Pfft, no, I wouldn't know how. But nice anyway! I stole it from a Wilco HQ e-mail I received some time ago, when they had a neat-o sale. Notice Kotche's Adventureland CD!

y'know what? SY is my favorite band of all time. Period.

But lately I think that Wilco may well be my favorite ACTIVE band. I just love them so so much.

You think too much.

I used to think about stuff like this all the time and it sometimes drove me crazy. You aren't Irish by any chance are you? I think this is something Irish people do, and no that's not offensive because I'm as Irish as someone born and raised in America whose never been to Ireland can get. :D

Jay-Z - 4:44

There have been some contradicting reports about who can access the album. Apparently Tidal said it would only be available to Tidal subscribers who either A.) subscribed prior to the arbitrary date of June 26, or B.) use Sprint and subscribe to Tidal -- apparently at any date.

I can tell you that at least for the time being, this is not true. At least not everywhere. I haven't had a Tidal account since The Life of Pablo became available on Mp3 and Apple Music. I also don't have Sprint, because, honestly now, who the fuck has Sprint if they can help it?
But, first thing this morning, I hopped on my phone, re-downloaded the Tidal app, and set up a new account (with yet another 30-day trial period offered to me :) ) and I was able to listen to the album immediately and without issue.

Ima post this in the hip-hop café too, because that thread needs all the posts it can get.

I do think too much. I think. But I don't think I'm doing that here. It wasn't like a "hmm, I want to think about who my fav band is" kind of thing. It was more that IT DAWNED ON ME that for months I've been listening to Wilco so so much and that I love all of their albums.

Either way, I listen to plenty of Pumpkins and Weezer as well, so just be happy I wasn't talking about them again.

You know my feelings on Tidal and "exclusives" (IE: A company/artist demanding that I am only allowed to purchase a product from one specific store), so I'll be waiting for a wider release on the Jay-Z. I heard some snippets on NPR this morning though, at least three songs, and they all sounded good. Wasn't enough to get a real impression of the whole of course.

Lol. I know man. Just giving you a hard time.

I used to actually get stressed about which band was my "favorite" and feel guilty whenever that changed, so that's why I said that.

Mostly in high school... I'd be like "Nirvana... hey everyone, I'm sticking with Nirvana!" Then, "Actualllyyyyy... Pixies. Definitely Pixies... or Modest Mouse or Flaming Lips?" I did feel like everyone has kind of an ideal band for their needs and purposes. Like, I always felt that in order to truly call a band your favorite, and in order to really experience everything that band had to offer, you had to look forward to and purchase at least a few of their albums right when they came out. Above all else, I felt that seeing a band live was extremely important. Like, how much can you really know about a band if you haven't gotten sweaty with them in a too-small club?

Anyway, this made the Pixies really tough, because I didn't see them until their reunion in '04. I had seen Nirvana, but even in high school, I didn't remember much from that experience, and felt bad counting it. So when I saw Sonic Youth for the first time, I felt like I'd found my band, because I already loved their music so much. And I got to look forward to and purchase a whole BUNCH of SY albums despite the fact that they'd been around for 15 years by the time I got into them. And they had music that was deeply personal to me. In fact I loved/love it so much that I'd rather listen to it by myself than with others, because I don't want to hear what anyone thinks of SY's music. That shit is for me. The only exception being going to a show with a bunch of diehards. That can be a lovely communal listening experience. But it's certainly not party music.

ANYHOO... My favorite band will always be SY, I'm pretty sure, since they have been for like 18 years at this point, but I'm comfortable enough with all of that that I can say Kanye is my favorite artist and just leave it at that.

Wilco's damn good, but I'm rarely in the mood to listen to them. And I've only really been disappointed when I've seen them love, which is a real shame. I feel like they have to be a great live band, but they just haven't been on when I've been around.


Thank you! :)


Yeah, I'm not big on the exclusive shit either. I think it's terrible. Physical releases are going to die, and that cuts me pretty deep. However, even though I'm not the Jay devotee I once was (I'm able to admit at this point that he only really has 4 great albums, and the rest vary from mediocre with some shining moments to just plain mediocre, if not outright bad), I still have a long history with him, and he's the kind of artist I will go out of my way to hear new albums by. Especially when each album is likely to be his last.

It's a good album so far. Still quite traditional (not interested in experimenting with the genre) but that's ok and I expect it from him. I'll be buying this when it comes out in CD. For sure. Better than MCHG by a substantial amount after one listen.

Dude stuck a gun in my face. Told me I could only listen to one Ramones album for the rest of my life. I chose ROCKET. Hope I didn't fuck up.

You didn't fuck up--good choice :)

Dude, you're safe. In fact, lookit this right here! Not that I always (or ever, really) put much stock in Rolling Stone's ideas of what's good and bad, but this was a fan poll.

Really, besides self-titled, what else would you pick? I guess some might say Leave Home. I can see that. Others might say Road to Ruin. Some folks probably have a really strong argument for End of the Century. But for me, peak Ramones is self-titled and Rocket to Russia. I prefer self-titled, probably about 80% of the time, but that's just me. Maybe the dude would have shot me.

Actually, hey... if the deal was to pick the best Raymond's album and die if your choice was wrong, you're obviously in the clear.

:D

even "bad" Ramones albums have great songs. They're one of THOSE bands.

Back in the day I bought the Nirvana Singles box set because, well, it looked handsome sitting on a shelf. It was a nice little collectors item, yet not that convenient to actually listen to. Mostly I'd go to it for maybe a single b-side that I wanted to put on a mixtape or whatever. But for the most part, it was just something cool to look at. But I recently came into the good fortune of acquiring a bootleg release that puts the entire box on a single disk. And it turns out that listening to Singles in one sitting is a fascinating experience. One that I actually realized about a decade ago after ripping the contents of the box set into a single mp3 playlist. While there are plenty of Nirvana compilations out there to choose frome, they generally cater to one facet of the band. That is, the self-titled one collects their major A-sides; Sliver collects demos and outtakes; and so on. But Singles in this long-play format serves as a total Nirvana mixtape. One that allows huge hit singles to rub elbows with live tracks and b-sides. It's... actually pretty great.

That's a good idea. I should do that. Because you're right -- it's inconvenient as hell to listen to this thing. But there are some nice tracks on here. Like "Drain You" live at the Paramount (which I know is on the Live at the Paramount video/album, but still), and "Even in His Youth" and *especially* "Curmudgeon" from the Lithium single.

Though now that I think on it, pretty much all of this stuff is available elsewhere, and accompanied by more songs that make a more interesting experience. Just the Nevermind deluxe edition collects "Erin in His Youth" and "Curmudgeon" and all the live tracks from the singles PLUS the whole album.
Ditto for the In Utero deluxe edition.

So, maybe I won't do this. Maybe I'll just put the deluxe editions into a playlist and hit shuffle. Shrug.

I am lucky to have a stacker turntable that can play 7-8 seven inch singles back to back. it's awesome.

This is true of course. But at the same time this makes for a pretty unique "album length" collection of A-sides/B-sides/live stuff.

Sometimes the super duper deluxe editions and boxed sets can be an overwhelming listen, y'know? Sometimes a more streamlined set is preferred. And then those bigger collections be there as archival sets.

TBH, unless there's a certain song I'm in the mood for, I generally reach for Sliver ("The Best Of The Box") rather than With The Lights Out for instance.

Sev, let's walk thru how weird this is when it's played like an album...


1. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Edit)
So like, the biggest "alternative" hit of the 90's starts it off. I don't recall what makes the edit different than the LP version.

2. Even In His Youth
3. Aneurysm
And then is immediately followed by these two OMG tracks that are much darker and noisier than the A-side.

4. Come As You Are
5. Endless Nameless
Another big single, and then that super secret hidden track that wasn't on some early pressings of the album by accident. I assume that's why it was re-released as a b-side. I forget how awesome this song is.

6. School (Live)
7. Drain You (Live)
And now a couple of inanely rocking live tracks. YES! One goes back to Bleach, the other is a highlight of Nevermind. That f'ing buildup in "Drain You" is one of the finest things on that record.

8. In Bloom
9. Sliver (Live)
10. Polly (Live)
Another big single, and two more live tracks. This time we get the non-album/Incesticide single "Sliver" which rules and an obligatory "Polly".

11. Lithium
12. Been A Son (Live)
The huge mellow single and then a live version of "Been A Son" - another Incesticide rarity. And something more akin to their punkier side. Which goes into...

13. Curmudgeon
...holy crap. I feel like this song kind of scared me as a pre-teen with the Lithium single (which was the first CD I ever bought if my memory is correct.)

14. Heart Shaped Box
15. Milk It
I always thought it was weird that the b-side to this was an album track. But I mean... it's such a great song. Always sounded pretty Melvins-y to me.

16. Marigold
And then this little beauty.

17. All Apologies
18. Rape Me
Another album track as b-side... but again, a great one.

19. MV
Holy crap what a weird song. I love it, though. Love it.


Looking back, this box set isn't quite perfect - it should have included the "Pennyroyal Tea" single which would have the remix of the the a-side along with "I Hate Myself And Want To Die" and then "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" from Unplugged. Incidentally, my bootleg does tack on that one last song.

I've always felt like "All apologies"/"Rape Me" was like the "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" of fucked up alternative shit.

ha!

As far as double a-sides go, it's pretty fantastic.

I think Weezer got a lot of flack for Raditude, but I always liked it. There was a certain eyeroll at the production. But I like how they have these albums that are just these little experiments. Like how the Red Album was all about letting the other band members write and sing songs? This one is like "what if Weezer made a party pop album?" So you get stuff like "I Can't Stop Partying" (co-written w/ Jermaine Dupri) and featuring Lil Wayne. But even that's interesting - because the rephrase of "I can't stop partying" doesn't sound like a celebration... it sounds like sadness. There's just a lot of good hooks and party tunes here, though. "If You're Wondering If I Want You To," "I'm Your Daddy," "Put Me Back Together," "Let It All Hang Out" - there's plenty here to enjoy. And even with the slick production and appeals to clubs ("I feel like Jay-Z/This can't be life"), this album still sounds LIKE WEEZER. So yeah. I'm a fan. It was a weird one off experiment that they didn't even tour in support of. But I reach for it fairly often compared to say Hurley or Make Believe.

Wow dude. I don't really have much to offer on this one, apart from a friendly suggestion that you might have some masochistic impulses when it comes to announcing this stuff. ;)

Your stomach for this stuff... the no-fucks-given loyalty you have to this band... well, it's admirable.

Thanks. I like this album a lot tho. Haha.

They really are one of my favorite bands, shrug.

I like Nine Inch Nails. Not so much that I don't know their shit work is shit. They were one of my favorite bands when I was growing up. Taken a lot of shit for that over the years.

More power to ya.

Yeah I get that. I can't defend Make Believe or Hurley. But I like this album.

KING OF SORROW - Bow to My Wrath


fucking awesome. I ordered the colored vinyl and got a free download and it is so amazing and heavy and fresh. Fucking cool shit Shentov.


Baby Dayliner - You Push I'll Go EP

Baby Dayliner is back! Another hit baby!
fucking amazing personal and intelligent one-man pop music.

Rob do something about the quoted bit. Please. I don't want top take you off my friends on FB. Ok?

hahahaha

still trying desperately to find a pressed CD bootleg of Smashing Pumpkins Machina II: The Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music. I know most of you think this endeavor is lame, but if anyone can help me out (and you'll prob have better luck than me if you're in Europe maybe?) it would mean a lot.

On that note, been listening to lots of stuff but no time to really post this week. Been heavy on the Zwan album.

I received 3-month Spotify premium license as a gift the other day, and I kind of fell in love with this service recently. It's much fun to put out a Release radar in a car and listen to some new tunes based on my music tastes and shit.

(no, this is not a paid advertisement)

I would help if I could my brother.

Zwan though? You're killing me! ;)

Rocked Satisfact's The Unwanted Sounds of Satisfact while doing dishes.

Yeah, it's useful and nice but they fuck content creators up the ass pretty badly.
Only slightly less artist raping than YouTube/google, which I'm considering boycotting in light of a recent article I read about the way artists are treated by this behemoth. No deals, often no money at all for new artists, pennies for established indie artists with a following. And Google says it can't perfectly police this kind of thing, but it absolutely can, and has done. Google owns the content policing companies, so they make $$ off the threat of pirated material being online. They can get rid of everything and monitor YouTube with surgical precision, but then they wouldn't be able to maintain these massive profit margins their investors are seeing. Google is maxed out financially, making so much that main investors are set for several lifetimes. In order to acquire new investors and inspire new spending and ad sales, they need the threat of piracy to be real. They control every element of the equation, meaning they control the market, meaning they're a monopoly to everyone but the US Congress.

Ranting, but boy does that shit cheese me off.

Anyone who thinks Apple is bad (which of course it is) should research the way google does things. The destruction of Net neutrality will make them all fucking powerful, and guess what? They'll STILL make shit products.

Hey did you ever get a recording of that show you did? :)

Zwan was awesome, guy.

Nine Inch Nails!

Lol

Actually NIN just released a new single and I haven't heard it. So... *plug* that's what I'm listening to now.

Sounds like Nine Inch Nails, only the Ninch Inch Nails that's been around since about 2004 — just a bit over cluttered with words, not enough room to let the sounds breathe.

Power chord chorus and dance beat. Words just fucking nonstop. Cool sounds but no room to breathe.

ETA: Ok, there's some room at the bridge, but it sounds like a bridge. Very conventionally structured... AKA not the NIN I fell in love with :D

2003, What a weird and awesome time this was. So The Smashing Pumpkins release their final album, Machina II free to fans and then abruptly implode. Billy immediately forms a new supergroup with Matt Sweeney (Chavez), David Pajo (Slint), Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle), and retains Jimmy Chamberlin. If you fast forward a few years then you'll realize that ultimately this could have been any other post-Machina II SP album, right? So could Billy's solo LP. All the later "band" albums are just Billy - and sometimes Jimmy! But perhaps the new band name was out of respect for new celebrity bandmates. At any rate, Zwan was definitely a big inspirational shot in the arm for Billy at the time, and much of this album feels like it could have been happily at home on Gish, Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie. Lead single "Honestly" is a good example with its bright uplifting tone. Don't get me wrong, I was a big fan of the Adore/Machina era - but this is great change of pace. Then there's the sprawling epic "Jesus, I." My absolute favorite song here is "Yeah!" - weak title aside, it feels like it takes the best parts of SP's radio friendly arena rock, jangly shoegaze aspirations and snarky cynicism and snowballs it all into "what I want you can't fucking kill." It's just great. It's unfortunate that Zwan was so short lived; and even more unfortunate that so much material remains shelved: they were already working on an acoustic album under their Djali Zwan pseudonym before this one was even released (see the bonus DVD included in deluxe editions for previews) and also recorded a bunch of material for the officially soundtrack-less movie Spun. But after one album Zwan would breakup, Billy would record a solo album (with Jimmy) and then relaunch the SP name (with Jimmy). Seriously, just a weird and awesome time.

At the time that album was released, I was pretty sure there would never be an album that received worse reviews. But it looks like it actually got fairly good reviews from the big mags, so I'm not sure where I got all that at the time. Still not my thing — never my thing.

I would have actually thought that Zwan would be more appealing to those that dislike latter day SP. Shrug.

Trying to listen to Linkin Park. Out of respect. Can't. Good god, they suck.