Somebody Likes It

This week we listened to “Electr-O-Pura” by Yo La Tengo. I liked it quite a bit. Kevin a little less so. But Ryan? Let’s just say somebody took over the first part of this podcast like a drunk fat guy working on a plate of ribs. In fact, I’ll let him tell you a little about it.

Air Miami! Before Kevin brought this one up it had long ago been pushed to the sidelines in my brain. I love/hate it when we bring up stuff that directly puts us in a musical paradigm.

When I was in 5th grade, the hot girls in my school would choreograph dance routines to Janet Jackson’s “Control”. So naturally I’ve always had a soft spot for that record. I mean, I don’t like the songs, and would never ever choose to listen to them, but for some reason I’ve always thought fondly of it. Nonetheless, Ryan and Kevin had a different take on it. Ryan especially hated it.

Oh the things I wanted to say about Vampire Weekend before I was actually forced to listen to their eponymous album (wait for it) “Vampire Weekend”. I was prepared to like it way more than its preppy pedigree (I did)…I was prepared to hear myself deconstruct the album along those lines.

I have a hard time navigating my day if I have more than 2 or three things to accomplish in an afternoon. I do best when I have an entire morning to decide whether it’s gonna be a t-shirt or polo shirt day. So when I read about this Ty Segall motherfucker putting out like 20 albums in the last 5 years, I kind of wanted to punch him in the face. Not just because of his feverish work ethic, but because nobody that puts out that many songs in such a short period of time can possibly write any songs worth a damn.

RONNIE JAMES DIO.

It’s nearly impossible to speak the man’s name in any manner other than in all caps.

And yeah, the Brothers Newsum met with their ally Shane Bartell in Kevin’s un-air-conditioned lair in order to drink flagons of mead (or chalices of American craft beers) and tell tales of their fallen King, Ronnie James Dio, he of the mighty voice and the tiny legs.

Holy Shit! Hank Williams Jr. is lazy. I mean, I’m not questioning his actual work ethic or anything (judging from the inclusion of a private jet on the cover of “High Notes”, he probably flies around a lot), no, I’m aiming square at the shit he writes about.

THE SUPER BADASS LABOR DAY MIX-TAPE SHOW!!!!

So, after last week’s show (where-in we discuss the objectively god awful “Live Through This”), Ryan, Kevin, and Myself were having a well-deserved post-show beer (look, this shit is hard…not like lifting a car over your head hard, more like convincing your nephew that there’s no more “rest of the candy” hard) and we decided to do something special for our Labor Day show. Kevin wisely pointed out that no-one would even hear the show until like 10 days after Labor Day, but I didn’t see any reason to act like it didn’t even happen (yeah, apparently Kevin is spearheading a “War on Grilling Out”…where’s your outrage Bill O’Reilly?). After all, we could just tell everybody what the deal was. Eventually, I won this argument.

Few court controversy like Courtney Love.

Whether we’re talking about her fiery role as Mrs. Kurt Cobain, her occasionally (and reputedly) laissez-faire turn as maternal figure, or, perhaps, her grunge-to-glam trajectory as lyricist and lead singer of the band Hole, Courtney and company lit a twisted fuse of stardom, baggage and frayed anger on Live Through This that seems to stalk her to this day.

What does one say about Josh Tillman? He is an odd dude. That said, the three of us kind of had a love-in discussing the Father John Misty Album “Fear Fun”. I earned back some good-will after the whole Bon Jovi incident (which I’m gonna need when they see what I have planned next.)