I’m not one of the five million hippies that claim they went to Woodstock in 1969, nor did I assault anyone in line for the porta-John at Woodstock 1999. These giant music festivals first take shape in the mind of a shaggy idealist who knows we all love good music and that we can’t stop ourselves from a massive group hug if we can just get together and chill. There’s another shaggy pessimist out there too who knows we’re dumber together as a mob. So many “free spirits” out in the open together will probably get messy. Woodstock, Lollapalooza, and now Coachella formed annual Dream Team(tm), Perfect Storm(tm), or Shameless Promotion(c) events with unbelievable line-ups. Since I’m not immune to the schocking and astounding announcements every Spring, I boggle at the surprise appearances and reunions. I keep this deep foundation of impossible fantasy shows like My Bloody valentine, Love and Rockets, Cat Power, and “unicorns parading along Center Street.” Imagine how bonkers I get when I see that My Bloody Valentine will be blowing out amps at Coachella in a few weeks, and Love and Rockets will be reminding kids they used to be Bauhaus to the clueless mall-goth kids at Lollapalooza in Chicago this August. Unicorns close behind? Continue reading →

I recently came in contact with a good old, long lost friend. It’s not like he fell off of the face of the earth; he hadn’t moved an inch from the house where I last saw him over a decade ago. Apparently I’m the one that disappeared from the planet, but things fell in place again, and the all-seeing Facebook tracked me down. This friend of mine from way back in high school is literally the definition of my early musical identity since he nudged me to all the “mod” 80’s bands, but really set me down the road with an obsession for Cocteau Twins and the like. We diverged a bit after high school and I continued the evolution on my own. Imagine the sociology experiment of seeing how the two of us developed our musical tastes after wandering on our own so long. Continue reading →

I’ve had a tune stuck in my head before, but not like the last few weeks where I’ve been obsessed with an entire album. This one slipped past me until now since it was only on import from far away ($32) and it was from a pair of lingering 80’s specters. Claudia Brücken (Propaganda) and Paul Humphreys (OMD) decided after working together for years that they were actually a band, and they named themselves Onetwo. Propaganda was yet another contrived and alluring enigma from ZTT, and Claudia’s voice resonated with creamy cheesecake slathered in tart raspberry sauce. Amazon swooped right in with audio samples of their album “Instead” and instant MP3 download gratification. I know most discerning listeners will pick out the bits of Wilson Phillips, Mariah Carey, and Propoganda (the sappy “1234” Propoganda), but just induldge in some rich dessert! Continue reading →

So my campaign to rattle the walls upstairs from me is not winning out. I didn’t exactly get the giant sub woofer I dreamed of (damned conscience). In truth I got pretty much the smallest speakers at the snooty stereo shop; you have to be enormously confident with yourself if you walk out of those places without spending at least a house down payment. I got a pair of B&W “baby” speakers (thanks for the boost of confidence =P ) that have no trouble filling out my TV room. These speakers have an artillery gun bore cut into the back to pump out very sufficient thump thump for upstairs. I could get a separate sub woofer but that’s going to be where I cross the line into petty spitefulness. I’m obviously not there already, right? Continue reading →