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September 30, 2005

Charmless Man

Wanker.

Damon, you're not God's gift to British music. Please, I beg, please go put Gorillaz and your world music crap away and go make nice with Graham. Blur is not a three-piece. If you really desparately need to make another album with these guys, take a peek at Messers. Anderson and Butler's new band. It kinda sounds like Suede, but it isn't, so they didn't call themselves that.

Until then, I'll wear it proudly.

Posted by jeradlewis at 9:26 AM

September 28, 2005

Some lists of albums

Albums I bought last week:


Albums I downloaded (legally) over the weekend:

Albums I want to buy today:

Now playing: One of those albums above

Posted by jeradlewis at 11:58 AM

September 22, 2005

108 Battles of the Mind

I want to preface this post with a disclaimer that I don't actually know that much about the Hindu faith/culture. With that said, I'm mildly fascinated with the number 108. I first discovered this number's significance when I saw (the late) Kula Shaker at the 9:30 Club in DC. I was there with a friend and a not-so-friend (she offered to drive) and we got to meet the band after the show. After talking to Alonza about his bass picks, Jay about his scary eye make-up, and Paul about his drum sticks, we moved on to the holy grail of the band, Crispian Mills. Crispian was physically there, but his mind was on a completely different planet. Even so, he was definitely my friend's "faaaaaaaavorite" (no, you'll never live that down). She somehow managed to put together a coherant sentence and asked him about 108, since there was a song on their most recent (and last) album called "108 Battles Of The Mind." Crispian replied with it being the "magical number of life, love, and blah, blah..." (I said I don't know Hinduism). The point of this story is that since then, I've seen 108 EVERYWHERE. I really am convinced that there is something special about this, other than it being 1^1 * 2^2 * 3^3. I found this page which explains some of the Hindu significance. After a year or two of e-mails back and forth of "I saw 108 at [insert favorite restaurant, TV show, billboard here]!!" we decided to choose another random 3-digit number so that we could report on its sightings. Over the next year, I think that I saw "236" once, and "108" about 108 more times.

I was reminded of all of this last night while watching the season premeire of Lost. As Jack explored the bunker under the hatch, he saw a mural painted on one of the concrete walls. In the middle was a sun with a big "108" painted in the middle. I hope that this season keeps this as another recurring numerological theme. Stay tuned.

Now playing: Sigur Ros - Takk

Posted by jeradlewis at 5:23 PM

September 19, 2005

Five Things I Will Never Own

  1. A brown car
  2. A Marshall stack
  3. A trucker cap
  4. A sticker of Calvin peeing on something
  5. Anything by Gorillaz (at least until Graham comes back to Blur)
Thank you.

Posted by jeradlewis at 2:35 PM

September 9, 2005

Murmuring

It's that day again...pull out your copy of Murmur and listen to "9-9". I don't have any idea what this "converstaion fear" is about but the song still sounds great.

Posted by jeradlewis at 4:55 PM

September 8, 2005

The Army Is For the Birds

I'm moving to Norway and joining the military. Nils' Colonel-in-Chief promotion actually seems like a demotion since he was already a King Penguin. (from Sushiesque)

Posted by jeradlewis at 12:59 PM

September 7, 2005

Hold Me Now, I Need Assistance

I decided to skip adding a snowflake to the avalanche of "10th Anniversary of The Great Britpop Battle" articles and blog posts last month. It was good, though, to read some "where are they now" exposes and think about the mid-90s music explosion out of the UK. The one tidbit of info that I was really glad to read in these articles was about Elastica's Justine Frischmann. I knew what most of the Class of 1995 are up to, but I hadn't heard what had really happened to Elastica after they called it quits after The Menace. They were always one of my favorites because (1) they were insanely catchy, (2) they had a bit more edge than, say, The Bluetones, and (3) I had a huge crush on Justine. I still wear my Elastica t-shirt with the album cover that I bought for $2 at the local mall record store. I got to see them kick off their tour in 2000 when I was spending a semester at Leeds U. For some reason, I got to the club before anyone else, so I got to hear a bit of the soundcheck and when the doors opened I planted myself squarely at stage center. Needless to say, it was one of the best concerts I had seen. Unfortunately, I don't think that she noticed me. Back when I was a DJ at Penn State, one of the other (female) indie staff DJs made an agreement to go to the UK at some point and break up Damon and Justine so that we could steal each of them for ourselves. Very junior high, yes, but it was a great idea. Now I hear that Justine is going to school in Colorado to study Psychology of Music. Colorado? There are plenty of good schools in Boston.

What's the point? No point. We all have our celebrity crushes, and I'm just happy to hear that mine is going off to do something interesting. Now can someone tell me what Sarah Nixey is up to?

Now playing: The Libertines - Up The Bracket

Posted by jeradlewis at 11:00 PM

September 1, 2005

Turn Me On

This is probably old news to lots of you, but I just read that Brian Eno composed the Windows start sound - you know, that 3-second ditty that plays when you first turn on your PC. This link talks about the origin of the Mac start up chord. How many times have we listened to either of these sounds and never thought of their origins? Most of us have probably heard these more than most songs or albums that we own, but we've never given a thought as to who wrote them or where they came from. Now you know. Does anyone have a recommendation for an Eno album for the uninitated?

Now playing: The Jam - This Is The Modern World

Posted by jeradlewis at 9:22 AM