Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Bat For Lashes

This song has been out for a couple of months and I'm still obsessed.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffJRb9FUt1E&feature=related

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Watchmen

Anyone seen it? When are we gonna discuss?

U2, Wikipedia, and A Few Other Musings...

I've been meaning to respond to a number of posts on here, but I have just been busy lately. That, and when I go to sea, I don't have internet access.

Anyway... As for Wikipedia (Adam), I believe it is still a great place to start for information. I don't think it is any less accurate than some of the more established print Encyclopedias. Of course, we are probably looking for different stuff. I am mostly looking at technical articles. For bands, I typically just go straight to their website.

I think, given the large volume of information on there, they do a pretty decent job of correcting stuff when it is found to be wrong. I wouldn't use it as my prime source, but I use it all the time as my source of sources. If I am interested in a topic, first I wiki it, then I google it... So long as you know to take it with a grain of salt, it is still useful.

On to U2, I haven't really listened to the whole CD. I've more or less just listened to the previews on iTunes and I certainly can't comment on the lyrics. As I'm not a big U2 fan, I didn't even realize they had a new one coming out until Adam mentioned it. It sounds to me a lot like their older stuff, but I've pretty much thought that about all their stuff since Achtung Baby came out. I always think of the Henry Rollins routine where he talks about U2 having only one bass line and using it over and over for 20 years. That makes me laugh, but if it works, why change? One greatest hits CD is good for me. I like their cover of "The Saints are Coming." If I come across the CD somewhere, I will probably give it a spin though.

I am glad to hear that they are nice guys. That makes me like them more.

So, I've been re-reading High Fidelity the last couple of days. That book just gets better with age. I don't collect stuff with quite the zeal that I did back when I read that book for the first time, but I do have a few more life experiences and I realize what a fantastic job Hornby did in painting Rob's situation. I feel for Rob about now.

So, who has heard, and what do you think of, "Help, I'm Alive" by Metric? I never remember listening to Metric before, but that song is pretty awesome. I'm now looking forward to that album when it comes out in April. My other constant listen right now is "The '59 Sound" by Gaslight Anthem. The whole CD is great and quite a departure from their skate punk sound of "Sink or Swim." They got some E-Street band mojo in them or something.

So, that's about it for this post. I'm moving to California next week, so I'll let you guys know when I get there.

More U2

I got to meet them at an industry party last night. They were here doing an interview that radio will run coming up about the new album. More to be recorded in Chicago and Boston. Anyway, the had a party for record and radio people to kiss up to them afterward. Each was nice and exactly what you'd expect. Adam and Larry were the most talkative. Adam talked about his love of the new Prodigy and Airborne Toxic Event records. He said openers on the tour will be Muse and someone else I have forgotten. They will switch off. It will be September and October stadiums in the US. Larry was cool as well. We talked a bit about the turmoil at the beginning of the Achtung recording sessions. I asked why they never played Acrobat live and he said they never even tried and that it wasn't meant to be played live. Edge said they soundchecked it, but it sucked. That was after he said they had played it live but I disagreed. Edge was really happy when I told him, like I did the other two, that Achtung was my favorite and how much that record meant to me when I was 16. Larry was impressed that I remembered the date Adam and I saw them in '92.

That leads us to Bono.

That dude is tiny. Really nice, full of stories. He and I talked about radio research and sales and things. You can tell he is the one who checks their chart position every week.

I got everyone but Bono to sign my 11 O'Clock Tick Tock 7 inch.

When we left there were hundreds of fans and paparazzi outside waiting for them. They signed for ages.