ganzer.

30 Albums, Artists, Installations, And Other Such Ephemera That Meant Something To Me In 2012

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:14:49 -0500

I’m nearly 30 and no closer to understanding what attracts to me one piece of music more than another. In fact, I’ve started work on a year-long series about 30 musical experiences that changed my life — not as something to look back upon, but as a way to understand how music has shaped me as a person, for better and, honestly, for worse. But that’s not until March. Our arbitrary means of making lists of the “best” music at the end of each year is something I admittedly enjoy more for discovery than needless bickering (see: every comment section ever), but this is the one list I particularly enjoy compiling and writing: the albums, performances, installations, individual artists and other such musical ephemera that formed 2012 for me.

Some of these blurbs (after the jump, for those of you in the Tumblr dashboard) have previously appeared at NPR Music for my top 10 metal and top 10 outer sound year-end lists, plus DC Heavy Metal’s Most Metal Moments of 2012, but more than half of it is new and completely unedited. I like to keep these things at a tidy 25 entries, but I just could not squeeze one out of this list. So 30 it is.

(I also made a 7-hour Spotify playlist featuring tracks from my favorite albums, songs, and other odds and ends, for the stream-inclined.)

Read More

Lars’s weird list is worth reading and listening to.

thediscography: theremixbaby: If you were wondering why more...

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:36:39 -0400

thediscography:

theremixbaby:

If you were wondering why more women didn’t vote for the pitchfork poll, it’s probably because even successful, respected female music critics are still treated like dumb girls who wandered into a record store on accident because they thought it was a Claire’s boutique.

Imagine if every unorthodox opinion about music you had, every time you tried to deviate from the party line, people attributed it not to your personal taste or even your trollish personality, but to sheer ignorance.

This is hardly limited to women, but it’s a lot more virulent when women write about this stuff. Ugh.

totalvibration: (For those viewing on the dashboard, click on...

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:22:43 -0400

totalvibration:

(For those viewing on the dashboard, click on through for a debate between myself and End of Year’s Patrick Kindlon RE: Ann Powers’ recent NPR Piece on Taylor Swift and punk.)

VICE: “Spotify’s generous royalty rate of $0.003 per stream has made some...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:32:58 -0400

VICE: “Spotify’s generous royalty rate of $0.003 per stream has made some...:

vicemag:

“Spotify’s generous royalty rate of $0.003 per stream has made some lucky independent artists overnight hundredaires. For every 100,000 times a band’s song is streamed, the band gets $300; split four ways between bandmates, that’s $75 each. Let’s say in a year, the song pulls down 2,000,000…

I definitely don’t think that Spotify’s royalty rates are a good deal for musicians, but this is an annoyingly reductive/exaggerated argument that has two major flaws, both of which have to do with basic economics. One: streaming and purchasing a song are not the same thing. Those 200,000 listens were almost certainly not done by 200,000 different individuals. Arguing that the royalties per listen should be the same as the royalties per download is exactly the same as arguing that customers should who buy a song should have to pay 99 cents every time they listen to it. Two: it assumes that Spotify is the only source of income that will replace sales of albums and songs. The fact that this isn’t the case is the reason you’ve never heard anyone suggest the ridiculous contingency at the end of reason 1. If there were no other options besides Spotify, we’d all get gouged for streaming our favorite songs on a per click basis. Also, if you look around, this is so obviously not the case that it feels absurd to even have to type the “words” Rdio, MOG, Rhapsody, Vevo, etc etc etc forever. Bonus: I never hear people who make this complaint offer the obvious solution, which is that Spotify is too cheap. If we want musicians to make more money every time you stream their songs, at some point we’re going to have to volunteer more cash.

nprmusic: When Paris is Burning came out I was just a kid in...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:27:18 -0400

nprmusic:

When Paris is Burning came out I was just a kid in the local choir in my church in New Orleans. I remember how much I loved everything about it — the characters, the costumes, the music. I couldn’t believe there were gay Black and Latino men being portrayed like that on screen. It meant a lot to me and in many ways inspired me to do something different and follow my dream, no matter what others said.

Read how the music and fashion of Paris is Burning, now available on Netflix streaming and iTunes, affected Big Freedia and others influenced by the late ’80s/early ’90s ball scene.

I loved working on this piece.

DC public art at sunset. Doug Aitkin’s “SONG...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:15:31 -0400

DC public art at sunset. Doug Aitkin’s “SONG 1,” a 360 degree projection onto the Hirshhorn Gallery, with sound. That’s Tilda Swinton lip-syncing to “I Only Have Eyes For You.”

Call it in the air: when fun. wins the Grammy for best new...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:47:13 -0400

Call it in the air: when fun. wins the Grammy for best new artist next year, will the Bon-Iver tracking trend link be (A) long-time industry strivers made good via Kanye-orbit collaborations or (B) the influence of 1980s adult-contemporary artists through a modern lens?

How are we going to refer to the new Fiona album

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:25:30 -0500

rawkblog:

The Idler Wheel is wiser than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords will serve you more than Ropes will ever do.

Idler? Driver? Drive ft. Ryan Gosling?

It breaks my heart that this is one foot short of being in perfect iambic pentameter

It’s iambic heptameter! You know, like Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” or the theme from Gilligan’s Island.

This really wants a metal cover, doesn’t it?

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:57:46 -0500

This really wants a metal cover, doesn’t it?

This is the best.

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:52:05 -0500

This is the best.

pgwp: erikonymous: drinkyourjuice: Sticky Eyes Brown....

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:56:42 -0500

pgwp:

erikonymous:

drinkyourjuice:

Sticky Eyes Brown. Hey.

Ha. Texas Bones McGee.

Using her maiden name, my wife is Boney Foot McGee.

Boney Bones Jones

wnycradiolab: frankgarrett: momentsforeverfaded: Meteorologis...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:38:02 -0500

wnycradiolab:

frankgarrett:

momentsforeverfaded:

Meteorologists Welcome Newest Cloud Type

Cumulus, nimbus, stratus, cirrus…asperatus? First “discovered” in 2009, scientists have finally named this dramatic and rare cloud occurence as Undulatus Asperatus.

So beautiful.

That’s amazing.

It’s like gauze.

It’s like Glasslands.

expresident: awesomeringerud: reviewofmycat: Cat:...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:49:24 -0500

expresident:

awesomeringerud:

reviewofmycat:

Cat: Jonathan

Owner: Nora

Appearance: A

“He really is just very attractive. He wears his tuxedo everywhere he goes, and he wears white socks on every foot. He has a bit of a belly, which we thought was something that all neutered cats have, until our vet told us: “No…he’s just fat.” We started feeding him a bit more after that.”

Sociability: C

“This one’s complicated. Jonathan LOVES houseguests-who-are-people! But he deeply hates other cats. He is friendly with us most of the time, in adorable amazing ways, but when he feels like it he totally tears us up with bloody bites. He’s super awesome, because he’s very curious and outgoing, but sometimes he really needs to let up.”

Usefulness: A

“Jonathan gets high marks on usefulness because he is totally fine being transported to other places. It is really effing useful that we can bring him with us when we go away for the weekend—he very clearly even LIKES exploring new houses. He did unfortunately recently learn how to vomit in the car.”

Huggability: B

“On his own terms, dude. When the alarm goes off in the morning, Jon is READY for some snuggles. When the snooze goes off five minutes later, he’s back for more. I just upped his grade because of how deeply in love with him I fall every morning. But if you try to spoon him, he’s up and running at the first sniff of your desperation.”

Overall Grade: B+

I’ve actually met this cat. I’m a huge fan.

I know this cat too! He is pretty hyper, but I would give him a B+ as well.

Not a fan.

Sitting at home on a Saturday night watching the U.S. Open and making a wedding dance party...

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 20:38:18 -0400

Sitting at home on a Saturday night watching the U.S. Open and making a wedding dance party playlist. Want to help? What awesome songs should we play?

Hey there, Tiny Chicago. Meet your older brother, Time Lapse...

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:17:42 -0400

Hey there, Tiny Chicago. Meet your older brother, Time Lapse Chicago. You’re both so cute.

“I know what the senator wants — what the senator wants is a loge, obvs.”

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:31:40 -0400

“I know what the senator wants — what the senator wants is a loge, obvs.”

cureforbedbugs: Gave this an extra star on Netflix for...

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:16:51 -0400

cureforbedbugs:

Gave this an extra star on Netflix for Hackman’s rockin’ ‘stache, which is in every scene!

Plus one for the map of L.A. on his office wall. Perfect.

Least correctly answered song: "I Don't Want To Know" (guessed by one)

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:23:32 -0400

Least correctly answered song: "I Don't Want To Know" (guessed by one):

Best song on the album.

I don’t want to say too much about the thing itself, only...

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:49:12 -0400

I don’t want to say too much about the thing itself, only to note that as The New Yorker has printed another long journalistic account of a murder, Janet Malcolm’s piece about a killing in a Bukharan Jewish community in Forest Hills, Queens, has just come out as a book. It’s an awesome piece of work, shocking and subtle and infuriating, and you should read it if the thinking-about-more-things-per-page-than-a-courtroom-thriller-style-book-should-allow-for genre is your cup of tea.

marathonpacks: shutuplefsetz: [HT Eric] Necessary Blog...

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:51:39 -0400

marathonpacks:

shutuplefsetz:

[HT Eric]

Necessary Blog Alert

Why didn’t I? AAArrgh!