9/27/2010
9/26/2010
a compendium of grainy pavement videos from central park
okay, I went a few times.
GOLD SOUNDZ FRI 9.24:
UNFAIR THU 9.23:
CUT YR HAIR FRI (guit solo) 9.24:
UNFAIR THU 9.23
GOLD SOUNDZ FRI 9.24:
UNFAIR THU 9.23:
CUT YR HAIR FRI (guit solo) 9.24:
UNFAIR THU 9.23
9/15/2010
Recorded quickly, Shredding is purposeful but party-band loose—Mac still sounds like a squawky adolescent, though he hasn't actually been one since the early '80s. It's Superchunk drawing a line in the sand, refusing to stop being a band even though they know rock 'n' roll is the province of the young, refusing to burn out, refusing to broadcast from the past, refusing this mantle of the golden '90s, resisting that stalled comfort and stagnant understanding—actively refusing to abide the hauntological survey that is indie rock in 2010. In doing so, they honor their fans and our memories by allowing us to forget, and to be new again.
...Eh, I dunno, Hopper. I have a feeling that some of those aging Superchunk fans who are allowed to forget and be new again are going to be dragging their Chuck Taylors right across that line in the sand, clamoring to hear a few of the "oldies" at the Bowery Ballroom in a few days.
This might be one of the .03% of the times in life that I'm not fully on board with where yr coming from. If Pavement, like the Pixies reunites for "good" and has a mobile unit outside the club burning CD souvenirs of that nights show for their fans to commemorate the evening at $25/a pop, and the reunion tour lasts five + years, then yes, I will be inclined to agree. It won't though. I imagine that they will evaporate for another decade and maybe re-emerge then.
As it stands, I'm excited to check out yet another Pavement show next week. By the end of this year, I'll have wallowed in the past, briefly, seeing them "live" exactly twice in the last 11 years. But I'm more content to live in the present. There's even some "indie rock" that I enjoy that's not so hauntological, made (in the present) by people half my age. My reality: being married, having two little kids, a "real" job, and nine side-jobs doesn't have me longing to curl up in the splendor of the indie rock of the "golden '90s" when my life was fun but truthfully had light years less meaning or depth to it. Most of my waking hours aren't spent lingering on my memories of that era--they're consumed imagining (and all too often doing a shitty job of planning for) a future that is both exhilarating and terrifying as hell. And the music I listen to now is not demarcated by so much by "time" or "era" but whether it is "good" or "bad." Unless we're talking about being nostalgic for an era I never lived in, like, when I create a Fred Astaire station on Pandora (which too often gets ruined by the inclusion of Frank Sinatra) I don't actively concern myself about: Is this a band that's still together? Is this person dead? If not, is it wrong for them to perform songs they wrote a decade or two after they wrote them, after having done something else with their lives for a number of years?
But, does it irk me a little that there are so many reunions, or bands performing their greatest album in its entirety (with a symphony behind them) for ONE NIGHT ONLY (until next spring)? Uh, yeah. Does the word "irk" irk me? Yes. Does writing questions, then answering them in the next sentence bother me? Nope. I don't love 2010's Dinosaur Jr. the way I loved 1988's DInosaur Jr. And I loved the SHIT out of DInosaur Jr. Yet, since the original line-up reunited, I have not seen a show. I still love DInosaur Jr, but was never in my life able to see J.Mascis and Lou Barlow on stage together, and today at 2:48 AM, I have no interest in ever doing that. And they're making new music. And they each have like five other bands they play with. And I have no interest in seeing 2010 Echo & The Bunnymen, or 2010 Spiritualized...2010 Smashing Pumpkins, who are on some State Fair, Three Dog Night-level iteration are amusing to me in ways that don't exactly make me proud of myself.
So I guess I see where you're over it. But it's only a sliver of what's going on musically right now. There was something else I was going to write that would have bolstered my argument or made it even stupider and I can't remember it right now. Anyway, thanks for provoking me.
*Is Die Kreuzen still together? I would go see them anytime.
...Eh, I dunno, Hopper. I have a feeling that some of those aging Superchunk fans who are allowed to forget and be new again are going to be dragging their Chuck Taylors right across that line in the sand, clamoring to hear a few of the "oldies" at the Bowery Ballroom in a few days.
This might be one of the .03% of the times in life that I'm not fully on board with where yr coming from. If Pavement, like the Pixies reunites for "good" and has a mobile unit outside the club burning CD souvenirs of that nights show for their fans to commemorate the evening at $25/a pop, and the reunion tour lasts five + years, then yes, I will be inclined to agree. It won't though. I imagine that they will evaporate for another decade and maybe re-emerge then.
As it stands, I'm excited to check out yet another Pavement show next week. By the end of this year, I'll have wallowed in the past, briefly, seeing them "live" exactly twice in the last 11 years. But I'm more content to live in the present. There's even some "indie rock" that I enjoy that's not so hauntological, made (in the present) by people half my age. My reality: being married, having two little kids, a "real" job, and nine side-jobs doesn't have me longing to curl up in the splendor of the indie rock of the "golden '90s" when my life was fun but truthfully had light years less meaning or depth to it. Most of my waking hours aren't spent lingering on my memories of that era--they're consumed imagining (and all too often doing a shitty job of planning for) a future that is both exhilarating and terrifying as hell. And the music I listen to now is not demarcated by so much by "time" or "era" but whether it is "good" or "bad." Unless we're talking about being nostalgic for an era I never lived in, like, when I create a Fred Astaire station on Pandora (which too often gets ruined by the inclusion of Frank Sinatra) I don't actively concern myself about: Is this a band that's still together? Is this person dead? If not, is it wrong for them to perform songs they wrote a decade or two after they wrote them, after having done something else with their lives for a number of years?
But, does it irk me a little that there are so many reunions, or bands performing their greatest album in its entirety (with a symphony behind them) for ONE NIGHT ONLY (until next spring)? Uh, yeah. Does the word "irk" irk me? Yes. Does writing questions, then answering them in the next sentence bother me? Nope. I don't love 2010's Dinosaur Jr. the way I loved 1988's DInosaur Jr. And I loved the SHIT out of DInosaur Jr. Yet, since the original line-up reunited, I have not seen a show. I still love DInosaur Jr, but was never in my life able to see J.Mascis and Lou Barlow on stage together, and today at 2:48 AM, I have no interest in ever doing that. And they're making new music. And they each have like five other bands they play with. And I have no interest in seeing 2010 Echo & The Bunnymen, or 2010 Spiritualized...2010 Smashing Pumpkins, who are on some State Fair, Three Dog Night-level iteration are amusing to me in ways that don't exactly make me proud of myself.
So I guess I see where you're over it. But it's only a sliver of what's going on musically right now. There was something else I was going to write that would have bolstered my argument or made it even stupider and I can't remember it right now. Anyway, thanks for provoking me.
*Is Die Kreuzen still together? I would go see them anytime.
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