ok! I have rested after New Year’s and Christmas family time and I am ready to resume photo and blog posts as well as pacificUV activities. We are going to announce a few events quite soon. In the meantime, here are opinions on some of the best music releases of last year.

Jesse:

1. TV on the Radio – “Dear Science”.  Jean-Luc Godard said of Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour that it was the “first film without any cinematic references.”  To apply that concept to music, creating a record without any recognizable musical references is as rare a feat.  This band does it with nearly every song they write.  They are a band comprised of unexpected and unlikely elements, but all without a shred of irony.  Hidden treasures of melody are buried deep within each song, making it one of those rare records to which I want to listen on repeat.  Subtle and infecting, this band is still the best kept secret in modern music.

touring is not healthy : meat and cream —-cream and meat…..we have been eating a lot of fucking ice cream and hamburgers the past few days….what was my weight before i left for tour….? what will it be when i return? how much red bull can one consume before it permanently leaks into your blood stream and across the blood-brain barrier? is fast food composed of actual ingredients or just  different chemicals made to approximate certain tastes and smells?  what does a vegetable look like – ive forgotten………….

we arrived in long beach around 830 and headed to the club called que sera. we went on first to a small crowd that was quite attentive. the shows are getting tighter and better sounding. again, someone asked us to sign a cd – it seems silly to be signing autographs when we don’t even make enough money to cover gas from show to show. i drink one too many and end up sleeping in the van………

currently listening to in the van:

lindstrom

radiohead (Ep’s from bends era)

sub pop sampler

primal scream- exterminator

and so……our fortunes continue to ebb and flow….We entered Sacramento- the capital of California- fearful: the last show we played in a state capital, Salem Oregon, was our most shambolic ever….perhaps this would be the pattern for all our shows in capital cities??! If so we had a long road ahead as we also have shows in SLC and Denver in our future……….

Our first stop in Sacramento was a shoe store. Our drummer Jesse had his shoes stolen the night before so we went to the mall and bought a pair of stylish brown pumas that were on sale.

We got to the club- Old Ironsides- early and passed the time by drinking beers with the locals and watching Monday Night Football. The building we learned was a 150 year old national historic landmark that was the first Sacramento bar to apply for a liquor license after the end of prohibition.

Monday nights they bring in a local “chef” to prepare half time grub; this night the specialty dish being – ready for this (?)- all PORK chili with cheese grits…….After consuming my first bowl, I asked when the cheese grits were to be served, only to be told that they were mixd in with the chili! We have found the ultimate stoner food I believe.

As for the show, the less said the better…………………….

LA:

soooooooooo, after the unmitigated disaster of our first tour stop in Salem (see last entry) things got better. We drove from 1 in the morning until 6AM to reach Medford Oregon, where we slept comfortably on the floor of our drummer’s grandparent’s house.

Why do grandparents always have the most cozy dwellings? The couches were supple, the rooms were clean, and the coffee in the morning was first class. We chatted for a while with the folks. It turns out that the grandfather was a high school college football ref in the 1960’s; he entertained us with stories about angry local football crowds disputing his calls  while we watched college football on the tube……..all in all, it made me looking forward to growing old………

We then packed up and traveled for 8 hours to our next destination: The Hotel Utah in San Francisco. We were greeted by one of the friendliest staffs imaginable: the bartender/soundman was patient with all our sound requests, the door lady was super cool (and beautiful- I flirted with her the entire night!) and the meals were free. Attendance was slightly better as well. Because the venue was so small, we turned down a bit and played without ear plugs- which turned out to be a nice change.

Our drummer Jessie was accosted by a cute girl after the show. So eager was she to praise his “rad” drumming skills, she jumped on the stage as soon as the show was done to chat with him! Alas, Jessie had to pack up, and she had dispappeared by then.

Rock bands that “party” hard is a tired rock cliche, but we comformed to it that night. We went back to the headlining bands house- The Junior Panthers- and proceded to get quite wasted on copious amounts of…

Sunday:

we were not able to book a show on sunday but we did have an interview at KLAX in Berkley and an in-store at Rasputin in Berkley. The interview was interesting and fun. It is kind of a power trip to realize every word you utter is being listened to by hundreds or thousands of listeners. It makes you want to grab the microphone and shout out some profound announement about  the impending apocalypse. I understand now why Orson Welles engaged in his War of the Worlds stunt…………..

The in-store did not look good: we had just scheduled it three days earlier, so there was no promotion, and furthermore, we were not playing in the music section, but in the DVD area! Things got off to a rocky start because at first our only audience member was a crazy homeless guy who was shouting “I love you guys” over our quiet intro. He eventually left and people started trickling in………………….by the end we had a decent crowd and sold a few cds…………….

sacramento is next…stay tuned

c

For me, the words “music festival” call to mind large crowds filled with devoted fans, a diverse lineup of cutting edge artists, and a jovial atmosphere that encourages excessive partying and abandonment of any and all rational behaviour. PacificUV commenced its West Coast Tour last night in Salem, Oregon at the Mix and Mash Festival with great expectations; this would be our first musical festival. Would there be a V.I.P room? Just how big would the crowds be? Maybe Calvin Johnson would ask us to come onstage and perform “Indian Summer” with him!

All these hopes were quickly quelled upon arrival: there were roughly 30 people there -most being from other bands- and the general atmosphere felt more like a high school prom than a rock show. More bad news quickly followed. Due to the cancellation of another band, our prime 10:30 spot has been pushed to 12:30 – a good thing if you are performing in a big city, but a curse if you are playing in a small town.

So, with 5 hours to kill before playing, we roamed downtown looking for food and beer. Downtown Salem was quite charming and we found a charmingly sleazy dive bar at which to drink. On returning to the venue, the audience had dwindled further and by 1230 it seemed as if even the security guards had departed! The non-existent audience coupled with our alcohol consumption, resulted in the most shambolic set ever………cues were missed, notes were flubbed, and the overall effect would be similar to if you asked 5 disoriented senior citizens to jam together on a bunch of Middle Eastern instruments they had never seen before, much less played….perhaps the most miraculous fact is that we sold two cds!

soooooooo, we can only go up from here…..stay tuned for a report on our san francisco show tonight….bye for now.

It has been a busy month in celebrity deaths: paul newman, richard wright, and david foster wallace. Wallace might be the least known of the 3, but perhaps the most talented. Wallace hung himself on September 12th, 2008 at his house in California. 

For the uninitiated, Wallace burst onto the literary scene in the late 1980’s with a novel titled “The Broom of the System”. It owed an obvious debt to Thomas Pynchon, but had moments of originality. It did not prepare anyone though for what came next.

In 1996 Wallace published the massive, dense, masterpiece “Infinite Jest”. Topping in at over 1000 pages, Infinite Jest was a robust work of dystopian fiction in which each year is sponsored by a brand name product (year of the adult depends undergarment, ect) It tackles everything from tennis, to addiction, to the vapidness of the contemporary American culture with ease and a command of langauge so assured and insightful, that on almost every page one is amazed at just how widespread and diverse Wallace’s knowledge is. 

Wallace’s trademark – besides the impossibly long sentences- was copious footnoting of his text. For instance, when a film maker is introduced into the story, Wallace supplies an appendix which details and discusses the film maker’s entire oeuvre! This served to make even more real and vivid Wallace’s already believable fictional world. 

Listening to most intellectuals talk can be a boring, wrist slicing affair, but regardless of the topic, Wallace managed to do it in a accessible, interesting way. What turned out to be more amazing, is that his non fiction- best represented by “A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again”- was even better than his fiction. Whether dissecting David Lynch or detailing his nightmare cruise ship experience for Esquire, Wallace does it with a wicked humor that is supremely entertaining. DFW had a gift for dissecting a topic and analyzing it in a thorough way that always yielded new insights. 

To read Wallace, is to be get inside his head. It is a blessing to be so smart (he received the Macarthur “genius” grant) but it might have been painful as well. To constantly be analyzing and tackling every side of a given issue, must be tiring and overwhelming. Wallace suffered from severe depression and one wonders if the intense scrutiny and questioning did not lead to his demise.

If you buy one book in the next few months try out Infinite Jest or A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again, and meet the most talented writer of our generation.

hey. if you live in one of the following cities and would be able to put up tour posters for us, we will reward you with a free pacificUV t shirt and two free tickets to our show in your town. Email pacificuv@gmail.com if interested! thanks cities:

san fran

sacramento

long beach

los angeles

san diego

tucson

phoenix

alberquerque

denver

salt lake city

missoula

I recently received the ride box set for a birthday present. It is hard to remember/believe now, but in the 1990 RIDE were THE British band to know. The cure were in love with them, they had screaming Japanese girls over flowing at the Tokyo airport to greet them, and for a while- the British press predicted world domination within the next year. They also were the first band on Creation Records to break the top 10 with an album.

In retrospect, this all seems a bit over the top. Ride did have some great songs, “Vapour Trail” being a classic, but the music was too atmospheric and hazy to ever make a serious dent in the American or international market. It is exciting to think though, that at one time, this music was the hippest on the planet. I would gladly take this British press flavour of the month over current ones like the Kaiser Chiefs or The Music.

The box set is divided into 3 discs: best of, live at reading 1992, and unreleased. The best of includes a disproportional amount of material from their earlier EP’s when Ride was at its most atmospheric and upbeat. The songs are twisted, dense Byrds type pop songs cut thru with buzz saw guitars- equal parts Jesus and Mary Chain and 60’s pop. It truly is exciting.

Towards the end of their career Ride imitators abounded (moose, chapterhouse, blind mr. jones,etc) and Ride matured into a more conventional songwriting band, but toning down the sonic textures left their often vapid lyrics exposed. The latter half of the “best of” is a bit of a let down after the pop rush of the first half. None the less, this is a great introduction to good, and occasionally brilliant, band that seems to have been largely forgotten.

I dream in music. I seldom remember the visual content of my dreams, but every day I wake up singing a random song that can only have come from my unconscious mind. the funny thing is how unexpected most of these songs are: tunes I haven’t heard in years, choruses I’ve heard once or twice, songs I absolutely hate, songs I absolutely love. everything is fair game.
I thought it would be interesting to keep a diary of the song I wake up singing each day. I’m not sure what I expect to come from it but it should be, at the very least, an interesting virtual mix tape.

here are some previous sounds.

tuesday, july 1st: nick cave – stagger lee
wednesday, july 2nd: george michael – heal the pain
thursday, july 3rd: muse – supermassive black hole
friday, july 4th: the cure – close to you
saturday, july 5th: parliament – give up the funk (tear the roof off the sucker)
sunday, july 6th: david bowie – ziggy stardust
monday, july 7th: damien rice – cannonball

and, after a lapse in recording, this morning (friday, july 18th) started out with aeroplane by the red hot chili peppers.

maybe there are others of you out there who dream in music as well?

Toby

george thorogood and the destroyers – live

toby: growing up with a father who is a die-hard harley man exposes you to an interesting side of life. this kind of music comes along with it. I can’t say I loved it, or that it’s my favorite now, but it reminds me of some pretty good times. and really, you have to smile when you listen to “one bourbon, one scotch, one beer.”

pick up an album by george and the destroyers (I went with “live” but I doubt you could stray too far with his other albums), crank it up, and wish my dad a happy fathers day. he’s a cool guy. and he’s undeniably bad to the bone.

Hall & Oates – Rock n’ Soul Part 1.

jesse:I was about 7 years old when I first memorized every lyric to this record. I don’t think I had any concept of what “Maneater” was actually about (I seem to remember it calling to mind some kind of Godzilla-esque sci-fi creature), but the album has so many hooks that it was hard to ignore, even at such a young age. You have to admit, hearing a 7-year old sing “It’s a bitch girl, but it’s gone too far, ’cause you know it won’t matter anyway” would be quite amusing.

marty robbins – gunfighter ballads and trail songs

clay: My dad did not listen to much music while I was growing up, but I remember this album vividly. The songs of billy the kid and other outlaws are poignant and remarkably sad. This may sound weird, but some of the songs (specifically Utah Carol about a cowboy who lays down his life for a little girl) remind me of the smiths in that they are melancholy ruminations on outsiders.

On most cds you are lucky if one third of the songs are good, on this record  almost every track is a winner. One day, maybe all the hipsters will add this – along with Johnny Cash- to their list of mandatory country records one should own.

the beastie boys – license to ill

toby: yeah, we all heard it a million times. I swiped this vinyl from my brother and played it nonstop. like everyone else in the world I could recite “paul revere” verbatim. I was not as cool as I thought I was. hell, nobody will ever be as cool as I thought I was. especially when I was listening to this album.

Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon.

Jesse: I know this record is a convenient one for hipsters to name drop, but I can really say I’ve been into Pink Floyd since I was very young. My dad had a kick-ass 8-track collection (which I still possess today), and though it wasn’t large, it boasted some very quality selections. I actually listed to this album so many times on 8-track (or Stereo 8, as it is formally known) when I was growing up that I still habitually anticipate the exact three points at which the tape-head would switch tracks during album.

joan jett & the black hearts- i love rock & roll

the pink cover. a woman singing sultry, sexually charged rock songs. the riffs. crimson and clover. a 10 year old boy’s mind is changed for the better. forever…

if not for this album, I would probably be married with wife and kids and working as an accountant in a respectable firm.

the best of disney 

toby: I don’t know if this record even exists anymore. it was a collection of 2-3 songs from all of disney’s big hit movies through the late 70s, I think. the sole reason I played this album nonstop was the song “I wanna be like you” from the jungle book. I vaguely remember dancing around and singing along with it. to this day I love louis prima, and I think it all started with his turn as king louie.

Jackson Browne – Lives in the Balance.

jesse: This was the album on the flip-side of the Dire Straights cassette. Of all the early stuff I got into, this record probably the most surprising in how well it holds up (musically, at least). Browne started to get very heavy-handed with his political leanings around the time of this record, and while some of it can be a bit cloying, there are some profound moments to be had. In the same manner that Phil Ochs’ music never found a large fan base after the generation in which it was written, Browne’s 80’s work has been largely cast aside due to much of his lyrical output being uber-specific in terms of the time period to which they pertain. However, I do credit this album with being my primer into the politically-slanted music I would later come to adore (namely U2 and late 70’s punk). It is worlds-apart stylistically, but the message finds a familiar bedfellow in those acts.

the band- self-titled

clay: To an eight year old, this was a scary cover: five mountain men who appeared as if they were just coming back into town after spending years in the wilderness. But the music was warm and inviting- something I imagine would sound good around a campfire. The album has a ragged Neil Young feeling to it and – to my ears- has the most tasteful and best recorded drums I have ever heard. 

The fours:

Dire Straights – Brothers in Arms.

Jesse: My dad had this entire album dubbed onto one side of a cassette (which I proceeded to wear out due to a massive amount of overplaying). The first day I ever heard this was on our way to a fishing trip in southern Oregon when I was around 9 or 10 years old. I didn’t grow up in a house with MTV, so I didn’t even see the video for “Money for Nothin” until I was in college, so it really was the music that made an impression on me (maybe because of my excitement for the trip, or maybe because I’ve always had a penchant for American music as interpreted by British musicians).

the royal guardsmen – snoopy vs. the red baron

Toby: I have no idea what album this song was actually on. here’s why: we had it on 8-track cassette (in the family car) and every time the song ended I would start it over. I didn’t care what else was there and I had no mercy for anyone with the misfortune of being in the car with me. I may have been punished for playing this song too much. if so, I deserved it.

“yellow submarine”-the beatles

clay: For what many consider to be the best pop band of all time, the Beatles sure did have a lot of whimsical, children songs: they wrote  lullabies (goodnight), fantasy/fairy tale songs (octopus garden) and birthday songs

(”Birthday” which is THE song at Showbiz Pizza). Perhaps keeping in close touch with their inner “kid”, was one of the reasons why they were so innovative and prolific. 

The best of these is “yellow submarine” – a song I listened to everyday in my mom’s car when she drove me to school during my fourth grade year. Hearing Ringo sing of this rag tag group of seafaring friends, one can’t help want to dress in some paisley and take a sailing trip. 

You can choose what records you listen to, but you can’t choose your parents- and for all of us our formative years are spent listening to whatever music our parent’s happened to enjoy. For some of us this turned out great, resulting in hours of taking in the White Album or AL Green, while others remained permanently scarred from being force fed Rush or Yes. 

With that in mind, we thought it would be interesting to have members of pacificUV list their top 5 favorite records from their childhood. #5 will be listed today and we will then count down to #1 by Saturday. Enjoy.

The Fives: 

#5 The Police – Reggatta de Blanc.

Jesse: I remember my mom buying this on cassette at my local small-town pharmacy in the late 80’s (probably around the time we got our first stoplight). I’m guessing she bought it solely for “Message in a Bottle”, but soon grew tired of the rest of the album, so it ended up in my collection.

I used to replay “On Any Other Day” ad nauseam, finding it quirky and fun to sing (the song mentions a wombat and isn’t sung by Raffi. Pretty cool.)

#5 edvard grieg – peer gynt suites 1 and 2

Toby: I actually listened to a lot of classical music as a child. I dreamed of becoming a world-class pianist and I would lose myself in beethoven, tchaikovsky, debussy, or any number of other composers. grieg was my favorite for years. his sense of melody is virtually unrivaled, and he paints amazing pictures with his compositions.

“in the hall of the mountain king,” you know it. “morning,” you know it. “anitra’s dance,” most likely. you just didn’t know it was grieg. you do now.

#5 carole king- tapestry

Clay: I recently read a column by magnetic field’s wizard stephen merrit in which he thought that “tapestry” was under produced. To my eight year old ears, it was a beautiful, minimal record, and still is. The songs have a timelessness that most great albums do, and the title track – involving a prince getting turned into a toad- was like getting read a Grimm’s fairly tale.

For those of you who don’t know Harmony Korine, he is the genius/idiot (depending on which side your own) who wrote the move KIDS when he was 18 and went on to write and direct two astounding films in the late 1990’s – Gummo (1997) and Juline Donkey Boy (1999).

Among other things Korine introduced Chole Sevigny to the world, appeared on the David Letterman show on some type of drugs , and then promptly vanished into the ether for seven years.

Well he has returned with a new film called Mr. Lonely and I went to see it last night with some frineds. The plot is simple: a Michael Jackson impersonator meets a Marilyn Monroe who invites him to come live with her in a house with other celebrity look alikes (Buckwheat, the queen of england, charlie chaplin, james dean, etc)

As with his other films, the plot is thin to the point of being non-existent. What makes Korine’s films spell binding are the seemingly random, odd images that stay with you once you leave the theatre: the three stooges look alikes executing a bunch of sheep, buckwheat rambling on about wanting to be a chicken, and nuns jumping out of an airplane and drifting in the air. 

Korine has lost some of his edge and Mr. Lonely is not as shocking or as vital as his previous releases, but it still a unique film that is worth viewing. 

soooo, today marks the first day we will be posting all our blog entries on pacificuv.com and – with this handy dandy new plugin we have obtained- it will automatically post to myspace as well. This is all in theory mind you and something is certain to go wrong, so I am keeping this post short.

Also, you now you have a valid reason to go to our official website because today is the first day of our photograph a day blog. From Monday-Friday from now on there will be a new photo posted taken lovingly by one of us. Here is the first one:

Ok, that is all for now. bye

c

hendrix

I am a guitarist, but have always felt slightly embarassed that I am not a big Jimi Hendrix fan- since he is the supposed God of guitar. I love certain songs (Are you experienced, All along the watchtower), but I am not a big fan of his voice and always wished there were more songs with just his guitar.

Every few years I try to get into him, and just recently bought a greatest hits collection. I was again left non-plussed but found his version of “The Star Bangled Banner” to be mind blowing.

It begins fairly straight forward, but then goes overboard during the “and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air” section. Without sounding too cheesy, Hendrix gives an aural equivalent of what rockets and bombs would sound like. It is a beautiful mess made all the more remarkable by the fact that he creates the sound without the use of pedals.

Check it out here.

The reviews have been good so far and another one has just come in from Alternative Press. Can’t really remember what it says, but it mentions “dreampop” and “reverb” and “space.” This is probably true of %75 of the reviews we have gotten……..I can promise none of these words will be able to describe what is coming next……….

like art, but can never afford the obscene prices that most galleries charge? me too………Until now, it seems like you would just have to cut out pages from a magazine or photocopy images from books,,,,but there is a new website call 20×200 that post new art every tuesday and wednesday at reasonable prices. there are 200 8X11.5 pieces of the work for $20.00 each and larger pieces that are a bit more expensive. The cooler ones usually sell out quickly……..

Sometimes the stuff is a bit cheesy, but overall i like what they offer. sooooo, start your collection today and buy a piece of art. go here to see what they are currently offering.

MIKE: RADIOHEAD – OK COMPUTER ////. I was wearing headphones the first time I listened to this album and sat there slackjawed for 53 minutes. Radiohead is the best band of our generation and possibly of any generation. It’s been amazing to watch their career unfold and I’m going to enjoy growing old with them. They single-handedly saved rock-n-roll with this record in the dismal, grungy late 90’s and generations of music lovers and music players will be influenced by this work — and indeed, their entire catalog — for as long as we can keep from killing each other on this planet.

TOBY: EELS – ELECTROSHOCK BLUES //// Here’s a rough year: your sister commits suicide, your mother is fighting cancer, and a number of people you know die unexpectedly. How do you cope with that much tragedy? If you are a musician you may write some songs about it. If you are a particular musician who goes by the name of E, you write a staggeringly brilliant album about it. Eels have always written music that contains contradictions. My favorite example is the beautiful ballad named “It’s a Motherfucker” from later album Daisies of the Galaxy. A song like this can pull so many emotions. You smile, laugh, and weep, all at once. Electroshock Blues has the same impact. The entire album. These are songs about going to funerals, accented by music boxes. Death, confusion, and tragedy wrapped in accessible pop songs. And, here’s the real trick: optimism wrapped in pain. You come out of this heavy album with the sun shining on you. As noted on the Eels’ website, by taking on death you discover life. Case in point: the last song, “P.S. You Rock My World.” After 15 other songs of loss and determining what is important, this song opens with the line “I was at a funeral the day I realized I wanted to spend my life with you…” I have a hard time imagining a more valid statement of love.

MATT: PINK FLOYD – THE WALL //// I would like to think I’m strong. I would like to think I’m worthy. At the end of the day, it’s what you really think about yourself. I’m still not certain about that. What I do know is this: Pink Floyd’s The Wall is the epicenter, the heart, the hurt, the end and the beginning. This record kills me…it really does. To tell you the truth it almost did. It has a chain around my neck. It has the salt in my wound; it has the blanket and the whip. It has everything I’ve always feared… and secretly wanted. It has beaten me over and over, sometimes savagely, sometimes just without blood. This is my album…the funny thing is…is that it seems to be a lot of other folks’ album too. I’ve been ok with that for a long time…xoxo.

JESSE: U2 – POP //// U2 is a blender-scramble of paradoxes.  For years, their gargantuan doses of ego and talent have set them on a knife’s edge in terms of becoming the victims of their own hubris.  What critics failed to see was that this record wasn’t really the artistic coup de gras it was rumored to be (as if by naming an album “Pop” you are required to worship at the altar of Madonna).  And that’s really the joke, isn’t it?  Where exactly is the “pop” on this record?  Few people really understood that the idea behind Pop was of the tongue-in-cheek variety.  It is about pop, but it doesn’t really contain much of the stuff (so it must be a failure, right??).  Wrong.  Pop was U2’s attempt to deconstruct their audience’s expectations (and their hard-to-break musical habits), much as Kid-A was for Radiohead.  The great thing about Radiohead is that they don’t really seem to give a shit about what people think about them.  U2 does.  They believed their own negative press and chose to follow the safer trail, leading to two very(!) mediocre albums.  Interestingly, many critics have changed their stance on Pop as of late.  Too late, I say.  Critical negativity has changed the course of history, much like Eckels stepping on the butterfly in Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder.”  Such is our loss.

CLAY: ANY BEATLES RECORD LISTENED THROUGH HEADPHONES ////  My #1 is a bit of a cop out in that it isn’t one specific album.  Rather, it is the entire Beatles output when listened to thru headphones. My #2 from yesterday- Pure Phase- taught me to listen closely to a record’s production. For me, the texture and sound of a record is as important as the songwriting. After becoming aware of production value, I re-listened to the Beatles’ records and my mind was blown………Somehow, the Beatles, with limited equipment and technology and only a 4 track to work with (!!??) created some of the most mind bending, experimental sounds ever recorded. The amazing thing is just how minimally everything is done. DO this: listen to mid/late period Beatles and pan the mix so you are only getting one side of the mix. Even if you only get the vocal side or the instrumental side, the sounds in themselves are so captivating that you don’t even mind the fact that you are only listening to half of the song! Everything from Ringo’s drum sound to the guitars to the tambourine sounds so good, that even if every Beatles song was an instrumental, it would still be a feast for the ears and a landmark in recording history.

CLAY: SPIRITUALIZED – PURE PHASE //// This is not even the best Spirtualized record in my opinion (that honor would go to Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space), but more than any other record I own, this taught me how to listen to music and the power of production. Jason Pierce is a pretty good songwriter, but what keeps me coming back to pure phase again and again is the way it sounds. It swirls and pans and echoes and bounces back and fourth between the speakers in a magical way that reveals something different every time you listen to it. Its sound is meticulous; one can imagine Pierce shaving off frequencies and altering the mix until it sounded exactly the way he heard it in his head. He even went so far as to mix the record in mono twice and then combine it into a stereo mix to achieve the final product! Pure Phase also contains the song “Let it Flow” – which is the best drug tune since “Heroin” by the Velvet Underground. Listen closely to “pure phase” in a good pair of headphones, and you will never listen to music the same way again.

TOBY: CIBO MATTO – VIVA! LA WOMAN? //// I may be going out on a limb here but I think this album, released in 1996, still has some of the best hip-hop beats…ever. Throw in some random samples, layered instrumental parts, Japanese-tinged vocals, and a culinary theme (Cibo Matto loosely translates to “crazy food” in Italian) and you’ve got an impressive, unique album. Cibo Matto only officially released two albums (this is the first). The band at this point was comprised of two members: Miho Hatori and Yuki Honda. by their second release the band had expanded to include, among others, Sean Lennon. Their sound changed noticeably. In my opinion, this change was for the worse. Viva! La Woman’s stripped down beats are perfect for creating a fun album with some real substance when you dig into it a little. You will dance. You will sing along, even though you don’t understand half the lyrics. You will explain to people, in no uncertain terms, the gravity of not knowing their chicken. The song “Beef Jerky” will forever remind me of Las Vegas, Nevada college radio station KUNV. I first heard this song one evening while dialing through the radio channels. It was my introduction to Cibo Matto and to KUNV. Both became an integral part of my life. Sadly, KUNV switched to an all jazz format years ago. I am by no means knocking jazz music, but I cannot explain the impact losing that station had on me and on many listeners in Vegas. RIP. I feel I need to mention the video for the song “Sugar Water”. This video is innovative in its use of a split screen that follows the two members of the band through a day, one forward and one in reverse. in the middle of the video both screens converge at a point in time and the action swaps panes. I can’t quite explain it. just watch it…and while you’re at it, find the video for “Know Your Chicken”. It’s worth it just for the wackiness. Aren’t Miho and Yuki just cute as hell?
MIKE: UNDERWORLD – SECOND TOUGHEST IN THE INFANTS //// This is the best album from the best electronic band in the world. I love the transition these guys made from early 80’s dance rock-meisters to minimal techno pioneers to avant-garde elder statesmen, and they’ve had something interesting to say in every phase. The guys in the band have largely disowned their early dance rock recordings, but we listeners shouldn’t make the same mistake, as it’s Underworld’s keen pop/rock sensibilities that allows their music to transcend the boundaries of “electronic music” to simply “great music”. This record never ceases to make my body move, so visceral and primal are the complex, intertwining, ever-shifting beats and synth lines, yet it’s not just dance floor fodder. This is post-rock for the electronica set — a true headphones record. This is thinking man’s techno. This album (along with its follow-up, Beaucoup Fish) is an under-appreciated gem.

MATT: GUIDED BY VOICES – BEE THOUSAND //// Robert Pollard once said “I can write five songs sitting on the toilet, and three of them are good”. I believe him. In 1994 I was in a small college town in the middle of Oregon (I’ve never been to college), and I heard a weird little song called “tractor rape chain” on the local college station. I called them up and was all, “WTF“? They said it was on the album Bee Thousand from a group called “Guided by Voices’. Okay, I’ve got to get that. When I finally located a copy (used no less) I took it home to my van (yes, I lived in a van) and put it on. I thought to myself “no wonder it was used, there’s something wrong with it”. It sounded like it was recorded with a string and a can with dirt all over them. It was too late to take it back so I sat and listened, and listened, and listened again. Something strange was happening, it felt like they were actually playing inside my head. The next morning when I woke up with the phrase “are you amplified to rock? Are you hoping for a contact? I’ll be with you, without you, again” I knew that yes, indeed, they were inside my head, and they have never left.

JESSE: RADIOHEAD – KID A //// I admit that OK Computer is a better album (in a pop-music sense), but Kid A would be my desert-island disc of choice. For me, there was before Kid-A and after Kid-A, and the way I would look at music would be forever changed. It is a record full of songs that aren’t really songs, an aural footprint of the human heartbeat existing in a world of silicon and plastic and steel, an industrialized reconfiguration of musicality, an embryonic ocean of implied possibilities, and the duality of Picasso’s Guernica transmitted in binary. All this while being markedly soothing in spite of the terrors lurking just beneath its surface.

MIKE: TEARS FOR FEARS – SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR //// Say what you will about 80’s production values, but I ate that shit up when it came on the radio, and nobody sounded better than Tears For Fears. Fortunately for everyone (although missed by most), they were a real band, with real songs and real musical talent behind the Emulators, gated reverb and hair mousse. The way keyboardist Ian Stanley and producer Chris Hughes used the technology of the day to create intricate electronic soundscapes that served the songs so beautifully is inspirational even today. The follow-up album, The Seeds Of Love is every bit as good, if not quite as accessible, and the preceding album, The Hurting, is filled with killer tunes as well.

JESSE: NINE INCH NAILS – THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL //// The things happening on this record will absolutely bend your brain if you are listening correctly (I suggest premium headphones). I literally listened to this record twice a day for two years during high-school (which, in hindsight, may have had an unduly negative effect on my ability to attract female attention, but that is a different story). Nevertheless, The Downward Spiral is wonderfully singable, satisfyingly angry, and wholly sublime in the most Emersonian sense of the word (three adjectives which make the most unlikely of bedfellows). Give much of the credit to Flood (who also did some dizzyingly amazing work on U2‘s Zooropa album). He was arguably the first producer able to extract the nightmares from Trent Reznor’s brain and commit them to tape. Gone were the euro-tinged dance anthems of Pretty Hate Machine. Reznor and Flood handed the world something a lot more thoughtful, if not more dangerous. Geeks for musical production should take heed of this record.

MATT: RADIOHEAD – THE BENDS //// Ok, Ok, I know… I have to admit this album does it all. From the drums that come in on “Planet Telex” to the wash of harmonies at the end of “Street Spirit” this record made me want to save the world. In 1995, they broke lose from their moorings and released this gem of a rock album. They found their voice. They sharpened their teeth. They made it possible to rock and be smart at the same time.

TOBY: LAMB – FEAR OF FOURS //// My vocabulary of electronic music is limited. I’m relatively sure I like jungle and some drum and bass, but I couldn’t give you any examples. I know hard house can be fun at the club, but not when your neighbor is playing it into all hours of the night. I have heard countless different named genres but I just can’t manage to sort them out. This feels like a shortcoming in some ways. I’ll get over it. I am, ultimately, a rock musician. I plead ignorance (or apathy). From what I gather, Lamb falls into the trip-hop category. This seems to be my most likely splashdown point in the sea of electronica, as it covers Portishead, early Hooverphonic, and Massive Attack as well. I realize my apathy may be showing again. If so, please bear with me. I love this album for a number of reasons. The programmed beats are inventive. The songs often take on non-standard time signatures (the album actually opens with a 10/8 track). Bass lines are performed on an upright. The mood shifts from restrained to frenzied to groovy to latin to tribal, all done in a way that keeps you compelled. The only legitimate complaint I have seen concerning this album is the way the vocals are processed. Louise Rhodes has a gorgeous voice but it is not clearly allowed to shine through on this album. Not that it sounds terrible. it just comes across as tinny and overproduced. I promise it will grow on you regardless. The video for “B Line” was my introduction to this album, and to Lamb. I was up late one night (I’m an incurable insomniac) and happened to switch over to mtv’s 120 minutes. This video shocked and delighted me. I won’t even try to describe it. Just look it up. It is worth your time.

CLAY: THE SMITHS – THE QUEEN IS DEAD //// I know, I know. This is probably on every other music lover’s list over the age of 25 in the world, but for good reason. The Smiths never get old because they are just so fucking innovative and odd. Marr’s guitar lines are intricate, multi-layered symphonies- listen closely and you will hear 5 or 6 different melodies interacting in unusual ways. You can get a guitar chord book and learn Smiths songs, but I have never heard anyone play them exactly like Johnny Marr, he is a true original that has influenced everyone from Radiohead (”Knives Out”) to Oasis. And then of course, there is Morrissey whose lyrics are heartfelt and hilarious at the same time. Laugh or cry at the queen is dead, both would be appropriate responses. Lyrically, Morrissey is at his peak. Whether singing about plagiarism (“Cemetery Gates“), Christ’s yearning to be loved (”the boy with the thorn in his side”), or taking a jibe at a greedy record label executive (“Frankly Mr. Shankly“), Morrissey manages to be self-consciously clever and egotistical, but genuine at the same time. “I know it’s over” -probably my favorite song of all time- is the third track on the record. Lamenting a love affair (that really only happened in the singer’s head to begin with!), Morrissey asks a series of questions that lonely people the world over probably consider daily:

“If you’re so funny
Then why are you on your own tonight ?
And if you’re so clever
Then why are you on your own tonight ?
If you’re so very entertaining
Then why are you on your own tonight ?
If you’re so very good-looking
Why do you sleep alone tonight ?”

JESSE:  PRINCE – PURPLE RAIN ////  I play a purple drum-set.  At one point I also had a purple Harley Davidson.  That should be proof enough that I’m an unapologetic Prince fanboy.  Ironically, it wasn’t until later in life that I caught-on to the true glory of Prince‘s oft-maligned pop-genius.  I have never been much of a radio-listener, and the few songs I had heard (like “1999”) never made much of an impression on me.  Then, about 8 years ago, I met this really hot girl who happened to be a Prince fan.  My lesson had begun.  At first I was less than kind about her love for his music, but like I said, she was rather attractive (not to mention smarter that me), so I opened my mind.  Maybe it was the guitar solo in “Let’s Go Crazy”, or the fact that he plays EVERY instrument on his records, or the heart-tugging chorus of “Purple Rain”, but the record grew on me.  Not only did it grow on me, I began to crave it like some manner of pop-music narcotic.  If you can listen to “Little Red Corvette” and not sing along, there is something seriously, seriously wrong with you.  These days, should one happen pay me a visit on a lonely Saturday night in my loft, they might just pay witness to a Risky Business-esque display of Purple Rain-induced lip-synch mayhem (boxer shorts and all).  All hail The Purple One.

MATT:  SIGUR ROS – Ágætis Byrjun //// 1999’s Agaetis Byrjun (Icelandic for an alright start) is another mind bender for me. I’d heard music come close to this but not quite get to the heights that this record achieved. I can’t understand a thing said on this album and I don’t have to. It’s cold, it’s sad, it’s hopeful, it’s beautiful.

MIKE: TALK TALK – SPIRIT OF EDEN //// I get weary of the whole, “Gee aren’t they a synth-pop band?” No, they were never a synth-pop band. Nor did they wake up one day and suddenly decide to invent a new genre of music. If you look at their entire output, there is a direct, straight-line path from their debut radio hit “Talk Talk” right through to the most avant-garde cut on their swan song, Laughing Stock — a gradual, if mind-blowingly spectacular evolution. This, their fourth album, was the sweet spot; the perfect intersection between the taught pop writing of their first two records and the post-modern minimalism of their finale. This album will continue to grow in stature and one day will be spoken of in the same terms as the greatest rock albums of all time. That’s just how far ahead of the game these four gents were. Maybe in our lifetimes, we’ll be talking about Sgt. Pepper, Pet Sounds, and Spirit of Eden in the same breath. Just maybe.

TOBY: THE AFGHAN WHIGS – GENTLEMEN //// I’m driving. the virgin river canyon winds aimlessly; a road that men cut through the mountain. On my right are shear walls. On my left is a high concrete median. The stars are out, but my perspective is fixed lower, so that all I see is dark…dark so thick it is palpable. I could swim in it.  I hear the click of my cassette deck switching sides. The volume is down; I have been driving, lost in thought. I turn the volume up. Silence. The recorded sound of a passing train breaks it. A tambourine follows, then a dark guitar riff. I fall in love.  I have connected to music many times while driving. I used to take long road trips whenever I could. I’ve never connected with an album in quite the same way as this one, though. It is etched in my mind.  Gentlemen is the reason I became an Afghan Whigs fan. it is a dark, introspective, sometimes egocentric album about relationships (and the paranoia that sometimes accompanies them). It is a rock album, done the way only The Whigs can do rock. it is frantic at times. It is strikingly beautiful at times. It moves between the two expertly. For example, the chaotic rocker “What Jail is Like” drops you directly from Greg Dulli’s screaming vocals into the understated, pleading female vocals of “My Curse.” The songs couldn’t be more different, but the movement between them feels perfectly natural.  This is also the first “concept album” I’ll be listing. I tend to like albums that have a bigger thread running through them. In this case, it is the dark side of love and human relationships that flows through the songs. Pain, drunkenness, desperation, drug abuse, confusion. Dulli even refers to earlier lyrics in later songs, drawing from the musical theater bag of tricks. This is not A Chorus Line, though. It is harsh. and it hurts. but it doesn’t leave you to mire in that existential pain. By the time the instrumental track “Brother Woodrow / Closing Prayer” brings the album to an end you have been freed. It is a tumultuous ride, but one you are glad to have taken.

CLAY: ADORABLE – FAKE //// Anyone out there know Adorable? (they are, perhaps, the most underrated/criminally ignored UK band to come out of the 90‘s) They were a few years too early for the 80’s revival and five years too late to catch the shoegaze scene of the early 1990’s.  By the time “Fake” came out in 1994, lead singer Piotr and company had already alienated what little audience they had by declaring their first record, Against Perfection, as the best album of the past decade (and he is not far from wrong).  But rather than check their arrogance at the door for their follow up, Piotr and company come out blazing on Fake, with a sound that mixes equal part Echo and the Bunnymen chorused guitar and baritone vocals with subtle New Order bass-lines and synth flourishes. Produced by Paul Corkett, who would go on to produce Blood Flowers by The Cure, the sound is rich and warm; it has the texture and feel of dream pop, but the immediacy of rock. Two months after the record was released, Creation dropped the band and they imploded a few months later, cutting short a musical career that yielded amazing results in the brief time they were together. The 1980’s revival did not start with the Faint or Interpol or the amazingly lame Killers.  It started with Adorable and they did it better than everyone.

 

MATT: KRAFTWERK – THE MAN-MACHINE //// Compiling this list has been no easy task. We had no guidelines. So, I decided to approach it as the top five records that changed the way I thought about music. That being said, I’m starting with Kraftwerk’s 1978 album, The Man-Machine. Back in ‘84 or ‘85, I was listening to a lot of punk rock, but this record was like a breath of fresh air. It was so different. It opened me up to a whole new style of music. Repetitive, minimalist melodies that are very hypnotic. It still holds up as a very solid record.

JESSE: SONIC YOUTH – GOO //// When I think of all the hours I spent listening to In Utero instead of Goo in high-school, it makes me want to cry. It’s not that I wasn’t aware of Sonic Youth, but in the days before the internet, hunting for music in suburbia was quite the chore. Your best bet was to order from the US equivalent to Rough Trade mail-order: Burning Airlines (are they still around?). Leaving the Portland suburbs for the purpose of finding music was a rare excursion, and usually led me to Django records (now defunct), where I would buy whatever U2 related oddments I could get my hands on. I had seen Goo on the shelf on various occasions, and had even picked it up once or twice, but it never made its way into my collection until years later in college. When I finally heard it, I suffered years of non-buyers remorse. Growing up, I would listen to Nirvana’s “Tourettes”, or “Rock Music” by The Pixies, trying to satisfy my seemingly unquenchable craving for a soul-rattling symphony of chaos. Goo proved to be the miracle elixer I was waiting for.

MIKE: PETER GABRIEL – SO //// I’m sick and tired of having to apologize for my early musical influences. The radio hits of 80’s pop giants like Genesis, Duran Duran, Scritti Politti, a-ha, Tears For Fears, etc. sounded so much better than anything else on the radio and made musicians start to realize that modern production equipment and techniques, when used tastefully in the service of a good pop song, could add incredible emotional impact. So many bands and producers got the “tastefully” part wrong, forgetting that piles of synthesizers and effects were not a substitute for a good song. Of the few who got it right, Daniel Lanois was possibly the best. His haunting treatments of Peter Gabriel’s radio friendly avant-pop songs are still awe-inspiring today. The non-radio cuts are the best tracks, because Gabriel, Lanois and company were free to stretch the boundaries of what a pop song could be. Listen to “We Do What We’re Told” and “Excellent Birds” with fresh ears. Who tries shit like that anymore and succeeds so brilliantly?

TOBY: WILLIE NELSON – TO LEFTY, FROM WILLIE //// We all know how brilliant Willie Nelson is. his songwriting is timeless, his guitar work subtly phenomenal, and his voice unique, yet capable of beauty that makes even me want to swoon. He has influenced countless artists over the years, but this album allows us to see one of his influences. It is a collection of songs written by Lefty Frizzell, one of country music’s lesser-known pioneers. The tunes are short and sweet and the lyrical fare is what roots-country is known for: love, heartbreak, the railroad, simplicity. Willie’s interpretations create an album of upbeat twang and sweet waltzes that are truly heartfelt and inspired. I was loaned this album by a girlfriend years ago. The relationship ended badly. Very badly (he kind of end where you burn things to purge the memories). This album was a prime candidate for destruction, but I still have it. I still listen to it and love it. That, my friends, is a mark of a good album.

CLAY: MOJAVE 3 – ASK ME TOMORROW //// No one expected much from Neil Halstead when word got out that Slowdive had broken up and that he was forming a country tinged band influenced by Neil Young and Dylan, especially after Pygmalion (a limpid record that barely registered with most fans). But everyone was wrong. Ask me Tomorrow is a personal, hushed affair that may be one of the best break-up records ever recorded. Halstead details his parting of ways with his ex-girlfriend/Slowdive bandmate, Rachel Goswell. The fact that she adds harmony parts on almost every song makes them almost unbearably intimate. The songs are slow and sparse, with just enough reverb to make the whole thing sound like the beating of a very bruised heart. Recorded largely at home, it has the feeling of a late night session in which feeling and atmosphere trump technique. After this record, Halstead chose to record in “proper” studios, but Mojave3 never sounded this sad or beautiful again.

so next week get ready as each member of pacificuv will reveal their 5 favorite records of all time…..monday we start with #5 from each member///////

also, we are nearing the completion of a video for “ljiv”, the last song on longplay2. we will post that in about a month from now. we are also in talks with a director about a video for “need”////more details to follow.

today was the first warm day in portland in ages,,,so I started my garden and biked around. needless to say, I thought little about a blog entry for today, but the content for next week will be stellar i promise. hope everyone is well………until monday…..

c

What’s that whining sound?  Oh…it’s just the insufferable fanbase of the US’ most comprehensive “indie” music festival: Coachella.  Everywhere I turn, critics and fans alike are sneering that this year’s lineup is less than stellar.  I can’t seem to figure out what schedule they’re looking at, because the one I’m seeing is pretty damn great.  In the past, I’ve paid over $200 just to see Prince alone.  At Coachella, you can see Prince plus: The Verve (!), Portishead (!), Spiritualized (!), Roger Waters (!), Love and Rockets (!), 50 other decent bands, plus some shitty ones (if you want to spend your weekend watching vampires).  What exactly are people hoping for that would replace such a high-profile lineup?  Do John and George need to zombify, thereby facilitating a Beatles reformation?  I’m wondering what’s happening to the music-consuming public if this year’s lineup isn’t acceptable. Am I just getting too old, or have festivals reached some kind of artistic critical-mass (and thus be prone to implode upon themselves)?  For a mere $260, Prince is enough by himself.  Quit yer bitch’n.

-jrw

A couple of years ago, the members of pacificUV congregated inside a cozy little bedroom in NE Portland, equipped with good cheer and a handful of adult beverages, and proceeded to conduct the inaugural pacificUV listening party. Essentially, each of us brought a few songs by bands whose music we adored, but who might not be immediately familiar to our fellow bandmates. Not only was the night a lot of fun, but it was an instant primer in moderately obscure music by five friends who know a bit about radio-unfriendly tunes. Over the last few months we have spoken about repeating the experience, finally doing so last weekend. Here is the evening’s play list:

woody allen is not of my generation so it seems not a lot of my friends know or care about him……and yes there is the whole scandal with his adopted daughter that he ended up marrying (yikes!) but let’s divorce his art from his personal life shall we? picasso and pollock were apparently dicks, but does that detract from their art??

anyway. one night during high school, his Russian novel spoof “love and death” came on TV and it was a relevation to me. The humor was absurdist and silly, but was also profound and philosophical. Who else could make a slapstick comedy about the future (”sleeper”) and throw in references to Camus, Satre, and Schopenhauer??!!

as with many artists, his early and mid periods – which comprise many films since he has made over 30!!- are in my opinion his best. His last 5 or 6 films have been patchy, with “match point” being the highlight.
without further adieu, here are my five favorites (in no particular order)

“annie hall”: the one he is probably most famous for, but for good reason. a love story that feels real and honest. It neither glamorizes nor idolizes the american notion of finding your soul mate for life. It shows love with all its warts and manages to be both hearfelt and touching at the same time. The best film to start with for Allen neophytes.

“husbands and wives”: utilizing a novel, roving, documentary camera approach, Husbands and Wives documents two couple’s relationships. Julliet Lewis has never given a better performance. This was the last movie he made with Mia Farrow before the “soon yi scandal”.
“sleeper”
like sci-fi movies mixed with slapstick? then just go see this fucking movie OK? Many fans have lamented Allen no longer makes funny movies and for good reason. This is one of the best from his comedy phase.

“crimes and misdemeanors”
a favorite of many fans and critics, this is classic “serious” mid/late allen. The film deals with the radomness of fate and the effects of our actions in a godless world. “Does God punish those who committ evil deeds?” No.nononono according to mr.allen.

“stardust memories”
I have saved my favorite for last. This was made by Alllen after the success of “Annie Hall” and is loosely modeled on Fellini’s 8 and 1/2. The film is very autobiographical and has Allen playing himself as Sandy Bates- a filmaker who no longer wants to make “funny movies”.

The film takes places during a film festival weekend in which his films are screened before adoring, obssessive fans. It is obvious Allen is tired of being in the spotlight and felt stressed by people’s expectation about what types of films he should make. Here he vents, and infuriated many of his fans in the process.

Featuring some of the best cinematography of his career, “stardust memories” is a dense, beautiful film that reveals something new with each viewing. It also serves as bridge between his earlier “funny” films and his later “serious” ones. Go see it now.

so, I saw MBV is reuniting for shows this summer…what does everyone think of that? My feelings are mixed. On the one hand, maybe they will be insanely good, but it seems the chances of that get slimmer the older you get. Although I will say the Pixies reunion was quite impressive and even bettered when I saw them when they opened for U2 in the early 90’s………

From the stories I have heard, MBV used to be unbelievably loud. One friend of mine tells the story of seeing them in Athens, GA after loveless came out and swears that his beer literally JUMPED off the table due to the sheer volume of their set??!! Seems a bit far fetched, but excessive volume can move objects. I doubt the new shows will be as loud since he now suffers from hearing loss.

I don’t really worship at the altar of Kevin Shields or loveless, but some of the production work he has done post MBV has been cool. Check out exterminator by primal scream and you can see why he is still in demand as a producer. BUT, what I really want is a new MBV album, though even that may be disappointing after hearing his new compositions for “lost in translation”. it was mbv lite////////

anyway, for any fans, here is a recent interview he gave that is cool (despite being from VICE):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bwU9OCG2hY.

bye

c

the second week of blogging mon thru friday begins! Just so you know, next week each of the five members of pacificUV will count down their five favorite records of all time. so monday will be 5 from each member, tuesday 4, etc. Each member will submit separately so as not to influnece each others selections……We all have fairly different tastes, so it will be interesting to see if there is any overlap………………. There is a 97.456% chance though that at least one list will contain a spiritualized record!

so for today I just want to throw the question out there to everyone: “what are you listening to these days that is over 30 years old?” What cd have you found lately or returned to that was made in 1978 or later?

It seems we always want to get new reccomendations for music, but think of all the amazing old stuff out there?! And think of all the new records you have bought because of the hype (vampire weekend, clap your hands, tapes and tapes, etc) that turn out to just be ok?

Our quest for the new is understandable, but it gets annoying when something is seen as inherently better or more exciting just because it is new. If anything, old reccomendations tend to be more trustworthy because they have stood the test of time and have withstood all the trends and movements that turn out to be just hype.

I got super into this Johnny Cash song called “Sunday morning coming down” and learned that it was written by mr. kristofferson, so I bought his debut. The sound is loose and sloppy. The first song “Blame it on the stones” is like a follow up to dylan’s “rainy day women “,with a woozy brass band filling in all the gaps. Other songs are sparse country laments about boozin and women.

This is good country, the kind that Patsy Cline and Hank Williams popularized, the kind that seems to be non-existent in today’s Nashville. check it out if so inclined…..

bye
c

ok. some people hate subtitles, and to those people I say: ignore this post, because it a film recommendation for a foreign movie………

the film is called “the bothersome man” and cool is the only way to describe it. A man is dropped off in the middle of nowhere by a giant bus. He doesn’t know how he got there or where he is. Eventually, a car drives up and takes him into the city. He is set up with a job and apartment. Everything is going well until he realizes that his senses are dulled: everything tastes bland and it is impossible to get drunk regardless of how much he drinks. Even orgasms seem to now be non-existent!

From there things get progressively weirder. It is a bit Lynchian, but not as blantantly “being weird for weirds sake.” I find Lynch exasperating because he strays so far from a narrative structure for no apparent reason. “Blue Velvet” was the last film he made that kept me interested.

Anyway, please rent it if you get a chance. It can be read many different ways, but at its most basic level I think it is a meditation on pleasure and what that means in a contemporary society filled with pointless diversions around every corner. Are we really enjoying what we consume these days or is it merely a cheap entertainment fix that we forget as soon as it ends? bye

Anyone who knows me well, knows that one of the most significant influences on my life was the smiths. YES, I had smiths posters in my childhood room, YES i bought photo books of morrissey, YES i had a very bad morrissey haircut in highschool.

In retrospect, this turned out ok. The smiths are still a highly respected band and their music holds up well. Thank god I wasn’t into frankie goes to hollywood or some other bullshit that would make me wince today.

The fact that the smiths are one of, if not the best British band since the Beatles, is now obvious. And I avidly followed morrissey’s solo career up until maybe maladjusted. But, have you heard the shit he has been putting out recently? It is watered down pub rock that has no personality or musical qurikiness that made his first few solo records so unique.

The last two records, while critically lauded, have been musically bland. The instrumentation is generic; it is all bar chords and cheesy distortion. It is not a coincidence that blink 182 producer Jerry Finn produced “You are the Quarry”. Morrissey is going for a tougher sound, but in doing so has catered to the lowest common dominator. Stephen Merritt has observed the same thing in a NY Times review he wrote a few years ago.

The great tragedy of this, is that morrissey’s first few solo records are so great- filled with odd production choices that beg repeated listens. Listen to “alsatian cousin” the first song off of his “Viva Hate” his first post smiths. It begins with fucking RAY GUN sounds and only gets odder from there with a warped twisted guitar line and operatic
background vocals. Morrissey claims to have not taken many drugs, but from listening to this, you might think otherwise.

Or how about the break down in “bengali in platforms”???! A faintly heard violin plays a distant melody that is beamed in from mars. Today, he would just crank the amps up to 10 and replace that violin with a good old guitar solo.

There is nothing wrong with maturing and trying on new styles. Radiohead is a perfect example of a band that has continued to grow and expand, often in exciting ways. Even their failures are at least listenable. But morrissey it seems is now happy to let his pub rock band crank out play by numbers pseudo punk rock ditties that feel contrived and overbearing.

c

another day, another post.

One of my bosses at my job is a stickler for spelling. If a resume contains one misspelled word, the applicant is dismissed. Seems a bit harsh doesn’t it? I am only mentioning this to let you know my spelling is horrible……so please don’t hold any grammatical/spelling mistakes against me. At least it will be more correct than Thom Yorke…..have you seen his posts?! they are grammatical nightmares written by a man who clearly has other things on his mind than clear, written communication.

ok. so for today I want to reccommend a really cool album from the 1970’s by none other than Graham Nash (yes from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young). It is a country tinged affair about as far away from pacificUV as possible. It is called “songs for beginners”. I found it used on vinyl for $2.00 at a local music store in Portland.

It is the type of record that is loose and simple. You can tell they recorded it live and all played in the same room together. The songs make you want to drink whiskey and pine for a simpler time where we didn’t check out email/phone/blackberry/tivo/etc every 10 minutes. These type of songs- when done correctly- make you realize that all that is needed for a song to be effective, is a clear emotional sentiment and thoughtful lyrics. It is enough to make me want to throw all of my guitar pedals into the nearest bin.

this just in: new blog entry everyday starting now
so lets put the pacificUV hype machine into overdrive, shall we? A close friend of mine suggested I blog more often to keep people coming back to our myspace page………so be it! Now, instead of blog entries appearing infrequently at best, they will appear daily, or semi-daily depending on my ability to come up with content.

and for today: musical musings. I have recently gotten back into vinyl and love the idea of an album that has two distinct sides that divide up a group of songs. This appears to be a dying art form that started with the rise of cds and now seems to be all but lost with mp3s. Perhaps in the future, whole albums wont exist at all, it will simply be a group of singles not linked at all to one another?

This is a shame because many of my favorite records (queen is dead, ok computer, ask me tomorrow) lose much of their power and beauty if one just listens to a song from it. Airbag isn’t simply the first song on “OK computer” it is the entry into the paranoid, dystopian world that is slowly revealed over the course of the album. It is the song that introduced the world to a more mature, abstract radiohead. When I hear “airbag” it is hard to think of it as just one radiohead song from their amazing oeuvre, it will always be heard in the context of “ok computer” as a whole.

chew on that for a while! see you tomorrow

c

Pitchfork gives longplay2 a 7.9:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/48867-longplay-2

Read the review before looking at the score and you would guess we got about a 5.0. The review is good, but talks little about specific tracks or the music in general. It seems to enjoy just comparing us to other bands and spouting out witty one liners.

I guess this raises the thorny question of what makes a good review? I am too tired to consider that tonight, but I guess I will answer it with another question: Is is possible to describe music with words? Could you ever know what sigur ros sounds like by reading a review? hmmmmm, probably not. I guess at its best, a review can give you an overall idea about where the band is coming from and make you want actively seek out their recordings.

But we are very grateful. Two of us have put down a payment on a house, knowing fame and fortune will surely follow from being praised by the mighty pitchfork…………….

In other news: our ambitious plan to shoot a video for every song from the new record is still going strong. The first video will hopefully be posted in early April.

Hope everyone is well. Please keep in touch.
bye
c

so the Oscars are tonight and I am worried that a movie I profoundly hated- JUNO- will win best picture. This notion is twice as scary because the other contenders this year- especically There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men- are so brilliant. I could list out the 101 reasons I thought Juno to be a cliched, boring mess, but I should try and keep this more positive!

With that in mind, I will just say this: of all the contenders for Oscar this year, and despite the brilliance of the two movies mentioned above, the film that was the most creative and awe inspiring was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by modern art icon/painter Julian Schnabel.

Not many directors have the balls to direct a movie from a first person perspective in which the camera is seeing what the character does. Even Orson Welles- before going on to make Citizen Kane- had the idea to make a film version of Heart of Darkness from a first person point of view- but abandoned it, in part, because it was too difficult to do.

But Schnabel somehow pulls it off and has made a film that truly puts you in the head of the main character. go see it before the theater takes it down to make more room for fucking jumpers…………….

c

so the album and website are both almost finished! We are excited about both and hope to finish soon. We will be sure to post new songs once the album is mastered…In the meantime, check back frequently as the website will be finished in the next few weeks.bye for now………….

and so….we start i suppose. this is the first post of the new pacificUV website. our last full length came out in 2003 so it has been a while….but I assure you this time has been well spent (sort of). We spent time moving (from athensGA to portlandOR) and readjusting. We released a new EP in late 2006 and our new lp that we are very proud of, will be out in late 2007. touring and all of that jazz will be decided upon soon.

I am on that lemon juice fast at the moment so I am a bit flighty. The web site future has big plans! I plan to have regular blog entries and to have a link for my photos.

anyway, maybe I will just list some things I have heard/seen lately that have been worthwhile. see you soon? and please dont hesitate to email us with questions or to give us large sums of money (we not take pesos also)

clay

recent worthwhile artistic things:

lee friedlander “self portraits”:

dont know how many of you out there are into photography, but thanks to the Powells here in Portland (the largest independent bookstore in the country) and an ex-girlfriend who was able to get me discounts, I have developed a serious photography book collection. One of the best is that of Lee Friendlander’s self portraits. They are clever, inventive, and something that is sadly lacking from the art world: humorous. Many pictures contain only Friedlander’s shadow. They are engimatic and force the viewer to confront whether we are viewing the “real” artist or simply once who is performing for the camera.

Here is a link to one of my favorite images from the book:

————-
“Guatemalan Handshake”

The second art piece I want to recommend is the film “Guatemalan Handshake” starring Will Oldham among others. The movie is a discursive, stream of concious journey through many characters’ lives in a small north eastern town. Most of the actors are not professionals and this lends the film a genuine realism that is lacking from many films these days. It is bizarre, touching, and incomprehensible.