Eric B. Is President

Best Tattoos Ever

2009-05-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

Photos courtesy of Aviva Yael and P.M. Chen, from their book "No Regrets..."

Whips

2009-04-16T06:42:00.001-07:00

Facebook Died

2009-03-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Ireland

2009-03-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Greatest Pure Rock Song Ever?

2009-03-12T17:19:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, I had Buckcherry's "Lit Up" in my head earlier this week. I was listening to it on the train earlier this evening when I was struck with a thought: This song is more rock&roll than I remembered. WAY more. So I put this question before the jury: Could "Lit Up" be the greatest pure rock song ever?

The Argument For
Running time -- 3:35
Number of guitar solos -- 3
Lyrical theme -- blowing coke
Vaguely bluesy lead guitar? Yes
Distorted call and response vocals? Yes
Awkward radio edit -- "Tell me, are you (getting) high?"

The Argument Against
This is their lead singer:

Pure Elegance

2009-03-03T16:10:00.000-08:00

Thoughts On The New Thursday Record

2009-03-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

It’s a shame to have to write an I-liked-their-early-stuff-better review for the new Thursday record. I like this band too much to be able to sum up their body of work with a cliché. Unfortunately, it is appropriate.

The problems with “Common Existence” did not become apparent to me until I sat down with my headphones and compared the record side-by-side with “Full Collapse” and “Waiting.” Here comes another cliché: Their new stuff is overproduced. To get the spacey textures on “Time’s Arrow,” the number of overlaid vocal tracks push double digits, and the acoustic guitar track is played backward. Compare that to the intro to “Standing on the Edge of Summer,” from “Full Collapse,” where the illusion of sonic depth comes from turning down one guitar and running the other through a cheap effects pedal. There is a humble nobility to keeping it lo-fi. The real issue with the production, though, is Geoff Rickly’s vocals. Why so much reverb? He sounds as if he is singing up to us from the bottom of a well, and anyone who has seen Thursday live would say that is completely incongruent with his stage persona. Geoff Rickly live is in your face (at least if you are no more than five-deep at the front of the stage), and this was reflected in the vocal mix of the older records. Sure, he missed as many notes as he hit, but there was an immediacy to everything he was singing about. On a fundamental level of verbal communication, a balance must be struck between what you say and how you say it. The polished vocals on “Common Existence” tip that balance toward the superficial.

There is a bigger cliché at work here, though. You can hear it in that big money-shot chorus in “Love Has Led Us Astray.” You can hear it in the “breathe in, breathe out” breakdown in “Resuscitation of a Dead Man.” Hell, you can read it on the tracklist: Thursday are trying too hard to sound like Thursday. This is a consequence of the success they have had, and they as a band appear to be struggling with it. The breakdowns feel forced. The screams make them sound like caricatures of themselves. Granted, how many bands have also put out a Thursday record since 2001? As far as missteps made as a result of success, trying to sound like yourself is much less a sin than, say, including sitar interludes or writing songs about meditating high atop some Himalayan mountain. Perhaps, too, the band may have just found the boundaries of their own sound. How much mileage can you get out of screams, syncopated drum blasts and lyrics full of vague imagery, especially when so many others are copying it?

The problem with the their-old-stuff-was-better argument is its historical bias. To say that I like Thursday is a massive oversimplification. I am invested in them. “Full Collapse” was the soundtrack to my senior year in high school. I’ve seen this band live more times than I can begin to count. I cannot disentangle my personal history from some of those earlier songs. What’s more, my two favorite tracks on “Common Existence” are “Love Has Led Us Astray” (easily the most accessible song) and “As He Climbed The Dark Mountain” (the song I already knew because it was previously released on the split with Envy). The way I framed my entire analysis of this record has to be called into question.

Still, “Common Existence” is not a bad record. Most Thursday fans should be able to play it straight through and enjoy most of what they hear. Some of the songs are good; some are not. Some of the songs sound inspired; some do not. In fact, those last two sentences are exactly how you could describe “War All the Time” and “A City by the Light Divided.” This is a typical later-career Thursday record. And as much as it pains me to say this, Thursday are on track to become another one of those bands that couldn’t quite match their early success.

When Robots Think They're People

2009-03-03T14:40:00.000-08:00

Swedes on a Night Out

2009-02-28T06:56:00.000-08:00

I'm Buying Shots For Everyone Tonight

2009-02-27T02:03:00.001-08:00

The Total Absence of Justice

2009-02-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

Adirana Lima and this goon got married on Valentine's Day. This is completely..... Words can't even..... Ugh, whatever.

Swedish Propaganda

2009-02-23T04:28:00.000-08:00

Translation:

Payday
Vote YES!
(To Prohibition)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverages_in_Sweden

American High-Speed Rails?

2009-02-23T04:06:00.000-08:00

Longevity

2008-12-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

Morten Andersen, who played his first NFL game a year before I was even born, just announced his retirement today. At 48 years old, Andersen joins Gordie Howe, George Foreman, and probably a few others in the pantheon of guys who lasted in a violent sport at least a decade longer than they should have. The Danish kicker finished his career as the leading scorer in NFL history with 2,437 points scored, or nearly 100 points per year. Absolutely epic. Mr. Andersen, if you ever make your way across the water to Malmö on a Saturday night, I'll make sure you drink for free.

Alt Rock Playlist For November

2008-11-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

I've always loved the overarching aesthetic from what I suppose you would call the alternative rock movement of the late-80s and early-90s. Gloomy, melodic music and abstract videos. Or maybe I was just really into Kennedy as a kid. Here is some good listening to get you in the mood for winter:

Dinosaur Jr. - "Little Fury Things"

The Stone Roses - "Waterfall"

The Screaming Trees - "Nearly Lost You"

Long-Overdue Updates

2008-11-23T15:06:00.000-08:00

Lots and lots of stuff has been going down since my last post about 12 weeks ago. My bad.

First, it finally snowed! After about six consecutive weeks of rain, this was more than welcome:

I took this mid-afternoon Friday, and two inches fell afterward. Whatever. You get the idea.

Second, some pictures and a video from the epic road trip through the UK around Halloween.

Scotland:

And Stonehenge:

Disaster, and Ambivalence in the North

2008-09-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

Few people in Sweden were thinking about Tom Brady's knee when they awoke this morning. In Lund, people packed umbrellas and went off to work and to class on a dreary morning that promised rain but actually gave way to a beautiful, late-summer afternoon. Down in Malmö, cars bottlenecked and sent up their plumes of frustrated exhaust. The pub in the train station, with its alleged Boston alliances, likely exposed itself yesterday evening when no one so much as batted an eye when the news came out of Foxborough.

To my credit, or whatever, I've been concerned all morning with mundane problems such as setting up my cell phone and tracking exchange rates in light of the government takeovers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Plus, I have to go buy more toilet paper because I accidentally knocked my last roll into the toilet. Six time zones West of here, though, a city that has had plenty of sports-related peaks and valleys has quickly become acquainted with the only direction one can go when one reaches the top.

The Patriots were my pick for an NFL version of the redeem team, lower-case letters. They were going to carry a chip on their shoulders all season after that Superbowl loss. Brady was going to throw 60 touchdowns, 40 of them to Randy Moss.

Now, Gene Wojciechowski over at ESPN has Brett Farve on record throwing around letters such as A, C and L down in Miami. News travels quickly, and though I haven't seen video of the hit on Brady, I can read in everyone's tone how bleak the situation appears. I can imagine fantasy leagues being turned completely upside-down. I even feel bad for Boston fans, hard as that can be sometimes.

The MRI results haven't yet been released this morning, but I'm joining everyone else who follows the NFL in speculation. Another 16-0 regular season? Running the table in the AFC East? If Brady misses this season, the Pats might not even make the playoffs. Whom does that leave for the big Superbowl shootout against Tony Romo, Farve? Ben Roethlisberger? In any case, not Philip Rivers.

But I'm getting way ahead of myself. The shock of Brady's injury and the simple excitement I feel for the start of the NFL season have replaced my ability to reason on this unseasonably warm afternoon in the south of Sweden. I have groups to meet with, projects to work on. At the same time, I will be refreshing the ESPN page frequently all afternoon long.

More Of The Same

2008-09-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

This blog was supposed to be a way for me to keep folk updated on my carryings-on while I mill about in the land of Thor and Roxette. But in keeping with the theme of my last two posts, there is more music to discuss. And what do you know: It's another band from Canada.

Hot Hot Heat are relevant in my iTunes library again. I downloaded that "Make Up The Breakdown" record back in 2003 and bounced around all year to those spastic songs. It was fun for a while, but the record got old quickly. So I filed away under the Stuff I Listened To Back In The Day section. Fast forward to this morning, when I was listening to CBC Radio 3. I immediately recognized Steve Bays' goofy ass vocals. But the song was catchier, the production more atmospheric.

Here is the video for that song, "Harmonicas and Tambourines":

It's a year old now, so I suppose it never caught on, which is surprising given how much it plays up the current incarnation of '80s cool. The album is pretty fun, but I fear I'm eventually going to react to it the way I did with the "Make Up" record and be over it soon. Either way, good job, Hot Hot Heat -- you've suckered me in twice this decade.

I Can't Get Enough Of This Song

2008-09-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

"Lovely Allen" by Holy Fuck. It takes a moment, but you can just move the cursor to start at the 24-second mark.

Labor Day Summer Music Roundup

2008-08-31T03:14:00.000-07:00

What happened this summer? I waited and waited, but we had no big-time jams this year that really defined summer 2008. Think back to the last couple of years. Summer 2007 had Rihanna's "Umbrella." The year before, Gnarls Barkley came out with "Crazy." This year, three songs come to mind when I think about the big singles, but not one of them stands taller than the rest. It's useful, too, to lump these three songs together because each one pays homage, whether deliberately or not, to other big hits.

Top 3 Songs of the Summer of 2008

3. "All Summer Long" - Kid Rock

Kid Rock took uncreativity to new heights with this song. And that's saying a lot for a guy who within this decade has been responsible for both "American Badass" and Uncle Kracker. This is the song that most obviously pays homage to another, much bigger song, "Sweet Home Alabama." Frankly, it's a wonder this song ever got big. If the hook of your song references one of the five most overplayed songs in the history of Western civilization, it shouldn't even be recorded, let alone be getting play in clubs and grocery stores in Sweden.

2. "I Kissed A Girl" - Katy Perry

Jill Sobule did it way better 13 years ago, AND her video featured Fabio.

1. "Paper Planes" - M.I.A.

My favorite of the three, far and away, and not just because it samples The Clash's "Straight To Hell." The song is catchy, makes for good dancing and features gun shots in the hook. That's the exact formula for success I've been preaching for years, now. Bonus points: M.I.A. toured this year with Holy Fuck and The Cool Kids.

My Personal Summer Jams

The Bake Sale - The Cool Kids

I've had this record on repeat all summer. When I listen to it in five years, it will immediately take me back to being in Chicago, Store 'til 4 on a Sunday night. Newer stuff available for download on their Myspace site.

Looking Forward To Fall

Kings of Leon are releasing their new record, Only By The Night, in late September. Chances are good that this will be my go-to listening all the way through New Year's. Two new songs are posted on their Myspace site. You can also check out their video for "Sex On Fire" there. Great song, awful video.

The New Whip

2008-08-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

I got this boss hog with extra fat tires to cope with these harsh Swedish winters. Plus, the cobblestones in the Old Town sit about three-quarters of an inch apart, and that trips me out. Dig it!

Ankommer Till Lund

2008-08-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all,

I'm going to try my best to keep frequent updates of my carryings-on in Sweden on this blog. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I've been in Sweden for a couple of days now, and -- true to form -- I've been partying and acting up. Those pictures are forthcoming. For now, here are a few photos from my arrival:

The first night, I CouchSurfed with a chap living a bit north of Lund. Actually, he lived in the middle of nowhere, as may or may not be evident from this photo. Not Chicago, anyway. But...

...he DID have a rad projector, perfect for watching the Olympics. The mannequins had been found the week before in a dumpster outside of a store. When I awoke in the middle of the night and saw those two things standing there in the dark, I kinda freaked.

The village, Eslöv, was hosting a quiz game, apparently. Like I can read this nonsense (yet).
This last photo is actually from Lund. Dig it.