The Antlers - Burst Apart

STREAM THE ALBUM IN IT'S ENTIRETY HERE!

So the album I have been waiting for is finally here... Once I fully warmed up to the fact that it would not be Hospice 2, I realized how beautiful of an album it is.  The thing is, in a way, it kind of is Hospice 2.  Thematically, it is much different than Hospice, but narratively it sounds like it could follow Hospice.  The album is basically a story of someone who has been harmed by past relationships and has been disenchanted by love.  As the album goes on that slowly changes.   There is definitely more going on there, but from my first two listens, that is about as much as I have concretely surmised.

So literally speaking, it does not make much sense for it to follow Hospice chronologically, but we know Silberman wrote Hospice as a metaphor for a break up.  Considering that, Burst Apart could be interpreted as Silbermans slow ascension out of helplessness.

But I actually have evidence for this interpretation!  Mainly that many of the themes from Hospice are reflected in Burst Apart.  I could find many examples, but I will just start with a couple that really stood out to me.  The most obvious example, before even listening to the music is the song titled "No Widows", which I immediately associated with Hospice, because it is about someone being widowed and all.  But let's look at it lyrically:

If I never get back home

There's no garden overgrown

No widows in the walls

No widows left at all

No shirts to hang and fold

No kid out in the cold

No widows on the walls

No widows on the phone

If I'm stuck out here alone

If I'm stranded here or here

Just nothing left at home

No widows disappear

So there is this talk about widows, but I see it as word play.  "Widows on the walls" makes little sense, but I think he is implying a photograph.  The wordplay comes in because it sounds like "windows", and so it is like looking at a picture of a widow is like looking out into the world.  It is like seeing what can potentially happen when love is lost, just like in Hospice.  Also, the thing about folding clothes: I see this as a direct reference to Hospice in the song "Wake":

With the door closed, shades drawn, the world shrinks
Let's open up those blinds
But someone has to sweep the floor
Pick up her dirty clothes
That job's not mine

That song alludes more to clothes further on, and it also alludes to opening and closing blinds (like for a window, hmm?).  In "Wake", he is saying that it's someones responsibility to clean up after the relationship, but it isn't his.  In "No Widows" he is saying if you never have a lover, you will never have the lover leave you and you will never have to clean up any "clothes".

Essentially, the song "No Widows" has very similar themes to "I am a Rock" by Simon and Garfunkel.  Silberman would rather be alone than experience the pain from Hospice again.

I was also going to talk about one other song, but I spent a lot of time typing about that one so I am too lazy now.

I feel like The Antlers' discography can be interpreted like a story.  In the Attic of the Universe is about a very lonely, confused man having an existential crisis and eventually finding some sort of truth.  Hospice is about the woman he loves, who I am positing is the truth he finds at the end of In the Attic of the Universe, dying of cancer (if you interpret it literally), and Burst Apart is about coming out of a dark place in your life and finding hope.

I doubt Silberman intended this, but his lyrics are so personal, that they can't help but be interpreted that way.

That is all for now, I have a lot more I could type about Burst Apart, and the Antlers in general, but that is all I have as of now!

Charlie Sheen - April 20th, 2011

LISTEN HERE!

Songlist:


Joie de Vivre - "Magnet"
Summer Months (2009)

The Fresh & Onlys - "Peacock & Wings"
The Fresh & Onlys (2009)

Panda Bear - "Surfer's Hymn"
Tomboy (2011)

The Antlers - "Kettering"
Hospice (2009)

Flying Lotus - "Intro/A Cosmic Drama"
Cosmogramma (2010)

Balmorhea - "Remembrance"
All is Wild, All is Silent (2009)

Wonder Bear - "Solar Pond"
Golden Years EP (2010 [I think])

Sufjan Stevens - "Heirloom"
All Delighted People EP (2010)

Tame Impala - "Why Don't You Make Up Your Mind?"
Innerspeaker (2010)

Simon & Garfunkel - "Kathy's Song"
The Sound of Silence (1965)

Snowing - "Pump Fake"
Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit (2009)

Aphex Twin - "Girl/Boy Song"
Richard D. James Album (1996)

The Drums - "Down by the Water"
The Summertime EP (2009)

What I talked about:

- Joie de Vivre's album Summer Months is similar to American Football's s/t thematically, and musically.  But within the realm of emo they aren't that similar.  Hear for yourself though.

- I played Panda Bear after trolling you guys last week.

- I love The Antlers so much.

- My friend Tyler likes Flying Lotus and my friend Kirk likes Balmorhea.

- Wonder Bear is a band that the blogosphere is not buzzing about, but I played them anyway because it is actually a decent EP and more people should hear it.

- Tame Impala was in town the night of my show.  It would have been really fun to see them, but I played a song of there's instead.

- They play The Drums song "Down by the Water" as house music at the Wonder Ballroom in between sets all the time.

New Neon Indian! The buzzosphere is in a state of Existential chillwave freefall!

So Gorilla Vs. Bear released a video with new Neon Indian content.  We all know exactly what to expect.

But wait!!!  What is this?  Snow?  Scandinavian architecture?  General brooding as opposed to general chilling? Black and white?!?! (That is so post rock)  I knew something was up before I even saw the video, considering the album was set for release in Fall.  Fall is after chillwave season silly!  The video explains it all.

Alan Palomo recorded most of the album in Helsinki, which is where the video is shot as well.  Why did he choose to do this?  Has he became angsty regarding the volatile buzz/no-buzz lifestyle inherent to a chillwave star?  Is this his way of forsaking the blogosphere which helped him gain so much buzz?

It is safe to say Alan Palomo is now the Ian Curtis of chillwave.  What shall we deem this new chillwave derived genre?  Neo-chillwave?  Post-chillwave?  Icewave?  I have been thinking about it a lot, and without a doubt, I believe the best name would surely be "sno-fi".  In fact, I already tagged Neon Indian as sno-fi on last.fm.  I would hope everyone else does the same!

My Coachelly post

There are many things that happened at Coachella worth writing about, but I am just putting the most interesting stuff to me.  For example, OFWGKTA performed, and I think that is awesome, but I have nothing particularly noteworthy to say about it otherwise.


Lil B announces his new album is called "I'm Gay"!

No one is entirely sure why exactly, but people have ideas.  Some people are saying it is using gay as a synonym for happy.  Some people are saying it is poking fun at how serious rappers take themselves.  Some people are even saying it  is some sort of critique on language in general.  Either way, I think it is really clever.

The National performed!

At first, I wasn't really feeling their performance.  It was good and all, but the vocals were restrained.  Like, The National is a band that is very precise in their sound, they don't flail around wildly on stage.  I feared They were going to adhere to that too much live.  However, it is almost like they knew that and purposely started out holding back.  Over the set that quickly changed and it began oozing emotions, much more than on their album equivalents.

HEALTH's performance!

First of all, let me point out the member of HEALTH that is center right in the photo above is wearing a Paperrad shirt, so cool.  Anyway, there performance was really great, even though the Coachella footage editors were adding blue static to the live footage.  It was really distracting.  But it made me really want to see them live.  They played some new content, and one of the songs kind of worried me because it was not very noisy sounding.  I am not too worried though because on record it will probably be noisier.  All of their songs that I knew sound slightly noisier on album compared to live.

Animal Collective didn't play their hit singles!

A lot of people are kind of pissed about this, but I am not really.  Maybe I would be if I was there, but it is to be expected with Animal Collective.  In fact, it is kind of a relief that they would play an experimental set, at Coachella of all places, after releasing Merriweather Post Pavilion.  Even though I love MPP, and I am in fact listening to it now, it made me worry that AnCo was going to simplify their sound.

Anyway, here is the only new song I have heard online, I really did not look around a whole lot to find more.  It sounds somewhere between MPP and Strawberry Jam; with the kind of rapid style of instrumentation from SJ, but the laid back ethos of MPP.  Or you could just hear for yourself:

That's all I have for now!

Record Store Day - James Blake and more

Not only was today Record Store Day, but also Stumptown Comics Fest.  I might make a post about Comics Fest later though.  For now, here is what I scored for Record Store Day:

I picked up James Blake's LP.  Today was the first day it was available in this format, and this album has consistently been in my rotation since the middle of December (when it leaked), so I picked it up.  Interestingly enough, there is an extra song on vinyl that is not on other formats.  Not that big of a deal, except it is the opening track.  It completely changes the album dynamic that way, instead of being an extra tacked on to the end.

JB has said in interviews that the album is meant to be listened to on vinyl.  Of course these days, that is kind of a cliche.  For older albums, it is literally true that they are meant to be listened to on vinyl, but that is not to say it is inherently better on vinyl.  If the only viable medium for releasing music is on record, it's not like you can compare and contrast the strengths of vinyl versus CD or mp3, and then change the sound accordingly.  And that phrase has been bastardized by today's artist, simply because everyone trying to gain indie cred says it.

But, I was blown away by the truth in JB's claim.  With nearly all albums, the music is contained within the album or mp3, or whatever.  You listen to it and enjoy it, and that's it.  I found myself interacting with JB throughout the whole album.  The speakers, which usually act as the middle man between the record and your ears, instead takes the form of instrumentation itself.  The unique, electronic percussion JB uses almost causes you to ponder if the needle or your speaker is busted, but in a good way.  It is really hard to describe, but it truly feels as if you are hearing not only the music itself, but the process in making the album, even more so than listening to the mp3s.

As for what else I bought:

From top left going clockwise to the center:
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968)
the Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland (1968)
the Doors - Strange Days (1967)
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick (1972)
Paul Simon - Graceland (1986)

I am not a huge fan of any of those artists, although I do love Paul Simon's work with Art.  And Thick as a Brick is a really interesting album to me, not only musically, but also pretextually (I know pretextually isn't really a word).  Maybe I will make a post about it someday.  Anyway, those five albums total were $6, and I felt they would add greatly to me collection, so I made the purchase.

I hope you all had a happy Record Store Day!!!

Broliance

So, aside from Americans, I have had Danish, German, and Malaysian people view my blog.  This shall be my blogs ultimate broliance.  Keep it up the support guys!  <3 from the Pacific Northwest

Charlie Sheen - April 13, 2011

Here's a link to my latest episode
(it starts around a minute in)


Playlist:

Neutral Milk Hotel - "My Dream Girl Don't Exist"
Live at Aquarius Records (1996)

Galaxie 500 - "Strange"
On Fire (1989)

Tom Waits - "Singapore"
Rain Dogs (1985)

Avey Tare - "3 Umbrellas"
Down There (2010)

The Tallest Man on Earth - "Troubles Will Be Gone"
The Wild Hunt (2010)

Das Racist - "All Tan Everything"
Sit Down, Man (2010)

Marnie Stern - "For Ash"
Marnie Stern (2009)

Rites of Spring - "For Want Of"
End on End (1985)

Message to Bears - "At the Top of this Hill"
Departures (2009)

Lightning Bolt - "Longstockings"
Wonderful Rainbow (2003)

The National - "Lemonworld"
High Violet (2010)

I Would Set Myself on Fire for You - "So This is Our Home"
... Believes in Patterns (2006)

Daniel Johnston - "True Love Will Find You in the End"
1990 (1990)

What I talked about:

- The blogosphere is hyping up Panda Bear's Tomboy, so I played a song from Avey Tare's Down There.


- Das Racist was in town while my show was going on, so I played a song.

- I played Marnie Stern for my friend Jake.

- Saturday is both National Record Store Day, and the first day of the Stumptown Comics Fest!

- Lightning Bolt has hella cool managers, who tried to get me into a 21+ show to see the band.  The venue wouldn't budge though.

- I wasn't going to play the National, but I was feeling High Violet, so I did.

- Daniel Johnston is manic depressive!

Pitchfork hating on Starf#cker

Wow, p4k is mad hatin'.  It is somewhat to be expected for p4k to give that album a bad score.  But the real dig comes from the fact that they listed it last.  Pretty much pretending they aren't even popular.  Finally, they discredit them as nothing more than a band knocking off the fame from Oracular Spectacular.  Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of Starf#cker, but you are being especially catty p4k!

Music News - LCD Soundsystem, Panda Bear, OFWGKTA and more!

LCD Soundsystem releases a new mp3!

James Murphy is confirmed for the Brett Favre of music!  As if we didn't already know from this and this.  Seriously though, how are you just going to have your farewell show and then immediately come back?  It is clearly a publicity stunt, because Jim didn't even give himself enough time to see what it is like being retired.  I hope this backfires on him, because I don't know about you guys, but I don't like being toyed with.

Panda Bear releases "Tomboy"!

Panda Bear released Tomboy and I think it is pretty dang good.  I don't think anyone expected it to live up to Person Pitch or Merriweather Post Pavilion, including myself.  But if you disregard the blogosphere hype machine, it is actually a really decent album.  I can't say it is as good as Person Pitch or MPP, but it exists on a different realm than those albums so it is perfectly excusable.  I have only listened to Tomboy twice now, but it didn't speak to me the same way that even Avey Tare's Down There did.  But I loved Down There and everyone else are just haterz.  Maybe it will grow on me though.

Anyway, the blogosphere is having an Existential crisis with Animal Collective right now.  They do not know whether to embrace them, because they are still making decent albums, or to move along to newer and more soindiewtf things.

Overall, as long as Animal Collective are making good albums, I don't care about indie cred.  Although, I can't help but be a little worried that they are releasing albums at a pretty quick rate.  That hasn't proved to be much of a problem, just something in the back of my mind.

OFWGKTA announces tour!

Unfortunately, it is on the East Coast only.  I am convinced that Portland is probably one of the last cities they will visit.  OFWGKTA has tried to distance themselves from their fans that will probably make up a majority of the turnout here.

And finally, my mentor for a class was in a sledding competition this weekend.  Here's the video:

No one really got hurt, but my mentor Mark said someone bruised their coccyx.  Oh well.  They won, because most people didn't even make it to the end, let alone jump over the pile of snow that is meant to stop people.

Paperrad

I got my Paperrad book.  Quite dandy

srsly p4k?

What a terrible song

Superjail!

I have no idea how I am just now seeing Superjail!.  I watched the whole first season last week and it is very impressive animation.  Even though John K hates everything, I think he would genuinely like this show's animation.  Simply put, it is one of the most fun cartoons to straight up just look at.

The premise is simple.  Something happens, which acts as pretext for an increasing amount of violence, until the show climaxes is a huge, bloody free for all.  Yet, such a seemingly rigid structure is actually quite liberating.  The reason is this show flourishes when showing off absurd, interesting, and unique scenes of violence.  With most cartoons, that structure would get old, but Superjail! functions as a showcase of visual absurdity.

I have a lot to say about Superjail!, but that is all I have to say for now.

Galaxie 500 - On Fire

What a beautiful album.  When I first listened to it about six months ago, I thought "Wow, what a simple and pedestrian album, this does not deserve praise."  Now I realize, the themes of this album could not be expressed if it was not so "simple and pedestrian".  It presents to you a character who feels truly alone and isolated in a typical American society.  It does not wallow in conceptual "loneliness" like most albums which share this theme, but rather offers someone struggling to integrate their authentic self into such a herd driven society.  It is extremely easy to relate to such simple acts, like "I went alone down to the drugstore, I went in back and took a Coke, I stood in line and ate my Twinkies".  Instead of conceptual loneliness that has been explored so much in music, it offers anecdotal loneliness.

But even still, that is selling the album short.  Much of the album deals with juxtaposing such mundane things such as the weather, with the feelings we have inside ourselves.  The song "Snowstorm" is about listening to weather reports, and an incoming snowstorm, which compliments the "whiteness" within the narrator.  He feels nothing except white noise.  It takes the simplicity of everyday life, and shows how it is a reflection of what is inside us.

All of this is magnified by the opening track "Blue Thunder".  It is a song about the narrator driving away to a new place.  I do not believe it is a coincidence that the car is named after something occurring in weather patterns either. It is ambiguous about whether or not he actually does leave for a new place, or just fantasizes about it, but either way, it tells a lot.  If he actually does drive off to a new place, it goes to show that everywhere is all the same, and if you feel lonely, it is all just drab, like chewing on styrofoam.

I recommend this album to anyone.

Opening Game at Safeco

I know I just made a post, but I wanted to make another...

So tonight was the first game at Safeco.  The Mariners are now 2-5, and they get pretty much dookied on by Cleveland.  But Macklemore performed his song honoring Dave Niehaus, "My Oh My", and the wife of Niehaus threw out the opening pitch.  Pretty inspiring, but seriously, the Mariners pitching staff sans Felix is just bad.  Plus, the Mariners need to get their second baseman under control.  I expect this to be another season of poor Mariner performance, but I can happily say I am still a fan of the Mariners, and probably always will be.

2 in the AM PM

I don't know if you guys are familiar with the work of JG Quintel, but he is quite a good cartoon writer and animator.  He is the creator of Regular Show, and this cartoon adds some interesting context to Regular Show. It is called 2 in the AM PM, and it is about two gas station workers at 2 AM on Halloween who take acid.  It is pretty crude (both in terms of art style, and humor).  However, it is extremely interesting that some of the things that the two teenagers see while tripping on acid are characters that would end up becoming characters on Regular Show.

Lightning Bolt is the best!

I mean, I already knew they were awesome, but here is a story:  So, Lightning Bolt is going to be in Portland on Sunday.  They are playing a show at Holocene, which is a 21 and over venue.  I was very disappointed, considering I am not 21.  So I sent an e-mail to the address on their website.  Basically I said that I would love it if the next time they come to Portland if they played an all ages show.  Almost immediately, their booking agent e-mailed me back and said it was all ages.  I was very stoked.

So I replied that Holocene says all shows are 21+ unless otherwise listed, and their show is not otherwise listed.  The booking agent said he would get that fixed.  Unfortunately, he replied that it is too short notice and must stay 21+, but the booking agent said he would try to convince them to let me in.  Unfortunately, Holocene said I was not allowed in.

All and all, I learned two things.  First is that it takes a certain kind of asshole to run an exclusively 21+ concert venue (but I already knew that pretty much).  Second, is Lightning Bolt and those affiliated with Lightning Bolt are good people.  Although I am disappointed I cannot go, the fact that he tried to individually let me in, when the venue did not want me in, was such an awesome act of kindness.

Charlie Sheen: Second Airing - April 6, 2011

Carissa's Wierd - "The Color That Your Eyes Changed with the Color of Your Hair"

You Should Be at Home Here (2001)

Perfume Genius - "Learning"

Learning (2010)

How to Dress Well - "Ready for the World"

Love Remains (2010)

65daysofstatic - "Come to Me"

Come to Me / Weak4 (2010)

The Beach Boys - "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)"

Pet Sounds (1965)

American Football - "Never Meant"

American Football (1999)

Paul Baribeau - "Strawberry"

Paul Baribeau (2004)

Blind Pilot - "Things I Cannot Recall"

3 Rounds and a Sound (2008)

Okkervil River - "A Stone"

Black Sheep Boy (2005)

Grouper - "Heavy Water/I'd Rather be Sleeping"

Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill (2008)

the weeknd - "What You Need"

House of Balloons (2011)

Slint - "don, aman"

Spiderland (1991)

HEALTH - "Lost Time"

HEALTH (2007)

What I talked about:

- I don't know man, I was banging seven gram rocks and finishing them because that's how I roll.  I have one speed, I have one gear: go

- That people like the Carissa's Wierd album Songs About Leaving.

- The version of "Come to Me" by 65daysofstatic I played is not the LP version, but rather a shorter version from a 7".

- I try to play at least one artist from Portland every episode.

- Charlie Sheen was a featured artist on the song "A Stone".

- I am tired of generic and contrived music yo.

- Listen to Chelsea's show "Revolution Summer" every Thursday at 7 PM!

Okkervil River

I wasn't planning on playing this song on "Charlie Sheen" right now, but I am really feeling this song lyrically, and I suppose the album in general, so I am going to ^_^

New Antlers song / Lightning Bolt

So, I heard the new Antlers song on Pitchfork (haters gonna hate).  I am not sure what to think.  I am totally aware that the Antlers can't just keep making the same album over and over again, and slowly getting worse at it, so it is not like I was expecting it to sound like a B-Side of Hospice.  Hospice has a very unique sound, and it is so conceptually driven, that I don't even think the Antlers could make a "sequel".  I am sure Silberman does not have it in him emotionally to write a sequel.

Anyway, regarding my opinion.  I could criticize the hell out of this song if I wanted.  I could say it does not have an identity, and relies too much on tried and true emotionalist methods.  Crescendos?  Check.  Falsetto? Check.  Mesmerizing drum loops?  Check.  Overall, I could say it reminds me of a a throwaway track by Radiohead in the Amnesiac era.

But, if I said any of that, I would obviously just be bitter that the song did not speak to me the same way Hospice did the first time I listened to it.  All of those aforementioned thoughts did run through my mind, but deep down, I actually really like the track.  I cannot contrast an entire album with one track, and for all I know, Burst Apart could have just as much of an impact on me as Hospice.  It does in fact sound like an Antlers song while simultaneously sounding nothing like a Hospice song, which is really all I can ask for from an album that is following up something so critically acclaimed.

In other news, I have been listening to a heck of a lot of noise rock lately.  Mostly HEALTH and Lightning Bolt.  Where the hell has Lightning Bolt been all of my life?  I feel so glib having never listened to Wonderful Rainbow before, despite all of the critical acclaim.  Tomorrow on my radio show "Charlie Sheen", I will play a HEALTH song, and the next Wednesday I will play some Lightning Bolt, assuming a bunch of other stuff does not hurl itself at me.  I feel like HEALTH is more entry level, and I am trying to not scare away potential listeners by playing "BUMPshheeuhtlkTHKTHKBUMPzshzhsk" completely out of the blue.  I want to slowly guide listeners to the potential beauty in noise, and not just hurl it at them. :)

Koko's Earth Control

I know very little about the history of animation (good thing I am taking the class), but one cartoon we watched in my history of animation class was really cool and inspiring.

It is worth checking out, way ahead of it's time. :)

Awesome article

I recommend anyone to read it.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html

Charlie Sheen is now online and archived!

LISTEN HERE

Again, sorry about the technical difficulties at the beginning.  It starts at about 6 minutes in.

Minecraft

Since I have a blog now, I have an outlet for whoring myself out!  So I took some pictures of the castle I made in Minecraft.  I have made some other things, but the castle is most impressive.  I can't say I am super into Minecraft, like some people, but I do enjoy it.  It is a nerdy hobby, but being nerdy these days has much different implications than it used to.  Anyway, here is my caste:

The view from the ground

View from front

Ladder going up

Central room, with mine shaft

Balcony

Side entrance

Second part of side entrance

Stairs to basement

Stairs to basement 2

Basement

I am so stoked for Problem Solverz.  Ben Jones is a genius and hopefully Amy and Madeline let me watch the first episode on their television.

Here is the picture I made for my background:

It looks pretty cool if I do say so myself.