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Friday, January 4, 2008

The Highly Ignorant Year in Music
[tws]

I'll be the first to tell you that 2007 was a year that I spent considerably little time waiting anxiously for new music to emerge hot off the presses. I augmented my vinyl collection like no other this year (related post with bad news coming soon). That isn't to say that music isn't at a bad place right now, its just in a vortex of oversaturation. There are not enough hours in the day to sit back and absorb even just the "best new music" column on Pitchfork. My favorites from this year, both in singles and in albums, are a scattershot but highly likeable mix of left-field hits and pleasant surprises.

ALBUM

I don't have a favorite album of 2007. I did way too little footwork with actually sitting down and taking in an entire LP from start to finish, at least as far ast 2007 went. There were a couple that did stand out for me, given my oversight of what many critics jacked off this year (Sound of Silver? Strawberry Jam?).

One album that did very pleasantly surprise me this year was Ash's apparently final studio full-length Twilight of the Innocents. Ash has been one of my favorite bands since I was about 13, and their previous album Meltdown was a misstep in the classic Sandinista!-style misstep. I defended the band against their dud in my college's art magazine, and surely enough three years later they swung right around (sans the ridiculously talented Charlotte Hatherley- more on her later) and delivered the power pop that Tim Wheeler is capable of. "Blacklisted" and "Polaris" are included on this playlist.

For those of you who know me and my weird music tastes, you may say that I like my music noisy and I like it Scottish, usually not in that order. One of the most ear-numbingly good shows I saw this year was The Twilight Sad. They're incredibly noisy and incredibly Scottish, and their album Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters delivers, complete with beautiful 50's retro-packaging. Frontman James Graham doesn't even try to hide his thick accent. Righteous! I've included one of the songs on there among my best singles of the year, so look below.

I also really liked the Dinosaur Jr reunion album Beyond. It was actually so good, I think they've avoided the "nostalgia act" label entirely that people were afraid would follow J, Lou, and Murph into this new millenium. Their late-80's heyday isn't even necessarily a heyday, considering how they're still incredibly relevant, given how solid this record is. Plus, there's that whole "J Mascis is probably the best guitarist of the last 25 years" thing they have going for them. Sebawho?. I'll even forgive the guys for nearly deafening me in New Orleans a few weeks ago. Check out my two favorite cuts "Almost Ready" and "We're Not Alone" on the playlist.

Haha-Fart/Romance pop-punk legends The Queers, against tons of conventional expectations, put out a pretty good record, too, called Munki Brain. Not one of the greatest, I just think Joe Queer needs more attention now that he's pushed 40 and still tours his ass off. "Houston We Have a Problem" (on playlist) and "I Can't Stay Mad at You" are both great.


SINGLES

Plenty of good songs, even if no "album" proper really won my heart and soul. The best song of the year, and maybe in contention for second-best of the whole damn decade (The Streets' "Don't Mug Yourself" is my favorite, in case anyone was wondering) is a song by a hyper-hyped quintet from Jacksonville called Black Kids. "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You" channels the superficially great girl group mentality (this high school social is awkward!) through Bright Eyes (if they weren't so damn depressed). Fro'd leader Reggie Youngblood strikes a vein with this one, and the shout-along chorus completely seals it.

The Twilight Sad, the scottish noise-pop quartet I talked about above, also nailed it this year with a building, sprawling, crashing, beautiful single called "And She Would Darken the Memory." (That's meant to be read with a Scottish brogue...go back and do it again). Anyway, this comes in a very close second to my pick for best single, and is easily in the top 5 of my favorite songs of the decade so far. [Really dumb of me to forget it when writing this column the first time up...I seriously thought it came out in '06. D'oh.]

Los Campesinos! You! Me! Dancing! Unbridled enthusiasm! Kickass eclectic instrumentation! Sounds like twee pop with balls! Hilarious! Exclamation points! I'd kill to see this performed live!

What else? Dan Deacon, a chubby ubergeek from Baltimore with an ingenius electronic-trash setup (just watch this video to the right) was my single favorite show I saw all year. His live performances are something everyone should experience in their lifetime. Quality adrenaline. His song "Crystal Cat" has found its way into my brain on repeat. It's like british drum-n-bass, but written by Lewis Carroll. Think Aphex Twin mixed with Ween and damn life-affirming.

I mentioned the Irish rocker Charlotte Hatherley earlier. She is awesome. And, dare I say (and Jake and I did say on the Christmas special of "The Big Takeover" before playing her single), unconventionally hot. She left Ash because she was gaining too much solo-steam, yet somehow hasn't broken through in the states yet. Wait...I've been saying that about Ash for over ten years now. Check out "Behave."

Aesop Rock, everyone's favorite ambiguously Jewish long islander turned rap impresario/genius left a lasting impression on me a few years ago with Bazooka Tooth. His album this year None Shall Pass is good but nothing spectacular. Fortunately, the title track is pretty awesome. Blockhead does some good snap/click/stomp production on it. Kudos!

The Animal Collective are pretty talented as brainstormers and hype-getters, don't get me wrong... but, let me put their experimental indie pop into perspective. Imagine if Superman, perfectly capable of saving lives and bettering mankind, chose to use his superpowers more often to build really cool Stonehenge-style mountains out of Ford Windstars. Then, every couple of years, the writers and Pitchfork forced you to stare at the piles of cars, convincing you that you were some philistine for not appreciating how awesome these piles of scrap metal were. That's the Animal Collective (also from B-more originally) in a nutshell for you. They have the capacity to make awesome pop singles completely within their creative framework, such as "The Purple Bottle" and "Grass" from Feels in '05, and "Peacebone" and "Bros" both among my favorite singles from 2007 (the latter being a solo track by Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox that is entirely too long in its original cut but still Brian Wilsonly beautiful). Too bad most of their album tracks are pretentious schlock half of the time.

And James Murphy, aka LCD Soundsystem, that unintentional king of the hipsters, made an album called The Sound of Silver that my housemate owns but I've been too lazy to borrow and make a sincere effort to appreciate. He has some song on it called "All My Friends." It's pretty good. Actually, it's great. It just doesn't need my endorsement (None of these last three do). I just wanted to include it because I can't get it out of my damn head, but that's not a bad thing. Damn you, James Murphy. "Losing your edge" my ass!




Happy Listening! More early next week!
Fri, January 4, 2008 | link

Thursday, January 3, 2008

The Mullets of Disney
[tws]

I got back from Orlando the other day. I'm well aware that I'm long overdue for my compulsory "Best of 2007" entry, which I'll unleash in a day or two. But for now, I thought I'd write for a bit about Disney World. I for one, don't have plans to go back there until I have kids of my own. The thing about Disney is, as interested of a human spectacle as it is, it does bring out the misanthrope in me. My cynicism did get to the best of my ex-girlfriend (sorry to her, and anyone who caught the tail end of it upon my return). What really makes Walt Disney World worth the excessive admission, pain in the ass families with 9-year-old kids in strollers, and food and accessories that suck money out of your ass, are the rides. The attractions aka immaculately choreographed performance spectacles are okay, too. Before I get to the main attraction, here is my short list of the best rides at Disney.

1. SPLASH MOUNTAIN
As far as rides based off of arguably racist movies go, this one kicks ass. A giant flume that broadcasts screams halfway across Frontierland is reinforced with an excellently oriented storyscape of animatronic animals all around the caverns and the scenery. Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox, considering how little people know about them today, make pretty interesting characters. Something about a laughing place? I don't know, deal with the crowds on a hot day. From what I understand, Jim "Ernest" Varney shot a promo video for the ride when it first opened, and it left him bewildered, fitting right into his dramatic range.

2. THE HAUNTED MANSION
This is a very close second. Every time I go on this, I'm more impressed. Every section has something memorable about it. When I was a kid, I loved the bewildered old man with his dog's leash in one hand and a lantern in the other, standing at the gates of the cemetery. This time around, the ballroom scene (dancing phantasms, one hell of a use of mirrors) reminded me why I love this ride. Not to mention, they hired the creepiest drama majors available to work the entry onto the ride. Vincent Price would be proud.

3. EXPEDITION EVEREST
The Animal Kingdom is horribly designed and something of a disappointment unless you're claustrophilic, but this ride almost justifies that park's existence. The gigantic Yeti is particularly badass, and aerodynamically, this is probably the smoothest, most enjoyable roller coaster I've been on. The 'mountain' itself is an engineering marvel as it is.

MOST UNDERRATED RIDE
The People Mover, Tomorrowland (Magic Kingdom)
I don't think that even on a busy day we had to wait to get on this thing. It's a relatively smooth ride that covers the whole circumference of Tomorrowland, so you can lord over the 2-hour Space Mountain line that you're not waiting in, see the go-kart speedway, pass through the 'launching pad' of Space Mountain, and people watch with the best of them. Highly recommended if you have any downtime whatsoever or any desire for a cool breeze.

Alright, enough with that crap. Here's the main attraction of any southern landmark: THE MULLETS OF DISNEY, NEW YEAR'S EDITION


How endearing is this? That kid is going to have some wonderful stories to tell his parents and the cops when they recover him.


This man looks particularly distraught that he forgot to TiVo that rockumentary on .38 Special.


I don't know if this kid's actually from Japan and has no grasp of irony, or he has some rare disease that makes the back of his hair grow 2x as fast as the sides. At any rate, I laughed for a solid two minutes.


Doesn't really know where he is. All he knows is that he's got another perm appointment on Saturday.


This guy doesn't have a mullet, but he's holding a keytar. Strange how he blends in. I won't say what band he's in, but they're one of the most handsomely paid cover bands in the world, I'd guess.

I sincerely hope you've all enjoyed my mulletography. I'll talk to you again, soon.
Thu, January 3, 2008 | link


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Updated 08.27.08


Don't miss "THE BIG TAKEOVER" every Tuesday night this summer from 10pm-Midnight ET on Georgetown Radio.




Thursday, August 28th
COMEDY SICKNESS LIVE! at the Olde Arlington Grille
Hosted by Will Hessler!
2903 Columbia Pike (Arlington Cinema n' Drafthouse)
7pm, $5, I think.

THE BIG TAKEOVER SEASON FINALE
With Tyler, Jake, Herbie, Anupama, and a crapload of surprises.
Tuesday, June 2 at 10PM
LIVE ON WGTB

Wednesday, September 3
THE FAMILY HEMERLEIN @ 
THE PALACE OF WONDERS
**DJ SET**
9 pm
I'll be helping out my friend Matt Hemerlein's family band's variety show on the tail end, but definitely come out early. You don't want to miss this. Site.
1210 H St. NE, DC  

Saturday, September 13th (Stay tuned)
LAUGHING LIZARD
COMEDY SHOWCASE
10pm, 21+
1324 King St, Alexandria
Date my change. Keep you posted.

Friday and Saturday, November 14 & 15.
ARLINGTON CINEMA & DRAFTHOUSE
w/ Paul F Tompkins!!
$18 or so. This was the show rescheduled from 7/25-26. Hope you see you out! Sorry for any confusion. Website.
2903 Columbia Pike, Arlington, VA 

Check out TDC on...

Thanks Josh!
Sign the Guestbook! (It's been there for some time, but seriously, sign it).



Watch the video for Wes Mann's "If Only You Knew" right here!

THROUGH THE WASH
What happens to common appliances and gadgets mistakenly go through the wash and dry cycle? Do they come out alive? Check out this handy site, with appearances from myself, Jake, and Aparna. Hosted by Chris and filmed my Joe "the man" Deeley.

MUZAK!?


The Slackers
are playing the State Theatre in Falls Church on Sunday, Sept. 7th...

Oppenheimer
are coming back from Belfast to play DC9 on Tuesday, 9/16...

The Ergs! are hitting the Talking Head in BMore on Wednesday, 9/17...

So Many Dynamos
are playing the Rock and Roll Hotel in NE DC on 9/18...

Pleeseeasaur is doing whatever it is they do at the Velvet Lounge on Monday, 9/29...

Pinback
are back at the Black Cat on October 1st...

Against Me!
are Ted Leo are probably going to oversell the Black Cat on October 8th...
Ra Ra Riot are hitting the Black Cat Backstage on Sunday, 10/12...

Chuck Ragan, Tim Barry
, and other southern punk staples are doing a big acoustic show at the Black Cat on Tuesday 10/14...

 

IF YOU LIVE IN THE DC AREA, HAVE A SOUL, AND ENJOY GOOD LIVE COMEDY, I highly recommend these weekly/biweekly shows.


MONDAY
11TH ST. LOUNGE
First and third mondays of every month. It's intimate, friendly, and the servers upstairs are fine. Even an audience of 10 non-comics can whip the place into a frenzy. Hosted by Lou Giglio, or Bart Voisin if he couldn't escape the calling. Oh Highland Dr, right across from the Clarendon Grill.

SPY LOUNGE
Eli "the man" Sairs and Tyler "da man" Richardson run this open mic at a bizarrely posh but still fun place right in the heart of Adam's Morgan, on 18th St. Starts around 8pm.

CHIEF IKE'S MAMBO ROOM
Run by the luminaries behind DCC4N. On Columbia Rd. right north of that intersection in Adams-Morgan.

TUESDAY
Nema is gone, but info about Takoma Station and the Library (both in Northeast) coming soon.

Wiseacre's happens on this night, out in Tyson's.


WEDNESDAY
Wiseacres will always be there, hopefully, out in Tyson's.

DR. DREMO'S IS DEAD. LONG LIVE DR. DREMO'S.

THURSDAY
College Perk
First and third Thursday of every month, this is probably the most fun you'll have at an open mic in the area. Maybe because it's a college hangout with a liquor license. 9078 Baltimore Avenue, College Park, MD


BLOG HIGHLIGHT INDEX

LOST VINYL CLASSICS
- The Korean Orphan Choir...on tour!
- Richard Simmons' illustrious recording career
- The Magic of Chet Parker and that Hammer Dulcimer
- The Magic of Jesse Johnson

SHORT FILM SHOWCASE
- Georgetown Cabaret 2007 Teaser
- Greg Pahanish: Professional Comedian [TEASER]
- Don't Fuck with Joe Deeley
- Into the Leaves!
- Tag: The Movie

INTERVIEWS
- Bobby Vandell
- Ted Leo
- On the Dead Milkmen (w/ Thoughts from Joe Jack Talcum)

MUSIC, ETC.
- Pixies, bitch!
- Ska is still Awesome
- The Official Summer 06 Mix
- Minutemen: One of the All-Time Greatest American Bands, now on DVD!
- On Erasure and other Gay Delights (but mostly Erasure)
- Living Too Late: A 2-Part Rumination
- The Best Things Never Said Onstage
- Sondre Lerche and The Spinto Band
- Top 60 Punk Bands
- The Guided By Voices drinking game!
- God is pissed at Stapp!
- Two Theories on Poison (the band)

CULTURE/COMEDY
- On "the Suck"
- Laughing Lizard Showcase's One Year Anniversary!
- On Viacom's battle with YouTube - The Ted Healy Suck Awards
- George Thorogood = Zima Drinker?
- Mitch Hedberg Tribute: One Year Later
- Norwegian death metal aka the stupidest thing ever written
- The Unseen Danger of Video Games

MOVIES
-TWS on the American Hardcore Documentary
-Spinal Tap and its importance to our generation
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
- The TDC take on "A Christmas Story"
-
SPORTS
- On San Fermin and Bullfighting
- Love from CT and the Hartford Whalers
- The Washington Capitals are Awesome
SPECIAL GUEST COLUMNS

Alex Kain
- To Those Who Blame Video Games for Anything
- Alex's Gift for Uwe Boll!
- On "Cube!"

Tyler Richardson
- If I could, i would...
- What makes Tyler Richardson happy?
- Those Risks in Everyday Life

Jermaine Fowler
- Jermaine on his Idol/Nemesis Tony DeNikos
- Tony fakes his own death!
- Denikos: the Final Chapter

Adam Crowley
- Sighting in Oklahoma

RIDICULOUSLY GOOD SONG OF THE WEEK

Weston - "Feeling Stupid Feelings"

The TDC Archive of the Greatest Things Ever Said, Ever

"I'm gonna hire a fat person to sit in the driver's seat whenever I'm not using the car. Maybe get a midget with ice in his mouth to blow on the back of my neck while I'm driving."
"If I ever won a source award, I would go onstage and speak ebonics."
"If you can be fat and do it, its not a sport."

 - Forest "Socrates" Godwin
"I'm gonna hire a fat person to sit in the driver's seat whenever I'm not using the car. Maybe get a midget with ice in his mouth to blow on the back of my neck while I'm driving."
"If I ever won a source award, I would go onstage and speak ebonics."
"If you can be fat and do it, its not a sport."

 - Forest "Socrates" Godwin

  

[Firth. It's pronounced Firth. Like the actor. Like our planet if it started with F.]
Welcome to the official TDC Productions website. Glad you could make it. Hope you enjoy yourself. If you want to check out any recent postings, just check out the archive below the blog at the bottom of this page.
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