Good Woman

I just bought You Are Free by Cat Power, which might be my new favorite album by her. Someone told me about the song "Good Woman" years ago, and how it related to a breakup they had. Years have passed and I can't actually remember who mentioned it. All I know is I've listened to this album three times now and I have cried all three times while listening to this song. Don't judge, listen...

She & Him on Letterman

I know I posted the video for this song a couple weeks ago, but this is a great performance (and Dave's reactions are amazing as usual). Go out and buy Volume Two!

April 5

Today is the 16th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death. Cobain's life and work has been romanticized, and subsequently under rated, by fans and detractor's ever since his passing. Like all polarizing opinions, the truth lies somewhere in between. Cobain was no genius. He wrote four chord alternative rock, squealed out noisy atonal guitar solos, and struggled to remember the words that he mumbled during live performances...and yet, he changed music forever. Cobain (and of course let's not forget his amazing band mates, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl), found a perfect medium between avant garde outrageousness, and perfect pop structures. He successfully sponged up all of his influences, and squeezed out a style that no one has been able to duplicate.  His contribution to rock history is indispensable.

An important thing to remember about Kurt Cobain personality wise, is that he wasn't all doom and gloom - the persona of a tortured artist. personally, one of the things I always loved about the man was his sense of humor and outlook on life. Here's a clip of one of my favorite Nirvana interview where Cobain can be seen cradling new born Frances Bean as they talk about touring, the MTV Video Music Awards, making amends with Eddie Vedder, and a rather funny account on a run in with Axl Rose.

Good Friday Playlist

I was raised Roman Catholic. If you asked me if I am a religious person, I really wouldn't be able to give you a straight answer. Regardless of my own personal opinion of the Catholic Church and Catholicism, the story of Jesus Christ is a seminal part of my upbringing, so it naturally crosses over into the music I listen to. First and foremost, I hate Christian Rock as a genre. It's pretty much inherently awful. That being said, there's plenty of music that references the New Testament that is great. Here is a playlist to pump you up for a live interpretation of the Stations of the Cross at your local church. Note: in addition to this playlist, a spin of the original cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar goes without saying.

My run in with Dee Pop (of Bush Tetras)

On Wednesday Morning, I was riding the subway into the city to get to my internship. I sat down at the nearest available spot and pulled out my laptop. I had been experiencing some problems with my ipod earlier that morning, so while restoring it, I needed to keep my laptop open so it could complete the process. In order to keep it from closing in my bag, I had to keep it wedged open with a book. That book happened to be Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life, a collection of thirteen biographies profiling some of the most important underground bands to emerge in the 1980's.

When I pulled the laptop out, the book lay across the keyboard as I monitored my itunes library. Suddenly, the man sitting next to me with his son asks, "Can I look at the index of that book?". Intrigued by what this man could be looking for, I said "Sure". As I handed it to him and began skimming through the back I asked, "What are you looking for?" to which he replied, "my band". All of a sudden my mind started racing in a billion directions, "Oh shit! Who is this guy? He's obviously not in any of the profiled bands, then why would he look in the index? Oh man, oh man, oh man". He replied, "Bush Tetras". "Ohhhhhh!". Amazed, I ask, "You were in the Bush Tetras?". He quickly bounces back with "Still am". "'Can't Be Funky?!'" I ask. "That's us" he said. From there, we talked a lot about the no wave scene, music on late night talk shows, Brooklyn, my ipod problem, and splurging on music, for about 40 minutes or so.

For those who don't know, Bush Tetras were (and still are to some degree), a funk based post-punk band from the early 80's, from Manhattan. Their sound consisted of a mixture of liquid funk bass lines and abrasive guitar work. Over the course of the decades they released several singles, EPs, and compilations, but never a full length album. Among their most popular songs, "Too Many Creeps" and "Can't Be Funky" are definite highlights, (the latter appearing on the New York Noise compilation). Definitley worth checking out.
Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps from Anna at ROIR on Vimeo.