time comes undone

I’ve been tagged by Mr. Ned Raggett to write about 7 songs I’m listening to lately. Well Mr. Ned, I shall do you one better with this online playlistmajigger, in addition to some words!

7 songs of nariposa, IMEEM playlist:
http://www.imeem.com/people/BCG1TGv/playlist/yU6GPubo/7_songs_of_nariposa_music_playlist

Mr. Ned’s blog on the subject lives over here: Seven songs, then seven other blogs. The fact that I have to scroll down just to finishing reading the paragraph about a single song should tell you two things. One, he’s an ex college radio DJ. Two, music criticism is inherently hilarious.

Ned already knows he’s the first person I thought of when I read this Onion story: Food Critic Tears Radish Canapés With Salmon Mousse A New Asshole. The point being that oftentimes the amount of energy invested in dissecting the original item of interest faaaar exceeds the amount of attention that original item deserves. Funny! Make no mistake, I resemble that too.

God bless the Ned Raggetts of the world. As I recently pointed out to my friend melnicki, the shared community surrounding any piece of art is half the enjoyment. His point was that he should be able to create art anonymously, without having his story interfere with the appreciation of it. My point was that the fanboy frothing about the art is a separate and worthy thing in and of itself. What will we do if we don’t know your name and can’t talk about your story as it relates to your art? As my music director would say, you alienate music nerds at your own peril. Unless anonymity is part of your brand (like Jandek), deliberately handicapping the fanboy frenzy ensures that your audience will remain small.

Now here are the words about the shitty songs I like:

1. Yo La Tengo “The Story Of”
I bought “Beat Your Ass” last year sound unheard, gave it a listen, thought it boring and sold it back the next week. Somehow missed this song, which I saw them perform at SXSW this year. So I bought the album back again.

What can I say? It’s classic Yo La. Nice big fuzzsicle. Suck it.

2. Joan of Arc “Mike Kinsella & Ben Vida”
Don’t even start with me haters (you know who you are). This sounds nothing like other Joan of Arc albums anyway. This album came out three years ago but I’m listening to it now. I probably loved it three years ago too, forgot it completely, then was free to discover it all over again as if it were new.

This is not the most exceptional track (that honor goes to track #7 if you’re curious). It’s just a gritty, badly tuned acoustic guitar duet. I don’t care if it is a gimmick by now, I just love messy, imprecise, intentionally detuned beater guitar songs. It is almost a cliche now, but it’s so pretty and earnest. Fills your ears with the buzz of slightly missed frequencies. It’s no wonder Ben Vida is on this track; his other projects (Town & Country, Bird Show, Singer) all have songs that play with the notes between the notes, to beautiful effect.

3. Susan Alcorn “Second Turning of the Wheel”
She tore it up at SXSW this year, playing backup pedal steel to Jandek’s band. Now I love pedal steel, the more cooing and supple the better. But what Susan Alcorn does with pedal steel bears no resemblance in sound or appearance to anything anyone else does with pedal steel. Seeing her playing live was the equivalent of Jimi lighting his guitar on fire — she totally killed it! It was a flailing, full-body, virtuoso jam out, and the sound was totally unrelated to what you think of as traditional pedal steel.

This album she put out last year, And I Await the Resurrection of the Pedal Steel Guitar, doesn’t sound much like the the Jandek show, other than that it is extremely innovative and experimental. It sounds like Fripp/Eno, that same variety of eerie, lunar-landing ambient rock. Does great things at 3:30.

4. Modest Mouse - “Workin on Leavin the Living”
I started listening to this again because I saw that Built To Spill will be performing their album “Perfect From Now On” at ATP New York 2008 (which by the way, I’m attending!). I thought to myself, well if it has to be lo-fi indie pop masterpieces, I would much rather hear Modest Mouse perform “Building Nothing Out of Something,” the album of my summer of ‘99.

“Workin on Leavin the Living” is its standout track, because like everything else, I like my pop droney. It’s a churning, reel of a tune, fit for whirling dervishes and raised palms. If seven minutes fit into a locked groove, I’d listen to this forever.

5. The Dodos “Fools”
The Dodos were completely new to me when I saw them perform at SXSW 2007. Two of their songs from that set stuck in my head so tenaciously that I remembered the words when I heard them performed again at their Big Sur appearance later that year.

Having seen them again at SXSW 2008, I’m now sick again with the same affliction, and the song this time is “Fools,” from their newest album “Visiter.” The album version here sounds relatively staid compared to their energetic live performances, where Logan rises to his feet to work his drumkit over with full body strokes, and Meric nearly falls out of his chair tossing his head back in song.

6. Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra “1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound”
Finally! The Silver Mt. Cetera makes an album that I don’t forget about inside of a week. This song gives the impression of Polyphonic Spree big chorus element to it, though it is probably just layered vocal tracks (I’ll find out soon enough — they’re performing at ATP 2008 too!). Pay no mind that they have the pretense to call themselves an orchestra; this song is rock. Gives you a bang, so you know when to clap.

7. Aaliyah “Are you that somebody?”
Self explanatory. RIP, babygurl.

Ready … set … tag, you’re it!

• 1. Atrocity Jukebox
• 2. Womblife
• 3. Another Lousy Solipsist
• 4. The Mahathera Phang
• 5. in case of mishaps
• 6. The Music Listener (get a real blog! myspace sucks!)
• 7. Bill ™ (get a real blog! myspace sucks!)

Instructions:
“List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.”

I’m not going to lie to you, I didn’t see many new movies in ‘07. But of the ones that I did see, I chose very wisely.

#1: King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Hands down favorite of ‘07 and maybe the decade so far. Yes, this is a documentary about classic video games, and I love gamer culture, so clearly it was made for me. But wait just a minute! The appeal of this movie stretches way beyond the niche community it portrays. It is smart, cleverly edited, full of drama and narrative arc, and frequently hilarious. It shines a light on the very insular scene of aging arcade nerds, who are already intrinsically one of the most quirky, interesting bunch of characters a filmmaker could hope to record. But on top of that rich foundation, they manage to build a solid storyline, filled with so much wit and charm as to seem scripted, and concluding with a climax that actually made me hold my breath.

The story is about a schoolteacher who loses his job and decides to start training to challenge the 20 year-old world record for the top score of Donkey Kong. The filmmakers set this up as a rivalry between the schoolteacher, Steve Wiebe, and the record holder, Billy Mitchell, but they don’t have to do much work. You would not believe the level of intensity, intrigue, and dirty tricks plaguing this small community of classic gaming competitors. Honestly I expected Tonya Harding’s bf to pop out of the bushes and break Steve Wiebe’s wrists at some point! Billy and Steve epitomize the champion and underdog archetypes so wholly that you have to wonder if they aren’t deliberately exaggerating such characteristics at a subconscious level, in some sort of postmodern caricature-reality.

Favorite moments:

- When the non-contender nerd realizes Steve is about to exhaust the game’s physical memory, and excitedly runs around the arcade shouting: We’ve got a kill screen coming up people!! Kill screen, kill screen, OMG kill screen!!

- Steve’s 4 year old asking why he plays Donkey Kong, and the child remarking with total innocence that “some people ruin their lives for it”

- Billy’s famous abortion quote (can be seen at the end of the trailer)

The best thing about King of Kong is that even though you *know* it’s emotionally manipulative, you can’t help but give in and invest in these flawed, idiosyncratic people who are so deeply involved in their fringe little activities. It makes one want to pilgrimage to the Funspot Arcade just to shake hands with these big fish in their small pond. This movie is the definition of precious.

#2: Into the Wild

In a film where the main character renounces money and abandons all material possessions, and especially coming from Sean Penn, you might expect it to be a heavy handed indictment of consumerism or other capitalism begotten -ism. I didn’t feel that that is what this film was about at all, or that the political subtext was in any way related to its appeal. It’s really just an adventure movie about the people met and relationships forged along the way, with the dramatic natural scenery and the tolerably annoying music of Eddie Vedder weaved in.

I was so pleased to see the academy give the nod to Hal Holbrook for that heartbreaking scene where he and the boy part. It was poignant and sincere, and so incredibly sad. It was a picture of the moment of an isolated retiree who had caught a glimpse of what it was like to feel a human connection again, having to say goodbye and trudge back to the stagnation and loneliness that plagues so many of our elderly. Of course they don’t have the monopoly on either stagnation or loneliness, or else it wouldn’t be such an affecting scene for all of us.

I think that what the boy in this movie did — cut all ties and embrace the freedom of wandering — has an appeal that most of us can relate to. Who hasn’t felt the impulse to abandon everything, leave current worries, and escape the oppressive weight of the Expected Path (school -> career -> marriage -> death). When you’re living in a society where you must request and schedule in advance time for you to be outside in the sun following your own whimsy, it’s confusing and absurd at a fundamental level. That feeling of bewilderment, followed by the liberation of action, is what this movie portrays, culminating in the ultimate freedom.

It’s a little late to be posting best of ‘07 lists, but as our CFO would say, it’s not late as long as it’s posted in the first quarter. So to get the ball rolling, here are my favorite photographs of 2007, in mosaic form.

Favorites from my photostream

1. Marissa Nadler @ Spiro’s, Austin, TX 03-16-2007, 2. Boris @ Spiro’s Rumba Room, Austin, TX 03-16-2007, 3. The Psychic Paramount @ Spiro’s, Austin, TX 03-16-2007, 4. Moog man, 5. Donny, 6. 702, 7. Sea Zombies 1 of 3, 8. Robot revolt, 9. The Mohawk, 10. The Laugh Factory, 11. Shell of infamy, 12. Fuck you guy

Favorites from others’ photostreams

1. Fall in by the lexie mountain boys, 2. Sun Meets Wall by misanthrop, 3. Untitled by isado, 4. Parasols And Paddles by tarotastic, 5. Essaouira by rasiel, 6. Simmy is iTrapped by stillframe, 7. underwood by talibaba , 8. mates of state by recovering lazyholic, 9. Space by dick cocktail, 10. Untitled by epmd, 11. Untitled by hanna_e, 12. Cherry, Cherry by cognitive ambition, 13. chill´ by hanniballl, 14. BATTLES by karmajunkie, 15. Grain at the old mill by objecta, 16. George W Bush by stu_pendousmat, 17. loltombstone by stu_pendousmat, 18. another (closed) roadside attraction by antal, 19. gd melodica by greg davis, 20. Lost Grip by sharon k. cooper.