Relent

What's good in 2009?

No frickin' idea! Ugh. What the hell.

Michael Jackson DEAD. I wonder how many months/years of of "chill time" MJ would have needed to be able to just sleep on his own without chemical assistance? How long had he been burdened by these sleep issues? Since 1991? Since acquittal? Since practice for new tour?

2008 Year in Review

Here's a quick and dirty 2008 music review. If I was stopped in the street and asked about what music I purchased and enjoyed this year, what would I say?

Oasis- Dig Out Your Soul [a slight, very slight, change in direction. But satisfying for Oasis fans]
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals- Cardinology
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges [Highly Suspicious!]
Bob Dylan - Bootleg Volume Whatever.
Raphael Saddiq - The Way I See It
The Walkmen - You & Me


Depressing.
-The PANDA

Indeed

Littleboxes people posted a conversation we recently had. Odd bunch over there.

But, since we share cyberspace, I gotta roll with it.

Music?

The Roots: Game Theory

A grower.

Neil Young

Neil Young's album is out today. Living With War. I don't really live with war. How am I to relate to Neil's new album? Of course, I've never said "Look out momma, there's a white boat coming up the river," and that hasn't stopped me from seriously digging that song "Powderfinger."

Question of the Post: How stupid could George W. Bush actually be?

Do you think if I told him that one foot was shorter than a meter that he would know what I was talking about.

Tune in later for more important questions that just need asking.

--The PANDA

New Albums

Quick Reviews of stuff The PANDA has recently purchased:

My Morning Jacket-Z
Pretty damn good. A bit, a tiny bit, of a change in direction for them. Some great melodies here. If you liked them before, you should still like them, unless you think they went "pop" or something (which would only prove that you are an asshole of some sort or another).

Paul McCartney-Chaos and Creation
A few good songs. Much of the album is kinda ho-hum. Maybe I've just heard too much Paul McCartney is my life? It's not bad but it's not great. I always ask myself if I would like the same album if instead of being by some old dude it was buy some fresh 19 year old dude. I can never really answer that question. Apparently it is impossible to control for the "old dude effect" when listening to the tunes.

Rolling Stones-Bigger Bang
OK, I this a bit better than McCartney, but it suffers from the same "old dude effect." There are, however, a couple of awesome songs on here. Such as? Well "Let Me Down Slow" is right up there in the top 30% of Stones songs (which is saying something!) and "Rain Fell Down" is in the top 50% for sure.

Nada Surf-The Weight is a Gift
Another solid album here. Their previous effort "let go" kicked my sorry ass all around the block. How can a dylan fan resist the song "Blonde on Blonde." This group should get much more attention. The songs on the new album are very solid and full of nice melodies. I could see how some people might get a little bit turned off by some of the more "hopeful" lyrics, but some people need to lighten up!!

Damn, bunch of sensitive white guy music. Who knew?

Big Women Blocking the Sidewalk

I've got digital cable. It's OK. But what is great is that according to my digital program guide at 11pm (Central Time) on ABC Family a program called "America's Funniest Ho" is on. That should be sweet!

iTuned into you

iTunes offers some interesting additions this week.

First off, they have a new Public Enemy greatest hits album. Although I do recommend staying away from P.E. music on extremely hot summer days, I cannot deny that this greatest hits package would be a nice addition to a record collection lacking any Public Enemy.

iTunes also has a Muddy Waters collection called "Hoochie Coochie Man: The Complete Chess Masters, Vol. 2, 1952-1958." This one cooks with some serious Blues. If you like the Blues but are suffering from "I only own various artists blues cds"-itis, I recommend that you download this collection. The price is $24.99 but you get something like 51 songs. Just think, you can tell your friends, yeah, I dig the blues. And when they ask you what you like you can say you are a big Muddy Waters fan and you might even mention a few songs that they have not heard of. This answer impresses better than the "I like a lot of different stuff but I'm not sure what" answer that you might be offering if someone asked you this question today. Remember, as Nick Hornby once wrote, "It's not what you're like, it's what you like."


The real guilty pleasure, although it's not clear it should be, is the ELO (electric light orchestra) greatest hits collection just added to iTunes. Wow. If you want some pure pop sugar from the 70s this hits collection is for you. Jeff Lynne really knows how to construct pop gems with relatively high melodic content.

I can't believe I actually wrote "pop gems." This must be the kagillionth time someone has wrote "pop gems." Hey, writing is hard work and I gotta stick with the cliches or I'll burn out!

You'll become a better person just by listening to 3 or 4 of the 30 second samples on the ELO collection. Why not try out "Livin' Thing", "Mr. Blue Sky", and "Sweet Talkin' Woman." This stuff is just so frickin's awesome!!

So in summary, if you're a person that really doesn't like rap but wants to own a few albums to up what you consider your cool quotient, then consider purchasing the public enemy greatest hits. A purchase of one of their actual albums, however, might up your quotient even more. Yet again, being honest about your musical preferences and admitting that you pretty much can't stand listening to any rap music might make you a bit of a loser, but it makes you honest and that can be cool.

There's really no excuse beyond monetary ones to not buy the ELO collection. Even if you hate music like this, the cd itself can serve a variety of purposes that, although utterly amazing, cannot be named here.

Last, there's the muddy waters collection which can educate anyone on the history of popular music.


Meanwhile, in my ongoing effort to sell the website with sex, check out Beyonce's ass. I did a search for ass pictures of Jay-Z but, alas, there are none available. There aren't really many ass pictures of male rockstars. I do remember, however, that the ladies did find D'Angelo attractive back in the day. So, it's a double feature!!

White Stripes

I went out and purchased the latest White Stripes album the other day. It is a very good album. I had heard it was a bit of a change of direction for them and what I heard was correct. There are less manic guitar solos and more piano solos.

I was cooling off on the whole White Stripes thing until I heard Loretta Lynn's album (which is great!!). Jack White (songwriter and producer for the Stripes) produced Loretta's album and just did a really great job.

Anyway, my gift to you is this song (mp3 file) from the new White Stripes album called "Little Ghost." It is a song in the realm of some of the stuff on Loretta Lynn's album.

Enjoy.

click here to listen