Saturday, December 9, 2000 01:29 p.m. PST
as promised, wolf 359's top ten recordings of 2000: (keep in mind i'm not a critic, and i haven't heard every indie record this year because i still pay for my music, so this is just a faveslist culled from what i've heard.) but first, i'd like a word with all you stanford people who follow my page regularly. c'mon people! i know you're out there, i can see you checking my page (ahem pine hall) so send me an email already! it's not like stanford is overflowing with indiefolks, so we should get together, carpool for shows, and have discussions about music and stuff! is this a bad idea?

10. lurve, house is a sad place (self-released). well shit, i played bass on it, it's got a place on my top ten list. we're "female-fronted post-shoegazer indie-pop," or alternatively, worshippers at the altar of the throwing muses. with the most distinctive vocalist on the mic since bjork. i really am the glue that holds this band together tho, and don't let anyone tell you different. [wink!]

9. crooked fingers, s/t (warm). the ex-archers frontman turns in the best solo record of all the ex-chapel hill bandleaders (the others being mac of superchunk and ash bowie of polvo). eric bachmann has lived the life (you know, the life), and it comes through in his chameleonic voice and inspired, singer/songwritery arrangements. and i don't usually dig that one-man-and-his-gtr type shit.

8. damage manual, one (invisible). some indie zines out there would have you believe that industrial is dead. apparently no one informed these veterans of seminal 80s industrial and new-wave bands. chris connelly (revolting cocks), geordie (killing joke), jah wobble (public image ltd.), and martin atkins (pigface) unite to redefine industrial music for 2000 and show the kiddies that there's more to it than trent reznor's whine and bombast. the raw production well accents all the sonic nooks and crannies they cram into the songs. looks like man does equal machine after all. (unfortunately, the full-length followup to this ep really stinks. what happened, guys?)

7. starlight mints, the dream that stuff was made of (seethrubroadcasting). usually my depressing and hate-filled life leaves no preference in my musical palate for happy music. but i couldn't resist falling for the quirky, orchestra-enhanced, xtc/flaming lips-inspired pop of the SMs. most of the songs on this record have the surreal lyrics and irreverent sonic eclecticism necessary to induce smile formation on my jaded lips. and they do it all at some of the slowest rock tempos i think i've ever heard. if you only buy one record this year with "doo doo doos" on it, make it this one.

6. shellac, 1000 hurts (touch and go). i have a friend named robert. robert disses my music, ridicules my opinions, and delights in finding ways to piss me off. yep, robert's an asshole. but shellac frontman steve albini makes robert look like ned flanders. whether he's praying for god to visit death upon his enemies ("prayer to god"), or picking a fight with someone he in all likelihood doesn't know ("watch song"), he sounds pretty scary. even his band's sound is assholeish: albini's corrorded shards of guitar noise are not even tempered by the blunt force trauma of bob weston's bass. and the less said about todd trainer's murder-trance-inducing drums, the better. this record would definitely win "most belligerent of the year" hands down.

5. 90 day men, (it[is]it) critical band (southern). some people say these guys sound like the birthday party. don't believe 'em. they sound more like what must have been going through bruce willis's head at the beginning of unbreakable. 90 day men are the darkest, bleakest math-rockers out there, and they bring it to you with acidic guitar feedback, deadpan AND falsetto vocal delivery, a positively evil low end, and constantly mutanting rhythms. they don't do pop songs, but you couldn't pry "missouri kids cuss" off the side of your temporal lobe with a crowbar. not quite as dangerous as their debut EP, but watch your step nonetheless.

4. panoply academy corps of engineers, concentus (secretly canadian). usually when i try to cram 10 different riffs into a song, it comes out sounding like parts of 10 different songs. these guys get bored with what they're playing usually within 30 seconds and change to something totally different, but it works! it works because they have chops to spare and because the singer's high-range vocal ridiculousness holds the whole crazy package together. nope, seriousness'll get you kicked out of the panoply academy, but it's obvious the band's guitarists all aced Kickass Riffs 1, cuz they're all over the place.

3. durian, sometimes you scare me (diver city). dc's best-kept secret isn't on dischord or desoto (otherwise they wouldn't be much of a secret, now would they?). they're on lower-tier indie diver city, which is unfortunate because this record contains some of the most vital rock from the capital since end hits. durian's singer isn't afraid to actually sing instead of just wail or scream; his falsettos and sustained notes kinda make him sound like geddy lee. (the guy even uses vocal overdubs!) but all that would be moot if the rest of the band wasn't up to speed, but obviously they are, tossing off time signature changes and plowing through complex songstructures with practiced aplomb. i only saw this record reviewed once on the web; please don't sleep on it.

2. enon, believo! (seethrubroadcasting). difficult as it may be to believe, enon manage to be all things to most people on their debut. and, quite literally, it's all good. when was the last time you heard a trip-hoppy torch song ("cruel"), lo-fi funk weirdness ("rubber car"), straight-ahead indie-pop ("get the letter out"), and twisted hip-hop beats ("believo") on a record that wasn't a comp? about the only genre john schmersal & co. don't tackle is emo, but i think you can forgive them for that. every track is different, and every track is a gem. most bands can't pull either off; managing both simultaneously is nothing short of amazing.

1. les savy fav, rome written upside down (southern). wolf 359's album of the year is an EP, but it's the most adventurous piece of rawk to come out since the plan's last record. the digital skipping on "i.c. timer" actually made me stop what i was doing (driving) and focus on the music the first time i heard it. and contrary to intuition, it never gets old. the entire EP commands your attention similarly, whether the savvy faves are doing bass-driven ballads ("asleeper's union") or giving ska (yeah, i said ska, unclench your anus already) a much-needed upgrade on "rome." singer tim harrington is still in top form, delivering priceless lyrics like "god bless those cyborgs at your door" and "there's a blue-light special in the red-light district" in his delightfully manic post-punk yelp. this band is at the top of my list because more than anyone else, they exemplify the musical ethic i would like to follow. distinctive but still rawkin'. check back with me in about five years and i might have approached this level of greatness. if i'm lucky.

Tuesday, December 5, 2000 06:53 p.m. PST
well, it's that time of year again. hell no, i'm not talking about christmas! december is that wonderful month when the net's indie community get retrospective and post their top 10 albums of the year. i need some time to think about it, but check back tomorrow to observe my picks.

i've actually been getting heavily into a lot of old-school stuff this year that i missed the first time, like sonic youth, television, polvo, and superchunk (back when they knew how to rock). yeah, the classics really are better than pretty much everything that's come out recently. which reminds me: i firmly support the establishment of some sort of indie-music award; i mean, the whole point of those things is to sell records, and that's the main thing indie rock bands need to do more of. also, most indie-rockers are never formally honored or even acknowledged at 'industry' functions, which serve only to make the already-popular even moreso. the grammys are universally regarded as a fucking joke (or maybe i'm just bitter cuz my mom's never won one) because it's all about who moves the most units. actually, the real reason the grammys suck so bad is because the artists vote for people outside their own categories, which means that just like in high school, the most popular people win. the indie film industry's got plenty of ways to honor its directors, so why can't the independent rock scene break from the industry at large to do the same?

Monday, December 4, 2000 05:23 p.m. PST
thank god it's monday. i'm recovering from The Weekend That Should Not Have Been by not doing shit, and of course i'll be paying for it soon as this is the penultimate week of the quarter. but then. . . oh, but then, sweet winter recess! in a little over one week, i'll be back in north carolina, chilling under the wonderfully homestyle yoke that is post-secondary family life. ohyeah.

so i've been trying to form a solid opinion of the new qotsa record, but unfortunately it's pretty schizo. the first track has the best title ever tho: "feel-good hit of the summer," and the lyrics go like this: "nicotine valium vicodin marijuana ecstasy and alcohol." yeah, it's simple, and dumb, and it only uses one chord, but fuck is it catchy! Much of the rest of the record is a time-machine ride back to 1992, when grunge was the shit and bands like the screaming trees, temple of the dog, love battery, and mudhoney were struttin' around like they'd invented something. yeah, this record is straight grunge, and reminds me fondly of 7th grade rejections and all-day trips to the video arcade. bassist nick oliveri really gives this record some much-need asskick, he's an awesome rawk vocalist in the tradition of iggy pop and rob tyner. unfortunately, he only sings lead on two tracks, so that's kind of a bummer. (damn, now i'm even talking like it's 1992!) if i make it sound like these guys are anachronistic, it's cuz they are. but if you remember the grunge days as fondly as i do, you won't mind the throwback.

will any kmfdm fans out there please inform robert that the little synthy hilites in the prechorus to "juke joint jezebel" are atonal and therefore cannot be played on the guitar? he keeps telling me i just have to find the right notes. i might as well cover a merzbow tune.

Monday, December 4, 2000 03:44 a.m. PST
booya! just finished both papers. i know i promised i'd decrease the amount of chickshit i post on this blog, but let me just say this: i had hoped that short story i wrote would stop the dreams, but it didn't. so if you ever fall in love you better be goddamn sure it's reciprocal; otherwise your subconscious will still be mocking you with your failure two years later. bastards!!

more nonsense in the afternoon.