All guitars, voices, keyboards, programming, and percussion performed by me. Chorus of handclaps on “The Science That We’re Made Of” performed by me, Johnny Helyar, Chaz Kast, Brian Jones, Chris King, Fletcher Fay, Ben Drexler, Rob Minardi, and Salvador Gaviña.
Produced, engineered, and mixed by me, except for “You, Your Mom, and Her Friends,” which Simon Knight graciously co-produced from the U.K.
Then came a particularly vitriolic response from Fred Weaver.
My response to his response:
Hi gang,
I’m glad my “Monstrance” review is sparking discussion. Discuss. As I wrote to Dom just moments ago, one of the most wonderful things about music is that we can agree to disagree. (Like, for example, I think that Scritti Politti’s album “Cupid and Psyche ‘85″ is absolutely incredible. Anybody disagree? Good. That’s what I thought.) I still don’t care for “Monstrance,” but I found Todd’s review to be thoughtful, erudite, and compelling. Buy the album and see for yourself. To paraphrase a wise man named Culnane, isn’t that what it’s all about?
As for least favourite XTC songs, I can safely say that I don’t have any. I used not to like “Fly on the Wall,” but I’ve become enamoured with the synths (see Scritti Politti above). I also used not to like “Big Day,” but lately it’s reminded me so much of “Wonderland” that it’s actually moved into my “Top Five Colin Moulding Songs” list. And I too used to skip past “Crocodile,” but Dave’s guitar playing is as enthralling as ever on that track.
I’d say more, but I’m leading a four-day African drumming workshop, and we must go load up the vans for a performance! Catch y’all on the flipside.
With fondness and respect to all on the list, -Ben
We shall see what we shall see. Apparently, there’s more brewing here than meets the eye.
UPDATE: Oh wow. Wow wow wow. I’m the latest entry on the Monstrance messageboard. Apparently, I’m as much of a jerk as everyone thinks I am! That’s nice. Really. Especially since I have been a strong, staunch supporter of everything that XTC has ever put out — except this.
Sometimes, when you visit Yahoo! News and click on a story, the relevance of advertising keywords to story keywords make sense. Other times, it doesn’t. Here’s a case in point. The story is about a dude in Houston who chopped up his ex-girlfriend and spent days grilling her body parts on his patio grill. But check out the ad that Yahoo! News put next to the piece:
Good lord. Because “smoke,” apparently, is “smoke.” If this is another example of that Web 2.0 crap, count me out. (If you’re interested, you can read the original article here — and, honestly, who wouldn’t be interested?)
This article, in today’s NYT, is terrifying. Money quote:
“I think the album is going to die,” said Aram Sinnreich, managing partner at Radar Research, a media consulting firm based in Los Angeles. “Consumers are listening to play lists,” or mixes of single songs from an assortment of different artists. “Consumers who have had iPods since they were in the single digits are going to increasingly gravitate toward artists who embrace that.”
This just makes you want to listen to oneofthemanywonderfulalbums that, apparently, are dead because we can’t keep our collective A.D.D. under control.
What a tear-stained shock of the world. You’ve gone away without saying “goodbye.”
For some reason, Flickr is being a beast and won’t let me create a new photoset. So here are some pictures I took today using the +2 macro lens that I “borrowed” from mom. To view the larger size, click the “View larger” link below the picture and it’ll open in a separate window:
This song was playing on XM Channel 9 yesterday when I was driving to Putnam. Hey Katie, remember when, freshman year, we went to that nasty party at Chi Delt and there was gross beer all over the floor and this song playing? Yeah, I remember that. Although that was basically every party at Chi Delt, come to think of it…
By the way, I’m watching Kiss the Girls, and it’s really scary and creepy but also depressing because Cary Elwes is kind of a chubbo now. Ashley Judd, however, is not.
UPDATE: This is great. You know how, usually, iTunes gives you crappy samples from the middle of a song? Well, not with The Sundays! Before you read the post below, remember what a great band they were, and buy all their albums, listen to this clip. Yes, iTunes wastes a whole second waiting for the track to start, but c’mon. Doesn’t that whet your appetite, like, A WHOLE LOT?!
Here’s the original post:
God, I miss The Sundays. Three albums were not enough, Harriet and David. Why’d you have to retire? I’ve been listening to Reading, Writing… and Blind almost nonstop for the past few days. Talk about a band that was perfectly able to mix the jangle of fellow Mancunians The Smiths and the melodies of New Order while also giving us a hint of the girl-led “chillout” groups (like Ivy) to come. If only they were still around, you know?
British music, as it currently stands, sucks.
“The lone ranger sold his wardrobe The lone ranger sold his bad dog Well you saw him and you could hardly know ‘Cos times change…I know Some days he’s more than humble On some days he’s cold and mad, mad as hell Well you saw him and you can hardly know It’s so strange…and well I, I know Those lakes of golden water Those lakes of gold are all running out Well you saw him and you could hardly know It’s so strange… and well I, I know
Joy, joy, joy Work, work, work harder Sure as the hours Joy, joy, joy Work, work, work harder You say…”
