It's rare, but right now, I wish I lived in Atlanta... Let's see... Midtown Music Fest vs. Charlotte Center City Fest

Midtown
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The White Stripes
Lou Reed
Devo
Public Enemy
The Pixies
Interpol
Tom Petty

City Fest
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Cowboy Mouth
Jump, Little Children
Cracker
Loch Ness Johnny
Leftover Salmon
Jason Mraz
Hootie and the Blowfish
Sister Hazel
The Roots
Edwin McCain
Switchfoot
Howie Day
Jupiter Coyote
Pastor Troy

Yeah, the Charlotte side's longer... mostly b/c there was noone I could find who was really exciting at all. Cowboy Mouth puts on a fun show. I have emotional ties to Loch Ness Johnny and Jump, Little Children. Cracker's ok. And The Roots would be pretty sweet.
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All the rest of those bands completely suck ass tho. I abohr them. fuck Hootie, fuck Sister Hazel, fuck Switchfoot, fuck Jason Mraz, fuck Edwin McCain, fuck Jupiter Coyote (I thought they broke up), fuck sissy pussy rock, and fuck Charlotte's terrible terrible music scene.

I'd easily make special plans to see any of the bands on the Atlanta side... except, perhaps, Public Enemy and Tom Petty... There's noone in Charlotte that I would really go out of my way to see. What a crock.

Oh. And Modest Mouse is playing Atlanta the day after Midtown. And they're playing Charlotte... oh... right... never.

Labels: music

wtf.
Pearl Jam has a new album and tour.
NIN has a new album and tour.
Audioslave has a new album and tour.
The Foo Fighters have a new album and tour.
The Strokes are working on a new album and tour.
Lou Reed is on tour.
Beck has a new album and tour.
The Digable Planets are working on a new album and tour.

Yet Tupac is still dead and 50 Cent isn't.
And Rob Thomas's new solo album debuts at number 1.
Who the hell is buying this crap???

There is so much good stuff going on right now, but I'm still sure the apocalypse is near. And that's without even knowing what ignorant mission G.W. is going to send us on to blow up some undeserving country next.

Rob Thomas.
yeah, last week was kind of weak... but... Rob Thomas???

Labels: music

uhmm...
new Foo Fighters in June?
I haven't been paying attention.
New Foo Fighters tour after they get done with Europe?
They'd better come closer than Atlanta...
*drool*

Labels: music

I think myspace is kind of lame.
But I had the best myspace email waiting for me in the box this morning. Full streaming of the new NIN album. Sweet.
With Teeth decidely starts out without any. The first track ("All the Love in the World") is almost sweet except for its angsty lyrics and a refrain of "Why do you get all the love in the world." I can't stop thinking about Fatboy Slim... But it does become more industrial Trent towards the end. Into the second track, ("You Know What You Are?") which is great NIN noise... hard and loud on the guitars and drums; yet still, the lyrics kind of suffer, I think. "Don't you fucking know what you are?" And "You'd better take a good look because you're full of shit."

Regardless, this is the sound I wanted from NIN. Moving on...

"The Collector" has got the dark and dredgy kind of feel of "March of the Pigs" or such. "I am the collector, I pick things up." Having a hard time understanding lyrics tho. Which, I suppose, is to be expected.
and then "The Hand That Feeds"... Once again, the lyrics just seem so obvious. And I'm back to feeling Fatboy Slim again. Where can I buy some glowsticks?

Then "Love is not Enough". Depressing enough just in the title. My least favorite kind of NIN song, really. Slow and repetitive, but dark. So, fine. It's NIN again... not Fatboy.

"Every Day is Exactly the Same" is a little frustrating again. NIN light or something. Which quite different from KMFDM Light. Come on, Trent. Punch me in the face! The next song is the title track... hopefully it lives up to its name.

But "With Teeth" stays in the realm of mellow NIN. If there is such a thing. He builds layer on layer up to a pretty unexpected break in the middle and lays the noise on afterward. Cool. But nothing overly exciting.

And "Only"... best lyrics I could understand so far. But, musically, it seems to be sticking in "Electronica/Dance" genre or something. If the bass drum thumped a little bit harder, I'd be liquid raving in no time. "Getting Smaller" rocks tho. Pulses and drives forward, and I like Trent's vox and the end is kind of rad too.

"Sunspots" is back to soft and kind of slow. Just Trent and a drum beat, but, again, adding more and more layers as the song progresses. I really like that song structure. As does NIN, apparently. "The Line Begins to Blur" is more distorted and darker than a lot of the other songs. But, dammit, I'm looking for something HARD as well as heavy. "Beside You in Time" is, yet again, a slow downer of a song. As is "Right Where it Belongs."

So... not exactly what I was prepared and/or looking for. But it's definitely NIN, and that definitely makes me happy. "The Hand That Feeds" kind of sticks out like a sore thumb, and I kind of wish it wasn't there. It kind of makes me think that it was designed solely to be a single. It just doesn't really fit with the rest of the album. Admittedly, I've only listened to it once, and I was interrupted multiple times... I probably won't listen again until I have the CD in my hand and am either at home listening on my DVD player or in the car. I'm sure some opinions will change once I REALLY get to listen to it. But, overall, this is more of a Further Down the Spiral kind of album than Broken or Pretty Hate Machine. I'll love this when I'm sitting alone somewhere reading or writing - perfect background music. Just not fitting my pre-conceived expectations.

This song-by-song review thing kind of sucks. But I mostly did it for myself so I wouldn't forget what I was thinking. These will probably change as well once I sit down and really listen to the album and think about each song... sounds like fun, but who knows when/if it will actually happen.

Labels: music

wow. Great things in the email this morning...

www.audioslave.com/download

www.myspace.com/ninofficial

and, yesterday, Pearl Jam officially announced some tour dates. All in Canada, but that's better than nothing. Hopefully there will be some bootlegs I can buy. Or I can get myself shipped up to Winnipeg for "work".

Labels: music

oh yeah...

hey.

man.

Gotta live. My life. Like I ain't got nuthin'.

But this roll of the dice.

I'm feeling like a Monday. But Someday. I'll be Saturday night.

;)

There are fun things that can be done with a Radiohead soundtrack.

And so I broke down.
And finally bought OK Computer.

I liked Pablo Honey.
And I mostly liked The Bends.

but not OK Computer. Partially b/c I heard it far too often from other people playing it. And partially b/c I was in a weird place, musically, when it came out. Was digging on Seven Nations pretty hard... and Pearl Jam... and whatever strange stuff I could download via Audiogalaxy. (Anyone remember that?)

Fast Forward 5 years; press Play. No Surprises was played by the band at this church I went to once or twice... and played very very well at that. That was months ago, and I still haven't been able to get the melody out of my head.

Then I bought that DVD. Which was cool. But left me wanting more. I knew I liked most of Hail to the Thief... Sit Down, Stand Up and There There are great great songs. So I bought that. But it sucked to buy my first Radiohead album since 1994 or whatever and not get the one song that's been in my mind for so freakin' long. So I bought OK Computer too.

And, for better or worse, I still think it's the worst Radiohead album. Sure it's interesting and "meaningful" (whatever the hell that means anymore) but I just don't really like listening to it. The gooviest thing until Let Down is the bass line from Paranoid Android. Exit Music (For a Film) would be really great exit music... you know... for a film. But I'm not watching a film. I'm 1/3 of the way into an album. I like the flowing melody of Let Down. Other than parts of Paranoid Android, this is really the first thing that catches me and makes me listen. Karma Police, I also like. Trendy tho it may be. Boo on the next track for listenability. Electioneering and No Surprises are the only two of the remaining tracks that I really care to listen to.

iTunes average rating for the album? 2.33 stars. Hail to the Thief comes in with about a 15% higher score at 3.14.

Glad I got No Surprises, but would have been satisfied if Radiohead were actually available for purchase via iTunes. dammit. Unless I'm depressed, shit-faced, or curious again, OK will probably remain on the shelf right after Out of Time... although I think I gave that to manifest due to its extreme suckiness too. So maybe it'll hang out next to Monster, which is a much better album.

Labels: music

After digging holes in the backyard for a couple of hours last night, I found out, around 9:00, that Martin Sexton was playing right around the corner at 9:30. Got my crap together, paid the $15 and got in during the middle of the 2nd song. Now I've only ever heard The American, so I figured I'd be kind of lost. And Martin isn't generally the kind of show I'd go too, but I like the album I have and Scott said he was good, so there I was.

Decent crowd for Charlotte. Especially on a Tuesday night. And, wow. Really. I never would have guessed so many cool sounds could have come from one dude, a guitar, and a loopback machine. It was half beatbox, half soul, half R&B, and half pop. I know that equals two. Guitar tone was amazing too... so clean and clear. And he really has an outstanding voice. It sounds great on the album, but being able to replicate that live is an amazing feat. If I could play an electric guitar solo with an electric guitar the way Martin plays an electric guitar solo with his mouth and a microphone, I'd never be nervous to play again.

First set, everything was great... If it wasn't for the, like, 40 minute set break, everything would have been MUCH better. Was able to get most of the way to the front for the 2nd set tho, so that was nice. Especially when he opened with "The Beast in Me." Good second set, but also kind of short. I think the whole show couldn't have been more than an hour and a half. Was hoping for another half hour or so. But even that would have been ok if it wasn't for the encore. I was REALLY liking everything he was doing up until then. And, for the encore, he came out and did "American the Beautiful." wtf. Not that I have a problem with the song, per se. Or people singing it. I didn't care to hear it, personally, but whatever. It still SUCKED that the very last thing we got was a short rendition of that crap. Even him playing that song would have been fine if we'd gotten another Sexton tune afterward. But, no. America the Beautiful and then done. Even CIF shows ending with "Who Are We..." have never been that disappointing. Was kind of pissed that I spent the extra money to get the CD's of the show after that. Que sera sera.

And, dammit. There was more, but I got sidetracked, so I'm done for now.

Labels: concerts, music

a quick lunch-break trip to the disc golf course yields a -5 on the back 9 (where I started) and a +1 on the front. Suck. No bogeys on the back and 3 on the front. including the last hole. Where the disc hit the chains, bounced in the basket, and fell out. Crap.

Labels: Disc Golf

Carowinds is far far cooler when you never have to wait in line. Don't think we waited longer than, like, 15 minutes for anything other than the Borg on Sunday. And the Borg kind of sucked. Especially compared to Top Gun. Or even Thunder Road. But not as much as Vortex. Boring. Top Gun is the best. In the front seat. The best.

Have I even mentioned Sin City? I don't think so. But it was great. Being, as it was, a film adaptation of a comic, it couldn't be beat. I think everything I would say has been said before, so I won't say much. As a movie on its own it would have been, perhaps, a little disappointing. But since it wasn't that, it was phenomenal. Acting, dialog, visuals... everything was fantastic. Seen it twice, and I might have to go again. Maybe. But I *am* trying to save money... we'll see.

And Muse. Muse were awesome. Occasionally, Matt's voice faded a bit, but it didn't bother me too much. 2nd/3rd row center. I can't complain. Dispite the mtv cameras in my face most of the night. So I, therefore, spent most of the night with my middle finger expressing my opinion of mtv to the camera for me. I'm still not sure if that's going to make it more or less likely that they'll actually put me in some ridiculous montage. Tried my best to look like I was bored. Dammit. I would have gladly paid twice the ticket price to not have mtv there. Razorlight was...fine, I guess. I thought I liked them at first when their Mic Ronson lookalike opened the set, but I don't think I liked the lead singer. At least not after he stripped for the last song for no discernable reason and brought his smelly ass down into the crowd and stayed about two feet in front of me. Annoying. But I think I was supposed to dig it. Oops. But I did get to yell "Pearl Jam" when some dude came out to talk about mtv and had on the red pj shirt with the apeguy and the gun. Circa Yield, right? I dunno. But good for him.

Audioslave tour = another reason the Charlotte music "scene" sucks.

Just listened to the Garden State soundtrack for the first time since actually watching the movie. Very underwhelmed. And very very disappointed with the Iron & Wine cover of "Such Great Heights." It was terrible compared to the original. But, I suppose, I&W is more depressed than the Postal Service and, therefore, fit the soundtrack better. Boo. Not for me. Not for you. If you hate something, don't you do it too.

It turns out that I kind of dig the Strokes tho. So now I'm kind of excited for their almost complete new album and summer tour. No Green Day on Wednesday either, I guess. Too expensive to buy sold out tickets. Besides, there's a new South Park.

Picked up an old CD the other day... a band called Sticklaw out of Raleigh. Met them through a friend who took me to the Brewery to see them once. And then to Johnson City. Where he got to scream backup during one song. We almost fell off of Iron Mt. during on ice storm on the way there, but we made it. And it was cool. And I still like the CD. The lead singer and guitar player took off years ago, and it was hell trying to find info about them online. Finally found the bass player on ncscene.com and found out that the remaining members have formed a new band called Down Cycle. Kind of fun finding people from years ago. Wish I could find out what their old lead singer is doing these days tho. But I'll take what I can get.

Labels: Movies, music

Classic Coke in a glass bottle is like a God unto all other mortal soft drinks.

Or, at least, it will be.

Got the new Fiona album in its entirety last night. Finished listening this morning. 'tis very very good, and Sony sucks. At least let her out of her contract so she can release it independently... I guess. I don't know anything about "the business," but I imagine that I'd be pissed if I were her.

And I picked up the new Garbage album this morning on the way to work. And yes, I kind of sold out and went to Target. But it was only $9.98! And I paid my car insurance yesterday and currently have $0.69. So I'm sucking up to corporate America. And Target is a "Republican company" too. I suck.

"Target executives contributed solely to Republican candidates and Target's Chariman and CEO contributed fairly heavily. Target also has a Political Action Committee which contributed very heavily in the 2003-2004 election cycle weighing in at $173,240 (21% D 78% R)"

buyblue.org

uhh... but back to music...
I hadn't heard the single(s) yet, so no expectations.
Very very heavy album. At least starting off. And Shirley still sounds great. About halfway through now, and there's nothing I really feel like skipping at all. And the CD includes the video for the single... which I've yet to watch. They've got such a great sound... almost industrial guitars with a definite techo/electronica twist... and Shirley's voice just comes out of nowhere to make something pretty damned unique.

"
No Evolution
Sometimes it depresses me
The same old same
Oh we keep repeating history
The Institution curses curiosity
"

and

"Find out who you are before you regret it"

very sexual... somewhat angry... abused lyrics. I like it.

and am, once again, pissed to live in the God forsaken South East. Closest show is in Atlanta. On a freakin' Thursday...

But it's still gonna be a good day. In stark contrast to my last statement, Muse is playing about 15 minutes from my house. Can NOT wait. My sister said the front was a huge mosh pit at the Atlanta show. Definitely going to get there as early as possible. Am already comparing it to the Primus show from last year...

so there's another reason I'll be quoting Ice Cube tonight.

and there was another good trip to Manifest recently...
Wellwater Conspiracy - The Brotherhood of the Electric
Tommy James and the Chondels - Anthology
Mike Watt - Ball-Hog or Tugboat
Pearl Jam - Last Kiss single (I know, I know... but I'm somewhat of a completist... somewhat)
Helmet - Meantime
NIN - The Hand That Feeds prerelease single
The Strokes - Is This It?

and the Radiohead DVD "The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time"... weird stuff, but mostly very cool. Especially if it's dark, and the volume is cranked.

Labels: Capitalism, music

I haven't done anything lately. Except occasionaly post dumb stuff here: www.filboydstudge.com

but I got a few CD's recently that I should have gotten ages ago...

Foo Fighters: The Colour & the Shape... Seems a lot of people really really like this album. Obviously, it's got some great great songs (e.g. Everlong - thanks, Stephanie), but I wasn't completely enthralled with it at first or second listen. Still glad to own and to have heard it, but my expectations were too high. I was looking for something that would go into immediate semi-permanent rotation.

Concrete Blonde: Live in Brazil... Yeah, they've had some misses, but also some really really great freakin' albums. This was recorded in '03, and I had a chance to see them this tour, but I didn't feel like driving to Chapel Hill. I hate Chapel Hill. Go Illinois. Regardless, I should have gone. Johnette sounds AMAZING, and the whole band is on. Joey is probably the worst of the two-disc set. Love her voice. Love their sound. I also liked their last album, Mojave. Pretty classic Blonde. (But "Group Therapy" didn't quite do it for me)

Roxy Music: Viva! Roxy Music... Just never paid attention before. But, speaking of Concrete Blonde... was listening to Roses Grow from Still in Hollywood, and Johnette mentions Paul Thompson... the drummer... "formerly of Roxy Music, now he's the Blonde, yes?" So. Got the Roxy live disc... it's kind of... artsy as opposed to "rock" perhaps. But I likes. A lot.

Trent Reznor is still the Man. Especially the last response from 03/22. I'm excited.

Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady... again... Stephanie... thank you. Pearl Jam... thank you. Suppose I should get an actual album, but I found a used US version of this for cheap. I likes very much. And I wish the Buzzcocks had opened for PJ the entire tour instead of Sleater-Kinney... (who, btw, were fine, but not good enough to make me want to buy an album, and I thought they totally wrecked the encores of both shows I went to.)

KMFDM: Nihil... should have bought this long, long ago. Got all the singles from the album but never the album. Dumb. Definitely one of their best. If not the best. So I got it on vinyl too. Kind of lucky, I guess, since both are out of print. And yes, it's trendy, but Juke Joint Jezebel still rocks. And KMFDM puts on a really really awesome show.

Minor Threat: Out of Step... and, once again, just dumb that I didn't have this before. Was listening to 13 Songs before I went to the record store, and they had this new on vinyl. Really really really good. This, I think, would be the apex of anything I could hope to accomplish with music.

And I think that's all of the stuff I've come into recently.

I'm going to see Muse in one week.
and the Shins 2 1/2 weeks after that.
with a girl that actually likes me.
Very cool.

Labels: music

dammit. dammit. dammit. :(

Mitch Hedberg, a stand-up comedian best known for his offbeat musings and repeated appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, died last Wednesday in a hotel room in Livingston, N.J. The cause of death appears to be a heart ailment. Hedberg was 37.

I didn't even see this until now. SUCK.

www.mitchellhedberg.com/