Just a quick note to the three of you who visit every month. I recently overhauled the TUNES section of the site to serve as more of a curriculum vitae of the various bands I have been in, including my solo GarageBand nonsense. As more stuff becomes available from the archives (closet, boxes, friends) I will update that area. I will not put every single solitary piece of recorded music I have ever participated in…. there’s too much garbage, too much audio of us dicking around the studio, too many “alternate versions” of different songs… you get the idea. The section will act more of a Top Shelf look at stuff I’ve done. Thanks for reading. Thanks for listening. And keep checking back, cause that shit gone grow son.
Here is the set list from the M83 show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 23, 2011. Yes, it says Montreal at the bottom, BUT I found this on the floor of Music Hall of Williamsburg after the show, and the songs listed reflect the songs played at Music Hall of Williamsburg.
Growing up, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine was one of my heroes. I outgrew him being an idol-figure years ago, but I’ve never stopped loving his music. Having been listening to them for over 20 years, their music never really struck me as being very ’satanic’; that quality was always the craft of bands like Deicide and Slayer. No, Megadeth always struck me as more politically oriented and allegorical. I’ve always carried a certain image of Mustaine in my head all these years, but he recently went on television and eviscerated everything I ever thought by professing his new-found devotion to Christianity. Watch the heart-breaking confession below.
What could be better than spending a beautiful Sunday at the Williamsburg Waterfront catching the sea air, marveling at the majesty of the Manhattan skyline, watching the boats, and admiring the bridges that link us to Manhattan? How about enjoying all of that while the dulcet tones of Todd Barry’s voice tickles your funny bones with his comedy. Yeah. Ages ago Todd was added to the Pretty Good Friends show happening at the Williamsburg Waterfront on Friday July 29th. He joins an already stacked roster featuring Eugene Mirman, Patton Oswalt, Kristen Schaal, They Might Be Giants and more. Doors are at 5:30pm and the event is absolutely free! Beer me! This was announced ages ago, but I am now just getting around to mention it. Or mention anything else for that matter. Am I the shittiest, most run-of-the-mill blogger ever to take to the keyboard?
Two things. First, I hate “top” lists. They are subjective, infuriating, inaccurate, and completely unessential. Second, my knowledge of music is very specific and rotates in a very small orbit. Which makes this post out of character for me. But it has to be done. I have to get it off my chest to the 10 people who read this blog. These are, for me, the best screams ever in recorded music. Feel free to add other contenders into the comments section! I am always looking for a good, blood boiling scream!
The Forms – The Seagull
As exhibited in this post on BrooklynVegan, the Forms and I go waaaaay back. As a matter of fact I think I am one of the first people to get his mitts on their debut masterpiece Icarus. The album is full of start-stop time signatures, soaring melodies, and some serious guitar noise. But within this disc lies one of the best screams you will ever hear. On the fantastic piano-oriented tune The Seagull, Alex Tween unleashes a vocal explosion that will blow the earbuds out of your ears. Listen to the whole song… shit, listen to the whole record, but pay dirt is struck at the 1:11 mark.
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Meshuggah – New Millennium Cyanide Christ
I cannot 100% remember if it was during this song or Bleed at their Irving Plaza show on their last tour when a guy next to me screamed “Aaaaggghhhh! I want to punch someone! I want to fucking punch someone!! I WANT TO KILL SOMEONE” and disappeared into the pit. Either way, this song packs one of the most relentless punches of any Meshuggah song. They chose a very funny approach to the music video for this song which somewhat deflates and charicaturizes the sheer brutality of the song, but I love it. This song is 100% balls, but for the death blow stay tuned for the 3:55 mark.
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The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again
This is definitely the easiest, most common choice so it’s at the bottom of the list. The Who might be one of my most preferred straight up rock and roll bands of all time. For a four piece, they created such an ear drum destroying, earth shattering wall of volume. Roger Daltrey has got some SERIOUS pipes but the scream he let’s out towards the end of Won’t Get Fooled Again I think shocked a LOT of people for its unprecedented power. It still blows my mind that it was set to wax in 1971.
The Just For Laughs Festival is coming to Chicago in a little over two weeks and it definitely deserves mention. OK, it’s actually the Twix Presents TBS Just For Laughs Chicago. The festival takes place from June 14th – June 19th, 2011 at venues all over the Chicago area. NYC prides itself on being a comedic epicenter, and it definitely is to an extent, but as a city we do not have a festival that comes close to something of JFL’s magnitude. I mean, we have the New York Comedy Festival, Sketchfest, and the The Del Close Marathon, but these shows happen at different times of the year and at the end of the day they are to small and fucking niche. Highlights of this years JFL include:
And that is just the “Hey, I recognize those names” shows I randomly yanked off the schedule. There are so many more shows on the schedule you’ll faint. Check Out The Complete Schedule.
Jesse Thorn did an absolutely phenomenal interview with my personal deity Werner Herzog. We all know that Jesse is a true expert at his craft, but this interview really cemented his reputation in my mind as one of the best interviewers in the biz.
The Williamsburg of today is hardly the Williamsburg it was when I moved here 11 years ago. Gigantic condo buildings popping up like cankers, expensive cars parked all over the North Side, people dicking around with their iPads in public without fear of theft, babies in strollers, insufferable bridge and tunnel revelers… whatever, it’s a distasteful evolution that has been pontificated about ad nauseum and will not change. Deal with it or leave, amiright? But with this gentrification comes a definite initiative to clean this dump up; specifically, our parks. And with this desire to get our parks’ shit together, the result has been pretty pristine outdoor spaces that can accomodate concerts and whatnot.
Now, there are a lot of shows coming up at the Williamsburg Waterfront, most of which do absolutely nothing for me. However, Eugene Mirman is taking his Union Hall-based show Pretty Good Friends to the Williamsburg Waterfront for what is for me THE must-see show of the summer. On July 29th Eugene is hosting a wonderful cast of comedy and music that will thrill us with appearances by Patton Oswalt (!), Kristen Schaal, a headlining set by They Might Be Giants, and many many many more surprises. Many. Doors are at 5:30pm. Pray for good weather as this is one of the most beautiful spots in town (if you can ignore the massive housing project for people with too much money and too little taste)(fuck those people).
I love Matt McCarthy. He is hilarious, absurd, and the possessor of such a massive reserve of insane energy that my laughter masks a certain level of fear. This dude has been working the circuit for a long time and you can catch him almost anywhere anytime. But if you want to be able to pencil a few of his shows in your calendar, look no further than the Ace Hotel where his showMarking Out happens every third Monday. The next installment is on Monday May 16th and for a paltry $5 you can see a handful of my personal favorites in including Eugene Mirman, Tom Shillue, Lisa Delarios, and more! Doors are at 7:30pm yo!
Comic Matt McCarthy hosts an evening of comedy with special guests in Liberty Hall, every third Monday. Featuring NYC’s best stand-up, musical comedy, video with stage skits, and sketch comedy between acts.
I have been a sincere and non-ironic fan of Michael McDonald (this one, notthis one) for as long as I can remember. I owe it all to the fact that I was raised listening to my Dad’s Doobie Brothers records. I’ve also been a metalhead for as long as I can remember. For the past several years I’ve been obsessed with dark, ambient sludge and atmosphere created by the great Justin K. Broadrick in projects including Jesu and Final. I am by no means 1/1,000,000,000 the talent that either man is, but I’ve been obsessed with marrying McDonald and the JK Broadrick sound in my own weird way (not literally. that ain’t legal, Jack. I mean sonically). Using a few McDonald related samples and my own music, this was born… Hope I don’t get sued (for using DB samples, or for making really shitty music).
