I hear newly released music via a four-point scale of acquisition.
1. Appointment. I know I love an artist. I know their LP is coming out. I pre-order it.
2. Recognition. I’m aware of an artist, who I might even like, or I hear a song on the radio that I enjoy. I see their name on a release schedule or in a review. I pick up their newest stuff.
3. Guided. A trusted source or a plurality of untrusted sources recommend an artist or album. Alternately, I hear the song enough times to be interested (which, given my lack of radio-listening or television watching, is pretty rare).
4. Acquisition. I am looking for new music in bulk to hear/review and pick an LP based on non-arbitrary factors like reviews by people I trust, how good the third song is, and how cool the LP cover looks.
Low is an example of a band who has moved up the strata year by year. They are presently somewhere around 1.5 on the scale.
It started with Low’s album The Great Destroyer. I had vaguely heard of the band, but though they were shoegaze or slowcore or something else that bores me to tears, so had avoided them until that point (i.e., they failed the #3 test). However, The Great Destroyer had a fantastic name and album cover (#4 sometimes saves me from snobbery in #3), so I picked it up and wound up loving it. It was a little slow and gazey, but it also featured distinct counter-melodies and witty lyrics.
Fast forward five years, a period in which I picked up no further Low releases. Midway through 2011 I saw Low’s name on the LP C’mon and picked it up purely out of curiosity. Would it sound like Destroyer, or was that merely a catchy outlier?
“Try To Sleep” is the first track and lead single from that album, and without a doubt one of my ten favorites songs of 2011.
I forget what I was doing when I first heard this song, but I remember making a mad dash for my iPod to see who was singing it so I could rate it five stars. I was surprised that it was Low – while it’s only a minor modification on their typical sparseness, it’s also incredibly pretty. [Read more…] about #MusicMonday: “Try To Sleep” – Low
No, “I Can’t Wait” by Nu Shooz is not one of the early results. I sprawled across the couch in resignation. I had come so close to solving my musical riddle, only to be foiled by my uncertain driving and E’s being a Jim Henson creation.
In 2005, Marvel stopped publishing a comic called “Avengers” for the first time since 1963 in the wake of Brian Bendis’s “Avengers: Disassembled” event. In its place was his relaunched New Avengers, and later Mighty Avengers along with it.
Secret Warriors was a rarity when it launched in 2009 – a brand new team book not relying on an existing name and from a creator not only new to Marvel, but new to comics in general!
The Avengers no longer existed in the wake of Brian Bendis’s shocking Avengers Disassembled, but a breakout from The Raft super-villain prison brings together a team of unlikely allies – classic Avengers Captain America and Iron Man, but also long-time solo heroes like Spider-Man! As they cooperate to wrangle the villains and dig deeper into the mystery of their breakout, they quickly realize they are a team of new Avengers.