Deep Purple – Machine Head (1972)

Vs.

The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St. (1972)

The Game is simple… if only one could exist which would it be?  What’s more important… personal relevance, cultural significance, or simply being the better album all other things aside? Choice is yours…

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (2009) [Warp] // Grade: B-

Ever year there are a few critical darlings whose albums seemingly get dubbed “Best of the Year” before the album’s finished being mastered. Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavillion started the year off with that title, and just as pre-orders of Veckatimest are arriving into their mailboxes, Grizzly Bear is probably donning their Sunday best for their award ceremony.

Grizzly Bear, Like Animal Collective is the sort of and that almost tailor built for the sort of praise critics bend over backwards to give. Musically and sonically adapt, pushing some sort of envelope on each new album while grounding themselves with some traditionalism… which for both bands would be Chamber Pop. And while it may be easy to automatically hate these bands who seemingly Hijack such lofty praise before the rest of the world can from an opinion on the matter, the truth is most of the times these bands are actually putting out good, if not great albums.

Veckatimest is Grizzly Bear’s 3rd full length album and is by far their most realized, most inviting and most interesting album to date. The sort of album that lends itself to indoctrinating a gaggle of new listeners certain to turn the band into mainstream successes overnight. But is it one of the best albums of this year? I suppose the answer to that question depends on how much schmaltz you can sit through because let me tell you, there’s a whole lot of it here!

So today on my way to work while walking a couple blocks from Cooper I got mugged by one of the projects finest crack heads. Gun to my ribs with my iPhone in his hand I was ready to call it a day.

Anyways, since moving up here from Florida a little over a week ago I’ve gone out quite a bit with everyone. The parties and shit up here are crazy compared to what I’m use to and Ease DaMan definitely needs to be paid to appear at any gathering he attends, twitter dat!

Greg, Ease, L’amour Supreme, Mike Jones and I went to the Claw Money X Sunglass Hut release party the other night and wild out on some hurricanes and horrid tiny hors d’oeuvres, we also got the pleasure of seeing Sean Paul perform half a song and then proceed to yell “Sunglass Hut blat blat booyakasha” for a couple minutes. Had a good time though and Mike Jones left with one of the hottest hipsters in there, props to him.

After the party with a quasi buzz we ravaged through Times Square taking pictures with unexpecting tourist and the dirtiest Elmo on earth.

Steven Soderbergh is one of those directors who can pretty much do anything. From big-Budget Hollywood flash to ultra-minimalist, Soderbergh has got some brass balls. His latest, The Girlfriend Experience, was shot entirely with a 4K Red digital camera for $1.7 million. The film stars adult film actress Sasha Grey as Chelsea, a call girl who provides clients with a refined “girlfriend experience” – services include listening to you ramble on about the economy, drinking your shitty wine, and wearing Marc Jacobs. Grey isn’t the greatest actress and has a matter-of-fact manner about her that gets irritating quickly but Soderbergh uses her well. Her boyfriend Chris (Chris Santos) is a personal trainer and that about sums him up.

Despite Chelsea’s profession, there’s no actual sex in the movie and only brief nudity. It’s clear early on in the film that Soderbergh is more interested in the work involved in being a successful call girl. We see Chelsea toning her body, trying to satisfy old clients, and constantly attempting to increase her profile. The film is set in October 2008, so most of the dialogue concerns the presidential elections, bailouts, the state of Israel, etc.

The film’s greatest strength is Soderbergh’s cinematography; it’s downright stunning in some scenes and the 4K Red camera is so light-sensitive that it required minimal use of artificial lighting. Its other strength is its 80 minute running time – I don’t think I could have sat through more of the mundane. As an experiment, it’s worth a watch, but save your money and download it or wait for Netflix to cop it. The Bloglin should be sponsored by Netflix…we mention it so goddamn much.

St. Vincent - Actor (2009) [4AD] // Grade: C+

I have to give it to Annie Clarke (formerly of the Polyphonic Spree)… usually an album the likes of Actor would have me wanting to gouge my eyes out. The sort of album whose own stylistic blend of influences  just as charming as they’re deliberate in getting every major music media outlet to bust out the lip gloss and pucker up when read off a press release.

But Annie Clarke is everything she’s made out to be, a consummate songwriter  with a beautiful voice who effortlessly weaves pop into electro into jazz into this back to that and a little bit of the other. But it’s Clarke’s willingness to push her delicate pop sensibilities right up against rougher distorted stretches over and over the course of this album that creates the sort of dynamic that really holds my interest.

In the end though, while I truly appreciate what Annie Clarke has done on Actor, it is just a little too flowery for my sensibilities. But that’s me so feel free to knock this up 1/2 a grade if you can stomach something this pretty for repeat listens.

Mrs. Hateball and I are wrapping up our third day in lovely beautiful amazing Tokyo. My first vacation…ever. Today was Shibuya Shopping, Nippori Notions and Fabric Hunting, and Ekoda Grailbombs. Yesterday (above) was wet and wild Harajuku and the day before was Shinjuku with friends.

A few rough impressions of the Imperial City. More to come later:

1. Jesus Christ are there a lot of stairs.
2. It’s hot. Even when it’s cold. My upper lip hasn’t been dry for days.
3. A coke is a dollar outside the hotel. Inside, it’s eleven. An eleven dollar coke.
4. If you tell your cashier ‘gifto’ when purchasing something—anything—they will wrap your items in such a way that will break your heart it is so nice and lovely.
5. MTV sucks here, too.
6. The whole ‘OMG it’s so strange you could just die’ shit is so yesterday. If you’re not a douche, and have EVER had to share space with millions of people, it’s just another city. An amazing city, but still…not Mars.

Konichiwa. Or Sayonara. Or big-big Arigato. I still don’t know which is which. See you next week.

This past Midnite Till Death was an okay time. Charly and her boyfriend DJed with me this time. Here’s a photo she took of her lap.

Here’s the Lap Lady’s boyfriend, Patrick. He is a severe skinhead who is sweet and peaceful until someone tries to grab onto Charly in which case he hulks out and smashes faces.

“Patrick, if you smash faces at this event I swear to God that I will not speak to you for as long as you live!” That is what I said there.

Then there was some sort of dick grabbing contest. I can’t remember too much of this.

This is the Lame Drivers. They do Garagey songs but kinda dress like nerds. It’s okay to be a nerdy looking band. Shhhh… Don’t tell me that you are not nerds. Good tunes.

These were my favorite guys that played that night, Dinowalrus. This blog thought they were awful. She says they made her want to shoot her brains out. So why didn’t she? Shoulda gone with your first instinct. Gat gat gat! Look forward to a future episode of Creepy Touch about these guys. If you don’t know about Creepy Touch yet then look forward to Creepy Touch.

This is my buddy Justin from when we worked for Camel together. That’s his girlfriend. I introduced her to somebody as “Justin’s Slave” and she got all huffy and made them leave. I shoulda introduced her as “Justin’s humorless slave.”

Here’s the drummer of Guilty Faces (and Partysaurus Wrecks) showing off his Keep Watch tattoo. Actually it’s just an eyeball that looks like the popular Mishka thing. How many people have tattoos that look just like this and don’t know what Mishka is? Who’s gonna be the first to get one on their forehead?

Guilty Faces are a fun little hardcore band from Connecticut. They are all angry about stuff and indignant about shit.

This is So Cow from Ireland. They are nothing like Flogging Molly or the Dropkick Murphys. They are pretty un-corny. I’l see you next time or I won’t.

While discussing other shows to possibly review for the Bloglin, Crook said I should check out the 2006 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room. A few days later, I downloaded the first episode and within the first five minutes a man sells a motel key for $2 million and gets nuked by a retractable pen. So yeah, I was engaged.

In 1961, an unexplained, cosmic incident occurs in room 10 at the remote Sunshine Motel on Rte. 66. The incident gives the everyday objects in the room unique, bizarre powers ranging from goofy to god-like: a bus-ticket that can transport those it touches to a strip of road on Rte. 66 outside Gallup, New Mexico, a comb that freezes time for five seconds, a glass eye that can destroy or repair flesh. And as with most powerful items in fiction, they eventually corrupt their users, Gollum-style. 45 years later, Pittsburgh detective Joe Miller (Six Feet Under‘s Peter Krause) is investigating an object-related murder when he gets swept up in the mythos of the Sunshine Motel…losing his daughter in mystical room 10 in the process. Joe begins to hunt down the objects in hopes of finding the one which can bring his daughter back. Along the way he encounters a secret society that worships the objects as gods, violent private collectors, and even Margaret Cho (don’t worry, her screen time adds up to about three minutes).

The show has a great classic Twilight Zone/Outer Limits feel to it and remains engaging throughout. Fans of the object-heavy Friday the 13th: The Series might also dig Lost Room. It follows a monster-of-the-week format, but twists it a little into object-of-the-week (episode titles include “The Key, “The Comb,” “The Prime Object”). The characters are well-executed, especially the people Peter Krause hunts down. My favorite object-holder is Wally Jabrowski (Peter Jacobson) who possesses the bus ticket and has no issue with sending anyone who irks him on a trip to New Mexico. The ending, however, leaves several things up in the air. Crook warned me about this and said that they wished to make this a regular series but were screwed by the WGA strike. I tried to find more information on this but everything I read cited “bad ratings” or “lack of interest” as the reason for not being picked up. So we never actually find out what happened in room 10, but it’s fun to speculate on your own afterwards. So if you’re not afraid of being left hanging over the Cliff of WTF, definitely have a go at this series. Netflix has it or you can buy the DVD for $9 on Amazon.