Music

Most popular answer so far for a cover both better and better known than the original is Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower.” (I agree.)

Name a cover song that is a) better than the original, or b) better known than the original. Specify if the song is a, b, or both. Go.

When @Rdio is missing music, I can always find something else, but the absence of Touch and Go’s entire catalog is getting to be a problem.

Making preliminary plans to see @AndrewWk in Philly (3/30) and NYC (4/2) for the eleventh and twelfth times, respectively.

“I love that he refuses to… not be him.” – @ChapManBoom, on Axl Rose.

Today’s example of how recommendation engines are bullshit:

Why does this article about using Skype for music lessons make no mention of latency, the concept’s chief impediment? nytimes.com/2012/01/11/us/mus…

Whoever you are, it is highly unlikely that your album needs to exceed forty-five minutes.

Considering buying into Van Halen’s latest cash cow tour (bucket list), but assuming it’ll sell out before I can get tickets.

One of Thin Lizzy’s biggest and most recognizable strengths was always its twin harmonic leads, and they’re all but abandoned on Thunder and Lightning. From that angle, Lizzy rookie John Sykes’s guitar hero grandstanding says he isn’t a team player, but it’s hard to deny that his superhuman soloing is the most engaging aspect of the album. This isn’t close to Thin Lizzy’s best or most representative work, but it’s not its worst, either.

I need to revisit this album and Shades of a Blue Orphanage once in awhile to remind myself why I don’t own them. These are very humble beginnings for a band that would a few years later become mind-blowingly fantastic.

PSA: The essential Thin Lizzy (studio) albums are the middle five. They are, in chronological order: Fighting, Jailbreak, Johnny the Fox, Bad Reputation, and Black Rose: A Rock Legend. If these don’t do anything for… See more →

An album that I listened to once four months ago is still in my @Rdio profile’s Heavy Rotation list, and it’s driving me crazy.

Holy shit holy shit holy shit: “Recently uncovered ‘lost’ Thin Lizzy tapes contain up to 700 unreleased songs” avc.lu/wU9yaJ

Virtually every aspect of Evile’s music is copied directly from late ’80s Metallica. I don’t fault them for it – I’d rather hear a faithful reproduction of something great than a mediocre stab at something original. However, though their instrumental chops are on par with Metallica’s, their songwriting skills are not. Pretty much everything on here is instantly forgettable.

My top five albums of 2011:

1. Yuck
2. Colin Stetson
3. Mastodon
4. Low
5. Wolves in the Throne Room

Time will tell if Mastodon has done the impossible and written a song about a comic book character without sounding silly.

Fucked Up’s David Comes to Life is about four times longer than it needs to be.

Childish Gambino’s Camp gets this year’s 180º award, taking me three listens to go from “This is smart and fun!” to “Actually, not really.”

Apparently the mistake I had been making with Battles’ Gloss Drop was listening to it sitting down.

50% of the 2011 music I bought was made by artists that were new to me.

My year-end 2011 smart playlist is the first that has needed an “Artist Name does not include Weychert” specification. yfrog.com/kgeotp

Only bought twenty 2011 albums (and EPs), and I’m listening to all of them today, starting right now. Follow along: last.fm/user/cowpiesur…

Purchase of a wah pedal should require a background check.

The entire show Fucked Up played in the round last month in NYC is now online. I was there and now you can be too: pitchfork.com/tv/special-pre…

I’ve lost count of how many times this record has saved my life.

Has it really been ten years since @AndrewWk gave us I Get Wet? I’ve lost count of how many times that record has saved my life.

Among the music I added to my collection this year, thirty-six of the last fifty years are represented. Not bad.

Have you ever been in a public place and changed your walk’s rhythm to keep it from aligning with the shitty music that was playing?

Current status: youtu.be/pbTULjLtKP4

Somehow, the ridiculous anarchist drama club monologue in this song doesn’t sink the whole album.

Tom Cruise and “Old Time Rock and Roll” deserve each other.

Finished with my annual afternoon of Pandora’s Christmas station. Very, very finished.

David Bazan (ex Pedro the Lion) does an excellent cover of Low’s “Just Like Christmas”: avc.lu/sNRotO

Les Paul is my friend and I love him dearly, but I’m beginning to think he is not a friend to my back.

Art communicates. The core message might be as simple as “I like Slayer” or as complicated as “Let’s begin reversing centuries of female marginalization.” The work’s context and various expressive textures contribute narrative layers that enrich that core message. The more we identify with the message, its layers, and their convergence, the more we like the art, even if we can’t explain what those things are or how we connect with them.

In the who,… See more →

Sheena was a man.

The maggots are falling like rain.

The only thing worse than ticket scalpers is that the suffering they deserve is so far beyond the limitations of my imagination.

Someone left $20 in the ATM, so I’m getting paid to see Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter and The Sadies tonight. I like this arrangement.

When music is great, there’s nothing better.

Believe the hype about Fucked Up’s live show.

I’ve been a casual Japancakes fan for about ten years, and a more-than-casual My Bloody Valentine fan for a bit longer than that, and somehow I only just discovered this album today. It sounds exactly like you would expect a Japancakes version of Loveless to sound, and the occasional pleasant surprises it mines from those familiar melodies make it a worthwhile listen. But I don’t think anyone can argue that covering a work as singularly… See more →

It is no secret that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Is there any other event celebrated on a mass scale whose very purpose is to challenge the tenuous divide between pain and pleasure? Halloween encourages us to enjoy our fear, to find mirth in the macabre, to recognize how death enriches life. On every other day, fear holds us back; on Halloween, it propels us forward. What’s not to love?

And so it… See more →

I Dream of Juggalos.

Listen, trumpet busker, it is wayyy too early for “O Little Town of Bethlehem”.

“Hey Soul Sister” playing in the elevator. Considered just taking the stairs, but the damage was done. And now I want to die.

Listened to all eighty-seven minutes of Lulu by Lou Reed & Metallica. I do not recommend you do the same.

Metallica is the Stringer Bell of metal. They wanted out of The Game, but couldn’t figure out how to operate on the outside.