“Down here at the pawn shop, what has been sold is not strictly made of stone…just remember that it’s flesh and bone.” -Sublime-
Every now and again the world is gifted with a simple set of words that is tied to a simple melody that simply speaks with profound honesty. Continue reading Flashback Friday – Brief Essays On Songs From My Youth: Sublime – Pawn Shop
***Sometimes it’s a very lucky thing to stumble upon an established artist that you’ve heard of but never actually heard because you come into a new album with no preconceptions. Continue reading Review: J Mascis – Tied To A Star
The lack of heart is what’s really alarming
Alarms In The Heart is a fine album, which is the worst criticism I can level against a band’s output. Be fantastic, be terrible, either way go down swinging. Continue reading Review: Dry The River – Alarms In The Heart
Resist the urge to compare Benjamin Booker to (insert band name here). Yes, traces of the music that Booker listened to growing up can be easily identified but those traces amount to nothing more than a few pieces of a much more interesting puzzle. At the same time that his self-titled debut album is blues, punk, rock, and soul, it’s also none of the above. Benjamin Booker did what all great artists try to do, he made a record that captured “himself.” Continue reading Review: Benjamin Booker – S/T
Nine Inch Nails/Soundgarden – Gexa Energy Pavillion, Dallas, TX 8/17/14
NEVER underestimate old man strength or judge a book by its cover.
(because I showed up as Soundgarden was taking the stage, I shall forego reviewing/making up words about the opening band Cold Cave and just assume they were consummate professionals and a perfect opening act)
My friend had heard on the radio this week that Soundgarden was not worth seeing live, they were old and washed up, save your money. I told my friend to immediately get a ticket. Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden is a concert bill that shouldn’t even exist. They’ve been friendly enemies for years and both bands are far past their popular prime. So why bother going out to Fair Park to see them? The simple answer is history and the future. Continue reading NIN/Soundgarden – Gexa Energy Pavillion, Dallas, TX, 8/17/14
“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.”
-Almost Famous-
The idea of a thoroughly uncool person reviewing, opining, and waxing poetic on all the coolest forms of art made me instantly think of this quote.
I read a lot of music blogs and I noticed that they all use the same words about the same bands and make the same obscure references to bands/movies you probably don’t know. I saw the same “news” story coming across 20 different websites, reporting on reports of reports of reports, reposted from a 2 sentence interview done by someone who heard something that sounded like a story. Everything I post/review on here, be it music/movies/tv/art/food, will be my own take stemming from my own bias and belief. I love the raw energy of the Drive-By Truckers and I also think Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour is maybe the greatest tour of all time. I cry during La Bamba, I don’t really get what’s that great about The Godfather, and I’m the only person in the US that owns a copy of Norm Macdonald’s Dirty Work. Basically, I’m trying to say I don’t want to parrot what’s already been said. I hope I get to meet and interview bands as they come through town and ask them different questions than the ones they have perfectly scripted answers to. I hope my take on something makes you look at it a bit different. I also hope to always champion and improve the things I love. When a bad review is warranted, I will give it even-handedly and in earnest but with the intent to spur something better out of the artist(on the off chance that they see the write-up). Please send your recommendations of things coming through/from Dallas that I should check out and I’ll try to get them all worked in here. Please, also keep in mind, in the future I will use less run-on sentences, better grammar, paragraph breaks, and a number of basic English rules to make this much easier to read. So, with that, I will say goodbye and hello, and I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Peace,
Daniel