My new favorite blog

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/

It's about architecture, ideas, and the future. Lots of stuff about climate change, recycling, green materials, energy. Very well written. Beautiful art. Check it out...

New band name idea...

Mercy sakes alive.

Looks like we got us a convoy!

on TV

We basically skip network TV and head for deep cable. Here is what Mrs. Slig and I are watching these days:

Project Runway (Bravo) (BTW; a Canadian version of this show is in its first season; you can watch the episodes on Youtube.)
Top Chef (Bravo)
Iron Chef (Food Network)
The Next Iron Chef (Food Network)
Good Eats (Food Network)
Two Dudes Catering (Food Network)
Dinner Impossible (Food Network)
World Poker Tour (Travel Channel)
Weird Foods (Travel Channel)
No Reservations (Travel Channel)
One Piece (Cartoon Network)

Covers

In the shower this morning I managed to hear Placebo's cover of Kate Bush's timeless classic "Running Up that Hill". In my opinion it's pretty odious. It got me thinking about why bands choose the covers they do. Covering a well known song (and in international pop, there might not be a better known song than "Running...") seems to be done either as a tribute or as an implicit admission that you are out of original material and looking to score an easy hit (and there has been a lot of that lately). Covering obscure songs is a different matter.

Here are the bands that cover "Running up That Hill" and for which the song is available in the Itunes music store (I'm sure there are more): Placebo, Faith And The Muse, Re-Touch, Icon & The Black Roses, Danielle French, Jenna Myles, Elastik Band, Kiki & Herb, Visnadi, The Lund Clements Churchill Trio, Thomas Mery, The Baltimores, Kevin Slick, Dave Rummans, Isadar, Kenny Moran.

Most of these sound like fairly loving covers of the tribute variety. Few of these bands are ever going to make it big with Kate Bush's or any other material. The one by the Baltimores is not particularly respectful of the original song. The one by Icon & The Black Roses, which is a hard rock version, sounded the most interesting to me. Your mileage will of course vary.

The deal with this particular song is that the original is so amazingly good there's no way anyone could improve on it:

Songs that Write Themselves

Similar to the sculptor's concept that the sculpture is inside the rock and the artist just needs to remove the unnecessary material, some songs seem to already exist in ideal Platonic song space and simply await emergence by writing them down. This is no slight to the songwriter, since it takes a talented inner ear to find these songs and to know them when they materialize. Here's a song that strikes me as this type. It just flows out, probably like it did when they first put it together. "Caroline" by Concrete Blonde.



Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving.

Upcoming superhero movies

Movie versions are on the way for Sub-mariner, Captain Marvel, Luke Cage, Thor, and Green Lantern. Funny (non-optimistic) preview article.

Superheroes I'd like to see movies of:
Firestorm


Doctor Strange

FSM

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is hitting the mainstream! Long may He writhe!!!

Some Stevie...

...for your Thursday. I grew up singing along to her songs. She and I gravitate to the same stock chord progressions.

Bow down...

...before God Slayer!

Friday drum blogging...

... with the best pop drummer of all time, Stewart Copeland.

Bands I get mixed up...

Not because their music is similar (actually I don't know much about any of these bands but have heard them occasionally) but because of their names (or something...).

Mudhoney and Chickasaw Mud Puppies
Cake and the Wedding Present
Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Big Drill Car
Radiohead and Stereolab
Damn Yankees and Skid Row
the Verve and the Verve Pipe

When R.E.M. made great music

Lots of bands are really good in their first few releases and then get bad (sometimes really bad) after that. R.E.M. is the perfect example. Their first five studio albums, Murmur (1983), Reckoning (1984), Fables of the Reconstruction (1985), Lifes Rich Pageant (1986), Document (1987), in my opinions, are all masterpieces, although of slightly declining quality chronologically. And their pre-Murmur EP Chronic Town (released in 1990) shines above them all, in terms of a new exciting sound. This sound was dominated by Peter Buck's jangly electric guitar and Michael Stipe's oblique, often murmuring and incomprehensible lyrics. And it's steeped in the band's Athens, Georgia surroundings and folk influences. This IS the R.E.M. sound, and it's why they became titans of college/alternative rock. The international stardom that came after that somehow (the band themselves? production? I don't know the cause) ruined their sound. The guitar tracks became a mishmash of strummy acoustic pap and the songs became pretentious, unlistenable anthems.

Here's my favorite R.E.M. song, "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)" from Chronic Town. This is from a TV dance show, but they are actually playing live.



[edited by Slig 11/5/07]

Singapore Rice Noodles of the Month

From Tangerine in Port Jefferson Station, NY. Very tasty with a good veggie mix and just the right amount of oil. Spicyness is good; a little up front and a little delayed. A touch on the salty side but overall a quite nice Singapore Chow Mei Fun.