Because

This is something that must be done. That is, me ranking all of Beck's major studio albums in order of preference! I can do this, because I've actually listened to them enough to form coherent thoughts about them.

1. Sea Change
2. Mutations
3. Midnite Vultures
4. Odelay
5. Guero
6. The Information
7. Modern Guilt
8. Mellow Gold

One could accuse me of picking Sea Change as my favorite because everyone else does, and to that I say nay. Divorced of most of his defining elements, Beck really shows his raw talent on it, and that's what I come for. Nearly every song on the album is affecting in ways few others I've listened to have been (with 'Lonesome Tears' and 'Guess I'm Doing Fine' being my two picks of the best examples), with every element coming together to create this really downtrodden atmosphere (yes, Beck wore IRL on his sleeve for this one, as I'm sure you've heard). So yes, beyond the natter of the music opinion elite, its a great fucking album.

Mutations is a lot more like Sea Change than bith the albums surrounding it, in that many of the songs rely on Beck's pure instrumental and lyrical talent, but it's not too far into melancholy or tradition. You got 'Tropicalia', which is a nutso piece composed of 7000 instruments like Beck's 'party album' stuff and is pretty much on par with his greats, alongside more restrained tracks like 'Nobody's Fault But My Own'. You even get something really twangy with 'Canceled Check'. It's pretty much all of Beck's strengths compiled into one incredibly cohesive album, which is a feat unto itself.

There might be some debate about whether Midnite Vultures or Odelay is the better of Beck's most 'Beck' albums. To be truthful, Odelay has most of Beck's most memorable songs, but I think overall it doesn't quite come together as well as Midnite Vultures, which is an insane album that never lets up. Both are great and essential albums. Whoever called Midnite Vultures one of the worst albums ever (it will be on Wikipedia, but I don't feel like looking up who it was) can die.

Guero was a return to form after the radical departure of Sea Change, and like Odelay/Midnite Vultures, it is just an all-around fun album to listen to. There isn't a weak track on here; everything is able to keep up the funky beat. I can see why this was the first Beck album in a while that seemed to have a more mainstream presence ('E-Pro' has been all over the place, I've noticed), because hey, even people who aren't into alt-rock can enjoy stuff like this.

The Information is kind of like Mutations with more of standard Beck thrown in. It's very weird, going from some lower-key stuff early on (especially 'Think I'm in Love', one of the album's best songs) to upbeat oddities like 'Cellphone's Dead' and 'Nausea', and gets even weirder at the end. Some of that later stuff doesn't sit as well with me, but overall I still really like it.

My first listen-through of Modern Guilt wasn't too great - I thought the whole thing felt a bit dry. Further listens softened my initial reaction, as I was suddenly able to pick out some of the really good tracks ('Chemtrails', 'Volcano', 'Youthless'). In the end, it has more good more than not-good, but it doesn't have much in the way of great material. It is a slightly weaker album, all things considered, but that doesn't deter me from liking it.

Mellow Gold, on the other hand, I really can't get into. 'Loser' is still as great as it always was, and there's a couple more good songs on here like 'Pay No Mind (Snoozer)'. But this seems like a learning experience for Beck, and some of the songs feel a little too twee and odd-but-not-in-the-good-way. This is basically an early prototype for Odelay, and I don't think it is essential listening unless you're a completist.

Record

Hurray for a week of new computer!

So this week is the annual gaming convention. I'm pumped for some Munchkin action, man! PUMPED.

And then next week is E3 2009: Return of the Nerd Circus. My new rule states that I am to expect nothing, preventing disappointment and increasing surprise. I'm going to stick to that. I will, though, be very very surprised if Nintendo announces a new Zelda. I have my reasons for this.

I was thinking of possibly doing one of those posts where people list music they listen to with a theme. I was going to post about the music I associated with the last few years. But then I realized that there were large gaps. Oh well, here's two of them:

2005: Monkey Gone to Heaven - The Pixies
2008: Friends - Ween

I art usefal

In me news, I discovered Google Reader the other day. It is awesome and amazing.

I have been listening to many old/new albums recently, as well. On the list:

Both Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew. I'm not a big listener of jazz, so I don't have a really informed opinion, yet. All I can say: it's crazy!

Also, a friend of mine inspired me to download Krautrock. So I have two examples of it, one of which (Kraftwerk's Autobahn) is awesome, and the other (Tago Mago by Can) is too weird to determine how much I like it on one listen.

Errup

Here's a post.

I have listened to, over the last week or so:

Clouds Taste Metallic
The Soft Bulletin
Mellow Gold
Mutations
Who's Next

I feel so cool, getting so much new music recently. It's a grand old time.

Do you want me to comment on Hearst/UGO buying 1UP.com, killing EGM, and sacking a lot of the staff? Fine then.

It's sad to see a lot of great writers get let go. I've been unjustly hard on 1UP in the past out of some dumb bias shit, but they really are one of the few sites with some integrity left, and an actual desire to be interesting rather than pander to the nerdishness of the majority of gamers. The sit will still be around, with some of the staff still around, so it isn't dead yet. Even so, the large number of talented people who lost their jobs is an incredibly sad affair, and I wish them all the best.

Do I believe that the new owners will corporately destroy the soul of the site? No, not until I see it happen. UGO may be another haven for fanboys, but I'm not going to jump to conclusions.

#>#

It's supposed to be a mosquito. Or something. It actually kind of reminds me of Poindexter from the Felix the Cat cartoons.

So yes, week of school and trying to get newspaper stuff together. Almost had a freakout from all the shit, but I pulled meself together and have it pretty much all figured out.

The first book of the year is Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, about a bunch of unlikable weirdos in the anarchist movement. Of course there's more to it than that, but that's all you're getting. Naaaaah!

Finally saw The Big Lebowski. It is indeed an inventive comedy. I can see why everyone likes it so much, but I respect it more than absolutely adore it.

My friend inspired me to go on a Bowie kick with him. I've thus listened to Aladdin Sane and "Heroes", and am currently downloading a complete version of Ziggy Stardust (I was missing some of the songs and just wanted the best quality I could get) and Lodger. This is the best bender I've ever had, I think. Who needs new albums!

I ordered three books from Amazon (the first time I've done it), and it was in fact very cheap and arrived quickly. I know they will be receiving my business the next time I want to get something semi-obscure (and maybe some things that are obscure, but in a town where even the slightest hint of obscurity gets you not carried anywhere, the order of obscurity in the things I get is of no consequence). I will read my shiny new Godland and Scud books once order has been restored to the force.

28u )

Nine Inch Nails concert was good. They played nonstop, which is a refreshing change to having Rush apologize for not coming to Winnipeg for years. The light show wasn't as professional as Rush's huge video display, but it was very inventive and entertaining. I've only listened to the entirety of The Downward Spiral, so is was mostly songs from that I recognized, although there were a few others that I had been exposed to from unlikely places as well ("I'M USING THE CAT BRUSH!"). It was all well-performed and rocking throughout.

I wish I could be more enthusiastic.

Soul Calibur 4 is going well. It's not really all that different from previous games, as I found the armor breaking doesn't seem to affect the fight in general and those Critical Finishes barely show up unless you're playing against a moron. Online play has been fun, though. Yoda is also a fairly entertaining character, what with flying all over the place and sounding odd (I really hope that's Frank Oz providing the voice, even though most of the quotes seemed to be pulled directly from the movies).

B^(

I have new albums by Beck and Sloan, yet in the three or four days I've owned them, I've only listened to them once. What...what's wrong with me?

Okay, now I have nothing to talk about. Greeeeeat.

I am saddened

A rock 'n roll pioneer is gone.

Rest in peace, Bo Diddley.

MOOOOOOOOW

I saw Rush yesterday. In concert. It was good. I would be more enthusiastic, but I'm only a guy who likes Rush, not a real fan. I like them enough to go to a concert with friends. But, even so, it was good. Lots of random video imagery to go with the well-performed music and rotisserie chicken on the stage. The drummer is also awesome, and gets highlighted during the show.

Plus, Geddy Lee talks like that all the time. I find that amusing.

Before the show, the music that was played included King Crimson and The Mars Volta. From outside the arena, I heard the opening of '21st Century Schizoid Man', and I immediately recognized it. It was pretty awesome.

Oooooooooh bee

After deciding last week to try that MAME thing again, I then also revived my interest in messing around in MUGEN, because it had been stored on my other 2 Gig flash drive when the laptop went on vacation. Now I have a good controller I bought at not-Radioshack for 15 bucks to use on both, and I've been wasting much time just adjusting things (both things turned out to be a lot harder to play than I thought :[). I need to get back to my idea-makin' thing. Poor Chamber of Dread is starving for an update.

I went to Winnipeg on Sunday. It was supposed to be a vacation, but it was a tad time strapped. I went to a pancake house, waited, and then had some mediocre bacon with good eggs, toast, and hashbrowns (no, I didn't want pancakes). We went to a few stores, some that are here, some that are not. I bought a new wastebasket that is 1000 times superior to my small, shoddy waste of plastic old one. We then went to the St. Vital Centre, where I marveled at the stores that aren't really all that impressive, but they are compared to everything here. That place has an HMV and Chapters that showed me that my home is void where cultural products are rare and have little variety amongst them. Someone also had a gosling there in the food court, exploiting the poor thing for the amusement of a gathered crowd of slack-jawed gawkers. Okay, it wasn't exploiting at all. But I doubt a baby goose has any need to be in the mall food court, unless it had a real hankering for frozen yogurt.

While at HMV, I easily found CDs thought mythic to my miniature-city-conditioned psyche. I bought Beck's Sea Change and Grandaddy's Sumday. I need to listen through both a few more times to get a real opinion of them. Both seem good so far, but how do they rank among the other albums by the same artists? The future holds such answers.

Always Watching

Listening to old music. Picking up stuff I should have listened to already. I'm still catching up, okay? But I do like them. Hunky Dory is great. Pet Sounds is great. I need some more time with Kid A. See, told you I was slow.



I signed up for the games at Prairiecon. In order: Toon, Wrasslin', Munchkin, Illuminati, and the old mainstay, Heroclix. So, if any of you locals want to nerd it up in the heat the first weekend of June, you know where to find me. Speaking of my latter entrant, I need to stock up on new figures. Last year I was absolutely destroyed, and I'm blaming it mainly on outdated figures not able to deal with all the newfangled designs! I hope to get some good stuff before the games begin...

As for the other games, it's a mix of old and new. I played Toon two years ago, and it once again remains my only real role-playing experience. It's a setting thing. Most of the tabletop RPGs just don't have settings that interest me. If something like Rifts was there, though, I'd play that. Rifts is the type of lunacy I'm all for. Don't know a whole lot of others, but considering this is a 30+-year old hobby, I'm sure they're there.

I played Wrasslin' before, as well, about four years ago. I think, the year before they skipped a year and then moved from the slightly more comfortable university to a slightly-weird-but-perfectly-okay church setting. Wrasslin' is an old-timey card/board game, and it's perfectly okay. However, the first time I played it, it was meant to replace the greatness of Super Giant Monster Showdown, which it could not. I'm still bummed that game is sold out, I'd love to buy a copy now that I can.

Munchkin and Illuminati are new. They are fairly well-known games, but I haven't tried them once yet. Actually, I was going to play Munchkin last year, but it was cancelled because the person running the game was unable to make it to the convention on time. So, this year I am finally able to join the comedy. It should be good, as I've yet to find a non-collectible game there that I haven't liked.

I'm anticipating Illuminati. It just sounds like my type of thing. I've read the instructions online, and while some things are daunting (nothing a little scorecard can solve, however), it has both an ingenious design and a level of silliness I can admire. The only problem? It is run at night - and the schedule says that particular slot runs to 1:30. Am I ready for that level of commitment? I guess we'll see.



On a bizarre note, I've been finding many of my high school teachers in local media. First, my electronics teacher who was obsessed with Underdog was on TV almost a month ago because he built a police robot. Then today, I look in the newspaper and see my librarian in a photo. Apparently, he's an actor. Good. He called me by a wrong name for almost a year. Isn't that a funny anecdote?



Well, I'm not doing anything important these days. This is a problem. I need to find something important to do. Or else people stare at meeeeee.

Dead People

Well, not only did Roy Scheider die, so did Stever Gerber! 2008 is turning out to be a great year for no longer living.

I've been down with the sickness lately, but now I am better.

Also, it seems Joe Mathlete has returned to explaining today's Marmaduke. Quite excellent!

I guess I'm going to go see Rush in May. I like Rush. They are fine.

What is happening with my iTunes and the freezing and the not ejecting and the thing that WON'T WORK PROPERLY.

Less than a month for Smash Bros. BTW. Go visit my other blog for all the info! It is the shiznit, as they say.

OUTRAGEE OUSE!

I'm talking about music a lot lately.

Top 100 Canadian Albums.

Not entirely bad, but some glaring wrongdoings:

*No New Pornographers...why?
*Okay guys, he maybe our biggest proprietor of mindless generic rock...but that doesn't make Bryan Adams suck any less.

I'm bored, and the time has changed

Here's my top 20 most-listened artists, according to LastFM:

1. Beck
2. New Pornographers
3. Sloan
4. Brian Wilson
5. Grandaddy
6. Frank Zappa
7. The Weakerthans
8. David Bowie
9. Radiohead
10. The Smashing Pumpkins
11. The Pixies
12. The Beatles
13. The Flaming Lips
14. Modest Mouse
15. The Arcade Fire
16. Blur
17. Jamiroquai
18. Sparklehorse
19. Jethro Tull
20. The Who

Now, the thing is, I only have a few songs by Blur, Jamiroquai, and Sparklehorse. I just listen to those songs obsessively. Those three are on my list of bands whose albums I want to buy, alongside Ween (#25) and The (International) Noise Conspiracy (#28).

I have three Beck albums.
I have three New Pornographers albums.
I have one Sloan album (and a Best Of, at that)
I have one Brian Wilson album
I have one Grandaddy album, and one EP
I have one Frank Zappa album (again, a Best Of)
I have three Weakerthans albums
I, unfortunately, do not have full Bowie albums.
I have three Radiohead albums
I have one Smashing Pumpkins albums

As to my actual favorite band, the top two is pretty accurate. Depending on the direction of the blowing wind, it will either be the New Pornographers or Beck. Depending on the alignment of planets, either Brian Wilson's SMiLE or Radiohead's OK Computer is my favorite album.

And thus is my music taste.

Now, a video:

Talkin' Gossip, Videagames, Internets #2

I'm certainly glad they fell for them and not any of those fake women running around.

****

Rock Band full initial track list revealed. Wait, wait, wait...So we got a great Stones song, a great Bowie song, a great Who song, a great Molly Hatchet song, a great Blue Oyster song, MY FAVORITE PIXIES SONG, a great R.E.M. song, Radiohead (not Radiohead-quality Radiohead, but some form of Radiohead is good), MY FAVORITE SMASHING PUMPKINS SONG, Black Hole Sun, and THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS OH YES YES YES. And people are complaining about this? Okay, I see it if they were complaining about the fact that the 60s only has one song, or that there are some that it uses some the same songs as Guitar Hero III, somewhat lessening its unique identity. But no, most of the complaints seem to be that most of these are well-known (as far as I can tell about these comments), and that people don't like Fallout Boy. Boo hoo. NEW PORNOGRAPHERS.


*****

#2

The Buffalo Beast

I admit that, some times, many times, I can be a very angry believer in my beliefs. This has thoroughly mitigated by the reading of many political debate threads on the many forums I've lurked, and through insightful news articles and blogs that show me the world and the morons that infest it. The angriest of these sources, however, has to be the Buffalo Beast.

How does a central Canadian boy such as myself come across the website of a Buffalo, New York alternative newspaper? Simple, really: it was linked at the official web page of Bob the Angry Flower, my absolute favoritest webcomic. It can found in a bizarrely structured sentence at the bottom of the page.

I'd say Bob and The Beast share a certain kind of humor, the BB uses it for satire rather than surrealist nonsense. Humor is a good reason why I stuck with the site: its damn funny. Read their annual onslaught against human decay in "The 50 Most Loathsome People in America", and laughter will help keep your mind off the horror of it all.

Of course, there are also lots of well-researched, rather disheartening articles alongside as well. These guys are unabashed, angry liberals, and they make sure you know it at every turn. I agree with a lot of their points, though, so I don't mind.

There's much interesting reading there for people who care. If you don't, their comedic stuff should still work for you. Or maybe it won't. I can't tell you, what do I look like, a mind reader?

Old Questions

A remember a while back someone on a Internet message board asked what everyone's top 5 bands from the 90s are. I just recently remembered it, and now I feel like answering it:

1. Grandaddy
2. The Weakerthans
3. Sloan
4. Modest Mouse
5. The (International) Noise Conspiracy

Glad to get that off my chest.

Challengers by TEH NEW PORNOGRAPHERS

I was going to write an actual, honest-to-God review of this for the first issue of The Quill, but since the deadline is tomorrow and I still haven't gotten in contact with the Arts editor, I'm not going to bother. I'll be sure to get into every other issue afterwards, though, as once the year starts I will have easy access to the office and those that inhabit it.

Challengers is a different album from TNP. There's only two songs here that I would say fit in with their past work, and even they use a slightly different style. But you know what? I applaud them for doing something different, and successfully at that.

Like all their work, the album flows perfectly. There are really no songs that I would skip on regular listen-throughs. The lyrics are still eccentric and fun, and the singing is still smooth as ever. They are just trying something slightly less bombastic, and using a much greater variety of instruments and composition styles as before. The 5th song, 'All The Things that Go To Make Heaven & Earth' has a pretty rockin' piccolo in the background. Yes, a rockin' piccolo.

It seems like a lot of critics are down on this album because it's different. It certainly is different, but I love it all the same. I'd say it's worth picking up, for a rockin' piccolo and more.

The Weakerthans new album is coming out in a month, and they're experimenting, too. Can't wait for that one.

*****

In other news, I finished my first comic script and sent it for review to my collaborator. It took nearly a month to hammer that thing into first draft completion, and it's more of a filler thing setting up the motus operandi of the antagonists. If there's one thing I don't honestly know will go over well with potential readers this early, it's two issues of talking heads (which pretty much describes what we wrote to a tee), but we'll see.

That is, if we ever get to the point of being able to publish this monstrosity, which would involve finding an artist and inker, or an artist/inker. Not just an artist/inker/artistinker, but one that would be willing to take a dual-nerd dictatorship, and for very little pay. It's too bad neither of us ever took a complete pursuit of art, because that would have taken out the middle man entirely. So it goes.

In Concert

Yesterday, I went to a White Stripes concert with friends. I hadn't been a big listener of the group, but I liked what I heard of them and felt this was something I had to do at least once (nope, never been to a concert before). Besides, I hadn't been to Winnipeg in two years, and despite the fact that the city apparently blows, it was good to get outside the town.

So off we went. As soon as we got into the city, we made sure to point out every store on the way. Even though most of them are in this town, there is something magical about seeing them in a bigger city. I bet I'd have a wonderment aneurysm if I ever went to a place like New York.

When at the colossal (at least compared to anything I've ever seen) MTS Centre, I bought a nice penguin shirt (which is red!) and some overpriced buttons. All good, at least I'll have more than just memories, which aren't nearly as reliable as you'd think. Then we remembered that we were there for music, not buttons.

The opening act, who's name I do not know and I do not feel the need to look up, were rather dull. Generic rock about life. I thought the opening act was going to be rockabilly, but I guess destiny was not to be.

Then the Stripes came on, and the crazy crowd went insane. Jack White strutted around with his instruments, as one would expect of a rocker, while the suited underlings came and went at the speed of light whenever trouble was afoot. When Meg White came to the microphone to sing, I noticed that she was quite short. I would be the type to notice this, as I am shallow.

Overall, I'd say it was a good time. Just seeing the sea of humanity within that stadium was a first for me. And now I know, buttons are incredibly expensive.

More like - HALL OF SHAME

Here's the 'Definitve 200 Albums'.

Aside from obvious great inclusions (anything by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc.), it's filled with some incredible laughs. Highlights:

21. Shania Twain LOL
57. 50 Cent LOL
84. Linkin Park LOL
95. Creed LOL
97. Celine Dion LOL
99. Dirty Dancing Soundtrack LOL
103. Titanic soundtrack LOL
162. Avril Lavigne LOL
172. Shakira LOL

The rankings make this list even more hilarious. David Bowie doesn't even get into the top 100. Neither does OK Computer. Look at that list above. They are outranked by LINKIN PARK. FIDDY. AND CREED.

They atleast included Odelay, but 1000 Odelays couldn't save this from being just laughably bad. Not that it's exactly a shocking revelation that music sales corps really don't have a clue about what makes a great album.

Modest Mouse

...I did get their new CD on Tuesday.

I'm going to have to listen to it a few more times before I can say what my opinion is 100%, but so far it's been pretty good. More in the upbeat/angry fashion of Good News for People Who Like Bad News, which I like.

March Into The Sea has the best use of laughing as part of the lyrics I think I've ever heard.