I love my vinyl collection. I love collecting vinyl more than I like people. They take up a lot of room, some are too messed up to play, and they're overly pricey but I love my collection. I'm in the process of bolstering the amount of punk records (Bikini Kill, Pere Ubu, Orwells, Ought) I have at the moment since there aren't many exciting new releases coming up. Here's a list of positives for vinyl collecting:
1. They come with a download card
The biggest fault with vinyl is there lack of portability that is always brought up when vinyl is brought up (which is internalized by the joke "hey lets listen to it in the car"). What all new vinyl comes with now is a free download card that you can download the MP3s of the album....a surprising amount of people don't know this. While I'm talking about stuff that people don't know-- why do a lot of older people not know not only where to buy new vinyl, but that it's still being sold. I feel like whenever I go to a record store a couple of old people always walk by and say "oh wow I didn't know they still sold records." And the ones that do buy them are terribly un-savvy at it, "is that a cat stevens?! Oh man they got it.... Journey."
2. Buying Vinyl is a Game
There's a certain amount of knowledge and skill when it comes to buying vinyl (not a lot of either but more than you need for other music mediums). You have to check condition, if its an original or repress, if its a rarer find, if there's a chance it could go out of print, knowing if it'll translate to vinyl well enough, if the price is a good or bad deal, etc. I go to multiple record stores and vinyl shows and rummages and after a while you start to see what albums are worth a lot or what isn't and what tends to show up the most. For example, people go nuts over Elvis but he was the number one guy in music for a long time, despite my slight hate for him, which means there are a lot of sold records out there. It's easy to find Elvis records (barring his first which is pretty hard to find) and find them cheap.
3. Aesthetically Pleasing
Vinyl just looks better. The picture is bigger, which makes the album look less like a product and more like artwork. It pops more. Even the size of a vinyl makes it feel worth more than a CD. Plus a few records come with a nice inner sleeve, or its a gatefold which is my favorite. I have big stacks of CDs and I'd rather look at my vinyls. CDs are baby carrots in a cucumber fight.
4. It's Classic Cool
Aside from the looks, the whole process of buying and listening to a record is cool. FIrst, flipping through records is a lot cooler looking than most things. If you find someone who is really good at flipping, they're fingers look so nimble sauntering in between each record. Walking with a record to the side of you in your in hand makes you look badass and casual, a hard combination. Taking a vinyl out of it's sleeve and observing it, you look like a music scientist. This last one actually sold me one buying vinyls. My friend had vinyl before I did and he convinced me that putting on a record while having a lady over will make you look suave as fuck...and it does. Putting down that needle on a groove, classy.
5. Fun Variations+ Collectable
There are so many different kinds of vinyl to buy, as Jack White has recently shown us with his Ultra LP. There are different colors, picture discs, see through, glow in the dark, flat as in paperish vinyls. All kinds. Its fun to open up a vinyl and see if be in red or clear or boobs on it (thank you Sky Ferreira). 45's are fun too, especially since they usually come with a non-album B-side or non-album songs period, which is something that often happens too. I believe Against Me just released a picture disc 45 with two b-sides on it and Ty Segall routinely releases one off songs on 45. What makes these variations cooler is that they're extremely collectable to vinyl nuts. An example of this is when before an album is dropped, there are preorders that are limited, usually in a different color or picture disc, and once they're sold out, they're out. Having highly collectable records is kind've a feather in a collectors cap. It feels cool to have something only a few people have. I have a Cults test pressing that only had a run of less of 100 and although it isn't worth much cause they aren't that big, it still feels neat to have it. Plus finding these collectable pieces is part of "the game". Original early Hold Steady albums are sold for at the very minimum 100 dollars, which is pretty good for a record. Plus Plus, they make cool heirlooms if they maintain their coolness for another generation.
6. Listening to the Album
This is my favorite for a less obvious reason. I feel that a vinyls lack of portability is one of its strengths because you're legitly stuck in a room with the music. You have to listen to that record and I think that creates an appreciation for the music when you can't dilly dally with other things. Its intimate. One of my critiques for buying a record (which ill go more in-depth in my last of this series) is if the record is worth sitting in a room with. For example, you haven't listened to Bob Dylan until it's just you and him in a room and his voice and his thoughts and his passion are the only thing taking up space. It was through vinyl that I finally gained an appreciation for the Beatles because you start hearing all the little things that they put into the music. You start hearing the stories and ironic jokes that Randy Newman is telling and you start hearing pureness in the voice of Phil Ochs. Everything starts standing out. Some records are meant to be listened to and others are meant to play in the background. I don't mean that in a bad way, obviously, but some records are best listened to when they are commanding the room.
Also kinda not really connected to this, is that its pretty nice to have some albums that you only have a vinyl. My Neutral Milk Hotel MP3s are damaged and instead of replacing them, I only listen to them on vinyl. It makes an album feel special if you can only listen to it a certain place. Aeroplane Over the Sea is my favorite album, but having it not widely available gives it a different aura. I have very little "classics" on my iPod because I have them on vinyl. Its good to have some music tucked in your back pocket. Its the Wu-tang experiment done on a smaller scale. Wu-tang made an album that is only going to be listenable at select museums and not released commercially so its considered a piece of art and not just a product. Having a few albums not on an iPod or streamed or something make those albums feel more valuable. Like going home and looking at a painting hung up in a den and not having it as the background to a phone. I'm big on not having overexposure.
I could just be a big weirdo for taking all of this so serious but hey its something to do, am I right? Having something to care about is a pretty nice thing.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Thursday, June 19, 2014
For the Record Part one: Cutting Down the Competition
Part one of my spiel about vinyl:
Cutting Down the Competition
MP3
I hate buying MP3's. It is everything I hate in the world. I hate it so much that I want to go back in time and hate on past me for using iTunes so long (futuristic self loathing?). One, being able to selectively buy "the hits" only ruins the concept of "the album" and all the work that was put into it. I'm a big proponent that an album should be seen as a whole rather than its individual components. There's nothing better than an album that has a great flow from song to song. The artists probably go through a lot of work to decide what goes where; not to mention the work that is put into every song. Wouldn't it be shitty to put yourself so much into a song, putting your heart into a song, and have it ignored because it didn't have the catchiest hook or a quotable line that'll make some idiot sound smart during a conversation or a line that they can drop when they get stupidly douchey at a party. Yeah its just music, but it's also someone's life. They sat down and worked hard to create something; why can't these songs be a part of the package thats sold? It's like doing a dissection and focusing on the big organs like the heart or brain but missing out on the less romanticized organs that keep things on track.
Two: It's lazy. You can't go to a store and buy music? Everyone always wants everything right now. We got our netflix and phones that do anything you can think of and drivers that drive twenty miles over the speed limit just to get home a couple minutes early to catch that rerun of some interchangeable action flick. We want everything quick and if we can't do something quick then it's not worth it. We buy shit on amazon and pay a slightly higher price plus shipping just so we don't have to run somewhere (obviously excluding items that are exclusively out of state...I mean road trips are cool too though). Buying MP3's is just another example of I want something now so I'm going to go recline and do some clicks and have it now. Then we wonder why teenagers have such a shitty attitude towards doing pretty much anything; it's because they've grown up in a world where we continuously develop technology and new ways of being lazy. By being lazy with your music purchasing, you're getting a worse deal and most people don't even care because hey at least they got it without doing any work at all besides flexing your debit card muscle.
Three- I say it's a worse deal because, you're literally buying nothing. You're buying air. A music file, sure, but you have nothing concrete for what you just spent money on. I could understand if MP3s were cheaper, like say, 5.99 instead of 9.99, but buying a CD is literally only a couple bucks more and a vinyl can range between 5-10 dollars more than an iTunes album. Money has more value than just the nickels and dimes that make it up. Money is time. Money are minutes, hours, days of your life that you're wasting by not trying to make the most of it. A 10 dollar MP3 album: thats an hour of your life thats gone. Thats an hour of your life that you can't get back and you don't even have anything in your hands to show for it. People go to jobs that they hate for a majority of their lives just to have money, why put yourself through a misery just to waste that time? When everyone is on their deathbeds, they're going to want that hour back. They're going to want that day back. Maybe they'll even want those few stray minutes back. I'm not saying that you can't make that money back or that having a job is pointless; I'm saying why be purposely wasteful? Buying music isn't a necessity, but if you're going to do it, why not try to get the most out of the deal as possible?
If I go out to eat, I want a meal that'll balance out with what I spent on it. If I go out and spend 15 dollars on a meal, I want to be full for most of the day off of it. I don't want a small square of steak and a small side salad. I want a fucking buffet where after I'm done eating I'm like "well I'm not eating for the rest of the day. That was economical!" Just like I want to be a certain amount of full from an expensive meal, I want to have the most I can get with my music purchase as I can. I want something to take home with me. To show that I'm not wasting anyone's time (I don't have a job so I can't say my time lol). People waste money alllll over the place, even though someone much less fortunate would love to have it.
CDs
CDs are so informal, aren't they? I mean, they kind've look like office supplies. They look like mass produced items of consumption. The same thing could be said about vinyl but there's just a different homier feeling to have a big ole record in your hand. Have you ever watched a talk show and when the musical act is coming out, the host shows the camera the album that is being promoted and I don't know about you but that album looks a lot more impressive on a vinyl cover than that small unimpressive CD cover.It just doesn't pop like someone would want it to.
Once that plastic comes off that CD, it's pretty much worthless. This comes from years of CD collecting: good luck selling CDs back for any profit. If you go to any place that buys CDs, they'll tell you that CDs aren't worth much of anything. You buy a CD at lets say 11.99, the store is going to sell it for roughly half the price, the store wants to make a profit so they're going to buy it for half of the half price at the absolute most. But hey, at least you can sell them back for something, am I right MP3s?
There are benefits to a CD though. At least you have something in your hand, a booklet to read, and if you want, you can put the MP3s on to an MP3 player. Also, there are some albums that work better as CDs (and MP3s. Part 3 of this series)
Streaming services like Spotify
I definitely recommend using Spotify. That's my opinion as a consumer. There's been some controversy on how much artists are paid, but its a lot of bang for your buck honestly. On a desktop, you have unlimited access to all of the music you're going to want for free (most of the music). Spotify on your phone won't give you that option of any song any time unless you get premium. I had premium for a little while and it was great if you want a lot of music on the go without having to actually own the music, its like a temporary iPod. You can download songs onto your phone so you don't have to have wifi or use your precious precious data. It's great for playlists too and sharing your music with friends if you're into that (or have friends).
My biggest problem with Spotify, and why I canceled my premium, is that I feel it ruins what makes music special. By having all music with you all the time, it cheapens music and turns it all into some consumerist scratch and sniff. Albums stop having individual merit and all become this big grey blob called music. One of my favorite aspects of buying music is just finding an album. There's a build up, a want that boils in your head that makes the music you listen to worth it. I remember I was so excited for The People's Key by Bright Eyes to come out. It leaked online, I had Spotify like websites to go to, there were ways to listen to this album. But I waited. I waited awhile to get the album. My anticipation made the album feel special. I bought the album and song after song, I was blown away (#sexuntilmarriage). Every song was better than they probably were. I feel like if I continued to use Spotify all the time, I'd become jaded. Unexcited about something I love. I get CDs from the library and sometimes I wait months for a CD and I wouldn't have it any other way because patience is something that people take for granted. Right now, I really want the album Zen Arcade by Husker Du on vinyl and have wanted it for a year now, but I'm waiting. I could buy it right now for between 17-20 dollars but that feels like a cheap way to get something. It's the chase. I love the chase, the build up. I'm not going to buy that Husker Du album until I find it at some store used and original or for a christmas present or something out of my hands. You have to be patient and you have to keep looking even if you want something really really bad because you'll appreciate it more. I spotified the new Cloud Nothings album and while I loved it, I have no desire to buy it on vinyl even though its one of the cheaper ones on vinyl, and its because I treated it like it was nothing when it was first released. Now in my head, its an album that is worth as much as how much effort I put into listening to it.
I realized how stereotypical hipster my library check outs are today and I feel like if all the librarians were scholars, they'd be rolling their eyes at my hipstery.
Movies:
Annie Hall (the cliche Woody Allen movie but I love that last lines of the movie "After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs.
Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson movie. Not as great as I was hoping)
Celeste and Jesse Forever
Stranger than Paradise (essential minimalist art film)
Inside Llewyn Davis (lots of hype, I've waited a while to see it so hopefully its good)
CDs
Oasis- Definitely Maybe reissue
Eagulls- Eagulls
Coldplay- Ghost Stories
Timber Timbre- Hot Dreams
Little Dragon- Nabuma Rubberband
Conor Oberst- Outer South
Conor Oberst- Upside down Mountain
Wild Beast- Present Lense
Perfect Pussy- Say yes to love
Temple- Sun structures
Future Islands- Singles
Books
John Updike early stories
Cutting Down the Competition
MP3
I hate buying MP3's. It is everything I hate in the world. I hate it so much that I want to go back in time and hate on past me for using iTunes so long (futuristic self loathing?). One, being able to selectively buy "the hits" only ruins the concept of "the album" and all the work that was put into it. I'm a big proponent that an album should be seen as a whole rather than its individual components. There's nothing better than an album that has a great flow from song to song. The artists probably go through a lot of work to decide what goes where; not to mention the work that is put into every song. Wouldn't it be shitty to put yourself so much into a song, putting your heart into a song, and have it ignored because it didn't have the catchiest hook or a quotable line that'll make some idiot sound smart during a conversation or a line that they can drop when they get stupidly douchey at a party. Yeah its just music, but it's also someone's life. They sat down and worked hard to create something; why can't these songs be a part of the package thats sold? It's like doing a dissection and focusing on the big organs like the heart or brain but missing out on the less romanticized organs that keep things on track.
Two: It's lazy. You can't go to a store and buy music? Everyone always wants everything right now. We got our netflix and phones that do anything you can think of and drivers that drive twenty miles over the speed limit just to get home a couple minutes early to catch that rerun of some interchangeable action flick. We want everything quick and if we can't do something quick then it's not worth it. We buy shit on amazon and pay a slightly higher price plus shipping just so we don't have to run somewhere (obviously excluding items that are exclusively out of state...I mean road trips are cool too though). Buying MP3's is just another example of I want something now so I'm going to go recline and do some clicks and have it now. Then we wonder why teenagers have such a shitty attitude towards doing pretty much anything; it's because they've grown up in a world where we continuously develop technology and new ways of being lazy. By being lazy with your music purchasing, you're getting a worse deal and most people don't even care because hey at least they got it without doing any work at all besides flexing your debit card muscle.
Three- I say it's a worse deal because, you're literally buying nothing. You're buying air. A music file, sure, but you have nothing concrete for what you just spent money on. I could understand if MP3s were cheaper, like say, 5.99 instead of 9.99, but buying a CD is literally only a couple bucks more and a vinyl can range between 5-10 dollars more than an iTunes album. Money has more value than just the nickels and dimes that make it up. Money is time. Money are minutes, hours, days of your life that you're wasting by not trying to make the most of it. A 10 dollar MP3 album: thats an hour of your life thats gone. Thats an hour of your life that you can't get back and you don't even have anything in your hands to show for it. People go to jobs that they hate for a majority of their lives just to have money, why put yourself through a misery just to waste that time? When everyone is on their deathbeds, they're going to want that hour back. They're going to want that day back. Maybe they'll even want those few stray minutes back. I'm not saying that you can't make that money back or that having a job is pointless; I'm saying why be purposely wasteful? Buying music isn't a necessity, but if you're going to do it, why not try to get the most out of the deal as possible?
If I go out to eat, I want a meal that'll balance out with what I spent on it. If I go out and spend 15 dollars on a meal, I want to be full for most of the day off of it. I don't want a small square of steak and a small side salad. I want a fucking buffet where after I'm done eating I'm like "well I'm not eating for the rest of the day. That was economical!" Just like I want to be a certain amount of full from an expensive meal, I want to have the most I can get with my music purchase as I can. I want something to take home with me. To show that I'm not wasting anyone's time (I don't have a job so I can't say my time lol). People waste money alllll over the place, even though someone much less fortunate would love to have it.
CDs
CDs are so informal, aren't they? I mean, they kind've look like office supplies. They look like mass produced items of consumption. The same thing could be said about vinyl but there's just a different homier feeling to have a big ole record in your hand. Have you ever watched a talk show and when the musical act is coming out, the host shows the camera the album that is being promoted and I don't know about you but that album looks a lot more impressive on a vinyl cover than that small unimpressive CD cover.It just doesn't pop like someone would want it to.
Once that plastic comes off that CD, it's pretty much worthless. This comes from years of CD collecting: good luck selling CDs back for any profit. If you go to any place that buys CDs, they'll tell you that CDs aren't worth much of anything. You buy a CD at lets say 11.99, the store is going to sell it for roughly half the price, the store wants to make a profit so they're going to buy it for half of the half price at the absolute most. But hey, at least you can sell them back for something, am I right MP3s?
There are benefits to a CD though. At least you have something in your hand, a booklet to read, and if you want, you can put the MP3s on to an MP3 player. Also, there are some albums that work better as CDs (and MP3s. Part 3 of this series)
Streaming services like Spotify
I definitely recommend using Spotify. That's my opinion as a consumer. There's been some controversy on how much artists are paid, but its a lot of bang for your buck honestly. On a desktop, you have unlimited access to all of the music you're going to want for free (most of the music). Spotify on your phone won't give you that option of any song any time unless you get premium. I had premium for a little while and it was great if you want a lot of music on the go without having to actually own the music, its like a temporary iPod. You can download songs onto your phone so you don't have to have wifi or use your precious precious data. It's great for playlists too and sharing your music with friends if you're into that (or have friends).
My biggest problem with Spotify, and why I canceled my premium, is that I feel it ruins what makes music special. By having all music with you all the time, it cheapens music and turns it all into some consumerist scratch and sniff. Albums stop having individual merit and all become this big grey blob called music. One of my favorite aspects of buying music is just finding an album. There's a build up, a want that boils in your head that makes the music you listen to worth it. I remember I was so excited for The People's Key by Bright Eyes to come out. It leaked online, I had Spotify like websites to go to, there were ways to listen to this album. But I waited. I waited awhile to get the album. My anticipation made the album feel special. I bought the album and song after song, I was blown away (#sexuntilmarriage). Every song was better than they probably were. I feel like if I continued to use Spotify all the time, I'd become jaded. Unexcited about something I love. I get CDs from the library and sometimes I wait months for a CD and I wouldn't have it any other way because patience is something that people take for granted. Right now, I really want the album Zen Arcade by Husker Du on vinyl and have wanted it for a year now, but I'm waiting. I could buy it right now for between 17-20 dollars but that feels like a cheap way to get something. It's the chase. I love the chase, the build up. I'm not going to buy that Husker Du album until I find it at some store used and original or for a christmas present or something out of my hands. You have to be patient and you have to keep looking even if you want something really really bad because you'll appreciate it more. I spotified the new Cloud Nothings album and while I loved it, I have no desire to buy it on vinyl even though its one of the cheaper ones on vinyl, and its because I treated it like it was nothing when it was first released. Now in my head, its an album that is worth as much as how much effort I put into listening to it.
I realized how stereotypical hipster my library check outs are today and I feel like if all the librarians were scholars, they'd be rolling their eyes at my hipstery.
Movies:
Annie Hall (the cliche Woody Allen movie but I love that last lines of the movie "After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs.
Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson movie. Not as great as I was hoping)
Celeste and Jesse Forever
Stranger than Paradise (essential minimalist art film)
Inside Llewyn Davis (lots of hype, I've waited a while to see it so hopefully its good)
CDs
Oasis- Definitely Maybe reissue
Eagulls- Eagulls
Coldplay- Ghost Stories
Timber Timbre- Hot Dreams
Little Dragon- Nabuma Rubberband
Conor Oberst- Outer South
Conor Oberst- Upside down Mountain
Wild Beast- Present Lense
Perfect Pussy- Say yes to love
Temple- Sun structures
Future Islands- Singles
Books
John Updike early stories
Monday, June 9, 2014
Music With Some Death Stuff
Part 3 of my top concerts and I'm thinking these are going to go fast because after a while the specifics are foggy.
Volcano Choir
- Hmmm I feel like this is one of those concerts thats in the top just because the actual show was awesome. Volcano Choir deadlifted their way to the top based on quality. Justin Vernon is probably the biggest name to come from Wisconsin in a long time and him with the combination of Collections of Colonies of Bees made for one of the top releases of 2013 (2009's Unmap was barely just okay for me). Vernon stood in the middle of the stage at a podium looking stand that light up in accordance to the songs and stands as the coolest setups at a show because it looked like he was giving some kind of state of music address. His voice was filled with the strength and intensity of a president speaking on behalf of a country in dire straits.
-The highlight: Byegone. The buildup to the climax of the song was great because you could feel everyone wanted to let out that "Set Sail!" Then when the part came, the lights went up and watching from the balcony, made the crowd look like waves of the ocean. Everyone was dancing or just moving their head with the music and it was just one of those moments that make you smile without any conscious effort. Definitely one of my favorite concert moments.
Vampire Weekend
- You haven't lived until you've heard josh's life is pointless speech.
- "Cheese fries...where the fuck are we?!"
- Sluts be like "a bandana and short shorts will keep me warm, right?"
- Bike carriages "it's a dangerous walk guys", "I like that their sales pitch is pretty much fear."
- I know you love Ezra 13 year old girl sitting next to us but you're small and not that close to the stage. He left not knowing you or your sentiment.
- Fate continues to dance with Josh.
- "I can't bring water bottles in here....this is what the holocaust was like"
- That girl was stupid for throwing her burrito away because she could've just bought one inside.
- That photographer.
- This felt like a big time concert. The place was packed and the venue was filled with the voices of everybody singing along. Great lighting and stage setup gave the concert a big production feel that I'm not accustomed to since all the concerts I go to are indoor venues with medium big indie bands. The whole set was amazing except for Hannah Hunt for the encore that brought the mood down for Walcott #Pullittogether
- Cults should probably stick to smaller indoor venues...her voice was covered up by the music.
Blind Pilot
- Probably the best opening band I've seen in the River City Extension. I regret not standing to watch them, politeness be damned. They received a standing ovation afterwards and immediately became one of my hype bands (playlist coming soon). Please check them out.
- Welcome to the jungle, don't get raped.
-A couple were making out in front of me for a long time and a guy tapped me on the shoulder and said "I bet this wasn't the show you thought you'd see". I didn't get what he meant for another half hour but pretended I did. Jokes on him, it was the kind of show I was hoping to see.
- Blind pilot was wayyyy better than I thought they were going to be even though I was a big fan going in. Very full of life. Highlights: The Bitter End starting off with only the singer then the rest of the band slowly making their way out, giving a feeling that they were comforting the singer. We Are the Tide was a very fun moment. I don't think I'll forget the the woman drummer smiling and her hair bouncing along to the music. Not in a pervy way but for the amount of joy her and the rest of the band had for the music they were playing.
- Blind pilot, buds, Battlestar Galatica
Here's a list of stuff incase I die in surgery Friday #DeathbyTooth
- Find a way to make me look cool with sunglasses on during my funeral because I could never figure out the trick in life.
- I want old timey pictures taken of each guest with me sitting on a bench.
-I don't want a slide show of pictures of me in the regular sense. I want pictures that have me photoshopped into them. Some places unrealistic for me like a job site.
- There has to be a roast after the funeral portion.
- No mentions of any religious jargon and I want it to take place outside. If it's raining all the better, everyone knows how I like to be dramatic.
- Either give away my records (since I didn't have kids) or sell them on Ebay. Some are rareish. In the description you have to write that I died thinking about them.
- The eulogy has to be given like a black preacher would give it.
- I prepared a funeral playlist and heres the short version:
Passenger Side- Wilco
Leonard- Sharon Van Etten
Take Care- Tom Rosenthal
Where I thought I I met the Angels- Tallest Man on Earth
The Great Escape- Patrick Watson
Dark Parts- Perfume Genius
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea- Neutral Milk Hotel
Love love love- Mountain Goats
Married with Children- Oasis
Werewolf- Fiona Apple
New White shoes- Conor Oberst
Lua- Bright Eyes
No Buses- Arctic Monkeys
Welcome Home- Radical Face
Sail Away- Randy Newman
Citrus- Hold Steady
Freaks and Geeks- Childish Gambino
Volcano Choir
- Hmmm I feel like this is one of those concerts thats in the top just because the actual show was awesome. Volcano Choir deadlifted their way to the top based on quality. Justin Vernon is probably the biggest name to come from Wisconsin in a long time and him with the combination of Collections of Colonies of Bees made for one of the top releases of 2013 (2009's Unmap was barely just okay for me). Vernon stood in the middle of the stage at a podium looking stand that light up in accordance to the songs and stands as the coolest setups at a show because it looked like he was giving some kind of state of music address. His voice was filled with the strength and intensity of a president speaking on behalf of a country in dire straits.
-The highlight: Byegone. The buildup to the climax of the song was great because you could feel everyone wanted to let out that "Set Sail!" Then when the part came, the lights went up and watching from the balcony, made the crowd look like waves of the ocean. Everyone was dancing or just moving their head with the music and it was just one of those moments that make you smile without any conscious effort. Definitely one of my favorite concert moments.
Vampire Weekend
- You haven't lived until you've heard josh's life is pointless speech.
- "Cheese fries...where the fuck are we?!"
- Sluts be like "a bandana and short shorts will keep me warm, right?"
- Bike carriages "it's a dangerous walk guys", "I like that their sales pitch is pretty much fear."
- I know you love Ezra 13 year old girl sitting next to us but you're small and not that close to the stage. He left not knowing you or your sentiment.
- Fate continues to dance with Josh.
- "I can't bring water bottles in here....this is what the holocaust was like"
- That girl was stupid for throwing her burrito away because she could've just bought one inside.
- That photographer.
- This felt like a big time concert. The place was packed and the venue was filled with the voices of everybody singing along. Great lighting and stage setup gave the concert a big production feel that I'm not accustomed to since all the concerts I go to are indoor venues with medium big indie bands. The whole set was amazing except for Hannah Hunt for the encore that brought the mood down for Walcott #Pullittogether
- Cults should probably stick to smaller indoor venues...her voice was covered up by the music.
Blind Pilot
- Probably the best opening band I've seen in the River City Extension. I regret not standing to watch them, politeness be damned. They received a standing ovation afterwards and immediately became one of my hype bands (playlist coming soon). Please check them out.
- Welcome to the jungle, don't get raped.
-A couple were making out in front of me for a long time and a guy tapped me on the shoulder and said "I bet this wasn't the show you thought you'd see". I didn't get what he meant for another half hour but pretended I did. Jokes on him, it was the kind of show I was hoping to see.
- Blind pilot was wayyyy better than I thought they were going to be even though I was a big fan going in. Very full of life. Highlights: The Bitter End starting off with only the singer then the rest of the band slowly making their way out, giving a feeling that they were comforting the singer. We Are the Tide was a very fun moment. I don't think I'll forget the the woman drummer smiling and her hair bouncing along to the music. Not in a pervy way but for the amount of joy her and the rest of the band had for the music they were playing.
- Blind pilot, buds, Battlestar Galatica
Here's a list of stuff incase I die in surgery Friday #DeathbyTooth
- Find a way to make me look cool with sunglasses on during my funeral because I could never figure out the trick in life.
- I want old timey pictures taken of each guest with me sitting on a bench.
-I don't want a slide show of pictures of me in the regular sense. I want pictures that have me photoshopped into them. Some places unrealistic for me like a job site.
- There has to be a roast after the funeral portion.
- No mentions of any religious jargon and I want it to take place outside. If it's raining all the better, everyone knows how I like to be dramatic.
- Either give away my records (since I didn't have kids) or sell them on Ebay. Some are rareish. In the description you have to write that I died thinking about them.
- The eulogy has to be given like a black preacher would give it.
- I prepared a funeral playlist and heres the short version:
Passenger Side- Wilco
Leonard- Sharon Van Etten
Take Care- Tom Rosenthal
Where I thought I I met the Angels- Tallest Man on Earth
The Great Escape- Patrick Watson
Dark Parts- Perfume Genius
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea- Neutral Milk Hotel
Love love love- Mountain Goats
Married with Children- Oasis
Werewolf- Fiona Apple
New White shoes- Conor Oberst
Lua- Bright Eyes
No Buses- Arctic Monkeys
Welcome Home- Radical Face
Sail Away- Randy Newman
Citrus- Hold Steady
Freaks and Geeks- Childish Gambino
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Top Concerts Part 2
Foxygen at Turner Hall
- Every show has a different feeling to it. Some feel like pure fun energy (Vampire Weekend), some can feel beautiful (Patrick Watson), somber to the point of boredom (S. Carey). The only way I could describe Foxygen show is.. it felt fucking dangerous. It was exactly what everyone should want from a "rocknroll" concert. Sam France, the singer, was more unhinged than any front person I've ever seen (including Conor Oberst's recent show of emotion on eleven). At times the music swirled and intoxicated the audience, making it feel like the Willy Wonka boat scene if Willy Wonka was a drug addled Mick Jagger. On record, their music feels a little muddied in the 60's style of recording. Live, the music felt like an explosion. As Josh put it, "it was as if we went back in time and watched rock'n roll being made." Sam France moved like a man electrocuted, smacked himself in the face with the microphone, yelled into the mic like someone on a bad trip, balanced on the flimsy speakers on the front of the stage, and even lay down during a song and leaving the stage before the end of the last song like he was saying he did his job so fucking leave now. The craziest antic came when he climbed the speakers on the end of the stage and jumped off to the floor, which is crazy because the speakers are pretty tall and very shaky. He was so crazy that on the next stop of the tour, he broke his leg doing his balancing.
-Interspersed throughout the show were disney song snippets and awkward banter.
- Not only was danger around during the concert but all around because Josh brought a girl and her friend along. Very unique experience since a third, more so a forth, is rarely added to our shows. They were obviously less interested in getting to know me, despite me being hilarious! If the main friend didn't turn out to be crazy I would've been more offended haha.
-Twin Peaks was the opener but I don't remember them #Timetohangitup
Death Cab For Cutie with the Magik Magik Orchestra at the Riverside
- This was on my birthday! What makes it even cooler is that this concert was released on vinyl on Record Store day this year and hasn't been released on iTunes or anything yet.
-The whole set, excluding the encore, was backed up by a pretty nice orchestra, which gave their songs a fuller feeling. Death Cab's old songs especially were improved on a lot, I'm talking songs from their first three albums that sounded not as polished as they became.
- Some song highlights: A beautiful transition into Different Names from Passenger Seat, Monday Morning was played acoustic and is something that is unique to the concert, and Transatlanticism was a sprawling closer to the set. My takeaway from the show the guy just crying uncontrollably at Transatlanticism, taking breaks to cry into his sweater followed by him dramatically singing along ("I need you so much closer") and raising his hand in the air. Embarrassing for him? Yea, maybe. But I would kill to get that emotional over something. It must've felt so freeing to just let go. He was by himself and I wonder if he was like "no guys I have to go alone. I'm going to cry just a stupid amount at this show. I'm going to cry so much that it'll make everything awkward for everyone around me and I don't care."
- The opener was Low, who have a decent following to them, and they were crazy boring.
I've kind've lost interest in this countdown because its a lot of work so at some point this countdown might just drop off lol. Plus I regret putting Morning Benders at 10 already because of the limited amount of spots. I may be taking this too seriously.
Here are my 10 Beauty steps:
1. Always use a new towel because you don't want yesterdays schmutz on you #EricWhite
2. Wash hair first then everything else because your hair gross will leak on to the rest of you if you do the reverse.
3. Keep those teeth clean playa
4. Deodorant on before putting on your shirt. Nothing that isn't completely done being prepared should touch your clothes.
5. Think of how much time you put into your hair...add five minutes to that.
6. Take your time drying off. Looking good isn't a race, you just need to get to where you need to be.
7. Dry your feet separately, pamper your tootsies.
8. Don't put too much time into what your wearing because thats where instinct comes in.
9. Clean those ears, people like a person that listens.
10. Look at yourself in the mirror before getting dressed and say today is going to be a good day. After getting dressed, look in the mirror again and say "it's looking like a good day already."
- Every show has a different feeling to it. Some feel like pure fun energy (Vampire Weekend), some can feel beautiful (Patrick Watson), somber to the point of boredom (S. Carey). The only way I could describe Foxygen show is.. it felt fucking dangerous. It was exactly what everyone should want from a "rocknroll" concert. Sam France, the singer, was more unhinged than any front person I've ever seen (including Conor Oberst's recent show of emotion on eleven). At times the music swirled and intoxicated the audience, making it feel like the Willy Wonka boat scene if Willy Wonka was a drug addled Mick Jagger. On record, their music feels a little muddied in the 60's style of recording. Live, the music felt like an explosion. As Josh put it, "it was as if we went back in time and watched rock'n roll being made." Sam France moved like a man electrocuted, smacked himself in the face with the microphone, yelled into the mic like someone on a bad trip, balanced on the flimsy speakers on the front of the stage, and even lay down during a song and leaving the stage before the end of the last song like he was saying he did his job so fucking leave now. The craziest antic came when he climbed the speakers on the end of the stage and jumped off to the floor, which is crazy because the speakers are pretty tall and very shaky. He was so crazy that on the next stop of the tour, he broke his leg doing his balancing.
-Interspersed throughout the show were disney song snippets and awkward banter.
- Not only was danger around during the concert but all around because Josh brought a girl and her friend along. Very unique experience since a third, more so a forth, is rarely added to our shows. They were obviously less interested in getting to know me, despite me being hilarious! If the main friend didn't turn out to be crazy I would've been more offended haha.
-Twin Peaks was the opener but I don't remember them #Timetohangitup
Death Cab For Cutie with the Magik Magik Orchestra at the Riverside
- This was on my birthday! What makes it even cooler is that this concert was released on vinyl on Record Store day this year and hasn't been released on iTunes or anything yet.
-The whole set, excluding the encore, was backed up by a pretty nice orchestra, which gave their songs a fuller feeling. Death Cab's old songs especially were improved on a lot, I'm talking songs from their first three albums that sounded not as polished as they became.
- Some song highlights: A beautiful transition into Different Names from Passenger Seat, Monday Morning was played acoustic and is something that is unique to the concert, and Transatlanticism was a sprawling closer to the set. My takeaway from the show the guy just crying uncontrollably at Transatlanticism, taking breaks to cry into his sweater followed by him dramatically singing along ("I need you so much closer") and raising his hand in the air. Embarrassing for him? Yea, maybe. But I would kill to get that emotional over something. It must've felt so freeing to just let go. He was by himself and I wonder if he was like "no guys I have to go alone. I'm going to cry just a stupid amount at this show. I'm going to cry so much that it'll make everything awkward for everyone around me and I don't care."
- The opener was Low, who have a decent following to them, and they were crazy boring.
I've kind've lost interest in this countdown because its a lot of work so at some point this countdown might just drop off lol. Plus I regret putting Morning Benders at 10 already because of the limited amount of spots. I may be taking this too seriously.
Here are my 10 Beauty steps:
1. Always use a new towel because you don't want yesterdays schmutz on you #EricWhite
2. Wash hair first then everything else because your hair gross will leak on to the rest of you if you do the reverse.
3. Keep those teeth clean playa
4. Deodorant on before putting on your shirt. Nothing that isn't completely done being prepared should touch your clothes.
5. Think of how much time you put into your hair...add five minutes to that.
6. Take your time drying off. Looking good isn't a race, you just need to get to where you need to be.
7. Dry your feet separately, pamper your tootsies.
8. Don't put too much time into what your wearing because thats where instinct comes in.
9. Clean those ears, people like a person that listens.
10. Look at yourself in the mirror before getting dressed and say today is going to be a good day. After getting dressed, look in the mirror again and say "it's looking like a good day already."
Monday, June 2, 2014
Top Concerts Part 1
Top Concerts Part 1, no specific order until the end.
According to my ticket book, I've been to forty two concerts since 2010 (realistically it's more given the tickets I may have lost and summerfest concerts that don't really count).
10. Morning Benders with opening act Twin Sister- Turner Hall
This is my first indie concert (or Stornoway was. I have a terrible memory sometimes) and I remember thinking to myself, "this is like a movie, this is so cool." It was probably spelled kool because high school, but it was a really great experience. I walked into Turner Hall and looked around at how rundown and shitty it looked, and was like I want to be here all the time. Back in high school everyone is looking for someplace to fit into and Turner hall was filled with a bunch of hipster kids maybe thinking the same things I was. At the time, I was just dipping my toes into indie music by listening to bands like Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Bright Eyes. Its Hardly Been by Stephen Malkmus actually got me really into different music, which is weird because I don't even really listen to him all that much even though the album Face the Truth is bonkers good.
Back to the concert, Josh and I squirreled our way to the front of the stage because thats what kids do at Turner Hall shows. Once you hit a certain age, you kinda just want to sit until the main band comes out unless the main person is really worth standing for four hours (thanks Sharon van Etten for my blisters). Maybe we even sat on the floor in between sets because in your teens you don't mind if people stare at you differently.
There may have been a third band that was unannounced called shore something but as many openers do they aren't really a factor in memory. The second band (maybe first) was Twin Sister. At some point they had some hype behind them because of their ep Color Your Life I wasn't too into what they were dishing out although I feel like today it would've been a solid opening set. At one point the woman singer rolled her eyes at our lack of interest and thats what I remember the most about their set. Man, what a jerk.
Morning Benders came up next and you best believe (#berniemac) that I was excited to see what all this concert business was about, especially since I only came on Josh's insistence. They were great! The lights were gold and it made it feel like I was already mid-remembering it on the car ride home. Like it was a memory already. My initial reaction was "wow they're Asian!". They played Waiting for a War (which is still on my car ride playlists) and told us to dance. I didn't dance because I was so awkward in high school that my hips remained rigid in order to keep myself from embarrassing myself worse than I had to. It was a evolutionary development. Conditioning out of mercy. I regret not buying a shirt because a few years after this show, the Morning Benders turned into Pop.Etc because benders is a homophobic slur. Pop.etc became a slur for music.
I was going to fit five entries on to this post but I rant way too much. Here are my future topics I'm thinking of writing about: The draw of records and what records are better on vinyl, drinking, summerfest justifications, acting like a man, religion, the idea of regrets, hipster thoughts on music, my compulsions, creative writing thoughts, probably more music related topics and maybe movie recommendations if I want to put more thought into these posts than I want to. I don't really fix anything or try for any flow on these posts (there's a to instead of a too in my second post and I can't stop thinking about it).
Songs I Can't Not Sing in the Car Playlist
Anything We Want- Fiona Apple
Walcott- Vampire Weekend
Thirteen- Ben Kweller
No Buses- Arctic Monkeys
Over and Over Again- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
My Attempts To Grow A Beard- The Daredevil Christopher Wright
Passenger Seat- Death Cab For Cutie
Blues Run the Game- Laura Marling
Stubborn Love- Lumineers
Middle Distance Runner- SeaWolf
A Pillar of Salt- The Thermals
Horny Hippies- Dodo Bird
According to my ticket book, I've been to forty two concerts since 2010 (realistically it's more given the tickets I may have lost and summerfest concerts that don't really count).
10. Morning Benders with opening act Twin Sister- Turner Hall
This is my first indie concert (or Stornoway was. I have a terrible memory sometimes) and I remember thinking to myself, "this is like a movie, this is so cool." It was probably spelled kool because high school, but it was a really great experience. I walked into Turner Hall and looked around at how rundown and shitty it looked, and was like I want to be here all the time. Back in high school everyone is looking for someplace to fit into and Turner hall was filled with a bunch of hipster kids maybe thinking the same things I was. At the time, I was just dipping my toes into indie music by listening to bands like Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Bright Eyes. Its Hardly Been by Stephen Malkmus actually got me really into different music, which is weird because I don't even really listen to him all that much even though the album Face the Truth is bonkers good.
Back to the concert, Josh and I squirreled our way to the front of the stage because thats what kids do at Turner Hall shows. Once you hit a certain age, you kinda just want to sit until the main band comes out unless the main person is really worth standing for four hours (thanks Sharon van Etten for my blisters). Maybe we even sat on the floor in between sets because in your teens you don't mind if people stare at you differently.
There may have been a third band that was unannounced called shore something but as many openers do they aren't really a factor in memory. The second band (maybe first) was Twin Sister. At some point they had some hype behind them because of their ep Color Your Life I wasn't too into what they were dishing out although I feel like today it would've been a solid opening set. At one point the woman singer rolled her eyes at our lack of interest and thats what I remember the most about their set. Man, what a jerk.
Morning Benders came up next and you best believe (#berniemac) that I was excited to see what all this concert business was about, especially since I only came on Josh's insistence. They were great! The lights were gold and it made it feel like I was already mid-remembering it on the car ride home. Like it was a memory already. My initial reaction was "wow they're Asian!". They played Waiting for a War (which is still on my car ride playlists) and told us to dance. I didn't dance because I was so awkward in high school that my hips remained rigid in order to keep myself from embarrassing myself worse than I had to. It was a evolutionary development. Conditioning out of mercy. I regret not buying a shirt because a few years after this show, the Morning Benders turned into Pop.Etc because benders is a homophobic slur. Pop.etc became a slur for music.
I was going to fit five entries on to this post but I rant way too much. Here are my future topics I'm thinking of writing about: The draw of records and what records are better on vinyl, drinking, summerfest justifications, acting like a man, religion, the idea of regrets, hipster thoughts on music, my compulsions, creative writing thoughts, probably more music related topics and maybe movie recommendations if I want to put more thought into these posts than I want to. I don't really fix anything or try for any flow on these posts (there's a to instead of a too in my second post and I can't stop thinking about it).
Songs I Can't Not Sing in the Car Playlist
Anything We Want- Fiona Apple
Walcott- Vampire Weekend
Thirteen- Ben Kweller
No Buses- Arctic Monkeys
Over and Over Again- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
My Attempts To Grow A Beard- The Daredevil Christopher Wright
Passenger Seat- Death Cab For Cutie
Blues Run the Game- Laura Marling
Stubborn Love- Lumineers
Middle Distance Runner- SeaWolf
A Pillar of Salt- The Thermals
Horny Hippies- Dodo Bird
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