Wednesday, April 21, 2010

production standards



Alex Heard, The Eyes of Willie McGee (Harper Collins)
The Wedding Present, Seamonsters (lala)
Coco Robicheaux, Yeah, U Right
Buckingham Nicks, self-titled (ROOT BLOG)
The National, High Violet (out 5/11)

I just started The Eyes of Willie McGee but it already makes sweet ol' Eleanor Roosevelt look like a bit of an asshole, portending well as a paradigm-shaker. I haven't listened to the Wedding Present since the 90's that birthed them, but novelist Jon McGregor's "Living With Music" bit in the NYT's Paper Cuts brought them slumping right back into my headphones. Four observations:
  1. Novelists like to talk about music but how they CANNOT have it on while writing, which is weird to me. It must be awfully quiet in the orchid greenhouse.
  2. John McGregor gets bonus points for not mentioning Leonard Cohen. Nothing against the good Field Commander, but he appears in almost every one of these things.
  3. Arch doom practitioners Sunn O))) are becoming the new gettin'-stuff-done muzak, and
  4. 90s' production standards sound like shit in iPod/Phone/Pad headphones. It's like a guy mumbling something good while someone else blows in your ear.
I just got the new National which excites me so, but not like the sudden springing of Buckingham Nicks out of my favorite well of the the infinite. It's the only thing I ever asked of the Internet and it provided!



I hereby offer the above quickie walk-to-the-bus hangman photo to anyone needing an image for their production of "Death of a Salesman."

3 comments:

  1. I am really looking forward to hearing the new National record. I have it on pre-order for the jukebox at Red Star. Did you catch them when they played there back in '06? Maybe it was '05

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  2. Oh yes, that was a very important show for me. It made me mad that there wasn't (yet again) much of a crowd for what I thought then was the best band going, so I approached 225 to be their music guy shortly after. Not that I've exactly solved that problem.

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  3. That Buckingham/Nicks is a good find. Thanks for sharing. I'm listening now.

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