfgang Amadeus. But, really, after tapping out with that Magical Piano reference last time..I got nothin. Has anyone seen that movie though? It was really good. I'm thinking possible UWC joint-viewing? Not really..but, have we ever thought of talking about a movie on the UWC? is that as stupid as it sounds to me?
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - Perpetual Motion
I thought the idea of classical music re-cast from a folk/Bela perspective wouldn't work. Either it'd sound to similar, or too distinctly like folk music where you couldn't tell where it'd come from anyway. In a bit of a running gag - I was wrong again. Somehow the two meet in a very pretty way and show that the greatness of classical music can stretch across any instrumentation..so take that all you nay-sayers who claim that only works done with the original instrumentation are worth your while. Bela just took your preconceived notions and stuffed them up his own rear, not as a pleasure device, or a plug, but merely as the most convenient mixing point for the amazing stuff he craps out on a daily basis to coheed and cambriate with. And so, though you think it may smell or be too messy to be of any worth, it actually manages to be beautiful and odorless - as the product that went in was pure natural goodness, and thus what came out was the same. And, using this natural outtake, Bela fertilizes the flower bed of Righteousness (in the Bill & Ted sense), and sprouts little flowers of great, good, and totally tubular.
Is that..I mean..does that even still count as analogy when it just gets that messed up? I hope so.
In summary: This week wasn't that thrilling. It was great music, but not widely of the type that can span a great deal of conversation, a lot of cliche discs, what with Bela, Mozart and The Beatles. Elvis Costello would have been another one if I weren't such a wanker. Last week's (which is the next one to go) was probably one of the best weeks in a while, so I look forward to writing that tomorrow. If nothing else, maybe I've given you some stuff to read, and given Adam free reign to post some of that stuff I'm sure he's been archiving the past few days without feeling that he's posting to frequently. Which he isn't. And any who think he is, I despise you for keeping me from great stuff to read while wasting time, or seeking to further my education. Nyah!
Nyah, Nyah, Nyah!
