February 2008

The Archives

• 02.22.08
  THE THIRTYING: week four   thethirtying (2)

  As The Thirtying resumes for another week, I got the email from Dan, lamenting the short length of this week’s column. I scrolled to the bottom of the email, I was faced with something that, yes, was shorter than previous columns, but was still of a formidable length. The wordcounts of his low days are still light years beyond my best days. I bow to his skill. Enjoy…

  

  i really think we should be able to vote in your elections, the young woman with the Irish accent says, it affects us too, how it turns out.

  i know what you’re saying, the douchebag American replies as he stares down her shirt. i wish you could, too. All that’s missing is a baby at the end of the sentence.

  d’you know if i could, were i living there? i was able to vote in the uk elections when i lived in london.

  i don’t think so, he says, you could probably just vote in the uk because- well, ireland’s technically part of the united kingdom…

  I cringe, think about this twit who is the reason everyone else in the world thinks we’re arrogant. If she were from the UK, she would know it. She wouldn’t have been waiting around for some asshole American to explain it to her.

  But she’s patient, or she pretends to be. no, she laughs, way more gently than I can imagine being, that’s northern ireland. i’m from the republic of ireland.

  He stares blankly, like she had just explained that she was from Titan, the sixth moon of Saturn, and not the planet itself. I can’t take it anymore.

  THE THIRTYING: WEEK FOUR CONTINUES AFTER THE JUMP

• 02.20.08
  RECENT WORKS - aesop rock, battles, bowerbirds, health & les savy fav   Bands (0)

  Well, I figured it’s time to update the back catalog of my archived reviews. Here’s what’s been written in the past few months for other outlets and one bonus review that I, well…don’t even remember writing. Seriously, it just turned up on my HD.

  Enjoy…

  battles - mirrored

  les savy fav - let’s stay friends

  health - health

  aesop rock - none shall pass

  bowerbirds - hymns for a dark horse

• 02.20.08
  NEWS? - GYBE done.   Recycled News (0)

  

  Hiatus has become breakup and it’s ultimately no surprise. In the six years since Godspeed You Black Emperor released Yanqui X.U.O, I could only hope that they’d get their shit together and release something new…but it’s not going to happen. In an interview, former GYBE guitarist gives the full details on why the band is no more. Even though A Silver Mt. Zion remains (and will release a new album in a month), there’s nothing that can truly replace GYBE.

  Read all of what ex-”frontman” Efrim Menuck had to say in the Drowned In Sound interview.

  I won’t even begin to poke fun at the whole “blame the war” factor in the band’s break-up. Seriously, it’s better without jokes.

• 02.15.08
  THE THIRTYING: week three   thethirtying (97)

  Welcome to the “Late Edition” of The Thirtying, Taking Tiger Mountain’s only weekly feature! Now, it’s a “Friday Edition” cause I’m a lazy editor. Dan did me the honor of providing me Week Three wayyyy early, due to the fact that he’s heading on a vacation this week (something touched upon in this column). My own life got in the way, and here I return his favor with late content. I’m testing a new format for the column this week, giving you a tease and putting the rest of Dan’s words behind a cut. Be sure to click the link to get the full glory of Week Three of The Thirtying. If you don’t, you won’t find out know what Danzig listens to while he works out…
  
  Without further ado, Week Three of The Thirtying by DAN SOLOMON, the only person in all of England with a Texas themed tattoo:
  
  

  Next week- thoughts on how to be a vital contributor to youth culture when one is becoming chronologically separated from its prime adherents.
  
  Geez. Did I really promise that last week? That’s pretty much what the whole column is here to explore, and if I have any real coherent thoughts on the subject by the end of its run, I’ll be awfully proud of myself. Sitting down to write this column tonight- three days ahead of deadline, for reasons I’ll get into later- I’m not sure where the arrogance that led me to believe I’d be ready to have any sort of useful thoughts on the subject in a week’s time came from. Trying to answer the question it poses has led to staring at a blank screen for most of the duration of the lucifuge album by Danzig, which is not a bad thing to do while listening to that one.
  
  Did you know that Danzig listens to Danzig when he lifts weights?

  CLICK FOR REMAINDER OF THE BEAUTY THAT IS THE THIRTYING

• 02.15.08
  MP3: Mobius Band Free Valentine’s Day EP - LOVE WILL REIGN SUPREME   Singles (1)

  
  Click to download LOVE WILL REIGN SUPREME
  While Valentine’s Day is a barely noticeable blip on the radar of my life, it’s worth mentioning when there’s free music involved. Brooklyn’s Mobius Band, a group I didn’t really know about even though I found an album of theirs on my hard drive, are giving away an EP of covers in honor of the 2nd most expensive holiday of the year. LOVE WILL REIGN SUPREME is a six track digital download that features covers of The National, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Daniel Johnston, and most charmingly, Daft Punk. I haven’t even listened to the whole disk, but their cover of “Digital Love,” off of 2001’s Discovery is worth the click alone. Stripping away 99% of the driving electronics and replacing it with acoustic guitars and delicate reverbed vocals, Mobius Band show that the cleverness of Daft Punk transcends choice sampling and squiggly synths.

  Click the graphic up top to download the full EP for free!

  Hit the jump for a full tracklisting and the video for their single “The Loving Sounds of Static,” which puts their cover of The National in context - JUMP