Personal

interscope.com – official homepage

Well, that’s one sign of the times: the Geffen site doesn’t bother with formality, and instead just tells you up front that you’re gonna be hearing mostly about Interscope artists. The main page features an at once revealing and encourage roster of artists. Headlining are the inevitable Eminem, Jurassic 5 (cool group, boring live), U2 (well, at least they didn’t get dropped), and two groups i’ve never heard of. Then there is the second tier of “hip” artists, the ones i know including Enrique Iglesias, Sonic Youth, Mya, and No Doubt (whose new single i actually like). The bottom of the page is encouraging: Black Eyed Peas, Bloodhound Gang, Dre, and Beck. A big “Ewwwww” for having to look at AC radio king Sting, but huge bonus points for having a new Joan Osborn CD lined up!!! Go Joan!!!

I like to keep lists of things. Even more, i love to enumerate just how much i love said things on said lists. One such list is that of every CD i own. In times of boredom i go through it and rearrange my collection based on sheer love, whether or not i sing along, replay value, and recent listens. Bonus points are awarded to albums that i often sing or play on guitar. So, that’s what those current CD’s are. Obviously a few favourites got left out due to my ranking system; the days of the immaculate collection have come and gone, but i have been crushing heavily on Madonna recently. Otherwise, Pawn is one of the better CD’s in my collection, choirgirl will never leave the top10, and mulvey and difranco always have one cd on the list. Beautiful Creature is a disarmingly good album, elastica is my lo-fi alternative to garbage when i need a teeny break (oh, and they’re incredible. Do you want to go to their concert with me?), and veruca salt’s cd is just good [at parts]. And, some idiot tv commerical has been playing bowie’s “watch that man,” which is about all it takes to get me to pop in Aladdin Sane.

But, speaking of Elastica, have you ever listened to their first album? I can’t even describe it to you. First of all, Elastica has no preconceived notions about choruses, bridges, guitar tone, or the length of songs. My favourite song on their album is 1:33 long, and i tend to listen to it in quantities of ten. Their sound ranges from bopping poppy punk, to slow build guitar solos, to songs that are just great. With 16 tracks packed into 40 minutes i can get a little lost regarding the names of the middle eight, but i do know i like every one of them. Especially intriguing (especially when viewed as part of the whole album) is “Indian Song,” which contains (sometimes all at once) a slightly eastern throb, distorted electric guitar riffing, hand claps, slightly multi-tracked vocals, and an rhythm guitar that i can’t quiet put my finger on. Sorta Kula Shaker-y, i suppose. I find it interesting since is launches the album into some of its more punk songs. But i digress. If you are a fan of slightly at-times low-fi rock, UK guitar rock (blur, garbage, sleeper), or female lead bands, go buy this album! If you’re as smart as me you’ll be able to find it used for less then $8, which just adds to the lo-fi vibe. Run, don’t walk! Ahh… and now All-Nighter is on…

Speaking of Elastica, can i just say that music in America sucks fat hairy ass? Elastica’s new album has been out for months overseas, and it came out in the US last week. LAST WEEK!!! I realize that they never had a huge hit in america, but Elastica is a damned good band who toured heavy to earn an american following (and who have made another great hard-to-peg album). Yet, they aren’t pop (obviously), and aren’t really in any current radio format, so they’re useless to their original lable Geffen. Meanwhile, what has Geffen got going for them right now? The owner of a local record store stopped by the coffee shop today and said he thought the awesome Weezer may have been dropped from Geffen as well. How stupid do you have to be to drop Weezer? I can’t even imagine what’s running through David Geffen’s head right now. Not to mention the little mutiny that Courtney started recently. All hands on deck! Geffen is sinking fast! (: