Stupidfool.org

"Lemon bloody cola..."

In the process of getting excited about Scott Walker's upcoming album Drift, a couple of weeks ago I started listening to Tilt again.

Tilt

Scott Walker

I went through a fairly serious Scott Walker period while in college, round 1997 or so, after reading about the influence he'd had on some of my favorite bands of the time. [1] As part of that set or purchases I bought Tilt, which left me confounded but also simply amazed.

It's an astonishing album--operatic & at times, frankly, rather frightening. It's the album I pull out when I sort of want to feel overwhelmed--it warrants & rewards concentration, and as such is fantastic for late-night listening.

My favorites:

• "Patriot (A Single)"
• "Bolivia '95"

[1] Pulp, &c.

The first album I ever bought...

Def Leppard's Hysteria!

Hysteria

Def Leppard

Thank you, Comet, for reminding me of this, because I went to the iTunes Music Store to listen to some Hysteria tracks.

I also looked at the All Music Guide entry for Hysteria, which pronounces it "the best pop-metal ever recorded," which granted I might take issue with (early Manic Street Preachers come to mind as an alternative), but still I'm overall quite happy with my very first album.

& so seeing the album cover totally brings me back to 6th grade, which is when I bought the album (on cassette), and reminds me of how I'd attempt to draw the Def Leppard logo in my notebook while bored in class.

My favorite candy when I was a kid...

Giant Chewy SweeTarts

Giant Chewy SweeTarts!

I grew up about 2 miles outside of the downtown area of my home town (Petaluma), and every couple of weeks when I was 12 or 13, I'd ride my bike into town to buy some comic books and a bunch of candy. Always included in that haul were the giant, chewy SweeTarts. They're lovely.

"The times we had..."

In what may be the fastest zero-to-best-album-EVAR trajectory in my personal history, I present to you my love for Beirut's Gulag Orkestar:

Gulag Orkestar

Beirut

• April 20, 2006: I read about Beirut (for the second time, but this time, it registers) on The Catbirdseat.
• April 21, 2006: Sean @ Said the Gramaphone lists the Beirut album in a list of his top 5 albums (so far) of 2006. And since anyone who loves Destroyer's Rubies is okay by me, I downloaded the two tracks.
• April 22, 2006: I listened to the two tracks from StG, then downloaded two more from the Beirut website.

Done: now I, too, am in love with Beirut.

Some sample tracks:

• "The Gulag Orkestar"
• "Postcards from Italy"
• "Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)"
  
• "The Canals of our City"
  

"As I try to fill all of my empty days..."

A guide to some (or even all, maybe) of the proper nouns in the Fiery Furnaces' Bitter Tea, from a pretty much brand-new music blog with an absolutely awesome name (see "the good hodgkins").

Also found from this brand-new source of info, the FF have announced more tour dates, and they'll playing in San Francisco on June 15. Hooray!

And as for the FF, my favorite Bitter Tea song for this particular week: "Benton Harbor Blues" (listen).

"I think you're curious..."

The Fiery Furnaces' Bitter Tea just keeps growing on me. [1]

Bitter Tea

Fiery Furnaces

It's the strangest thing: I was thinking the other day that I hadn't listened to it at all yet, & then tonight in the car I listened to it, and I recognized every song. So strange--it's almost as though I've listened to the album unconsciously before, which is actually quite possible, as I could've listened to it on a flight back from Japan two months ago while asleep.

It's really keyboard-heavy, has a lot of backwards-singing & some of their best melodies in a while, and is really a huge amount of fun.

My favorite track (as of tonight, but also as of the past couple of weeks): "Bitter Tea" (listen).

[1] Part of the reason I thought it wasn't, & perhaps in part why I didn't remember that I'd listened to it, is that there's this song right in the middle that really, really annoys me. I kind of wish I could just get rid of it.

"So you say you can fight?"

My first list post on my Comet blog! It's an occasion!

Kung Fu Hustle

 

• I was reading Maciej's latest post tonight, and I kept laughing. I've thought this for awhile, but I suppose I've just fully realized it: Idle Words is my favorite blog. No matter what Maciej's writing about, I enjoy reading it--and when he's writing funny travel & food stuff, as he is now, I'm damn near ecstatic.
• God, I am fucking loving Kung Fu Hustle. I've now watched it three times in the last three days. I enjoyed Shaolin Soccer, and was remiss in not watching Kung Fu Hustle up until now, and am now regretting it, for that year or two of delayed gratification. It's seriously the best--and more importantly, most enjoyable & entertaining--movie I've seen in a long, long time. It's beautiful, & extremely funny, & just absolutely brilliant. I can't even describe how much I like it, because it makes me too happy & excited.
• These "pet memory" posts are really quite affecting. I suspect it is, in part, because of Maddy, but it's also just because a pet story is always wonderful. I really enjoyed Sekimura-san's story of "Qoota", partly because I knew his domain name before reading it, so there was an "oh!" moment halfway through as I connected the domain with the story.