THEY SAY WATCHED POT NEVER BOILS

Wait, wha? So all the sudden watercooler buzzes about the Good, the Bad and the Queen being actually, holy shit, mostly the first thing. Like even though those guys totally snoozed at ESS EX ESS DUBS, snitches, bonjour. (Whatever of course this is all in quotes. Yes unremixed is better, as Tom said first.) Except like actually, holy shit!

I'm always last in, but let's none of us forget new jack soul, OK? I BEALIVE (hey, it's a good time, is all). Not just Bell Biv Devoe (shit, I even got Above the Rim once, friends-- vid), though by now "Poison" has easily assumed its rightful AWSOME status beyond the strange-cultist/total-douchebag nexxus. Not even just SWV's "I'm So Into You," my most recent lucky 12" find (plus "Weak" vid-- recommended!). The first proper pop recording I ever owned at a time when it was actually contemporary was a cassette of Hi-Five's Keep It Goin' On (earlier vid) in fourth grade (this comes after a blue dubbed copy of Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em-- BTW are the rumors true???--, some out-of-print volume of a Beach Boys Greatest Hits comp, "Dude It's My Turn *I* Wanna Be Mav", and Rosenschontz, among others sadly forgotten). Boyz II Men will always have their merits, and I bet I can still sit down for later stuff like Silk (freaky!), Shai (indie-pop!), Tony! Toni! Toné! (that one song!) and-- gulp-- All 4 One (Arcade 4 Hire?) ...(uh check plz). Then those kids on the bus wearing Pearl Jam t-shirts-- "oh, cool, I like 'jamz'"-- and OH NO alternative and quick (silver) plz thnx Offspring, Green Day, Weezer, Purple, Soundgarden, Live (incl. pre-Throwing Copper), Oasis, Beatles, &c... Meantime there was KSFM 102.5 Sacramento. Oh shit, "Baby Got Back"! Bummer, I actually don't think I ever heard Hi-Five on there til "I Never Should've Let You Go" off their *next* album, Faithful, which came after a tragic automobile accident, when I'd already given up hearing from them again. Such sweetness, so unjustly overlooked. (FORESHADOWING?)

I just didn't want to *hurt* anymore, y'know? Blur were It for me in high school almost as soon as I read about their legendary-sounding feud with my beloved "Live Forever"/"Supersonic" boys in the then-"pink section" of the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle my Mom still splurged for at the new Barnes & Noble after we'd moved to Tennessee. A thorough, no-frills music joint called CD Stockroom opened up nearby; they occasionally had promos to give away (I still probably spent most of my potential CD money on, like, baseball cards), and one day I got lucky and picked up The Great Escape. The lyric sheet has the songs out of order, so first I heard was "He Thought of Cars." You've never lived, man. Dan Abnormal, Morgan C. Hoax, A.J. Sexmeal and, uh, Dave Rowntree stayed with me as my favorite band through moving to Arizona in 10th grade, learning to play guitar but never figuring out how to sing, and meeting the Internet one summer at Arizona State, spending whole days talking to Brits in chatrooms. So what if "Song 2" didn't make sense to me at the time as the single (sheer brilliance obv.), I was gonna defend the self-titled album until the death of my social life. That faint heartbeat didn't die, though, picked up in fact, and then there was 13, prom, a melodramatic view of my own undesirability, graduation, college, beer, an utterly fantastical view of my own desirability, Think Tank, love, graduation, work, New York, adulthood... gaga freelance-writer infancy.

I first heard Damon Albarn of Blur's new project, the Good, the Bad and the Queen, via a stream on some blog or other of the song "Herculean" (streams, mp3s). It struck me as dubby, sonically interesting, but a little slow and pretentious, like Gorillaz without the aspiration toward party-friendly pop. Without realizing it, I kinda freaked-- think I was able to cover it up bc the same blog was probably streaming something like "Nag Nag Nag Nag" (oh hell yes). Pretty sure I listened to the full album once after that, but not closely, and ho-hum reviews virtually guaranteed I'd stay away to save myself any further soul-crushing, confidence-melting, autobiography-shredding disappointment. "It's too close to home, and it's too near the bone." And then. And then!

Latest buzz is right; it's a pretty darn good album, a worthy entry in the Blur-related canon (even though Damon should just get Graham back and reunite already) (see offnotes, 3/16/07, "DINO BORE JR. (NOT)"). At its best, it's "noisy art-glam," to use Joshua Klein's words, approaching David Bowie's '70s peak from an entirely different plane than yr biggest indieblog bands. One of the highlights for me is out-of-time Enchantment Under the Sea piano waltz "'80s Life" (stream)-- mash that up with Acid Casuals' sadly overlooked "Bowl Me Over" ("132a Column Rd." vid) and I'll die. You hear that? Anyway it's like a sad '50s prom theme as imagined by the '80s as recorded right goddamn now. "Oh Lord, can a stone be ballast for an aching soul?" Damon sings, or something. I love that voice.

And don't be scared by dang Danger "Tit" Mouse (I just said "Tit." [Did I mention this is just a blog?]). Should've smoked the salmon first, you say? Listen, "Kingdom of Doom" (vid) is fully realized acoustic gloom-pop ("Drink all day, 'cause the country's at war") with guitar squalls; if Blur's Blur met OK Computer, or, a less actively self-destructive 13. The title track really does it for me, too, I won't lie-- there's the Bowie I was talking about, complete with over-the-top piano grandeur. What was I so scared about, again?

"If you don't know it now, then you will do."

Oooooh. Ahhhhhh. Woooooo. Hooooo.











JUSTIFIABLE HYPE: David Torns: Prezens (via that DJ Martian guy).

AND AGAIN: Matthew Dear: Deserter (via Philip Sherburne).

UPDATE: A visit to astute reader Dave Rawkblog's (what's Matt Skatterbrain's real last name, anyway? No offense was intended!) site reminds me I also really wanted to remind you to really want to watch this video by the National.

DINO BORE JR. (NOT)

Don't call it a, etc. So we have two high-profile reunions already this year, the Stooges and Dinosaur Jr., with the Police and Rage Against the Machine still to come-- the last finally arriving in an historical moment *worth* protesting via rep-metal, if any is (debatable until Fred Durst's eventual W'burg renaissance). All I know of Iggy Stooge's return alongside a Mike Watt-enhanced backing band is teaser "Free and Freaky" (mp3), and it's... not as awful as ppl say. That is, it's merely a crass, misbegotten defilement of their legacy, rather than a Weezer's-Make-Believe-style injunction to reassess a band's entire catalog. Meanwhile the less said of Sting or those dudes from Audioslave the better. Ah, but Dinosaur Jr.!

I haven't blogged in a while. Since 2005, to believe my old blog (and why would you?), but I'd stopped making any meaningful contribution back in early summer 2004, when I began nearly three years as a full-time financial journalist for a trade pub and National Magazine Award-nominated BusinessWeek.com-- didn't seem appropriate, plus I was too busy. This past Wednesday marked my departure into a new chapter, returning to the trade pub's publisher on a part-time basis as I set out to try doing this pop crit thing "for real." An incredibly tough decision, but not for lack of good options, and thanks to everyone for the support. This is what I love to do.

WTF, can it really be hailing ALL DAY out there? Dinosaur Jr. include a couple of strong-willed bastards, J. Mascis and Lou Barlow, who had a famous falling out years ago for reasons I can't remember without flipping again through Our Band Could Be Your Life. They got back together for a tour starting in 2004, so a new album isn't a total surprise, but still it's a pleasant one. My introduction to Beyond, the first Dinosaur Jr. full-length with the original line-up since 1988's Bug, was-- like many of yours, I'm sure-- the poignant, late-summery "Almost Ready" (mp3). Its free-flowing, tuneful lead guitar, bittersweet melody, and cautiously optimistic lyrics give off a glow like a lakeside park in the August late-afternoon; I think part of it's nostalgia, and part of it is the slightly sad beauty of two proud talents coming to terms with the fact that they're better off together than solo. (Apparently it *can* hail all day, as it hasn't stopped since I got up.)

"Almost Ready" is the appetizer, but it's not the only song on Beyond that strikes me as appealingly personal. "Hate to say it, but you told me so," Mascis weighs in on "This Is All I Came to Do," another rocker that would probably be perfect for outdoor festivals, or just on the balcony with a six-pack. I've always known Lou Barlow's music with Sebadoh, Sentridoh, and the Folk Implosion better than I know Dinosaur Jr., so it's nice to see the uncomfortable lo-fi confessor getting his turn here. On "Back to Your Heart," he could almost be discussing the band: "I have never been happy that we left/ But I would leave again for you." Or he could be talking about, y'know, girls. (BTW, looks like an old Lou Barlow interview from my pre-Pitchfork days is still online.)

Oh, and yeah, Mascis does a lot of lengthy, blues-derived solos, but that's how he and dudes like the Bevis Frond's Nick Saloman did things back then, too. It comes off pretty dad-rock right now-- particularly compared to other stuff I'm listening to-- but it suits 'em, laid-back and almost charmingly old-fashioned, like my boy John Mayer thinking showing off his SRV chops or taking non-stances on politics via Bob Marley (vid) via Curtis Mayfield (vid; at least Marley credited Mayfield!) will make him cooler, when really he should just be embracing the inner dork that made him famous. Except Dinosaur Jr. don't have constipated-sounding production on *their* new album.

While I've been away from blogging, I've said some stuff, and stuff has been said back. Well, if I'm really just a dirty no-good blog-hater, then I guess THE ENEMY IS ME. HA! Just like it would be for Michael Richards if he found out *he* were a blogger. Anyway, so Mascis and Barlow pissed each other off, went their separate ways, and now they're back together again. Almost ready.

Wait, wha?

...Look for posts about music, politics, and media here. I'll try to do the once-daily thing when I can, though posts probably won't usually be this long. And when I get a chance I'll fill in the links section. Now stop reading this and go get some money.

P.S. My last boss suggested the blog title, preempting several infinitely lamer ideas. Thanks, Will!