is it a crisis or just a boring change?

chatting recently at lake washington - er, in lake washington, i was asked what my favorite song from the 9t's is. i answered quickly and said "cannonball" by the breeders. i love that song - but that was a knee jerk reaction after all, i was swimming. you know what, it still just might be along side "juice (know the ledge)" by eric b. and rakim yet another contender for top spot would be "gold soundz" by pavement. easily one of the finer records from this same decade, pavement's "crooked rain, crooked rain" simply gets better with every listen. what the hell are they singing about? who cares - it all makes me laugh as they seem to use the words as an instrument more than having some meaning (yay!). i think you need to download this album NOW! it kinda rules.

man vs. bear

it wasn't too long ago someone in their mid 40's (my age) was telling me how awful kids have it today with such shitty music. asking what he meant by that i got the answer i feared, britney spears, american idols and it proved something to me, this guy is so out of touch. by saying music is better when we grew up is just simply an oversight to what great music is out there. case in point, here is the video for grizzly bear doing "knife". this song and the entire album "yellow house" is phenomenal not to mention a shitload of other bands that are great right now like mika miko the black lips, shark! shark! - more on all these bands later. but for now, enjoy grizzly bear. this video is pretty damn good too.

placemats

i told myself i would write about the first thing that popped up on my iTunes and i am not going to lie, the first thing was manu chau who i love but i wanted some rock and/or roll. next up i got it, the replacements. and i decided to put this picture of them as young weirdos coz' it cannot be said enough how great they were. but don't get me wrong, i like the placemats until the very end - er, demise. i can recall the many times i saw them in the mid-8t's with lots of laughs and lots of insanity in the form of mr. bob stinson. i saw him play naked, i saw him falling off the stage - both at al's bar. at one of those very same al's shows, i recall a friend walking up to him and say in a twisted sister way "I WANNA ROCK" and stinson says "i want a cookie" as if he knew he had that silly statement in the chamber ready to be released. maybe you had to be there but i say that guy was a drunken maniac guitar genius. all in all, the replacements get big ups by everybody and well deserved. many say that 'let it be' is their finest hour and i could not agree - this record is just perfect. enjoy it right about - - here!