Golden City

I just came across this: the singer from the greatest emo band from Colorado, Christie Front Drive has a new band:

You can download one of their tracks off of their record label's site. This track has an upbeat feel, but retains the feel of distance that was soaked into all of Christie Front Drive's music. There's a fan-made video for a CFD song on youtube that simply pairs footage of landscape of Colorado shot out a car window with one of their songs. It's completely fitting.

When these singers of older emo bands continue their work they stray into great indie-pop territory, and this song has the pace of a band like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart or Maritime. What was vague emotion becomes more measured and deliberate, and that's not such a bad thing!

http://www.magicbulletrecords.com/bands/goldencity.html

"You're A Jerk" (I know)

"You're the first teacher I've seen who can do the jerk." - Sierra, age 11, August 18, 2009

My Lemond: A Love Story.

I love my Lemond bicycle. It's one of my favorite things. I have been getting a ton of use out of it this summer, which I consider to be the most fun summer since the summer of 2003.


Here is my Lemond frolicking at the beach.


Here is my Lemond at the park, near the swings.

Here is my Lemond on its way through the golf course.

New Bicycles

The other day I got this new bicycle frame as a gift! I had wanted a Peugeot for a long time, and I almost bought a very similar one a few years ago. I intend to build it up as a single-speed porteur.

These old french bicycles have a distinctive long fork rake, which gives it a distinctive French ride, in comparison to newer bicycles such as my Lemond.

Here are two articles on the subject: LINK LINK

specs:
frame : peugeot carbolite 103 steel, lugged ~1981 vintage
crank: stronglight

Also, I have this lovely girlbike in my stable:
specs:
frame: Raleigh step-through, grey ~1970s vintage
drivetrain: Sturmey-Archer 3 Speed, thumb shifter
wheels: 26" with newish tires
fenders: matching body-colored painted
accessories: wald front basket



The girlbike is for sale. $200.

I dream in song;

Last night I dreamed of two songs:

"Red Elephant" by Sunny Day Real Estate. In my dream, the part after 1:06 was blindingly loud.

Stay around
Running out
Time servant
Trip through the warm wind

Feeling
Sulking
My impression grows
Swayed stars part of my room
And you...

You climbed the wreck
Cold diamond heart
Still beating
And no one ever knew the reason why

Well I'd suspect
You would come to terms
With my hand
My eyes reflect your surface very well

Why'd I compromise
Swayed stars and time is slow
The way you restarts again

I'm all talk again
I'm on top of the world
The way you restarts in me too

The night a field and I'll take you there
The years of worry aren't my century

We climbed the wreck
Cold diamond heart
Still beating
And no one ever knew the reason why


"King of the Road" by Piebald. I love the first lines of this song, which inform the listeners what the band members have been occupied with since their last record.

Here is a live performance from their final show:


Andy went back to school. He got sick of Newbury comics
Aaron still rides a lot, except now, now he's just fatter
Alex took over for Alex Van Halen after his major surgery
John, well, he got married to Laura and I teach their kid in first grade

Thought I saw you on the road last night
I need to get my eyes checked
can't beleive I loved something as yellow as you
he's gone, so deal with it, man
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back

Would you park at the station
my mind is playing tricks on me
can't believe I loved something as yellow as you
he's gone, so deal with it, man
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back, hell yeah

Loved you in a Carolina
i need to rub my eyes
we keep your door like it's a postcard from you from camp
maybe see you at a junkyard soon
oh man, i really hope not
can't believe I loved something as yellow as you
he's gone, so deal with it, man
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back

Maybe you're in auto heaven
oh man, i really hope so
can't beleive I loved something as yellow as you
he's gone, so deal with it, man
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back, hell yeah

Sarah

Could someone email me the tracks to Sarah Records 83: The Sugargliders:

http://home.clara.net/koogy/sarah/disco/083.htm

I'd love it.

Music Review: That Dog. - Retreat from the Sun (1997)

I have always liked That Dog, ever since I first heard them, but somehow I managed to live my life without owning any of their records. That changed a few months ago when I got "Retreat from the Sun," their last album, now 12 years old.

This record is so great. Basically, it's mid-nineties "alternative" rock but all written from a female bias. This means lots of incredible harmonies from the Haden sisters who are in the band. This means lyrics only women would come up with, like "we'll have wedding rings and baby seats." The lyrics are perfect, not cliched, and give the band its own voice.

To call this album "cutesy" would not do it justice, because it packs a bite. It's actual pop-rock and this record holds its own against other records from their friends Weezer, and even Jawbreaker, who they counted as friends. It's also got the superhits "Minneapolis" and "Long Island." They name-check Low in "Minneapolis", which I truly didn't catch until around the songs's 60th listen.

This album definitely did not do well commercially. I don't think it was popular at all. I think this is because the record label released "Never Say Never" as a single. This song is ok, but "Minneapolis," "Long Island," "Being with you" and "I'm gonna see you" are all way better songs. "Never Say Never" is kind of abrasive in a bad way. The other songs are super-poppy love songs.

Music nerds are always lamenting the end of some imaginary era of music, so I suggest checking out this record for a fresh serving of mid-1990s pop-rock. I really like this album and I listen to it all the time.

Music Review: Brand New - The Devil and God are raging inside me (2006)

I've always liked Brand New. Back in the day I saw them play once in Buffalo and once in Syracuse. I even hung out with them once. One of my friends always told me he was friends with the singer's little brother.

I picked up this record sometime in 2007, which was rare for me, because it was a major label release and I'm a card-carrying indie snob. I had heard them play the song "Jesus" on TV and was really impressed. The song drones in a hypnotizing way, and the guitar parts almost sound like Explosions in the Sky. The vocals are almost stream-of-consiousness styled, but work great because there are more dynamic parts. The song starts off in an almost Pavement-level middle voice but then get into pop-punk territory toward the end. Also, I had loved Deja Entendu, and we played that heavily on WGSU.

This album has some really pretty parts and just some relentlessly heavy and abrasive parts. I love the varied production, which I consider a response to the Audiogalaxy era. The songs contrast each other really well, just like on other great records of the 00 era like "Lifted" and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." The songs are sad, but expansive. It's pop-punk but it's experimental and ambitious.

This record has staying power. I'm very excited to hear the follow up.

VW: Pointless Love

In May 2009, as a reward for serving me so well as a daily driver, I bought my VW a new ignition system. I purchased the Crane XR-700 Fireball ignition. Basically, this replaces points and condenser with an optical sensor that triggers an electronic computer that makes the spark happen. This is simpler and better because it uses fewer moving parts.

In the last year the points failed a few times; once camping, and twice on my way home at night. I had to get the van towed. Hopefully the VW will be more reliable now. For the time being, I have abandoned the idea of trading it for a BMW.

For more information on this system, click here.

[Where the VW is always hypothetically always parked: the corner of hate and failing. photo by me circa march 2009]

Now that summer's here...

Perhaps the greatest pop-rock song of all time:
"Girl From Mars" by Ash



I love Ash so much.

Soundtrack for Students' Dream Opera

1. "The Chicken Dance" Tiny Tim
2. "Beat It" Michael Jackson
3. "Awake on a Train" Múm

Running Time: 16:18

a few songs i like right now:

"being with you" that dog
"young adult friction" the pains of being pure at heart
"re:stacks" bon iver

I woke you up to say goodbye.

The Lucksmiths, my favorite band that's still together, have decided to break up. I've seen them play four times, and the last time I saw them, when they closed with "The Year of Driving Langourously" I knew I might never see them again.

Also, Motopizza, home of the $5 pizza on 82nd in Portland, has closed.

I'm not sure how I can carry on.

Here are the lyrics to "the year of driving langourously:"

Darling roll the window down
I can't breathe
And I want to feel the northerly down my sleeve
I love a sunburnt elbow pointing to the sea

And, darling, can't you find us something on the radio?
A song to pass the time
Sweet and slow
Conversation was forsaken long ago

It's getting worse
You've hardly said a word
Since you set eyes on the horizon
But I've seen the other side of that ocean there
And it can't compare

Has it really been a year?
How did those days just disappear?

We held our breath across each bridge
Til we were blue
But I wonder if I wished the same as you
Like a ten-year-old pretending
Summer isn't really ending

It's getting worse
You've hardly said a word
Since you set eyes on the horizon
But I've seen the other side of that ocean there
And it can't compare to this
So I'll steal another kiss
Before the sun goes down on this fibrotown
And we give chase
Like all those other days
I suppose it's no surprise
We drive, time flies

Has it really been a year?
Where the hell do we go from here?

Car of the Month: DEFENDER NINETY

Today I saw a tan Defender 90 on the street. It had no roof, padded rollbars, and four dudes living their lives riding in it. I was very jealous, and thus this month's Car of the Month is the Land Rover Defender 90. Pictured above is one of the same color of my VW Bus.

I've been spending a lot of time lately riding around in a Chevy Silverado, which just makes me love trucks. Of course, most my main ride is a 1971 VW Bus, which I consider more of a truck itself. I love the big roof rack I recently acquired for my VW Bus, and roof racks are a standard Land Rover tradition. I am a sucker for long lived industrial designs, and the Land Rover Defender (as it was finally named in the 1990s) is mostly the same as the original Land Rover designed in 1948.

I would love to drive one sometime. I love that they're all boxy. I love that all the lights are round. I love that they were designed to be completely disassembled and put together using only hand tools. I love the vents that open under the windshield and that the door hinges are on the outside.

The Defender 90 was imported in small batches to the United States in 1994 and 1995. They still sell for well over $20,000 on the used market, unlike its sibling the Land Rover Discovery, which can be had for less than a nice Vespa. There are a few of them here in Portland and I upon seeing one I always shout "THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE LAND ROVER EMPIRE!"

I'll go mainstream without kicking nor screaming.

I played a show on Friday May 1, 2009 and this is what I played:

Intellectual Sweetie (the tennies, my old band, cover)
Syncronised Sinking (the Lucksmiths cover)
Do you love coffee? (braid cover)
Clover (newish song)
Kiss Me Thru The Phone (Soldja Boy cover, abandoned quite soonish)
Frost (newish song)


I love this song by Soulja Boy.