Dry the Rain
This page is a weird mix of rantings and ravings, Music, graffiti, punk,Doctor Who, postpunk, comics,art, general silliness and GPOB (gratuitous pictures of Bowie). Sometimes I post about the 2012 US elections, and I stan for Obama.
stats: boston-based radical nerd in my 30s
yes, I am a grown-ass lady believe it or not
happily living in sin with my co-conspirator Mr. X
Why did I follow you??
Other tags of interest - Places I Wish I Was Right Now, GPOY, owls, you are cordially invited to my pants, this has been a post, OH MY GOD, Favorite of all the things, Maru is the best cat in the whole world
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Holy shit I'm graduating tomorrow
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CRUEL IRONY IN DAO
Cannot purchase backpack: Inventory full.
I don’t think I have a gif that expresses how...
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Why I hate it when other white people say the phrase: "I'm not racist"
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I’m a model Canadian citizen. I pay my taxes on time, I vote, I stand during the national anthem, and I served my mandatory four years as a member of Broken Social Scene
(via methodistcoloringbook)
Inside the group’s 50th anniversary reunion tour: How the legendary group fell apart and came back together, and how Brian Wilson gets along with his old bandmates:
The vibe in Burbank is collegial, but each Beach Boy is locked into his own orbit. Wilson and Love tend to communicate through the musical directors they’ve retained from their respective touring bands; Jardine, Johnston, and Marks hover on the margins. Over lunch, Jardine tells me he’s been urging Love to open the second half of the set with ‘Our Prayer,’ the hushed choral prelude to Smile, but so far, Love has been brushing him off. ‘With him, you never know if it’s confrontational or uncomfortable because he’s able to mask any kind of negativity,’ Jardine says. ‘You never know if you’ve fucked up or not.’ When I mention ‘‘Til I Die,’ a stark Wilson solo composition from 1971, Johnston, who’s sitting nearby, insists that it was ‘the last Brian Wilson recording. Ever. The career ended for me right with that song.’ But why? ‘Because he was still 100 percent,’ Johnston explains. ‘Now, he’s … you know, a senior guy.’
I adore Brian Wilson’s music to the extent it makes me start getting super-hyperbolic with stuff like “he has an unrivaled genius for melody that nobody in the latter half of the 20th century even comes close to, except maybe Paul McCartney” etc etc
Which is why I don’t write about the Beach Boys.
But this is a good article and it’s not entirely about Brian Wilson’s mental illness although there’s a lot about it in there. I think it’s fair enough for Brian to still record as the Beach Boys considering how much he powered their original material, and I guess it’s good that he’s back with Mike Love. I guess. But it’s just not the same without Dennis and Carl’s voices in there, especially Carl. Holy shit they’re all 70 now.
also: I agree with Johnston, except I’d go a little further: “Til’ I Die” was the last great Beach Boys song.
“Cavern” by Liquid Liquid
Fools, enjoy.
This early post-punk track is the source of a very familiar classic hip-hop sample.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Three Girl Rhumba” by Wire
Pink Flag, the first album by Wire, is a fucking masterpiece—maybe not as good as Chairs Missing, in my view, but definitely more influential. Mike Watt tells how, when they were forming Minutemen, he and D. Boon drew inspiration from Wire; they had assumed they had to write songs of a certain length and a certain structure, just like everyone else, but after listening to Pink Flag they began to have other ideas.
Sometimes that’s all it takes. Like the man said: One man stands up in the back of the audience and shouts, “Fuck you!,” and next thing you know, he’s the voice of a generation.
today in songs you didn’t know were the basis for other songs: this guitar riff resurfaced in Elastica’s “Connection” back in the 90’s. Because they changed it by one semitone they didn’t have to credit Wire with the riff. Give it a listen, you’ll find it very familiar…
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
To Hell With Good Intentions by mclusky
enormous asshole, great producer.
some incredible albums produced by Steve Albini:
(Those are: The Pixies - Surfer Rosa; Nirvana - In Utero; PJ Harvey - Rid of Me; Joanna Newsom - Ys; Songs:Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co.; McLusky - McLusky Do Dallas; Low - Things We Lost in the Fire; The Breeders - Pod)
Jason Molina singing “Peoria Lunchbox Blues”
(Scout’s version is good too, but it’s nice to hear Jason singing it!)
ska, yes (jesus fuck the
stupidnesswhiteness actually burns on that one), but also country, dubstep, techno, metal, pop, etc etcif it was created in the western hemisphere and within the past 400 years (but especially the past 100-120 or so), black folks created it.
deal.
oh god ska. That’s really irritating.
(I mean, the white-washing, not the music. Although the music post about 1985 is pretty annoying too.)
Ask a ska fan when the genre was developed. Ska fans have to add decades on in order to claim white people did it. Even if they go back as far as Two-Tone, they will totally ignore the west indian community that popularized the genre in England.
Also, punk fans toooootally ignore the black influence on punk music. There would have been no punk community in England without people like Don Letts and Poly Styrene, and without that the subsequent waves of punk music wouldn’t have happened. The New York scene would have died a quiet death on its own; instead guys like the Ramones were embraced in London and only then became influential.
Anyway: yes. This is totally true.
previously on Best Albums Lists too late to turn back now:
1960’s —— 1970’s —— 1980’s —- 1990’s
2000: Radiohead - Kid A
(runners-up: Modest Mouse - Moon and Antarctica; The Avalanches - Since I Left You; Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030; The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic)
2001: Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
(runners-up: Low - Things We Lost in the Fire; The White Stripes - White Blood Cells; Liars - They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part)
2002: The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas AND Tallahassee (since both of these amazing albums came out the same year I’m going to cheat on this one)
(runners-up: Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights; Neko Case - Blacklisted; The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots; The Streets - Original Pirate Material; The Notwist - Neon Golden)
2003: Songs:Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co
(runners-up: The Postal Service - Give Up; Outkast - Speakerboxx/The Love Below; M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts; Goldfrapp - Black Cherry)
2004: Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
(runners-up: Air - Talkie Walkie; The Arcade Fire - Funeral; Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender; Morrissey - You Are the Quarry; Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand)
2005: Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
(runners-up: The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree; Wolfmother - Wolfmother; Antony and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now; Sleater-Kinney - The Woods)
2006: The Knife - Silent Shout
(runners-up: TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain; Amy Winehouse - Back to Black; The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones; Hot Chip - The Warning)
2007: Panda Bear - Person Pitch
(runners-up: M.I.A. - Kala; LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver; Burial - Untrue; Kanye West - Graduation)
2008: Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
(runners-up: Santogold - Santogold; Portishead - Third; TV on the Radio - Dear Science; Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak; Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles)
2009: The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
(runners-up: Fever Ray - Fever Ray; Florence and the Machine- Lungs; Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca; School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms; The XX- The XX; Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion; Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest; The Antlers - Hospice; The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Its Blitz; Bat for Lashes - Two Suns; Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light; Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle)
previously on Best Albums Lists somebody stop me:
1990: Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
(runners-up: Sonic Youth - Goo; The Breeders - Pod; Depeche Mode - Violator)
1991: Nirvana - Nevermind
(Runners-up: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless; Massive Attack - Blue Lines; A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory; U2 - Achtung Baby)
1992: Spiritualized - Laser Guided Melodies
(runners-up: Tom Waits - Bone Machine; Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine; R.E.M. - Automatic For the People; Pearl Jam - Ten)
1993: Slowdive - Souvlaki
(runners-up: Nirvana - In Utero; Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream; PJ Harvey - Rid of Me)
1994: Portishead - Dummy
(runners-up: Weezer - The Blue Album; Jeff Buckley - Grace; Hole - Live Through This)
1995: Pulp- Different Class
(runners-up: Tricky - Maxinquaye; Radiohead- The Bends; Bjork -Post; The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic; Oasis - What’s the Story, Morning Glory?; PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love)
1996: DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
(runners-up: Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk AND If You’re Feeling Sinister; Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst; Beck - Odelay; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Murder Ballads; The Fugees - The Score; Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island; Fiona Apple - Tidal)
1997: Radiohead - OK Computer
(runners-up: way too many to list here - Bjork - Homogenic; Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space; Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out; Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West; Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On; Elliott Smith - Either/Or; Mogwai - Young Team; etc etc etc etc)
1998: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
(runners-up: Massive Attack - Mezzanine; Cat Power - Moon Pix; Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children; Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill; Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road; Pulp - This is Hardcore)
1999: The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
(runners-up: The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs; Wilco - Summerteeth; Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile; Mos Def - Black on Both Sides; Tom Waits - Mule Variations; The Roots - Things Fall Apart; Le Tigre - Le Tigre)
previously on Best Albums Lists oh god why am I doing this:
1980: The Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
(runners-up: The Talking Heads- Remain in Light; Joy Division - Closer; The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us; David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps); Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth)
1981: The Human League - Dare
(Runners-up: Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju; Heaven 17 - Penthouse and Pavement; The Cure - Faith; Black Flag - Damaged)
1982: Michael Jackson - Thriller
(runners-up: Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes; Mission of Burma - Vs; Prince - 1999; The Cure - Pornography; Orange Juice - You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever)
1983: New Order - Power, Corruption, and Lies
(runners-up: Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones; U2 - War; The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge; Elvis Costello - Punch The Clock; R.E.M. - Murmur)
1984: The Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
(runners-up: Prince - Purple Rain; The Smiths - The Smiths; The Replacements - Let It Be)
1985: Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
(runners-up: The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy; Tears for Fears - Songs From the Big Chair; The Cure - The Head on the Door; Kate Bush - Hounds of Love)
1986: The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
(runners-up: The Chameleons - Strange Times; R.E.M. - Life’s Rich Pageant; XTC - Skylarking; Peter Gabriel - So)
1987: Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription
(runners-up: The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God; Tom Waits - Frank’s Wild Years; The Pixies - Come On Pilgrim)
1988: The Pixies - Surfer Rosa
(runners-up: Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back; Leonard Cohen - I’m Your Man; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Tender Prey; Morrissey - Viva Hate)
1989: De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
(runners-up: The Pixies - Doolittle; The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses; The Cure - Disintegration; Galaxie 500 - On Fire; Nirvana - Bleach; Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation 1814)
1970: Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
(runners-up: The Stooges - Fun House; Miles Davis - Bitches Brew; The Velvet Underground - Loaded)
1971: Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On
(runners-up: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV; Joni Mitchell - Blue; Sly and the Family Stone - There’s A Riot Goin’ On; Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate)
1972: David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
(Runners-up: Stevie Wonder - Talking Book; Lou Reed - Transformer)
1973: Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
(runners-up: New York Dolls - New York Dolls; Bob Marley and the Wailers - Burnin’)
1974: this was not a really good year, nothing in particular stands out that stacks up with the other albums pictured here. Gonna skip this one.
(runners-up anyway: David Bowie - Diamond Dogs; Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets; Kraftwerk - Autobahn)
1975: Patti Smith - Horses
(runners-up: Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks; Neil Young - Tonight’s the Night; Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run)
1976: The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
(runners-up: The Ramones - The Ramones; Tom Waits - Small Change; Parliament - Mothership Connection)
1977: David Bowie - Low
(runners-up: The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols; Television - Marquee Moon; Elvis Costello - My Aim is True; Wire - Pink Flag; The Clash - The Clash)
1978: Elvis Costello - This Year’s Model
(runners-up: The Cars - The Cars; Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance; Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!; Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove; Magazine - Real Life)
1979: The Clash - London Calling
(runners-up: The Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady; Gang of Four - Entertainment!; Public Image Ltd - Metal Box; The Slits - Cut)
1960: John Coltrane - Giant Steps
(runners-up: Miles Davis - Sketches in Spain)
1961: Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues
(runner-up: Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard)
1962: Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
(runners-up: Howlin’ Wolf - Howlin’ Wolf; Charlie Mingus - Oh Yeah)
1963: Bob Dylan - The Freewheeling Bob Dylan
(runners-up: James Brown - Live at the Apollo; Charlie Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady)
1964: Otis Redding - Pain in My Heart
(runners-up: Eric Dolphy - Out To Lunch; The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night)
1965: Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
(runners-up: John Coltraine - A Love Supreme; The Beatles - Rubber Soul)
1966: The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
(runners-up: The Beatles - Revolver; Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde; Simon and Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence)
1967: The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
(runners-up: The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?; Love - Forever Changes)
1968: The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
(runners-up: Van Morrisson - Astral Weeks; The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland; The Kinks - The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society; Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison)
1969: The Beatles - Abbey Road
(runners-up: Issac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul; The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed; The Who - Tommy)
There has to be a catch, right?
It’s free, it has most of what I want, and it pays the artists.
Nothing in the music business is this good. They must be sacrificing kittens in their headquarters or something. We just haven’t found out about it yet.
Gonna finish this up with another one from Muddy Waters.
