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reviews

June 28, 2001 by krisis

Today was the slowest and most intensly boring day of my life and i got nothing done. Nothing. Not a single iota. Blah. I’ve been sitting here for hours doing nothing and wondering about what i could be doing, but that amounted to just doing laundry, and i wasn’t too pleased about that. Of course, i won’t be too pleased if i have to go commando tomorrow for lack of clean underwear, but i’ll burn that bridge while attempting to cross it (and i’m sure that the burning process will involve an automatic hand-dryer on the 2nd floor of the main building the men’s room and a very wet pair of underwear. but, seriously, i have underwear for tomorrow, so don’t worry).

By the way, i’ve whored out all of my musical opinions to other places, but that can’t stop me from telling you that the Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs: Vol. 1 is the most totally confusing, unexpected, and utterly perfect album i own. And, i don’t even really need the whole thing, just 2/3 of it. Even more frighteningly, Rabi and several other credible witnesses claim Vol. 3 is the one that will change my life, and i don’t think i’m ready for any further alterations at this point so i’m sticking with Vol. 1 with some occasional flirtations with Vol. 2 (kisses without any tongue, at the most…).


Incidentally, 69 and the eclecticism therein was one of the main inspirations for 25/24… not that i’m going to be eclectic in any way shape or form, but i’d like to think i’m capable of it. And there might be a surprise or two in there somewhere. But, yes, i just realized i have a whole album of new songs and i’m making an unalbum with them. You’ve heard them all mentioned here at one time or another save for the first and last songs, “Atlas Girl” and “Necessary Evil.” The latter i wrote last week and fell instantly in adoration with, and i debuted it to my happy little mailing list to absolutely zero reaction. Yay for happy little captive mailing lists that don’t talk back unless you tell them they should probably talk back. Meanwhile. “Atlas” was a song i wrote for Gina (and i don’t know if i mean that i wrote it for her to sing or if i wrote it for her, but it’s definitely one or the other) the first week we were living at Drexel and it’s pretty and simple and i haven’t played it for well over a year and a half or even thought of it and when i saw it on Saturday i knew that it was a good thing i had saved it. Simple and pretty wouldn’t have stood up to the Crashing/UMS combo i had going a little later that year, but it fits in nicely right now.

Rambling on into the sunset we go. I wrote a song in my head while walking home today but scrapped it because it was clearly a pop song because i could hear its tinny little drum machine percolating in my head. I have written 125 songs that i am willing to count as songs, and that leaves quite a few tinny misfires. And it’s been four years? I wonder if i’ll even know the (three) chords to Under My Skin in four years? I’m sure i’ll have had a wonderful devestating crush to replace UMS by then, though.

Ha, devestating crushes. Teri off at boot camp where i can only send her flat little packages, Laurel in Belfast where she doesn’t like me any more than when she’s here in Philly, and some other people. Bleh. At least they make me write songs… as if i have these girls walking back and forth in my brain in a terrible parody of Herman’s Head and every so often they dislodge a tiny idea just like when you unwedge the water from your ears after a particularly long swim. Songs have been like that lately… falling out of my mouth as if i had just swallowed them by accident and now i’m coughing them up again. Ahh… songs as hairballs… there’s an image to stick with you.

I obviously need to go to sleep, but first i will listen to the romantic masterpieces known as “Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits” and “Fido, Your Leash is Too Long.” Love songs aren’t so horrible when they’re vaguely bestial, i suppose. And, after all, nibbling on your ears and doing what bunnies do isn’t the most unromantic suggestion in my entire music collection.

Wow, i needs me some sleepies. night.

https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/06/4278850/

Filed Under: day in the life, reviews, songwriting, thoughts Tagged With: gina, laurel

April 14, 2001 by krisis

Randomly, let’s rank all of the songs on the Ani DiFranco album after three days of listening! “Heartbreak Even” is definitely the best song in the set, but “So What” and “Marrow” are vying for the next best slot. Funkalicious “Ain’t That The Way” and “o.k.” are quite good, but i think they’re slightly topped by the guitar-based “grey” and “Imagine That.” “Garden of Simple” and “Subdivision” occupy a more middling acoustic rank on the charts, though “Your Next Bold Move” is surprisingly great. “Reckoning” is slow and thoughtful but i don’t mind, because the album needed that exact emotion once and it fits perfectly. “Tamburitza Lingua,” “What How When Where (why who)” and “Fierce Flawless” are all songs that are good and bad at once, with parts i’m obsessed with and parts i find rather boring. Past that i could take or leave the rest of the album, instrumentals and all. Obviously i’m still only three-quarters of the way through appreciating Reckoning, but i honestly can tell you i’ll never truly love “School Night” or “Old Old Song” since they’ve got two bad verses for every good one, and “Rock Paper Scissors” and “Sick of Me” are both a little too off kilter to catch my attention. So, there’s some unwarranted opinion that’s bound to change sometime soon; “Heartbreak Even” cannot possibly stand up to another week of continuous repeat, can it?

https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/04/3204233/

Filed Under: reviews Tagged With: Ani DiFranco

April 11, 2001 by krisis

Just when you think Ani DiFranco is just a folk-singer who knows how to funk things up, you listen to the first half of the first half of her new set of discs and are informed “No, really she’s a kung-fu fighter of sound, so you better watch your ass.” She’s so over the extraneous arrangements, cornball lyrics, inability to play a decent solo song in the middle of an album, and nonsense musical experiments. It’s as though Dilate was that violent hint of adolescence showing through the simplicity of youth, and Living In Clip was the treasured family photo album of all the framed little moments up until then, and the next three were all of those awkward teenaged years of trying to learn the way you want to live, with a misstep for every beautiful moment. But now she’s arrived at where she was headed all this time. Everything i’ve heard so far out of Reckoning fits exactly into her sonic puzzle, and while it isn’t what i initially bought into, it’s something i can’t help but like.

https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/04/3164836/

Filed Under: reviews Tagged With: Ani DiFranco

March 26, 2001 by krisis

Two reasons why i have a favourite music critic:

  • His most recent review ties in the the continuing story of a love letter he wrote to a rock star who used to be a real person to him. She still hasn’t responded.
  • This quote: “We spend our lives awash in yearnings and disillusionments and stubborn imagination, and for all they touch us, they might as well be cell-phone pings. Actually, the cell-phone pings touch us enough to make us worry about brain tumors. The waves that transmit anonymous crushes don’t even merit alarmist asides on third-tier local news programs.”

    https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/03/2946971/

  • Filed Under: reviews, weblinks

    March 21, 2001 by krisis

    I’m one of those people that always whines about needless clutter on albums; does that piano really make sense there? Did they really need another backing vocalist? But, at the same time i wince when i hear extra goodies piled on for what seems to be just the sake of piling them on, i do appreciate when some spare instrumentation is used to really bring out the flavor of a track. I feel myself stuck somewhere inbetween … i can justify everything on “Under My Skin” as being warranted, but some of the fooling we did with “Never Say Goodbye” just feel like clutter on a good arrangement. What did i always envision for that song? Backing vocals, sure, but randomly strewn throughout the verses, or just on the chorus? And, is a piano totally unacceptable? At this point, of the two i’d say the piano fits better with the track … all i did tonight was decide what to keep from the vocals and piano – i’ll ultimately decide if either one gets used tomorrow.

    https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/03/2868008/

    Filed Under: relief, reviews, thoughts, under my skin

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