things i'd been meaning to say
Well, it has certainly been a while. Things with work have been busy-as-usual...I'm still spinning my original clients off as I move on to my new position. It's been a slow process, but it is moving along. I've still got too much to do right now, and things aren't running as organized as I'd prefer--I've just gotta keep myself in check and try not to get burned out.
The fourth season of Lost is absolutely kicking my ass--we're only five episodes in and they're five of the best of the whole series. No joke. I was worried after the 3rd season's finale, "Through the Looking Glass," that the show wouldn't be able to keep the pace. I mean, that was some seriously incredible television. Now, I know that the worrying was for nothing--not only has the pace been kept, it has been further quickened. They're fitting so much into each episode, I just keep looking at the clock between commercial breaks and thinking, "Holy crap, they're not even half-way through!" every single week. There have only been a few episodes of the whole series that I really, really didn't care for ("Stranger in a Strange Land," "Fire + Water," and "S.O.S.," I'm looking at you) and I absolutely love that the first 2.5 seasons were so detailed and deliberate in their exposition. But ever since last season, I'd say right around the episode "Enter 77," things have been kicked into high-gear and it hasn't let up.
In particular, the most recent episode ("The Constant") has been hoisted into the upper echelons of my favorite episodes, right alongside "One of Us," "The 23rd Psalm," "Flashes Before Your Eyes," and of course "Through the Looking Glass." The character dynamics between Desmond and Penny are just fantastic. Sure, I can believe Juliet & Jack together romantically, but it really makes the Jack/Kate/Sawyer Love Triangle Made of Shit look like...well, like shit.
In summation: If ever there was a time to start watching Lost, and you haven't already, now is the time! Join me or die! Can you do any less?
So, in non-Lost news: The Mountain Goats new album "Heretic Pride" is absolutely phenomenal. I've been so glad over the last 2 years or so since I 'discovered' John Darnielle/The Mountain Goats. The man is seriously one of the most talented lyricists & songwriters I've ever come across. There is some immeasurable quality to the lyrics that I can't place; everything is so visceral and well-phrased. I'll delve into the back-catalog for a moment, as John/TMG have brought me back into believing that an album is still a viable format for music in our ever-digitalizing musical world:
All Hail West Texas is one of the first albums of his that I listened to (I got it right alongside the next album on this list) and is the last full album that he recorded using only a tape recorder. I can't say anything about this that doesn't absolutely reek of hyperbole so I won't. Just know that for a man who (at this point in his career, anyway) didn't write many songs that were auto-biographical, he puts the full weight of his being into the guitar, and even more into the delivery of his lyrics.
Tallahassee is the first non-lo-fi recording he made, and one of the best albums I've ever listened to. About a married couple who love & hate each other to an equal degree and how they drink themselves to death. This is not the first group of songs about this couple, but the only album that is entirely rooted in their story. Set in Tallahassee, FL, I have never heard an album that sounds so much like Florida in my life. The mood of the recording has this creepy, humid echo that evokes a muggy and hazy afternoon in a house with little but a single ceiling fan and a lot of booze. The sound here is incredibly lush. This really solidified my love for TMG.
We Shall All Be Healed was the first album consisting of material rooted in John Darnielle himself instead of just characters from within his head. Chronicling the years in his adolescence where his friends were a bunch of burned-out meth-heads, this is a fantastic album but not quite as good as Tallahassee. But it is still very well written, and the orchestration and arrangements for a number of songs are exceptional (case in point: The strings during the chorus of "Linda Blair was Born Innocent"). I don't listen to this one as often as the rest of his albums, but I enjoy it when I do.
The Sunset Tree is album #2 of self-inspired material, now dealing with his turbulent childhood at the hands of his step-father. This is an absolutely brutal album that really captures your attention. The fantastic "You or Your Memory" opens things up, and it doesn't stop to catch its breath until the very end. Instead of being an angst-ridden collection of songs or a "Woe is me" pity-party, the complexity of the relationship between the abused & the abuser is explored and concludes not with victory or defeat between the parties, but a sobering reflection of an ambiguously positive moment the two shared. In the midst of the chaos, the fractured relationship had some sort of love buried far beneath its murky surface. This is an amazing album.
Get Lonely is probably my favorite of all TMG albums so far. It's very sedated (not what you'd expect from John at all) but it is just on another plane of existence. There is so much subtlety, and so many little hidden details that I keep finding. This album may be quiet but lyrically it is very biting. "Wild Sage," the opening song, has some of the best lyrics in the whole TMG catalog. I know that a lot of people were disappointed in this album since it lacks the intensity that most previous works have contained, but I think that this departure from the norm really worked out. I'd love to hear more from him in this vein, since the creativity in making things subdued took his already considerable lyrical talent to new places altogether.
Heretic Pride has been out for about 2 weeks now, and I've listened to it cover-to-cover probably 10 times now. I can very easily see this taking the top spot from Get Lonely and I'm tempted to do so already. But I'm going to see how it holds up over time. Back to writing songs that aren't about himself, the energy has been kicked up to levels not seen since All Hail West Texas. The production values here are higher than they've ever been (thank you John Vanderslice!) which may alienate some more preferential to his older lo-fi material. But I have no complaints at all. "Sax Rohmer, #1" gets things started at full throttle, and along the way there are 13 songs that just never let up. Stylistically, this is a great direction he's headed back into and I can only hope that things stay this good for many albums to come.
So that's my Mountain Goats breakdown. I've fallen in love with everything I've heard so far, and can't say enough good things. He may be an acquired taste, but I'd recommend TMG to anyone who asked.
In other news, I am going to California again in a few days! I will be flying out at the absolute ASS CRACK OF DAWN on Thursday morning, again crashing at the Curry's. It's Kelly's brother's 21st birthday and we're all going up to Boomtown for the weekend! I'm going to stay a bit longer on both ends, to visit people I didn't have a chance to visit over Christmas due to illness. Kelly will be there for a few days before/after Reno so we will have plenty of time to hang out too.
Okay, since I'm about to hit that point where no one will read past I will shut myself up while I'm ahead. I should go to bed anyway, I want to try and be at work around 6:00-6:30 tomorrow to catch up on shit. There's too much to do, as always...
The fourth season of Lost is absolutely kicking my ass--we're only five episodes in and they're five of the best of the whole series. No joke. I was worried after the 3rd season's finale, "Through the Looking Glass," that the show wouldn't be able to keep the pace. I mean, that was some seriously incredible television. Now, I know that the worrying was for nothing--not only has the pace been kept, it has been further quickened. They're fitting so much into each episode, I just keep looking at the clock between commercial breaks and thinking, "Holy crap, they're not even half-way through!" every single week. There have only been a few episodes of the whole series that I really, really didn't care for ("Stranger in a Strange Land," "Fire + Water," and "S.O.S.," I'm looking at you) and I absolutely love that the first 2.5 seasons were so detailed and deliberate in their exposition. But ever since last season, I'd say right around the episode "Enter 77," things have been kicked into high-gear and it hasn't let up.
In particular, the most recent episode ("The Constant") has been hoisted into the upper echelons of my favorite episodes, right alongside "One of Us," "The 23rd Psalm," "Flashes Before Your Eyes," and of course "Through the Looking Glass." The character dynamics between Desmond and Penny are just fantastic. Sure, I can believe Juliet & Jack together romantically, but it really makes the Jack/Kate/Sawyer Love Triangle Made of Shit look like...well, like shit.
In summation: If ever there was a time to start watching Lost, and you haven't already, now is the time! Join me or die! Can you do any less?
So, in non-Lost news: The Mountain Goats new album "Heretic Pride" is absolutely phenomenal. I've been so glad over the last 2 years or so since I 'discovered' John Darnielle/The Mountain Goats. The man is seriously one of the most talented lyricists & songwriters I've ever come across. There is some immeasurable quality to the lyrics that I can't place; everything is so visceral and well-phrased. I'll delve into the back-catalog for a moment, as John/TMG have brought me back into believing that an album is still a viable format for music in our ever-digitalizing musical world:
All Hail West Texas is one of the first albums of his that I listened to (I got it right alongside the next album on this list) and is the last full album that he recorded using only a tape recorder. I can't say anything about this that doesn't absolutely reek of hyperbole so I won't. Just know that for a man who (at this point in his career, anyway) didn't write many songs that were auto-biographical, he puts the full weight of his being into the guitar, and even more into the delivery of his lyrics.
Tallahassee is the first non-lo-fi recording he made, and one of the best albums I've ever listened to. About a married couple who love & hate each other to an equal degree and how they drink themselves to death. This is not the first group of songs about this couple, but the only album that is entirely rooted in their story. Set in Tallahassee, FL, I have never heard an album that sounds so much like Florida in my life. The mood of the recording has this creepy, humid echo that evokes a muggy and hazy afternoon in a house with little but a single ceiling fan and a lot of booze. The sound here is incredibly lush. This really solidified my love for TMG.
We Shall All Be Healed was the first album consisting of material rooted in John Darnielle himself instead of just characters from within his head. Chronicling the years in his adolescence where his friends were a bunch of burned-out meth-heads, this is a fantastic album but not quite as good as Tallahassee. But it is still very well written, and the orchestration and arrangements for a number of songs are exceptional (case in point: The strings during the chorus of "Linda Blair was Born Innocent"). I don't listen to this one as often as the rest of his albums, but I enjoy it when I do.
The Sunset Tree is album #2 of self-inspired material, now dealing with his turbulent childhood at the hands of his step-father. This is an absolutely brutal album that really captures your attention. The fantastic "You or Your Memory" opens things up, and it doesn't stop to catch its breath until the very end. Instead of being an angst-ridden collection of songs or a "Woe is me" pity-party, the complexity of the relationship between the abused & the abuser is explored and concludes not with victory or defeat between the parties, but a sobering reflection of an ambiguously positive moment the two shared. In the midst of the chaos, the fractured relationship had some sort of love buried far beneath its murky surface. This is an amazing album.
Get Lonely is probably my favorite of all TMG albums so far. It's very sedated (not what you'd expect from John at all) but it is just on another plane of existence. There is so much subtlety, and so many little hidden details that I keep finding. This album may be quiet but lyrically it is very biting. "Wild Sage," the opening song, has some of the best lyrics in the whole TMG catalog. I know that a lot of people were disappointed in this album since it lacks the intensity that most previous works have contained, but I think that this departure from the norm really worked out. I'd love to hear more from him in this vein, since the creativity in making things subdued took his already considerable lyrical talent to new places altogether.
Heretic Pride has been out for about 2 weeks now, and I've listened to it cover-to-cover probably 10 times now. I can very easily see this taking the top spot from Get Lonely and I'm tempted to do so already. But I'm going to see how it holds up over time. Back to writing songs that aren't about himself, the energy has been kicked up to levels not seen since All Hail West Texas. The production values here are higher than they've ever been (thank you John Vanderslice!) which may alienate some more preferential to his older lo-fi material. But I have no complaints at all. "Sax Rohmer, #1" gets things started at full throttle, and along the way there are 13 songs that just never let up. Stylistically, this is a great direction he's headed back into and I can only hope that things stay this good for many albums to come.
So that's my Mountain Goats breakdown. I've fallen in love with everything I've heard so far, and can't say enough good things. He may be an acquired taste, but I'd recommend TMG to anyone who asked.
In other news, I am going to California again in a few days! I will be flying out at the absolute ASS CRACK OF DAWN on Thursday morning, again crashing at the Curry's. It's Kelly's brother's 21st birthday and we're all going up to Boomtown for the weekend! I'm going to stay a bit longer on both ends, to visit people I didn't have a chance to visit over Christmas due to illness. Kelly will be there for a few days before/after Reno so we will have plenty of time to hang out too.
Okay, since I'm about to hit that point where no one will read past I will shut myself up while I'm ahead. I should go to bed anyway, I want to try and be at work around 6:00-6:30 tomorrow to catch up on shit. There's too much to do, as always...