Monday, November 20, 2000 01:31 a.m. PST
holy shit. this page actually has a small but semi-loyal following. whoa, color me flattered. right now i'ma give a shout-out to my peeps in argentina; salem, oregon; charlotte, nc; chapel hill, nc and everyone else whose location i can't divine. drop me a line sometime, y'all, and once again, listen to my music. please. i really need the feedback. and all you college mofos have no excuse, cuz you people can d/l them in an eyeblink.

ah, my tinnitus is periodically oscillating! how many bands can produce that?? i just got back from the second night of atdi's 2-night stand at the great american music hall in sf, and my impression is, "damn, i wish i'd gone last night." cuz tonight was a good show, no doubt, but atdi played a relatively mellow set (meaning they still crushed 99% of the world's rock community). but more on them later.

first up was eastern youth, a rockin' powertrio from tokyo who had obviously grown up on samiam, buzzcocks and old-school revelationcore. they spoke very little english, but represented the east well by bringin' the rawk to a skeptical crowd. the rhythm section, particularly the bassist, was almost inhumanly precise, churning out finger-bending riffs and fills with practiced aplomb. nothing new, of course, but those guys sure did a bang-up job of proving that all japanese punkrock doesn't suck (are you listening, hi-standard??).

nextup was the murder city dipshits. i mean, 'devils.' so it's apparent they sucked. what do you get when you juxtapose the sex pistols, the new bomb turks, and an 80s goth-rock image and sound? you guessed it, the crappiest opening act since j church. these guys are clumsily flailing around on stage like it's 1977 and people give a shit, while i'm praying that every song will be their last. the lit candles sticking out of miniature skulls they used as stage decorations really only made them look more sensationalistic and disingenuous. a painful set, to be sure.

finally, atdi hit the stage. was their vaunted live show everything it's cracked up to be? yeah, basically. they romped with glee through most of their major-label debut relationship of command, slowing down only to play an inordinate number of ballads. but when rocking out, lead singer cedric couldn't stop diving from the drum setup onto the stage during the crescendos, all the time getting his afro-enhanced groove on. occasionally, guitarists omar and jim would put aside their guitars to beat the shit out of one of their hands with a tambourine. the venue's sound output wasn't so great, but the band made up for it with sheer, palpable energy. after playing for an hour, they announced their last song, and proceeded to abscond without so much as an encore. ah well, guess no one's perfect.

Sunday, November 19, 2000 12:50 a.m. PST
finally, some time to just kick back and relax. nothing due for a while, plus i'm going home in the middle of next week. at the drive-in tomorrow, dinner with elizabeth monday night, and home wednesday evening for thanksgiving with my fam--i'm pretty psyched.

so why are my nerves shot, then?

i dunno. probably just my mild obsessive-compulsive streak rearin' its oogly head again. but onto more interesting topix: i could talk about women or songwriting right now. if you wanna hear about the former, go pay a visit to my friend jack (looks like he's been waxing more emo than usual lately) or his friends brian and matt. i'm gonna get self-indulgent. do any of you people know how difficult it is to shake loose the chains of your influences and still sound good? the reason most bands, good or band, are so derivative is because being original and still kicking ass is the hardest thing in the world to do. when i start writing a song, i have two choices: yoke myself to a tried-but-true song structure, yielding a generic but pleasant product, or try to throw unexpected changes into the mix, creating something ear-catching but difficult and not quite congruous or catchy. some of the songs over there on the right represent the first approach ("eris says") while others reflect the second ("invariables"). still, i'm worried about coming off as derivative dc-influenced art-punk, so i'm doing whatever i can think of to stave off mediocrity. listening to rock 'n roll anachronists like the mooney suzuki makes things a little easier, because i know that not everyone shares my penchant for the unusual. be on the lookout for my latest piece of sullen noise-pop, tentatively titled "thoughtvender's creed." it's about blogging and self-appointed punditry. should be fun stuff. now, argue with me.

Friday, November 17, 2000 09:19 p.m. PST
my first mistake was deciding to go to berkeley on a friday. 2nd mistake was taking 101 to 237 to 880 in the afternoon. note to self: never leave town during business hours unless absolutely necessary. but consider my position: a music fan who hasn't bought a cd in a month due to ridiculous work and other wack circumstances on the last few weekends, jonesing for some kind of plastic audiofix. would've gone tomorrow, but that's the big game between stanford and cal, which i could give a fuck about, but it'll make driving and parking hellish. suffice to say, it took 2 hours there and 2 to get back. once again, thank you 6 cd-changer!

between rasputin and amoeba, i picked up 7 cds. i will now proceed to discuss the ones i have listened to, in the order i listened to them:

faraquet, the view from this tower. for those who don't know, faraquet features 2 ex-members of cello-enhanced dc artcore collective smart went crazy. i must admit, faraquet's latest record doesn't really stand up to their earlier material, on which the band made me a pretty big fan with their effortless arpeggios and jazzy, frequent time changes. maybe it'll take more time to sink in. but the first song rocks like a bastard. download the mp3 thereof from dischord's website.
q and not u, no kill no beep beep. bought this record on the strength of their stellar live show and debut 7" hot and informed, which contained one of the absolute best rock songs of this year, "busy lights busy carpet." unfortunately, that song did not make no kill's tracklist, but hot's other 2 tracks did. there's nothing as balls-out rockin' as busy lights on the record, but q and not u do a decent enough job of keepin' the dc scene relevant. they're not big on hooks, which is fine with me, and it's cool that a dischord band can put "woo woo"s and handclaps in their songs to distinguish themselves from their humorless peers.
j mascis + the fog, more light. well, j's back with his don't-wake-me-up-yet whine, and he's put out the best dinosaur jr. record since the early 90s. unlike other solo artists who feel they need to change their style after their more popular band tanks (crooked fingers, fear of pop, portastatic), mascis sticks to good ol' midtempo electrified rock with a touch of country, or folk or something like that. good stuff, but i'm more a fan of dino jr.'s 80s material, and there's nothing on here that approaches it.

i also got some modest mouse, throwing muses, don cab's latest, and bob mould. maybe i'll talk about them later. last item: i seem to have inspired a blog, and the layout thereof. quite flattering. hmmm, apparently don cab's lost one of its members; more on this some other time.

Thursday, November 16, 2000 01:46 p.m. PST
wow, has it been a month already? according to my file creation dates, this blog has been up since october 15. i'm surprised i'm still writing as often as i am. hey, if it turns out anyone is actually reading this, please email me and tell me what you think. and be sure to critique my music as well.

last night i installed windows 2000 on my machine. and i gotta tell ya, if your system is up to it, i'd definitely recommend the upgrade. fewer crashes, faster disk access, and better security are only three of the improvements over that stupid DOS kernel. so yeah, snag a free copy from one of your techie friends if you can swing it.

first the unholy alliance between deep elm and abercrombie & fitch, and now this (nov. 15th). will emo never die? also, my erstwhile bandmates lurve are playing at go! studios in carrboro, nc tonight, so if you're in the neighborhood, check 'em out. you must forgive their lack of low end; they insist on going without a bassist in my absence. flattering, but i really am gonna start my own band one of these days, if i ever find some like-minded musical compatriots. i even thought of the coolest band name the other day, which i'm reluctant to reveal here lest some unscrupulous indie-prick steal it. damn i wanna play live again!

Tuesday, November 14, 2000 08:02 p.m. PST
in this issue of the music world's what if, what if b-real of cypress hill joined rage against the machine?

. . .

yeah, that was pretty much my response too. mildly bemusing tho.

Tuesday, November 14, 2000 05:20 p.m. PST
so the house and i are watching i'm gonna git you sucka on the student channel at lunch today, laughing our asses off, and suddenly i realize i need theme music. bernie casey had that cheesy '70s funk band following him, and keenen ivory wayans had boogie down productions as backup. so that got me thinkin': what band would i have following me around to aurally represent deen-ness? in high school it definitely would have been quicksand or helmet, to amplify the "fuck off" attitude that was probably sufficiently apparent in my austere countenance and malformed social skills. now, i'd have to say i'd want les savy fav to herald my presence wherever i went. they've got that mix of irreverent wit, off-color wordplay, and occasional emo-ish melodrama that characterizes my life's vicissitudes perfectly. only problem is they don't use enough big words. so i guess in my more lexically recondite moments, either jawbox or bad religion would have to reposit 'em.